Sacred Liturgy Ministries

Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist
Italian Carmelite
wrote extensively on Eucharistic spirituality
1884–1949

Happy Feast Day to All Eucharistic Ministers!

Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist is a patient and tender model of holiness whose love for God and passion for the Eucharist as the foundation of the Christian life is an inspiration. Maria Candida, born Maria Barba, became a Carmelite in Italy and devoted herself to making the Eucharist the foundation of her spiritual life. Sr. Maria Candida of the Eucharist knew from a very young age that reception of the Eucharist was one of the most fulfilling acts of prayer and faith. She received her First Communion when she was ten years old, much younger than was normally allowed. This only increased her love and devotion for the Eucharist, and her hunger to receive frequently. The Eucharist became the foundation and primary focus of her spiritual life. Her understanding of the world was written in her reflections through Eucharistic terms, viewing all life through a Eucharistic lens. Her reflections, published as Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality, are used for the Office of Readings on her feast day, June 12.

In the midst of our Eucharistic Revival, and just a few days after the feast of Corpus Christi, let us pray with the Carmelites in our own Office of Readings, taken from Sr. Maria Candida’s writings:

partial OFFICE OF READINGS June 13 – for the feast day of Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist
taken from The Eucharist: From contemplation of the presence to Eucharistic communion
by Blessed Maria Candida

To contemplate with deep faith our Beloved in the Sacrament, to live with Him Who comes to us every day, to remain with Him in the depths of our hearts, this is our life!

What mystery of love is this intimacy with our Beloved! I reflect on this, sometimes with emotion, and give praise to Him Who is Love! And with tears, I contemplate this intimacy. Everything here on this earth is nothing for us, withdrawn as we are, far from Him Who loved us so much; our eyes no longer see anything: and even though we close them again to lose ourselves from the same sacred environment, we close them anxious to find Him again, to see Jesus! The most delightful Mystery of Love! He allows Himself to be found by the heart that searches for Him, by the soul that knows how to do without many things for love of Him.

To be close to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, like the Saints in Heaven, who contemplate the supreme Good, is what we must do, according to our Holy Mother Teresa. Seven times a day, we come together around the throne (of our Good God), the sacred Tabernacle, reciting the divine praises: oh how much faith merits such lofty activity, what dying to self! May adoration and love accompany and beautify everything!

May all Ministers of the Eucharist
pray with Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist:

May adoration and love
accompany and beautify everything!
The Eucharist is a school.
It is food
and an encounter with God,
a coming together of hearts.
Heaven itself does not contain more.
God, that unique treasure, is here.

May our participation
as we minister the Eucharist to others
bring us all closer together
as the community of the presence of Christ on earth.

This beautiful image of Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist is one of the many works of art by Sheryl Cozad, whose artistic talents grace the many prayer cards of our Saints for Liturgical Ministers. Saint Prayer Cards are available to give to your Eucharistic Ministers, and so many more for all Liturgical Ministries at our website. Texts by Anne McGuire, art by Sheryl Cozad. See them all: sacredliturgyministries.org

Blessings to all participating prayerfully in the Eucharist and ministering as Christ’s Body and Blood to others!

St. Onuphrius of Egypt, abbot: Onuphrius (Greek: Ὀνούφριος, romanized: Onouphrios; also Onoufrios) lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the 4th or 5th centuries. He is venerated as Saint Onuphrius in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches, as Venerable Onuphrius in Eastern Orthodoxy, and as Saint Nofer the Anchorite in Oriental Orthodoxy.

Onuphrius was one of the Desert Fathers who made a great impression on Eastern spirituality in the third and fourth centuries, around the time that Christianity was emerging as the dominant faith of the Roman Empire. At this time many Christians were inspired to go out into the desert and live in prayer in the harsh environment of extreme heat and cold, with little to eat and drink, surrounded by all sorts of dangerous animals and robbers.
It is uncertain in which century Onuphrius lived; the account of Paphnutius the Ascetic, who encountered him in the Egyptian desert, forms the sole source for our knowledge of the life of Saint Onuphrius. Even the authorship is uncertain; "Paphnutius", a common name of Egyptian origin in the Upper Thebaid, may refer to Paphnutius of Scetis, a 4th-century abbot of Lower Egypt, rather than Paphnutius the Ascetic. "But Paphnutius the Great [i.e. Paphnutius the Ascetic]," Alban Butler writes, "also had a number of stories to tell of visions and miraculous happenings in the desert, some of them in much the same vein as the story of Onuphrius."

The name Onuphrius is thought to be a Hellenized form of a Coptic name Unnufer, ultimately from the Egyptian wnn-nfr meaning "perfect one", or "he who is continually good", an epithet of the god Osiris. A tradition, not found in Paphnutius' account, states that Onuphrius had studied jurisprudence and philosophy before becoming a monk near Thebes and then a hermit.

According to Paphnutius's account, Paphnutius undertook a pilgrimage to study the hermits' way of life and to determine whether it was for him. Wandering in the desert for 16 days, on the 17th day Paphnutius came across a wild figure covered in hair, wearing a loincloth of leaves. Frightened, Paphnutius ran away, up a mountain, but the figure called him back, shouting, "Come down to me, man of God, for I am a man also, dwelling in the desert for the love of God."

Turning back, Paphnutius talked to the wild figure, who introduced himself as Onuphrius and explained that he had once been a monk at a large monastery in the Thebaid but who had now lived as a hermit for 70 years, enduring extreme thirst, hunger, and discomforts. He said that it was his guardian angel who had brought him to this desolate place. Onuphrius took Paphnutius to his cell, and they spoke until sunset, when bread and water miraculously appeared outside of the hermit's cell.

They spent the night in the prayer, and in the morning Paphnutius discovered that Onuphrius was near death. Paphnutius, distressed, asked the hermit if he should occupy Onuphrius' cell after the hermit's death, but Onuphrius told him, "That may not be, thy work is in Egypt with thy brethren." Onuphrius asked Paphnutius for there to be a memorial with incense in Egypt in remembrance of the hermit. He then blessed the traveler and died.

Due to the hard and rocky ground, Paphnutius could not dig a hole for a grave, and therefore covered Onuphrius' body in a cloak, leaving the hermit's body in a cleft of the rocks. After the burial, Onuphrius' cell crumbled, which Paphnutius took to be a sign that he should not stay.

One scholar has written that Onuphrius' life "fits the mold of countless desert hermits or anchorites. ...[However] despite its predictability, Paphnutius' Life of Onuphrius is marked by several unique details. ...The years of Onuphrius' youth were passed in a monastery that observed the rule of strict silence; a hind instructed him in Christian rites and liturgy. During his sixty years in the desert, Onuphrius' only visitor was an angel who delivered a Host every Sunday."

Both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches traditionally mark his feast day on 12 June. A Life of Onuphrius of later Greek origin states that the saint died on June 11; however, his feast day was celebrated on June 12 in the Eastern Orthodox calendars from an early date.

The legend of Saint Onuphrius was depicted in Pisa's camposanto (monumental cemetery), and in Rome the church Sant'Onofrio was built in his honor on the Janiculan Hill in the fifteenth century.

Antony, the archbishop of Novgorod, writing around 1200 AD, stated that Onuphrius' head was conserved in the church of Saint Acindinus (Akindinos), Constantinople.

For several decades Orthodox seminarians in Poland have begun their spiritual training in the monastery of St. Onuphrius in Jablechna. It is said that the saint himself chose the place for it, appearing nearly four hundred years ago to fishermen and leaving them an icon of himself on the banks of the river Bug.

The St. Onuphrius Monastery in Jerusalem is located at the far end of G*i Ben Hinnom, the Gehenna valley of hell, situated within the site of a Jewish cemetery from the Second Temple period. The structure is built among and includes many typical burial niches common to that period. The monastery also marks the location of Hakeldama, the purported place where Judas Iscariot hanged himself.

Saint Onuphrius was venerated in Munich, Basel, and southern Germany, and the Basel humanist Sebastian Brant (who named his own son Onuphrius) published a broadside named In Praise of the Divine Onuphrius and Other Desert Hermit Saints. Onuphrius was depicted in a 1520 painting by Hans Schäufelein.

Images of Saint Onuphrius were conflated with those of the medieval "wild man". In art, he is depicted as a wild man completely covered with hair, wearing a girdle of leaves.

He is depicted at Snake Church (Yilanlı Kilise) in the Göreme valley open-air museum in Cappadocia, Turkey.

He became the patron saint of weavers due to the fact that he was depicted "dressed only in his own abundant hair, and a loin-cloth of leaves". He (S. Onofrio) was named co-patron of the city of Palermo in 1650.

His name appears very variously as Onuphrius, Onouphrius, Onofrius and in different languages as Onofre (Portuguese, Spanish), Onofrei (Romanian), Onofrio (Italian), etc. In Arabic, the saint was known as Abū Nufir (Arabic: ابو نفر) or as Nofer (Arabic: نوفر), which, besides being a variant of the name Onuphrius, also means "herbivore".Onuphrius and Onofrio are sometimes Anglicized as Humphrey, an unrelated name that is usually given a Germanic etymology.

So many gems in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy!

SAINT PAULA FRASSINETTI (March 3, 1809- June 11,1882) is the Foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Dorothy.

She was born in Genoa, Italy on March 3, 1809. Her solid Christian family life was decisive to help ripen within her heart the desire to dedicate her life totally to God.

As a woman inserted in the society of her time, she was sensitive to reality around her, and soon understood the neglect in which girls and young women lived, without any support for their human and spiritual growth. Her experience of accompanying children and young people while she lived with her elder brother as Parish Priest in Quinto, confirmed her intuition that education is the means for the growth of the person, to give voice and space to women, for she believed this can transform society.

Paula understood that her total self-giving to God means also a total self-giving to her brothers and sisters. On August 12, 1834, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Dorothy with no other aim or desire, but to seek always and in all things, the greater glory of God through the greater service of humanity.

Paula’s life was characterized by her constant search and fulfilment of God’s Will for her Religious Family and for the reality where the Congregation was inserted. God’s Will was her Paradise.

On March 11, 1984, she was proclaimed Saint by Pope John Paul II.

Prayer to Saint Paula Frassinetti

Saint Paula,
you who lived your Baptism fully,
giving yourself completely to God and to your neighbor, because of Christ, the center of your life,
help us to learn from you who were simple, strong, and serene,
so that in our life we may have no other aim but to fulfil the Will of God,
because only in this way we will find the true reason for living and the source of true peace.
Amen.

St. Barnabas the Apostle
Apostle of the Seventy
Son of Encouragement
Peacemaker
died in 61

Barnabas was not one of the 12 disciples, but he is known as an apostle because he worked so closely with the disciples. His name was Joseph, but the disciples changed it to Barnabas, which St. Luke defines as “man of encouragement.” A Jew from the island of Cyprus, Barnabas was given the name Joseph at birth.

A convert to the Christian faith in Jerusalem, Barnabas sold his property and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles alongside St. Paul the Apostle and St. Mark the Evangelist. After being given the name Barnabas, he was highly esteemed among th Christian leaders at Jerusalem and Antioch, almost ranked among the 12 Apostles themselves. St. Luke said of him, "for he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith." It was Barnabas who vouched for the genuineness of St. Paul's conversion and had him accepted as a Christian by the other Apostles. Barnabas was the cousin of St. Mark, and Barnabas famously disputed with St. Paul over bringing Mark along on their missionary journey, which caused the two famed preachers to part ways and travel separately.

The Acts of the Apostles describe the early followers of Jesus living together and holding everything in common. Many sold their possessions and offered the proceeds to the disciples and to the Christian community. Barnabas is singled out for his contribution from the sale of his estate (Acts 4:36). When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion, many were skeptical of his change of heart. Barnabas spoke for Paul and helped the community welcome him. It was Barnabas who introduced Paul to the other disciples. Barnabas died in the year 61, according to tradition, carrying with him a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew that he had copied by hand.

Known as a peacemaker, may our prayers today call on St. Barnabas to intercede for all who yearn for peace, understanding, and unity in Christ.

Father Michael Himes (May-12-1947-June-10-2022) was a widely respected Catholic theologian and a beloved faculty member at Boston College for almost three decades.

From 1993 to 2021, Fr. Himes was a professor of theology at BC, where his teaching, preaching, and ministry became integral to many aspects of the Boston College experience. For more than a decade, he was one of the first members of the University community to greet incoming freshmen and parents as keynote speaker at summer orientation sessions. His hour-length talk, “What Makes a Great University?”, was often met with a standing ovation by both students and parents.

Fr. Himes developed a vocational discernment framework called the “Key Three Questions” which has become woven into the fabric of reflection at Boston College. The three questions: “What brings you joy? What are you good at? And who does the world need you to be?” also served as the foundation of many Boston College retreat programs, in particular, the Center for Student Formation’s “Halftime” retreat.

For many years, he preached at the weekly noon Mass on Wednesdays, filling St. Mary’s Chapel with students, faculty, and staff who sought his gifts as a homilist and remarkable ability to make the Gospel accessible from the pulpit. In recognition of these gifts, he was invited to be the homilist at Boston College’s Sesquicentennial Anniversary Mass, celebrated at Fenway Park in front of a crowd of approximately 20,000. His homily exhorted all Boston College educated students to “give away” the gift of receiving a BC education:

“The measure of the success of your education at Boston College is the measure to which people’s lives are richer, fuller, and more genuinely human because you did go to Boston College.”

Fr. Himes also delivered many well-attended public addresses during his time at Boston College, perhaps most notably as the inaugural speaker for the “Last Lecture Series” (2008) and as featured speaker at the Church in the 21st Century Center’s Agape Latte program, where he discussed family (2014) and hope (2016).

As a lecturer and professor of theology, Fr. Himes was known for his dynamic, animated lectures, quick wit, charitable sense of humor, and astounding ability to quote and synthesize great works of scholarship, all without notes. He often said the key to being a great teacher is to “Love what you teach and to love who you teach,” and the immense popularity of his classes appeared to confirm the success of his approach, particularly his course, “The Problem of Belief in Modernity,” which scrutinized the most notable proponents and critics of faith to ultimately shape a foundation for responsible belief in Catholicism.

"Michael Himes was the model of a priest-professor who saw his teaching as central to his vocation," said Professor of Theology Stephen Pope. "Students were spellbound by his lectures and found in him someone who helped them come to see their own religious yearnings and spiritual aspirations in new and powerful ways."
In 2002, the BC chapter of Phi Beta Kappa selected him as Teacher of the Year.

In addition to courses co-taught with his dear friend and colleague, Michael J. Buckley, S.J. (the former faculty member and director of BC's Jesuit Institute who died in 2019), Fr. Himes regarded teaching alongside his beloved younger brother and fellow priest, BC Professor of Theology Kenneth Himes, O.F.M., as one of his life’s greatest blessings. Their offices were adjacent to one another in Stokes Hall, and they co-authored the book Fullness of Faith (1993), which explores the “public significance of theology” and was awarded the Catholic Press Association Book Award in 1994.

Fr. Himes' other notable publications include Doing the Truth in Love: Conversations about God, Relatieonships, and Service (1995), Ongoing Incarnation: Johann Adam Möhler and the Beginnings of Modern Ecclesiology (1997), and the book and video series The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism (2004). He received honorary degrees from St. Joseph’s College, Molloy College, Sacred Heart University, Felician College, and Holy Cross College of Notre Dame.

An avid reader and a scholar with many interests, Fr. Himes’ home was filled with an impressive collection of books and notable works across many disciplines. According to his brother, Fr. Kenneth Himes, “Michael was a natural storyteller and public speaker. When we were growing up in Brooklyn, if it was a rainy day and we could not go outside to play, Michael would gather a bunch of us kids on the stairwell in our apartment building and amuse us with stories from Aesop, the Brothers Grimm, Walt Disney, or Arthurian legends. All his life he used that talent to entertain, to teach, to inspire others.”

Fr. Himes’ love for Boston College was well noted among members of the BC community. When interviewed in 2021, shortly before his retirement, he shared this parting thought with the Boston College Chronicle in gratitude for his career on the Heights:
“Being a part of Boston College is not only a job or profession; it is a vocation. It’s a lifelong project which one undertakes, not only for one’s self, but for all who will enter this ongoing conversation. At BC, we’re engaged in an ongoing conversation which enables us to come together as a community. Central to Boston College is that it’s a place where people are giving themselves away to others, and in doing so, we become what is most valuable to say about being human. We become the people who celebrate the reality of God—that God is pure and perfect self-gift. Boston College has given me rich frameworks and many opportunities to participate in conversation and for which I am profoundly grateful.”

Prior to his time at Boston College, Fr. Himes taught at the University of Notre Dame from 1987 to 1993 and served as Dean of the Seminary of Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York from 1977 until 1987. He held a Ph.D. in the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago, and was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York in May of 1972.

Hi talk Three Key Questions is stellar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32A107O7idc

St. Ithamar of Rochester Bishop (d. ca. 660)

+ According to Saint Bede, Ithamar (or Ythamar) was born in Kent and was consecrated bishop of Rochester before 655.
+ Remembered as the first Saxon-born bishop in England, he stands as an important figure in the history of the Catholic Church in England because he was not one of the Irish or Roman missionaries serving in England in the seventh century.
+ Little information survives about his service, although it is recorded that he consecrated Deusdedit as the first Saxon archbishop of Canterbury in 255.
+ Saint Ithamar died between 655 and 660.

For prayer and reflection: “Who is the steward who must be both faithful and wise? The apostle Paul tells us when he says of himself and his companions: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”—Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe.

Prayer: Almighty ever-living God, who chose blessed Ithamar to preside as Bishop over your holy people, we pray that, by his merits, you may bestow on us the grace of your loving kindness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal: Common of Pastors—For a Bishop)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.

Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, (October 30, 1930-June 9, 2018) a Benedictine monk of Saint Meinrad Archabbey since 1952, was a well-known composer and teacher of Gregorian chant.

He finished his doctorate in Church music at Musica Sacra in Rome in 1963, just as Roman liturgy was moving from Latin into English in the United States.

In 1964, Fr. Columba was appointed choirmaster for Saint Meinrad, where he began his work of composing English-language chants based on the principles used to create the original Gregorian Chant repertory. That same year, he also began teaching at Saint Meinrad College and Saint Meinrad School of Theology.

For 12 years, he taught summer courses at St. Joseph College's (Rensselear, IN) Liturgical Musical Program. He led numerous workshops on chant, throughout the United States, at the Abbey of Solesmes in France, and for Benedictine communities in Australia.

Fr. Columba also directed Saint Meinrad's chant schola in a program of Latin and English chants produced for CDs: an Advent/Christmas CD, a Christmas CD and a Lent/Easter CD. In 1999, he directed the schola in a performance at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He assisted in a number of special projects and compositions regarding Gregorian Chant.

His settings of the Responsorial Psalms and Refrains for Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter seasons have been published by Gregorian Institute of America, Chicago, IL. His chant style setting with SAB chorus of the St. John Passion for Good Friday has been published by Oregon Catholic Press, Portland, OR. He also wrote two books on chant, published by Edwin Mellen Press.

As part of his legacy, Fr. Columba created a body of English chant based on the natural rhythm of spoken word. The liturgical books at Saint Meinrad include nearly 2,000 responsories and antiphons written by Fr. Columba. This music, which represents only part of his work, forms the day-to-day music of the Archabbey. This work has been carried on with the assistance of his confreres, Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB, Fr. Tobias Colgan, OSB, and others.

Fr. Columba worked with recreating melismatic chants for English texts developed to fit (more or less) the Latin melody. Although the music for the English is similar to that for the Latin, it is not the same. Rather, it has been crafted to respect the rhythm and meaning of the English text.

He was one of the foremost experts on Gregorian chant in the United States. Father Columba finished his doctorate in church music at Musica Sacra in Rome just as the Roman liturgy was moving from Latin into English. He attended most of the sessions of Vatican II while studying in Rome.

During the last 35 years of life, in addition to his teaching, directing and composing for the Gregorian Schola at St. Meinrad Archabbey, in St. Meinrad, Indiana, he created a body of English chant based on the natural word rhythm of spoken word.

Here is a link to a blog on the O Antiphons. https://www.ocp.org/.../o-come-o-come-emmanuel-lyrics-o...

St. Ephrem the Syrian
“Harp of the Spirit”
composer, promoted use of hymns in liturgy
patron of Music Ministers
c306–373

June 9 – Happy Feast Day to all Musicians – singers, composers, promoters of the faith through hymnody!!

Give thanks today to St. Ephrem, for insisting we have hymns at Mass, music that supports the faith, is based in scripture, and sung to beautiful melodies. A deacon in Edessa in the fourth century, Ephrem introduced sacred hymnody to the liturgy. Known as The Harp of the Spirit, Ephrem knew that what people sang supported and promoted the text. As heretics of the time used familiar tunes to promote false doctrine, he introduced beautiful music with poetic texts to proclaim the Faith. His texts are beautiful and poetic, musical and memorable. He was able to introduce and instruct the faithful to doctrine by using his metaphor, along with symbolic language and images.

He formed a women’s choir to lead the singing of his hymns, not just in the liturgy, but in the streets as well. In writing about the mysteries of humanity’s redemption, Ephrem reveals a realistic and humanly sympathetic spirit and a great devotion to the humanity of Jesus. It is said that his poetic account of the Last Judgment inspired Dante. The only Syrian to be a Doctor of the Church, of his more than 1000 hymns, although many are lost forever, many remain as inspiration for hymns today.

Creative Spirit,
who blessed St. Ephrem
with poetry and beauty
expressed in song,
bless us as we seek to praise you.

Give us understanding to lead others in song.
Give us a sense of beauty to recognize you in the assembly.
Entrust all musicians to remain faithful in singing the truth,
and proclaiming Jesus Christ in our liturgies,
lifting hearts and minds through the beauty that is you.

Echoing St. Ephrem, the Harp of the Spirit,
we seek to be filled with the gifts you give us
so that we may sing your praise according to your will.
Through Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.

This beautiful image of St. Ephrem is one of the many works of art by Sheryl Cozad, whose artistic talents grace the many prayer cards of our Saints for Liturgical Ministers. Saint Prayer Cards are available to give to your musicians, and so many more for all Liturgical Ministries at our website. Texts by Anne McGuire, art by Sheryl Cozad. See them all: sacredliturgyministries.org

St. Mariam Theresa, (April 26, 1876- June 8, 1926) born Theresa Chiramel Mankidiyan, was the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family. The Indian Syro-Malabar Catholic nun was best known for her frequent visions and ecstasies, as well as receiving the stigmata. She founded 3 convents, 4 schools and an orphanage.

Theresa Chiramel Mankidiyan was born in Puthenchira in Irinjalakuda Revenue Division of Thissur district on April 26, 1876, to Thoma and Thanda. Theresa, named in honor of St. Teresa of Avila, was baptized on May 3, 1876.

The Mankidiyan family was once rich, but after Theresa’s grandfather married off seven daughters, selling property for each dowry, they became poor.

As a young girl, St. Mariam Theresa dedicated herself to the Lord and practiced severe fasts and night vigils. She also made a private vow to remain chaste and was moved by an intense desire to love God. Her worried mother desperately tried to discourage her pious daughter from these activities, because she was starting to thin down.

On May 2, 1888, Theresa’s mother passed away. After her mother's death, Theresa left behind her elementary school education and began her search to discern her own vocation in life. Theresa devised a plan to leave her home for a life of penance in the hills, but she changed her mind and returned home to her family.

Theresa was heavily involved in apostolic work with poor families during her late 20s. She helped the poor, nursed the sick, visited and comforted the lonely people of her parish.

She desired a formal area where she and her friends could continue their work, so in 1903, Theresa approached the Archbishop of Thrissur, Mar John Menachery, with the request to build a house of retreat. He denied her request and suggested she try to join a religious congregation instead. He recommended she join the new Congregation of the Franciscan Clarists. However, Theresa left, as she did not feel a calling toward it.

Throughout much of her life, Theresa received several different spiritual experiences, like prophecy, healing, aura of light, and sweet odor. She also had frequent ecstasies and levitations. On Fridays, people would gather around to witness St. Mariam Theresa lifted high and hanging in the form of a crucifix on her bedroom wall.

She also bore a stigmata, like St. Padre Pio's, but she kept it hidden from the public. Theresa was also tormented by diabolical attacks and vexations throughout a lot of her life. Bishops began to wonder if Theresa might be a plaything for the devil.

From the years 1902 to 1905, Theresa was subjected to several different exorcisms by the Venerable Joseph Vithayathil, under the bishop’s orders.

Years after leaving the Congregation of the Franciscan Clarists, in November 1912, St. Mariam Theresa joined the Carmelites at Ollur. However, she left after a couple of months because she insisted, she did not feel drawn to them either.

In 1913, she was permitted to set up her own house at Puthenchira and on May 14, 1914, she founded the Congregation of the Holy Family. She became the first superior of the order. They led a life of prayer and strict penance, much like hermits. However, they continued to visit with the sick and help the poor and needy.
In 1926, an object fell on Theresa leg, causing a wound. Her injuries continued getting worse, and she was admitted to the local hospital. The doctors deemed her condition to be fatal, and she was moved back to her convent. On June 7, 1926, she received her final sacraments and the Viaticum.

A day later, at 10:00 pm, St. Mariam Theresa died from her leg wound, exacerbated from her diabetes. Her final words were, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph; I give you my heart and my soul."

St. Mariam Theresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 9, 2000, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 13, 2019. She is the patron saint of the Congregation of the Holy Family, and her feast day is celebrated on June 8.