During the early 20th century, many religious men and women from Europe had a desire to be missionaries to the "New World," which was experiencing a large influx of immigrants at the time.
Sr. Maria Teresa of the Most Holy Trinity was one of those individuals, having a great zeal for missionary work. She was willing and eager to brave the difficult travel to reach the United States.
Pope Leo XIV recently recognized the "heroic virtue" of Sr. Maria Teresa of the Most Holy Trinity, naming her, "venerable," one of the first steps on the road to canonization. She joins a growing list of "venerables" who worked in the United States.
Missionary Carmelite
Born on November 13, 1897, in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, Teresa Ysseldijk was raised in a devout Catholic family and grew in her love of the Sacred Heart.
Her father died when she was young and her family moved to Germany. It was there that she desired to enter a convent, but her frail health initially prevented her from entering. When her health improved, she was able to enter the Congregation of the Sisters of the Carmelites of the Divine Heart of Jesus.
She entered at the age of 19 in Tilburg on October 2, 1917, taking the religious name Sr. Maria Teresa of the Most Holy Trinity. The Carmelite convent she entered was not a cloistered one, as the sisters blended contemplative prayer with active apostolates in the world, such as teaching and caring for the sick and elderly.
Having a zeal for missionary work, Sr. Maria Teresa gladly accepted the assignment of traveling with seven sisters to the United States in 1919, just two years after her entrance.
When she reached the United States, her health quickly began to deteriorate again. She was diagnosed with a a severe kidney disease that was not caught in time. This led to a grueling five years of suffering in a convent in St. Charles, Missouri.
However, her patience and joy in the midst of suffering was an inspiration to all her sisters. While she was never able to do any active missionary work in the United States, she united her suffering to Jesus Christ on the cross and bore everything with a smile, thereby winning untold graces for the missions.
She died at the age of 28 on March 10, 1926 at St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Louis. Many began to pray for her intercession shortly after her death and healings were soon reported.
Now that she is recognized as "venerable," any healing that is verified can lead to her beatification.
