Surprising details about Mother Teresa from Juliette Stephenson who plays her in the Letters.
"Her doubt. She struggled with loss of faith for many decades, and kept it a complete secret to all except her one confidante.
Surprising details about Mother Teresa from Juliette Stephenson who plays her in the Letters.
"She was European. She came from Macedonia and was of Albanian ancestry. I think people think that she was Indian, but not at all—India became her adopted country later."
Surprising details about Mother Teresa from Juliet Stephenson who plays her in the Letters.
"Mother Teresa came to be a novice nun in Ireland before she went to India. She joined the Sisters of Loreto in Rathfarnham, Ireland, at age 18, before leaving there to become a missionary in the developing world."
Surprising details about Mother Teresa from Juliet Stephenson who plays her in the Letters.
"When first in India, Mother Teresa worked as a teacher in a school for the daughters of the wealthy, St Mary’s in Calcutta, before leaving there to work for and with the poor. Her first fellow workers, who came to help her when she began her charitable work in the slums, were defectors from the school—young girls who had been inspired to leave everything behind them and work alongside her."
Surprising details about Mother Teresa from Juliet Stephenson who plays her in the Letters.
"When Mother Teresa left the school one night to begin her work with the poor, she took nothing with her but five rupees in the pocket of her sari."
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November 13 is World Kindness Day. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, which inspires people to be kind every day, says this global celebration is devoted to paying-it-forward and focusing on what’s good. Even doing one tiny act of kindness can change your world and the world around you.
One of the greatest devotees of the power of kindness was the late Mother Teresa who won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to help the hungry and sick in the slums of Calcutta. “Don’t look for big things, just do small things with great love,” she said.
On December 4, The Letters, a feature film about Mother Teresa’s life will open in theaters across the nation. Juliet Stevenson stars as Mother Teresa as her life unfolds over the course of 50 years. The film looks at her life’s work, her political oppression, her religious zeal, her ferocious spirit and how she impacted so many lives. The Letters, which also stars Max Van Sydow and Rutger Hauer, is told through personal letters that Mother Teresa wrote the last 40 years of her life. The correspondence reveals a vulnerable and very human woman.
William Riead, who wrote and directed The Letters was inspired to make the film because of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. “The film effected change and had a profound effect on me. And 9/11 which affected all of us,” says Riead. “I wanted to make a film about the polar opposite of that evil—a film that would matter. The best example of good I could think of was Mother Teresa.”
To celebrate World Kindness Day, watch this exclusive Parade featurette about the film.
Juliet Stevenson shared five surprising details about Mother Teresa. Launch the gallery to read them all and see photos from the Letters.
