“All of us who wear this holy Carmelite habit are called to prayer and contemplation. This is
what we were founded for. We are descended from those holy fathers of ours on Mount
Carmel, those who went in search of that treasure – the priceless pearl we are talking about
– in such solitude and with such contempt for the world” – St. Teresa of Jesus
Our Holy Mother St. Teresa of Jesus, OCD (1515-1582)
St. Teresa of Ávila (born March 28, 1515, Ávila, Spain—died October 4, 1582,
Alba de Tormes; canonized 1622; feast day October 15) was a Spanish nun, one
of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic Church, and an
author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform,
which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of
Carmelite life. St. Teresa was elevated to doctor of the church in 1970 by
Pope Paul VI, the first woman to be so honored.
Her mother died in 1529, and, despite her father’s opposition, Teresa entered,
probably in 1535, the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Ávila, Spain.
Within two years her health collapsed, and she was disabled for three years,
during which time she developed a love for mental prayer. After her recovery,
however, she stopped praying. She continued for 15 years in a state divided
between a worldly and a divine spirit, until, in 1555, she experienced a religious
awakening.
In 1558 Teresa began to consider the restoration of Carmelite life to its original
observance of austerity, which had relaxed in the 14th and 15th centuries. Her
reform required utter withdrawal so that the nuns could meditate on divine law
and, through a prayerful life of penance, exercise what she termed “our vocation
of reparation” for the sins of humankind. In 1562, with Pope Pius IV’s
authorization, she opened the first convent (St. Joseph’s) of the Carmelite
Reform. A storm of hostility came from municipal and religious personages,
especially because the convent existed without endowment, but she staunchly
insisted on poverty and subsistence only through public alms.
John Baptist Rossi, the Carmelite prior general from Rome, went to Ávila in
1567 and approved the reform, directing Teresa to found more convents and to
establish monasteries. In the same year, while at Medina del Campo, Spain, she
met a young Carmelite priest, Juan de Yepes (later St. John of the Cross, the
poet and mystic), who she realized could initiate the Carmelite Reform for men.
A year later Juan opened the first monastery of the Primitive Rule at Duruelo,
Spain.
Despite frail health and great difficulties, Teresa spent the rest of her life
establishing and nurturing 16 more convents throughout Spain. In 1575, while
she was at the Sevilla (Seville) convent, a jurisdictional dispute erupted between
the friars of the restored Primitive Rule, known as the Discalced (or “Unshod”)
Carmelites, and the observants of the Mitigated Rule, the Calced (or “Shod”)
Carmelites. Although she had foreseen the trouble and endeavored to prevent it,
her attempts failed. The Carmelite general, to whom she had been
misrepresented, ordered her to retire to a convent in Castile and to cease
founding additional convents; Juan was subsequently imprisoned at Toledo in
1577.
In 1579, largely through the efforts of King Philip II of Spain, who knew and
admired Teresa, a solution was effected whereby the Carmelites of the Primitive
Rule were given independent jurisdiction, confirmed in 1580 by a rescript of
Pope Gregory XIII. Teresa, broken in health, was then directed to resume the
reform. In journeys that covered hundreds of miles, she made exhausting
missions and was fatally stricken en route to Ávila from Burgos, Spain.
Teresa’s ascetic doctrine has been accepted as the classical exposition of the
contemplative life, and her spiritual writings are among the most widely read.
Her Life of the Mother Teresa of Jesus (1611) is autobiographical; the Book of
the Foundations (1610) describes the establishment of her convents. Her
recognized written masterpieces on the progress of the Christian soul toward
God through prayer and contemplation are The Way of Perfection (1583), The
Interior Castle (1588), Spiritual Relations, Exclamations of the Soul to
God (1588), and Conceptions on the Love of God. Of her poems, 31 are extant;
of her letters, 458 are extant.
“Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else
than an intimate sharing between friends; it
means taking time frequently to be alone
with Him who we know loves us.”
-St. Teresa of Jesus
