In a few weeks from now, on September 7, two young men, Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, will be canonized by Pope Leo XIV in Rome. Carlo Acutis was only 15 when he died from leukemia in 2006. Pier Giorgio Frassati was only 24 when he died from polio in 1925. Their eagerly awaited canonization reminds us that all young people are called to sanctity and shows us that, by the grace of God, even the youngest of men and women can become saints.
In the youthful light of these two young canonized saints-to-be, we should also remember another young saint, Teresa of the Andes, whose feast is celebrated today by the Carmelite Order.
St. Teresa of the Andes, Chile’s first saint, was born 125 years ago today at the dawn of the last century. As a child, she enjoyed playing tennis and croquet. She was also a good swimmer. She loved singing and dancing, and played both the piano and the harmonium.
It was, however, the reading of the autobiographical Story of a Soul by Thérèse of Lisieux which changed her life. In 1914 she decided to follow in Thérèse’s footsteps, desiring to consecrate herself to the Lord and discerning a religious vocation with the Discalced Carmelites.
On December 8, 1915, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, she made a vow of chastity which she renewed regularly. At the age of 17, she wrote to the prioress of a nearby Discalced Carmelite convent expressing her desire to enter the order. Due to her age, she needed the permission of her father, which was finally granted.
19 years old and holy
In May 1919, the 18-year-old entered the novitiate of the Discalced Carmelites of Los Andes, receiving the name “Teresa of Jesus.” Less than a year later, on Good Friday (April 2, 1920), she became seriously sick with either typhus or Spanish flu. She was still six months away from finishing her novitiate and making her religious vows but was granted permission to profess her vows in articulo mortis because she was clearly on the point of death. She was 19 years old when she died on April 12, 1920.
Teresa’s short but holy life inspired thousands to pray for her intercession in the years following her death.
In January 1987, a board of medical experts declared that a healing attributed to her intercession was miraculous. Three months later, Pope John Paul II beatified her during his pastoral visit to Chile. Teresa’s brother Luis, the last surviving member of the family, was present at her beatification.
The second miracle required for Teresa’s canonization was validated by medical experts in June 1992 and she was declared a saint by John Paul II in March of the following year. In this, she was continuing to follow in the sanctified footsteps of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who was herself only 24 years old when she died.
St. Thérèse was canonized on May 17, 1925, five years after Teresa’s death and only six weeks before the death of Pier Giorgio Frassati. Today, thanks be to God, they are all united in heaven.
St. Teresa of the Andes remains very popular among the faithful of her native Chile. Each year an estimated 100,000 pilgrims visit the tomb in which her earthly remains are enshrined. Today is her earthly birthday, of which she celebrated very few in her earthly life. It is a day celebrated by the Discalced Carmelites as their own special feast day for their holy sister.
Her other feast day is April 12, the date on which she was born to eternal life. In the eyes of the world, she lived a tragically short life. Through the eyes of faith, her short life was so glorious that it has been rewarded with the happiest of all endings.
The same is true of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. Their lives and living example show that youth is called to the goodness and truth that leads to the beauty of heaven.
