Women’s History Month: 5 notable female missionaries

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, before the outbreak of World War I, Mother Teresa would gain notoriety for her extensive mission work in India.

She became a nun in 1928 and founded the Missionaries of Charity order following a visit to Kolkata, India, in the 1940s, with the entity establishing homes for the needy worldwide.

In 1979, Mother Teresa received the Nobel Prize for Peace for her work among the poor, and denounced abortion in her acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway.

In 2016, the Roman Catholic Church canonized Mother Teresa as a saint, with Pope Francis stating at the time that she spent her life "bowing down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity."

"She made her voice heard before the powers of the world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crimes of poverty they themselves created," the pontiff added.