Mother Teresa: a biography

A HOLISTIC WHOLE
The theology that Mother Teresa followed is rooted in Church teach-
ings prior to Vatican II. This doctrine emphasizes the spirit over the flesh;
as such, it is the spirit that must be taken care of first. This attitude
stressed the glory of suffering, as the human body was often identified as
weak and sinful. Modern Catholic theologians have modified this view
and speak of the importance of good health for both body and soul. Glo-
rified suffering serves no purpose and is thought to be an evil in which no
good is found. To suffer is only good if there is a purpose and the possibil-
ity of turning it into something worthwhile.
For Mother Teresa, by contrast, suffering was the expected path one
must travel in order to reach heaven. This attitude helps explain how
such places as Nirmal Hriday, which became the home for the dying,
would be run. In caring to the very ill and dying, Mother Teresa was draw-
ing on the traditional practice of offering solace and comfort instead of
medical aid. This practice dates from the medieval period when religious
orders ran hospices for pilgrims or sanctuaries for the poor. There was, at
best, limited medical care available; what the sisters did in these places
was help to prepare the dying person’s soul for heaven.
By the nineteenth century, this attitude underwent a dramatic trans-
formation with sisters such as Mother Mary Aikenhead, founder of the
Irish Sisters of Charity, whose work helped lay the foundation for the
modern hospice movement. There were others too such as Dame Cicely
Saunders or Sister Frances Dominica, who helped change the way that re-
ligious orders treated the seriously ill and dying. Their work is often over-
shadowed by Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity, whom many
in the West believe had done the most to transform the way the dying are
cared for. In India and other Third World countries, there is little choice
in how one dies. Because of that, Mother Teresa’s work had been elevated
and in some cases misunderstood. It was an approach that would make her
an easy target in later years.
But for now, many of these criticisms were far in the future. Clearly, the
Missionaries of Charity had struck a resounding chord within the Cal-
cutta community. For Mother Teresa, there was still much to do. She and
her order had only just begun their work.
NOTES
1. Kathryn Spink, 
Mother Teresa
(San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1997),
p. 44.
6 4
M O T H E R T E R E S A

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2. Raghu Rai and Navin Chawla, 
Faith and Compassion: The Life and Work of
Mother Teresa
(Rockport, Mass.: Element, 1999), p. 47.
3. Edward Le Joly, 
Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Biography
(San Francisco:
Harper & Row, 1977), p. 23.
4. Anne Sebba, 
Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image
(New York: Doubleday,
1997), p. 169.
“ R I G O R O U S P OV E RT Y I S O U R S A F E G U A R D ”
6 5

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Chapter 6
KALIGHAT
On a rainy day in 1952, a young boy, no more than 13 or 14 years old, lay
dying on a neighborhood street. He appeared to be one of the many beg-
gar children who are found in the streets of Calcutta. Naked and emaci-
ated, the boy’s limbs looked more like matchsticks than arms or legs. A
concerned resident called the ambulance, which took the boy to a nearby
hospital. The hospital, already overcrowded, refused to help. Instead, the
boy was dumped in a Calcutta street gutter where he died alone and un-
known. At some point the city sent a van or a cart to haul the body away.
Although such scenes were common in Calcutta, a local newspaper
picked up the story of the dead boy and heightened public attention to
the dying poor.
Mother Teresa was no stranger to the problem. In the increasing num-
ber of talks she gave to the public about her congregation, she related a
very similar story. One day, when she and another sister were just begin-
ning their work, they encountered what appeared to be a bundle of rags
lying on a street. As they approached, they realized, to their horror, that
the bundle was not just rags, but a middle-aged woman, half-conscious,
her face half-eaten away by rats and ants.
Together, Mother Teresa and her companion carried the woman to the
nearest hospital. The nurses refused to take the woman, claiming the hos-
pital had no beds. When Mother Teresa asked hospital officials where she
could go, they told her to take the woman back where she had found her.
Frustrated, Mother Teresa refused to leave until she had a promise that
the hospital would make room for the sick woman. In the end, hospital
authorities relented and gave the dying woman a mattress on the floor.

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She died a few hours later with Mother Teresa by her side. It was then,
Mother Teresa told her audiences, that she had decided to find a place for
the dying and take care of them herself.