Saint Teresa of Ávila

Happy Feast of Saint Teresa of Ávila!

"St. Teresa of Jesus" (1894) by Adolfo Lozano Sidro

Biography

Saint Teresa was a Carmelite nun and the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite reform. She was born Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada on March 25, 1515 and died on October 4, 1592. She was canonized on March 12, 1622 by Pope Gregory XV and declared the first female Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970 by Pope Paul V.

I wrote a biography on her for her feast day as I went through a Carmelite phase when I was a junior in high school. Here is the abridged version:

Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada was born in the province of Ávila in Central Spain. Both of her parents were pious Catholics; she was closer to her mother, as her father was very strict. In her teens she lost her mother, so she instinctively turned to Mary for comfort. She led a rather ordinary life; however, later on as a teenager she lost some of her piety and zeal. Teresa only cared about worldly matters: boys, clothes, flirting, and rebelling. She had many friends, thanks to her natural charm, which made it easy for her to establish friendships. Still, she was not at peace, as she considered herself as a miserable sinner. Later on, she would look back at her early life with guilt. When she was 16, her father sent her to a convent school. At first she hated the school, but later on she grew to love it, as her love for God grew school became less strict than her father. When the time came for her to choose between the married and religious life, after some deliberation she opted for the religious life, as she figured it was the only safe place for someone as prone to sin as she was. At the time many people were accepted into the Carmelite convent regardless of vocation or not, due to financial reasons. The women there were not judged on spiritual intensity, but rather material possessions. In spite of this atmosphere, Teresa taught others the virtues of mental prayer. Soon after becoming a nun, she was stricken with malaria. She had a seizure, and woke up four days later to learn a grave had been dug for her. She was paralyzed for three years and was never completely healthy afterwards. During her bouts of intense physical pain, she had divine visions and a sense of inner peace, which led her to resume prayer with new vigor after she got better. However, after telling others of her experience, some clergy thought they were just delusions of the devil, and this discouraged her from praying; this almost put her spiritual life on hold. When she was 41, a priest encouraged her to come back to prayer. After struggling at first, it transformed her and she even spontaneously levitated at times, as she was so filled with divine contemplation. At 43, she wanted to find a new convent on simplicity and poverty. The spiritual life, to Teresa, was an attitude of love, not a rule. At 51, she sought to spread her reform. She went through tribulations whilst creating new convents over Spain, as many resented her reforms. The papal nuncio said, “[she was] a restless disobedient gadabout who has gone about teaching as though she were a professor." Despite frequently grappling with difficult living conditions and frail health, she never allowed these hindrances to deter her from her life’s task.

The Doctor of Prayer in Rome

One church I walked past almost everyday on my walk to Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini was Santa Brigida, located in the Piazza Farnese. The church is dedicated to Saint Bridget of Sweden, foundress of the The Order of the Most Holy Savior, the Bridgettine Order. In 1889, the church and convent was given to the Carmelites. It returned to the possession of the Brigettines in 1930. Atop the church is a statue of Saint Teresa.

Doctor Orationis

Saint Teresa on Love and Suffering

Identity Project Notre Dame hosts an annual Edith Stein Project Conference. This past February, the conference was entitled, "Even Unto Death: Embracing the Love of the Cross." I wrote a paper entitled, "Learning from the Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila: On Love and Suffering." My prayerful at best, academic at worst, paper can be found here.

The Prayer of Saint Teresa of Ávila (Nada de Turbe)

"Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing away:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices."

Saint Teresa of Ávila, pray for us!