1 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa was always traveling, flying here, flying there. I 2 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 1: tend to think of her as living a spart in life, 3 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,959 Speaker 1: but of course she took planes like anyone else. Mary 4 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: Johnson remembers us one time in particular, the two of 5 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,200 Speaker 1: them flew from Rome to Sweden. Mary was Mother's traveling 6 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: companion and assistant for the trip. We were going there 7 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: for an ecumenical conference where mother was going to be 8 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: honored and was going to give a talk. They boarded 9 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: the plane in their blue and white saris. Mary also 10 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,599 Speaker 1: packed two heavy boxes of miraculous medals, these small religious 11 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,240 Speaker 1: tokens that Mother Teresa would kiss and hand out to people. 12 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: Mary and Mother Teresa settled into their seats in first class. 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: They booked economy, but Mary says airlines always upgraded their tickets. 14 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: They're trying to avoid all the commotion that would happen 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: if people knew Mother Teresa was on the plane. Mary says, 16 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa pulled on the sleeve of one of the 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 1: flight attendants and said, all that extra food you know 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:12,959 Speaker 1: that people aren't eating, that you're going to have to 19 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: throw away anyway, Could you give it to me and 20 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: I will use it for the poor. The flight attendant 21 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: looked hesitant, awkward. She explained they had to throw the 22 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: food waste away. It was against the rules to keep it. 23 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: And she said, oh no, just tell them Mother Teresa 24 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: needs it for the poor. They won't make any fuss 25 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: for you. And anyway, long story short, Eventually she went 26 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: around with a big black trash bag, collecting things from people, 27 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: and of course that's how people came to know that 28 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa was on the plane. And then they all 29 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: started to come, one by one and standing next and 30 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: Mother would sign things for them and kiss the metal 31 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: and give it to them and pray with them and 32 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: all the rest of it. And when we finally landed 33 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: in Stockholm and we got out of the plane and 34 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: there was the Catholic bishop and the Lutheran big shot 35 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: guy whoever he was in the Salvation Army general, and 36 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: they were all waiting for us there, and his mother 37 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: Theresa met them. The flight attendant came out with these 38 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: two huge trash bags full of sugar packets and ketchup 39 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: packets and salt packets and little candy bars and whatever 40 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 1: else you can have, these these big trash bags. And 41 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa saw it and she turns to the Salvation 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: Army general, and she says, you work with the poor, 43 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: don't you? And she gives him the two trash bags 44 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: full of all of these little things from the airplane. 45 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: And I don't have any idea what he did with them. 46 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: Hearing this story made me wonder about Mother Trees at 47 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: the Person. The woman who loved to hand out miraculous 48 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: metals so much she ran out. The woman who do 49 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: anything to save a few scraps of food, who was 50 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: tough enough to lead a worldwide organization until months before 51 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,000 Speaker 1: she died at seven. The woman who wrote she knew 52 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: from the beginning she was setting herself up for misery, 53 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 1: all in service to the poor. I wanted to know more. 54 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: She hadn't always been a living saint. She was young 55 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: once she had a whole interior life. How did Mother 56 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: Trees at the Person become Mother Trees at the Icon. 57 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk with sister still in the order, 58 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: but finding current sisters who would speak with us was 59 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:34,079 Speaker 1: not easy to do. Gosh, I'm nervous. My name is 60 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: in testing testing. Oh, my name is Erica Lance. If 61 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: you would be willing to chat with me for a 62 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: few minutes, or if there's somebody else next. A couple 63 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 1: of times a sister would answer a few questions as 64 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: long as we didn't record. I totally understand. Oh, you 65 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: need permission from the mother House, she said she couldn't 66 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: give me. I'm not I'm not interested in becaming a 67 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: sister personally now. Also ended the conversation with God, bless sorry, 68 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: bless you. I can't remember which I was a really 69 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: quick no wow. I guess that's the way they say goodbye. 70 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: Most of the time they wouldn't talk. I'm getting this 71 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: sound that still ringing? All right? That time I got 72 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: the busy super Instead, they directed me to a regional house. 73 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: The regional houses would direct me to the Bronx House, 74 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: the main house in the US. Gosh, just imagine they're 75 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,679 Speaker 1: in grand silence and this phone is ringing and long stuff. 76 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: The Bronx House sent me to the Mother Teresa of 77 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: Calcutta Center, which has an amazing website. By the way, 78 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: when you open it you hear music and Mother Teresa's 79 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: voice A and t Z. But they sent me to 80 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: the top the mother House in Calcutta and the Superior 81 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: General Sister Mary Prama Pieric. Sister Prama declined to speak 82 00:04:49,760 --> 00:05:01,920 Speaker 1: with me. In some respects, the refusal to be interviewed 83 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: makes sense. Mother Teresa wasn't always very open with journalists. 84 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: She was careful about which writers and interviewers she talked to, 85 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: so her followers don't like to talk to journalists either. 86 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: The missionaries of charity are very protective of Mother Teresa 87 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: and the organization. Early on, I was warned by multiple people, 88 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: they're not going to talk to you, but some former 89 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:26,600 Speaker 1: sisters would, sisters who knew Mother Teresa, who worked with 90 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: her directly, who have stories they haven't shared publicly before. 91 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,160 Speaker 1: When I say mother Teresa, what comes to mind immediately 92 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: for you? Who she was? Because I know her, I 93 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: know her well from Rococo Punch and I Heeart Media. 94 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: This is the turning I Am America Lance Part three. Mother, 95 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: I'm feeling I'm being much too open and um not 96 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: guarded enough in a sense for something public. That's my fear. 97 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I do have some apprehension about the I 98 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: don't think Sister Kathleen Hughes worried she tell me something 99 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:26,719 Speaker 1: horrible or some major piece of dirt. I think it's 100 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: just that concerned that any imperfect detail could take away 101 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,239 Speaker 1: from all the good Mother Trees that did. In general, 102 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: one thing I've noticed is that part of Mother Trees's 103 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: power is that she's as symbol. I think sometimes there's 104 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: a mindset that any blemish or misconstrule could take away 105 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: from that. And I mean think about it. As an MC, 106 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: you're essentially instructed not to talk much about your life 107 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,359 Speaker 1: with the outside world, don't write about it in letters 108 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: to your family, don't discuss it with outsiders. So talking 109 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: to a journalist, I can see why that might feel 110 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: a little strange, even for X M. C. S. I 111 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: can't speak for Sister Kathleen, but it was clear she 112 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 1: wasn't sure she wanted to talk. It was a definite 113 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: no from me, and I'm sure you felt that it 114 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: was going to be a definite no. And and then 115 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit just I don't know how he did it. 116 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: He was like, no, you're going to do it, and 117 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: I said, oh, okay, let me introduce you to Sister Kathleen. 118 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: I was twenty nine years a missionary of charity with 119 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: Mother Trees of Calcutta. I was our first American sister too, 120 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: joined from the United States. Even though Sister Kathleen is 121 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: no longer, an MC Jesus is still her spouse. I've 122 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: lived the last seventeen years as a consecrated woman, a 123 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: consecrated virgin here in the Archdiocese of Boston. A consecrated 124 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: virgin is basically a woman declared sacred by the Catholic Church, 125 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: committed to a life of virginity as a bride of Christ. 126 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: She's not a non per se, but Sister Kathleen attends 127 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: Mass daily and continues her mission work in the community. 128 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: I'm very grateful to God for all my years in 129 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: whichever path He's led me. If I may say that 130 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: Sister Kathleen was drawn to join the m c S 131 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: the way a lot of women were by a British 132 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: documentary filmed the nineteen sixty nine and Kolkata, called Something 133 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: Beautiful for God. When she was twenty years old. Sister 134 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,119 Speaker 1: Kathleen wasn't a sister yet. She was a college student 135 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: in upstate New York at Syracuse University. She heard that 136 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: Something Beautiful for God was going to be screened there, 137 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: and when I arrived, somehow I mixed up the time 138 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: or was delayed, and I missed the film, and something 139 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,920 Speaker 1: inside of me actually kind of gave a sigh of relief. 140 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:49,840 Speaker 1: I don't know why, it was just instinctive, you know. 141 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: And I know the guy who was the projectionist, and 142 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: he said, why didn't you sit down? It's so good. 143 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: I'll just sit here and show it again just to you, 144 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: and I felt, oh, dear, I guess I'm going to 145 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:12,079 Speaker 1: see this. This film was a big deal because it 146 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: showed a lot of people who Mother Teresa was and 147 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: it inspired a lot of women to join her order, 148 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: including a number of the former sisters we spoke to. 149 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: So I wanted to watch it, and I watched it 150 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: with Allen, who is a producer on the show and 151 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: also my sister. So basically, there was this guy, Malcolm 152 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: Muggridge who was a TV commentator and filmmaker, and he 153 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: interviewed Mother Teresa in London for TV and he honestly 154 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: thought the interview wasn't very good. I think it called 155 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 1: it barely usable. Yeah, but they aired it anyway and 156 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,679 Speaker 1: it ended up getting this huge response. So he decided 157 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: to go to Calcutta to make an entire film about her, 158 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: and it's this film, something Beautiful for God. It's an 159 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: interesting film to watch. You see all of the Indian 160 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: locals who are in difficult situations. They're sick or dying, 161 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: they have leprosy. I doubt the film crew asked their 162 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: permission to film them. They don't talk with them directly, 163 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: they don't feature interviews with them. It's like Muggerage is 164 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: interested in what Mother Teresa is doing, but not so 165 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: much in the people she's doing it for. Yeah, And 166 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: basically what happens is Mother Teresa shows Muggerage around and 167 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: at one point she comes up to these cribs of 168 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: babies just crammed in these cribs like sardines, and she 169 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: picks a baby up that's really a tiny baby, and 170 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: she kind of holds it out for the camera and 171 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 1: strokes the baby's head, and the baby looks very sick. 172 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: I could see if you are watching this and you 173 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: wanted to help people in the world, it's like, well, 174 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:50,560 Speaker 1: these people need help. They're right in front of you. 175 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,440 Speaker 1: And that becomes even more clear when they go to 176 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: the Home for the Dying, where there are just rows 177 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: of cots of very thin, sick looking people, their hair 178 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: cut short, and Mother Teresa tells Mugridge that they've cared 179 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:09,679 Speaker 1: for over two people there that half of them have died, 180 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: and Mugridge asked this question. He basically says that some 181 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: people might say, why keep these people alive at all? 182 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: And Mother Teresa says that she wants to show them 183 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: love before they die, and she quotes someone she says, 184 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: they live like animals, but now they die like angels. 185 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: Now they die like angels. Sister Kathleen watched all of 186 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 1: this alone and the auditorium and upstate New York. In 187 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: ninety three she joined the Missionaries of Charity, and she 188 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: remembers the first time she met Mother Teresa. Somebody said 189 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: Mother's here, and when I saw her, something struck me. 190 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: I I felt like I fell back a little bit. 191 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: There was a force, a power, a presence that moved 192 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: me somehow, and she said, come, come, and that's how 193 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: I met her. In the early nineteen seventies, Mother Teresa 194 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: was just at the start of her rise to fame, 195 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: but over the coming years she'd become an international figure, 196 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: meeting with the likes of Kofe and Nan, Nancy and 197 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,400 Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth the Dalai Lama. There were critiques 198 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: of Mother Teresa to be sure and we'll get to 199 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,840 Speaker 1: those but in the public eye she was a living saint. 200 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: She could look right through you. She would look right 201 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: into your soul, into the depths of your soul. I 202 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 1: loved her. She she was. I mean, people say, well, 203 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: she's just human and all of that. Yes she was, 204 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: but she was a little bit above humanity. Joan Worcester 205 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: was a sister with the Missionaries of Charity in the 206 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, and she said the same type of thing 207 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 1: about Mother Teresa. And when you talk to her, you 208 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:01,720 Speaker 1: could held that because when she talked to you, she 209 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:03,679 Speaker 1: wasn't looking at you like we look at each other 210 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: and we're talking. She almost looked through you, almost, Jones says, 211 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: like she could see into your soul. But what was 212 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: in hers? It surprises me sometimes how much isn't known 213 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: about Mother Teresa's life. The information we do have is 214 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: often clouded with an accuracy, is repeated over and over. 215 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: But here's what we do know. Mother Teresa was born 216 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: in in an Albanian family in the city of Scorpia, 217 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: now part of North Macedonia. Back then, her name was 218 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: Anya Gonju. We think of Mother Teresa as this impoverished figure, 219 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: but her family was pretty well off When she was young, 220 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: her father was sort of a celebrity in their town. 221 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: He was a member of the town council, a businessman, 222 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 1: and an activist. But when she was around nine years old, 223 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,679 Speaker 1: her father died. He may have been murdered because of 224 00:14:17,679 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: his political activism. A few months after that, seven more 225 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: close relatives died. It was the nineteen eighteen flu pandemic, 226 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: and they've gotten the Spanish flu years later, when she 227 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: was famous mother, Teresa wouldn't publicly talk about her childhood much, 228 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: but it seems her Catholic family became even more religious 229 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: after her father's death and the loss of her other 230 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,400 Speaker 1: family members. As she told malcol Muggridge, she felt the 231 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: religious call when she was just twelve years old and 232 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,640 Speaker 1: since then this four pears, I've never dealted even for 233 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: a second that I've done the right thing. It was 234 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: the real of good. That was his choice, and that 235 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: has given you complete serenity in peace and happiness, the 236 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: happiness that no one can take from them and has 237 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: never been a doubt or unhappiness. When she was eighteen, 238 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: she joined the Loretto Sisters, a Roman Catholic order in 239 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: Ireland known for its schools and so Anya's became Sister 240 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: Mary Teresa. She chose the name Teresa after St. Terres, 241 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: a saint known for valuing simple acts of kindness. The 242 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: Loretto Sisters stationed Sister Teresa in Calcutta, India. The city 243 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: she becomes synonymous with. What happened was when Mother Teresa 244 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: was here. You know, she's so white, a vibrant city. 245 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 1: This is Shantony Chacobardi. He's a history professor at the 246 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: University of Calcutta and an expert on contemporary Indian history. 247 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties and thirties, when Mother Teresa arrived, 248 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: India was under British rule. Of course, there was a 249 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: lot of colonial exploitation. Indian industrialization was hampul to a 250 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: large extent. But you know, Colonia connection also linked up 251 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: India globally. People are moving to Calcatta from all over. 252 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: There is a Buddhist revivalist movement, and in the thirties 253 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: it was an epicenter to the country's film industry. All 254 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: the major movie studios were located here. With the Loretto Sisters, 255 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa taught at a school for girls and later 256 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: became headmistress. In seven she took her final vows and 257 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: following Loretto custom, became mother. She was no longer Sister Teresa. 258 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: She was now Mother Teresa. Then came September. Mother Teresa's 259 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: thirty six years old. She's on a train to a 260 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas, and she hears 261 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: a voice. The voice, as she called it, it was 262 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: very clear and distinct. That's Father Brian Colladay Chuck. He's 263 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: an MC priest and Superior General of the MC Fathers. 264 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,440 Speaker 1: The one person from the Missionaries of Charity who agreed 265 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,520 Speaker 1: to record an interview. He edited the book on Mother 266 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:06,800 Speaker 1: Teresa's divine calling, compiled her personal letters, and studied her spirituality. 267 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 1: Father Brian says Mother Teresa knew that the voice was Jesus, 268 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 1: and that Jesus told her to follow a new calling. 269 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: He said to quote, give up all and follow him 270 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:20,879 Speaker 1: to the slums to serve him in the poorest of 271 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: the poor. In a letter, Mother Teresa writes that Jesus 272 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: told her, quote, little one, give me souls, Give me 273 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,640 Speaker 1: the souls of the poor, little street children. He said, 274 00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:36,520 Speaker 1: I want Indian missionary sisters of Charity who would be 275 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:40,200 Speaker 1: my fire of love amongst the very poor. The sisters 276 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: that would offer their lives as victims of my love. 277 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: Would bring these souls to me. Jesus will say, speaking 278 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:49,200 Speaker 1: of the poor, they don't know me, so they don't 279 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: want me. You go and be my life. Her call 280 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:01,960 Speaker 1: came at a pivotal time and cut his history. August 281 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: sixteen to nineteen ninety six is known as the Great 282 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,640 Speaker 1: Calcutta Killing in India. Mother Teresa was there. Here's Shantony 283 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,240 Speaker 1: Chaco party again. In ninety six, you had severe communal 284 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: rats in the cities between Hindus and Muslims, as a 285 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: result of which, you know, you had dead bodies festering 286 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: in the drains for five to ten days, a lot 287 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: of people, you know, killed or named for life. Somewhere 288 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: between five and ten thousand people died. This all happened 289 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,399 Speaker 1: just a month before Mother Teresa heard that voice on 290 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: the train. Then, in ninety seven, India gained independence from 291 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: Britain from the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan. 292 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: Violence broke out near the border with what is now Bangladesh. 293 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: Fifteen million people were displaced from their homes. Refugees flocked 294 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: to Calcutta, and the first thing which must have struck 295 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: her was the huge number of people simply living on 296 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: the streets, and she started catering to them, and erhaps 297 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: to this strained them to her sense of mission. After 298 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa's calling on the train, she experienced visions for months. 299 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:17,719 Speaker 1: Father Brian writes that during this time she enjoyed an 300 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,879 Speaker 1: intense degree of union with our Lord. He likens it 301 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:25,439 Speaker 1: to a kind of spiritual ecstasy. Mother Teresa wrote, I 302 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: have been longing to be all for Jesus, to identify 303 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 1: myself with Indian girls completely, and so love him as 304 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: he has never been loved before. I thought it was 305 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: one of my many mad desires. She tells her confessor 306 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: what Jesus said. Eventually she tells the archbishop too. She 307 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,360 Speaker 1: wants to start a new congregation of religious sisters, as 308 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: Jesus instructed, but she's rebuffed. They want her to slow down. 309 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: They need prayer and reflection and time to see if 310 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:03,200 Speaker 1: her call is true. At one point to even say 311 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: she's not allowed to think about it anymore. Mother Teresa obeys, 312 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: but when they opened the door, she goes full force, 313 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: writing letter after letter she needs to obey Jesus's call 314 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 1: to Finally, after two years it pays off, the Pope 315 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: grants her permission to form a new congregation. In nineteen 316 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,159 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa officially founds the Missionaries of Charity under the 317 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: Archdiocese of Calkatta. By the way, what she created was 318 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: technically a religious institute, not a religious order, and they're 319 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: not actually nuns. They're religious sisters. Nuns live contemplative lives, 320 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: while religious sisters are active out in the world, but 321 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: these terms are used interchangeably all the time, and even 322 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: former MC sisters will call themselves nuns. The Missionaries of 323 00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: Charity started with just twelve sisters. At first, Mother Teresa 324 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,359 Speaker 1: planned they live off of just rice and salt, but 325 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: she was advised that's not enough to survive on. They 326 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:03,399 Speaker 1: weren't dan. Sorry is their habit? Mother Teresa said, Jesus 327 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,879 Speaker 1: told her to quote dressed in simple Indian clothes, or 328 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 1: rather like my mother, dressed simple and poor. So Mother 329 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: Teresa chose as sorry that resembled with women who swept 330 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 1: the street. Would wear the blue stripes and the border 331 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 1: would represent the Virgin Mary and purity, and their mission 332 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: would be to serve the poor. But not quite how 333 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 1: most people understand it. I think Mother Teresa often said 334 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: that the m c s were not social workers because 335 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,919 Speaker 1: for her, helping the poor was not an end in itself. 336 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: It was the means of expressing love for God. It 337 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: was all for God. Let me explain, and em C 338 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: houses around the world you'll find painted in big letters 339 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 1: the words I thirst. It comes from the Bible, the 340 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: Gospel of John, when Jesus is dying on the cross 341 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: and says I thirst. Mother Teresa interpreted his words metaphorically. 342 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 1: She said he thirsted not for water, but for love, 343 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: for sacrifice. She believed the m C mission was to 344 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: sayciate that thirst, and the way to do it was 345 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: to quote love, suffer and save souls. Here's Mother Teresa 346 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: addressing a group of sisters before they take their vows. 347 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: We are fully consecrated to Jesus to serve the poorest 348 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: of the poor. And by so doing, to say she 349 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: it is dust, the dust of Jesus on the cross 350 00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:30,879 Speaker 1: for love for souls. By working at the salvation and 351 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: sanctification to the poorest of the poor. In short, love 352 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: the poor like you love Jesus and bring souls to him, 353 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 1: or you could say conversion. Mother Teresa knew this would 354 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: be hard. Father Brian says, she signed up for suffering. 355 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,280 Speaker 1: Your vocation is to love and suffer and save souls. 356 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: To love, suffer and save and save souls. You know, 357 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,680 Speaker 1: because as she would say, thirst quench, say ship Jesus 358 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: first for love and souls. And Mother Teresa did just that, 359 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: even when her suffering became great and she did suffer. 360 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: This is how she put it in her letters and 361 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: the work. There will be complete surrender of all I 362 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: have and all I am. There will be nothing absolutely left. 363 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: Most of us have secrets, parts of ourselves we try 364 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,959 Speaker 1: to hide, and Mother Teresa wasn't any different. She labored 365 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 1: with a deep darkness, a spiritual darkness, but none of 366 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: the sisters in the congregation knew. She kept it to herself. 367 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,200 Speaker 1: I've never bult it even for a second, that I've 368 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,520 Speaker 1: done the right. Think it was the really good. That 369 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: was his choice, and that has given you complete serenity 370 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:53,160 Speaker 1: and peace and happiness, that happiness that no one can 371 00:23:53,200 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: think from me. It has never been a doubt or unhappiness. Yeah. 372 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: In reality, almost immediately after she formed the m c S, 373 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: the foundation of her life cracked. That Jesus, who had 374 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:12,359 Speaker 1: been speaking to her calling her, he went silent. She 375 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:17,879 Speaker 1: couldn't feel God's presence anymore. Instead, prayer felt dry. She wrote, 376 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,240 Speaker 1: there are such terrible darkness within me, as if everything 377 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,160 Speaker 1: was dead, and it would stay that way the rest 378 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:49,840 Speaker 1: of her life. Almost fifty years. Mother Teresa's darkness was profound. 379 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: She only told a handful of people about it, her 380 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: confessors and the Archbishop. She wrote early on, to him 381 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: your grace, there's so much contradiction in my soul, such 382 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,080 Speaker 1: deep longing for God, so deep that it is painful, 383 00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: a suffering, continual no faith, no love, no zeal. Souls 384 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: hold no attraction. Heaven means nothing to me. It looks 385 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: like an empty place. But to the world she smiled. 386 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: By the nineteen seventies, Mother Teresa's Order was booming. They 387 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: expanded through most of South America, and after the success 388 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: of the documentary Something Beautiful for God, they just kept growing. 389 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: It seemed like mother trees. It was everywhere at once. 390 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: She received international awards. Em SE houses opened around the world, 391 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,640 Speaker 1: including the US, with a continent in the Bronx. Despite 392 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,200 Speaker 1: her unyielding schedule, she still spend time with sisters like Kathleen. 393 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: Sister Kathleen remembers what she calls the early days when 394 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa would visit the Bronx in the summer. She 395 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: would come and the first thing we would do was 396 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,480 Speaker 1: pack the van and go on the picnic with her. 397 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: It was so much fun, Sister Kathleen remember is one 398 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,639 Speaker 1: of these picnics, someone had donated a tin at chocolate 399 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: chip cookies homemade, which we never got. And one of 400 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: the sisters knew I loved cookies. She used to call 401 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: me cookie Monster, even though we didn't have a lot 402 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 1: of cookies around. But she brought this tin over to me, 403 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:23,640 Speaker 1: and my eyes popped open and I showed great delight. 404 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: And I looked over the front of the van and 405 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,479 Speaker 1: I saw mother looking at me. Mother Teresa, and I 406 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: felt so embarrassed, and so I composed myself. And we 407 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 1: never saw those cookies during the picnic. And it was 408 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: on the way home. I was driving the van and 409 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa got the cookies and started breaking them up 410 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,399 Speaker 1: and was reaching from behind me and putting them on 411 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 1: my lap so I could eat little pieces of cookies. 412 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:52,879 Speaker 1: And I think I got more than anybody else too. 413 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: She was so afraid I would be left out, but 414 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,280 Speaker 1: that was her thoughtfulness. She had that mother instinct with 415 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: the sisters as well as the poor. Of course, Sister 416 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: Kathleen has lots of fond memories of Mother Teresa, like 417 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: one groggy morning when she and Mother arrived in Rome 418 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: after being up all night in an airport for a layover. 419 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: I was dead tired. I was ready to drop, and 420 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: I said to the sister in charge there, please let 421 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: Mother go to bed. Sister Kathleen insisted Mother gets some rest. 422 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,199 Speaker 1: She hadn't had any sleep. Mother would not hear of it. 423 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa was not going to bed, And I saw 424 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 1: her go in and sit down with these young postulants 425 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: that were joining, and her face became the face of 426 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: an eighteen year old with rosie cheeks, and I couldn't 427 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:49,920 Speaker 1: believe it. She wanted to inspire them in her own 428 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: quiet way. And I went off to bed. After these 429 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,959 Speaker 1: touching moments with her sister, she'd be off. She received 430 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: more awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. She opened a 431 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:09,000 Speaker 1: contemplative branch resisters, another one for brothers. She added priests. 432 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: The congregation grew really exponentially for a congregation within a 433 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: founder's lifetime. But this growth meant Mother Teresa worked constantly. 434 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,119 Speaker 1: Every time she opened a new foundation, a new house 435 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,680 Speaker 1: of sisters, she always had something to suffer. One time 436 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: she got up during the night to go to the bathroom, 437 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: and instead of the bathroom door, it was the staircase 438 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: to the basement, and she fell down the basement stairs 439 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: broke her arm. Another time she did something to her foot. 440 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 1: She said, every new foundation she had to suffer, she 441 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: had to make a sacrifice for it. It's mysterious, it's deadly, 442 00:28:54,840 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: and it's baffling medical science. Acquired immune deficiency syndrol. The 443 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 1: gay plague, as AIDS has been called, is the center 444 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: of a political storm, the moral majority claiming age is 445 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: God's punishment for the gay lifestyle. And Christmas Eve, Mother 446 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,360 Speaker 1: Trees opened one of the first AIDS hospice centers in 447 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,440 Speaker 1: the United States. It was a fourteen bad guest house 448 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: in Greenwich Village to your aviator, sunglasses and a stony 449 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: expression to the press conference, all business more lou reed 450 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: than the Saint of the Gutters. Sister Kathleen was an 451 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: m C at the time. We would take the people 452 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 1: that really had no place else to go. We didn't 453 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: have televisions for them and all the amenities. It was 454 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 1: really bare bones. After New York they opened AIDS hospices 455 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: in other cities. That was a very controversial move. There 456 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: was a lot of opposition from the neighbors, particularly in Washington, 457 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: and they would have meetings and they would present these hypotheses. 458 00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: If somebody up at the AIDS home blows their no 459 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: or bleeds into a Kleenex or something and drops it 460 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: on the ground, and then my dog grabs the Kleenex 461 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: and brings it to my house, are we all going 462 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: to be contaminated. They did not want us in their neighborhood, 463 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,160 Speaker 1: but Mother was determined. Did you get a sense we're 464 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 1: any sisters scared when opening these AIDS homes so early on, No, 465 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: none of us would ever express that, because it's like 466 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: being in the army, you're prepared for war. In a sense. 467 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: We were always in a war of good against evil. 468 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:50,360 Speaker 1: In the nineties, Americans agreed Mother Teresa was the most 469 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: admired woman in the world in an annual gallop hole twice. 470 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: Everybody in Rome knew who Mother Teresa was, and she 471 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: would be accosted every where. Mary Johnson says, Mother Teresa 472 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: drew huge crowds especially at professions. When new groups of 473 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: sisters professed their vows, people would would fill the church 474 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 1: every time, no matter how big it was, and on 475 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,680 Speaker 1: the way from the church to the convent, we'd have 476 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: to form this kind of honor guard. The sisters surrounded 477 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa to hide er when they walked in public, 478 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: but the stories were a dead giveaway. Eventually they came 479 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: up with a new method using Vatican ushers. These are 480 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,959 Speaker 1: big guys, and they would come and form like a 481 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: circle around Mother Teresa walking from the church to the convent, 482 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: just so that people wouldn't wouldn't crush or literally crushed 483 00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 1: or wanting to touch her. Sister Kathleen says Mother Teresa 484 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: didn't enjoy the attention. Once we were in the airport 485 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: with her and a woman came up to her and said, oh, 486 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa, I'm writing a book about you. I can't 487 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,040 Speaker 1: believe you're here and I get to meet you. And 488 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa looked at her as as though she had 489 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: two heads, so puzzled looking, and she said to the woman, 490 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: have you nothing better to do? The last thing on 491 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:24,959 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa's mind with any notoriety publicity, she she found 492 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:28,600 Speaker 1: it a terrible burden. Actually, she hated to have her 493 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,280 Speaker 1: picture taken. She just genuinely hated it. So she said, 494 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: I told the Lord for every photo, I want to 495 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: soul out of purgatory to go to heaven. And that 496 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: was the only reason that she would agree to get 497 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: her photo taken. And there are a lot of photos 498 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 1: taken in Mother Teresa. A gazillion Gazilian purgatory has to 499 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: be empty right close to it. At this point, people 500 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: already saw her as a saint. They're pretty sure she'd 501 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: be and I some day, and Mother Teresa saw the 502 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: possibility to one day. I remember so much. She had 503 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: all of us gathered around and she told us, you know, 504 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: I think all of you should hurry up and die. 505 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: That is what you should all hurry up and die, 506 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: because this pope is canonizing everybody WHOA completely WHOA. It 507 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: also didn't feel like her commanding us all to die. Okay, 508 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: let's be clear, But it confirmed to me something that 509 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: I had very long suspected that being named as saint 510 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: was something very significant in Mother Teresa's eyes. When I 511 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:49,120 Speaker 1: think of looking at Mother's face, I remember it as 512 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:57,680 Speaker 1: tired and in later years, like stretched, stretched with a 513 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: kind of full of gravity, of burden of labor. And 514 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,600 Speaker 1: she asked Pope John Paul the Second, what am I 515 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: to do? I have all these invitations and at the 516 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:18,400 Speaker 1: same time I have the responsibility for the congregation. And 517 00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:21,759 Speaker 1: he said, you give loving care to the people, and 518 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,839 Speaker 1: then you give necessary attention to the sisters. Give necessary 519 00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,240 Speaker 1: care to the sisters, but loving care to all the people. 520 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: And she took this to mean that the Pope and 521 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,800 Speaker 1: therefore God wanted her to limit her time with the 522 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: sisters to what was only essential, and to spend all 523 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: the rest of it accepting all of these invitations she 524 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:49,440 Speaker 1: was getting to give speeches, to receive doctorates, to whatever, 525 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 1: and there's not what she wanted. At the risk of 526 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,760 Speaker 1: overstating it, Mother Teresa became a victim of her own success, 527 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: as she would put it, a willing victim of Jesus's love. 528 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: One expert told me Mother Teresa was used by individuals, institutions, 529 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 1: and countries for their own purposes. But he said Mother 530 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: Teresa was shrewd. She had her own mission, and as 531 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,319 Speaker 1: he put it, she used her users just as much. 532 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 1: One of the more unusual images of Mother Teresa was 533 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: filmed on a street in the Bronx. Mother Teresa and Diana, 534 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,360 Speaker 1: Princess of Wales holding hands. Mother Teresa and her sary 535 00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:50,879 Speaker 1: and sandals. Princess Diana in a suit and heels. Mother 536 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: Teresa was very ill. She'd had three surgeries in the 537 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: previous year. Her recurring hard issues were getting worse. Plus, 538 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,840 Speaker 1: according to the Associated Press, she had lundon kidney problems too. 539 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: In just a couple of months she would die. Princess 540 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:12,919 Speaker 1: Diana visited because of Mother Teresa's poor condition. It wasn't 541 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: the first time they met. Mary Johnson remembers she was 542 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: there in Rome a few years earlier. In for me, 543 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: Diana and Mother had so many things in common, it 544 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 1: was it was crazy. It does seem crazy, given how 545 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: differently they lived, the class difference alone, but they were 546 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: both icons in the nineteen eighties and nineties, sort of 547 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: symbols of love, promoting humanitarian causes and advocating for the downtrodden. 548 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 1: They both navigated old institutions, one the Catholic Church, the 549 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,800 Speaker 1: other the British monarchy, both of them working within these 550 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: very closed systems, these very demanding traditional roles of one 551 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: sort or another, and both of them had internal suffering. 552 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 1: They tended to hide. Princess Diana once said public side 553 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: was a different obviously from the private side. Public side 554 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,080 Speaker 1: they wanted to pair and said touched and everything were 555 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 1: turned to go, and who I worried? We've forgotten? Sure 556 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,719 Speaker 1: did they realized that the individual was crucifying herself inside. 557 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,320 Speaker 1: On the day of Prince Sanna's first visit, Mary Johnson 558 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:22,480 Speaker 1: woke up at her usual four or forty in the morning. 559 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:27,280 Speaker 1: Paparazzi were already crowded around the convent. That afternoon, Diana 560 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,920 Speaker 1: arrived by limousine, and Mother told me, don't let anyone 561 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: else in the chapel, and just Mother and Diana for now, 562 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: all right, And so I kind of stood guard out there, 563 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 1: not letting anybody else in. Mother Teresa removed her worn 564 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: out sandals, and Diana took off her shoes too, and 565 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:48,239 Speaker 1: Diana these beautiful black pumps, and these two shoes were 566 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 1: the only ones right outside the chapel. And you saw 567 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:54,319 Speaker 1: their shoes and these two women inside brain and it 568 00:37:54,400 --> 00:38:01,759 Speaker 1: was beautiful. When Diana visited her again five years later 569 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: in the Bronx, other Teresa looked pale. After they both 570 00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:08,319 Speaker 1: waved to the crowd Lady Dyed bent over to say 571 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,720 Speaker 1: goodbye to Mother Teresa with a hug and a kiss, 572 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 1: and then drove off. It was the last time they 573 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: would see each other. M hm hm. Princess Diana died 574 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:39,680 Speaker 1: in a car crash six weeks later. Mother Teresa died 575 00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: a week after that. She was seven. According to testimony, 576 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:49,160 Speaker 1: on the day of her death, she lay in her 577 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 1: room at the mother House in Calcutta. Her breathing was labored, 578 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,840 Speaker 1: she complained of back pain, and an hour and a 579 00:38:56,880 --> 00:39:03,240 Speaker 1: half before she died. M there is a power outage. 580 00:39:04,800 --> 00:39:20,280 Speaker 1: The lights went out in Calcutta. Mm hmmm. During her life, 581 00:39:20,440 --> 00:39:25,800 Speaker 1: Mother Teresa had her critics, harsh critiques behind her simple 582 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,759 Speaker 1: message of love, they saw something else. I would say 583 00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:36,839 Speaker 1: that practically everything about Mother Teresa is a result of myth, 584 00:39:37,560 --> 00:40:22,319 Speaker 1: conscious lies and hyperbly next time on The Turning. The 585 00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,279 Speaker 1: Turning is written by Allen lance Lesser and me. Our 586 00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,280 Speaker 1: producers are Allen lance Lesser and Emily Foreman. Our editor 587 00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: is Rob Rosenthal, Andrea A. Suage is our digital producer. 588 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:37,320 Speaker 1: Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Special thanks to Amy Gains, 589 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:41,719 Speaker 1: Sarah oh Lender, Catherine Joyce, Beth and Macaluso, Travis Dunlap, 590 00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:45,440 Speaker 1: and consulting producer Mary Johnson. Her memoir and Unquenchable Thirst 591 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:50,840 Speaker 1: provided inspiration for this series. Our executive producers are Jessica 592 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,880 Speaker 1: Alpert and John Farratti AT for Coco Punch and Katrina 593 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 1: Norville and I Heart Media. Our theme music is by 594 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 1: Matt Reid. For photos and more details on the series, 595 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,160 Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at for Coco Punch. You can 596 00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:04,920 Speaker 1: reach out via email to the turning at for Coco 597 00:41:04,960 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 1: Punch dot com I America Lands. Thanks for listening. D