St Teresa in Brazil

My attention was caught this morning by learning that alongside our wonderful Welsh Martyrs, we celebrate today another saint but one who is little known in the English-speaking world.  Antonio de Sant’Anna Galvao, Franciscan priest and Brazil's first native-born saint. Antonio was one of 11 children born in Guarantingueta near Sao Paulo, Brazil, Antonio was ordained in 1762.  He served as preacher, confessor and porter in Sao Paulo and then chaplain – and this is what caught my attention - to the Recollects of St Teresa, a group of nuns. Together with Sister Helena Maria of the Holy Spirit he founded a new community of sisters under the patronage of Our Lady of the Conception of Divine Providence. He spent his last days at the Recolhimento de Nossa Senhora da Luz, the convent of the sisters' congregation he had helped establish.  The title of this congregation could be translated as ‘Gathering of Our Lady of Light’ but the word recolhimento also means ‘contemplation’.  I looked up these Recollects of St Teresa but I don’t find them on the net; still, I marvel at yet another illustration of the massive influence of our Teresa throughout history. So many Orders have been influenced by her charism. 

Intercessions:

Im, in her recovery from a hugely demanding surgical intervention

S, an infant with severe health problems

B, struggling with brain cancer, and A his wife.