Biographical, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth

“Teresa”?

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was born “Teresa Demjanovich” in Bayonne, NJ USA on March 26, 1901. I always wondered how her birth name, Teresa, connected to Miriam Teresa, the name she took when she was received into the novitiate of the Sisters of Charity.

Her biography, An American Teresa, explains exactly:

Miriam was chosen for Mary, the Mother of God. The book specifically says: “Miriam was for Mary, her Beloved’s Mother.”

Teresa was chosen for two reasons: her devotion to Saint Teresa of Avila, and for Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

Her birth name, also Teresa, was chosen by her parents after BMT’s Uncle’s wife (aka Aunt) who was baptized “Teresa” and was BMT’s godmother.

BMT “felt from an early age” that Saint Teresa of Avila had “taken [BMT] to herself.”

Another super interesting thing: BMT took those names on May 17, 1925, the same day of the Little Flower’s canonization as Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. BMT was particularly happy that day because her brother Father Charles Demajonvich got to serve the Community Mass and BMT got to serve that mass in her capacity as a religious.

I just found that to be a fun bit of BMT trivia.
+ jp

Biographical, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth

Published Poem by Teresa Demjanovich.

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich had a poem published in The Poets of the future, a college anthology for 1921-22. The full book scan is available thanks to The University of California’s library.

This is the full text scanned straight from the printed version of the book! As a librarian myself, I want to thank University of California’s library for making this available.
Biographical, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth

Our Blessed Mother appeared to Blessed Miriam Teresa in 1919

In BMT’s biography “An American Teresa,” there is a quote: “Last night I was saying my Rosary here at the window seat when suddenly the grounds outside appeared bathed in a dazzling light and the Blessed Mother was clearly seen by me. The vision lasted several minutes after which the grounds gradually returned to their normal appearance.”

Later BMT said the beauty and sweetness of it all stayed in her mind continually. This happened around her Freshman year 1919 at St Elizabeth College.

BMT went on to become a Sister of Charity of St Elizabeth, the religious order that ran the college and where her bodily remains are now housed. BMT always had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother, with whom she was well acquainted as “The Most Holy Theotokos” due to her Byzantine Catholic upbringing. In fact according to her biography, BMT’s initial desire was to join the Carmelite Order of Sisters, whose devotion is specially ordered towards Our Blessed Mother. According to her biography, she wanted “to follow in the footsteps of the Little Flower and enter Carmel.”

I also particularly love the connections between

Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, Sister of Charity, was an American Christian who breathed with "both lungs": a Roman Catholic sister who kept her Byzantine Catholic Rite heritage.