Teresa of Ávila
Teresa of Ávila, OCD (Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada; 28 March 1515 – 4 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer.
Teresa of Ávila | |
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Saint Teresa of Ávila by Eduardo Balaca | |
| Virgin, Doctor of the Church | |
| Born | Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada 28 March 1515 Ávila or Gotarrendura, Crown of Castile |
| Died | 4 October 1582 (aged 67) Alba de Tormes, Crown of Castile |
| Venerated in | |
| Beatified | 24 April 1614, Rome by Pope Paul V |
| Canonized | 12 March 1622, Rome by Pope Gregory XV |
| Major shrine | Convent of the Annunciation, Alba de Tormes, Spain |
| Feast | 15 October |
| Attributes | Carmelite religious habit, biretta, quill, dove (as an attribute of the Holy Spirit), heart with a christogram |
| 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 |
| Controversy | Her reforms met with determined opposition and interest from the Spanish Inquisition, but no charges were laid against her. Her order split as a result. |
Theology career | |
| Notable work | |
| Theological work | |
| Era | Catholic Reformation |
| Tradition or movement | Christian mysticism |
| Main interests | Theology |
| Notable ideas | Mental prayer, Prayer of Quiet |
| Part of a series on |
| Christian mysticism |
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Active during the Counter-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 mystic Saint John of the Cross, with whom she established the Discalced 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 books The Interior Castle, and The Way of Perfection, are prominent works on Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practice. In her autobiography, written as a defense of her ecstatic mystical experiences, she discerns four stages in the ascent of the soul to God: mental prayer and 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 our soul to describe the different states our soul can be in during our life.
Forty years after her death, in 1622, Teresa was canonized by Pope Gregory XV. On 27 September 1970 Pope Paul VI proclaimed Teresa the first female Doctor of the Church in recognition of her centuries-long spiritual legacy to Catholicism.