This Day, That Year – October 7

This day in history we feature Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa established the Missionaries of Charity on this day in 1950.

Trivia – Missionaries of Charity

The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic (Latin Church) religious, now known in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Mother Teresa and the small community formed by her former pupils was labelled as the Diocesan Congregation of the Calcutta Diocese, and thus received the permission from the Diocese of Calcutta to identify as a Catholic organization. Their mission was to care for (in Mother Teresa’s words) “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.” It began as a small community with 12 members in Calcutta (now Kolkata), and in 2020 had 5,167 members serving in 139 countries in 760 homes, with 244 of these homes in India.

Related read – How to get active for charity

The sisters run orphanages, homes for those dying of AIDS, charity centres worldwide, and care for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia. They have 19 homes in Kolkata (Calcutta) alone which include homes for women, orphaned children and homes for the dying; a school for street children, and a leper colony. Today, the order consists of both contemplative and active branches in several countries. These services are provided, without charge, to people regardless of their religion or social status. In 1990, Mother Teresa asked to resign as head of the Missionaries but was soon voted back in as Superior General. On March 13, 1997, six months before Mother Teresa’s death, Sister Mary Nirmala Joshi was elected the new Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. In April 2009, Sister Mary Prema was elected to succeed Sister Nirmala, during a general chapter held in Kolkata. The Missionaries of Charity sisters were particularly hard hit by the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, as in places they continued to distribute food and minister to the poor who had been affected.

Source – Wikipedia

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