St. Mother Teresa, a beacon of compassion and selflessness, dedicated her life to serving the poorest of the poor, inspiring countless others to follow her example of love in action.
About St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded in 1950, as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers, and an order of priests.
Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia, Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father’s construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death.
During her years in public school, Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age 18, she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service.
She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people.
In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community, and undertake her new work, Sister Teresa took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals–the ordinary dress of an Indian woman–she soon began getting to know her neighbors—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know their needs through visits.
The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, and the use of buildings.
In 1952, the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging, and street people.
For the next four decades, Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home. Blessed Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.
Why Pray the St. Mother Teresa Novena?
Praying the St. Mother Teresa Novena is a powerful way to seek inspiration and strength in embodying her values of love, service, and compassion. It encourages a deeper commitment to helping those in need and fosters a spirit of humility and generosity.
Many turn to her intercession during challenging times, finding comfort in her unwavering faith and dedication to humanity, making the novena a meaningful practice for personal growth and reflection.
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Prayers
Novena to St. Mother Teresa is a nine-day prayer experience designed to deepen your faith, strengthen your relationship with God, and seek the powerful intercession of St. Mother Teresa.
You can pray the St. Mother Teresa Novena for any intention!
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 1
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 2
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 3
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 4
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 5
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 6
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 7
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 8
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Novena Day 9
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force – the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
(Mention your request here…)
Immaculate Heart of Mary, cause of our joy: Pray for us.
St. Joseph, Pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, be always with us, guide and protect us.
Amen.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary… Say 1: Glory Be…