Mother Teresa (1914–1997)

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, who took the name of Mother Teresa, was a nun of Albanian origin, born in Skopje, Macedonia. She founded the Order of Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India. Today, the Order is established on every continent. A woman with an iron will devoted to helping the destitute, Mother Teresa became a world icon, as famous and adulated as the Pope himself. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. When she died, the Indian government granted her a state funeral. Mother Teresa was beatified five years after her death.

Brother André (1845–1937)

Brother André, born Alfred Bessette into a poor Quebec family in 1845, dedicated his life to fostering faith in Saint Joseph and comforting ordinary people. His legacy is Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, one of the world’s major Catholic shrines.

A simple man with little education but great religious fervour, Brother André worked most of his life as the doorkeeper at a Catholic school. Although he was one of the humblest members of his congregation, he had a gift for healing that drew thousands to his door. In 1904, supporters of Brother André donated money and labour to build a small chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph’s Oratory, which sprung up around that chapel, is to this day an important destination for pilgrims. Brother André died in Montreal on January 6, 1937 and was canonized (declared a saint) on October 17, 2010.

The Shaman Awa (Aua) (ca. 1872- ?)

Awa, an Inuit shaman (angakkuq), was from Igloolik, in Nunavut. He became known beyond his people partly through the accounts of the Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen, who visited the region and Awa’s camp in the early 1920s. In one of his journals dating from 1922, Rasmussen quotes Awa as saying, “We believe happy people should not worry about hidden things. Our spirits are offended if we think too much.” Awa was known to have the power to visit other settlements with his spirit.

Billy Graham (1918– )

Originally from North Carolina, William Franklin “Billy” Graham is a Protestant Baptist pastor. He developed a personal, simple, persuasive and impassioned style of preaching that has proven to be highly successful. His stroke of genius was the discovery of the power of the modern mass media: radio in the 1940s and later television. Billy Graham owns several television stations and attracts over 30 million viewers on Sundays. His “crusades”, especially that of Madison Square Garden in New York City, in 1957, made him a household name nationally. Since then — thanks to his highly popular televised services, his tours and lectures — he has become the main representative of a genuine evangelical subculture that has a growing influence on political life in the United States.

Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–1989)

The Iranian Ruhollah Khomeini was a religious leader in the Shiite hierarchy, a well-known theologian and a political leader. His influence over the crowds stemmed as much from his official position as from his personal charisma. For his followers, his title, ayatollah, invoked the absolute authority of the imam. The chief opponent of the Shah’s reforms, exiled in Iraq and then in France, he triumphed in February 1979 during the revolution that often bears his name. The Islamic Republic of Iran that he founded, and of which he was the supreme spiritual and political leader until his death, is a theocracy with democratic elements. During his lifetime, he became the object of a real cult.