Teresa was born in Ávila on March 28, 1515. At eighteen, she entered Carmel. At forty-five, she started a new life in response to God’s grace. «Suffer or die.» He then founded the convent of St. Joseph of Ávila, the first of fifteen Carmelite monasteries he established in Spain. With St. John of the Cross, she started the big Carmelite reform. Her writings show the best ways to pray and be perfect. She died in Alba de Tormes on October 4, 1582. Pope Paul VI made her a Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970.
Saint Teresa’s Life
The name Teresa comes from the Greek words «teriso,» meaning «cultivator,» and «terao,» meaning «hunter.» Father Sálesman says these words fit St. Teresa because she cultivated virtues and sought to guide souls to heaven.
St. Teresa is one of the greatest women in history. She is one of three doctors of the Church, along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Therese of the Child Jesus.
Her parents were Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda and Beatriz Davila y Ahumada. The saint speaks of them with great affection. Alonso Sanchez had three children from his first marriage, and Beatriz de Ahumada bore him nine others. St. Teresa writes that her siblings and half-siblings are similar in virtue to her parents, except for her.
Teresa was born in Ávila on March 28, 1515. At seven, she loved reading about saints. Her brother Rodrigo was the same age, so they played together. The kids were amazed by eternity and the saints’ victories. They kept repeating, «They will enjoy God forever.»
Seek martyrdom.
Teresa and her brother left home to join the Moors, hoping to die for their faith. They met an uncle in Adaja who took them back to their mother. When she scolded them, Rodrigo blamed Teresa.
Teresa and Rodrigo decided to live as hermits in their house. They built a cell in the garden, but never finished it. Teresa loved solitude. She had a picture of the Savior talking to the Samaritan woman. She used to repeat: «Lord, give me to drink so that I will never thirst again.»
Take the Virgin as your mother.
Teresa’s mother died when she was fourteen. Teresa was sad and went to an image of Our Lady and asked her to be her mother.
The danger of reading bad books and following bad fashions.
Teresa and Rodrigo started reading novels of chivalry and tried to write one. The saint says in her autobiography: «Those books made me lose my good intentions and led me to make other mistakes. I liked novels of chivalry so much that I was unhappy when I didn’t have one. I started to like fashion, dressing well, taking care of my hands, using perfumes, and other vanities. My father was worried about this change. At fifteen, I went to the Augustinian convent in Ávila to study with other young women.
Illness and conversion
A year and a half later, Teresa fell ill and went home. The young woman thought about religious life. She liked and didn’t like it. The book that helped her decide was St. Jerome’s Letters. It was very realistic, which Teresa liked. The young woman told her father she wanted to become a nun, but he said she’d have to wait until he died to enter the convent. The saint went to visit her friend Juana Suarez, who was a nun in Ávila. She wanted to stay with Juana, even though it meant going against her father’s wishes. «I remember thinking that the pain I was feeling was worse than death. I loved God, but I also loved my father and friends.»
The saint stayed at the Incarnation convent. She was twenty. Her father stopped opposing her calling. A year later, Teresa made her profession. Soon after, she was taken out of the convent because of an illness that had worsened. Sister Juana Suarez went to keep Teresa company, who put herself in the hands of doctors. The treatment made the disease worse. The doctors finally gave up, and Teresa’s condition worsened.
Teresa endured her illness thanks to her uncle Pedro, who gave her a booklet by Father Francisco de Osuna. She followed the instructions and began to practice mental prayer, but lacked an experienced spiritual director. After three years, Teresa recovered.
Dissipation, struggles with prayer, justifications
People respected her for her prudence, kindness, charity, and charm. Teresa spent a lot of time chatting with visitors in the convent foyer. This led her to neglect prayer and the devil made her think her life was too dissipated for her to converse with God. The saint told herself that there was no danger of sin in doing what other religious people did better than her. She said that her illnesses prevented her from meditating. The saint said that her illness was not a good reason to stop praying. Even when you are very sick, you can pray. It is wrong to think that you can only pray alone.
After her father died, Teresa’s confessor told her to pray again. The saint never stopped praying. However, she had not yet decided to devote herself to God or give up her time in the reception room. St. Teresa never tired of listening to sermons, no matter how bad they were. She spent her time in prayer wishing the minutes would pass quickly.
Penance and the cross
Teresa often thought of the great penitent saints, St. Augustine and St. Mary Magdalene. These saints were important to her. The first was reading St. Augustine’s «Confessions.» The second was a call to penance before an image of the Passion of the Lord. «I felt St. Mary Magdalene was coming to my aid…and since then I have made progress in the spiritual life.»
The saint liked bloody Christs showing deep agony. She asked, «Who put you like this?» She thought she heard a voice say, «Your talks in the visiting room, those were the ones that put me like this, Teresa.» She cried and was impressed. From then on, she didn’t waste time on useless chats or friendships that didn’t lead to holiness.
Visions and messages
Teresa stopped going to the receiver and other places where she was wasting time. God then helped her pray in a quiet, united way. She prayed for a long time with joy and love. God gave her visions and messages. This worried her because she had heard of women who had been deceived by the devil with false visions. She believed her visions were from God, but she was confused and asked several people for advice. Unfortunately, not everyone kept her secret, and the news of her visions spread.
Teresa also talked to Francisco de Salcedo, a married man who was very virtuous. He introduced her to Father Daza, a virtuous doctor. He said Teresa was deceived by the devil because it was impossible for God to favor a nun as imperfect as she was. Teresa was scared and unhappy. Francisco de Salcedo encouraged her in her moments of discouragement and advised her to go to one of the fathers of the newly founded Society of Jesus. The saint made a confession to a Jesuit. She told him about her prayers and favors. The Jesuit said it was God’s grace, but told her not to neglect her interior life. He believed her visions were from God, but told her to try resisting them for two months.
The saint couldn’t resist.
Another Jesuit, Fr. Baltasar Alvarez, told her to ask God to help her do what is pleasing to him. He said she should recite the «Veni Creator Spiritus» every day. Teresa did this. One day, while she was reciting the hymn, she was caught up in ecstasy and heard these words: «I do not want you to converse with men, but with the angels.»
She later said, «The Holy Spirit helps us grow in holiness much more quickly than we could on our own.»
The saint said that divine words are clearer and more distinct than human words. They produce a tendency to virtue and leave the soul full of joy and peace.
Persecutions
Teresa suffered severe persecutions for three years while under the direction of Fr. Alvarez. For two years, she experienced intense spiritual desolation, but was also granted moments of extraordinary light and consolation. The saint wanted to keep her blessings secret, but those around her accused her of hypocrisy and presumption.
Alvarez was a good man, but he was too timid to defend her. The mediocre are always in the majority. They are annoyed by holiness because they do not know how to deal with it. They prefer to ignore it, assuming that it is the product of exaggeration or imbalance. In other words, they lack discernment.
In 1557, St. Peter of Alcantara visited Ávila and the Carmelite. The saint said that God was guiding Teresa, but that she would still face persecutions and sufferings. The trials purified the saint’s soul, and the favors taught her to be humble and strong.
Ecstasies
In some of her ecstasies, she rose up to a meter. After a vision, she wrote a beautiful poem: «I hope for such a high life that I die because I do not die.» Teresa comments: God doesn’t just take our souls, but also raises our bodies, which are stained with sin. In these ecstasies, Teresa saw God’s greatness, goodness, and love. She understood this, but couldn’t express it. The visions made her desire heaven ineffable. «I stopped being afraid of death.» The saint’s mystical experiences reached spiritual betrothal, mystical marriage, and transverberation.
St. Teresa wrote about transverberation: I saw an angel to my left in human form. I don’t often see things like this. I often see angels, but they are intellectual visions. The angel was short and very beautiful. His face was lit up as if he were one of the higher angels. He was a cherub. … He held a long golden sword, the point of which looked like fire. He seemed to pierce my heart and entrails with the sword. When he pulled it out, it felt like my entrails were escaping with it. I felt intense love for God. The pain was intense, but the sorrow was sweet.
Teresa wanted to die and be with God, but she also wanted to suffer for his love. She wrote, «The only reason I find to live is to suffer.» The autopsy showed that the saint had a long, deep wound in her heart.
The next year, she made a vow to always do what she thought was best for God. This was a very challenging vow, but she was determined to fulfill it.
Mystical writer.
The saint’s «Autobiography» is written simply and without exaggeration. The Church calls St. Teresa’s teachings «heavenly.» The works of the mystical doctor reveal the secrets of the human soul. The saint explains the most ineffable experiences with incredible clarity. Teresa was an uneducated woman who wrote her experiences in the common Castilian language of the inhabitants of Ávila. She learned this language from her mother. Teresa wrote without using other books. She studied mystical works and wrote her autobiography at her confessor’s request. She submitted her writings to the judgment of her confessor and the Church. The saint began to write her autobiography at the command of her confessor.
The saint’s best commentary is her patience with illness, accusations, and disappointments; her confidence in God; and her courage in the face of adversity. St. Teresa’s writings focus on prayer, how to pray, and what it produces. She wrote at a time when she was starting reformed Carmelite convents. Her works show her strength, hard work, and ability to focus.
Saint Teresa wrote two books to guide her nuns: «The Way of Perfection» and «The Foundations.» She also wrote «The Interior Castle,» which is a guide for Christians. In this book, she shows herself to be a spiritual doctor.
Foundress
The Carmelites had lost their fervor at the start of the 16th century. The foyers of the convents of Ávila were meeting places for the city’s ladies and gentlemen. Nuns could leave the cloister with little reason, so convents were ideal for those who wanted an easy life. There were many communities, which was both a cause and an effect of this. For example, the convent of Ávila had 140 nuns.
St. Teresa later said: «I’ve learned what a house full of women is like.» «God keep us from that evil.» The nuns did not realize that their way of life was far removed from the spirit of their founders. A niece of St. Teresa, who was also a nun in the Incarnation convent in Ávila, suggested to her that she start a small community. The saint saw this as a revelation from heaven. Teresa, who had been in the convent for twenty-five years, decided to start a reformed convent. Doña Guiomar de Ulloa, a wealthy widow, helped her.
St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Luis Beltran, and the bishop of Ávila approved the project. Fr. Gregorio Fernandez, provincial of the Carmelites, gave Teresa the go-ahead. However, the project caused an uproar, and the provincial withdrew permission. St. Teresa was criticized by her sisters, nobles, magistrates, and people. Father Ibañez, a Dominican, encouraged the saint to continue with Doña Guiomar’s help. In 1561, Doña Juana de Ahumada and her husband built a convent in Ávila. They told everyone it was just a house. While building the convent, a wall collapsed and covered Gonzalo, Doña Juana’s son, who was playing there. St. Teresa took the child in her arms and began to pray. The child was perfectly healthy a few minutes later. Gonzalo said that his aunt was responsible for his salvation because she had prayed for him.
A letter from Rome approved the new convent. San Pedro de Alcántara, Don Francisco de Salcedo, and Dr. Daza convinced the bishop to support the new convent. It opened on St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1562. During a ceremony in the chapel, the saint’s niece and three other novices took their vows.
The inauguration caused a big stir in Ávila. That afternoon, the superior of the Incarnation convent called for Teresa. She went with fear, thinking they would imprison her. She had to explain her behavior to her superior and Father Angel de Salazar, the order’s provincial. The saint said her superiors were right to be upset, but Father Salazar promised she could return to San José as soon as the excitement calmed down.
People in Ávila were suspicious of the news and feared that a convent without sufficient funds would become a burden on the city. The mayor and magistrates wanted to demolish the convent, but Dominican Báñez convinced them not to. St. Teresa kept her faith and trust in God through the persecutions. The Lord appeared to her and comforted her.
Meanwhile, Francisco de Salcedo and others sent a priest to the court to defend the foundation. The two Dominicans, Báñez and Ibáñez, calmed the bishop and the provincial. Four months later, Fr. Salazar gave permission for St. Teresa to return to the convent of St. Joseph with four other nuns.
St. Joseph’s Convent
The saint set up a very strict rule of silence and enclosure. The convent had no money and the nuns wore simple clothes, walked without shoes, and did not eat meat. St. Teresa first accepted thirteen nuns, but later accepted twenty-one.
Teresa, the great mystic, took care of practical things when she needed to. She knew how to use material things for God. She said, «Teresa without God is poor; with God, strong; with God and money, powerful.»
More foundations
In 1567, the leader of the Carmelites, Juan Bautista Rubio, visited the convent in Ávila. He was happy with the leader and her wise rule. He gave St. Teresa permission to start other convents like this one (even though the one for St. Joseph had been started without his knowledge). He also gave her permission to start two convents for friars who wanted to live a more contemplative life.
St. Teresa spent five years with her thirteen nuns in the convent of St. Joseph. She led her daughters in prayer and humble work. She wrote, «Those were the most peaceful years of my life. God provided for us without us having to ask. When we did ask, we were even happier.»
The saint doesn’t just talk about general things. She talks about small things too. Like the nun who planted a cucumber to show she was obeying, and the pipe that brought water to the convent from a well that the plumbers said was too low.
In August 1567, St. Teresa moved to Medina del Campo and founded the second convent despite difficulties. The Countess de la Cerda asked for a convent to be founded in Malagon. Then there were those in Valladolid and Toledo. The latter was difficult because the saint had only five ducats at the beginning. She wrote, «Teresa and five ducats are nothing; but God, Teresa and five ducats are enough.»
A young woman from Toledo asked to join the convent and told Teresa she would bring her Bible. Teresa said, «Your Bible? God help us! Don’t join us because we are poor and only know how to spin and do as we’re told.» The saint didn’t reject the Bible, but she saw it as a reason to fail in humility.
The reform of the Carmelite religious order
The saint found two Carmelite friars in Medina del Campo who were willing to embrace the reform. One was Antonio de Jesus de Heredia, superior of the convent in that city. The other was Juan de Yepes, better known as San Juan de la Cruz.
St. Teresa founded two convents of friars: one in Duruelo in 1568 and one in Pastrana in 1569. Both convents were very poor and austere. St. Teresa left the rest of the convents to St. John of the Cross.
New foundations, difficulties, and graces.
The saint also started a Discalced Carmelite convent in Pastrana. When Don Ruy Gómez de Silva died, his wife wanted to become a Carmelite nun. Teresa ordered her nuns to move to Segovia and leave her house in Pastrana to the princess.
In 1570, the saint took over a house in Salamanca that had been occupied by students who didn’t care about cleanliness. The building was big, complex, and in bad shape. At night, the saint’s companion got nervous. Teresa asked her companion what she was thinking when they were already lying on piles of straw. The nun replied, «I was thinking about what you’d do if I died and you were left with a corpse.» The saint says the idea startled her because she wasn’t afraid of corpses, but they made her sad. She replied, «When that happens, I’ll think about what to do. For now, it’s best to sleep.»
In July, she had a vision of the martyrdom of Jesuits Ignatius of Azevedo and his companions, including her relative Francisco Perez Godoy. Teresa had a clear vision and described it to Fr. Alvarez. Alvarez was able to verify it when he heard the news of the martyrdom.
She was the Superior of La Encarnación.
St. Pius V sent some investigators to look into why religious orders were not following the rules. The Carmelites of Castile were visited by Father Pedro Fernandez. The convent of La Encarnación de Ávila had a bad effect on him, so he sent for St. Teresa to make her superior of the convent. It was unpleasant for the saint because she had to separate from her daughters and because the community was against her as a reformer.
The nuns refused to obey the new superior. Some of them had hysterical attacks when she arrived. The saint told them her mission was not to boss them around, but to serve them and learn from them. «My sisters and mothers, the Lord has sent me here to do a job I didn’t ask for and don’t know how to do. . . I just want to serve you. Don’t be afraid. «I have lived among the Discalced Carmelites for a long time and know how to govern the Carmelite nuns.» She gained the community’s sympathy and affection, making it easier for her to discipline the Calced Carmelites. She stopped frequent visits, fixed the convent’s finances, and introduced the true spirit of the cloister. This was a Teresian accomplishment.
Seville
In Veas, the saint met Fr. Jerónimo Gracián, who convinced her to go to Seville. Gracián was a Carmelite reformer who had just preached Lent in Seville.
The foundation of the convent of San José de Ávila was more difficult than that of Seville. A novice who had been dismissed denounced the Discalced Carmelites before the Inquisition.
Persecution led to the Calzados and Discalced Carmelites becoming separate.
The Carmelites in Italy and Spain looked down on the progress of the reform in Spain. They understood that they would have to reform. Rubio, the order’s leader, switched sides and gathered a group in Plasencia to approve rules against the reform. The new nuncio, Felipe de Sega, removed Fr. Gracián from his position and imprisoned St. John of the Cross. He ordered St. Teresa to retire and not found new convents.
The saint asked God for help and used her friends to get King Philip II to speak up for her. The king told the nuncio to stop opposing the reform of Carmel.
In 1580, he got Rome to let the Discalced Carmelites be independent from the Calzados order. «That separation was one of the greatest joys and consolations of my life. Our order had suffered more persecutions and trials than I could write about. Now we were at last at peace, shod and barefoot, and nothing was going to distract us from the service of God.»
Eagle and dove
St. Teresa was very gifted. She was naturally good, tenderhearted, and imaginative, with good judgment and intuition. This made her liked and respected by all. Crashaw was right to call St. Teresa an eagle and a dove. The saint knew how to stand up to the authorities when it was necessary. She did not bend to the attacks of the world. She told Father Salazar, «Beware of opposing the Holy Spirit.» She wasn’t hysterical. She was telling the truth. She treated a superior harshly because he was incapacitated by doing penance. The eagle doesn’t kill the dove. Look at the letter she wrote to her nephew. She said, «Blessed be God that He has guided you in the choice of such a good woman and has caused you to marry early, for you had begun to dissipate yourself so young, that we feared much for you.» «This shows you how much I love you.» The saint took charge of the illegitimate daughter and the young man’s sister, who was seven: «Religious people should always have a girl that age with them.»
Wit and frankness.
Teresa was clever and honest. Once, when a man praised her bare feet, she laughed and told him to enjoy them while he could. Her sayings show that she was realistic about women.
Teresa criticized a writing by her friend Francisco de Salcedo. She wrote, «Mr. Salcedo repeats, ‘As the Holy Spirit says,’ and calls his work nonsense. I’m going to denounce him to the Inquisition.»
Novices selected
St. Teresa’s intuition showed in her choice of novices. She wanted them to be intelligent, balanced, and mature. She knew it was easier to gain piety than judgment. An intelligent person is simple and submissive because he knows he needs guidance. A foolish person can’t see their faults. They’re self-satisfied and never improve. Even if a nun has devotion and contemplation, she’ll never be intelligent. She’ll be a burden to the community. May God keep us from foolish nuns!
In the last few years
In 1580, when the two branches of Carmel separated, St. Teresa was sixty-five and weak. She founded two more convents in her last two years, for a total of seventeen. Her foundations were not just a refuge for contemplative souls, but also a kind of reparation for damage done to monasteries by Protestantism.
God made her help settle her brother Lorenzo’s will. His daughter was superior in the convent of Valladolid. The lawyer was rude to her, so she replied: «May God treat you as you treat me.» Teresa was speechless when her niece, an excellent nun, put her at the door of the convent of Valladolid, which she had founded. The saint wrote to the mother of Mary of St. Joseph: «I beg you and your nuns not to ask God to prolong my life. Ask him to bring me soon to eternal rest, since I can no longer be of any use to you.»
The last convent, Burgos, had many difficulties. In July 1582, St. Teresa was going to return to Ávila, but she had to go to Alba de Tormes to visit the Duchess Maria Henriquez instead. Blessed Ana de San Bartolomé says the trip wasn’t planned well and that Saint Teresa was too weak to make the journey. They ate a few figs one night. The saint had to go to bed in Alba de Tormes. Three days later, she told Blessed Anne, «My daughter, I am dying.» Antonio de Heredia gave her the last sacraments and asked where she wanted to be buried. Teresa replied, «Do I have to decide?» «Am I to be denied a grave?» When Fr. de Heredia brought her food, the saint got up in bed and said, «Oh, Lord, at last we will meet face to face!» St. Teresa of Jesus died in Blessed Anne’s arms at 9:00 p.m. on October 4, 1582.
The next day, the Gregorian calendar was reformed. Ten days were removed, and the saint’s feast day was set as October 15.
Saint Teresa was buried in Alba de Tormes.
She was canonized in 1622.
On September 27, 1970, Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church.
There are about 14,000 Discalced Carmelites in 835 convents worldwide. 3,800 of them are in 490 convents.
