"It is in prayer that the soul learns to know Jesus and thus to love him. Since love cannot be satisfied with difference but with equality, the result is union in similarity" – Saint Teresa of the Andes

On 13 July 1900, Saint Teresa was born in Santiago, Chile. She was given the name Juanita Fernandez Solar at that time.

She grew up in a typical home with her parents, Miguel Fernandez and Lucia Solar, 3 brothers and 2 sisters, her maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She came from a wealthy family who was also devout Christians. Juanita received her education at the Sacred Heart College run by French nuns.

While still fairly young, Juanita began to experience a life of grace. She claims that at the age of six, God drew her to begin making every attempt to direct her capacity for unconditional love towards him. "It was shortly after the 1906 earthquake that Jesus began to claim my heart for himself." (Diary n. 3, p. 26).

Juanita possessed an incredible capacity to love and be loved, as well as extraordinary intelligence. When she realized that love manifests itself in actions rather than words, she began to display her love in every action she took. She conducted an honest and wise self-examination and realized that in order to belong to God, she had to let go of anything that was not his.

Even though she was kind to everyone, her natural tendencies ran directly counter to what the Gospel demanded. She was arrogant, stubborn, and self-centered. She changed completely when she was ten years old. This was directly related to the fact that she would be receiving her First Communion. Recognizing that God would reside within her, she began developing all of the qualities that could make her less undeserving of his grace. She was able to entirely change her character in the smallest amount of time.

God granted her the mystical grace of interior locutions during her first Communion, which supported her for the rest of her life. Her natural tendencies were taken over by God, who changed them into a life of prayer and friendship starting that day.

She had a revelation at the age of fourteen that changed the course of her life. Jesus told her that she would become a Discalced Carmelite Nun and that sanctity should be her goal. On May 7, 1919, she entered the monastery of the Holy Spirit in the Los Andes township, fulfilling a long-held goal of hers. On October 14 of that same year, Teresa of Jesus entered her novitiate after receiving the Carmelite habit.

With the help of God's abundant grace, she dedicated herself to prayer, the pursuit of virtue, and living a life in line with the Gospel. She had no other ideals besides Christ. He had captured her heart, and she was prepared to die every moment for him. She was consumed by bridal love and wanted to give herself completely to the one who had captured her. Thus, at the age of fifteen, she took a vow of virginity, which she renewed every nine days thereafter.

Because the Lord had made it clear to her, she had known for a very long time that she would pass away early. She told her confessor about this one month before she would pass away from this life. She accepted all this with serenity, joy and confidence. She was certain that her mission to make God known and loved would continue in eternity.

She left this earth for her heavenly Father on the evening of April 12, 1920, after enduring numerous internal struggles and excruciating physical pain brought on by a strong typhus attack that cut her life short. She fervently accepted the last sacraments, and on April 7 in the face of imminent death, she made her religious profession. She was three months away from her twentieth birthday, with only six months to complete her canonical novitiate and be legally allowed to make her religious profession. She passed away while still a novice Discalced Carmelite.

On April 3, 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified her in Santiago, Chile. Her remains are revered in the Sanctuary of Auco-Rinconada of Los Andes. Saint Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes is Chile's first saint. She is the first Discalced Carmelite Nun outside of Europe to be declared a Saint.

Other Saints of the Day

1. Saint Julius

2. Saint Damian

3. Saint Sabas the Goth

4. Saint Vissia

5. Saint Victor