Julia Teresa Tallon (6 May 1867 – 10 March 1954) – in religious Mary Teresa – was an American

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

professed religious from the Holy Cross Sisters who founded the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate. Tallon was born to Irish immigrants in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and joined the religious life in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

despite the protests of her family. Tallon became titled as 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 th ...

on 20 February 2013 under

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

when the beatification cause was introduced in the Archdiocese of New York.

Life

Julia Teresa Tallon was born at a farm in upstate New York 1867 as the seventh of the eight children to the Irish immigrants Peter Tallon (1827 – 21 September 1872) and Bridget Duffy (1827 – 8 August 1905). After the death of her first husband, Peter Tallon, she married John Bogan. Her siblings were: * William Tallon * Ellen Tallon (died aged six) * Elizabeth Tallon (died aged six) * Alice Cecilia Dunn (1855 – 13 February 1939) – married Patrick Dunn (1845–1913) and had one child James B. Dunn (1876–1956) * Mary Bloomfield (1861 – October 1929) – married David A. Bloomfield (1866–1912) From 1879 she felt a strong call to enter the religious life as a sister despite the protests of her mother and siblings who did not approve of her decision. Her mother in particular – despite her deep faith – did not approve of her daughter's decision though was powerless to prevent this from materializing. Regardless of their opinion she joined the Holy Cross Sisters on 30 April 1887 and resided with the order at their

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

until 1920 after the conclusion of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Tallon founded the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in New York on 15 August 1920 – an order that now operates in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Tallon suffered from disabling illnesses in the final two decades of her life and she hid the fact that she was sick though a few of her colleagues knew of this. On 10 February 1954 she was critically ill after suffering a fall in her room and spent the next month in pain. She died on the evening of 10 March 1954 just as her fellow Sisters concluded the recitation of the

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

at her bedside. Her remains were exhumed for canonical inspection and transferred on 16 October 2015 and then relocated for the final time on 9 December 2015.

Beatification cause

The beatification process opened in the Archdiocese of New York on 20 February 2013 under

after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the official " nihil obstat" (nothing against) to the cause and titled her as a

; news of this was given to the archdiocese on 28 February 2013. The diocesan process opened on 16 April 2013 and concluded on 13 January 2015 in which Cardinal

Timothy Dolan Timothy Michael Dolan (born February 6, 1950) is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current Archbishop of New York, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. Dolan served as the president of the United S ...

both inaugurated and concluded the process. The C.C.S. received all the boxes of documentation on 22 January 2015 and validated the process on 29 April 2016. The

postulator A postulator is the person who guides a cause for beatification or canonization through the judicial processes required by the Roman Catholic Church. The qualifications, role and function of the postulator are spelled out in the ''Norms to be Obse ...

assigned to the cause is Dr. Waldery Hilgeman and the vice-postulator is Sister Maria Catherine.

References

External links

Hagiography CircleSaints SQPNParish Visitors of Mary Immaculate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallon, Julia Teresa 1867 births 1954 deaths 19th-century venerated Christians 20th-century venerated Christians American Servants of God 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Founders of Catholic religious communities People from Oneida County, New York American people of Irish descent 19th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Catholics from New York (state)