Mother Teresa (26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu

Mother Teresa became a nun in 1927 and was sent first to Ireland and then to Calcutta, where she taught in a girls’ school for nearly 20 years , before deciding to devote herself to working with the people living in the slums of Calcutta . After a short medical training , she and two other nuns took to the streets, caring for the sick and dying . In 1950 she founded the Missionary Sisters of Charity , which now has 775 homes in 120 countries .

For over 45 years she was carefully to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work.