Vatican · 25th anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Issue date6 Sept 2022

Total mintage79,250

EU maximum84,000

Editions3

Edge lettering2 ★ × 6, alternately upright/inverted

InscriptionMADRE TERESA DI CALCUTTA / CITTÀ DEL VATICANO / R / 1997 / 2022

DesignerOrietta Rossi (Silvia Petrassi)

mintInstituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, Roma

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The design shows her portrait with a child, surrounded by the inscription “MADRE TERESA DI CALCUTTA” and the years “1997” and “2022”.

The design

The coin design shows a portrait of Mutter Teresa with a child. Above it is the semicircular inscription “MADRE TERESA DI CALCUTTA” and below it the name of the issuing state “CITTÀ DEL VATICANO”. To the right of the portrait, the mintmark “R” can be seen, with the years “1997” and “2022” below it.

The outer ring of the coin depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.

Background on the topic

Mutter Teresa was born in 1910 as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, in what is now North Macedonia (Nordmazedonien), into a Catholic Albanian family. At the age of 18, she joined the Irish Loreto Order. The order sent her to India, where she initially worked as a teacher and later as headmistress at a Catholic girls’ school in Calcutta (Kalkutta).

According to her own account, in 1946 she experienced a religious calling to leave the convent and work among the city’s poorest inhabitants. She took Indian citizenship and founded the religious order Missionaries of Charity (Missionarinnen der Nächstenliebe) in 1950. Its members cared, among others, for homeless people, orphans, the sick and the dying. The initially local community developed into an internationally active Catholic order with facilities in numerous countries.

Mutter Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. At the same time, her work was not free from criticism. The medical and hygienic conditions in some facilities, her handling of donations, and her opposition to abortion and contraception were among the issues criticized. Her public perception was therefore shaped both by her personal dedication to people in need and by her consistent advocacy of Catholic moral teaching.

Pope John Paul II (Papst Johannes Paul II.) beatified her in 2003. Pope Francis canonized her in 2016; within the Catholic Church, she has since been venerated as Saint Teresa of Calcutta (heilige Teresa von Kalkutta). The prerequisite for this was the Church’s recognition of two healings as miracles achieved through her intercession.

The choice by Vatican City (Staat Vatikanstadt) is explained primarily by this ecclesiastical veneration. In the Catholic understanding, Mutter Teresa represents active charity and care for the poor, the sick and those marginalized by society. The occasion for the issue thus also connects with themes that play a central role in the social teaching and charitable work of the Catholic Church.