Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in what is now the small country of Macedonia.
When she was young, she was always happy to help out at church.
She liked to borrow books from the priest.
"May I read some of your books about missionaries?" she asked the priest one day.
"Of course you may! Here they are," he said.
She read the books over and over, and she was touched by the stories about caring for others.
Her favorite book was about the missionaries who worked in India.
It made her think about caring for poor people in India herself.
When Mother Teresa was 12, she asked God if she should go to India to help people as a missionary.
She prayed about this for six years.
When she was 18, she asked a priest about her prayers.
"I have talked to my mother and my sisters about this.
I have prayed a lot too.
But how can I be sure that God wants me to go to India?"
"You will know through your joy, my child," was his advice.
"I would be very happy if God let me serve him and other people," she said.
Mother Teresa knew that her heart was leading her.
Soon after, she went to Dublin to learn English and to be trained as a nun.
Then Mother Teresa was sent to India.
There she learned to speak Hindi and Bengali.
She was saddened by the way most people lived in India.
Most people were very poor. "Oh! Look at what little they have to eat!
How can I help them?" she wondered. "So many people here are poor."
While she worked very hard to help the poor, she also taught children at a high school.
After a few years, she became the school principal, but the suffering of the poor was never far from her mind.
"God, I know that being a school principal is an important job because I can help poor children to learn.
But who takes care of the poor people who live on the streets?
How can I help them too?" she prayed.
On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa felt that God had given her an answer.
She was sure that he wanted her to serve him by helping the poorest of the poor.
She thanked him for answering her prayer. "I know what I must do now.
I must live with the poorest people, but how can I help them best?"
She decided to become a nurse.
One day, as she was walking on a street in the slums of Calcutta, she saw a woman lying in the dirt.
"Oh! She might be hurt!" Mother Teresa thought. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Oh . . .," the woman groaned.
Mother Teresa was shocked at the woman's condition.
"Oh, how terrible! Look at all the rats and ants around this woman!
Please, help me! I need to take this woman to a hospital quickly," she called out.
But no one wanted to help her.
"Oh no! She smells too bad," said one passerby.
"Just leave her there. She will die soon anyway," said another.
But Mother Teresa did not give up. "Do not be afraid.
I will take you to the hospital," she told the woman.
She carefully picked her up and helped her to the hospital.
But even at the hospital, people were not willing to help.
"Oh, take her away! She smells very bad!
She is so dirty that she might not be good for the other patients here!" they said.
"Oh please! You must help her! I will not leave until you help her!" Mother Teresa insisted.
Finally a doctor and a nurse agreed to care for the woman.
They did their best, but they could not make the woman well.
This made Mother Teresa very sad, but she did not stop helping other poor people.
Many people in India thought Mother Teresa was wasting her time.
"Ha! Look at that European!" they said.
"What does she think she can do? There are too many poor people to help.
She's foolish if she thinks she can make a difference."
Mother Teresa, however, never gave up.
Because of her tireless work, the people in the slums began to realize how much she cared for them.
She taught them how to read and write and looked after them when they were sick.
The poorest of the poor respected her, and over time others admired her too.
In 1950 the pope gave her permission to start her own Catholic organization called the Missionaries of Charity.
Many joined the Missionaries of Charity, becoming nuns and priests, to help Mother Teresa look after the poor in India and elsewhere in the world.
In 1979 the world recognized Mother Teresa's tireless love.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
When Mother Teresa was told she had won the prize, she simply said, "I am not worthy."
Mother Teresa kept working until her death in 1997 at the age of 87.
She was a warmhearted, caring, and deeply spiritual person.
Her love for the poor has inspired many to follow in her footsteps.
Since it was founded, the Missionaries of Charity has grown, and it now helps the poorest of the poor in almost every country in the world.