Higginson was born on 27 May 1844 in
Holywell,
Flintshire, the third of eight children. Her father, Robert Francis Higginson and her mother Mary Bowness had travelled there from
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to visit the shrine at
St Winefride's Well. There, she was baptised and named after
Teresa of Ávila and
Helena, mother of Constantine I. The family were staunchly catholic and built a chapel for the community in their home. between the years 1854 and 1865, then moved with her family to
St Helens, where her family struggled to make ends meet. In 1871, she began her journey into teaching, training in
Orrell, Greater Manchester before taking a teaching role in
Wigan for three years. from 1879 to 1887. and a petition in favour was signed by "nearly 200,000 people in every country of the world except Russia" but she was finally declared a
Servant of God in 1937. Pope Piux X remarked that "she was a special child of God" Many letters written by Higginson are in the archives at
St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate, with duplicates at the
Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool. == Life as a mystic ==