Blessed Maria Theresa Quevedo

For years I’ve been hearing about this book called Mary was Her Life, and everyone who has read it says what an inspiring story it is. Though I have yet to read it, here is the story of Blessed Teresita, the young Spanish girl who made Mary her life. 

Teresita was born in Spain in 1930. Her father was a doctor, and she was the youngest of his three children. As such, she was spoiled when she was younger, and had such a strong will that her parents worried about how they would handle this spirited child as she grew. After she made her First Holy Communion, however, her outbursts of temper seemed to vanish. She had discovered something more precious than her own will, and that was Our Lady. Teresita realized that each time she denied herself something or made a little sacrifice, it was a gift for her heavenly Mother.

She grew into a pretty, graceful, funny, athletic young woman, and though she got into her fair share of mischief while attending high school, her spiritual life was deepening the whole time. When she was 13 years old, she joined her school’s Sodality of Our Lady and made the Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin, according to the method of St. Louis De Montfort. From that point on, all of her actions were done for the purpose of pleasing the Blessed Virgin, and through her, her Divine Son. She also wished for her life and actions to draw others to her heavenly Mother. Her motto was, “May all who look at me see her.” 

She enjoyed dancing and playing tennis, and attending bull fights and parties, where she was always the center of attention, and greatly admired by the young men for her good looks and sparkling conversation. But none of those friends or admirers realized that she was fighting an intense spiritual battle to conquer her self-will in everything. She accepted each hardship that came her way as an opportunity to offer God the gift of her sacrifice through the hands of His Mother. Everything from eating food she disliked to losing the tennis championship graciously were spiritual victories for Teresita. She also had remarkable recollection in prayer, often not noticing any of her surroundings while she was praying her Rosary.

Then, when she was seventeen years old, she asked to be admitted into the Carmel. Her religious calling came as a surprise to many, including herself! She had been praying with her classmates in the chapel when, without thinking, she suddenly asked Our Lady to give her a religious vocation. Teresita was stunned, and then fearfully thought, “What if she actually does!” Our Lady did arrange matters to give this beautiful gift to her child. Teresita was not fond of reading, but when someone gave her a book, she would make a sacrifice and read it in order to be polite. Later the same month, someone gave her a book about the different vocations in life, and as she read it, she realized that the religious life was the highest and most perfect calling, and that it was what she wanted.

On February 23, 1948, Teresita entered the novitiate of the Carmelites of Charity. Her new name was Sister Maria Teresa. The following year, she contracted a bronchial disorder, but with her father’s treatment, she soon recovered. Teresita knew, however, that her recovery would not be permanent. When the other Sisters were discussing the Pope’s intention of proclaiming the Doctrine of the Assumption in the coming Holy Year of 1950, Teresita confessed to them her belief that she would be allowed to celebrate the proclamation in Heaven. None took her seriously, but Teresita consoled herself with the thought of Heaven and the glory of her Blessed Mother.

Within the wall so of the Carmel, Teresita’s spiritual life became deeper and richer. She continued to conquer herself in little ways, trying to be less spontaneous and dramatic in speech, and move less quickly, even while working. Her goal was complete perfection, and she would not settle for anything less. The other Sisters were inspired and edified by her example.

For a while, Teresita had been suffering from severe headaches, and finally, in January, she informed her Mother Superior of it. Teresita’s father was sent for, and he diagnosed his daughter with tubercular meningitis. He knew that it would be a very painful disease, and probably fatal. It was possible that the disease’s progress would cause her to lose her mental faculties, so it was decided that she should receive Extreme Unction, as well as take her Vows to become a fully professed Sister. Teresita received the news of her condition bravely, and armed with the special graces of the Last Rites and her profession, she was ready to face her ordeal.

She suffered from excruciating headaches and nausea, and the only relief available was repeated spinal taps. She underwent this painful procedure sixty times over the following two months. Throughout everything, she suffered heroically, offering her sacrifices for the intentions of Pope Pius XII for the Holy Year of 1950. Holy Week came, and Teresita’s sufferings increased. At times she lost consciousness, and if her physical sufferings were not enough, the devil added his own torments. In addition to uttering prayers to Our Lady as she lay suffering, she also was heard to say, “Begone Satan, go back to Hell!”

Late at night on Holy Saturday, the end came for Teresita. The community gathered around her bed and recited the prayers for the dying. Just before she died, Teresita looks upward, smiled, and said, “How beautiful! Oh, Mary, how beautiful you are!” The process for her canonization was opened only four years after her death and she was declared Venerable in 1983.

Like Blessed Teresita, let us make Mary our life, that all who see us, see her!

Bibliography:

http://www.sodality.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75:venerable-maria-theresa-gonzalez-quevedo&catid=31:notable-sodalists&Itemid=161

http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/saints-special3.htm