This Week in Christian History: Mother Teresa, Harvard and Founding of the Sunday School Society
Mother Teresa Dies — Sept. 5, 1997
This week marks the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa at age 87. Born in 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa became renowned for her charity work in India.
"Mother Teresa received various honors for her tireless and effective charity. She was awarded the Jewel of India, the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians, as well as the now-defunct Soviet Union's Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee," noted Biography.com.
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"In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work 'in bringing help to suffering humanity.'"
By 1996, the nun's body was giving out, with The New York Times reporting in her 1997 obituary that she had been "hospitalized several times ... with heart, lung, kidney and other problems, and also suffered ill health in earlier years."
Nearly 20 years after her death, the Roman Catholic Church canonized Mother Teresa as an official saint, setting the date on the eve of the anniversary of her death, Sept 4.
