Daughters of Teresa
St Thérèse
Popularly known as the “Little Flower,” this Carmelite nun of the Carmel of Lisieux may be the most loved and well known of Carmelite saints. Her “Little Way” of spiritual childhood – a way of confidence and trust in God’s merciful love – has inspired and guided untold numbers of men and women in their desire and search for God. Thérèse died in 1897 and was declared a Saint in 1925. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 1997.
St Teresa
Margaret Redi
Teresa Margaret, born into a noble family in the Tuscan city of Arezzo, became a Carmelite Nun in the monastery at Florence, Italy. Gifted with deep insight into the truth that God is love, she was aflame with the desire to love God as God deserves to be loved. Her hidden life of love and self-sacrifice manifested itself in tireless charity toward others as in every situation and circumstance she recognized and embraced opportunities for loving.
St Elizabeth of the Trinity
A gifted pianist, Elizabeth studied at the Conservatory of Music in Dijon, France. In the midst of a normal, active social life, she experienced the presence of God dwelling deep within her being. At the age of 21 Elizabeth entered the Carmelite Monastery of Dijon where her awareness of God’s indwelling presence and her attentiveness to that Presence informed her living and transformed her being. Elizabeth died of Addison’s Disease in 1906. She was declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2016.
Blessed Teresa of St Augustine & Companions
(Martyrs of Compiègne)
During the French Revolution which marked the end of more than a thousand years of Christian Rule in France, sixteen Carmelite Nuns from the Carmel of Compiègne offered themselves to God for the cause of peace and reconciliation. They were arrested by the anti-Christian government, imprisoned, and condemned to death for their refusal to deny their faith and their religious vocation. They went to their death at the scaffold in Paris on July 17, 1794. Ten days after they were martyred, the Revolution’s Reign of Terror ended.
St Teresa Benedicta
of the Cross
(Edith Stein)
Edith was a learned Jewish German philosopher who wrote, taught in the classroom, and lectured extensively in and beyond Germany. Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St Teresa of Avila. She converted to Catholicism and entered the Carmel of Cologne where she was given the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. During the Nazi persecution she transferred to the Echt Carmel in Holland where it was thought she would be safe; however she was arrested and sent to a concentration camp in 1942. Here witnesses said she went around to all the women, consoling, helping, calming them and caring for the children. Edith was transported to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chambers. She was canonized by Pope John II in 1998.
St Teresa of the Andes
For Teresa of the Andes, God was infinite joy. This lovely young Chilean woman loved sports, was happy, well balanced, responsible and always ready to serve others. She entered the Carmel of Los Andes in 1919. Her brief life was marked by infectious joy, great love for Christ and filial devotion to Our Lady. Her passionate desire and constant endeavor was to resemble Christ; to mold herself to His image. Teresa contracted typhus and in 1920 made her Religious Profession as death drew near. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II on March 21, 1993.