There are so many saints with the name Teresa, or some variation of it, that it can be hard to keep them straight. There are, of course: St. Teresa of Avila, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Teresa of Calcutta. But there are tons of others! Here are six other saints that share this name who you might not know about. Yet!
St. Teresa of the Andes
Born in Santiago, Chile in 1900, from a young age she was wholly devoted to God. She entered the Discalced Carmelites in 1919 and died the next year after making her profession as a Carmelite. She is the first Chilean to ever be beatified or canonized! Her feast day is July 13 and she is the patron saint of young people.
St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart
She was born in Florence, Italy in 1747 as Anna Maria Redi and entered the cloistered Carmelites at age 18. She spent her brief years in the cloister practicing deep prayer and practicing many penitences, which she had started doing before she joined. She died at age 23 of a rampant disease which left her body extremely swollen and disfigured so much that the nuns were hesitant to have a public viewing.
While St. Teresa Margaret’s body was being transferred, the disfigurement completely reversed; she looked life-like and smelled like roses. She now lays incorrupt in the church of the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Florence and her feast day is March 11.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
This Teresa—oh man—so much to say and so little space! She was born Edith Stein in 1891 in Poland to a Jewish family. She became an accomplished philosopher. In 1922, she converted to Catholicism and entered the Carmelites in Cologne, Germany. She was sent to the Carmelite monastery in Holland but when the Nazis overtook Holland, she was sent to Auschwitz. She died in the gas chambers there in 1942. Her writings on women are some of her most outstanding work. She was canonized in 1998 by Pope St. John Paul II and her feast day is August 9.
St. Teresa of Portugal
Teresa was the eldest daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and married her cousin King Alfonso IX of Leon. The couple had several children, but their marriage was later declared invalid due to being too closely related to each other. She then went back to Portugal and founded a Benedictine monastery of nuns on her property following the Cistercian Rule. The monastery was expanded to accommodate 300 nuns and Teresa lived with them. After settling a dispute between her children and Alfonso’s children with his second wife, she became a nun. Her feast day is June 17.
St. Theresia Yi Mae-im
Theresia is one of the 101 Companions listed with Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon and Paul Chong Hasang. She was martyred in Seoul, Korea at the Little West Gate in 1839 under the Ki-hae persecutions. Her nieces Barbara and Magdalena were also martyred. Her feast day is September 20.
St. Theresa Coudere
This Theresa was born in Le Mas, France in 1805 and ended up joining a community of dedicated women that evolved into the Sisters of St. Regis and then founded the Religious of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle in 1829. She resigned as superior in 1838 and lived the rest of her life as a simple sister. Her feast day is September 26.
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