Maria Scrilli

In 1852, faced with the success of her teaching, the municipal authorities of Montevarchi entrusted her with the direction of the town's normal schools (the Scuole Normali Leopoldine). Maria gradually understood that she had to found an institute entirely dedicated to the education of children and young girls.

On October 15, 1854, with the approval of her bishop, Msgr. Francesco Bronzuoli (Bishop of Fiesole), and the agreement of Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany, Maria and three companions donned the Carmelite habit. She thus founded the institute known today as the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Suore di Nostra Signora del Carmelo) and took the religious name Maria Teresa of Jesus (Maria Teresa di Gesù). The work developed rapidly and, in 1856, she sent sisters to run a girls' school in Foiano.

However, the political upheavals linked to the unification of Italy and the rise of anticlericalism hit the young congregation hard. In 1859, the government suppressed the institute, confiscated the school, and forbade the sisters from wearing the religious habit. Despite this trial, Maria Teresa maintained her trust in God. In 1875, she moved to Florence with her mother. In 1878, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Florence, Msgr. Eugenio Cecconi, she managed to reconstitute her religious community and open a boarding school for poor young girls.

The extremely precarious and austere living conditions of the community severely affected the health of the sisters and the foundress. Maria Teresa of Jesus passed away in Florence on November 14, 1889, at the age of 64.

After the death of the foundress, the congregation was reborn and developed. The institute was officially affiliated with the Order of Carmel on March 31, 1929, and received definitive pontifical approval on February 27, 1933.

The cause for the beatification of Maria Teresa Scrilli was introduced in the Diocese of Fiesole. The diocesan process was validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1992. On December 20, 2003, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

On December 19, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized as miraculous a scientifically inexplicable healing attributed to her intercession, thus opening the way for her beatification.

The beatification ceremony of Maria Teresa Scrilli was celebrated on October 8, 2006, at the Roman amphitheater of Fiesole, Italy. The rite was presided over by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI.

Her liturgical memorial is set for November 13 by the Order of Carmel and the Italian dioceses, while the Roman Martyrology also lists her on November 14, the day of her birth into heaven (dies natalis).

The spirituality of Blessed Maria Teresa of Jesus is deeply rooted in the Carmelite tradition, marked by the influence of Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi and Saint Teresa of Avila. It is characterized by an intimate union with God in contemplation, total abandonment to the divine will ("Fiat"), and the acceptance of the cross. She loved to repeat: "I love you, my God, in your gifts. I love you in my nothingness..."

For her, action and contemplation are not opposed, but complement each other according to her formula: "to leave God for God," that is to say, to leave contemplative prayer to serve Christ through one's neighbor. She thus added a fourth vow to her congregation: to give oneself to one's neighbor through moral, Christian, and civil instruction.

Today, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel continue her educational and charitable work in several countries around the world, notably in Italy, the United States, Canada, Poland, India, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and the Philippines.