Synopses & Reviews
CHAPTER ONE
"The Hidden Treasure"
"Mine was a happy family. I had one brother and one sister, but I do not like to talk about it. It is not important now. The important thing is to follow God's way, the way he leads us to do something beautiful for him."
Mother Teresa's constant insistence on the insignificance of her personal life meant that she spoke little about her early years. When she did so it was to stress that hers had been a childhood rendered harmonious by small, everyday things and the support of a loving family. Time and time again in later years, she would insist upon the importance of the hidden and the ordinary life, pointing out that the carpenter's son from Nazareth had spent thirty years doing humble work in a carpenter's workshop before assuming his public role, and using this as an illustration of the exemplary humility of Jesus. So unconcerned was she about accuracy in relation to the chronicling of her own life, and so disinclined actually to read anything written about her, that for many years and in a succession of books her birthdate was erroneously recorded as 27 August 1910. It even appeared in the Indian Loreto Entrance Book as her date of birth. In fact, as she confided to her friend, co-worker and American author, Eileen Egan, that was the date on which she was christened Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. The date which marked the beginning of her Christian life was undoubtedly the more important to Mother Teresa, but she was none the less actually born in Skopje, Serbia, on the previous day.
Her background was, according to the insights provided by her brother, Lazar, and a cousin, Lush Gjergji, indeed essentially "ordinary." She was the youngest of thethree children born to Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu, both of whom were Albanian but who had come originally from Prizren, a city which during their daughter's childhood was part of Yugoslavia but had belonged at one time to the kingdom of Serbia. Nikola was descended from a large and prosperous family with a long tradition of trade. He was a merchant and entrepreneur drawn to the town of Skopje by its role as a commercial centre. According to the local parish priest, immediately on his arrival in Skopje, Nikola bought a house and gradually, thanks to involvement through a friend in a successful building firm, came to own a number of properties, in one of which the Bojaxhiu family lived. Initially Nikola supplied medicines for one of Skopje's leading doctors. Later he went into partnership with a rich Italian merchant who traded in a wide variety of goods, including oil, sugar, cloth and leather, and he began to travel to different parts of Europe on business. A capable man who sat on the town council and became a leading figure in Skopje's civic life, a supporter of the arts and of the local church, and a gifted linguist who spoke not only Albanian and Serbo-Croat, but also Turkish, Italian and French, Nikola was a strict disciplinarian who took a keen interest in his children's education. He was stern at times and expected high standards of them, reminding them that they must not forget whose children they were. Yet his homecomings were always eagerly awaited, partly because he was invariably the bearer of gifts, but primarily because he was also a talented story-teller who kept his young audience amused with enthralling tales of his travels.
In later life Mother Teresa would carrywith her very traditional ideas about the function of the woman in the home, ideas for which Drana Bojaxhiu provided the role model. In one of the infrequent references the adult Mother Teresa made to her family background, she remembered how, while her father was away working, her mother busied herself about the house, cooking, mending and performing other domestic tasks, but as soon as her father returned, all work stopped. Her mother would put on a clean dress and comb her hair and ensure that the children were fresh and tidy to greet him.
Lazar, who was three years older than Agnes, recalled those early events as being "peaceful and pleasant." Yet they took place against a background of political turbulence of the kind that engendered strong patriotic feelings and a deep sense of national identity. The year in which Agnes was born (1910) witnessed the first Albanian uprising. Two years later the first Balkan war broke out as part of the unrest in the Balkan States which could contribute to the outbreak of the First World War. Internal fighting went on in both Serbia and neighbouring Albania. Albania won its independence in November 1912, thus depriving Serbia of the coastline to which it aspired and which it would only acquire with the creation of Yugoslavia as a federation of Serbia and five other States. An atmosphere of hostility prevailed between Albania and Serbia and, rooted as it was in both races, the Bojaxhiu family could hardly remain unaffected by the conflict. Nikola Bojaxhiu, with his extensive and well-established business interests, was a man not without political interests also, who showed his sympathy for the Albanian freedom fighters by providing them not onlywith financial support but also with hospitality.
On 28 November 1912 the proclamation of Albanian independence by its national leaders was marked in the Bojaxhiu household with revelry and celebrations. Nikola was by nature a sociable man whose home provided a warm welcome for guests ranging from the poor of Skopje to the town's Archbishop. On that particular night the house was filled with leading Albanian patriots who talked and sang to the accompaniment of mandolin playing into the early hours. Their host made no secret of his commitment to the Albanian nationalist cause.
Review
“Simply the best biography of Mother Teresa around. Thoroughly researched, sensitively written and unfailingly inspiring, Kathryn Spinks book should be, after Mother Teresas own writings, your first resource for understanding one of the greatest saints in Christian history.” James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and My Life with the Saints
Synopsis
During her lifetime, Mother Teresa resisted having her full biography written. Then, in 1991, realizing that accounts of her life and work could inspire others, she gave Kathryn Spink, who had long been intimately involved with the work of Mother Teresa and her order and co-workers around the world, permission to proceed with a complete biography on the understanding that it would not be finished until after her death.
Here, now, is the complete story of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a woman regarded by millions as a contemporary saint for her dedication to serving the poorest of the poor. From her childhood in Balkans as a member of a remarkably openhearted and religious family to her work in India, from attending the victims of war-torn Beirut to pleading with George Bush and Saddam Hussein to choose peace over war. Mother Teresa was driven by an absolute faith. She consistently claimed that she was simply responding to Christ's boundless love for her and for all of humanity. When People magazine interviewed Kathryn Spink for their cover story on Mother Teresa 's death, Spink told them: "What one has to understand about Mother Teresa is that she sees Christ in every person she encounters." Clad in her white peasant sari with blue edging, Mother Teresa brought to the world a great and living lesson in joyful and selfless love.
Synopsis
Manyhave called her a saint. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India'shighest civilian honor, the Jewel of India, in 1980. Pope John Paul II declaredher “Blessed,” beatifying her in 2003. For nearly fifty years at the head ofCalcuttas Missionaries of Charity, the Albanian-born Agnes GonxhaBojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa, advocatedfor the poor and homeless, ministered to the sick, provided hospice for theafflicted, and embodied the very essence of humanitarianism. Now, revised andupdated, Kathryn Spinks definitive, authorized biography is “simply the best . . . around,” according to James Martin, SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to(Almost) Everything. “Thoroughly researched, sensitively written andunfailingly inspiring, Kathryn Spink's book should be, after Mother Teresa'sown writings, your first resource for understanding one of the greatest saintsin Christian history."
About the Author
Kathryn Spink is the author of several book on the work of Mother Teresa and her coworkers, as well as other inspiring contemporary figures, including Brother Roger of Taize and Bede Griffiths.