When Mother Teresa, the Indian nun of Albanian origin, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta on 7 October 1950, was canonized by Pope Francis in September 2016, he formally acknowledged what millions around the world had always held—she was a saint who walked the earth ministering to the poor, the unwanted and the terminally ill.
Raghu Rai, who photographed her for nearly five decades, from the early 1970s onwards, has taken some of the most iconic pictures of Saint Teresa that exist. He was present at the canonization ceremony in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican and the pictures he took there complete his pictorial biography. Divided into three sections, the book covers Mother Teresa’s canonization, her life and her work and the legacy she leaves behind. Bringing together pictures that have never been published before as well as classical portraits and action studies this book is an extraordinary celebration of a latter-day saint whose simple message to all humanity was: ‘Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.
About the Author
In half a century as a photographer, Raghu Rai has won many national and international awards and accolades including being nominated in 1971 by Henri Cartier-Bresson to Magnum Photos. His solo exhibition has travelled to London, Paris, New York, Hamburg, Prague, Tokyo, Zurich and Sydney. His photo essays have appeared in Time, Life, GEO, Newsweek, The Independent, New York Times, Sunday Times, and New Yorker.
He received the Padma Shri in 1971. Raghu Rai currently lives and works in New Delhi.
