By Melanie Linn Gutowski

Quite possibly the most famous ABC (Auntie By Choice) in the world, Mother Teresa dedicated most of her life to caring for others. Her good works are renowned around the world and her name is synonymous with selflessness and charity. Though she has been gone for nearly 13 years, her life’s work continues to inspire people everywhere to help those around them.

Albanian by birth, the girl who would become Mother Teresa felt a calling to become a missionary at the young age of 18.  She joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland in 1928 and was given the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who had fittingly been named the Universal Patron of the Missions in following her own canonization in 1927.

Sister Teresa, as she was then known, was sent to Calcutta in 1929 and taught at her order’s school for girls.  It was not until 1946 that she felt the call to do more for the neglected poor in India.

She was given permission in 1948 to begin her ministry with the Little Sisters of the Poor, and two years later her own congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established.  She eventually opened missions on six continents and in almost all communist and formerly communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, China and Cuba.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, famously requesting that the money traditionally used to honor the Nobel Laureate with a banquet instead be donated to the poor of Calcutta.  The Nobel Prize was one of many honors she would be awarded in her lifetime.

In October 2003, Pope John Paul II took the first step in formalizing what many people had been insisting for years: the beloved Mother Teresa was a saint.  She was beatified and is now known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.  The centenary of her birth will be celebrated in August 2010.

Though she led by example, Mother Teresa also spoke words of wisdom to inspire others to continue her work.  Aunties everywhere can relate to her sentiments:

"Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well."

Photo: FlyingTeachers.net

Melanie Linn Gutowski is a freelance writer and a proud Godmother.