When Sister Teresa Demjanovich taught English and Latin at Saint Aloysius School in Jersey City in the mid 1920s, she had just decided to give up her life in service to God.
A Bayonne native, Sister Teresa struggled to decide whether or not to enter the Sisters of Charity, an order of nunnery devoted to teaching children, or the Carmelite Order of Sisters.
The decision to become a nun was a huge one for her, but also one that may soon may bring her into an even rarer order. Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church has elevated her from “Venerable” to “Blessed,” one step short of sainthood.
There are currently only eight American saints throughout the history, and if elevated, Teresa – also known as Sister Miriam Teresa – would be the ninth.
She has been credited with restoring eyesight to a boy who was blind due to macular degeneration. The Roman Catholic Church certified after her death that her intervention helped restore the vision of a Teaneck boy who was legally blind as a result of a youthful version of the disease.
The Vatican standard for miracles is very high. A board of doctors, notoriously exacting, must conclude that no reasonable medical explanation exists for a healing. If there are any living witnesses, they are brought to testify.
Inspired by fire
Born in Bayonne on March 26, 1901, Teresa was the last of seven children and the daughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe.
She was born in a house on East 22nd Street, the daughter of a shoemaker. His shoe shop was on the first floor of the building in what had been a dry goods store, and she lived with her siblings in the other part of the building.
She attended nearby St. John’s Byzantine Church. She once described herself as “a child of the Hook,” referring to the section of town where her house was one of a few houses in an area dominated by oil refineries. Her father eventually took a job in one.
“This is an amazing moment for all of us to have a saint come from Bayonne.” – Mayor James Davis
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She attended Lincoln elementary school at age 11, and then attended Bayonne High School, from which she graduated as Salutatorian in 1917.
She did not go off to college immediately, but remained home to take care of her mother, a victim of the influenza. By that time she had made up her mind to become a nun but remained home as nurse and housekeeper.
After her mother’s death in 1918, she helped comfort the family through the loss, and then went on to study at the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, where she graduated in 1923 summa cum laude.
A vision of The Virgin
At college she had a vision of St. Mary, Christ’s mother.
“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,” Teresa told her fellow students just prior to her graduation.
She was describing one of those moments many people believe showed her holiness. She later said the “beauty and the sweetness” of the moment remained in her mind.
She entered the order of Sisters of Charity in 1925, after her father’s death.
Father Benedict Bradley, her spiritual director in religion, became aware of her gifts and steered her towards writing a series of lectures.
She returned to Bayonne where she trained with the Sisters of Charity and taught in Jersey City. She was still in training when she suffered an appendectomy, and took her final vows on her death bed on May 8, 1927.
Her writings were collected into a book called “The Great Perfection.” This has since been translated into a number of languages including Chinese.
Some fellow nuns claimed she was a model for those wishing to live a life of contemplation.
Then miracles started to happen connected to her, including a number of favors or cures that came about as a result of praying for her intersession, the most famous being the cure of the legally blind Teaneck boy.
Her order began early after her death to lobby her for sainthood. But the movement heated up after World War II when her followers established the Sister Miriam Teresa League in New Jersey, striving to have her named a saint. Since then the Roman Catholic Church has conducted a study of her life and her writings, as well as her reputation for holiness.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI elevated her from “Servant of God” to “Venerable,” and in early October at a mass in Newark, she took the next step.
For the first time in the history of the Catholic Church the mass in which she was elevated to “Blessed” was held in the United States at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Newark. In a tribute to her roots in Bayonne, Kurt Burnette of the Byzantine Ruthenian Eparchy of Passaic celebrated the Divine Liturgy of Thanksgiving and the faithful gathered at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Bayonne on Oct. 5.
“I wasn’t able to go to the church in Newark,” said Bayonne Mayor James Davis. “But I was able to attend the mass in Bayonne. This is an amazing moment for all of us to have a saint come from Bayonne.”
The historic event in Newark drew thousands of people
Davis issued a proclamation named Oct. 5 as Blessed Sister Miriam Teresa Day.
Teresa adopted the names Miriam fore the Blessed Mother, and Teresa for the Saint of Avila when entering the order.
More than a decade ago, Bayonne dedicated a park on East 23rd Street about a block from where she lived in her honor.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.