St. Teresa of Avila is one of the Church’s great mystics, and was one of the first two women to be declared a doctor of the Church, due to her work reforming the Carmelite order, her mystical spiritual life and her luminous writing on contemplative prayer.

Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, on the eve of the Protestant Reformation in 1515, to a devoutly Catholic family. Her mother, Beatriz, read her many stories of the saints when she was a young child, and Teresa and her brother Rodrigo were particularly smitten by the stories of the martyrs. Their heads filled with the grandeur of holy self-sacrifice, Rodrigo and Teresa decided to run away to southern Spain where Christians were undergoing persecution. Apprehended by their uncle before they had even made it to the next town, Rodrigo and Teresa reluctantly returned home.

Teresa's mother, Beatriz, died when Teresa was just fourteen. Filled with grief and loneliness, Teresa turned to Mary and asked her to be her mother. From that hour on, Teresa claimed, "I never prayed to the Virgin in vain."

Teresa's natural zeal waned slightly throughout her teenage years. Teresa had charisma and charm in abundance, and she developed a wide circle of friends. Even in the midst of relishing the influence of her great beauty, style, and wit, Teresa felt miserable. When she continued her education at a convent of Carmelites, Teresa's passion for the religious life was reignited.

When Teresa turned twenty, she left home against her father’s wishes to join a Carmelite convent to become a religious sister. When she arrived at the Carmelite Monastery in Avila, she discovered an environment all too similar to the world she had left behind. Carmelite Monasteries by the 16th century had grown generally lax and materialistic. Convents were run on endowments, and the nuns were concerned about their social status and material wealth.

Teresa fell ill for several years—probably with a type of malaria—and dedicated herself to prayer while she lay in bed. When she was restored to health, Teresa became distracted by visitors and neglected her prayer. The death of her father prompted Teresa to begin focusing again on prayer.

Teresa's mysticism was certainly not instant—she describes a typical hour in meditation when she would fret away the hour wishing it would be over. Gradually, however, through practice and faithfulness, her prayer deepened. As she read the work of other Spanish mystics, Teresa began to develop a more intimate union with God. 

Increasingly, she received consolation in prayer and began to experience God's voice and see visions of Christ. Many friends and advisors feared the visions came from the devil, not from God. After consultation with the Jesuit priest who would become her spiritual director, Francis Borgia, all of Teresa's doubts of the origins of these visions were removed.

From then on, she had many experiences of distinctly hearing divine speech, which filled her with peace and joy. Sometimes, even, Teresa's body was levitated during prayer. During these ecstasies, she felt certain that these gifts were from God, as they filled her with consolation: feelings of peace and joy in the overabundance of God’s love.

In one vision, she described an angel visiting her. The angel seemed to be burning with love of God, and pierced her heart with a lance, which caused Teresa physical pain and left Teresa, in her words, “all on fire with the great love of God.” 

This vision was immortalized in a famous sculpture by Bernini (shown to the right), which is housed in the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. (Photograph by Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, accessed via Wikimedia Commons.)

Just as her contemporary, Ignatius of Loyola, founded the Society of Jesus to reinvigorate the Church of Spain and respond to the Protestant Reformation, Teresa began her own work of reform inside of Carmel. Teresa began her efforts by founding new Carmelite monasteries, known as “discalced” Carmelites because they made it a habit to wear thin sandals instead of shoes. (Those sandals can be seen in the stained glass image of Teresa above.)

She found a partner in her work of reform in Carmel when she became close colleagues with St. John of the Cross, who was seeking similar reforms and a return to a more humble lifestyle in Carmelite monasteries for men. Besides being reformers, John and Teresa were both great mystics and their theological writing and poetry on prayer are spiritual classics.

Their efforts were met with great opposition by the Spanish Inquisition, leading to periods of imprisonment for both Teresa and John; but their work of reform also gained the support of several powerful figures, including King Philip II of Spain. Eventually, Pope Gregory XIII granted her order of the Discalced Carmelites their independence from those older convents who practiced the Mitigated Rule, and Teresa continued to found more communities dedicated to poverty, work, and obedience. By the time she died, Teresa had founded over fifteen new Carmelite communities.

Teresa's confessor requested that she begin to write down her insights from her visions and prayer, and Teresa wrote The Interior Castle, about the journey to mystical, contemplative union with God. Teresa's writings have significantly shaped Carmelite spirituality and broader Christian spirituality, as an indispensable guide to contemplative prayer. Like John of the Cross, Teresa's poetry also resonates with deep spiritual eloquence. Read one of her most famous poems below.

Teresa's piety did not weaken her of a sense of humor. She was a highly intellectual woman with a quick wit. One of the most famous anecdotes that reveals her sense of humor is Teresa's journey through a rainstorm that left her soaking wet and covered in mud. "If this is how you treat your friends, Lord," quipped Teresa, "it's no wonder you have so few."

Teresa died on October 4 or 15, 1582 and was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. She was declared a doctor of the Church alongside Catherine of Siena, on October 4, 1970, by Pope Paul VI. Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila are the first two women to be promoted to this honor. Some of Teresa's relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. She has a place of honor in the stained glass windows of the Basilica, shown in the stained glass image above, as well as a smaller image (to the left), which shows her arriving at the Carmelite convent with her brother. St. Teresa is an intercessor for an eclectic group of causes: for those suffering illnesses—particularly headaches—lacemakers, chess, Croatia, those who are ridiculed for their piety, and Spain.

St. Teresa of Avila, great spiritual doctor of the Church and contemplative mystic—pray for us!

To learn even more about Saint Teresa of Avila, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

 

 

 

 

Nada te turbe,
nada te espante
todo se pasa,
Dios no se muda,
la paciencia
todo lo alcanza,
quien a Dios tiene
nada le falta
solo Dios basta.
________________

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.