For Wendy, who reminds me every day to do small things with great loveJG
To my brothers and sisters and their wonderful familiesDG
PENGUIN WORKSHOP
An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Text copyright 2015 by John Gigliotti. Illustrations copyright 2015 by Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Published by Penguin Workshop, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. PENGUIN and PENGUIN WORKSHOP are trademarks of Penguin Books Ltd. WHO HQ & Design is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Printed in the USA.
Visit us online at www.penguinrandomhouse.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
Ebook ISBN 9780698412118
Version_2
Contents
Who Was
Mother Teresa?
Mother Teresa stared out the window of the train as it made its way from the crowded city of Calcutta, India, to the mountain resort town of Darjeeling in September 1946.
The Indian countryside was very beautiful. But the train ride took many hours. With lots of twists and turns and zigzags to get up the mountain, the train moved slowly. That was okay, though. It gave Mother Teresa plenty of time to think.
Mother Teresa was traveling from St. Marys School for girls to her annual retreat in Darjeeling. A retreat is a good place to get away from the noise and distractions of everyday life, and to spend quiet time in prayer and reflection. It was the perfect time to think about God and to get energized for the coming school year.
Mother Teresa was the headmistress at St. Marysthat is why she was called Mother. She had taught history and geography for fifteen years. She loved it there, and she loved her students.
However, Mother Teresa had moved to India to help the poor. As the train chugged along, she heard God talking to her. The message was quite clear, she later said. I was to leave the convent [a house where nuns live] and help the poor while living among them.
It took almost two years before Mother Teresa got permission from the Catholic Church to leave St. Marys and live among the poor in Calcutta. She then spent the rest of her lifenearly fifty yearsamong people in some of the poorest areas of the world, helping the sick and comforting the dying. She loved the unloved and gave hope to those with no hope. She founded a new order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity, who have fedand continue to feedmillions of hungry people in India and around the globe.
But Mother Teresa wasnt thinking about any of that on the train to Darjeeling. She was only thinking of the first step, which she believed came directly from God.
It was a command, she said. Something to be done. Something definite. I knew where I had to be.
Chapter 1
Childhood
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Bojaxhiu (boy-a-GEE-you) on August 26, 1910, in the city of Skopje (SKOP-ee-eh), which is now the capital city of Macedonia, just north of Greece. The day after Agnes was born, she was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith.
Agness father and mother were Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu, who were Albanian. Agnes had a sister, Age (AG-ay), who was six years older, and a brother, Lazar, who was three years older. They sometimes called Agnes by her middle name, Gonxha (GONE-ja), which means flower bud.
Nikola was an important man in Skopje. He owned part of a construction company that built the citys first theater, and he was a member of the town council. He owned property, spoke several languages, and had other businesses, which included buying and selling goods such as leather and sugar.
Nikola traveled a lot for work. Agnes missed him when he was gone, but she was always excited to see what surprises he brought back, and to hear stories about his adventures.
When she was young, Agnes often sat at the dinner table with her family, listening to her father tell stories about his travels. Sometimes, there were other people at the table, toopeople Agnes didnt always know and who maybe werent dressed as well. When Agnes was very young, her mother sometimes told her the visitors were distant cousins, or friends from the neighborhood. Later, when she was old enough to understand, Agnes discovered they were the poorest people in Skopje. They needed a meal, and perhaps a place to spend the night.
When Nikola traveled on business, he always left Drana enough money to take care of anyone who came to her for help. And people often did. When Drana wasnt cooking or cleaning for her own family, she did it for needy people in town. The Bojaxhius werent exactly rich, but they never lacked for anything they neededand they always found a way to help others who were not as fortunate.
Agnes learned early on from her parents to help the needy. She sometimes went out with her mother with food to feed the hungry, and to help the neighbors in other ways.
Skopje was a vibrant and diverse community. As Agnes walked through the streets with her mother, she visited the big bazaar at one end of town with its large selection of clothes and pottery. She met rich and poor people. She met many people from many different backgrounds. As a Catholic, Agnes was Christian, but Skopje was home to Jews and Muslims, too. She learned to respect different religions, and to recognize that all people are children of God.
THE CATHOLIC FAITH
CATHOLICS ARE THE LARGEST BRANCH OF CHRISTIANITY. CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST, WHO LIVED TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, IS THE SON OF GOD. THEY BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED TO MAKE UP FOR THE SINS OF ALL HUMANS, AND THAT HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. A CHRISTIANS SACRED SCRIPTURE IS THE BIBLE. THERE ARE ABOUT 2.18 BILLION CHRISTIANS IN THE WORLD, AND 1.21 BILLION OF THEM ARE CATHOLICS.
