Hajja Salesjana

Sr. Theresa Curmi FMA - An Appreciation - written by her brother Mr. Anthony Curmi Writing this appreciation of the life of such a dear sister, first of all, I thank God for having brought her andmyself to life within 19 months of one another within a wonderful family of 13 siblings. Also, that we were blessed with so many instances when our lives brought us close to one another in both good and bad times. Theresa was born on 29 October 1935 in Sliema. She showed a jovial and loving character from an early age. Like all our sisters, she received her education as a boarder at the Sacred Heart School, St. Julians. During week-ends and school holidays she frequented St. Patrick’s Salesian Church, Sliema where she nursed a call to religious life but not with the Sacred Heart nuns where two elder sisters, as also two aunts, were already members of that religious Order. Theresa joined the congregation of Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in August 1955 and made her final profession at Henley- on Thames in 1958. God willed that I represent the family–by then both our parents had passed to eternal rest in quick succession at a relatively young age - because, I happened to be in London on a four-month banking training course. In 1959 she was posted to Ecuador where she taught English at the Cardinal Spellman Girls’ School for 9 years. The climate at a high altitude caused her health problems but she persisted until it became absolutely necessary for her to move to a more equitable climate. After a short spell in Turin, in 1968 her superiors chose Australia where one of our elder brothers was a member of the community of Salesians of Don Bosco since 1945. There she regained her health and worked assiduously, alongside the Salesian Fathers at St. Mary’s, close to Sydney, with youths, most of whom came from families in Blacktown one of the most deprived areas. Theresa was again very much in her elements Sr Theresa and a young person from the Salesian Oratory 30 Jannar-Marzu 2025 hajja