Teresa of Saint Augustine, Venerable

TERESA OF SAINT AUGUSTINE, Venerable. - Discalced Carmelite, better known by the name Madame Louise de France, daughter of Louis XV and of Marie Leszczyńska, b. at Versailles on 15 July 1737, d. at Saint-Denis on 23 Nov. 1787.

She was taken as a child to the abbey of Fontevrault and educated in piety and learning. She returned to court in 1750, devoting herself, in contrast to her father's life, to prayer and works of charity. In 1770 she entered the Discalced Carmelites of Saint-Denis, where she professed on 12 Sept. 1771, immolating herself in sacrifice and penance for the conversion of her father who, after 30 years of estrangement from the Sacraments, died a good Christian in 1774. She was prioress for several years, a zealous promoter of the total observance of the Rule, devoted to the Pope and to the Church, of which she made herself an apostle among all in order to combat triumphant Gallicanism. The granting of civil status to Protestants in 1787 was the blow that shattered the life of this daughter of the Church. Pius IX signed on 19 June 1873 the "commission" for the introduction of the cause of her beatification.

Her spiritual works were published posthumously: Méditations Eucharistiques (Paris 1789, Lyon 1810, Paris 1879), Recueil des testaments spirituels à ses filles religieuses carmélites (Autun 1856).

Valentino di Maria