St. Teresa of Avila

The great reformer of the Carmelite order, Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada was born March 28, 1515 in Avila, Old Castile, Spain to Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda and his second wife, Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada. Both of her parents were saintly. Her mother died when Teresa was fourteen. To finish her education, Teresa was entrusted to the Augustinian nuns at Avila. Because of an illness, she left after eighteen months. She then stayed with her father and at times with other relatives. An uncle introduced her to the Letters of St. Jerome and she decided that religious life was the best way she could save her soul, although at the time she felt little real attraction for such a life. Without her father’s permission, she entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Avila in 1535. Her father immediately gave his permission and she was given the habit. Shortly after her profession she became seriously ill and eventually had to be taken from the convent and cared for at a friend’s home. She was partially cured through the intercession of St. Joseph, but she remained in ill health for the rest of her life. During this time she began to receive mystical graces, but she was very afraid that she was unworthy and being deceived either by the devil or by her own senses. Eventually a series of wise confessors and spiritual directors helped to assure her that her experiences were real. In obedience to her confessors she wrote her autobiography and several books about the spiritual life. Life at the Incarnation convent was not conductive to a healthy spiritual life. There were 140 nuns and those from wealthy families were allowed to have luxuries the others could not afford; they were also allowed too much time for visiting with outsiders. After much trouble, Teresa founded the convent of St. Joseph where the nuns could live according to the stricter, primitive rule of Carmel in a small community. Eventually, with great difficulty she made many new foundations and with the help of St. John of the Cross she reformed the male branch of the Carmelites as well. She died at Alba de Tormes on October 4, 1582; because the calendar was in the process of being changed, the next day was counted as October 15. Teresa of Avila was canonized in 1622 and officially made a Doctor of the Church in 1970, an honor which been accorded to her for centuries in the minds of the faithful. Her feast is October 15.