Saint Teresa of Jesus Jornet

Teresa Jornet Ibars was born on January 9, 1843, in Aitona, in the province of Lleida, Spain. She worked as a teacher and tried religious life with the Poor Clares, but poor health and political turmoil prevented her from staying.

In 1872 a priest, Saturnino López Novoa, invited her to lead a new work for the many elderly people who were poor and alone. With a few companions she founded the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly at Barbastro, and the next year the motherhouse was established in Valencia. Under her guidance the congregation grew with astonishing speed, opening more than a hundred homes in Spain and in Latin America during her lifetime. She cared for the elderly as a daughter would, and during a cholera epidemic she and her sisters nursed the sick. She died at Llíria, near Valencia, on August 26, 1897. Pope Paul VI canonized her in 1974, and she was later proclaimed patroness of the elderly in Spain.

The Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly, present in Spain and many Latin American countries, celebrate her feast with the residents of their homes, often with Mass, music and a festive meal.

Her tomb in the motherhouse in Valencia is visited by many pilgrims.