1 September Optional Memorial
St. Teresa Margaret Redi, OCD., was recognized as an intensely spiritual religious with a profound devotion to the phrase "God is love." She was also noted for her humble service to the sick.
One of the girls who had graduated from the boarding school several years before approached one of Anna Maria’s teachers to thank her for the education and the Christian formation, as she was entering the Carmelites. Anna Maria saw the deep joy on this young woman’s face and instantly knew that she, too, desired to enter the Carmelites.
In the spring of 1764, she applied to the Monastery of St. Teresa in Florence and was admitted in November. She took the name Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart and professed her vows in March of 1766.
Teresa was assigned the role of community nurse, and she tenderly cared for the suffering sisters in her care, particularly those experiencing mental illness. Teresa devoted herself to caring for her fellow sisters and cultivating her robust interior life. As a Carmelite sister, Teresa maintained the disposition of joy that drew her to the Order, despite rebukes and harsh treatment.
Teresa died at the age of twenty-three, on March 11, 1770, in the midst of an outbreak of a disease in the monastery. She continued caring for other ill nuns until she reached her deathbed. Teresa’s body, swollen from disease, at the time of her funeral, had miraculously been restored to its healthy form.
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