Mother Teresa: a biography

NIRMAL HRIDAY
On August 22, 1952, the pilgrim’s hostel opened under the name Nir-
mal Hriday, which is Bengali for Pure or Immaculate Heart. Since it
opened on the day that celebrates the Virgin’s Immaculate Heart, the
building was named in her honor. To make ready for the patients, the
nuns had placed low cots and mattresses on ledges in both the large
rooms, which, when filled to capacity, would hold 30 men in one room
and 30 women in another. But Mother Teresa and her helpers did not
have much time to contemplate this latest offering from Providence.
They soon took to the streets in search of the hopelessly ill and suffering
who had no place to go.
Early on, Mother Teresa laid down some rules for Nirmal Hriday. No
leprosy patients would be admitted. This was done to allay the fears of
K A L I G H AT
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other patients who might refuse to come or try to leave. Mother Teresa
also instituted these rules to calm the fears of the local residents and pil-
grims who lived near or worshipped at the temple. It was implicitly un-
derstood that people from all religious creeds and races would be welcome
at Nirmal Hriday. Mother Teresa also decided that only patients refused
by city hospitals, of whom there were many, would be admitted. Soon, city
ambulances made their way to the doors of Nirmal Hriday to deliver pa-
tients whom the city’s hospitals had rejected. But Mother Teresa and the
other nuns continued to search the streets for the ill and dying, whom
they transported to the home in a wheelbarrow.
Those brought to Nirmal Hriday were given medical treatment when-
ever possible. Patients who were beyond saving received the last rites ac-
cording to their faith; for Hindus, this meant water from the nearby
Ganges on their lips; for the followers of Islam, readings from the Koran
(the Islamic holy book); for those who were Catholic, confession and
communion. While recovery from their ailments was cause for thankful-
ness, the primary goal of Nirmal Hriday was to offer those who were dying
a chance to pass away in peace and dignity. As Mother Teresa once stated,
“A beautiful death is for people who lived like animals to die like angels—
loved and wanted.”
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