Saints
Teresa Margherita del Sacro Cuore di Gesù
Biography
Anna Maria was born in Arezzo into the noble Redi family on 15th of July 1747.
Formed in a profound spirit of piety, at the age of six she could already be said to be a little contemplative, who asked anyone who was able to answer her: «Tell me, who is this God?».
Her inclination to recollection and prayer was accentuated during her years at the boarding school, spent in the Benedictine monastery of S. Apollonia in Florence, where she received a discreet liturgical instruction, while her spiritual life deepened in Eucharistic and Marian piety and devotion to the Sacred Heart. Returning to the family, she revealed her vocation to Carmel, a vocation of which she had been certain in the last months of boarding school and on September 1st, 1764 she entered the monastery of «St Teresa» in Florence, where she put on the Carmelite habit on March 11, 1765, with the name of Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
At the age of twenty-two, peritonitis cut short her life on March 7, 1770.
The beatification ceremony was held on June 9, 1929. The solemn ceremony of canonization on March 13, 1934.
Procedure
1. The canonical norms concerning the procedure to be followed in the Causes of Saints are stated in the Apostolic Constitution Divinus Perfectionis Magister promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (AAS LXXV, 1983, 349-355).
2. To initiate a Cause it is necessary that at least five years pass after the death of the candidate. This is to allow for greater balance and objectivity in the evaluation of the case and to allow the emotions of the moment to decant. There must be a clear conviction among people about his/her sanctity (fama sanctitas) and about the efficacy of his/her intercession with the Lord (fama signorum).
Iconography
