Saint Teresa of Avila

Early Life

• Birth: Born in Avila, Spain in 1515.
• Childhood Interests:
  • Obsessed with martyrs and saints.
  • Convinced her brother to join her in becoming a martyr.
  • Attempted to go to the Moors to be martyred but was stopped by her uncle.
• Mother's Death:
  • At age 14, her mother passed away.
  • Turned to the Virgin Mary as a spiritual mother.
• Reading Interests:
  • Interested in reading fiction.
  • Father worried it was making her vain, sent her to Augustinian nuns in Avila.

Religious Development

• Monastery Life:
  • Became extremely ill, experienced religious ecstasy during devotionals.
  • Practiced self-mortification, experienced first vision of Jesus.
  • Continued to have visions for two years.

Achievements and Contributions

• Converting and Founding:
  • Driven to convert Spanish Jews to Christianity.
  • Founded convents.
  • Spent five years in prayerful seclusion.
• Discalced Carmelites:
  • Founded a religious order known as the Discalced Carmelites.

Later Life and Death

• Approach to Death:
  • Expressed happiness as she neared the end of her life.
  • Famous quote expressing readiness to meet the Lord.
• Beatification and Canonization:
  • Beatified on April 24, 1614.
  • Canonized on March 12, 1622.
• Posthumous Exhumations:
  • Body exhumed several times, remained sweet-smelling, firm, and unspoiled.
  • Relics displayed at holy sites worldwide.

Legacy

• Patron Saint:
  • Patron saint of the religious and the sick.
• Feast Day:
  • Celebrated on October 15th.