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SAINTS & ART: St. Teresa’s pursuit of spiritual perfection extended into reform of her religious community and rich blessings for the entire Church.
Religious reformer and mystic St. Teresa of Ávilalived from 1515-1582. The Spanish nun was instrumental in the reform of the Carmelite Order.
She came into the world into a family of the petit nobility (her father had a knighthood), her grandfather having been a convert from Judaism after the Reconquista of Spain. She was raised in a devout and pious family but lost her mother in her early adolescence. She was eventually sent to the school of the Augustinian Sisters in Ávila for her education.
Teresa decided to enter religious life, though it seems her biographers tend to think “not so much through any attraction towards it, as through a desire of choosing the safest course.” Initially opposed, her father finally relented and Teresa entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Ávila.
Beset by severe illnesses and a prolonged convalescence, she began advancing in mental prayer as well as having visions. At first her claims were suspect, even considered of diabolical origin, but eventual spiritual guidance by Dominican and Jesuit confessors helped her advance.
Continued below.
St. Teresa of Ávila, Doctor of the Church, Pray For Us
Religious reformer and mystic St. Teresa of Ávilalived from 1515-1582. The Spanish nun was instrumental in the reform of the Carmelite Order.
She came into the world into a family of the petit nobility (her father had a knighthood), her grandfather having been a convert from Judaism after the Reconquista of Spain. She was raised in a devout and pious family but lost her mother in her early adolescence. She was eventually sent to the school of the Augustinian Sisters in Ávila for her education.
Teresa decided to enter religious life, though it seems her biographers tend to think “not so much through any attraction towards it, as through a desire of choosing the safest course.” Initially opposed, her father finally relented and Teresa entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Ávila.
Beset by severe illnesses and a prolonged convalescence, she began advancing in mental prayer as well as having visions. At first her claims were suspect, even considered of diabolical origin, but eventual spiritual guidance by Dominican and Jesuit confessors helped her advance.
Continued below.
St. Teresa of Ávila, Doctor of the Church, Pray For Us
