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SAINT TERESA OF AVILA, Virgin and Doctor
BORN: 1515 in Avila, Spain
DIED: 1582 at Alba de Torres, Spain
FEAST DAY: October 15th
CANONIZED A SAINT: In 1622 by Pope
Gregory XV
PATRONAGE: Those who suffer illness (i.e.
headaches and heart trouble)
PRAYER
Father,
by your Spirit you raised up Saint Teresa of Avila
to show your Church the way to perfection.
May her inspired teaching
awaken in us a longing for true holiness.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
SCRIPTURE READING
A reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians
That is why I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on
earth takes its name; and I pray that he will bestow on you gifts in keeping with the
riches of his glory. May he strengthen you inwardly through the working of his
Spirit. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root
and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy
ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience
this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of
God himself. To him, whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more
than we ask or imagine – to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through
all generations, world without end. Amen.
~Ephesians 3: 14 – 21
OUTLINE OF TEACHING
One of only three female Doctors of the Church, Saint Teresa of Avila is a spiritual
force to be reckoned with. Born in 1515, one of twelve children, Teresa was raised
in a prayerful, pious home, which made a huge impact on her life. After the death
of her mother and against her father’s wishes, she entered the Discalced Carmelites
in Avila, Spain.
Through a series of supernatural events, including the
Transverberation of her heart, Teresa embarked upon a twenty-two year journey
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which would take her throughout Spain as she sought to reform and laid the
foundation of new Carmelite Convents. She died at the age of sixty-seven in 1582
and was canonized a saint in 1622 and declared a Doctor of the Church, along with
Saint Catherine of Sienna in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Both her heart and body are
incorrupt after over 400 years.
SAINT TERESA OF AVILA,
VIRGIN AND DOCTOR
INTRODUCTION
In the history of the church, amongst the thousands of saints, there are a total of
thirty-three Doctors of the Church. The late Father John Hardon, S.J. describes the
term Doctor of the Church in the following manner: “Doctor of the Church is a title
given since the Middle Ages to certain saints whose writing or preaching is outstanding
for guiding the faithful in all periods of the Church’s history.” Of the thirty-three
Doctors of the Church, only three are women; Saint Catherine of Sienna, Saint
Therese of Lisieux and the saint, whose life we are going to prayerfully study, Saint
Teresa of Avila.
IN THE BEGINNING
Teresa was born into a large family (1 of 12 kids) on March 28, 1515 near Avila
in Castile, Spain. Her father was married to a woman who bore him three children
before her death. Her father remarried and she gave birth to nine children,
including Teresa, who loved her family and was moved by the example of virtue and
piety set by her parents. She was educated at home and from an early age,
cultivated a love of the saints, especially the lives of the martyrs. Teresa and her
brother, Rodrigo loved reading about the saints and both wanted to become
hermits. Along with reading about the lives of the saints, Teresa also developed a
deep prayer life at such a young age.
DEATH OF HER MOTHER
Teresa was 14 years of age when her mother died. She suffered greatly upon the
death of her mother and it was during this period of suffering that Teresa prayed to
the Blessed Virgin Mary and asked her to be her mother. By the time Teresa was 15
years of age, it became noticeable to her father that she was starting to become
influenced by the offerings of the world. In her Autobiography, Teresa related how
she became enamored with the fashions and perfumes of the day. It upset her father
so much that he placed Teresa in a convent school run by Augustinian nuns in order
to further her education. She stayed at the school for a year and a half before
taking ill. Her father took her home, where Teresa began to question seriously her
own vocation to religious life.
VOCATION TO RELIGIOUS LIFE
Teresa was greatly influenced by the writings of Saint Jerome (a monk and
Doctor of the Church from the fourth century, who coined the phrase, “Ignorance of
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Scripture is ignorance of Christ”) when she decided to enter the Carmel (Convent of
the Incarnation of Discalced Carmelites – which means that the nuns did not wear
shoes, only sandals or would go barefoot as a form of penance) in Avila, Spain.
Saint Jerome wrote eloquently of the monastic life and of total surrender of self to
Christ. What Teresa had always longed for was beautifully articulated by Saint
Jerome, which led her to act upon the calling she felt in her heart. At first, her
father was opposed to her entering the convent, but soon relented, especially after
Teresa ran away from home at the age of twenty, to join the Carmelite nuns of
Avila. From the very start of her time in the convent, Teresa struggled with ill
health as she suffered from malignant malaria.
STRUGGLES WITH HER SPIRITUAL LIFE
In 16th Century Spain, convent life was anything but cloistered (closed off from
the world). People from outside the convent were able to mingle freely with the
nuns on the inside. Teresa was well loved due to her charity and personal charm.
She in return showed great affection to those who would visit her at the convent.
She and the other nuns had so many people coming and going that she became
painfully aware of the deficiencies of her own spiritual life. Two things take place
that greatly influenced Teresa in terms of turning around her spiritual life. The
first was her devotion to two great penitents of the church; Saint Mary Magdalene
and the writings of Saint Augustine. The second aspect of her spiritual conversion
came with the death of her father. Almost immediately after her father’s death,
Teresa began to change her entire approach to prayer. She daily prayed to the Holy
Spirit, through the prayer “Veni Creator Spiritus”
ECSTASIES AND TRANSVERBERATION
Teresa’s prayer life began to change when she ended her socializing at the
convent. A miraculous event took place which would change Teresa’s life and
spirituality forever. On August 27, 1559, Teresa fell into a state of ecstasy and
heard Jesus say to her; “I will not have you hold conversation with men, but with
angels.” She had many other encounters with Christ and stated that “they are more
distinct and clear than those which men hear with their bodily ears.” There were
other experiences where Teresa would be lifted in the air during intensive times of
prayer. On the same August day, Teresa experienced what is known as
Transverberation of her heart. Teresa recorded in her Autobiography what had
taken place: “I saw an angel close by me, on my left side in bodily form. He was not
large, but small of stature, and most beautiful-his face burning, as if he were one of the
highest angels, who seem to be all of fire. I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and
at the iron’s point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it
at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed
to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain
was so great that it made me moan; yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this
excessive pain that I could not wish to be rid of it.” It was from this time forward that
Teresa desired to suffer for the love of God; “Lord, either to die or to suffer.” Teresa
not only experienced ecstasies, she also experienced encounters of Satan, which she
never feared. On one occasion, while she was asleep, Satan appeared to her at the
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foot of her bed. She awoke, looked at the demon and said; “oh, it’s you,” turned
over and went back to sleep. Her love of and confidence in God strengthened her
for all that He had in store for her.
FOUNDRESS AND REFORMER
From the experience of the piercing of her heart, Teresa was truly set on fire for
the love of God and set about putting this love and fire of God into action. Teresa
traveled extensively throughout Spain in order to found and reform Carmelite
convents. From 1560 until her death in 1582, Teresa founded a total of seventeen
new Carmelite convents of nuns. She also joined another great Carmelite reformer,
Saint John of the Cross (see DTS website) in reforming Carmelite monasteries of
men. Because Teresa suffered greatly from headaches, she found her constant
travels to be a great burden to her. Teresa certainly was not afraid to let God know
what she thought in the midst of all her struggles and suffering. There was the time
that Teresa complained to God of the tremendous sufferings she was enduring. The
Lord responded to her cries; “Teresa, so do I treat my friends,” to which the saint
replied; “That’s why you have so few friends.” Teresa certainly understood the
purificatory nature of suffering.
ONE OF THE CHURCH’S GREAT MYSTICAL WRITERS
During her travels, Teresa spent a great deal of time engaged in writing on many
topics, mystical in nature, especially on prayer, of which she was considered a
master. Of the many works that are credited to Teresa, the following three stand
out as some of her finest work: The Way of Perfection, which is a book on spiritual
direction for nuns; Foundations, a text for the edification of the monastic life for
nuns and The Interior Castle. This last work, The Interior Castle was a gift Teresa
received in a vision on Trinity Sunday in 1577. In Teresa’s own words; “It is that we
consider our soul to be like a castle made entirely out of a diamond or of very clear
crystal in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many dwelling
places.”
DEATH AND UNEXPECTED MIRACLES
Broken in health, Teresa died during one of her visitations to the convent of Alba
de Tormes at the age of 67 on October 4, 1582. Immediately, her heart was
surgically removed from her body. Although this may seem very strange to us, it
has been for hundreds of years, a custom in Europe to always secure relics. Upon
examination, her heart, which had been pierced in 1559, had been found with a deep
mark in the form of a scar. The following day, she was buried with full solemnity.
There was a fear that due to Teresa’s popularity, someone might actually attempt to
steal her body from her grave, thus an extra amount of dirt and rubble was ordered
over her coffin in order to ensure the body’s safety. Unfortunately, the lid to the
coffin caved in due to the extreme weight of stone and rubble. A remarkable
occurrence began to take place at her grave; an unexplainably sweet fragrance
permeated the area. This phenomenon continued to the point that on July 4, 1583,
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nine months after her death, her body was exhumed (another seemingly strange
European custom). When the coffin was lifted from the ground, it was found that
the lid had indeed been smashed. It was also found that the lid was half rotten and
full of an odorous mildew. Teresa’s body was found to be as fresh and supple as the
day of her burial. Given the conditions of her coffin and the lack of embalming,
there is no scientific explanation as to why her body should not have been badly
decomposed. What is even more fascinating, her body, last exhumed in 1914 was
still incorrupt.
CANONIZATION
Teresa of Avila was beatified in 1614 by Pope Paul V, some thirty-two years after
her death and eight years later, she was canonized a saint (March 12, 1622) by Pope
Gregory XV. She had always unofficially been referred to as a Doctor of the
Church, due to the depth of her spiritual writings. She, along with Saint Catherine
of Sienna, was formally declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI on
September 27, 1970.
POST-SCRIPT
Pope Gregory XIII, who reigned from 1572 – 85 implemented what is now known
as the Gregorian calendar (by which we calculate time today) to replace the old
Julian calendar. The new calendar, which calculated years based on the traditional
birth year of Jesus Christ (“Anno Domini” or Year of our Lord), automatically
dropped ten days and incorporated leap years was implemented the day after the
death of Saint Teresa of Avila, which explains why her feast day is celebrated on
October 15th instead of her actual day of death, which was October 4th.
READING
A reading from a work by Saint Teresa of Avila, virgin
If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure
all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandon us. He is a true
friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of
his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ,
through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.
All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his
life we find that he is the best example.
What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in
the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the
one who truly loves him and always keeps him near.
Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us
so many graces and favors, and also the great love of God showed in giving us in
Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this
always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord
should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for
us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.
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ADDITIONAL QUOTES FROM SAINT TERESA OF AVILA
“Let nothing trouble you, let nothing make you afraid. All things pass away. God
never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough.”
“Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for
everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is
certain, and turns a very short time into a long one.”
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.) What are some of the examples by which Teresa suffered?
2.) How can or does God best use our sufferings for his greater purpose?
3.) What are some examples of how Teresa was attracted to religious life?
4.) What were some of the events that led Teresa to a deeper spiritual life and
what lessons can we learn in terms of deepening our own prayer life?
5.) What is a good example of Teresa’s sense of humor in terms of her
relationship with God?
6.) Do you see any significance in the fact that her body is still incorrupt after
400 years? What is the significance that she has been declared a Doctor of
the Church?
SOURCES USED
1.) The Incorruptibles – Cruz, Joan Carroll (Tan Books and Publishers, Inc.,
Rockford, IL - ©1977)
2.) Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. IV (Catholic Book Publishing Company, New
York - ©1976
3.) Lives of the Saints Vol. IV - Butler, Alban (Thomas More Publishing,
Allen, Texas – First Published in 1756 and ©1956)
4.) Modern Catholic Dictionary – Hardon, S.J., Father John A. (Image Books –
Doubleday, New York - ©1980, 1985)
5.) The Oxford Dictionary of Popes – Kelly, J.N.D. (Oxford University Press,
New York - ©1986)
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6.) The Interior Castle – Avila, Saint Teresa (Translated by Kieran
Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. – Paulist Press, New
York - ©1979)
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