Mother Teresa Day (Dita e Nënë Tereza) is an annual national holiday in Albania that marks the canonization of Saint Teresa by Pope Francis in 2016.
Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Skopje (then part of the Ottoman Empire and now North Macedonia) as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. She later moved to India as a Catholic non and missionary and became known as Mother Teresa. Because of her Albanian descent, she received the Albanian nationality in 1991, when she returned to Albania and opened a Missionaries of Charity in Tirana. By 1996, the organization operated 517 missions in over 100 countries.
In 2016, 19 Years after her death on 5 September 1999, Mother Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis in recognition of her work with the poor. The anniversary of her death is now observed as her feast day in the Catholic Church. On this day, masses are held in Catholic churches around the country.
Around Albania, many public spaces like roads and squares are named after Mother Teresa, including Tirana International Airport. In Saranda, the central square just behind the boulevard, Sheshi Nënë Teresa is also dedicated to the Saint.











