Today I'm going to honor a saint that isn't very well known: St. Teresa of the Andes. I meant to do this before but I had some setbacks.
This young woman grew up in Chile during the early twentieth century. Originally her name was Juana but everyone called her Juanita. She lived a very devout and virtuous life for someone so young. At the tender age of fourteen, when a girl is in danger of being greatly influenced by the world, Juanita felt a call to be a carmelite nun. She intently read about carmelite spirituality, particularly the inspiring "Story of a Soul" written by the now canonized St. Therese (one of the patron saints of this blog.)
Yet even with this piety Juanita lived a balanced life. She enjoyed swimming and playing tennis, helped teach catechism classes, was deligent in school, and was very close to her family. Just before she reached nineteen Juanita entered the carmelite monastery at Los Andes. She felt such joy at finally meeting her Beloved but it was such a sacrifice for her to say goodbye to her family.
Not everyone understood why she became a carmelite and the now Sister Teresa of Jesus assured them of her happiness in her letters to them. Teresa evangelized her family and friends with her inspiring letters and the prioress of the community encouraged her to continue. If it were not for these letters then we may never have known about this holy young woman who had so much strength and love to give. Teresa spent eleven wonderful months in the monastery before she died a very young death. She did not even reach her twentieth birthday, yet in what little time she had spent there everyone in the community saw her sanctity.
I wish that more people knew about this simple yet powerful saint. She was very much like St. Therese in her littleness and humility. Last July EWTN showed a mini-series on her life which lasted six episodes. Unfortunately it's only played once a year and I don't think that it can be purchased anywhere, so next year if you want to see it you'll have to look up the times on www.ewtn.com. The mini-series starts out slow but then progresses and is well worth your time.
If anyone wants to learn even more about this saint go to www.teresadelosandes.org/#. Before entering the site you have to click on one of the flags on the bottom so that the proper language can be displayed.
