St. Teresa of Calcutta
Feast day: September 5
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, Teresa entered a congregation of Irish Loretto sisters at the age of 18. She left Ireland for Calcutta, India, where she became an educator. After a number of years, she received permission to give up her teaching and devote herself to caring for the poor of the city. Other women asked to join her work and this laid the foundation for a new religious congregation called the Missionaries of Charity. Known to others as Mother Teresa, she died in 1997 and was canonized in 2016.
Collect
O God, by whose gift Saint Teresa of Calcutta
persevered in imitating Christ, poor and lowly,
grant us through her intercession
that, faithfully walking in our own vocation,
we may reach the perfection
you have set before us in your Son.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
