St. Teresa of Calcutta :was born in 1910 in Skopje, in present-day Macedonia, Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto religious congregation in Dublin, Ireland in 1928. As a Sister of Loreto, she taught geography at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, India for twenty years. In 1950, she started her own religious congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, in order to minister to the poorest of the poor. To people throughout the world, Mother Teresa is an icon of goodness and compassion. Pope Paul VI said, "The work of Mother Teresa shows this - her inexhaustible energy, her potential for good, the resources of her human heart, are poured out. The leaven of her personal sacrifice as well as her courage enabled her to do unbelievable things with God's help."
St. John Bosco who was born in Becchi, Italy in 1815, was the founder of a religious congregation known as the Salesians. He was also the co-founder of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, an order of religious Sisters whose purpose was to help orphaned and destitute girls in Italy. He organized an association for the laity called the Salesian Cooperators. The Cooperators were to be activists, fully committed to helping the displaced and the destitute. Pope Pius IX was among the first to enroll as a Cooperator. St. John Bosco developed a teaching method called the "Preventive System" which was based on reason, religion and kindness. He became known as one of Europe's finest educators. By the end of his life, he and his religious congregation were helping 131,000 disadvantaged and orphaned children. When praised for his works of charity he said, "I have done nothing by myself. Our Lady has done everything." Pope Pius XI said of him: "John Bosco's life was a succession of wonders. It was one continuous miracle."
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe who was born in 1894, was a Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan Friar. In 1917 he founded the Militia Immaculatae, a worldwide movement that promotes total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of spiritual renewal. He established a friary which he named "The City of the Immaculate" near Warsaw, Poland. By 1939, the City of the Immaculate had become the largest Franciscan friary in the world. He published a monthly magazine which he called Knight of the Immaculata. He lived in Japan for a period of six years where he established a friary - the Garden of the Immaculate.
When he returned to Poland, he continued to write and print his publications. With very little money, he built one of the most advanced religious printing plants in Europe. For years, he had wanted to use the media of radio to broadcast spiritual programs. With a short-wave radio borrowed from the army, he was finally able to do so. He once said, "If St. Francis of Assisi was alive, he would be using all of the modern means of technology and mass communication." Father Maximilian was known and loved throughout Poland and considered a national hero. The fact that he was a person of such great influence caused the Nazis in Occupied Poland to consider him dangerous. In 1941, he was arrested and taken to the German death camp of Auschwitz. When the Nazi guards selected 10 prisoners to die in punishment for one escapee, Kolbe offered his life in exchange for one of the prisoners. His death was mourned by thousands.
