Teresa Musco: Salvation through the Cross

Teresa Musco was born in 1943 into a poor Italian family and suffered greatly from her father's harshness and cruelty. Her mystical experiences began very early in her childhood. She had many visions of Jesus, Mary, angels and saints, who gave her messages, particularly of an eschatological nature (concerning the end times). She experienced the Passion of Christ in her body, and received the stigmata. She died at the age of 33. Her biographer, theologian Gabriele Roschini, professor at the Pontifical Lateran University and adviser to the Holy Office, believes that the mystical phenomena experienced by Teresa are the most remarkable in the history of the Church.

Unsplash/Josh Applegate

Reasons to believe:

Teresa Musco's moral uprightness and beautiful human qualities preclude any suspicion of fraud or deceit. Her obedience to the ecclesiastical authorities and her humility were universally acknowledged.
Both the messages Teresa received and the interpretation she gave of the miraculous phenomena surrounding her are in perfect resonance with the teaching of the Catholic magisterium, and in full continuity with the Gospel.
No scientist to date has been able to explain the unusual facts of Teresa's life. For example:
Teresa received the stigmata in August 1952. There couldn't be unexplained by science, and were not self-inflicted wounds - it is also important to note that her psychological evaluation showed no masochistic or schizophrenic tendencies. Additionally, the clinical changes of the wounds did not follow any natural pattern.
During her ecstasies and prayers, Teresa spoke a language unknown to those around her. When Don Carlo de Ambrogio, a specialist in Semitic languages, came to visit Caserta, he discovered that Teresa spoke Aramaic, the language spoken at the time of Jesus. Teresa had never learnt the language, however.
Over a period of eighteen months, a series of phenomena were observed in Teresa's room, consisting of weeping (clear or bloody tears) or perspiring holy images or statues. Hundreds of people from all walks of life witnessed these manifestations and attested to their occurence either verbally or in writing. Blood issuing from a crucifix was analysed by a doctor in 1975 and found to be human blood.

Summary:

Father Gabriele Roschini notes at the outset: "During my long religious life, and even more so during the long period when I was consultor to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, I had the opportunity to read and sift through a large number of biographies of holy souls from all times and backgrounds, exceptional souls endowed with extraordinary gifts [...]. None of them [...] can compare with the extraordinary life and phenomena of Teresa Musco. For me, [...] the name of Teresa Musco represents the greatest phenomenological whole of all times and places" (preface to Father Stefano Manelli's book Piccola storia di una vittima).

Teresa Musco was born on July 7, 1943, in Caiazzo, Italy, in the province of Caserta, near Naples, in a typical poor southerm Italian family of farmers. Her father Salvatore was an angry and abusive man, while her mother, Rosa "Zullo", was gentle and devout. The couple had ten children, four of whom died during childhood. The first years of Teresa's life were rather bleak: the fighting of the Second World War raged in the south of Italy, disrupting farm work and hampering food supplies. From an early age, Teresa helped her parents with the housework.

At the age of seven, she felt for the first time the mysterious presence of the Virgin Mary, to whom she was already deeply devoted. From an early age, Teresa was aware of Mary's role in the economy of salvation, namely to lead people to her Son Jesus.

From 1950 onwards, she suffered from high fevers and painful colic, but no one was able to identify the cause. Teresa did not attend school until the age of nine, and then only sporadically.

She had her first mystical experience at the age of 5. The visions were frequent: she saw Jesus, Mary, angels and saints... Again, we must rule out hallucinations or illusions since her ecstasies and visions didn't arise from morbid states known to psychiatrists, but on the contrary brought inner peace and wisdom to Teresa who, far from being "predisposed" or "a model of sanctity", was a sometimes turbulent and mischievous little girl, "a whirlpool of energy", as she herself put it.

On the afternoon of January 9, 1948, a rainy day, while praying the rosary with her family near the fireplace, Teresa suddenly fainted. One of her feet fell on the blaze. When she came to, she screamed in pain. Three days later, she saw a "beautiful Lady",who dressed her burns. Eight days later, all traces of the burn had disappeared from the surface of her skin.

On the following January 21, the Virgin appeared to her again: "My daughter, I am your heavenly Mother, guiding you along the path that is pleasing to my beloved Son." After that, Teresa began receiving an increasing number of prophetic messages: for example, she knew about her eventual move to Caserta (when she had to leave her childhood home) and a thousand details of her future adult life. Can we ascribe these to an overactive imagination? Not in this case: the content of Teresa Musco's visions and of the messages are far beyong her natural cognitive abilities and level of education. When she was just five years old, the Child Jesus asked her: "Teresa, do you love me?" She replied: "Yes! And do you love me?" Staring at her, the Lord replied: "I do! Yes ! And if need be, I would be ready to be crucified again for you."

Teresa also desired to receive Holy Communion from a very early age, a fact that is common among authentic mystics. The parish priest at Caiazzo allowed her to make her First Communion before she was twelve, but her father objected, and the question of how to prepare for the ceremony turned into a family drama. On January 10, 1950, Teresa stayed in her room, wracked with pain. Jesus appeared to her, stretching out his arms towards her, and said: "Prepare your heart to receive me in Holy Communion, for I desire to come to you, so that the two of us may become one." That same day, at about half past ten, her father ordered her to get up and go cut some grass. Teresa obeyed. She got dressed and set off for the fields around the village. Then she heard a voice: "This is one of my houses." Looking around, she saw a small church, so she interrupted her work and made her way to it. She entered slowly, because she had heard noises inside: a wedding mass was being celebrated. She saw a priest in one of the confessionals, who agreed to hear her confession. During communion, she fearfully approached the altar rail, like the others, and received Jesus in the Host.

That day, the Virgin asked her to write down what she said, because the time would come when she would have to entrust her messages to priests. One day in 1950, Our Lady warned Teresa that from then on she would have "much to suffer". Without understanding the meaning of these words, Teresa nodded. Then the angel Gabriel told her: "You will go up to Calvary with Jesus". In fact, Teresa's health was to suffer greatly until her death. In all, she had 117 operations.

Some of Teresa's experiences are worth mentioning. On January 3, 1952, Mary said to her: "I appeared in Portugal where I gave messages, but nobody listened to me [...]. I'm going to tell you about the third secret I entrusted to Lucia at Fatima. I can tell you that it has already been read, but no one has spoken about it." Father Roschini added: "Our Lady foretold Teresa of Paul VI's journey to Fatima, where he would invite everyone to prayer and penance, and she also confided that the Pope would not dare to speak of the secret, because it was terrible."

Other prophecies would emerge as the months went by: so many calls to prayer, penance and conversion. One morning, as she arrived at the village church for Mass, she saw a priest coming towards her, dressed in a monk's habit. He said to her: "My daughter, I recommend that you pray for the salvation of the souls in purgatory." - "Who are you?" -"I am Padre Pio. Jesus told me to tell you not to talk to anyone about what is happening to you. One day, you will be like me. Look..." He showed her the stigmata on his hands, blessed her and disappeared. Did Teresa suffer from a mental illness? Certainly not! At the time, Teresa was unaware of Padre Pio's existence. Pictures and photographs of him were rare, and it's hard to imagine that the little girl would have found a copy in a magazine, or at home, in her church or at school.

On August 1, 1952, she saw Jesus on a road "full of thorns". The Lord asked her: "Daughter, will you help me carry this Cross?" Two strangers came up to her, laid her on a cross and nailed her to the wood. Teresa woke up in profuse perspiration. She felt excruciating pain in her hands, feet and chest. She noticed that blisters had formed in these areas. She was stigmatised. An argument propounding self-mutilation or wounds formed by autosuggestion would be completely unfounded: Teresa's psychological disposition in no way suggests masochistic or schizophrenic tendencies. What's more, the clinical evolution of her wounds was medically unpredictable.

In 1954, Teresa received her "life mission" from Our Lady: "God alone for goal, Jesus for model, Mary for guide, your guardian angel for support, and myself in sacrifice." The rest of her life consisted in meticulously fulfilling this mission. On April 12, 1955, lying on her bed, Teresa saw a great ray of sunlight in the centre of which an angel said to her: "You have accepted the cross, and soon you will reach Calvary. When you get there, your body will be like a crucifix and your heart like a living tabernacle."

God gave her several extraordinary charisms: she could read hearts and speak in "unknown" languages. Father Franco Amico, a priest who knew Teresa Musco, testifies: "Many people wondered what language Teresa spoke during her ecstasies [...]. From Don Stefano Gobbi himself, I received the following explanation. On February 1, 1975, Don Carlo de Ambrogio came to visit Caserta. This priest was a specialist in Semitic languages and was responsible for the translation of psalms. When Teresa began to speak Aramaic in his presence, he asked her to pronounce each word slowly. Don Carlo was able to grasp the meaning of each word and said that the language spoken by Teresa was the same as that spoken at the time of Jesus."

On November 7, 1960, following a vision from the Angel Gabriel, Teresa decided to leave her parents' home and go to Caserta, as Mary had foretold. She made an act of complete abandonment to God. These years were marked by the devil's vexations and oppressions against her. She complained about this to Jesus, who replied: "My daughter, you must be ground like grain and pressed like a bunch of grapes." This response evokes the testimony of the philosopher Maurice Clavel (d. 1979), of whom Teresa was obviously unaware, who explained that at the time of his conversion he had been "scoured like a sink".

Jesus asked her to pray unceasingly for the souls in Purgatory. Teresa often received requests to pray for these souls, who sometimes manifested themselves to her, confirming the Church's teaching on this point.

On October 15, 1963, she took a vow of virginity. Her mystical life progressed, despite diabolical attempts to demoralise her. Unexplained phenomena were a daily occurrence, and Father Franco Amico, who assisted Teresa in the last years of her life, bore witness to them, as did hundreds of other direct witnesses.

An initial scientific analysis was drawn up in 1974 and included in Father Gabriele Roschini's report of the events, Extraordinary phenomena verified at Castel San Lorenzo. These also took place at the home of one of Teresa's brothers, Luigi Musco.

In the last days of July 1974, an image of the Virgin Mary in the image. On October 5, the face of that same image showed visible perspiration. On October 21, the image shed tears of blood in the presence of many people.

Between February 26, 1975, and August 19, 1976, several priests and scientists rigorously observed the manifestations: tears (normal or bloody) flowed from twenty-four religious objects (images, photos, or statues). Doctor Francesco Guarino, after detailing the protocol and technical procedures, concluded: "The blood type is O+" . Father Roschini put the number of events recorded at Teresa's home in Caserta alone at "approximately 757".

Teresa was a "victim soul": a believer who accepts all evils in order to offer them to Jesus for the salvation of sinners. This is the heart of her spirituality. On the feast of the Assumption in 1974, she saw "a beautiful Lady" whose "voice was like a melody"; "luminous rays came out of her hands", dressed in white, with a blue sash and a cloak "the colour of heaven", her "feet rested on a white cloud". She said to the mystic: "My daughter, I am in your midst to see who wants to offer himself as a victim on this earth so that he can then enjoy the reign of my Son. Will you accept?" Teresa accepted without hesitation.

The Eucharistic sacrament is a central theme of the messages she received. On December 23, 1975, Jesus exhorted her to focus on adoring the Blessed Sacrament: "My daughter, may I be consoled and repaired in my Eucharist... I desire love through the Eucharist and my holy wounds." In a word, Father Roschini wrote, Teresa flew "to the highest heights of love, to be immolated with the Victim of victims, Jesus."

In the early days of April 1976, Teresa's health deteriorated. The wounds of the Passion made her suffer atrociously. On June 23, 1976, she was taken to the civil hospital in Caserta for a nephrology test and diagnosed with "chronic uraemia with high blood pressure".

Shortly afterwards, a doctor asked to examine the stigmata. Believing it had a medical cause, he sent Teresa to another hospital in the city for a consultation in dermatology. The hospital practitioner's response was definitive: "These aregenuine stigmata". In her room, roses that had been given to her, placed in front of a small image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, mysteriously filled with dew.

On July 9, Teresa had her first haemodialysis. She fell into ecstasy for the last time, and saw and heard the Virgin Mary tell her: "You will suffer a little longer, and then I will take you to the Father". On August 19, 1976, Teresa Musco lay exhausted on her bed. She still found the strength to endure a final dialysis treatment. In the waiting room, she met a woman in pain who asked her why God allowed so much suffering: "The Lord forgets nothing: he will know how to reward us for our suffering", she replied.

At that moment, Teresa's heart showed signs of extreme weakness. Suddenly, the bells of a nearby church rang out: "It was to call the faithful to make reparation for a sacrilege committed on consecrated hosts", people were told. The nurses went to church together, and Teresa remained alone. In the spring of 1972, she had asked Mary to die in absolute solitude.

The bishops of the Campania region authorised the opening of the diocesan phase of Teresa's beatification process in October 2004.

Patrick Sbalchiero