About St. Teresa of Avila

As I have been reading lists of female saints, I keep coming back to St. Teresa of Avila. There are so many amazing woman we could discuss – and we will in the coming weeks – but I am drawn to St. Teresa this week. But it looks like I’m about 2 weeks late this time since her feast day just passed. I should have studied her that week. Oh well, better late than never, right?

It seems that St. Teresa of Avila is popular for her writings about prayer and living a simple life. She seems to be an example for a contemplative life.

Born in March of 1515, to Jewish merchants who converted to Christianity, she lived during the time of the Inquisition and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. “Out of all this change came Teresa pointing the way from outer turmoil to inner peace.” (cited here, para 1)

Growing Up

At a young age, Teresa found herself in the middle of a slight deception between her parents. Her super strict and pious father did not approve of her mother’s romance novels, so she hid them from him. Teresa was torn between her father’s strict policy of honesty and her mother’s instructions not to tell him about her novels. She always worried she would end up in trouble either way!

When she was 7 years old, she described feeling jealous of the martyrs who got to see God’s face directly. Reportedly, she convinced her older brother to go with her to the Moors and beg them, out of love of God, to cut off their heads. They were thankfully intercepted by a relative who took them back home. Some consider this an early sign of her piety and devotion to God. Others think it was just another example of her ability to stir up trouble.

Until now, I haven’t thought much about what teenagers were like in the 16th century, but it sounds like Teresa was very much like typical teenagers today. She “cared only about boys, clothes, flirting, and rebelling.” (cited here, para 4) This was troublesome enough to her father that he sent her away to a convent at age 16. She hated it there at first, but later began to love it “partly because of her growing love for God, and partly because the convent was a lot less strict than her father.” (same source, para 4)

Convent Life

It was a difficult decision for Teresa to become a nun. She wasn’t as sure about it as some of the other saints we have studied in recent weeks. Part of her ultimate decision was because in self-evaluation she admitted she was too prone to sin. As such, the religious life might be her best chance to stay on track.

Early in her religious life, she learned to practice mental prayer. According to St. Teresa, she “tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ present within me….My imagination is so dull that I had no talent for imagining or coming up with great theological thoughts.” (found here, para 6)

Her success in the early stages was difficult. She was distracted by the corruption that seemed to have overtaken the convent. There were women who came to the convent simply because they had no place else to go, not because of any particular devotion. Financial status had become overly influential around the order, and there were frequently parties hosted there with young men. “What spiritual life there was involved hysteria, weeping, exaggerated penance, nosebleeds, and self- induced visions.” (found here, para 7)

Teresa was overly charming, which seemed to get her into trouble. She became too interested in being liked at times, often engaged in gossip, and was more interested in flattery and vanity than she should have been. These aren’t the worst sins anyone ever committed, but they did prevent her from being as close to God as she could have been at that time.

Physical and Spiritual Difficulty

Teresa contracted malaria and was very ill for some time. In fact, at one point she had a seizure so severe that people thought she was dead. She woke up 4 days later to find out that a grave was already dug for her! She experienced paralysis for three years and was never really healthy after that.

In many of the stories of the lives of the saints that we have heard recently, such illness brought them closer to God and solidified their faith. This was not so true for St. Teresa of Avila. In fact, she used her illness as an excuse to stop her habit of prayer completely. She claimed several reasons that she didn’t pray anymore, like she wasn’t alone enough or healthy enough to pray. In a later revelation, Teresa said, “Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.” (para 9)

She was 41 years old when a priest convinced her to resume her habit of prayer, but it was difficult for her.

“I was more anxious for the hour of prayer to be over than I was to remain there. I don’t know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer… This intellect is so wild that it doesn’t seem to be anything else than a frantic madman no one can tie down… All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles… For 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. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.” (also found here, para 11 and 12)

Life of a Mystic

I have to be honest. This part of the biography of any saint is difficult for me. Similar to several saints we have discussed recently, all the stories of St. Teresa of Avila discuss various details of mystical interactions with God the Father and with God the Son. Evidently she received direct communication and signs, but in her case, they were troublesome to her.

In all of these cases, it is difficult for me to wrap my brain around these stories or to relate to them. I can’t imagine having such a direct conversation with the Lord. Don’t get me wrong. There have been several times in my life that I have wished God would just tell me, out loud, what I should do. Wouldn’t that be convenient? But I never considered the possibility that He would actually do so. That always felt like something that happened a lot in Old Testament times but not so much anymore. I just have a hard time picturing it.

Meanwhile, in the case of St. Teresa of Avila, it sounds like she had a hard time, too. She was embarrassed by these events, largely because so many people didn’t believe her and criticized her. Many people said she was delusional or believed the visions came from the devil. Eventually Teresa became confident that the visions were from God because they gave her peace, inspiration, and encouragement, which would not be the expected outcomes from an evil source.

I particularly enjoyed this description of Teresa’s relationship with Jesus: “Sometimes, however, she couldn’t avoid complaining to her closest Friend about the hostility and gossip that surrounded her. When Jesus told her, “Teresa, that’s how I treat my friends” Teresa responded, “No wonder you have so few friends.” But since Christ has so few friends, she felt they should be good ones. And that’s why she decided to reform her Carmelite order.” (found here, para 19)

Founding New Convents

Teresa desperately wanted to reform the religious life, getting back to the Primitive Rule of St. Joseph, a truly contemplative life of poverty living in prayer. You might assume that the leaders of any religious order would be pleased at this kind of commitment, but that was not the case. Teresa faced opposition from all sides, including criticism from the pulpit and other sisters and religious people, and legal proceedings in her town. She was also threatened with the Inquisition! But she didn’t let any of that dampen her spirits. She was able to rely on her trust in God and keep moving forward.

Thankfully, she did eventually found her convent, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Rule of St. Joseph at Avila on August 24, 1562. According to the Catholic News Agency website, discalced means barefoot, symbolizing the simplicity to which they chose to return the order after a period of corruption. I love this description of her convent from www.catholic.org: 

“‘May God protect me from gloomy saints,’ Teresa said, and that’s how she ran her convent. To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love, not a rule. Although she proclaimed poverty, she believed in work, not in begging. She believed in obedience to God more than penance. If you do something wrong, don’t punish yourself — change. When someone felt depressed, her advice was that she go some place where she could see the sky and take a walk. When someone was shocked that she was going to eat well, she answered, ‘There’s a time for partridge and a time for penance.’” (para 22)

Sainthood

Pope Paul V beatified St. Teresa of Avila April 24, 1614. Pope Gregory XV canonized her March 12, 1622. In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church. She is officially the patron saint of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers. We will certainly want to spend more time this week exploring her lessons about prayer and living a simple life. I hope you will join us!