Born in Spain in 1843, her parents, Francisco and Antoinette, were devoted to their faith, as was the rest of her family. Two of her sisters and three of her nieces would go on to become religious sisters and her uncle was Blessed Francisco Palau. 

From the time she was a child, Teresa had a great love for the poor, often taking them to the home of one of her aunts to care for them. 

In her mid-twenties, she tried to join the poor Clares but Spain’s stringent, anticlerical laws would not allow it, so she became a member of the Secular Carmelites. 

Not long after, Teresa’s father died, then she became quite ill herself. For an extended period of time she was confined to her home. 

Finally, her spiritual director encouraged Teresa to look after the older people who lived nearby. 

With her sister, Maria, and a friend she started a new order and called it, The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly. 

Founded in honor of St. Teresa of Avila, she took the habit in 1873 and took the name, Teresa of Jesus. 

As the order grew rapidly so did her responsibilities and she spent the rest of her life as their leader. 

However, in 1897 there was a cholera outbreak in Spain and she worked tirelessly to help those who were suffering before becoming sick herself. She died on this day in 1897 at the age of fifty-four. 

Today, there are more than two hundred houses and more than five hundred sisters serving the abandoned elderly. 

St. Teresa of Jesus Jornet Ibars, please pray for us.