Mother Teresa – the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for A Life of Compassion
We want to take a moment to celebrate 45 years since Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for a life of compassion. "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."
Our poor people are great people, are very lovable people, they don’t need our pity and sympathy, they need our understanding love. They need our respect; they need that we treat them with dignity. And I think this is the greatest poverty that we experience, that we have in front of them who may be dying for a piece of bread, but they die to such dignity.
Mother Teresa-Acceptance Speech, 10 December 1979, in the Aula of the University of Oslo, Norway.
On October 17, 1979, the world paused to recognize a fragile yet towering figure of compassion: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her unwavering commitment to serving the most vulnerable. Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1910, she would go on to become a global symbol of selfless service to humanity. Through her work, she transformed the lives of the destitute, earning worldwide respect and admiration for her ability to see dignity where others only saw despair.
The Path to Service
At the age of 18, Agnes felt a profound calling to a religious life. She joined the Sisters of Loreto, a Roman Catholic order that sent her to India in 1929. For 17 years, she worked as a teacher in Calcutta, but in 1946, her life took a decisive turn. Witnessing the intense suffering of the poor around her, she experienced what she called “the call within the call.” She knew then that she had to leave the comfort of the convent and dedicate herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of that city.
By 1950, she had founded the Missionaries of Charity, an order that would become synonymous with charitable work across the globe. Starting with just 12 members, the Missionaries of Charity now number thousands, operating homes for the sick, the poor, orphans, and lepers across more than 130 countries.
Mother Teresa’s work in the slums of Calcutta drew international attention. Dressed in her simple white sari with blue trim, she was the epitome of humility, often saying:
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
Mother Teresa
Her compassion extended to all—whether they were impoverished children, lepers, or those left dying on the streets. She created homes for those abandoned by society, offering them dignity in death when society had denied them dignity in life.
Her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech was reflective of her life’s mission. She said: “To this love for one another and today when I have received this reward, I personally am most unworthy, and I having avowed poverty to be able to understand the poor, I choose the poverty of our people. But I am grateful and I am very happy to receive it in the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the leprous, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared, thrown away of the society, people who have become a burden to the society, and are shunned by everybody.”
Though her views on some topics were controversial, her overall message was one of profound love and care for all humanity, particularly for those marginalised and forgotten.
Mother Teresa’s influence on societal change cannot be overstated. At a time when poverty, particularly in developing nations like India, was often ignored or brushed aside, she placed it at the forefront of global consciousness. Her life was a living testament to the power of individual action in the face of overwhelming need. In a world divided by ideology, politics, and religion, she crossed boundaries, providing care to anyone who needed it, regardless of their faith or background.
Her legacy inspired countless individuals to engage in charitable work and ignited discussions about the dignity of human life. The Missionaries of Charity continue her mission today, running schools, clinics, and homes for the dying and abandoned, bringing hope to the most desolate corners of the world.
Even after her passing in 1997, Mother Teresa’s impact remains palpable. She was canonised as a saint by Pope Francis in 2016, a recognition of the holiness she embodied in her lifetime. However, her sainthood does not come from the miracles associated with her but from her relentless pursuit of love and compassion. As she often said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
Her life’s work continues to resonate with anyone who believes in the transformative power of love. In a world still riddled with inequality, war, and suffering, her example remains a guiding light, reminding us that, as she once said, “Peace begins with a smile.”
Mother Teresa’s Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 stands not just as a recognition of one woman’s work but as a reminder that each of us can be instruments of peace and love in our daily lives, no matter how small our actions may seem.
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