Teresa Janina Kierocińska

Teresa Kierocińska was born on 14 June 1885 in Wieluń. She was born into a large, patriotic family. She co-founded the Carmelite Sisters of the Child Jesus and was decorated with the Righteous Among the Nations medal.

Maria Teresa of Saint Joseph
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Religious
Born	(1885-06-14)14 June 1885 Wieluń, Łódskie, Russian Empire
Died	Sosnowiec, Śląskie, Poland
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Attributes	Religious habit

Life

She finished high school in Wieluń. Teresa felt the need for total devotion to God on the day of her First Holy Communion but she couldn’t follow her call because of the refusal of her family, especially her father. At home she led a life of prayer, deep devotion, abnegation, and love towards her neighbours. During her adolescence she came to know the works of Saint Teresa of Jesus which were of great influence in her spiritual life.

From 1909 onword, Anzelm Gądek, a Servant of God and a Discalced Carmelite, became her spiritual guide. It was he who founded the first active-contemplative Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Child Jesus, on December 31,1921.

Ministry

Teresa became the first mother superior and a co-founder of the Congregation. From that time on, as Mother Teresa of St. Joseph, she started her service to God and people, poorest both in moral and material sense, in the district of Sosnowiec.

She had been the superior of the congregation for 25 years, till the day of her death. She followed the constitution of the congregation forming the life of the sisters in the spirit of the Divine Childhood and apostolic and charitable work among the poor. She had a special veneration to the Infant Jesus, Holy Eucharist, the most Holy Face of Jesus, Our Lady of Mt Carmel, and St. Joseph.

During the Second World War, she showed heroic courage saving many young girls from deportation to Germany by hiding them in the cloister. She helped refugees, soldiers of the Home Army, organized an orphanage and a canteen for the poor, and taught them clandestinely. In 1992, she was posthumously honored by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jewish refugees.

After the Second World War, she was actively involved in new tasks of the Catholic Church in Poland. The people of Zagłębie district considered her to be simply their Mother. The sisters of the congregation taught catechism in the schools, ran a kindergarten and performed works of charity.

Death

She died in the opinion of holiness on 12 July 1946 in Sosnowiec. The process of her cause towards sainthood in the Archdiocese of Częstochowa lasted from 1983-88. In May 2013, Pope Francis signed the decree of her heroic virtues. Her remains are found in the church of her congregation in Sosnowiec (ul. Matki Teresy Kierocińskiej 25).

External links

• Teresa Janina Kierocińska – her activity to save Jews' lives during the Holocaust, at Yad Vashem website

Referral links

hola ;)