ST. TERESA of AVILA,
VIRGIN and DOCTOR
Feast: October 15
St. Teresa (1515-1582) was born in Avila and died in Alba, Spain. When only a
child of seven, she ran away from home in the hope of being martyred by the
Moors; in this way, she said she could come to see God. At the age of eighteen
she joined the Carmelite Order and chose Christ as her heavenly Spouse. With the
help of St. John of the Cross she reformed most of the Carmelite convents and
founded new ones. She reached the highest degree of prayer and through prayer
obtained such knowledge of divine things that in 1970 Pope Paul VI named her the
first woman Doctor of the Church.
St. Teresa
of Jesus
St. Teresa of Jesus, honored by the Church as the "seraphic virgin," virgo
seraphica, and reformer of the Carmelite Order, ranks first among women for
wisdom and learning. She is called doctrix mystica, doctor of mystical
theology; in a report to Pope Paul V the Roman Rota declared: "Teresa has been
given to the Church by God as a teacher of the spiritual life. The mysteries of
the inner mystical life which the holy Fathers propounded unsystematically and
without orderly sequence, she has presented with unparalleled clarity." Her
writings are still the classic works on mysticism, and from her all later
teachers have drawn, e.g., Francis de Sales, Alphonsus Liguori. Characteristic
of her mysticism is the subjective-individualistic approach; there is little
integration with the liturgy and social piety, and thus she reflects the spirit
of the sixteenth and following centuries.
Teresa was
born at Avila, Spain, in the year 1515. At the age of seven she set out for
Africa to die for Christ, but was brought back by her uncle. When she lost her
mother at twelve, she implored Mary for her maternal protection. In 1533 she
entered the Carmelite Order; for eighteen years she suffered physical pain and
spiritual dryness. Under divine inspiration and with the approval of Pope Pius
IV, she began the work of reforming the Carmelite Order. In spite of heavy
opposition and constant difficulties, she founded thirty-two reformed convents.
Truly
wonderful were the exterior and interior manifestations of her mystical union
with God, especially during the last decade of her life. These graces reached a
climax when her heart was transfixed (transverberatio cordis), an event
that is commemorated in the Carmelite Order by a special feast on August 27. She
practiced great devotion to the foster-father of Jesus, whose cult was greatly
furthered throughout the Church through her efforts. When dying she often
repeated the words: "Lord, I am a daughter of the Church!" Her holy body rests
upon the high altar of the Carmelite church in Alba, Spain; her heart with its
mysterious wound is reserved in a precious reliquary on the Epistle side of the
altar.
St. Teresa
composed the following well-known lines:
Let nothing
affright thee,
Nothing dismay thee.
All is passing,
God ever remains.
Patience obtains all.
Whoever possesses God
Cannot lack anything
God alone suffices.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
Patron:
sickness; against headaches; against heart disease; lacemakers; loss of parents;
opposition of Church authorities; those in need of grace; religious; those
ridiculed for their piety; Spain; those named Teresa, Theresa, Teresita, Terry,
Tessa, Teresina, and Tracy.
Symbols:
nun in habit of a Discalced Carmelite; Carmelite nun with her heart pierced by
an arrow held by an angel; Carmelite nun holding a pierced heart, book and
crucifix; Carmelite nun with book and quill; Carmelite nun receiving a message
from a dove; roses and lilies; inflamed heart; IHS on a heart; flaming arrows;
dove; book and pen; crown of thorns; heart transfixed with flaming arrows;
scapulary; crucifix and lily.
Read More....Biography
Read More....The Life of Teresa of Jesus
