Prishtina, 26 August, 2024
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, concluded today’s activities with his participation in the solemn academy organized on the occasion of celebrating the birthday of Saint Mother Teresa, which was held in the premises of the “Bogdani Polis” Center, in Pristina.
In marking the 114th anniversary of her birthday, Prime Minister Kurti said that the little girl Anjeze, the Catholic Albanian from Skopje, became a mother for the poor, adding that with the name of the patron saint of missionaries, Sister Anjeze gradually became Mother Teresa, while years later founded the Missionaries of Charity religious community, with which she exercised her activism and commitment to charity towards the poor.
In this solemn academy held in honor of her life, contribution and commitment, Prime Minister Kurti exalted the outstanding figure of Mother Teresa, for whom he recalled that at the age of 69 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the Albanian the first to win any category of this award and one of the few women who has been awarded this peace prize, where on this occasion this year marks 45 years since Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Remembering her figure, Prime Minister Kurti concluded his speech by quoting Mother Teresa from her Nobel speech, 45 years ago with the words “And with this prize that I have received as a peace prize, I will try to make it the home of many people who have no home, because I believe that love begins at home, and if we create a home for the poor, I believe that more and more love will be spread and we will be able to bring peace if we understand this, we will be the good news for the poor”.
“Let’s make our home, our country and our Kosovo a home, a homeland and a state where people can live in well-being and equality, in security and justice, and where they can honestly build their future”, were Prime Minister Kurti’s words at the end of his speech.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Dear Dodë Gjergji, Bishop of the Diocese of Kosovo,
Monsignor Zef Gashi,
Dear brother from Calabria, Arbëreshi Guissepe De Mikeli,
Dear Ministers of Culture, Youth and Sports and of Industry, Entrepreneurship and Trade, Hajrulla Çeku and Rozeta Hajdari,
Sister of Honor,
Guest from Ukraine,
ladies and gentlemen,
Dear attendees,
Similar to last year, so one year today, this year too, we came together to remember Mother Teresa, on her birthday, August 26. 114 years ago, on August 27, 1910, when the priest Don Zef Rama baptized the newborn girl with the name Anjeze, a day after she was born, neither the one who gave her a name nor her parents who brought her to life, they had no way of knowing that they were holding someone who would become world famous for her humanity.
Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then the capital of the Province of Kosovo under the Ottoman Empire, which was in the last years of its existence. She grew up in a patriotic Albanian family in the years of the Balkan wars and the First World War, as a good girl and as a devout Catholic believer.
In 1928, Anjeze Bojaxhiu, the now 18-year-old daughter of the late Kola and Drane, left her hometown, leaving for Ireland, where she joined the Loreto Sisters and became one of them. In Ireland, English became her language of communication for life. In 1929, she went to India, a country with which she became permanently attached. He taught at Saint Teresa’s school and there, in 1931, he was named Tereza, after Saint Teresa of Lisja.
Together with the name of the patron saint of missionaries, Sister Anjeze gradually became Mother Teresa, especially after she founded the Missionaries of Charity religious community in 1950, with which she exercised her activism and commitment to charity towards the poor. Thus, the little girl Anjeze, the Catholic Albanian from Skopje, became a mother for the poor, Mother Teresa.
At the age of 69, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first Albanian woman to win any category of this award and one of the few women who has been awarded this peace prize. This year marks 45 years since Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and in her speech during the acceptance of this prize, among other things, she said this in another paragraph from what we read earlier: “And with this prize that I received as a peace prize, I will try to make it the home of many people who have no home, because I believe that love begins at home, and if we create a home for the poor, I believe that more and more love will be spread and to be able to bring peace if we understand this, we will be the good news for the poor.”
Remembering Mother Teresa on her 114th birthday with this quote from her Nobel speech, 45 years later, let’s read this paragraph also as a declaration that “love begins at home”, and thus, each of us has done our homework as best we know and can, let’s make our house, our country and our Kosovo a home, a homeland and a state where people can live in prosperity and equality, in security and with justice, and where they can honestly build their peaceful future.
Mother Teresa has been respected for a long time, but let’s start with what has already been written and said, and on this occasion allow me to thank her from the bottom of my heart for his extraordinary work and invaluable contribution, Don Lush Gjergji.
Remembering the words and orders of Mother Teresa, with wishes that these days of demonstrations for her birthday, for the Nobel Peace Prize received by her and her consecration, go as well as possible.
Thank you!
Last modified: August 27, 2024