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Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumada was born in Avila, Spain.
She was born from Don Alfonso Sanchez and his second wife Beatriz.
Her father was a wealthy mearchant. -
Martin Luther started the protestant reformation while Teresa was 2 years of age.
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Teresa was a religious child and she was said to be charming. Teresa and her brother Rodrigo always studied the lives of saints.
At the age of seven, they escaped from home in order to show their faith toward God and to be beheaded in a place called Moorish territory however their uncle caught them on their way and returned them home. -
Beatriz, Teresa's mother gave birth to ten children however she died in childbirth when Teresa was 13, leaving Teresa upset and worried. She was very close to her Mother, who provided a warm support when it came to the strictness of her father.Teresa’s parents inspired her to engage in a religious life since they were both Catholics. When Teresa was young, she showed signs of a deeply religious nature for example; sometimes she would go into silence for prayer and she enjoyed helping the poor.
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At the age of 16, Alonso de Cepeda sent her to the Augustinian Convent of St. Mary of Grace at Avila to be educated. This inspired her to become interested in following a spiritual life and convinced her to determine thoughts about becoming a nun of the Carmelite Order. She was also inspired to write.
While studying at the convent, Teresa regained her past faithfulness and began considering the possibility of becoming a nun. -
Teresa decided to enter a religious life especially after reading the letters of St. Jerome.
Her father accepted this therefore she finalised her decision and entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation.
In this atmosphere, she struggled to make time for quite relfection even though she still taught people on the virtues and qualities of mental prayer. -
At the time, she promised to follow the perfect course but the Incarnation monastery was not used to that lifestyle. The convent accepted many people into the order therefore the convent became overcrowded, there were too many distractions such as nuns keeping servants, wearing jewelry and perfume and entertaining gentlemen guests from the village. Teresa believed the nuns in the convent were too wealthy, treated others unfairly and lacked spirituality.
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At the age of 20, Teresa and her brother Rodrigo ran away from home again to follow a religious occupation.
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After many years of offering up her life to God she graduated and officially became a Carmelite nun.
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She fell ill with malaria and fell into a coma and everyone thought she was dead. She revived after four days however she was paralyzed in some way but not completely.
She thought that this incident was an exuse for her to stop praying. -
She returned to the convent where she remained ill for three years but then she experienced a vision of the deeply wounded Christ that changed her life forever.
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Shortly after she recovered, she nursed her father until his death in 1543.
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A that time, when she was 39, Teresa spent more time helping and meeting with lay people and only a small amount of time in mental prayer. She then began having visions and hearing voices inside her head therefore she realised that she became too dependent on people and that she needed to build up a closer relationship with God.
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After she began experiencing visions, the spiritual experiences were looked on with disbelief by many people in the Church and some people thought her visions came from the devil but others believed they were a gift from God and encouraged her to be open to them. However, to Teresa, the visions were embarrassing and humiliating because others misunderstood them. Teresa tried to ignore the experiences and tried to keep them secret, but her resistance was in ineffective.
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Teresa experienced pain in the heart. She said an angel appeared on her left side. His face was on fire. “He had in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's 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 evidence of that vision was that after her death, her heart was found to bear a scar.
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St Peter of Alcantara became Teresa's spiritual guide and counselor.
He convinced her to work hard in the reformation of the Catholic Church. She began reforming the Catholic church by bringing as many people to the community and closer to God. For instance, at that time, she worked so many years encouraging Spanish Jewish convert to follow Christianity. -
The book was written while she knelt on the floor at a window shelf as shown in the picture. This book described her early life and spiritual experiences. She later added chapters dealing with prayer.
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She wrote 'Way of perfection' which is a book used to guide her nuns in their religious life and to instruct them in prayer.
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Reform convents were established by Teresa in Pastrana, Salamanca, Alba de Tormes, Medina del Campo, Malagon, Valladolid and Alba de Tormes.
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Teresa was given permission to set up two houses for men who wished to approve the reforms so she convinced Anthony of Jesus and John of the Cross to help with this. They together established the first convent of Discalced Carmelite Brethren.
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Despite her declining health, Teresa continued traveling and founding new convents. In total, she founded 17 convents.
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St Teresa established the Discalced Carmelites, an order dedicated to silent prayer, poverty and strictness.
With help from St. John of the Cross, she improved the spiritual condition of the community. -
Teresa wrote 'The Foundations' which is a book that encourages her nuns and offers and provides prayers and prayer instructions for them.
Click me;This is one of the most important prayer in the book.
It also offers questions at the end of many sections in the book to punctual meditation and prayer over the hardships. -
Many persecutions, harassments and questions began to rise against Teresa, her friends, and her reforms. The leaders of the order of Piacenza forbade all further establishments of convents.
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She wrote the 'Interior Castle' which is known as her greatest book. It explains the development of mental prayer and is known as a source of Teresa's most mature spiritual reflection and thought. In other words, this involved describing the various stages of spiritual evolution leading to full prayer. If you have any interest, check this out!! It is the book being read by someone
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Finally, after numerous years of her hard work and after her persuasive letters that were sent to King Philip II of Spain about the disagreements on establishing new convents, the inquisition against her and others were dropped, which allowed the reform to continue.
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Teresa died at the age of 67 in Alba which is in Spain.
She had a fever that remained throughout her entire life such as fainting and damaged bones. As well as, she had problems with her lungs and kidney however the severe pain became stronger in the last few years of her life therefore the cause of her death was caused by internal bleeding and various diseases spread through her body. -
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The Spanish parliament announced her as the Patroness of Spain
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Four decades after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV.
