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Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), honoured in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje (now the capital of North Macedonia), then part of the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. After living in Skopje for eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life. In 1950, Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that had over 4,500 nuns and was active in 133 countries as of 2012. The congregation manages homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. It also runs soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, children's and family counselling programmes, as well as orphanages and schools. Members take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and also profess a fourth vow – to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor."
Born: Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu 26 August 1910 Üsküp, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Skopje, North Macedonia)
Died: 5 September 1997 (aged 87) Calcutta, West Bengal, India (present-day Kolkata)
Venerated In: Roman Catholic Church
Beatified: 19 October 2003, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: 4 September 2016, Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Major Shrine: Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Feast: 5 September
Attributes: Missionaries of Charity Habit Rosary
Patronage: World Youth Day Missionaries of Charity Archdiocese of Calcutta (co-patron)
Title: Superior general
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