Teresa Jornet and Ibars (1843–1897)

Biography

Upon noticing Teresa's alert intelligence, her parents sent her to study in Lérida and then to Fraga. As soon as she finished her studies, Teresa decided to put them into practice to compensate for the many sacrifices her parents made, and entered a school as a teacher. However, Teresa was dissatisfied with her life and decided to enter the Clarisas convent, in the town of Brivesca. Already being jubilant about professing, he had to retire due to a painful illness, resistant to any cure. Although she was always in delicate health, she accepted a plan proposed to her by a local priest, Don Pedro Llacera, to found with María, her sister and a friend of theirs, a Women's Institute dedicated to the assistance of poor, abandoned elderly people. Afterwards, twelve other young women from the surrounding area entered and chose Teresa as their superior, considering her the most suitable person to guide them. And she would remain superior until her death. Year after year, asylum homes multiplied at an impressive speed. Houses-asylums, where the old man found the warmth of a home and the affection of a mother and little sisters who gave themselves completely to the affectionate service of the poor who came to them. When, after a life totally dedicated to the service of her sisters and her elders, Mother Teresa became deathly ill, more than 70 superiors and countless little sisters paraded to receive the mother's last blessing and last advice. On January 27, 1974 she was canonized by Pope Paul VI.