Thérèse des Andes
1900-1920 20th century Feast day: July 13
Joy as witness: a God real enough to make one happy, even behind a grille.
Who was Thérèse des Andes?
Juanita Fernández Solar, daughter of the Santiago upper class in Chile, a horsewoman and tennis player, cheerful and whole-hearted. She entered the Carmel of Los Andes at nineteen and died of typhus eleven months later, having made her vows in articulo mortis. Her diary and her hundred and sixty-four letters, written between fourteen and twenty, made her Chile's first saint, canonized in 1993.
In their own words
To live always full of joy. God is infinite joy.
What do you expect? Jesus Christ, that Madman of love, has driven me mad.
Chained by his love, I remain always beside the altar, suffering and loving. This is my ideal.