Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth

Servant of God Sister Miriam Teresa
(1901 - 1927)

Her Mission

"God’s purpose in my life is this in general: To teach men that Our Lord’s promise ‘If any man love Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love Him and we will come to him and make our abode with him’ is held out to every soul regardless of calling; and is the perfect realization of His prayer and ours: Thy kingdom come…"

"The immediate object is to help sanctify this community (The Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth). . .

. . . and all His spouses engaged in the active life (women and men religious) . . .

. . . by bringing home to them by force of example and word that God desires with desire to become one spirit with them, . . .

. . . and this life of union, far from being incompatible with their state, is the one thing necessary, for upon it depends the fruitfulness of action."

"And even in the world I felt very intensely that if people only sought God in all earnestness they would find Him. And if all would only make use of the ordinary duties and trials of their state in the way God intended, they would all become saints.."
(all men and women)

(Sister Miriam Teresa’s letter to Father Benedict, O.S.B. (August 19, 1926)

This is not a new doctrine. Our Lord said to His disciples "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Sister Miriam Teresa was chosen to remind us of that doctrine. Forty years after her statement, the Second Vatican Council reiterated it in the Constitution on the Church:

". . . all in the Church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it, are called to holiness, according to the Apostle’s saying: ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification.’ . . . It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in whatever state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity, and this holiness is conducive to a more human way of living even in society here on earth."
(Chapter V, The Universal Call to Holiness)

Sister Miriam Teresa League Headquarters | P.O. Box 476, Convent Station, NJ 07961-0476
E-mail: msmith@cse.edu or dolacass1@aol.com | 973-290-4084 or 973-290-5465