In all her actions and ways of proceeding, she appeared to me to be the holiest and most spiritual woman I have ever known. Through her prayer, she obtained many favors from Our Lord and inspired many others to serve His Divine Majesty.

I often heard people say: “We don’t know what it is about this mother foundress, but just speaking of her leaves us transformed, and we can’t explain why.”

Sometimes, when I asked her to pray for specific intentions, she would respond: “Do you think that what seems right to us is always what God wills? I believe God will act differently than we expect in this matter.”

And it was later seen that God had indeed granted her a special light.

Venerable Anne of Jesus (Lobera)

Testimony given at Salamanca
Ordinary Process, second question (excerpt)
5 July 1597

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Detail of a portrait of Anne of Jesus after Hieronymus Wierix. Image credit: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (Public domain)

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I met our Mother Teresa of Jesus on the occasion of having, since my childhood, wished very much to find an order of nuns living with such harshness and religion as one finds in these monasteries.

And, knowing my desires, a Father of the Company of Jesus whom I had trusted for many years went at my request to find out about some monasteries to see if they proceeded with the order I was looking for.

He found Mother Teresa of Jesus in Toledo, and this Father wrote to me: “Here I have found a holy woman who, with apostolic authority, founds a monastery with the religion that you desire. She is a native of Avila and her name is Doña Teresa de Ahumada, and her Rule and Constitutions are thus,” explaining their essentials.

And I was so satisfied that I wrote to this Father, whose name was Father Pedro Rodriguez, to tell the holy Mother of my desires and the reason why I had not tried to fulfill them until then, because until I knew what the saint thought, and where and how, I did not write her.

He showed her my letter, and she immediately received me, saying that of the three or four houses that she had founded at the time, I should go to the one I wanted, although she would be more pleased if I came to receive the habit in the one in Avila, since it was the first one she had founded and she was the prioress there.

Then, even though she was still there in Toledo, she had to come to Avila, where I received the habit from Mother Teresa of Jesus.

I learned that she was from there and that her father was Barnaba Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda, and her mother was Doña Beatriz de Ahumada. I knew some of her relatives, who were very honorable and important, and in Avila, I met some of them. I have known them for more than twenty-six years and I have dealt with some of them individually.

Mother Teresa of Jesus and I were such good friends that by sight and in writing, in her own handwriting, I knew almost everything about her, which are declared in her books, to which I refer in general.

Venerable Anne of Jesus (Lobera)

Testimony given at Salamanca
Ordinary Process, first question
5 July 1597

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Detail of a portrait of Anne of Jesus after Hieronymus Wierix. Image credit: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (Public domain)

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Cause for Beatification: Ordinary Process
Session 14: 27 August 1910, 08:30

About heroic charity towards one’s neighbor
Mother Agnès of Jesus, O.C.D. — Witness 1

She was very compassionate, even as a small child, for the suffering of others. She was especially charged with distributing alms to the poor. Every Monday, the poor came to Les Buissonnets (our house in Lisieux).

Every time the doorbell rang, little Thérèse would open the door and then come and tell me: “Pauline, it’s a poor old crippled man! It’s a poor woman with tiny children, and there’s one wrapped in a swaddling band! The woman’s all pale!” And I could see deep compassion in her eyes.

She would then run off to bring either bread or money. Sometimes she’d come back joyfully: “Pauline, the poor man said to me: ‘The good Lord will bless you, little lady.'” To reward her for her work, our father would give her a few silver coins. She spent them all on alms, and that was her happiness.

In Carmel, she would have liked to be a nurse and apply herself to the relief of the sick. She would say to the nursing sister: “You’re very happy, you’ll hear Our Lord say: ‘I was sick and you took care of me’ ” (Mt 25:36).

At the monastery, there was an elderly, infirm, and cantankerous nun; she died in 1895. The Servant of God asked for the favor of helping and supporting her as she moved from one community activity to another. The quirks of character and abruptness of this poor invalid made this very difficult.

For years, the Servant of God devoted herself to this service with such constancy, attention, and gentleness that she finally earned the trust of this nun, who at first had taken a very dim view of her.

Sister Thérèse used to say that she guided our Sister X. with the same care she would have put into guiding Our Lord.

Mother Agnès of Jesus, O.C.D. (Pauline Martin)

Cause of Beatification, Ordinary Process
Pages 212r–213r

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Copyright Natalie Ewert (All rights reserved), used by permission.

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Our family was what is called a patriarchal family. Our parents, who in their youth had both considered entering religious life, kept a very fervent practice of the Christian life in their marriage.

My father absolutely made it a law to close his jewelry store on Sundays—despite the practice of other merchants in this specialty to the contrary and despite the urgings of his friends, who pointed out that he was losing the business of Sunday shoppers.

He was, moreover, quite devoted to religious practices and willingly sought the company of clergymen; and, out of respect for the priesthood, greeted all priests he met, even those he didn’t know.

Our mother was very pious and had affiliated herself with the Third Order of St. Francis. She applied herself to the education of her children to form them in practices of piety and thoughts of the faith.

Servant of God Léonie Martin
Sister Françoise-Thérèse, V.H.M.

Witness 7, Question 11
Ordinary Process for the Beatification of Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This image of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin seated together is actually a composite image created from two different photographs of Louis and Zélie. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

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