"Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love." - St. Teresa of Avila
In the year 1515, Teresa of Avila was born Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sanchez de Capeda y Ahumada in Avila, Spain. She was the third child born into a family descended from Jewish merchants who had converted to Christianity during the rule of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Alphonsus, her father, was a devout Catholic.
Teresa was intrigued as a child by the thought of eternity and the vision of God granted to the saints in paradise. She once tried to flee with her younger brother Rodrigo so that they could die as martyrs in a Muslim nation, but they soon encountered a cousin who sent them back to their mother Beatrice.
When Teresa was 14 years old, her mother passed away, leaving the young child in a state of intense grief that led her to embrace a stronger devotion to Mary as her spiritual mother. Along with this good resolution, she developed excessive interests in reading popular fiction (mainly mediaeval tales of knighthood at the time) and caring for her own looks.
Although Teresa's spiritual mentors would eventually consider these shortcomings to be relatively minor, they nonetheless marked a perceptible decline in her early passion for God. Alphonsus sent his teenage daughter to an Augustinian nuns' convent to receive an education after deciding she needed a change of environment. At first, Teresa thought their way of life was dull, but she quickly began to see its spiritual benefits.
During her second year, illness compelled her to leave the convent. But Teresa was persuaded by her devout uncle Peter, as well as her reading of the writings of the monk and Church Father St. Jerome, that the surest path to salvation lay in complete renunciation of marriage, possessions, and earthly pleasures. She joined the Carmelite Order despite her father's wishes for her to put off making the choice.
At the age of 20, Teresa joined the order formally but was shortly forced to leave due to malaria. She spent two years in excruciating pain and physical paralysis, and when she fell into a coma for four days, doctors thought she would not survive. Even though she was still in a painful and weak state, she insisted on going back to the Carmelite monastery as soon as she was able.
The young nun made impressive spiritual strides over the course of the following three years, adopting the habit of remembering oneself into God's presence through peaceful contemplation. However, Teresa reverted to a more routine prayer life as her health improved. She remained an obedient Carmelite, but for nearly twenty years she was unable to re-establish this deep personal relationship with God.
But when Teresa was about 40 years old, she suddenly felt strongly drawn back to the discipline of contemplative mental prayer. She went through significant transformations in her own spirit and extraordinary visions that appeared to be from God. In an autobiography she finished in 1565, Teresa wrote about some of these encounters under the guidance of her confessors.
After receiving Christ in the celebration of Holy Communion, Teresa had always been accustomed to reflecting on his presence within her. However, she now realized that the presence she felt did not simply go away; rather, God had always been there for her. It was only necessary for her to show him love and care, which she could do at any time.
Teresa was able to play a vital part in the renewal of the Church that occurred after the Council of Trent thanks to this revolution in her spiritual life. She advocated for the Carmelites to revert to their original way of life, a straightforward and austere kind of solitary and silence that had been sanctioned by the pope in the 12th century.
She established what is now known as the Order of Discalced Carmelites with her close associate, the priest and author later canonized as Saint John of the Cross. "Discalced," which means barefoot, symbolizes the simplicity to which they chose to return the order after a period of corruption. Despite the reform's fierce criticism, 30 monasteries were established during her lifetime as a result.
The final time Teresa's health failed her was in 1582, as she was passing through Salamanca. She recognized that God had selected her terrible terminal sickness as the way to bring her into his presence for all eternity.
She said, “O my Lord, and my spouse, the desired hour has now come. The hour is at last come, wherein I shall pass out of this exile, and my soul shall enjoy in thy company what it hath so earnestly longed for.”
On October 15, 1582, St. Teresa of Avila passed away at the age of 67. Pope Paul V had her beatified on April 24th, 1614 in Rome. On March 22, 1622, Pope Gregory XV canonized her, along with three of her greatest contemporaries, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Philip Neri.
Along with Dominican St. Catherine of Siena, who lived in the 14th century, St. Teresa was named one of the first two female Doctors of the Church by Pope St. Paul VI in 1970.
St. Teresa of Avila is revered as the patron saint of headache sufferers. Her symbol is a heart, an arrow, and a book. Her feast is celebrated on October 15.
Other Saints of the Day
Saint Flavia
Saint Agileus
Saint Sabinus
Saint Callistus
Saint Thecla of Kitzingen