A personality of Mother Teresa's calibre and global reach does not come about by chance. To provide a well-rounded portrait of this influential figure, this book approaches her in the context of her familial background and ethnic, cultural and spiritual milieus. Her life and work are explored in the light of newly-discovered information about her family, the Albanian nation's spiritual tradition before and after the advent of Christianity, and the impact of the Vatican and other influential powers on her people since the early Middle Ages.
Focusing on her traumas, ordeals and achievements as a private individual and a public missionary, and her complex spirituality, this book contends that Mother Teresa's life and her nation's history, especially her countrymen's relationship with Roman Catholicism, are interconnected. Unravelling this interconnectedness is essential to understanding how this modern spiritual and humanitarian icon has come to epitomise her ancient nation's cultural and spiritual DNA.

Educated at Cairo University and Durham University, Gëzim Alpion lectured at the Universities of Huddersfield, Sheffield Hallam, and Newman prior to his appointment in 2002 in the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. He joined the Department of Political Science and International Studies in 2010 and the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology in 2016.
Gëzim's specializations encompass the sociology of religion, nationalism, fame, race, media, film and authorship. He is considered 'the most authoritative English-language author' on St Teresa of Calcutta and 'the founder of Mother Teresa Studies'.
In his recent publications Gëzim has explored the concept of charism/a from a sociological and public theology perspective, Enoch Powell's populist rhetoric in the context of the eugenics discourse, and the reasons for the absence of modern spiritual icons in celebrity studies.
Gëzim is currently developing the idea of 'fame capital' as a variable in an intranational and international context, examining 'The Dark Night of the Soul' phenomenon from a sociological perspective, and exploring the role of religion in fabricating national identity.

Introduction
Part One: Who Are Mother Teresa's Albanians?
1. Victimisations of Albanians in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
2. The Albanian Nation, the Ottoman Empire and Turkey
3. Albanians' Illyrian Roots and Apostolic Christianity
4. The Calvary of Albanian Christianity
5. How Albanian Catholics Became a Pariah Community
6. An Onomastic Perspective on Catholic Albanians' Ethno-Spiritual Identity
Part Two: History from Below: Mother Teresa's Albanian Roots and Skopje Years
7. Mother Teresa's Paternal Relations
8. Mother Teresa's Maternal Relations and the Taboo Blood Feud Story
9. Two Unusual Success Stories
10. The Affliction of Death
11. Gonxhe and Her Family Through the Eyes of a Forgotten Household Member
Part Three: Mother Teresa's Relations with the Holy See and the Albanian Nation
12. The Holy See's Relations with the Albanian Nation During Mother Teresa's Lifetime
13. Mother Teresa's Religious Vocation as an Escape and a Quest
14. Was Mother Teresa Discriminated Against at Loreto for Being Albanian?
15. Skanderbeg and Mother Teresa: Two Unlikely Albanian Heroes
Conclusion
Endnotes
Select Bibliography
Select Filmography
Index
About the Author