Calcutta - A devastating famine that killed hundreds of thousands in India's Bengal province in 1943 deepened Mother Teresa's dedication to the poor, the Loreto order she served in her early years said yesterday.
"It may have been the Great Famine in Bengal (1943) and its aftermath, or the distress of the poor children in St Teresa's School and all around, that awoke in Mother Teresa the great desire to do for the poor even more than she was doing at St Mary's," the Loreto Sisters said in a statement.
Mother Teresa went to India in 1928 and worked in Calcutta's St Mary's School and St Teresa's School after taking her first vows as a nun in 1931. Both schools taught in the local Bengali language medium and served poor children. St Mary's aided orphans.
The Bengal famine occurred during the second World War, when a severe grain shortage hit India's eastern region.