Teresa de Jesus Jornet e Ibars was born in Aitona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1843. She trained as a teacher and began teaching in Argensola, Barcelona province, at 19.
In 1862, her great-uncle, Blessed Francisco Palau, entrusted her with responsibilities involving the schools connected with his religious work. She later visited and inspected schools in different parts of Spain.
Former pupils remembered Teresa for her patience and care, particularly toward the poorest girls in her class.
Teresa eventually entered religious life. In 1873, she and Father Saturnino Lopez Novoa established the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly, with Teresa appointed its first Superior General. She became known as Mother Teresa Jornet.
She spent the rest of her life caring for elderly people who were poor, abandoned, or without family support. The patience and concern remembered from her teaching years continued in this work.
Her teaching career was brief compared with the years she devoted to the elderly, but it offers an early glimpse of her way of serving others. In the classroom, she gave particular attention to pupils who had less. Later, she devoted herself to people who had been left without care.
Good teaching is not simply giving everyone the same lesson. It is knowing when someone needs more time, patience, or help.
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ