Teresa of Ávila

For other people with a similar name, seeList of saints named Teresa.

Teresa of Ávila,OCD(Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada;28 March 1515 – 4 or 15 October 1582),also calledSaint Teresa of Jesus,was aCarmelite nunand prominentSpanish mysticandreligious reformer.

Saint Teresa of Ávila OCD
Saint Teresa of ÁvilabyEduardo Balaca
Virgin,Doctor of the Church
Born	Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada 28 March 1515 ÁvilaorGotarrendura,Crown of Castile
Died	4 October 1582(1582-10-04)(aged 67) Alba de Tormes,Crown of Castile
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Lutheranism
Beatified	24 April 1614,RomebyPope Paul V
Canonized	12 March 1622,RomebyPope Gregory XV
Majorshrine	Convent of the Annunciation,Alba de Tormes,Spain
Feast	15 October
Attributes	Carmelitereligious habit,biretta,quill,dove (as an attribute of theHoly Spirit), heart with achristogram
Patronage	Spain,sick people, people in religious orders, chess, people ridiculed for their piety, lacemakers,Požega,Croatia,Talisay City, Cebu, Philippines,Malalag, Davao del Sur, Philippines,Carles, Iloilo, Philippines
Controversy	Her reforms met with determined opposition and interest from theSpanish Inquisition,but no charges were laid against her. Her order split as a result.
Theology career
Notable work	Camino de Perfección El Castillo Interior
Theological work
Era	Catholic Reformation
Tradition or movement	Christian mysticism
Main interests	Theology
Notable ideas	Mental prayer,Prayer of Quiet

Active during theCounter-Reformation,Teresa became the central figure of a movement of spiritual and monastic renewal, reforming the Carmelite Orders of both women and men.The movement was later joined by the younger Carmelite friar and mysticSaint John of the Cross,with whom she established theDiscalced Carmelites.A formal papal decree adopting the split from the old order was issued in 1580.

Her autobiography,The Life of Teresa of Jesus,and her booksThe Interior CastleandTheWay of Perfectionare prominent works onChristian mysticismandChristian meditationpractice. In her autobiography, written as a defense of her ecstatic mystical experiences, she discerns four stages in the ascent of thesoulto God:mental prayerand meditation; the prayer of quiet; absorption-in-God; ecstatic consciousness.The Interior Castle,written as a spiritual guide for her Carmelite sisters, uses the illustration of seven mansions within the castle of the soul to describe the different states one's soul can be in during life.

Forty years after her death, in 1622, Teresa wascanonizedbyPope Gregory XV.On 27 September 1970Pope Paul VIproclaimed Teresa the first femaleDoctor of the Churchin recognition of her centuries-long spiritual legacy toCatholicism.

Biography

Early life

Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada was born on 28 March 1515.Her birthplace was eitherÁvilaorGotarrendura.Her paternal grandfather, Juan Sánchez de Toledo, was amarranoorconverso,a Jew forced to convert to Christianity or emigrate. When Teresa's father was a child, Juan was condemned by theSpanish Inquisitionfor allegedly returning toJudaism,but he was later able to assume a Catholic identity.Her father,Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda,was a successful wool merchant and one of the wealthiest men in Ávila. He bought aknighthoodand assimilated successfully into Christian society.

Young Teresa of Ávila and brother run away from home to travel to AfricabyArnold van Westerhout

Previously married to Catalina del Peso y Henao, with whom he had three children, in 1509, Sánchez de Cepeda married Teresa's mother, Beatriz de Ahumada y Cuevas, in Gotarrendura.A brother, Lorenzo de Cepeda y Ahumada, was the father ofTeresa de Ahumada.

Teresa's mother brought her up as a dedicated Christian. Fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, she ran away from home at age seven, with her brother Rodrigo, to seekmartyrdomin the fight againstthe Moors.Her uncle brought them home, when he spotted them just outside the town walls.

When Teresa was eleven years old, her mother died, leaving her grief-stricken. This prompted her to embrace a deeper devotion to theVirgin Maryas her spiritual mother. Teresa was also enamored of popular fiction, which at the time consisted primarily of medieval tales ofknighthoodand works about fashion, gardens and flowers.Teresa was sent to theAugustiniannuns' school in Ávila.

Religious life

Ascetic and mystical practice

After completing her education, she initially resisted the idea of a religious vocation, but after a stay with her uncle and other relatives, she relented. In 1534, aged 20,much to the disappointment of her pious and austere father, she decided to enter the local easy-going CarmeliteConvent of the Incarnation,significantly built on top of land that had been used previously as a burial ground for Jews. She took up religious reading on contemplative prayer, especiallyOsuna'sAbecedario espiritual( "Third Spiritual Alphabet," 1527), a guide onexamination of conscienceand "spiritual self-concentration and inner contemplation, known in mystical nomenclature asoratio recollectionis".She also dipped into other mysticalasceticalworks such as theTractatus de oratione et meditationeofPeter of Alcantara.

Her zeal for mortification caused her to become ill again and she spent almost a year in bed, causing huge worry to her community and family. She nearly died but she recovered, attributing her recovery to the miraculous intercession of Saint Joseph. She began to experience bouts ofreligious ecstasy.She reported that, during her illness, she had progressed from the lowest stage of "recollection", to the "devotions of silence" and even to the "devotions of ecstasy", in which was one of perceived in "perfect union with God" (see§ Mysticism). She said she frequently experienced the rich "blessing of tears" during this final stage. As the Catholic distinction betweenmortalandvenial sinbecame clear to her, she came to understand the awful horror of sin and the inherent nature oforiginal sin.

Around the same time, she received a copy of the full Spanish translation ofAugustine of Hippo's autobiographical workConfessions,which helped her resolve and to tend to her own bouts of religiousscruples.The text helped her realize that holiness was indeed possible and she found solace in the idea that such a great saint was once an inveterate sinner. In her autobiography, she wrote that she "was very fond of St. Augustine[...] for he was a sinner too ".

Transverberation

Around 1556, friends suggested that her newfound knowledge could be of diabolical rather than divine origin. She had begun to inflictmortifications of the fleshupon herself. But herconfessor,theJesuitFrancis Borgia,reassured her of the divine inspiration of her thoughts. OnSt. Peter's Dayin 1559, Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ had presented himself to her in bodily form, though invisible. These visions lasted almost uninterruptedly for more than two years. In another vision, the famoustransverberation,aseraphdrove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing her an ineffable spiritual and bodily pain:

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the 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; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it...

The account of this vision was the inspiration for one ofBernini's most famous works, theEcstasy of Saint TeresaatSanta Maria della Vittoriain Rome. Although based in part on Teresa's description of her mysticaltransverberationin her autobiography, Bernini's depiction of the event is considered by some to be highly eroticized, especially when compared to the entire preceding artistic Teresian tradition.

The memory of this episode served as an inspiration throughout the rest of her life, and motivated her lifelong imitation of the life and suffering of Jesus, epitomized in the adage often associated with her: "Lord, either let me suffer or let me die"

Teresa, who became a celebrity in her town dispensing wisdom from behind the convent grille, was known for her raptures, which sometimes involvedlevitation.It was a source of embarrassment to her and she bade her sisters hold her down when this occurred. Subsequently, historians, neurologists and psychiatrists likePeter Fenwickand Javier Álvarez-Rodríguez, among others, have taken an interest in her symptomatology. The fact that she wrote down virtually everything that happened to her during her religious life means that an invaluable and exceedingly rare medical record from the 16th century has been preserved. Examination of this record has led to the speculative conclusion that she may have suffered fromtemporal lobe epilepsy.

Monastic reformer

Over time, Teresa found herself increasingly at odds with the spiritual malaise prevailing in her convent of the Incarnation. Among the 150 nuns living there, the observance ofcloister,designed to protect and strengthen spiritual practice and prayer, became so lax that it appeared to lose its purpose. The daily invasion of visitors, many of high social and political rank, disturbed the atmosphere with frivolous concerns and vacuous conversation. Such intrusions in the solitude essential to develop and sustain contemplative prayer so grieved Teresa that she longed to intervene.

The incentive to take the practical steps inspired by her inward motivation was supported by theFranciscanpriest,Peter of Alcantara,who met her early in 1560 and became herspiritual adviser.She resolved to found a "reformed" Carmelite convent, correcting the laxity which she had found at the Incarnation convent and elsewhere besides. Doña Guiomar of Ulloa, a friend, was granted permission for the project.

The abject poverty of the new convent, established in 1562 and namedSt. Joseph's (San José),at first caused a scandal among the citizens and authorities of Ávila, and the small house with its chapel was in peril of suppression. However, powerful patrons, including the local bishop, coupled with the impression of well ordered subsistence and purpose, turned animosity into approval.

In March 1563, after Teresa had moved to the new convent house, she receivedpapal sanctionfor her primary principles of absolute poverty and renunciation of ownership of property, which she proceeded to formulate into a "constitution". Her plan was the revival of the earlier, stricter monastic rules, supplemented by new regulations including the three disciplines of ceremonialflagellationprescribed for theDivine Officeevery week, and thediscalceationof the religious. For the first five years, Teresa remained in seclusion, mostly engaged in prayer and writing.

Church window at theConvent of St Teresa

Extended travels

In 1567, Teresa received apatentfrom the Carmelite General, Rubeo de Ravenna, to establish further houses of the neworder.This process required many visitations and long journeys across nearly all the provinces of Spain. She left a record of the arduous project in herLibro de las Fundaciones.Between 1567 and 1571, reformed convents were established atMedina del Campo,Malagón,Valladolid,Toledo,Pastrana,Salamanca,andAlba de Tormes.

As part of the original patent, Teresa was given permission to set up two houses formenwho wished to adopt the reforms. She convinced two Carmelite friars,John of the Crossand Anthony of Jesus to help with this. They founded the first monastery of Discalced Carmelite brothers in November 1568 atDuruelo.Another friend of Teresa,Jerónimo Gracián,theCarmelite visitatorof the older observance ofAndalusiaand apostolic commissioner, and laterprovincialof the Teresian order, gave her powerful support in founding monasteries atSegovia(1571),Beas de Segura(1574),Seville(1575), andCaravaca de la Cruz(Murcia,1576). Meanwhile, John of the Cross promoted the inner life of the movement through his power as a teacher and preacher.

Opposition to reforms

In 1576, unreformed members of the Carmelite order began to persecute Teresa, her supporters and her reforms. Following a number of resolutions adopted at thegeneral chapteratPiacenza,the governing body of the order forbade all further founding of reformed convents. The general chapter instructed her to go into "voluntary" retirement at one of her institutions.She obeyed and chose St. Joseph's at Toledo. Meanwhile, her friends and associates were subjected to further attacks.

Several years later, her appeals by letter to KingPhilip II of Spainsecured relief. As a result, in 1579, the cases before theinquisitionagainst her, Gracián and others, were dropped.This allowed the reform to resume. An edict fromPope Gregory XIIIallowed the appointment of a special provincial for the newer branch of the Carmelite religious, and a royal decree created a "protective" board of four assessors for the reform.

During the last three years of her life, Teresa founded convents atVillanueva de la Jarain northernAndalusia(1580),Palencia(1580),Soria(1581),Burgos,andGranada(1582). In total, seventeen convents, all but one founded by her, and as many men's monasteries, were owed to her reforms over twenty years.

Last days

Her final illness overtook her on one of her journeys from Burgos to Alba de Tormes. She died in 1582, just asCatholic Europewas making the switch from theJulianto theGregorian calendar,which required the excision of the dates of 5–14 October from the calendar. She died either before midnight of 4 October or early in the morning of 15 October, which is celebrated as her feast day. According to the liturgical calendar then in use, she died on the 15th. Her last words were: "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another."

Avila,Saint Theresa's statue

After death

Holy relics

She was buried at the Convento de la Anunciación inAlba de Tormes.Nine months after her death the coffin was opened and her body was found to beintactbut the clothing had rotted. Before the body was re-interred one of her hands was cut off, wrapped in a scarf and sent to Ávila. Gracián cut the little finger off the hand and – according to his own account – kept it with him until it was taken by the occupyingOttoman Turks,from whom he had to redeem it with a few rings and 20 reales. The body was exhumed again on 25 November 1585 to be moved to Ávila and found to be incorrupt. An arm was removed and left in Alba de Tormes at the nuns' request, to compensate for losing the main relic of Teresa, but the rest of the body was reburied in the Discalced Carmelite chapter house in Ávila. The removal was done without the approval of the Duke of Alba de Tormes and he brought the body back in 1586, withPope Sixtus Vordering that it remain in Alba de Tormes on pain of excommunication. A grander tomb on the original site was raised in 1598 and the body was moved to a new chapel in 1616.

The body still remains there, except for the following parts:

• Rome – right foot and part of the upper jaw
• Lisbon– hand
• Ronda,Spain – left eye and left hand (the latter was kept byFrancisco Francountil his death, after Francoist troops captured it from Republican troops during theSpanish Civil War)
• Museum of the Church of the Annunciation, Alba de Tormes – left arm and heart
• Church of Our Lady of Loreto,Paris,France – one finger
• Sanlúcar de Barrameda– one finger

TheEcstasy of Saint TeresabyBernini,Basilica ofSanta Maria della Vittoria, Rome

On August 28, 2024, it was made the canonical recognition of Teresa's body. The postulator general of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Father Marco Chiesa, announced that those present at the scene were able to see that "it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914."

Canonization

Statue of Saint Teresa of Ávila inMafra National Palace,Mafra

In 1622, forty years after her death, she wascanonizedbyPope Gregory XV.TheCortesexalted her topatronessof Spain in 1627. TheUniversity of Salamancahad granted her the titleDoctor ecclesiae(Latinfor "Doctor of the Church" ) with a diploma in her lifetime,but that title is distinct from the papal honour ofDoctor of the Church,which is always conferred posthumously. The latter was finally bestowed upon her byPope Paul VIon 27 September 1970,along withCatherine of Siena,making them the first women to be awarded the distinction. Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer. The mysticism in her works exerted a formative influence upon many theologians of the following centuries, such asFrancis of Sales,Fénelon,and thePort-Royalists.In 1670, her coffin was plated in silver.

Teresa of Avila is honored in theChurch of Englandand in theEpiscopal Churchon 15 October.

Patron saint

In 1626, at the request ofPhilip IV of Spain,theCastilian parliamentelected Teresa "without lacking one vote" as copatron saint of Castile.This status was affirmed byPope Urban VIIIin a brief issued on 21 July 1627 in which he stated:

For these reasons [the king's and Cortes's elections] and for the great devotion which they have for Teresa, they elected her for patron and advocate of these kingdoms in the last Cortes of the aforementioned kingdoms... And because... the representatives in the Cortes desired it so greatly that their vote be firm and perpetual, we grant it our patronage and the approval of theHoly Apostolic See.

— Rowe 2011,pp. 77–78

More broadly, the 1620s, the entirety of Spain (Castile and beyond) debated who should be the country'spatron saint;the choices were either the current patron,James Matamoros,or a pairing of him and the newly canonised Saint Teresa of Ávila. Teresa's promoters said Spain faced newer challenges, especially the threat of Protestantism and societal decline at home, thus needing a more contemporary patron who understood those issues and could guide the Spanish nation. Santiago's supporters (Santiaguistas) fought back and eventually won the argument, but Teresa of Ávila remained far more popular at the local level.James the Greatkept the title of patron saint for theSpanish people,and the mostBlessed Virgin Maryunder the titleImmaculate Conceptionas the sole patroness for the entireSpanish Kingdom.

Legacy regarding the Infant Jesus of Prague

"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."

The Spanish nuns who establishedCarmelin France brought a devotion to theInfant Jesuswith them, and it became widespread in France.

Though there are no written historical accounts establishing that Teresa of Ávila ever owned the famousInfant Jesus of Praguestatue, according to tradition, such a statue is said to have been in her possession and Teresa is reputed to have given it to a noblewoman travelling toPrague.The age of the statue dates to approximately the same time as Teresa. It has been thought that Teresa carried a portable statue of theChild Jesuswherever she went; the idea circulated by the early 1700s.

Writings

Teresa of Ávila, byRubens.This is the portrait of Teresa that is probably the most true to her appearance. It is a copy of an original 1576 painting of her when she was 61.

Autobiography

The autobiographyLa Vida de la Santa Madre Teresa de Jesús(The Life of the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus) was written at Avila between 1562 and 1565, but published posthumously.Editions include:

• The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus... Written by herself.Translated from the Spanish by D. Lewis, 1870. London: Burns, Oates, & Co
• TheAutobiography,written before 1567, under the direction of her confessor, Fr. Pedro Ibáñez, 1882
• The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by herself.J. M. Cohen, 1957. Penguin Classics
• Life of St. Teresa of Jesus.Translated by Benedict Zimmerman, 1997. Tan Books,ISBN978-0-89555-603-5
• The Life of Teresa of Jesus: The Autobiography of Teresa of Avila.Translated by E. Allison Peers, 1991. Doubleday,ISBN978-0-385-01109-9
• The Book of Her Life,translated, with notes, by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, 2008. Introduction by Jodi Bilinkoff. Indianapolis/Cambridge:Hackett Publishing Company,ISBN978-0-87220-907-7
• The Book of My Life.Mirabai Starr, 2008. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications,ISBN978-1-59030-573-7

The Way of Perfection

The Way of Perfection(Spanish:Camino de Perfección) was published in 1566. Teresa called this a "living book" and in it set out to teach her nuns how to progress through prayer andChristian meditation.She discusses the rationale for being a Carmelite, and the rest deals with the purpose of and approaches to spiritual life. The title was inspired by the devotional bookThe Imitation of Christ(1418) which had become a favourite expression of Teresa much before she wrote this work, as it appeared at several places in her autobiography,The Life of Teresa of Jesus.Like her other books,The Way of Perfectionwas written on the advice of her counsellors to describe her experiences in prayer during the period when theReformationwas spreading through Europe. Herein she describes ways of attaining spiritual perfection throughprayerand its four stages, as inmeditation,quiet,repose of soul and finally perfectunion with God,which she equates with rapture.

Editions

• The Way of Perfection.Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers, Doubleday, 1991.ISBN978-0-385-06539-9
• The Way of Perfection,TAN Books,1997.ISBN978-0-89555-602-8
• Way of Perfection,London, 2012. limovia.netISBN978-1-78336-025-3
• ElCamino de Perfección(The Way of Perfection), written also before 1567, at the direction of her confessor.

Interior Castle

TheInterior Castle,orThe Mansions,(Spanish:El Castillo InteriororLas Moradas) was written in 1577, and published in 1588.It contained the basis for what she felt should be the ideal journey offaith,comparing the contemplativesoulto acastlewith seven successive interior courts, or chambers, analogous to the seven mansions. The work was inspired by her vision of the soul as a diamond in the shape of a castle containing seven mansions, which she interpreted as the journey of faith through seven stages, ending with union with God.Fray Diego, one of Teresa's formerconfessorswrote that God revealed to Teresa:

... a most beautiful crystal globe, made in the shape of a castle, and containing seven mansions, in the seventh and innermost of which was the King of Glory, in the greatest splendour, illumining and beautifying them all. The nearer one got to the centre, the stronger was the light; outside the palace limits everything was foul, dark and infested with toads, vipers and other venomous creatures. "

Christia Mercer,Columbia University philosophy professor, claims that the seventeenth-century FrenchmanRené Descarteslifted some of his most influential ideas from Teresa of Ávila, who, fifty years before Descartes, wrote popular books about the role of philosophical reflection in intellectual growth.She describes a number of striking similarities between Descartes's seminal workMeditations on First Philosophyand Teresa'sInterior Castle.

Translations

• The first English translation was published in 1675.
• Fr. John Dalton (1852). John Dalton’s translation ofThe Interior Castlecontains an interesting preface and translations of other letters by St. Teresa.
• Benedictines of Stanbrook, edited by Fr. Zimmerman (1921). The translation ofThe Interior Castleby the Benedictines of Stanbrook also has an excellent introduction and includes many cross-references to other works by St. Teresa.
• E. Allison Peers (1946). E. Allison Peers’ translation ofThe Interior Castleis another popular public domain version translated by a professor and scholar of Hispanic studies.
• Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh (1979). This translation also stays true to the text and contains many useful cross-references. Anupdated study editioncontains comprehensive notes, reflection questions and a glossary.
• The Interior Castle – The Mansions,TAN Books,1997.ISBN978-0-89555-604-2
• Mirabai Starr (2004). Described as "free of religious dogma, this modern translation renders St. Teresa's work a beautiful and practical set of teachings for seekers of all faiths in need of spiritual guidance".Starr’s interpretive version ofThe Interior Castleeliminates Teresa’s use of words such as "sin", which results in a translation which is more paraphrased than accurate translation and departs significantly from the original's meaning.
• The Interior Castle – Modern update of the spiritual guide by Teresa of Avila.by M.B. Anderson, Root Classics (publisher), 2022.ISBN978-1-956314-01-4.

In popular culture

St. Teresa's mystical experiences have inspired several authors in modern times, but not necessarily from Teresa's Christian theological perspective.

• She is mentioned inElizabeth Goudge's play,The Brontës of Haworth(inThree Plays,Duckworth, London, 1939), as one of the authors included by Emily Brontë when she and her sister Charlotte are packing to go to Brussels. In the play, Emily is depicted as very interested in mysticism, and is also packing a book bySaint John of the Cross,and another byJohn Ruysbroeck(John of Ruusbroec or Jan van Ruusbroec: 1293/94-1381: a Medieval mystic from the Low Countries).
• The 2006 bookEat, Pray, LovebyElizabeth Gilbertrecognizes St. Teresa as "that most mystical of Catholic figures" and alludes to St. Teresa'sInterior Castleas the "mansions of her being" and her journey as one of "divine meditative bliss".
• The 2007 book by American spiritual authorCaroline MyssEntering the Castlewas inspired by St. Teresa'sInterior Castle,but still has aNew Ageapproach to mysticism.
• St. Teresa also inspired American authorR. A. Laffertyin his novelFourth Mansions(1969), which was nominated for theNebula AwardforBest Novelin 1970.
• Brooke Fraser's song "Orphans, Kingdoms" was inspired by St. Teresa'sInterior Castle.
• Jean Stafford's short story 'The Interior Castle' relates the intense preoccupation of an accident victim with her own brain, which she sees variously as a jewel, a flower, a light in a glass and a set of envelopes within envelopes.
• Jeffrey Eugenides' 2011 novelThe Marriage Plotrefers to St. Teresa'sInterior Castlewhen recounting the religious experience of Mitchell Grammaticus, one of the main characters of the book.
• Teen Daze's2012 releaseThe Inner Mansionsrefers to St. Teresa'sInterior Castlein the album's title as well as in the first track. "... have mercy on yourselves! If you realize your pitiable condition, how can you refrain from trying to remove the darkness from the crystal of your souls? Remember, if death should take you now, you would never again enjoy the light of this Sun".This line appears dubbed over the musical introduction to "New Life".
• In Mark Williamson'sONE: a memoir(2018), the metaphor of theInterior Castleis used to describe an inner world of introspective reflection on past events, a set of "memory loci" based on the ancient system of recall for rhetorical purposes.

Other

• Relaciones(Relationships), an extension of the autobiography giving her inner and outer experiences in epistolary form.
• Her rare poems (Todas las poesías,Munster,1854) are distinguished for tenderness of feeling and rhythm of thought.
• The Complete Poetry of St. Teresa of Avila.A Bilingual Edition – Edición y traducción de Eric W. Vogt.New Orleans UniversityPress of the South, 1996. Second edition, 2015. xl, 116 p.ISBN978-1-937030-52-0
• "Meditations on Song of Songs", 1567, written nominally for her daughters at the convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
• Conceptos del Amor( "Concepts of Love" ) and
• Exclamaciones.
• Las Cartas(Saragossa, 1671), or her correspondence, of which there are 342 extant letters and 87 fragments of others. The first edition of Teresa's letters was published in 1658 with the comment ofJuan de Palafox y Mendoza,Roman Catholic bishop of Osma and an opponent to the Company of Jesus.
• The Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus,in five volumes, translated and edited byE. Allison Peers,including 2 volumes of correspondence. London:Sheed and Ward,1982.

Mysticism

The prayerNada te turbe(Let nothing disturb you) is attributed to Teresa, having been found within her breviary:

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
If you have God you will want for nothing.
God alone suffices.

— Teresa of Ávila

See also:Christian contemplation

The ultimate preoccupation of Teresa's mystical thought, as consistently reflected in her writings, is the ascent of thesoulto God. Aumann notes that, "the grades of prayer described inThe Lifedo not correspond to the division of prayer commonly given in the manuals of spiritual life ", due to the fact that" St. Teresa did not write a systematic theology of prayer ".According to Zimmerman, "In all her writings on this subject she deals with her personal experiences [...] there is no vestige in her writings of any influence of theAreopagite,thePatristic,or theScholasticMystical schools, as represented among others, by theGerman Dominican Mystics.She is intensely personal, her system going exactly as far as her experiences, but not a step further. "

Teresa describes in theInterior Castlethat the treasure of heaven lies buried within our hearts, and that there is an interior part of the heart which is the centre of the soul.

Four stages as described in theautobiography

In her autobiography she describes four stages,in which she uses the image of watering one's garden as a metaphor for mystical prayer:

• The first,Devotion of the Heart,consists ofmental prayerand meditation. It means the withdrawal of the soul from without,penitenceand especially the devoutmeditationon the passion of Christ (Autobiography11.20).
• The second,Devotion of Peace,is where human will is surrendered to God. This occurs by virtue of an uplifted awareness granted by God, while other faculties, such as memory, reason, and imagination, are not yet safe from worldly distraction. Although a partial distraction can happen, due to outer activity such as repetition of prayers or writing down spiritual things, the prevailing state is one of quietude (Autobiography14.1).
• The third,Devotion of Union,concerns the absorption-in-God. It is not only a heightened, but essentially, anecstaticstate. At this level, reason is also surrendered to God, and only the memory and imagination are left to ramble. This state is characterized by a blissful peace, a sweet slumber of at least thehigher soul faculties,that is a consciousness of being enraptured by the love of God.
• The fourth,Devotion of Ecstasy,is where the consciousness of being in the body disappears. Sensory faculties cease to operate. Memory and imagination also become absorbed in God, as though intoxicated. Body and spirit dwell in the throes of exquisite pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, in complete unconscious helplessness, and periods of apparent strangulation. Sometimes such ecstatic transports literally cause the body to be lifted into space.This state may last as long as half an hour and tends to be followed by relaxation of a few hours of swoon-like weakness, attended by the absence of all faculties while in union with God. The subject awakens from this trance state in tears. It may be regarded as the culmination of mystical experience. Indeed, Teresa was said to have been observedlevitatingduringMasson more than one occasion.

The seven mansions of the Interior castle

TheInterior Castleis divided into seven mansions (also called dwelling places), each level describing a step to get closer to God. In her work, Teresa already assumed entrance into the first mansions byprayerandmeditation.

The purgative stage, involving active prayer andasceticism:

• The first mansion begin with asoul's state ofgrace,but the souls are surrounded bysinand only starting to seek God's grace throughhumilityin order to achieve perfection.
• The second mansions are also called theMansion of the Practice of Prayerbecause the soul seeks to advance through the castle by daily thoughts of God, humble recognition of God's work in the soul and ultimately daily prayer.
• The third mansions are the Mansions of Exemplary Life characterized throughdivine graceand alovefor God that is so great that the soul has an aversion to both mortal and venial sin and a desire to do works of charitable service to man for the ultimate glory of God. The prayer of acquired recollection belongs to the third mansion.

The illuminative stage, the beginning of mystical or contemplative or supernatural prayer:

• The fourth mansions are a departure from the soul actively acquiring what it gains as God increases his role. In this mansion, the soul begins to experience two types of supernatural prayer, namely thePrayer of Supernatural (or passive) RecollectionandThe Prayer of Quiet;
• The fifth mansion isThe Prayer of Union,in which the soul prepares itself to receive gifts from God;

Unitive stage:

• The sixth mansion is the betrothal (engagement) of the soul with God can be compared to lovers. The soul spends increasing amounts of time torn between favors from God and from outside afflictions.
• The seventh mansion is the spiritual marriage with God, in which the soul achieves clarity in prayer

Nine grades of prayer

Overview

The first four grades of Teresa's classifications of prayer belong to the ascetical stage of spiritual life. These are vocal prayer, meditational or mental prayer, affective prayer, and acquired or natural recollection.

According to Augustin Poulain and Robert Thouless, Teresa described four degrees or stages of mystical union, namely theprayer of quiet,full or semi-ecstatic union, ecstatic union or ecstasy, and transforming or deifying union, or spiritual marriage (properly) of the soul with God.While Augustin Poulain and Robert Thouless do not mention thePrayer of Supernatural (or passive) Recollectionas a separate stage,Aumann discerns infused contemplation as a separate stage in the fourth mansion of theInterior Castle.Together, these "five grades are infused prayer and belong to the mystical phase of spiritual life".

Thomas Merton disagrees on a fine-cut distinction between acquired contemplation and the prayer of quiet, noticing the Carmelite tendency of systematization, whereas Teresa herself was just describing her personal experiences.Commenting on Teresa's writings and the scholarly discussions on the precise stages,Thomas Mertoncomments: "with all these divisions and distinctions, comings and goings and varieties of terms, one tends to become impatient with the saint".

Aumann synthesizes Teresa's writings into nine grades of prayer:

Threefold classification	The Life	Interior Castle	Nine grades
Ascetic	Devotion of the Heart	First mansions	1. vocal prayer
			2.mental prayeror prayer of meditation
			3. affective prayer
		Second and third mansions	4. prayer of simplicity, or acquired contemplation or recollection
Illuminative	Devotion of Peace	Fourth mansions	5. infused contemplation or recollection
			6. prayer of quiet
Unitive	Devotion of Union	Fifth mansions	7. prayer of (simple) union
	Devotion of Ecstacy	Sixth mansions	8. prayer of conforming or ecstatic union
		Seventh mansions	9. prayer of transforming union.

Ordinary prayer or ascetical stage

Mental or meditational prayer

Mental prayer is a form ofprayer"performed without aid of any particular formula."It is distinguished from vocal prayers, "prayers performed by means of a given formula",Prayer is mental when the thoughts and affections of the soul are not expressed in a previously determined formula.According to Teresa of Ávila, mental prayer is meditational prayer, in which the person is like a gardener, who, with much labour, draws the water up from the depths of the well to water the plants and flowers.According to Teresa of Avila, mental prayer can proceed by using vocal prayers in order to improve dialogue with God.According to Lehodey, mental prayer can be divided into meditation, more active in reflections, and contemplation, more quiet and gazeful.

Natural or acquired contemplation – prayer of simplicity

For Teresa of Avila, in natural or acquired contemplation, also called the prayer of simplicitythere is one dominant thought or sentiment which recurs constantly and easily (although with little or no development) amid many other thoughts, beneficial or otherwise. The prayer of simplicity often has a tendency to simplify itself even in respect to its object, leading one to think chiefly of God and of his presence, but in a confused manner.

In the words of SaintAlphonsus Maria de Liguori,acquired contemplation "consists in seeing at a simple glance the truths which could previously be discovered only through prolonged discourse": reasoning is largely replaced by intuition and affections and resolutions, though not absent, are only slightly varied and expressed in a few words. Similarly, SaintIgnatius of Loyola,in his 30-day retreat orSpiritual Exercisesbeginning in the "second week" with its focus on the life of Jesus, describes less reflection and more simple contemplation on the events of Jesus' life. These contemplations consist mainly in a simple gaze and include an "application of the senses" to the events,to further one's empathy for Jesus' values, "to love him more and to follow him more closely".

Definitions similar to that of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori are given by Adolphe Tanquerey ( "a simple gaze on God and divine things proceeding from love and tending thereto" ) and SaintFrancis de Sales( "a loving, simple and permanent attentiveness of the mind to divine things" ).

Natural or acquired contemplation has been compared to the attitude of a mother watching over the cradle of her child: she thinks lovingly of the child without reflection and amid interruptions. TheCatechism of the Catholic Churchstates:

What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: 'Contemplative [sic]prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.' Contemplative prayer seeks him 'whom my soul loves'. It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.

Infused or higher contemplation – mystical union

According to Hardon, infused contemplation is "A supernatural gift by which a person's mind and will become totally centered on God. Under this influence the intellect receives special insights into things of the spirit, and the affections are extraordinarily animated with divine love. Infused contemplation assumes the free co-operation of the human will."According to Poulain, it is a form ofmystical union with God,a union characterized by the fact that it is God, and God only, who manifests Himself.According to Poulain, mystical grace may also manifest as visions of the humanity of Christ or an angel or revelations of a future event, and include miraculous bodily phenomena sometimes observed in ecstatics.

In Teresa's mysticism, infused contemplation is described as a "divinely originated, general, non-conceptual, loving awareness of God".According to Dubay:

It is a wordless awareness and love that we of ourselves cannot initiate or prolong. The beginnings of this contemplation are brief and frequently interrupted by distractions. The reality is so unimposing that one who lacks instruction can fail to appreciate what exactly is taking place. Initial infused prayer is so ordinary and unspectacular in the early stages that many fail to recognize it for what it is. Yet with generous people, that is, with those who try to live the whole Gospel wholeheartedly and who engage in an earnest prayer life, it is common.

According toThomas Dubay,infused contemplation is the normal, ordinary development ofdiscursive prayer(mental prayer, meditative prayer), which it gradually replaces.Dubay considers infused contemplation as common only among "those who try to live the whole Gospel wholeheartedly and who engage in an earnest prayer life". Other writers view contemplative prayer in its infused supernatural form as far from common.John Baptist Scaramelli,reacting in the 17th century againstquietism,taught thatasceticismandmysticismare two distinct paths to perfection, the former being the normal, ordinary end of the Christian life, and the latter something extraordinary and very rare.Jordan Aumann considered that this idea of the two paths was "an innovation in spiritual theology and a departure from the traditional Catholic teaching".AndJacques Maritainproposed that one should not say that every mystic necessarily enjoys habitual infused contemplation in the mystical state, since the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not limited to intellectual operations.

The Prayer of Quiet

For Teresa of Avila, the Prayer of Quiet is a state in which the soul experiences an extraordinary peace and rest, accompanied by delight or pleasure in contemplatingGodas present.According to Poulain, "Mystical union will be called spiritual quiet when the Divine action is still too weak to prevent distractions: in a word, when the imagination still retains a certain liberty".According to Poulain, in incomplete mystical union, or the prayer of quiet or supernatural recollection, the action of God is not strong enough to prevent distractions, and the imagination still retains a certain liberty.

Full or semi-ecstatic union

According to Poulain, "Mystical union will be called [...] full union when its strength is so great that the soul is fully occupied with the Divine object, whilst, on the other hand, the senses continue to act (under these conditions, by making a greater or less effort, one can cease from prayer".

Ecstatic union

According to Poulain, "Mystical union will be called [...] ecstasy when communications with the external world are severed or nearly so (in this event one can no longer make voluntary movement nor energy from the state at will)."

Transforming union

The transforming union differs from the other three specifically and not merely in intensity. According to Poulain, "It consists in the habitual consciousness of a mysterious grace which all shall possess in heaven: the anticipation of the Divine nature. The soul is conscious of the Divine assistance in its superior supernatural operations, those of the intellect and the will. Spiritual marriage differs from spiritual espousals inasmuch as the first of these states is permanent and the second only transitory."

Portrayals

Portrayals of Teresa include the following:

Detail ofSt. Theresa,1827, by French painterFrançois Gérard

Portrait ofSarah Bernhardtas Thérèse inLa Vierge d'AvilabyCatulle Mendès(1906)

Literature

• Simone de Beauvoirsingles out Teresa as a woman who truly lived life for herself (and perhaps the only woman to do so) in her bookThe Second Sex.
• She is mentioned prominently inKathryn Harrison's novelPoison.The main character, Francisca De Luarca, is fascinated by her life.
• Don DeLilloinEnd Zonedepicted Teresa as a saint who eats from a human skull to remind herself of final things.
• R. A. Laffertywas strongly inspired byEl Castillo Interiorwhen he wrote his novelFourth Mansions.Quotations from St. Teresa's work are frequently used as chapter headings.
• Pierre Klossowskiprominently features Saint Teresa of Ávila in his metaphysical novelThe Baphomet.
• George Eliotcompared Dorothea Brooke to St. Teresa inMiddlemarch(1871–1872) and wrote briefly about the life and works of St. Teresa in the "Prelude" to the novel.
• Thomas Hardytook Saint Teresa as the inspiration for much of the characterisation of the heroine Tess (Teresa) Durbeyfield, inTess of the d'Urbervilles(1891), most notably the scene in which she lies in a field and senses her soul ecstatically above her.
• The contemporary poetJorie Grahamfeatures Saint Teresa in the poemBreakdancingin her volumeThe End of Beauty.
• Bárbara Mujica's novelSister Teresa,while not strictly hagiographical, is based upon Teresa's life.
• Timothy Findley's 1999 novelPilgrimfeatures Saint Teresa as a minor character.
• Vita Sackville-Westwrote a double biography contrasting the two Carmelites Teresa of Avila and Thérèse of Lisieux,The Eagle and the Dove,re-issued in 2018.

Painting and sculpture

• Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spiritis a 1612–1614 painting byPeter Paul Rubensand is exhibited in theMuseum Boijmans Van BeuningeninRotterdam,and Rubens' c. 1614painting of the same subjectis in theFitzwilliam Museum,Cambridge.
• Another Rubens portrait of Teresa, from 1615, is now in the collection of theKunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna.
• Saint Teresa was the inspiration for one ofBernini's most famous sculptures,The Ecstasy of St. Teresa(mid-17th century) inSanta Maria della Vittoria, Rome.
• St. Teresawas painted in 1819–20 byFrançois Gérard,a French neoclassical painter.
• St Theresa of Avilais a 1754-1755 painting byJoseph-Marie Vienand is exhibited in theNew Orleans Museum of Artin New Orleans, Louisiana.

Iconography

Theresa is usually shown in the habit of the Discalced Carmelites, and writing in a book with a quill pen. Sometimes there is a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

Drama and film

• Hugh Ross Williamsonwrote a play,Teresa of Avila,about her life, which premiered in London in 1961.
• Performance artistLinda Montanohas cited Teresa of Ávila as one of the most important influences on her work and since her return to Catholicism in the 2000s has done performances of her life.
• Teresa de Jesús(1984), directed byJosefina Molinaand starringConcha Velasco,is a Spanish made-for-TV mini-series. In it, Teresa is portrayed as the determined foundress of new Carmelite houses while protecting theinfant Jesusstatue on her many arduous journeys. The devotion to the Child Jesus spread quickly in Spain, possibly due to her mystical reputation, and then to other places, includingFrance.
• Nigel Wingrove's 1989 short filmVisions of Ecstasywas based on Teresa of Ávila. The film features fantasised sexualised scenes of Teresa with the body ofJesuson the cross. It is the only work to be refused certification by theBritish Board of Film Classification(BBFC) on the grounds ofblasphemy.
• Dževad Karahasan.The Delighted Angeldrama about Teresa of Ávila andRabija al-Adavija,Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt, ARBOS 1995.
• Paz Vegastars as Teresa inTeresa, el cuerpo de Cristo,a 2007 Spanishbiopicdirected byRay Loriga.
• St. Teresa also features prominently in the 2009Ron Howardfilm,Angels and Demons,where the Bernini sculpture, "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa", is an important clue in helping Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) find an anti-matter bomb that is hidden in and set to destroy theVatican.
• Marian Álvarezportrays Teresa in the2015 television film of the same namedirected byJorge Doradoand made for the 500th anniversary of her birth.
• Blanca Portillo,Greta Fernández,and Ainet Jounou portray Teresa in the2023 film of the same namedirected byPaula Ortiz.

Music

• Marc-Antoine Charpentiercomposed twomotetsfor the feast of Saint Teresa:Flores, flores o Galliafor two voices, two flutes and continuo (H.374), c. 1680 and the other, for three voices and continuo (H.342), in 1686–87.
• She is a principal character of the operaFour Saints in Three Actsby the composerVirgil Thomsonwith a libretto byGertrude Stein.
• Saint Teresa is the subject of the song "Theresa's Sound-World" bySonic Youthoff the 1992 albumDirty,lyrics byThurston Moore.
• "Saint Teresa" is a track onJoan Osborne'sRelishalbum, nominated for aGrammy Awardin 1996.
• References to Saint Theresa and her visions appear in several songs across multiple albums bythe Hold Steady,including "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night","The Sweet Part of the City",and "Our Whole Lives"

See also

• Asín on mystical analogies in Saint Teresa of Avila and Islam
• Book of the First Monks
• Byzantine Discalced Carmelites
• Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
• Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
• Mount Carmel#Canaanites
• Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites
• Saints and levitation
• Saint Teresa of Ávila, patron saint archive
• Spanish Renaissance literature
• Teresa de Jesús,1984 Spanish language mini-series
• St. Teresa's Church (Hong Kong)

Sources

This article was originally based on the text in theSchaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.

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Web-sources

Further reading

• Carolyn A. Greene.Castles in the Sandfiction with cited sources about Teresa of Avila Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2009.ISBN978-0-9791315-4-7
• Jean Abiven.15 Days of Prayer with Saint Teresa of Avila,New City Press, 2011.ISBN978-1-56548-366-8
• Gould Levine, Linda; Engelson Marson, Ellen; Feiman Waldman, Gloria, eds. (1993).Spanish Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Source Book.Westport, Connecticut:Greenwood Press.ISBN978-0-31326-823-6.
• Bárbara Mujica,Teresa de Ávila: Lettered Woman,(Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press, 2009).
• E. Rhodes, "Teresa de Jesus's Book and the Reform of the Religious Man in Sixteenth Century Spain," in Laurence Lux-Sterritt and Carmen Mangion (eds),Gender, Catholicism and Spirituality: Women and the Roman Catholic Church in Britain and Europe, 1200–1900(Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011),
• John Thomas, "Ecstasy, art & the body. St. Teresa of Avila's 'Transverberation', and its depiction in the sculpture of Gianlorenzo Bernini" in John Thomas,Happiness, Truth & Holy Images. Essays of Popular Theology and Religion & Art(Wolverhampton, Twin Books, 2019), pp. 12–16.
• John Thomas, "Architectural image andvia mystica.St. Teresa'sLas Moradas",in John Thomas,Happiness, Truth & Holy Images. Essays of Popular Theology and Religion & Art(Wolverhampton, Twin Books, 2019), pp. 39–48.
• Du Boulay, Shirley(2004).Teresa of Avila: An Extraordinary Life.Katonah, New York:BlueBridge.ISBN978-0-974-24052-7.

External links

• "Works of St. Teresa of Avila (Online)".Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
• Teresa 500:Videos of a conferenceheld atRoehampton Universityin 2015 on the 500th anniversary of Teresa's birth
• "St. Teresa, Virgin",Butler's Lives of the Saints
• Founder Statue in St Peter's Basilica
• Biography Online: Saint Teresa of Avila
• Patron Saints: Saint Teresa of Avila
• Books written by Saint Teresa of Avila, including Saint John of the Cross
• Works by Teresa of ÁvilaatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Teresa of Ávilaat theInternet Archive
• Works by Teresa of ÁvilaatLibriVox(public domain audiobooks)
• Basilica of Saint Teresa in Alba de TormesArchived28 November 2007 at theWayback Machine(in Spanish)
• Alba de Tormes, sepulcro de Santa Teresa – Tomb of Saint TeresaonYouTube(in Spanish)
• Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of The Order of Our Lady of Carmel
• Way of Perfection
• Interior CastleorThe Mansions
• Convent of St Teresa in Avila
• Poems of Saint Teresa
• Santa Teresa: an Appreciation,1900, by Alexander Whyte, from Project Gutenberg
• Colonnade Statue St Peter's Square