THE PASSIONATE VIRGIN OF NEW YORK

 

Our next American to be considered for canonization is SERVANT of GOD JUANA ADELAIDA O’SULLIVAN y ROULEY, known as Mother María Adelaide of Saint Teresa. She was a Catholic nun born in New York in 1817. Her life was spent in numerous countries on the American continent. She entered the Carmel of Guatemala , where she was elected prioress in 1868. ​ Following the Liberal Reform of 1871 in the country, the Carmelites were expelled from their convent. They then lived a long pilgrimage​ until they reached Grajal de Campos where she founded her convent , in honor of Jesus Crucified . She is also known by the name of the "Passionaria of New York", due to her life and spirituality.

Juana Adeilaida was born in 1817 to Juan Tomás O'Sullivan and María Rouley. Her father was of Irish origin, Catholic and belonging to the nobility. Juana Adelaida's grandfather, Herberto, had roots in his ancestry in Count Reare O'Sullivan , who was expelled from the County of Rautry ( Ireland ) and, along with other nobles, found refuge in Spain and the United States .

 Juan Tomás, born in the American continent, began a diplomatic career, becoming Consul General of the United States in Barbary and the Canary Islands. Juana Adelaida's mother, María Rouley, belonged to the family of Lord Chesterfield , Anglicans , specifically members of the High Church. Both married in Gibraltar and from them were born William, John, Mary, Juana Adelaida, Thomas and Herbert. Given the family's religious situation, all the children were baptized in the Anglican Church.

 However, in 1821, Juana Adelaide converted to Catholicism following a visit by Monsignor Benjamin Jennivert, a Catholic bishop , to the family home. (Amazing for a child of four years of age). In 1824, Juan Tomás died in a boating accident and Juana Adelaide's brother, Juana Adelaide, took the main position in the family. There is no information nor is there any mention of William, who would be the eldest brother, who would have already died by that time.  Following the death of her father, Juana Adelaide began to experience greater religious harassment in her home, closely watched by her brother Juan and her mother María. Both followed the girl to find out how many times she went to the Catholic church (although to avoid family surveillance she took advantage of the errands she ran for the house). 

In 1830 she received her first communion from George Jennivert, brother of the bishop who had baptized her and, at that time, her spiritual director. He gave her a crucifix , which would help her develop a great devotion to Jesus Crucified. In 1835, the family moved from New York to Washington. It was there that her sister María married the poet Sanagtree (I could find no information on him- perhaps a misspelling), with whom she had a daughter. Through the influence of Juana Adelaida, both her sister and her brother-in-law converted to Catholicism.

Juana Adelaida resisted all attempts by her family to be married off.  She had briefly attended the college of the Visitation in Georgetown and would enter the Community in 1839 . She began to read the works of SaintTeresa of Avila and over time began to develop the idea of ​​being a Discalced Carmelite. There was only one Carmelite convent, in Baltimore, so in the end, she opted for the transfer to the Carmel of Havana, Cuba, which favorably accepted her.

Due to the climate and the severe penances , Juana Adelaida's health gradually weakened and a few months after arriving she suffered from the dreaded yellow fever . Her biggest problem came when the Government denied permanent residence, which had been requested by Fray Cirilo de la Alameda. This was added to the fact that Adelaida observed how the Carmelite rigor that the Rule demanded rough serge clothing and certain aspects of bedding and housing had softened depending on the climate. Considering both situations, Jorge Viteri , Bishop of San Salvador, requested Pope Gregory XVI 's permission for the young nun to move to Guatemala where there were Discalced Carmelite nuns also with solemn vows. This was granted and she was accepted by the Community of nuns, who affectionately called her "the little Englishwoman”.

 Among the duties she had to perform in the convent were cook, organist, turner (once she learned to speak Spanish and as a means of improving her language skills), and secretary to the Mother Prioress. Later, in 1858, elections were held for the Prioress, and after Mother Ana María de los Dolores was elected, Juana Adelaida was appointed Novice Mistress.

Ten years later, the offices of the Carmelite nuns of Guatemala were renewed, and Mother Adelaida was unanimously elected Prioress. In 1871, she completed her term as Prioress and was re-elected, remaining so until her death, both in America and Spain, amid revolutions, pilgrimages, exiles, travels, construction projects, and the founding of her last convent.

In February 1874, a revolution in the country, with the resulting confiscation of church property and expulsion from their convents, led the Guatemalan Carmelite nuns to travel to Spain, settling in Grajal de Campos (León), providentially welcomed by the Bishop of León. After returning from Guatemala to Cuba, and from Havana to New York, they retraced their steps as if on a true journey. When they were about to found a monastery in Toronto, Canada, they received a letter from the Spanish Bishop of León.

(Photo of monastery in Leon)

Monsignor Saturnino Fernández de Castro, Bishop of León since 1875 and later Archbishop of Burgos since 1883, received a very moving letter one day in 1880 from a niece, the wife of a vice-consul in a North American city. In that letter, the niece told him the story of some Discalced Carmelite nuns who had been expelled from their convent. No sooner said than done. From New York, Mother Adelaida de Santa Teresa and her ten nuns  arrived in Cádiz by boat. On June 11, 1881, they arrived in Madrid. On December 18, 1882, she founded the Monastery of Grajal, where she died in the odor of sanctity on April 15, 1893, after years of exhaustive dedication to her new and last foundation. She was 75 years old, 50 years of religious profession, 19 years since her expulsion from Guatemala and ten years since the founding of the latter.

"The Passionate Virgin of New York,"
Founder of the Carmel of Grajal de Campos (León),
by Father Florencio del Niño Jesús, 303 pages (Seville, 1982).