The Saint of the Gutters

 

1 On a rainy Saturday afternoon in September 1997, thousands ofmourners — rich and poor, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians alike — lined thestreets of Calcutta to watch the city’s most famous resident — Mother Teresa —come home for the last time. As a mark of the esteem in which it held the tinynun, the Indian government had given Mother Teresa its highest honor: a statefuneral. All over the nation, flags flew at half-mast, and in Calcutta athree-hour-long Mass was held in the city’s gigantic Netaji Indoor Stadium.This service, for the woman popularly known as the Saint of the Gutters, wasattended by presidents, prime ministers, queens, and about 15,000 other guestsfrom around the world.

 

2 After the Mass, the funeral procession slowly wound its waythrough many of the same streets where Mother Teresa had once ministered to thehomeless and hungry, finally ending at the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity,the religious order she had founded nearly a half century earlier. There, the87-yearold missionary and humanitarian received a private burial, while thecrowd that had gathered outside prayed and wept. As Mother Teresa’s coffin wasplaced in the crypt, military honor guards fired a 21-gun salute.

 

3 Mother Teresa was born in Eastern Europe to Albanian parents,shortly before the outbreak of World War I. She first came to Calcutta, Indiaas a Catholic missionary nun, when she was still a teenager.

 

4 Calcutta is a city of both great wealth and great poverty. Shelived in the convent and taught at the church’s school, St. Mary’s. It was inone of the poorest parts of the town, but the convent itself was beautiful andsafe. From her bedroom window, Sister Teresa could see over the high walls ofthe convent gardens the slums where the people lived hand-to-mouth. For thenext 18 years she watched the street people starving, sick, homeless, livingand dying in the dirty city streets. The children had no school, so they couldnot learn enough to get a job. When they fell ill, there was no doctor whowould see them, so they often infected each other and died, hopeless, in thestreet.

 

5 In 1948, Sister Teresa asked the archbishop of Calcutta and thePope to allow her to go live among the poor in the streets and help them. Thearchbishop refused her request because he knew how dangerous it was for a womanto be on her own in the slums. But Teresa was stubborn and kept asking forpermission until he finally said she could go. She then joined the thousands ofpeople in the streets of Calcutta.

 

Caring forthe Poor — The Struggle Begins

6 When Sister Teresa left the convent to begin her work, some of herformer students wanted to join her to help her. The Vatican sanctioned theestablishment of the Missionaries of Charity and Sister Teresa became MotherTeresa and mother superior of the girls who joined her. The Sisters of Charitywore white saris — a long Indian dress made of wrap-around cloth. The nunssewed a blue border on the cloth to identify them to others.

 

7 Mother Teresa first went to an alleyway in the middle of the slum.She moved the garbage out of the way and invited the street children to comeand learn with her. She used a stick and wrote in the dirt to teach them thealphabet. There were five students at first. People saw what she was doing andsomeone found a table and chair for her alleyway school. Later, someone gaveher a cupboard. Every day, the school grew and more and more children came.

 

The Evidenceof Kindness

8 The streets of Calcutta were dangerous, dirty, and crowded. Peoplewere infected with cholera and leprosy, dysentery and other diseases that werefatal in most cases. Mother Teresa and her group of helpers went among them everyday with courage and conviction to do what they could to ease their pain.

 

9 One day, Mother Teresa came across a young woman in the gutter ofthe street, directly in front of one of the Calcutta hospitals. The woman wasso ill that she did not notice or care that the rats and cockroaches wereeating her feet. Mother Teresa picked up the woman and carried her into thehospital. She told the nurse inside, “This woman is dying. She needs help.” Butthe nurse replied, “Sorry, no room for her here. She is poor and can’t pay andwe can’t save her anyway, so we can’t waste a bed on her. Now please movealong.” Mother Teresa’s heart broke as she carried the woman back to thestreet, and there she stayed with the woman for hours until she died. MotherTeresa was angry and she felt like no one should have to die alone, forgottenand in despair in the dirty street.

 

10 Mother Teresa found an old abandoned hotel and started bringingin the people the hospital refused to admit. They were so sick that she knewthere was no hope of survival for them, but she felt compelled to make a placethey could come to die. It was a horrible undertaking as the people who filledthe rooms had open wounds covered with maggots or had parts of their bodiesmissing due to disease. One day, Mother Teresa saw a man lying on the steps ofa Hindu temple — very sick. She learned he was one of the Hindu priests and noone at the temple would touch him for fear of getting his disease. So they puthim on the steps to die. Mother Teresa picked him up and took him to the oldhotel where she cared for him until he died a peaceful death.

 

Saving theChildren

11 In 1955, Mother Teresa opened the Children’s House. Its mainpurpose was to house, feed, and clothe abandoned and unwanted children from thestreets. Many infants were left on her doorstep.

 

12 All the hospitals in Calcutta soon started sending all theunwanted babies to the Children’s House. Many were premature and ill and manydied, but many were nursed back to health. All the children at Children’s Housewere educated by the nuns. Donations to the children began to come in. When thegirls became old enough to marry, they required a dowry, as is the Indiancustom. Mother Teresa arranged it. When the boys came of age, Mother Teresa wouldelicit donations of a plot of land in order that the boy and his wife couldmove out of the dangerous city. She attended many weddings of the children fromthe Children’s House and proudly represented their family. Mother Teresabrought hope to thousands of children who would have had none without her.

 

13 In recognition of her tireless efforts on behalf of the world’sneedy and unwanted, Mother Teresa received numerous honors during her lifetime,none as prestigious as the Nobel Peace Prize, granted by the Norwegian NobelCommittee in 1979.

 

贫民区的圣徒

 

1 1997年9月一个阴雨的星期六下午，成千上万的哀悼者——他们有贫有富，有信仰印度教的，有信仰伊斯兰教的，还有信仰基督教的——统统站立在加尔各答沿街两侧，见证该市最著名的居民——特蕾莎修女——最后一次回家。为了彰显对这位身材瘦小的修女的敬意，印度政府给予特蕾莎修女最高荣誉：国葬。印度全国下半旗志哀，加尔各答巨大的内塔吉室内体育场举办了长达3小时的弥撒仪式。数国总统、首相、女王和大约15,000名世界各地的来宾出席了纪念这位人们称为“贫民区的圣徒”的女性的仪式。

2 弥撒仪式结束后，送葬队伍缓缓经过大街小巷。特蕾莎修女的身影曾经出现在这里，照料无家可归者和饥肠辘辘的穷人。最后，队伍来到了她在将近半个世纪前建立的修道会——仁爱传教修女会的总部。修女会为这位享年87岁的传教士和人道主义者举办了非公开葬礼，而人群则聚集在外面，祈祷、哭泣。当特蕾莎修女的灵柩被放置进地下墓穴时，军队仪仗队鸣炮21响。

3 第一次世界大战爆发前夕，特蕾莎修女出生在东欧一个阿尔巴尼亚家庭。十几岁的时候，她就以天主教传教修女的身份来到印度加尔各答。

4 加尔各答这座城市贫富分化严重。她住在女修道院里，在教会办的圣玛丽学校里教书。该校坐落于加尔各答最贫困的地段之一，但女修道院本身既优美又安全。特蕾莎修女从她的卧室窗口可以眺望女修道院花园高墙外面的贫民窟。那里的居民仅能勉强糊口度日。在接下来的18年里，她目睹贫民窟流浪街头的人忍饥挨饿、疾病缠身、无家可归、在肮脏的街头生生死死。孩子们没地方上学，因此学不到足以从业的本领。要是他们病了，没有医生为他们诊治，因此疾病蔓延，许多人绝望地死在街头。

5 1948年，特蕾莎修女请求加尔各答大主教和教皇准许她到街头贫民中去生活，为穷人提供帮助。大主教拒绝了她的请求，因为他知道女性独自深入贫民窟太危险了。但特蕾莎固执地一次又一次提出请求，直到他答应为止。从此她就生活在成千上万的加尔各答街头贫民中间。照料穷人——奋斗伊始

6 特蕾莎修女离开修道院去开展工作的时候，她以前教过的一些学生也想去帮忙。梵蒂冈的罗马教廷批准她建立仁爱传教修女会，特蕾莎修女从此成为特蕾莎院长，领导那些追随她的女孩子们。仁爱会的修女们身穿白色沙丽——沙丽是一种用布料包裹身体而成的印度长袍。修女们在白袍上缝了一道蓝边，以便让人识别。

7 特蕾莎修女首先去了贫民窟中心区的一条小巷。她搬开挡路的垃圾，邀请街头儿童来跟她学习。她用棍子在泥地上写画，教他们认识字母表。最初共有5名学生。人们把她的作为看在眼里，于是有人为她的小巷学校找来了一张桌子和一把椅子。后来有人给了她一个橱柜。日复一日，学校规模越来越大，学生人数越来越多。

仁慈的明证

8 加尔各答的街头危险重重，又脏又挤。人们感染霍乱、麻风病和痢疾等在多数情况下会夺人性命的疾病。特蕾莎修女和她的助手们每天都同他们在一起，心怀勇气和信念，尽量为他们舒缓痛苦。

9 有一天，特蕾莎修女在加尔各答一家医院门口的排水沟里发现了一名身患重病的年轻妇女。这名妇女病得昏昏沉沉，没注意到有老鼠和蟑螂在啮咬她的双脚，或是知道被咬也不在乎了。特蕾莎修女把她抱进了医院，对医院的护士说：“这名女子生命垂危。她需要帮助。”可护士回答说：“对不起，我们这里没有地方收容她。她很穷，付不起钱，再说我们反正也救不活她，所以不能为她浪费一张床位。请你们走开吧。”特蕾莎修女的心碎了。她把那位妇女抱回街头，就呆在街边守护着她，直到几个小时后病人死去。特蕾莎修女很愤怒。她觉得不应该让任何人在肮脏的街头孤苦伶仃、被人遗忘、满心绝望地死去。

10 特蕾莎修女找到了一家废弃的旧旅馆，开始把医院拒收的病人收容到那里。这些人都病得厉害。她知道他们没有存活的希望，但她觉得必须为他们提供一个等待死亡降临的地方。这是一项糟心的事业，因为把废弃的宾馆挤得满满当当的那些人要么身上有长蛆的开放性创口，要么因为生病而躯体残缺。有一天，特蕾莎修女看到一个重病人躺在一所印度神庙的台阶上。她听说此人原本是神庙里的一名教士，但神庙里的人都不敢碰他，只怕传染上他的病，所以就把他放到台阶上等死。特蕾莎修女把他抱回旧旅馆，悉心照顾他，直到他安详地死去。拯救儿童

11 1955年，特蕾莎修女开办了儿童之家。其主要宗旨是为被抛弃的无人收养的街头流浪儿童提供衣食和住处。许多婴儿被丢弃在她的门口台阶上。

12 很快，加尔各答所有医院开始把被遗弃的婴儿送到儿童之家。这些孩子里有很多是早产儿，又生着病。许多婴儿死去了，但也有很多婴儿被调养好了。儿童之家的所有孩子都由修女们给予教育。为孩子们提供的捐赠开始源源而来。等女孩子们长到待嫁的年龄，按照印度习俗她们得有一份嫁妆。特蕾莎修女会为她们安排。等男孩子们成年了，特蕾莎修女会为他们劝捐一块土地，好让他们带着妻子搬离危险的城市。特蕾莎修女骄傲地作为孩子家庭的代表出席了从儿童之家长大的许多孩子的婚礼，她为成千上万没有她原本毫无希望的儿童带来了希望。

13 因为她为世间贫困的和遭到遗弃的人所做的不懈努力，特蕾莎修女一生中获得过无数荣誉，其中最著名的莫过于挪威诺贝尔委员会1979年给她颁发的诺贝尔和平奖。