Saint Who?
Saints Whose Bodies Resisted Corruption
Saint Teresa Margaret Redi
Religious († 1770)Feast: September 1
Anna Maria Redi was the daughter of a devout Italian nobles. “Who is God?” she often asked, and was delighted when her mother told her: “God is love.” She was specially nurtured by her good father, Ignatius, who not only sold the family coach to finance his children’s education—a sacrifice of status as well as convenience—but also saw personally to Anna Maria’s spiritual formation, which progressed at a rate that belied her years.
During her school years, she grew in a desire to be hidden like the Holy Family. Still, it was a tremendous sacrifice when, at age 17, she said goodbye to her father and entered the Carmelites. She took the name Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus, and made her profession in 1766.
Just four years after her profession, the usually robust Teresa was taken ill. The doctor thought it was just colic, but Teresa was dead within days and her body began to show signs of rapid decay. The sisters made hurried arrangements for a funeral, praying for delay of the inevitable. Then, suddenly, the corpse reversed course—its hideous swelling disappeared, the blackening flesh turned beautiful, and a sweet smell emanated. It remained this way for several weeks, until the skeptical bishop arrived and confirmed the remarkable event. Teresa was canonized in 1934.
Tender Father, through the prayers of Saint Teresa Margaret, help parents to embrace their hidden mission, confident in your power to confer sanctity.
