Mother Teresa: a biography

SHANTINAGAR
In 1961, Mother Teresa received a gift from the Indian government: 34
acres of land located about 200 miles from Calcutta. She would pay the
government an annual fee of one rupee a year for the land. The land was
uncultivated, almost a jungle in appearance. With funds raised by Ger-
man children singing at a charity concert, Mother Teresa began construc-
tion of Shantinagar—The Place of Peace for Lepers.
There was not enough money to complete the project. Hoping for a
miracle, the Missionaries of Charity prayed for guidance. Their prayers
were answered in 1965 in the form of a white 1964 Lincoln Continental
automobile. The car was originally a present from American Catholics to
Pope Paul VI. The pope had the car specially flown in for his state visit to
India in 1964. While there, he visited Mother Teresa and the home at
Nirmal Hriday and was so touched by the work of the Missionaries of
Charity that he gave the car to Mother Teresa before he left. Having no
practical use for the car, Mother Teresa raffled it off, raising a much larger
sum of money than she would have by simple selling the automobile. In
the end, the raffle netted the order of approximately 460,000 rupees or
$100,000. With the funds raised by the raffle, Mother Teresa could pay for
the main hospital block at Shantinagar.
In 1968, Mother Teresa sent Sister Francis Xavier along with several
other sisters to Shantinagar to oversee the construction and maintenance
of the grounds. Within the next two years, a number of key buildings went
up including a rehabilitation center and cottage for lepers built by the pa-
tients themselves. In addition, flowering trees and shrubs, fruit trees, and
vegetable gardens were planted on the grounds. The nearby pond was
stocked with fish, all with an eye to promoting self-sufficiency among the
residents.
In time, the home for lepers offered treatment and a chance at a nor-
mal life for almost 400 lepers and their families. New arrivals were taught
to make bricks in order to construct new homes for future patients. The
residents tended their own cattle, grew their own rice and wheat, and
tilled their own gardens. Others ran a grocer’s shop. Some residents made
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baskets, which are used in the nearby coal mines. There is even a printing
press. Shantinagar also has its own local government with its leaders
elected from among the residents. Medical treatment is not far away, and
with the advent of better drugs since the 1970s, many lepers had a chance
to recover from their illness. There is also a Shishu Bhavan on the prem-
ises, where children can live and be protected from the more infectious
patients.
With each new success and each new undertaking, it was becoming
clear that Mother Teresa possessed extraordinary vision. She was making
a name for herself, not only throughout Calcutta, but in India and be-
yond. Her great determination to help those who could not help them-
selves had earned her a host of supporters and a growing number of critics.
As the size and scale of the Missionaries of Charity grew, so did the seeds
of controversy. By the end of the 1950s, it was clear that Mother Teresa
and her order would no longer toil in anonymity.
NOTES
1. Mother Teresa with Jaya Chaliha and Edward Le Joly, 
The Joy in Loving: A
Guide to Daily Living
(New York: Viking, 1996), p. 327.
2. Mother Teresa with Chaliha and Le Joly, 
Joy,
p. 371.
S H I S H U B H AVA N A N D S H A N T I N A G A R
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Chapter 8
THE GROWTH OF A MIRACLE
By the late 1950s, Mother Teresa found herself becoming quite newsworthy,
at least in Calcutta, where she was the subject of several articles in both the
Indian and English newspapers. This attention marked the beginning of a
remarkable relationship between Mother Teresa and the Indian press. For
one thing, the articles about Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity
often resulted in donations to the order. Some of the gifts came in the form
of money; others donated supplies and their time.
The wife of a British businessman and a former Loreto student, Aruna
Paul, helped teach children in the slums. She also organized Christmas