LEGA, MARIA TERESA. — Born at Brisighella (Faenza) on 13 January 1812, died at Cesena on 27 January 1890. At the age of 21 she donned the habit of the Dominican Sisters.
Called to a more active life in service of the sick and orphans, she founded the Institute of the Holy Family at Modigliana in 1871, adopting the Rule of the Third Order of St Francis, which she professed on 19 July 1874. The Institute was approved on 12 June 1886 and soon spread throughout the towns of Romagna and Emilia. She enjoyed widespread esteem, living a life of intense activity and mortification.
Her cause of beatification is in progress.
BIBL.: L. Spada, Cenni storici sulla vita della m. M.T.L. fondatrice dell'Istituto della S. Famiglia, Faenza 1916.