The article “Saints among Us,” besides providing an overview of
Mother Teresa’s work, also suggested that many supporters considered her
a living saint, a title Mother Teresa herself rejected. The article also dis-
cussed the qualities that made a saint. For instance, many saints lived
their lives outside of conventional society and were often considered mis-
fits. People, then, who tended to conform to cultural norms rarely went on
to exhibit saintly qualities. As one theology professor noted, saints tend to
be on the outer edge along with the maniacs, geniuses, and idiots. Saints
also broke the rules of society in order to carry out their work.
TheTimemagazine article highlighted not only Mother Teresa’s saintly
qualities, but also her shrewd sense of organization and her great compas-
sion for the poor. However, the article also went on to point out that there
were a number of individuals who had also devoted their lives to the poor,
but who were not as well known as Mother Teresa. These included
Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement; the Norwegian
medical missionary Annie Skau, who lived and worked in Hong Kong; Dr.
Cicely Saunders, founder of the Hospice movement; and the Coptic
monk Matta el Meskin, also known as Matthew the Poor.
By this time, Mother Teresa had received numerous accolades and
awards. Still, there were many who believed that she was overlooked and
wished her to receive what they considered to be the most important
and prestigious award in the world: the Nobel Peace Prize.
Those who select nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize may be from
one of seven categories, including members of the International Court
of Arbitration in The Hague; active and former members of the Nobel
Committee of the Norwegian Parliament; advisors appointed by the
Norwegian Nobel Institute; university professors of political science,
law, history, and philosophy; and lastly, those who have won the prize
themselves.
Mother Teresa had first been nominated for the prize in 1972, but no
prize was awarded that year. Many of her supporters, among them Mal-
colm Muggeridge, again put her name in nomination in 1975. This time
her nomination was supported by a number of important and influential
individuals including Senator Edward Kennedy; Robert McNamara, then
head of the World Bank; the National Council of Catholic Women; the
Mayor of Addis Ababa; the head of the UN Disaster Relief Organization,
Faruk Berkol; and a number of nuns in Spain.
But the prize eluded her again and went instead to Andrei Sakharov,
the noted Russian scientist and human rights advocate. In 1977, Mother
Teresa’s name was put forth yet another time. Again the Nobel commit-
tee passed her over for the award, which was instead given to the organi-
BLESSINGS AND BLAME 113