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Five facts about Mother Teresa
Marking her 100th birth anniversary, Discovery channel’s hour long docu-drama explores her life.
Marking her 100th birth anniversary, Discovery channel’s hour long docu-drama explores her life.
1 Mother Teresa left her parents’ home at the age of 18 in September 1918 to pursue her desire to become a missionary.
2 Calcutta’s imposing Victorian architecture tells of a time when it was a royal residence in the British Empire. But beyond that slums were sprawling. This is where Mother Teresa began her work.
3 In the Mother House in the centre of Calcutta, the young nuns were trained for their duties. Two white Saris, one pair of sandals, a prayer book and a rosary -- these were the missionary's only belongings.
4 When Pope Paul the Sixth came to India, Mother Teresa was too busy to meet him. He recognised her work and gave her his car, a white Lincoln. She auctioned it off to raise funds for the poor.
5 She wanted to establish a house for the dying – to give dignity to slum dwellers in their final hours. Then an official from the health authorities took her to Kalighat, a Hindu temple district in Calcutta. She founded a place here. Nirmal Hriday, Place of the Pure Heart, is the name Mother Teresa gave to it.
