Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

A nun and patron saint of Spain, and an author of important religious and autobiographical works, Saint Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, as Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada. She was the daughter of Beatriz de Ahumada and Alonso de Cepeda, a wealthy converso, or converted Jew. Believing his daughter had few prospects for a successful marriage, he sent her to the Convent of Saint Mary of Grace for her studies. She joined the Monastery of the Incarnation but after falling ill traveled to several towns to visit faith healers. Her sickness worsened in 1539, when she began experiencing hallucinations and paralysis. Eventually she recovered, believing that prayer and the saints had been responsible for her survival. Visions and the conversations with phantoms continued, putting her at the center of a controversy, in which some believed her a witch and others to be directly inspired by God. Vowing to lead a life of prayer and self-denial, she left the monastery, where the wealthier nuns were free to lead a comfortable life and enjoy material possessions and socialize with men.

Believing the order had grown too worldly and needed reform, Teresa established a more austere branch of the Carmelites in 1560 and then the new Convent of Saint Joseph in 1562. This Order of Discalced (barefoot) Sisters, isolated itself from the community and established strict rules of poverty, silence, prayer, simple living, and the most simple clothing (including a ban on footwear, outside of the simple sandals Teresa designed for them). King Philip II of Spain saw such reforms as vital to the task of combating the Protestant movement, and called on the monasteries of his kingdom to lead the way.

Teresa described her visions and her youth in an autobiography, The Life, and the philosophy of her new order in The Way of Perfection. In 1567, the head of the Carmelite order, Giovanni Rossi, asked her to establish new reformed convents, and for the next decade she traveled through Spain with a companion, Saint John of the Cross, and gained renown throughout the kingdom for her austere spirituality. Male orders of barefoot friars who followed her precepts were also established, and new Discalced Carmelite monasteries were established in foreign countries. In 1571 Teresa returned to the Convent of the Incarnation in Avila as the prioress, and reformed the main order's rules. She then wrote The Foundations, a book of instruction for members of the order, and The Interior Castle, a book about the process of “mental prayer,” which Teresa believed to be a road to direct communication with God. Her strict rules for the “unreformed” Carmelites raised opposition by some leaders of the Catholic Church, some of whom saw silent prayer as a less devout practice than vocal prior. She lost her position as prioress at the Convent of the Incarnation, and for a time was even under investigation by the Spanish Inquisition. In 1578, however, the pope of the church officially recognized her order, which was declared separate twelve years after her death in 1594. Teresa was declared the patroness of Spain by the Cortes (Spanish parliament) in 1617, and in 1622 she was canonized as a saint by Pope Gregory XV; in 1970 she became the first woman to be named “Doctor of the Church.” Her writings and philosophy grew in importance among Catholics throughout Europe and Teresa was eventually accepted as one of the major figures of the Counter-Reformation, in which the church returned to its spiritual roots in order to better contend with the rising popularity of the Protestant sects of northern Europe.

See Also: Catholicism

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582)

Spanish saint

Source

Beginnings. Teresa of Ávila was a Christian saint, mystic, religious reformer, and author of several religious tracts. Teresa de Ahumeda y Cepeda was born in Ávila, in Castile, spain, in 1515. As a child she demonstrated deep spirituality. Attending boarding school in a convent as a teenager, she began to think about becoming a nun. In 1535 she entered the Convent of the Incarnation and remained there for twenty-eight years until she founded her own reformed convent. Life in the Convent of the Incarnation was not particularly difficult or demanding. Reading St. Augustine’s Confessions (400?) led her to desire a more disciplined, rigorous life; in her intense personal prayer she experienced what she called “intellectual visions and locutions.”

Founding Convents. Seven years after these visions she left the convent to create a new one. Teresa argued that she had been told to do so in her visions. In her new convent, established with permission of the Pope, she and the other Carmelite nuns kept a much stricter observance. Fasting, silence, and limited contact with outsiders characterized the new order. Now calling herself Teresa of Jesus, she went on to found one convent a year for the next fifteen years, as per the command of the Roman Catholic authorities. Teresa also founded monasteries for Carmelite friars.

Opposition. Despite her fruitful efforts, not everyone was supportive of Teresa. Some Church authorities asserted that her visions might be a sign of witchcraft. As if her spiritual experiences were not sufficiently threatening, the inquisitors were further alarmed by Teresa establishing convents and venturing into the unwomanly financial world. She was threatened with the Inquisition but was never charged.

Legacy. Teresa was also a prolific writer; among her spiritual classics were Camino de perfección (The Way of Perfection), published in 1583, and Libro de la vida (Book of Life), in 1611. Her four major prose works touched upon prayer, the dimensions of spiritual and mystical growth, and founding convents. She also wrote poetry and letters. She died in 1582. Pope Paul V beatified her in 1614; eight years later Gregory XV canonized her. Teresa has been described as a writer of “Christian masterpieces” and one of history’s great authorities on mysticism.

Source

Gillian T. W. Ahlgren, Teresa of Avila and the Politics of Sanctity (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1996).