Amos Stevens
New Member
Mother Teresa da Anunciada was born and baptized on November 25, 1658 in the parish of S. Pedro in what was then the small town of Ribeira Grande.
She was admitted into the Convent of Boa Esperança, where she started her novitiate, on November 19, 1681. She would later on take her solemn vows on July 23, 1683.
She died on May 16, 1738 with holiness reputation.
The Prelate of Angra's Diocese started the judicial inquiry on Life and Virtues of Mother Teresa on May 5, 1738. On August 6, of the same year, the Franciscan Provincial for the Azores started the same inquiry, this time held by the Franciscan Order.
A few years ago, a sign petition addressed to the High Priest was sent around amongst the azorians which read:
"The people of the Azores has great love and devotion for 'Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres'. These feelings have long surpassed the region's boundaries once every country of the azorean Diaspora holds celebrations in His honor. Moreover, there are many thousands who come every year from all over the world in a pilgrimage of either begging or thanksgiving. It all started with a religious Clarissa named Mother Teresa da Anunciada who, immersed in the convent's silence received a special call in order to honor and soften the Lord's affliction represented in the Ecce Homo image.
Especially after 1700, the adoration of "Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres" gained such magnificence that prevails unchangeable until today. Blessings and miracles have been a constant. Mother Teresa da Anunciada was a utensil for helping remind men that God is jointly liable towards His people. She was a monk of a stern life; for her keen praying, for her love for Jesus and the Eucharist and her devotion to the Holy Mary. She is considered to be a model of holiness and a great pleader near the Lord she so eagerly loved.
Hence, I join my voice with the ones of many faithful and clergymen, begging your holiness the granting of "nihil obstat" for the putting together of this God's servant beatification in order for her elevation to the altar's honor; this I hope".
The Parish Priest of the "Santuário da Esperança", Monsignor Agostinho Tavares, has already announced that he will ask the new azorean bishop (D. António Braga) to appeal for Mother Teresa da Anunciada's Beatification to the "Santa Sé".
Mother Teresa's mortal remains are kept in a small urn inside the "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s Chapel in the Monastery of "Esperança".At the end of the last or beginning of this century, one of Angra's bishops had the box containing Mother Teresa's remains opened. The box is kept in the lower choir of the Convent of "Esperança".
Once the lid was removed, a magnificent and unexplainable scent exuded. Someone more precise might not believe this. However, the truth is that Mother Teresa's life emanates a redolence resistant to all men's discrepancies and sways of some sincere but nevertheless poorly enlightened believers.
Mother Teresa de Jesus' (later on to be Teresa da Anunciada) father was Jerónimo Ledo de Paiva. He was born on July, 1601 in the parish of "Ribeira Seca da Ribeira Grande". Teresa's mother was Maria do Rego Quintanilha. She was baptized in the parochial of S. Jorge in the village of Nordeste on August 11, 1614.
Jerónimo Ledo de Paiva's extended disease (that ultimately took his life on a Friday, January 24, 1666) was a great disgrace that fell down on this thirteen children family. Teresa was the younger of them all. It was her sister, Joana de Santo António, who did the impossible for Teresa de Jesus to be admitted into the Convent of "Nossa Senhora da Esperança".
By the time Teresa was learning how to read, her brother Frei Simão do Rosário arrived from Brazil. He had come to rest a few months and regain strength from the exhausting mission over the Brazilian hinterland. He was the one who taught the younger daughters how to read and Teresa delighted herself with learning the lives of Saints, especially the "Saint Brigida's Meditations". When Teresa's Profession day arrived, the admittance Procession which was organized with sumptuous attendance, left the "Nossa Senhora da Conceição"'s Church (from the Franciscans Convent) headed towards the "Nossa Senhora da Esperança".
Teresa de Jesus' figure stood out. At that time she had already changed her name to Teresa da Anunciada - the name for which she was later to be known. Family, friends and the band were celebrating this happening, attended by the happy pealing of bells from the neighboring churches. When Teresa was admitted into the "Esperança" Monastery she saw an image of the Lord from the Ecce Homo passage. It was in the lower choir, laid at a side in a small altar and had knob over his chest opening as a result of being used as a sanctuary some time before. By her sister Joana de Santo António's request, Teresa was able to find a new altar to put the image in. She asked Mother Jerónima do Sacramento, from the Convent of "Santo André" in Ponta Delgada, to make a crown of silk-made flowers to embellish the Lord at his returning to his new altar.
The "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s image was set in his new altar. However, the lower choir's ceiling was the higher choir's flooring; old, with cracks through which the dust settled in. Not to mention the noise people made when walking in the higher choir. Teresa managed to have a chapel built. At her request, King D. Pedro II gave an annuity of twelve thousands "reis" (by warrant of September 2, 1700) to keep an olive-oil lamp lit day and night in front of "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s altar. However, the only chapel that made it to our days was the third one to be built and blessed on March 22, 1771.
It was by this time that Mother Teresa da Anunciada wished that the image of the Lord would go out in a procession passing by all the town's churches and convents. With help from the Count of Ribeira Grande, Teresa got a license from the Prelate D. Frei António de Pádua. Thus, according to the researcher Urbano de Mendonça Dias, the first "Senhor Santo Cristo" procession was held on April 11, 1700. (However, recent researches summoned by the researcher Luciano Mota set the date of the first procession n 1698. The second one was held on April, 1700 e therefore, this date was appointed as of the first procession, for a long time).
Except for one or two times due to weather conditions, this procession has never ceased to take place, such is the devotion roused by it. It is the biggest sign of devotion held in Portuguese soil. Mother Teresa seems never to have grown old, such is the energy she radiated until her last days. Her last disease overthrown her rapidly. However, the fasting, the cilices, the penance and her straw bed over branches seem not to have worn her out but instead strengthened her soul. Her victimizing disease was not prolonged.
She felt Death nearing at dawn on Friday, May 16, 1738. Teresa would have turned eighty the following November. Teresa da Anunciada's intensely felt devotion for Christ in the Ecce Homo passage has been giving, throughout the centuries, new resonance to the adoration of the Lord. It has reached our day with recognized influence in our people's spirituality.
On May 16, 1954, a memorial stone was placed in the house where Mother Teresa was born, set on Rua do Torninho, in Ribeira Seca.
On May 12, 1963, a bust of Mother Teresa made by the sculptor Numídico Bessone was inaugurated near the Church of Ribeira Seca.
On December, 1992, Mother Teresa da Anunciada was officially named Patron of School nº5 of Ribeira Seca.
The Mother Teresa statue near the "Santo Cristo" sanctuary in Ponta Delgada, was inaugurated on May 26, 1984.
http://www.virtualazores.com/santocristo/madrei.html
She was admitted into the Convent of Boa Esperança, where she started her novitiate, on November 19, 1681. She would later on take her solemn vows on July 23, 1683.
She died on May 16, 1738 with holiness reputation.
The Prelate of Angra's Diocese started the judicial inquiry on Life and Virtues of Mother Teresa on May 5, 1738. On August 6, of the same year, the Franciscan Provincial for the Azores started the same inquiry, this time held by the Franciscan Order.
A few years ago, a sign petition addressed to the High Priest was sent around amongst the azorians which read:
"The people of the Azores has great love and devotion for 'Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres'. These feelings have long surpassed the region's boundaries once every country of the azorean Diaspora holds celebrations in His honor. Moreover, there are many thousands who come every year from all over the world in a pilgrimage of either begging or thanksgiving. It all started with a religious Clarissa named Mother Teresa da Anunciada who, immersed in the convent's silence received a special call in order to honor and soften the Lord's affliction represented in the Ecce Homo image.
Especially after 1700, the adoration of "Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres" gained such magnificence that prevails unchangeable until today. Blessings and miracles have been a constant. Mother Teresa da Anunciada was a utensil for helping remind men that God is jointly liable towards His people. She was a monk of a stern life; for her keen praying, for her love for Jesus and the Eucharist and her devotion to the Holy Mary. She is considered to be a model of holiness and a great pleader near the Lord she so eagerly loved.
Hence, I join my voice with the ones of many faithful and clergymen, begging your holiness the granting of "nihil obstat" for the putting together of this God's servant beatification in order for her elevation to the altar's honor; this I hope".
The Parish Priest of the "Santuário da Esperança", Monsignor Agostinho Tavares, has already announced that he will ask the new azorean bishop (D. António Braga) to appeal for Mother Teresa da Anunciada's Beatification to the "Santa Sé".
Mother Teresa's mortal remains are kept in a small urn inside the "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s Chapel in the Monastery of "Esperança".At the end of the last or beginning of this century, one of Angra's bishops had the box containing Mother Teresa's remains opened. The box is kept in the lower choir of the Convent of "Esperança".
Once the lid was removed, a magnificent and unexplainable scent exuded. Someone more precise might not believe this. However, the truth is that Mother Teresa's life emanates a redolence resistant to all men's discrepancies and sways of some sincere but nevertheless poorly enlightened believers.
Mother Teresa de Jesus' (later on to be Teresa da Anunciada) father was Jerónimo Ledo de Paiva. He was born on July, 1601 in the parish of "Ribeira Seca da Ribeira Grande". Teresa's mother was Maria do Rego Quintanilha. She was baptized in the parochial of S. Jorge in the village of Nordeste on August 11, 1614.
Jerónimo Ledo de Paiva's extended disease (that ultimately took his life on a Friday, January 24, 1666) was a great disgrace that fell down on this thirteen children family. Teresa was the younger of them all. It was her sister, Joana de Santo António, who did the impossible for Teresa de Jesus to be admitted into the Convent of "Nossa Senhora da Esperança".
By the time Teresa was learning how to read, her brother Frei Simão do Rosário arrived from Brazil. He had come to rest a few months and regain strength from the exhausting mission over the Brazilian hinterland. He was the one who taught the younger daughters how to read and Teresa delighted herself with learning the lives of Saints, especially the "Saint Brigida's Meditations". When Teresa's Profession day arrived, the admittance Procession which was organized with sumptuous attendance, left the "Nossa Senhora da Conceição"'s Church (from the Franciscans Convent) headed towards the "Nossa Senhora da Esperança".
Teresa de Jesus' figure stood out. At that time she had already changed her name to Teresa da Anunciada - the name for which she was later to be known. Family, friends and the band were celebrating this happening, attended by the happy pealing of bells from the neighboring churches. When Teresa was admitted into the "Esperança" Monastery she saw an image of the Lord from the Ecce Homo passage. It was in the lower choir, laid at a side in a small altar and had knob over his chest opening as a result of being used as a sanctuary some time before. By her sister Joana de Santo António's request, Teresa was able to find a new altar to put the image in. She asked Mother Jerónima do Sacramento, from the Convent of "Santo André" in Ponta Delgada, to make a crown of silk-made flowers to embellish the Lord at his returning to his new altar.
The "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s image was set in his new altar. However, the lower choir's ceiling was the higher choir's flooring; old, with cracks through which the dust settled in. Not to mention the noise people made when walking in the higher choir. Teresa managed to have a chapel built. At her request, King D. Pedro II gave an annuity of twelve thousands "reis" (by warrant of September 2, 1700) to keep an olive-oil lamp lit day and night in front of "Senhor Santo Cristo"'s altar. However, the only chapel that made it to our days was the third one to be built and blessed on March 22, 1771.
It was by this time that Mother Teresa da Anunciada wished that the image of the Lord would go out in a procession passing by all the town's churches and convents. With help from the Count of Ribeira Grande, Teresa got a license from the Prelate D. Frei António de Pádua. Thus, according to the researcher Urbano de Mendonça Dias, the first "Senhor Santo Cristo" procession was held on April 11, 1700. (However, recent researches summoned by the researcher Luciano Mota set the date of the first procession n 1698. The second one was held on April, 1700 e therefore, this date was appointed as of the first procession, for a long time).
Except for one or two times due to weather conditions, this procession has never ceased to take place, such is the devotion roused by it. It is the biggest sign of devotion held in Portuguese soil. Mother Teresa seems never to have grown old, such is the energy she radiated until her last days. Her last disease overthrown her rapidly. However, the fasting, the cilices, the penance and her straw bed over branches seem not to have worn her out but instead strengthened her soul. Her victimizing disease was not prolonged.
She felt Death nearing at dawn on Friday, May 16, 1738. Teresa would have turned eighty the following November. Teresa da Anunciada's intensely felt devotion for Christ in the Ecce Homo passage has been giving, throughout the centuries, new resonance to the adoration of the Lord. It has reached our day with recognized influence in our people's spirituality.
On May 16, 1954, a memorial stone was placed in the house where Mother Teresa was born, set on Rua do Torninho, in Ribeira Seca.
On May 12, 1963, a bust of Mother Teresa made by the sculptor Numídico Bessone was inaugurated near the Church of Ribeira Seca.
On December, 1992, Mother Teresa da Anunciada was officially named Patron of School nº5 of Ribeira Seca.
The Mother Teresa statue near the "Santo Cristo" sanctuary in Ponta Delgada, was inaugurated on May 26, 1984.
http://www.virtualazores.com/santocristo/madrei.html
