Mother Teresa personal items on display

TIRANA, Oct. 24 – Personal items of Mother Teresa, the world-famous nun of Albanian origin, are being featured in Tirana in an exhibition commemorating the ninth anniversary of her beatification. “Mother Teresa, the girl named Gonxhe” also brings the spiritual world of Nobel Peace Prize winner through writings serving the poor and sick children. The exhibition which will remain open at the National Art Gallery until Oct. 28 also features a project to build a memorial to Mother Teresa. The memorial will be built behind the Tirana University’s Rector’s office next to the central boulevard with square named after Mother Teresa and featuring her statue.
Speaking at the exhibition’s opening ceremony on Oct. 19, Liri Berisha, the president of the Mother Teresa cultural foundation, stressed the importance of Mother Teresa’s messages.
Oct. 19 has been a national holiday since 2003 when the Nobel Peace Prize Winner was beatified by John Paul II.
Born in Aug. 27, 1910 in Skopje to Albanian parents, Mother Teresa grew famous for humbly ministering to lepers, the homeless and the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. In 1928 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Lareto, a Catholic order that did charity work in India. She took the name Sister Teresa and for 17 years taught school in the country. In 1950 she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a new order devoted to helping the sick and poor; the order grew to include branches in more than 100 cities around the world, and Mother Teresa became a worldwide symbol of charity
In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, and in 1985 she received the Medal of Freedom from the United States. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 19 October 2003, placing her one step from sainthood in the Catholic faith.