Home NewsWas Mother Teresa Albanian? Her Heritage, Family, and the Famous Quote

Home NewsWas Mother Teresa Albanian? Her

Was Mother Teresa Albanian? Her Heritage, Family, and the Famous Quote

Yes — Mother Teresa was ethnically Albanian, born to Kosovar Albanian parents in 1910. Her famous quote, family background, and...

Famous Albanians, History & Heritage

Written by Dardanë Halimi

May 4, 2026

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Yes. Mother Teresa was ethnically Albanian. She was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire and today the capital of North Macedonia, to an Albanian Catholic family with roots in Kosovo and northern Albania. Her father, Nikollë Bojaxhiu, was a successful merchant and a vocal Albanian nationalist activist; her mother, Drane Bernai, raised the family in Albanian and the Catholic faith. Mother Teresa herself put it most clearly in her own words: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world.”

That single quote answers the question more directly than any biography can, but the longer answer, covering where her family came from, why she always identified as Albanian, and why the question itself is so common, is worth telling.

Ethnically Albanian. Born in Skopje (now North Macedonia). Family roots in Kosovo and what is today northern Albania. Catholic by faith. Indian by adoption. Sainted by the Catholic Church in 2016. The reason this question gets typed into Google so often is that her work in India and her global identity as “Mother Teresa of Calcutta” can obscure the fact that she grew up speaking Albanian at the dinner table and never let go of that identity.

Key takeaways

Yes, Mother Teresa was ethnically Albanian. Born in 1910 in Skopje to Albanian Catholic parents.
Her own quote: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world.”
Family roots in Skopje and northern Albania. Father Nikolle was a vocal Albanian-nationalist activist.
Spoke Albanian fluently her whole life. An Indian citizen since 1948. Canonized as a Catholic saint in 2016.

Family Background: The Bojaxhius

Mother Teresa’s parents, Nikollë and Drane Bojaxhiu, were Albanians who settled in Skopje in the early 1900s. Nikollë was a partner in a successful construction and trading firm. He was also active in the Albanian-nationalist movement, attending political gatherings and reportedly hosting them at the family home. The Bojaxhiu household was, by every account, intensely Albanian: the language, the customs, the holidays, and the broader political consciousness of an Albanian Catholic family in the late Ottoman Balkans.

Nikollë died suddenly in 1919, when Anjezë was eight; the family later believed he had been poisoned for his nationalist activism, though it was never proven. His death pushed the family into financial hardship, and Drane raised her three children, Aga, Lazar, and Anjezë, with her own hands and the support of the Catholic parish. Anjezë was the youngest. She left Skopje in 1928, at age 18, to join the Loreto Sisters in Ireland, on her way to her first religious posting in Calcutta. She never lived in the Balkans again.

The Albanian Identity She Carried

Despite spending her adult life in India and devoting her religious life to serving the global poor, Mother Teresa never let go of her Albanian identity. She visited Albania for the first time on August 14 to 17, 1989, while the country was still under communist rule; officials classified it as a private visit. She visited her mother’s and sister’s graves in Tirana; both had lived out their lives in communist Albania and died without seeing her again. She spoke Albanian fluently her entire life. Her brother Lazar lived in Italy.

Her famous “by blood, I am Albanian” quote was not throwaway: the Vatican chose it to open her official biography for her beatification. Albania, both before and after her sainthood, has counted her among the country’s defining figures: the Tirana International Airport bears her name, and she is among the most prominent figures on the list of famous Albanians.

Why People Ask This Question

Three reasons. First, “Mother Teresa of Calcutta” understandably suggests an Indian identity to many people who only know her by that name, and she did adopt Indian citizenship when she began her work among the poor in 1948. Second, religious identification often gets confused with ethnic identification, and Mother Teresa is so closely identified with Catholicism that her ethnic Albanian background can feel surprising. Third, the family was Catholic, which goes against the common (and inaccurate) assumption that all Albanians are Muslim. Albanian religious identity has always been pluralistic. In Albania’s Census 2023 (INSTAT), 45.9% of residents declared themselves Muslim, 4.8% Bektashi, 8.4% Catholic and 7.2% Orthodox, and the rest declared another answer or none. Mother Teresa’s family belonged to the Catholic minority, particularly strong in northern Albania and parts of Kosovo.

Her Path to Calcutta

Anjezë left home in 1928, took the religious name “Teresa” after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, learned English in Ireland, and was sent to Calcutta in 1929 to teach at a Loreto convent school. She became a teacher, then headmistress. On September 10, 1946, on a train to Darjeeling, she received what she called her “call within a call,” a directive to leave the convent and serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta’s slums. She left the Loreto convent in August 1948. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. By 1997, according to the Vatican’s biography, the Missionaries of Charity numbered nearly 4,000 sisters in 610 foundations in 123 countries. She was canonized in 2016.

She returned to Skopje four times (1970, 1978, 1980 and 1986) and visited Albania more than once, beginning in August 1989. And in every public reckoning of her identity, she put “Albanian” first.

Mother Teresa Timeline: Key Dates

Most of these dates come from the Vatican’s official biography, published for her beatification, and from the Nobel Prize organization; the Albania dates come from Albania’s public broadcaster, RTSH, and the Albanian state film archive.

Date	Event
August 26, 1910	Born in Skopje; baptized the next day as Gonxha Agnes
About 1919	Her father dies when she is about eight years old
September 1928	Leaves home at 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland, where she receives the name Sister Mary Teresa
January 6, 1929	Arrives in Calcutta
May 24, 1937	Makes her final profession of vows and becomes “Mother Teresa”
September 10, 1946	Receives her “call within a call” on the train from Calcutta to Darjeeling
August 17, 1948	Wears the white, blue-bordered sari for the first time and leaves the Loreto convent
October 7, 1950	The Missionaries of Charity are officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta
1979	Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
August 14 to 17, 1989	First visit to Albania
1991	The Missionaries of Charity begin their work in Albania, in Tirana
September 5, 1997	Dies in Calcutta at 87; India gives her a state funeral
October 19, 2003	Beatified by Pope John Paul II
September 4, 2016	Canonized by Pope Francis

Her Visits Back to Skopje and to Albania

Mother Teresa left the Balkans at 18, but she did come back. She returned to her native Skopje four times, in 1970, 1978, 1980 and 1986. In 1980, the year after her Nobel Prize, the city declared her an honorary citizen. Today the Memorial House of Mother Teresa, opened to visitors on January 30, 2009, stands on the spot where the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus once stood, the church where she was baptized.

Albania was harder to reach. Her mother and sister lived out their lives in Tirana, and her requests to visit were refused repeatedly. According to Albania’s public broadcaster, RTSH, she finally arrived on August 14, 1989, while the country was still under communist rule. Officials classified the trip as private. She was received at the airport by the Albanian Red Cross, visited the home where her mother and sister had lived, and prayed at their graves. She also asked permission to bring at least four of her sisters to care for elderly and sick people in Albania, and the authorities said no.

She returned from December 1 to 5, 1990, the month Albania’s government first allowed independent political parties, and the Missionaries of Charity began their work in Tirana in 1991. When Pope John Paul II visited Albania on April 25, 1993, he honored her as a daughter of the Albanian people. Albania now observes September 5, the date of her death, as an official national holiday in her honor.

How the Official Sources Describe Her Origins

If you want to check the answer for yourself, the most authoritative sources agree. The Nobel Prize organization’s biography states that her family was of Albanian descent, and its summary calls her a Catholic Albanian girl. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes her as the daughter of an ethnic Albanian grocer. The Vatican’s biography opens with her own words: “By blood, I am Albanian.”

Where the sources differ is on the family’s hometown before Skopje. RTSH reports that her father, Nikollë, came from Mirdita in northern Albania and her mother, Drane, from Gjakova in Kosovo. A profile by the research center OBC Transeuropa says the family was originally from Shkodër. Skopje itself has changed states since 1910, from the Ottoman Empire to Yugoslavia to today’s North Macedonia, which adds to the confusion. None of that changes the core fact, which she stated herself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Mother Teresa born in Albania?

No. She was born in Skopje, in what was then the Ottoman Empire and is today the capital of North Macedonia. Her family, however, was ethnically Albanian, with roots in Kosovo and northern Albania.

What nationality was Mother Teresa?

She held several citizenships throughout her life. By birth, she was a subject of the Ottoman Empire (later Yugoslavia). She adopted Indian citizenship around 1948, when she began her work among the poor, and held it until her death. According to Albania’s public broadcaster RTSH, she received Albanian citizenship on February 14, 1990. Ethnically and culturally, she identified consistently as Albanian.

Did Mother Teresa speak Albanian?

Yes, fluently. Albanian was her first language, and she spoke it at home throughout her childhood. She also spoke Serbo-Croatian (the language around her in Skopje), English (learned in Ireland), and Bengali and Hindi (learned in India).

Was Mother Teresa Catholic or Muslim?

Catholic. Her family belonged to Albania’s Catholic minority, historically concentrated in the north of the country and parts of Kosovo.

Did Mother Teresa visit Albania?

Yes, more than once. Her first visit was on August 14 to 17, 1989, while Albania was still under communist rule, and she returned in December 1990. She visited the graves of her mother and sister in Tirana, both of whom had died during the years she was unable to return.

What is Mother Teresa’s real name?

Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. “Anjezë” is the Albanian form of “Agnes”; “Gonxhe” means “rosebud” in Albanian. She took the religious name “Teresa” after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux when she joined the Loreto Sisters in 1928.

When was Mother Teresa canonized?

She was canonized as a Catholic saint by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016, in Saint Peter’s Square. She is officially known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Did Mother Teresa win a Nobel Prize?

Yes. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with the poor and dying in Calcutta. In her acceptance speech she said she received it “in the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the homeless,” and of others who felt unwanted. The Nobel Committee’s stated reason was “for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity.”

Where is Mother Teresa buried?

She is buried at the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, where her tomb has become a pilgrimage site.

Was Mother Teresa’s family wealthy?

Her father, Nikollë, was a successful merchant, and the family was comfortably middle-class until his sudden death in 1919, which the family long believed was a poisoning connected to his Albanian-nationalist activism, though it was never proven. After his death, the family experienced major hardship.

Did Mother Teresa ever return to Skopje?

Yes, four times: in 1970, 1978, 1980 and 1986. In 1980, a year after she received the Nobel Peace Prize, Skopje named her an honorary citizen. The Memorial House of Mother Teresa opened in the city in 2009 on the site of the Sacred Heart of Jesus church, where she was baptized in 1910.

Is there a Mother Teresa holiday in Albania?

Yes. Albania observes September 5, the anniversary of her death in 1997, as an official national holiday dedicated to her. Tirana’s international airport also carries her name, and Pope John Paul II called her a daughter of the Albanian people during his visit to Albania on April 25, 1993.