Mother Teresa's 99th Birth Anniversary

Today is Mother Teresa's 99th birth anniversary and Missionaries of Charity across the world are holding special prayers to mark the day.

In Kolkata's Mother House, world headquarters of the Missionaries and Mother Teresa's home, special prayers were held early Wednesday morning.

Born Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu she was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

Mother Teresa had first been recognised by the Indian government more than a third of a century earlier when she was awarded the Padma Shri in 1962. She continued to receive major Indian rewards in successive decades including, in 1972, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and, in 1980, India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Six years after her death in 1997, Mother Teresa was beatified by the Vatican for her service to the poorest of the poor.