This day, that year: Presidential medal of freedom awarded to Mother Teresa on 20 June, 1985 - See pics

President Ronald Reagan presents the Medal of Freedom to Mother Teresa at a White House ceremony. 

(Image: Prayers Foundation)

Presidential Medal of Freedom, the foremost U.S. civilian decoration, awarded to individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” 

(Image: Prayers Foundation)

In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work for the world's destitute. "I am unworthy," she said.

(Image: Youtube)

Mother Teresa, honoured in the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary. She was born in Skopje in North Macedonia. After living in Skopje for eighteen years, she moved to Ireland and then to India, where she lived for most of her life.

(Image: Reuters)

Mother Teresa moved to Kolkata in early 1929 where she became a teacher and, 15 years on, headmistress at a convent school. In 1946 she received "a call within a call" to found the Missionaries of Charity, officially established as a religious congregation in 1950. Nuns of the order began calling her Mother Teresa. The Indian government granted her citizenship in 1951.

(Image: Reuters)

Despite declining health, including arthritis, failing eyesight and heart problems, she continued to work. In 1950, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation that had over 4,500 nuns and was active in 133 countries as of 2012.

(Image: Reuters)