Saint Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

Anna Maria changes her plans

Anna Maria Redi was born in Arezzo in 1747 and educated with the Benedictines in Florence. She initially expected to join them. The Carmelites’ biography says a conversation with a friend preparing for Carmel changed her direction. She returned home to consider the decision and entered the Florentine Carmel in 1764. The change disappointed people who had expected a different future for her. [2]

An uncertain return

During her trial period, Anna Maria left for a knee operation without knowing whether she would be readmitted. She returned and professed as Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart. The Order remembers the uncertainty surrounding that interruption. [2]

The work nobody could finish once

As an assistant infirmarian, Teresa Margaret was sought by sick sisters. The Order remembers particular patience with a woman whose mental illness included aggressive behavior. Both women deserve a compassionate account: one needed care, and the other faced demanding work. [2]

Her surviving writings admit discouragement at repeating the same mistakes. The reprimand over infirmary work belongs within that unsettled effort, rather than a portrait of effortless perfection. [3]

Letters she chose to give up

At profession she gave up correspondence with her father, Ignazio Maria, an important confidant. They promised to remember each other in the Heart of Jesus each evening. The diocese records this painful loss within her vocation; it need not become a rule for other families. [3]

What “God is love” asks of a person

The First Letter of John was central to her prayer. [1]

The passage joins the love of God with love for the person one can actually see. Someone who claims to love God while hating a brother contradicts the claim. That gives her nursing a clear Christian context: love has a recipient who needs something from you, often at an inconvenient time. [4]

When prayer felt empty

The Carmelite account says her final years included dryness, fear, and resistance in prayer. She continued using psalms and short biblical prayers. For a reader familiar with distraction or emotional exhaustion, this is a more recognizable difficulty than constant spiritual exhilaration. Her practice continued through feelings she could not simply command. [2]

Her death and the preservation account

She died on 7 March 1770, aged twenty-two. The Dicastery attributes the death to peritonitis and reports fragrance and a preserved body at the Florentine Carmel. It publishes no clinical record, tissue inventory or conservation history. These remain claims of a devotional biography, with no modern preservation mechanism established. [1]