In accordance with the behest of her owner, who died in 1703, Teresa was free to enter the Dominican convent of La Penitencia of the Third Order of Saint Mary Magdalene in Salamanca. She traveled to this convent, the only one to accept the black woman after several attempts on her behalf by the members of the household where she had been a slave. She took with her a handsome dowry (more than most nuns entering that community) and expected to be accepted as a member of the community in some official capacity, but was surprised or disappointed when the welcome was not as she expected. She was initially denied by the local bishop, who only granted her permission to work as a maid for the religious community. Some years later, he relented and she made final vows as a Dominican sister. Though professed as a "white veiled" religious sister, her tasks in the community remained the same despite; she did menial labor and sometimes tended the sick. Race put her at a disadvantage in the highly stratified social hierarchy of monastic houses of the era. Over time, Teresa gained recognition as a healer and a sister with prodigious religious gifts. The annuity bequeathed her in the marchioness’ will as well as donations from people who sought her prayers allowed her to gain ascendancy in the monastery among nuns who were only able to make their professions thanks to her financial help with their dowries. Teresa died on December 6, 1748. She was known for the care she gave to the poor, sick and down-hearted. Her acts of charity, her mystical experiences, and her fame as a healer or miracle worker moved her order soon after her death to commission two portraits of her for purposes of local veneration. At the same time, they initiated the process for her beatification, for which the Theatine priest Paniagua wrote first a funeral oration ("Oración fúnebre en las Exequias de la Madre Sor Teresa Juliana de Santo Domingo, de feliz memoria, celebradas en el día nueve de enero en el Convento de Religiosas Dominicas, vulgo de la Penitencia, Salamanca, 1749") and later the full-length hagiography, that has been published also in English. Paniagua’s "Vida" reveals a Catholic piety joined with religious practices retained among some peoples of African descent. Her cause for canonisation is being pursued.