Teresa was born in Bayonne, New Jersey to parents who emigrated from modern-day Slovakia. She was valedictorian of her high school class and received her diploma in January 1917. She had hoped to enter the Carmelite convent, but her mother was very ill; she stayed home to care for her until her death about two years later. Teresa decided to attend the College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, New Jersey. She studied literature and frequented their school’s chapel, where she often said the rosary. Teresa graduated College with highest honors and soon accepted a teaching position at St. Aloysius in Jersey City. She still felt drawn to religious life and less than two years later decided to join the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth, a teaching order. Three days before she was to enter, her father suddenly died. Teresa stayed strong and, after burying her father, joined the sisters 11 days later, accompanied by her brother who was a priest. Teresa’s deep spirituality was soon recognized and her spiritual director, without informing the other sisters, asked her to write the conferences he was giving to the Novices. Teresa soon fell ill with appendicitis. She was given permission to take vows on her deathbed and died Sr. Miriam Teresa on May 8 ^th, 1927.