Teresa Helena Higginson (27 May 1844 – 15 February 1905) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Roman Catholic mystic.

Biography

Higginson was born on 27 May 1844 in

Holywell Holywell may refer to: England * Holywell, Bedfordshire * Holywell, Cambridgeshire * Holywell, Cornwall * Holywell, Dorset * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Sussex * Holywell, Gloucestershire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Ho-Hoo#Hol, location in ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, the third of eight children. Her father, Robert Francis Higginson and her mother Mary Bowness had travelled there from

Gainsborough, Lincolnshire Gainsborough () is a market town and civil parish in the West Lindsey Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population was 20,842 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 23,243 in 2019. It lies on the east bank of the ...

to visit the shrine at

St Winefride's Well St Winefride's Well () is a holy well and national shrine located in the Welsh town of Holywell, Flintshire, Holywell in Flintshire. The patron saint of the well, St Winefride, was a 7th-century Catholic martyr who according to legend was decap ...

.Teresa Helena Higginson
Amazon, Retrieved 24 November 2015 There, she was baptised and named after

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28March 15154or 15October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during the Counter-Re ...

and

Helena, mother of Constantine I Flavia Julia Helena (; , ''Helénē''; – 330), also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was an ''List of Augustae, Augusta'' of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. She was b ...

. The family were staunchly catholic and built a chapel for the community in their home. Higginson attended a convent school in Nottingham between the years 1854 and 1865, then moved with her family to St Helens, where her family struggled to make ends meet. In 1871, she began her journey into teaching, training in

Orrell, Greater Manchester Orrell is a suburb of Wigan in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The population of the ward had fallen at the 2011 Census to 11,513. The area lies to the west of Wigan town centre. The area is contiguous with Pe ...

before taking a teaching role in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

for three years. She would take on other teaching roles, including one in

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

from 1879 to 1887. Between 1887 and 1899, she spent time with the nuns at

St Catharine's Convent, Edinburgh St Catharine's Convent or St Catharine’s Mercy Centre is a Catholic convent of the Sisters of Mercy and a centre for the homeless in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built in 1860 and originally designed by David Cousin, with additions made in 1887 ...

, before returning to teaching in

Chudleigh Chudleigh () is an ancient wool town located within the Teignbridge District Council area of Devon, England; it is sited between Newton Abbot and Exeter. The electoral ward with the same name had a population of 5,919 at the 2021 United Kingdo ...

in 1903. Higginson suffered a stroke in December 1904, and died on 15 February 1905 in her cottage in

. She was discussed as a possible candidate for

beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...

in 1928 and a petition in favour was signed by "nearly 200,000 people in every country of the world except Russia" but she was finally declared a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

in 1937. Pope Piux X remarked that "she was a special child of God" Many letters written by Higginson are in the archives at

St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate St Augustine's Abbey or Ramsgate Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Ramsgate. It was built in 1860 by Augustus Pugin and is a Grade II listed building. It was the first Benedictine monastery to be built in England since the Reformation. In ...

, with duplicates at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool.

Life as a mystic

From the age of 3, Higginson was said to imitate

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. At convent school, she spent much of her time in prayer. While living with other teachers in Wigan, she was said to be subject to

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

phenomena, such as being thrown from her bed or her body becoming rigid in "fits of ecstasy", and "minor miracles" such as "the sudden appearance of a bar of soap on a table". It was during this time, on Good Friday 1874, that Higginson's hands and feet bled in a manner of

stigmata Stigmata (, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion Five Holy Wounds, wounds of Jesus in Christian ...

for the first time, something that would occur regularly over the following years. She went into prayer trances that lasted days, and she "violently re-enacted" the scenes in the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

. Higginson's exploits, which included periods where "the devil impersonated erto deceive people" meant that she was evicted by her landlady and found it difficult to find work. Indeed, she lost a role at one school for "apparent poltergeist phenomena" and was later accused of theft" On 24 October 1887, she experience the " mystical marriage" in

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

, and then travelled to

References

External links

Biography at sacredhead.orgOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higginson, Teresa Helena 1844 births 1905 deaths English women People from Holywell, Flintshire English Servants of God Stigmatics Women letter writers