life. She was given a special contemplative experience concerning the words of I John 4:8, "God is love", which was a phrase she would repeat often. Despite the constant reprimands and humiliations inflicted on her by the prioress of the community in order to test her, she proved to be unfailingly cheerful. At the start of 1770, an epidemic broke out in the monastic community. Teresa Margaret worked ceaselessly caring for the other nuns. In early March she seemed to have a premonition of her sudden death, which was at the young age of 23. On 6 March, having been forced to miss the community meal, she was eating alone in the refectory when she had a sudden attack of a pain similar to colic which left her unable to reach her room until morning. Eventually taking to her bed, she summoned help. Although she was suffering a good deal of pain, she refused to be cared for by the other nuns, so as not to burden them. Given the Last Rites that afternoon, she then lost her ability to speak or move. Death soon followed. Veneration The disease that had caused Teresa Margaret's death left her body very swollen and disfigured. Consequently, the nuns hesitated to have the normal viewing for the public. While the body was being transferred to their church, the disfigurement was found to have been reversed, and two days after her death her body was lifelike. Seeing this, the Prior Provincial of the Discalced Carmelite friars permitted a postponement of her funeral for another 15 days. During this time, the Archbishop of Florence, several priests and doctors, as well as the populace of the city, came and saw the state of her body. Many later testified to the fact that the body was as lifelike as though she were sleeping, and there was not the least visible evidence of decay. In 1806, the prioress and nuns of St. Teresa in Florence attempted to promote the beatification of the mystic nun by publishing a biography. The process was finally approved in 1929 and her canonization followed suit in 1934. Teresa Margaret is one of seven Discalced Carmelite nuns to have been declared saints. The other six are: Saints Teresa of Avila, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Teresa of Los Andes, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Mariam Baouardy. Her incorrupt body lies in the