St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart



The saint of the day for March 11 is St. Teresa Margaret Redi of the Sacred Heart (1747 - 1770), a Discalced Carmelite nun and mystic, who spread love for Jesus and devotion to the Sacred Heart in a quiet and hidden way.

Born of Tuscan nobility, Anna Maria Redi was the daughter of Count Ignatius Redi and Camilla Billeti, a pious family. It was from her father that Anna Maria acquired the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which played such a crucial role in her spiritual development.

In September 1763, she received a message from Saint Teresa of Jesus inviting her to become a Carmelite nun. Anna Maria entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Florence, Italy the following year, at the age of seventeen, taking the name of Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart.

In the Community, she worked in the infirmary and served as a sacristan. She was so entrenched in the hidden life and so determined to do God's will that she had no idea how holy she really was. Her entire focus was on her spouse -- loving and serving Him. Her utmost desire was "to return love for love." St. Teresa Margaret was an important messenger in spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart, not only in Carmel, but in Tuscany and Italy, too.

Her short time in the monastery ended in her death at the age of twenty-two. On March 7, 1770, she died following an agonizing siege of peritonitis, which caused swelling and discolored her body. However, shortly after her death, the imperfections disappeared and a healthy glow returned. Her body is incorrupt. She was canonized by Pius XI on March 19, 1934.

 ~ © Jean M. Heimann, 2015

Quotes from St. St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart 

 “I propose to have no other purpose in all my activities, either interior or ex­terior, than the motive of love alone, by constantly asking myself: ‘Now what am I doing in this action? Do I love God?’ If I should notice any obstacle to pure love, I shall take myself in hand and recall that I must seek to return my love for His love.”

"She who is silent everywhere finds peace."

"Lord, I shall be yours, whatever the cost, despite all repugnance."

"Always receive with equal contentment from God’s hand either consolations or sufferings, peace or distress, health or illness. Ask nothing, refuse nothing, but always be ready to do and to suffer anything that comes from His Providence."
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