Saint Teresa Jornet Ibars

Life story

Teresa Jornet Ibars was born on 9 January 1843 in Aytona, in the Lleida area of Catalonia, Spain, into a farming family. As a young woman she worked as a teacher and hoped to enter religious life.

In 1868 she applied to the Poor Clares near Burgos, but the anticlerical laws of the time and illness kept her from religious life. On the advice of her spiritual director she decided to start a community of her own. On 11 October 1872, at Barbastro, she and her companions began the congregation later known as the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly; she took the religious name Teresa of Jesus after Teresa of Avila. The congregation's headquarters were later set up in Valencia.

The sisters' work was to take in and care for poor elderly people with no one to look after them. One source says the congregation had grown to 58 houses by the time she died. She held office as superior general for many years until the end of her life.

She died of illness on 26 August 1897 at Liria, near Valencia. Pius XII declared her Venerable on 22 January 1957 and beatified her in 1958; Paul VI canonised her on 27 January 1974. Her feast day is 26 August.

Works and witness

• Prevented from entering religious life, she formed a new community at Barbastro in 1872
• Founded the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly, with its headquarters in Valencia
• The congregation had 58 houses when she died, according to one source
• Beatified in 1958 and canonised on 27 January 1974

Saints from the same country

Saint Dominic, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint Francis Xavier

References

• Wikipedia: 'Teresa Jornet Ibars' (birth at Aitona, Poor Clares 1868, first house 11 October 1872, cause dates)
• El Diario (Ecuador): 'Santa Teresa de Jesús Jornet Ibars... 26 de agosto' (Spanish biography)
• CatholicSaints.Info, 'Saint Teresa de Gesù Jornet e Ibars', catholicsaints.info/saint-teresa-de-gesu-jornet-y-ibars/

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.