Saint of the day July 13: Saint Teresa of Los Andes. Catholic Saints

Every July 13, the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Teresa of Los Andes, the first Chilean to reach the altars. She is also considered the first barefoot Carmelite saint born in America.

Seeds of holiness

Juana Enriqueta Josefina Fernández Solar was born in Santiago de Chile on July 13, 1900, into a middle-class Catholic family. From the age of six she began to attend Mass daily, in the company of her mother. At ten, she received her First Communion on September 11, 1910.

From that first encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, Juanita – as she was affectionately called – made it her goal to take communion every day and spend as much time as she could with God. She liked to stay after Mass praying herself, and if she could return in the afternoon to visit the Blessed Sacrament, she did so with serene enthusiasm. Her childhood was also marked by a deep devotion to the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary.

He entered Sacred Heart School and at the age of 14 he experienced God’s call to give him his heart.

In the footsteps of Teresa of Ávila

Juanita later decided to take the last three courses of study under the boarding school regime, thinking that it could be the appropriate training for the definitive separation from her family if God wanted her as a nun. It is during this period that she discovers her calling to the contemplative life as part of the Discalced Carmelites of the Andes.

With the permission of her parents, although also with the pain of separation, she entered the Carmelite convent on May 7, 1919. There she adopted the name Teresa of Jesus, in honor of the great reformer of Carmel, with the purpose of “suffering and praying to improve and purify the world” (Saint Teresa of the Andes)..

Ripe fruit of the tree of life

Sister Teresa did not manage to live a year in the convent, as she died on April 12, 1920, a victim of typhus and diphtheria.

Considering the short years she lived and the spiritual maturity she reached, her Carmelite sisters used to say that that young novice, only 20 years old, had already entered the monastery as a saint. Quite a few concluded that her career toward holiness had begun long before she entered Carmel, even before her First Communion.

“Christ, that madman of love, has driven me crazy,” the young Teresa repeated over and over again, hinting that the greatest of her desires was to configure herself with Jesus, to unite with Him.

According to her biographers, the saint had an ordinary and common life, but it became extraordinary thanks to her ability to harmoniously integrate the human and the divine in everyday life. Prayer, study, housework, even sports – Sister Teresa excelled in swimming and horseback riding – were occasions to encounter God.

Patroness of Santiago

Saint Teresa of Los Andes was beatified by Saint John Paul II in Santiago de Chile on April 3, 1987, and canonized by the same Pontiff in the City of Rome, on March 21, 1993.

She is the patron saint of the Chilean capital, Santiago, and of the commune of Los Andes in Valparaíso. She is considered a protector against misfortune and illness; as well as patron of the sick and young people who discern her vocation.

The miracle: complete reversal of brain damage

The miracle that allowed the canonization of Teresa of Los Andes occurred on December 7, 1988, when a student from Las Condes School, Teresian Institution, suffered a serious accident on the end of the school year walk.

Marcela Antúnez Riveros – the name of the student – suffered asphyxiation due to immersion when she was bathing in the pool at the Banco de Chile stadium. She was taken out of the water after at least five minutes, cyanotic – she had a bluish color to her skin due to lack of oxygen in her blood – and without vital signs.

While the girl was undergoing resuscitation practices, two parents and a group of students fervently requested the intervention of Saint Teresa of the Andes. Despite being diagnosed with irreversible brain damage, the young woman quickly made a full recovery.

After three days of hospitalization, Marcela left the Clínica Alemana in Santiago without a trace of brain injury or any other additional trauma. Marcela continued with her life normally and became an outstanding student.