Theresa of Portugal, Queen of León
Theresa of Portugal (1176 – 18 June 1250) was Queen of Léon as the first wife of her first cousin King Alfonso IX of León. When her marriage was annulled because of consanguinity, she retired to a convent. She was beatified in 1705.
She was born the oldest daughter of Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon.
Theresa was the mother to three of Alfonso's children—two daughters, Sancha and Dulce, and a son, Ferdinand, who was the heir of the kingdom until his death in 1214. However, when her marriage to Alfonso was declared invalid because they were first cousins, she returned to the Kingdom of Portugal and lived in the Monastery of Lorvão, formerly under the Benedictine rule, which she converted into a Cistercian convent, with over 300 nuns.
In the Martyrology
- June 17 Blessed Teresa, queen of León