Teresa of Avila

(1515–82)

   Saint, Mystic, Devotional Writer and Monastic Reformer.

   Teresa was of part-Jewish descent and she was born in Avila, Spain. She entered a Carmelite monastery at the age of twenty, but another twenty years were to pass before she began to seek the life of perfection. She was subject to visions which included hearing words and being pierced with a mystical spear of divine love. In 1562 she founded the convent of St Joseph at Avila, in which a primitive and strict form of the Carmelite Rule was observed. She was guided by her spiritual advisor peter of alcántara and her most famous book, The Way of Perfection, was written for the guidance of her nuns. She also wrote an autobiography and the mystical classic The Interior Castle. Despite opposition from the Calced Carmelites, she founded several Discalced convents throughout Spain, aided by St John of the cross. The later part of her life was dedicated to placing the new foundations on a secure footing and many of her convents survive to this day. She is primarily remembered, however, for her vivid depictions of mystical prayer and as the ecstatic subject of a statue by Bernini.

   V. Lincoln, Teresa: A Woman: A Biography of Teresa of Avila (1984);

   R.T. Petersson, The Art of Ecstasy: Teresa, Bernini and Crashaw (1970);

   R. Williams, St Teresa of Avila (1992).