Maria Teresa Casini

Teresa returned to Grottaferrata and first stayed with Enrichetta Spalletta, then with the Consoli family, joined by Clorinda Canestri. She sold her share of the inheritance to build a house for her community, which they took possession of on October 17, 1892.

On February 2, 1894, Teresa and her companions officially founded an institute of strict enclosure under the name of "Vittime del Sacro Cuore" (Victims of the Sacred Heart). On April 1, 1896, the institute received the decree of praise from the Bishop of Frascati, Cardinal Serafino Vannutelli. Teresa began her novitiate under the name of Sister Maria Teresa of the Pierced Heart of Jesus.

Under the impetus of the new bishop, Cardinal Francesco Satolli, the institute abandoned strict enclosure to open itself to active apostolic works. In 1910, she opened a first workshop in Grottaferrata for the education of young girls. In 1916, the congregation took its definitive name: the "Suore Oblate del Sacro Cuore di Gesù" (Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus).

During the First World War, she developed initiatives to support priestly vocations. She founded the work of the "Piccoli Amici di Gesù" (Little Friends of Jesus), officially launched in 1925, to welcome and educate young boys showing dispositions for the priesthood. She also opened houses to welcome and care for elderly, sick, or struggling priests.

In May 1925, Mother Maria Teresa was struck by a paralytic stroke. Her health declined and she retired permanently to Grottaferrata in 1930, leaving the leadership of the institute. Bedridden, she continued to exert an intense spiritual influence on the sisters, priests, and seminarians.

She passed away peacefully on April 3, 1937, in Grottaferrata, at the age of 72. Her final words were: "I am at peace. I feel that God is near me."

Initially buried in the cemetery of Grottaferrata, her remains were exhumed on April 28, 1949, to be placed in the chapel of the local institute. On May 20, 1965, her remains were transferred to the church of the General House of the Oblates of the Sacred Heart in Rome.

The cause for beatification was opened in the diocese of Frascati (1952-1962). The Positio on her heroic virtues was submitted to Rome in 1991. On July 7, 1997, Pope John Paul II signed the decree recognizing the heroic nature of her virtues, conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The miracle required for her beatification concerns the unexplained healing of a young American boy, Jacob Ronald Sebest (nicknamed Jack), aged five and residing in Campbell, in the Diocese of Youngstown (Ohio, United States). In June 2003, the child was the victim of an accidental drowning in a swimming pool and fell into a deep post-anoxic coma with brain damage deemed irreversible.

The parents and the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus prayed fervently, placing a holy card containing a relic of the foundress under the child's pillow. On the day of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, little Jacob suddenly awoke from his coma, without any neurological sequelae.

After a diocesan canonical inquiry conducted in Youngstown from 2007 to 2009, the medical commission of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously approved the miracle on May 22, 2014. On January 22, 2015, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing this miracle.

The beatification ceremony was celebrated on October 31, 2015, in the square of the Cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle in Frascati, presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, representing Pope Francis, in the presence of young Jacob Sebest and his family.

The spirituality of Maria Teresa Casini is deeply Eucharistic and reparatory, centered on the consolation of the Heart of Jesus. Her vocation crystallized around a mystical vision of the Heart of Jesus pierced by a thorn, a symbol of the offenses, coldness, and infidelities of priests. She understood that her mission consisted of offering herself as an oblation of love, prayer, and sacrifice for the sanctification of the clergy.

Today, the Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue this mission throughout the world, notably in Italy, the United States (since 1946), and Brazil. They dedicate themselves to prayer for priests, pastoral animation, the education of youth, and the accompaniment of elderly or sick priests.

The liturgical memorial of Blessed Maria Teresa Casini is set for April 3 in the Roman Martyrology. However, for her congregation and the Diocese of Frascati, she is celebrated on October 29, the anniversary of her baptism.