Editing Teresa of Ávila (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===
Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada was born on 28 March 1515.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/310/31045568058.pdf|page=1063; 1065|year=2015|last=Thous Tuset|first=Carmen|title=Santa Teresa de Jesús, su guion de vida|journal=Opción|volume=31|issue=2|publisher=[[Universidad del Zulia]]|location=Maracaibo}}</ref> Her birthplace was either [[Ávila]] or [[Gotarrendura]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/6937/693773296006.pdf|last=Carravilla Parra|issn=2660-6070|first=Jesús|title=La experiencia de Dios y el realismo de Teresa de Jesús|journal=Cuadernos de Pensamiento|issue=28|year=2015|page=114}}</ref> Her paternal grandfather, Juan Sánchez de Toledo, was a {{lang|es|[[marrano]]}} or {{lang|es|[[converso]]}}, a Jew forced to convert to Christianity or emigrate. When Teresa's father was a child, Juan was condemned by the [[Spanish Inquisition]] for allegedly returning to [[Judaism]], but he was later able to assume a Catholic identity.{{sfn|Foa|2015}} Her father, [[:es:Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda|Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda]], was a successful wool merchant and one of the wealthiest men in Ávila. He bought a [[knighthood]] and assimilated successfully into Christian society.
[[File:Arnold van Westerhout - Teresa of Ávila leaves her home to travel to Africa.jpeg|thumb|left|''Young Teresa of Ávila and brother run away from home to travel to Africa'' by [[Arnold van Westerhout]]]]
Previously married to Catalina del Peso y Henao, with whom he had three children, in 1509, Sánchez de Cepeda married Teresa's mother, Beatriz de Ahumada y Cuevas, in Gotarrendura.{{sfn|Clissold|1982|p=}} A brother, Lorenzo de Cepeda y Ahumada, was the father of [[Teresa de Ahumada]].<ref name="Petroglifos2023">{{cite web |last1=Jimenez |first1=Richard |title=Teresa de Cepeda y Fuentes, primera poeta ecuatoriana |url=https://petroglifosrevistacritica.org.ve/blog/teresa-de-cepeda-y-fuentes-primera-poeta-ecuatoriana/ |website=Petroglifos Revista Crítica Transdisciplinaria |access-date=30 September 2024 |language=es |date=5 June 2023}}</ref>

Teresa's mother brought her up as a dedicated Christian. Fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, she ran away from home at age seven, with her brother Rodrigo, to seek [[martyrdom]] in the fight against [[the Moors]]. Her uncle brought them home, when he spotted them just outside the town walls.{{sfn|Medwick|1999|loc=Expeditions}}

When Teresa was fourteen years old, her mother died, leaving her grief-stricken. This prompted her to embrace a deeper devotion to the [[Virgin Mary]] as her spiritual mother. Teresa was also enamored of popular fiction, which at the time consisted primarily of medieval tales of [[knighthood]] and works about fashion, gardens and flowers.{{sfn|Teresa of Avila|Lewis|1870|p=}}<ref group=web name=CNA /> Teresa was sent to the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] nuns' school in Ávila.{{sfnp|Zimmerman|1912}}

===Religious life===

====Ascetic and mystical practice====
After completing her education, she initially resisted the idea of a religious vocation, but after a stay with her uncle and other relatives, she relented. In 1534, aged 20,{{sfn|Pirlo|1997|p=241}} much to the disappointment of her pious and austere father, she decided to enter the local easy-going Carmelite ''Convent of the Incarnation'', significantly built on top of land that had been used previously as a burial ground for Jews. She took up religious reading on contemplative prayer, especially [[Francisco de Osuna|Osuna]]'s ''Abecedario espiritual'' ("Third Spiritual Alphabet," 1527), a guide on [[examination of conscience]] and "spiritual self-concentration and inner contemplation, known in mystical nomenclature as {{lang|la|oratio recollectionis}}".{{sfnp|Herzog|Schaff|Hauck|1908|p=412}} She also dipped into other mystical [[ascetic]]al works such as the {{lang|la|Tractatus de oratione et meditatione}} of [[Peter of Alcantara]].{{sfnp|Herzog|Schaff|Hauck|1908|p=412}}

Her zeal for mortification caused her to become ill again and she spent almost a year in bed, causing huge worry to her community and family. She nearly died but she recovered, attributing her recovery to the miraculous intercession of Saint Joseph. She began to experience bouts of [[religious ecstasy]].{{sfn|Clissold|1982|p=}} She reported that, during her illness, she had progressed from the lowest stage of "recollection", to the "devotions of silence" and even to the "devotions of ecstasy", in which was one of perceived in "perfect union with God" (see {{slink||Mysticism}}). She said she frequently experienced the rich "blessing of tears" during this final stage. As the Catholic distinction between [[mortal sin|mortal]] and [[venial sin]] became clear to her, she came to understand the awful horror of sin and the inherent nature of [[original sin]]. 

Around the same time, she received a copy of the full Spanish translation of [[Augustine of Hippo]]'s autobiographical work ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]'', which helped her resolve and to tend to her own bouts of religious [[Scrupulosity|scruples]]. The text helped her realize that holiness was indeed possible and she found solace in the idea that such a great saint was once an inveterate sinner. In her autobiography, she wrote that she "was very fond of St. Augustine{{nbsp}}[...] for he was a sinner too".{{sfn|Teresa of Avila|Zimmerman|1997|p=}}

====''Transverberation''====
Around 1556, friends suggested that her newfound knowledge could be of diabolical rather than divine origin. She had begun to inflict [[mortification of the flesh|mortifications of the flesh]] upon herself. But her [[confession (sacrament)|confessor]], the [[Jesuit]] [[Francis Borgia]], reassured her of the divine inspiration of her thoughts. On [[St. Peter's Day]] in 1559, Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ had presented himself to her in bodily form, though invisible. These visions lasted almost uninterruptedly for more than two years. In another vision, the famous ''transverberation'', a [[seraph]] drove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing her an ineffable spiritual and bodily pain:
{{blockquote|I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it&nbsp;...{{efn|name=cherub}}}}

The account of this vision was the inspiration for one of [[Bernini]]'s most famous works, the ''[[Ecstasy of Saint Teresa]]'' at [[Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome|Santa Maria della Vittoria]] in Rome. Although based in part on Teresa's description of her mystical [[Transverberation of Saint Teresa|transverberation]] in her autobiography, Bernini's depiction of the event is considered by some to be highly eroticized, especially when compared to the entire preceding artistic Teresian tradition.{{efn|For the creation of the work and an analysis of its transgression of religious decorum, see Franco Mormando's article, "Did Bernini's 'Ecstasy of St. Teresa' Cross a 17th-century Line of Decorum?," ''Word and Image,'' 39:4, 2023: 351–83 {{doi|10.1080/02666286.2023.2180931}}.}}

The memory of this episode served as an inspiration throughout the rest of her life, and motivated her lifelong imitation of the life and suffering of Jesus, epitomized in the adage often associated with her: "Lord, either let me suffer or let me die."<ref name=":0">The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila.</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2023}}

Teresa, who became a celebrity in her town dispensing wisdom from behind the convent grille, was known for her raptures, which sometimes involved [[Levitation (physics)|levitation]]. It was a source of embarrassment to her and she bade her sisters hold her down when this occurred. Subsequently, historians, neurologists and psychiatrists like [[Peter Fenwick (neuropsychologist)|Peter Fenwick]] and Javier Álvarez-Rodríguez, among others, have taken an interest in her symptomatology. The fact that she wrote down virtually everything that happened to her during her religious life means that an invaluable and exceedingly rare medical record from the 16th century has been preserved. Examination of this record has led to the speculative conclusion that she may have suffered from [[temporal lobe epilepsy]].{{sfn|Barton|1982|pp=}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2007|p=}}

====Monastic reformer====
Over time, Teresa found herself increasingly at odds with the spiritual malaise prevailing in her convent of the Incarnation. Among the 150 nuns living there, the observance of [[cloister]], designed to protect and strengthen spiritual practice and prayer, became so lax that it appeared to lose its purpose. The daily invasion of visitors, many of high social and political rank, disturbed the atmosphere with frivolous concerns and vacuous conversation. Such intrusions in the solitude essential to develop and sustain contemplative prayer so grieved Teresa that she longed to intervene.<ref group=web name=ocd.pcn.net />

The incentive to take the practical steps inspired by her inward motivation was supported by the [[Franciscan]] priest, [[Peter of Alcantara]], who met her early in 1560 and became her [[Spiritual direction|spiritual adviser]]. She resolved to found a "reformed" Carmelite convent, correcting the laxity which she had found at the Incarnation convent and elsewhere besides. Doña Guiomar of Ulloa, a friend, was granted permission for the project.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Teresa |first=of Avila |url=http://archive.org/details/letterst01tere |title=Letters |date=1919 |publisher=London : Baker |others=Robarts - University of Toronto |pages=1–2}}</ref>

The abject poverty of the new convent, established in 1562 and named [[Convento de San José (Ávila)|St. Joseph's (San José)]], at first caused a scandal among the citizens and authorities of Ávila, and the small house with its chapel was in peril of suppression. However, powerful patrons, including the local bishop, coupled with the impression of well ordered subsistence and purpose, turned animosity into approval.<ref name=":1" />

In March 1563, after Teresa had moved to the new convent house, she received [[Papal decree|papal sanction]] for her primary principles of absolute poverty and renunciation of ownership of property, which she proceeded to formulate into a "constitution". Her plan was the revival of the earlier, stricter monastic rules, supplemented by new regulations including the three disciplines of ceremonial [[flagellation]] prescribed for the [[Liturgy of the Hours|Divine Office]] every week, and the [[discalceation]] of the religious. For the first five years, Teresa remained in seclusion, mostly engaged in prayer and writing.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

[[File:TeresaAvila.jpg|left|thumb|Church window at the [[Iglesia-convento de Santa Teresa|Convent of St Teresa]]]]

====Extended travels====
In 1567, Teresa received a [[letters patent|patent]] from the Carmelite General, Rubeo de Ravenna, to establish further houses of the new [[Religious order (Catholic)|order]]. This process required many visitations and long journeys across nearly all the provinces of Spain. She left a record of the arduous project in her ''Libro de las Fundaciones''. Between 1567 and 1571, reformed convents were established at [[Medina del Campo]], [[Malagón]], [[Valladolid]], [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], [[Pastrana, Spain|Pastrana]], [[Salamanca]], and [[Alba de Tormes]].

As part of the original patent, Teresa was given permission to set up two houses for [[Friar|men]] who wished to adopt the reforms. She convinced two Carmelite friars, [[John of the Cross]] and Anthony of Jesus to help with this. They founded the first monastery of Discalced Carmelite brothers in November 1568 at [[Duruelo]]. Another friend of Teresa, [[Jerónimo Gracián]], the [[Carmelite visitator]] of the older observance of [[Andalusia]] and apostolic commissioner, and later [[Provincial superior|provincial]] of the Teresian order, gave her powerful support in founding monasteries at [[Segovia]] (1571), [[Beas de Segura]] (1574), [[Seville]] (1575), and [[Caravaca de la Cruz]] ([[Murcia]], 1576). Meanwhile, John of the Cross promoted the inner life of the movement through his power as a teacher and preacher.{{sfn|Kavanaugh|Rodgriguez|1991|pp=9–27}}

====Opposition to reforms====
In 1576, unreformed members of the Carmelite order began to persecute Teresa, her supporters and her reforms. Following a number of resolutions adopted at the [[general chapter]] at [[Piacenza]], the governing body of the order forbade all further founding of reformed convents. The general chapter instructed her to go into "voluntary" retirement at one of her institutions.{{sfn|Kavanaugh|Rodgriguez|1991|pp=9–27}} She obeyed and chose St. Joseph's at Toledo. Meanwhile, her friends and associates were subjected to further attacks.{{sfn|Kavanaugh|Rodgriguez|1991|pp=9–27}}

Several years later, her appeals by letter to King [[Philip II of Spain]] secured relief. As a result, in 1579, the cases before the [[inquisition]] against her, Gracián and others, were dropped.{{sfn|Kavanaugh|Rodgriguez|1991|pp=9–27}} This allowed the reform to resume. An edict from [[Pope Gregory XIII]] allowed the appointment of a special provincial for the newer branch of the Carmelite religious, and a royal decree created a "protective" board of four assessors for the reform.{{sfn|Kavanaugh|Rodgriguez|1991|pp=9–27}}

During the last three years of her life, Teresa founded convents at [[Villanueva de la Jara]] in northern [[Andalusia]] (1580), [[Palencia]] (1580), [[Soria]] (1581), [[Burgos]], and [[Granada]] (1582). In total, seventeen convents, all but one founded by her, and as many men's monasteries, were owed to her reforms over twenty years.{{sfn|Salamony|2017|p=}}

===Last days===
Her final illness overtook her on one of her journeys from Burgos to Alba de Tormes. She died in 1582, just as [[Catholic Europe]] was making the switch from the [[Julian calendar|Julian]] to the [[Gregorian calendar]], which required the excision of the dates of 5–14 October from the calendar. She died either before midnight of 4 October or early in the morning of 15 October, which is celebrated as her feast day. According to the liturgical calendar then in use, she died on the 15th. Her last words were: "My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another."{{sfn|Counsell|2011|p=207}}[[File:Avila SaintTheresa1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ávila, Spain|Avila]], Saint Theresa's statue|279x279px]]

===After death===

====Holy relics====
{{more citations needed section|date=October 2020}}
She was buried at the Convento de la Anunciación in [[Alba de Tormes]]. Nine months after her death the coffin was opened and her body was found to be [[Incorruptibility|intact]] but the clothing had rotted. Before the body was re-interred one of her hands was cut off, wrapped in a scarf and sent to Ávila. Gracián cut the little finger off the hand and – according to his own account – kept it with him until he was captured by [[Barbary corsairs]] when sailing from [[Messina]] to Rome, from whom he had to redeem it with a few rings and 20 reales.<ref name="Pérez">{{cite book |last1=Pérez |first1=Joseph |title=Teresa de Ávila: Y la España de su tiempo |date=2007 |publisher=EDAF |isbn=978-84-96107-80-9 |page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PM_SRnwSaMC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA142#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=13 May 2025 |language=es}}</ref> The body was exhumed again on 25 November 1585 to be moved to Ávila and found to be incorrupt. An arm was removed and left in Alba de Tormes at the nuns' request, to compensate for losing the main relic of Teresa, but the rest of the body was reburied in the Discalced Carmelite chapter house in Ávila. The removal was done without the approval of the Duke of Alba de Tormes and he brought the body back in 1586, with [[Pope Sixtus V]] ordering that it remain in Alba de Tormes on pain of excommunication. A grander tomb on the original site was raised in 1598 and the body was moved to a new chapel in 1616.

The body still remains there, except for the following parts:
* Rome – right foot and part of the upper jaw
* [[Lisbon]] – hand
* [[Ronda]], Spain – left eye and left hand (the latter was kept by [[Francisco Franco]] until his death, after Francoist troops captured it from Republican troops during the [[Spanish Civil War]])
* Museum of the Church of the Annunciation, Alba de Tormes – left arm and heart
* [[Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, Paris|Church of Our Lady of Loreto]], [[Paris]], France – one finger
* [[Sanlúcar de Barrameda]] – one finger

[[File:Ecstasy of Saint Teresa September 2015-2a.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Ecstasy of Saint Teresa]]'' by [[Bernini]], Basilica of [[Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome]]|alt=|left|353x353px]]

On August 28, 2024, it was made the canonical recognition of Teresa's body. The postulator general of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Father Marco Chiesa, announced that those present at the scene were able to see that "it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914."<ref>{{cite web|publisher=National Catholic Register|date=August 30, 2024|title=Carmelites find St. Teresa of Ávila's body still incorrupt after opening coffin for study of relics|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/religious-life/carmelites-find-st-teresa-vilas-body-still-incorrupt-after-opening-coffin-study}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258989/st-teresa-of-avila-s-body-remains-incorrupt-after-almost-5-centuries|title=St. Teresa of Ávila's body remains incorrupt after almost 5 centuries|date=August 29, 2024|publisher=Catholic News Agency|author=[[Walter Sánchez Silva]]}}</ref>
When the body was publicly exposed in May 2025, memes on social media questioned the incorrupted state of the corpse.<ref name="Rastreador">{{cite news |last1=El Rastreador |title=Críticas y memes en redes sociales por la exhibición del cuerpo "incorrupto" de santa Teresa |url=https://www.eldiario.es/rastreador/criticas-memes-exhibicion-cuerpo-incorrupto-santa-teresa-llegan-redes-sociales_132_12291858.html |access-date=13 May 2025 |work=ElDiario.es |date=12 May 2025 |language=es}}</ref>

====Canonization====
[[File:Palau de Mafra - Estàtua - 1.jpg|thumb|Statue of Saint Teresa of Ávila in [[Mafra National Palace]], [[Mafra, Portugal|Mafra]]]]

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was [[canonized]] by [[Pope Gregory XV]]. The [[Cortes Generales|Cortes]] exalted her to [[patron saint|patroness]] of Spain in 1627. The [[University of Salamanca]] had granted her the title {{lang|la|Doctor ecclesiae}} ([[Latin]] for "Doctor of the Church") with a diploma in her lifetime,{{dubious|Salamanca diploma|date=April 2021}} but that title is distinct from the papal honour of [[Doctor of the Church]], which is always conferred posthumously. The latter was finally bestowed upon her by [[Pope Paul VI]] on 27 September 1970,{{sfn|Pope Paul VI|1970a}} along with [[Catherine of Siena]],{{sfn|Pope Paul VI|1970b}} making them the first women to be awarded the distinction. Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer. The mysticism in her works exerted a formative influence upon many theologians of the following centuries, such as [[Francis of Sales]], [[Fénelon]], and the [[Port-Royal-des-Champs|Port-Royalists]]. In 1670, her coffin was plated in silver.

Teresa of Avila is honored in the [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|Church of England]] and in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church]] on 15 October.<ref group=web>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref><ref name="lff2018" />

====Patron saint====
In 1626, at the request of [[Philip IV of Spain]], the [[Cortes of Castile and León|Castilian parliament]]{{efn|{{harvnb|Rowe|2011|p=47}} refers to the Castilian Cortes as the "Castilian parliament"}} elected Teresa "without lacking one vote" as copatron saint of Castile.{{sfn|Rowe|2011|p=77}} This status was affirmed by [[Pope Urban VIII]] in a brief issued on 21 July 1627 in which he stated:
{{blockquote|For these reasons [the king's and Cortes's elections] and for the great devotion which they have for Teresa, they elected her for patron and advocate of these kingdoms in the last Cortes of the aforementioned kingdoms&nbsp;... And because&nbsp;... the representatives in the Cortes desired it so greatly that their vote be firm and perpetual, we grant it our patronage and the approval of the [[Holy See|Holy Apostolic See]].|source={{harvnb|Rowe|2011|pp=77–78}}
}}

More broadly, the 1620s, the entirety of Spain (Castile and beyond) debated who should be the country's [[patron saint]]; the choices were either the current patron, [[Saint James Matamoros|James Matamoros]], or a pairing of him and the newly canonised Saint Teresa of Ávila. Teresa's promoters said Spain faced newer challenges, especially the threat of Protestantism and societal decline at home, thus needing a more contemporary patron who understood those issues and could guide the Spanish nation. Santiago's supporters (''Santiaguistas'') fought back and eventually won the argument, but Teresa of Ávila remained far more popular at the local level.{{sfn|Rowe|2011|p=}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}} [[James the Great]] kept the title of patron saint for the [[Spanish people]], and the most [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] under the title [[Immaculate Conception]] as the sole patroness for the entire [[Spanish Kingdom]].

====Legacy regarding the Infant Jesus of Prague====
[[File:SantaTeresa.jpg|upright|thumb|right|"It is love alone that gives worth to all things."]]

The Spanish nuns who established ''Carmel'' in France brought a devotion to the [[Infant Jesus]] with them, and it became widespread in France.{{sfn|Darricau|n.d.}}<ref group=web name=thereseoflisieux.org />

Though there are no written historical accounts establishing that Teresa of Ávila ever owned the famous [[Infant Jesus of Prague]] statue, according to tradition, such a statue is said to have been in her possession and Teresa is reputed to have given it to a noblewoman travelling to [[Prague]].{{sfn|Wong|n.d.}}<ref group=web name=pragjesu.info /><ref group=web name=devotionsandprayers /><ref group=web name=saints.sqpn.com /> The age of the statue dates to approximately the same time as Teresa. It has been thought that Teresa carried a portable statue of the [[Child Jesus]] wherever she went; the idea circulated by the early 1700s.{{sfn|Santini|1995|p=}}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}