Teresa of the Andes

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Teresa of the Andes
Teresa of the Andes
Born	1900 in Santiago, Chile
Died	1920 in Carmelite monastery of Los Andes, Chile
Beatified	April 3, 1987, Santiago, Chile by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	March 21, 1993, Rome by Pope John Paul II
Feast	April 12
Attributes	small cross, flowers
Patronage	Chile, young people
Saints Portal

Saint Teresa of the Andes, Teresa de Jesús "de los Andes," (1900 – 1920 in Santiago, Chile) was a Chilean nun canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.

Her real name was Juana Fernández del Solar, aka "Juanita" by her family, and she was the daughter of an upper class Chilean family. Early in her life she read an autobiography of the French Saint Thérèse de Lisieux; the experience had a profound effect on her already pious persona, coming to the realization she wanted to serve God.

In 1919, at age 19, Juanita became a Carmelite nun and took up the name Teresa. The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. "I am God’s," she wrote in her diary. "He created me and is my beginning and my end."

Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died during Holy Week.

Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in the Andes each year. She is Chile’s first saint, and is specially popular among females and younger people.

[edit] Trivia

During the early 90's, the popular telenovela actress Paulina Urrutia, now the Culture Minister in Chile, played Sor Teresa in a short TV series for the TVN Chilean TV channel. This became one of her most popular roles, to the point that people asked her in the streets to bless them.