The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic centralised religious institute of consecrated life of Pontifical Right for women established in 1950 by Mother Teresa, now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. As of 2023, it consisted of 5,750 members religious sisters. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, "M.C.". A member of the congregation must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and the fourth vow, to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." Today, the order consists of both contemplative and active branches in several countries.
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu MC, better known as Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. Born in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire, at the age of 18 she moved to Ireland and later to India, where she lived most of her life. On 4 September 2016, she was canonised by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The anniversary of her death, 5 September, is her feast day.
The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose members are commonly known as the Loreto Sisters, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to education founded in Saint-Omer by an Englishwoman, Mary Ward, in 1609. The congregation takes its name from the Marian shrine at Loreto in Italy where Ward used to pray. Ward was declared Venerable by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2009. The Loreto Sisters use the initials I.B.V.M. after their names.
Gladys Staines is the widow of Australian missionary Graham Staines. Graham Staines was burnt alive along with their two sons Philip and Timothy by a mob led by the Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh in Odisha, India on 22 January 1999.
The Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are a Congregation of Roman Catholic apostolic religious women. The congregation was founded in 1869 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, later part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. The sisters have active apostolates in education, health care, spiritual direction, and other community ministries. As of 2021, there are 188 sisters in the community. The FSCC is a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, an organization which represents women religious in the United States.
Catholic nun and missionary Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, commonly known as Mother Teresa and known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta since 2016, has a complicated public image. She has been widely admired by many for her charitable work, which led to her being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace". During her life she was highly celebrated, receiving multiple awards and honorary degrees, as well as consistently ranking as one of the world's most admired people. She is also venerated by many Catholics who consider her a saint and ask for her intercession.
Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart is a hospice for the sick, destitute and the dying established by St. Mother Teresa in Kalighat, Kolkata, India. Before Mother Teresa sought permission to use it, the building was an old abandoned Hindu temple to the goddess Kali, the Hindu goddess of time and change. It was founded by St. Mother Teresa on her 42nd birthday in 1952, two years after she established Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata.
Maria Nirmala Joshi was an Indian religious sister who succeeded Nobel laureate Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries of Charity and expanded the movement overseas. After taking over the charity following Mother Teresa's death in 1997, Nirmala expanded the organisation's reach to 134 countries by opening centres in nations such as Afghanistan and Thailand.
A superiorgeneral or generalsuperior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while the general chapter has legislative authority.
Frances Mary Teresa Ball, IBVM was an Irish Catholic religious sister who founded the Irish branch of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, better known as the Sisters of Loretto.
St. Mother Teresa Catholic Academy ; also known as by its former names Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School before 2016 and Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School in its inception is a Catholic secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves the Malvern neighbourhood of Scarborough.
The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) is one of two associations of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. As of December 2020, CMSWR includes the leaders of 112 religious congregations which have a total membership of approximately 5,700 women religious in the United States.
Mother Marie Louise De Meester, M.C.R.S.A., founded the Missionary Canonesses of St. Augustine in Mulagumudu, then British India. They are now known as the Missionary Sisters of the "Immaculati Cordis Mariae" or Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I.C.M.), an international religious institute serving in the fields of social and pastoral work, technology and medicine.
Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville, known as Mary of the Passion, was a French religious sister and missionary, who founded the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in British India in 1877, currently one of the largest religious institutes in the Catholic Church.
The Mother Teresa Awards, officially called the Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice, are international and national awards presented annually to honour individuals and organizations that promote peace, equality and social justice, and aim to encourage the cause of justice and peaceful coexistence, while providing an impetus for society to imbibe these values. The awards are given in honour of Mother Teresa.
Ferdinand Perier, SJ, was a Belgian Jesuit priest, a missionary in British India, and the third Archbishop of Calcutta.
Celeste Van Exem was a Belgian Jesuit priest who lived in Calcutta from 1944 until his death there in 1993. Van Exem was a graduate of Louvain University, Belgium, and studied in Syria and Egypt.
Mary Kevin Kearny, OSF, CBE was a teacher, Franciscan Sister, and missionary, who founded a new Franciscan order. Born in Arklow, Ireland on April 28, 1875, she became a Junior Assistant Mistress at 17 and taught in Essex, England. On December 2, 1902, she left to begin missionary work in Nsambya, Uganda, working as a Franciscan Sister of Saint Mary's Abbey, Mill Hill, London.
Teresa of St. Rose of Lima, CSST was an Indian Catholic religious sister and the founder of the Institute of the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa in Kerala, India.
Joseph Langford (1951–2010) was an American Roman Catholic priest and author. He co-founded the Missionaries of Charity Fathers with Mother Teresa.
