the streets everyday. Adding to the overcrowding and chaos were the
swarms of refuges fleeing the Japanese. The noise of the streets was si-
lenced only when people sought shelter from Japanese bombs. In the end,
the Great Famine claimed the lives of at least two million, though some
figures put the number of deaths closer to four or five million. The death
toll was so high, that the traditional funeral pyres lit for the dead, known
asghats,never stopped burning in some areas.
The nuns at Entally felt the war’s effects, too. The number of war ba-
bies or small infants left at the doorsteps of Loreto multiplied. At one
point, Mother Teresa was faced with the problem of how to feed 24 babies
by bottle. Orphans fleeing the Japanese came to the convent and school
looking for refuge. The convent also opened its doors to other Catholic
missionaries escaping from the Japanese.
In time, the British requisitioned the Entally convent and school as a
British military hospital; the dormitories, which once housed orphans,
were now taken over by sick, wounded, and dying British soldiers. The
Sisters of Loreto evacuated, taking with them their students and other or-
phans, and relocated to hotels in Darjeeling, Shillong, and Lucknow.
Mother Teresa stayed in Calcutta in a building located on Convent Road.
There she continued to teach and care for her young charges.
A CLOSE COMPANION
In 1937, Mother Teresa had taken on more responsibilities; she was put
in charge of the St. Teresa’s Primary School as well as Sunday school
classes for the children. During the war, she also took on the responsibili-
ties of headmistress when Mother du Cenacle became ill in 1944. That
she stayed in the city during the war made a tremendous impact on her
students, for it was Mother Teresa’s wish that the lives of the children not
be any more disrupted than necessary. The school may have been moved
to a different location for the time being, but Mother Teresa worked to
make sure that the children’s daily routine stayed as intact as possible.
It was during this period that Mother Teresa met a man who would
serve as her spiritual advisor and companion for the next 45 years. Father
Celeste Van Exem was a Belgian Jesuit who came to India in 1944. An ex-
pert in Arabic and the Muslim faith, he came to Calcutta with the specific
intention of working with the city’s Muslims. On July 11, 1944, he and
two other priests moved into a house in Baithakana, located not far from
Mother Teresa’s small community on Convent Road. When asked
whether he would celebrate Mass for Mother Teresa, Father Van Exem re-
called how he initially refused, stating that he was “called to India to work
ANSWERING THE CALL 25