St Teresa of the Andes

Carmelite novice. Chile's first saint. Teresa was one of six children born in 1900 in Santiago, Chile, to a well-to-do family of mixed Chilean, English and Spanish blood. As a child she was very devout, but her parents made sure she received a good general education, which included the humanities, science, music and art. She loved swimming and games and was a boisterous teenager.

When she was 19, she joined the Carmel of Los Andes, at the foot of the Andes, as a postulant. A year later, during Holy Week she contracted typhus. She made her vows as a Carmelite novice shortly before she died on this day in 1920. Devotion to her grew very quickly throughout Chile and other countries in South America.

Many thousands visit her shrine at La Riconda near Los Andes every year. She was canonised in 1993.