Mother Teresa Trivia Quiz

Answer: Albanian

Mother Teresa was born to an Albanian family in Skopje (now in Macedonia) on August 26, 1910. She had one older sister and one older brother. Her upbringing was grounded in her religion, which was derived from her parents. In writing this quiz, I am grateful to the booklet on Mother Teresa published by the Catholic Truth Society and written by Jim Gallagher, for information contained therein and reproduced here in this quiz.

Answer: Agnes

She was christened Agnes Bojaxhiu (the family name) by her parents. Her middle name was Gonxha (meaning flower bud in Albanian) and people often called her by this name. Her father was called Nikola (shortened to Kole), and her mother was called Dranafile.

Answer: September 1997

She lived to the age of 87 years. She was someone who worked incessantly, strenuously, and often with very little sleep and in just these facts alone she proved to be a remarkable person. In her work for the poor she not only laboured hard physically, but was often exposed to illness and disease. Trusting in God's calling, she completed His task for far longer than she would have anticipated.

Answer: strongly Catholic and quite rich

Her family were quite wealthy and did much good work in helping the poor. It has been alleged that her father eventually died of poisoning as a result of his political views (Agnes was about 9 at the time). Prior to his death her father had been a prosperous business person and a local councillor.

Answer: True

She joined these sisters in 1928, at the age of 18. She left her home in September 1928, and sailed for India in mid-November of that year.
She was struck by the poverty immediately on her arrival at Madras in India.

Answer: India

She is probably best remembered as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, where she set up the headquarters of her own missionary sisters. Her sisters spread their good works much wider across the world, but India was her home for the last 69 years of her life. She was greatly acclaimed worldwide on her death, but the Indian government especially celebrated her as their own.

Answer: 5

She could speak fluently in English, Albanian, Serbo-Croat, Bengali, and Hindi. This must have been a great help to her later in life when her fame having spread, she went abroad to speak to meetings. She clearly attached great importance to her ability to communicate with people, and thus carry out her work as a sister of charity.

Answer: she had all these talents

As a nun she was also a teacher, including teaching geography and basic literacy. In her youth at home, she had taught "catechism" to classes. Before setting up her own Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, she underwent three months training as a nurse in healthcare, nursing, and nutrition. In her youth, she had a couple of articles published in a local paper and wrote poems.

Answer: Yes

She had an immense calling inside her and it was her incredible willingness to give up everything for God that convinced her church leaders to let her found her own "Missionaries of Charity". Anyone who wants to understand what a "calling" is should be counselled to read the accounts of Mother Teresa's calling.

In retrospect, it is so easy to say that she followed the correct life for her, but at the time she was setting out nothing was that clear to some of those around her. Apparently, those who hear their own calling clearest are the people who have to fight most to convince other people.

Answer: "Something Beautiful for God"

Malcolm Muggeridge was an agnostic and was given the job of interviewing her by the B.B.C. Later in his life Malcolm Muggeridge and his wife were received into the Catholic church and the royalties from the book were sent to Mother Teresa's charity work. The book was one of the ways that Mother Teresa's fame spread worldwide.

Answer: Pro-life

As well as working with the poor, she believed in defending the rights of the the most vulnerable in society, including the unborn child.

Answer: True

Mother Teresa tried to keep this secret. It is not surprising that with the immense physical and continual hard work that she did that her health became a problem. It says much for her commitment and calling that her work continued with such fervour.

Answer: Yes

The Pope visted her "House of the Immaculate Heart" in Calcutta on 4th February 1986. This was an immense pleasure for Mother Teresa and the Pope took part in the activities there for a short while and gave his blessing. Rarely does the Pope recognize an individual person in the way that he did here.

Answer: a heart attack

However, she still performed her calling for another eight years. She carried on by having a pacemaker fitted to her chest. Her tenacity in the face of obstacles is a great lesson to us all.

Answer: 123

She had 3,914 sisters in 594 communities across the world. From being an unknown girl from Albania she had covered the world with people dedicated to the service of the poor. No wonder that the Pope has beatified someone who by her long life showed where true and lasting happiness must lie.