Mother Teresa's Rare Image as Young Woman Goes Viral on Social Media

A rare image of Mother Teresa as a young woman has been going viral on social media.

The new picture is believed to be taken in the early 1930s before Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu became Mother Teresa. 

Bojaxhiu was born to a Roman Catholic family on 26 August 1910 in Macedonian capital Skopje, which was part of erstwhile Ottoman Empire. Later, at the age of 18, she committed herself to a spiritual life and joined Sisters of Loreto as a nun.

She travelled to India in 1929 and later founded a religious congregation under the Roman Catholic church called the Missionaries of Charity, under which she devoted herself to caring for the destitutes.

Mother Teresa received Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1962 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died on 5 September 1997 and was beatified as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" in 2003.

Recently, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat questioned the intention behind Mother Teresa's selfless devotion towards the poor and sick.

"Her (Mother Teresa's) service would have been good, but it used to have one objective, to see that the person who was being helped felt obliged to become a Christian," NDTV quoted him as saying.

However, many leaders including Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal have slammed Bhagwat's indiscretion.