Teresa
or THERESA, ST., one of the most remarkable of the women saints of the modern Roman calendar; born in Avila, Old Castile, Spain, March 28, 1515, of the noble house of Cepeda. Even as a child she was remarkable for piety of a most enthusiastic kind; and, educated in a convent in her native city, she entered a convent of the Carmelite order there in 1534. In this convent she continued to reside for nearly 30 years, but it was not till about the year 1539 that her constitution became strong enough to permit her to follow, even in an imperfect way, the observances of conventual life. After a time her religious exercises reached a most extraordinary degree of asceticism.
Her prayers were almost continual, and she was reported to be favored with visions, ecstasies, and other supernatural visitations. The fame of her sanctity spread not only throughout Spain, but into almost every part of the Church.
The most notable and permanent fruit of the enthusiastic spirituality of Teresa is the reform of the Carmelite order, of which she became the instrument. After a time she obtained permission from the Holy See to remove with her little community to a humble house in Avila, where she reestablished in its full rigor the ancient Carmelite rule, as approved by Innocent IV. in 1247, with some additional observances introduced by herself. TERHUNE This new convent of St. Joseph's was established in 1562, in which year she assumed the name of Teresa de Jesus; and in 1565 she obtained from the Pope, Pius IV., a formal approval for the rule as modified by her. In 1567 the general of the Carmelite order, F. Rubeo, was so struck, during his visitation of the convents at Avila, with the condition of that over which Teresa presided that he urged on her the duty of extending throughout the order the reforms thus successfully initiated. Teresa entered on the work with great energy, and though she met with much opposition, nevertheless succeeded in carrying out her reforms. In 1579 the Carmelites of the stricter observance established by Teresa were released from the jurisdiction of the old superiors, and united into a distinct association, with a separate head and a distinct organization which was approved in 1580 by Pope Gregory XIII. Under this new constitution the association flourished and extended; and within her own lifetime no fewer than 17 convents of women and 16 of men accepted the reforms which she had originated . Teresa died at Alba, Oct. 4, 1582, and was canonized by Gregory XV. in 1622, her feast being fixed on Oct. 15. She left a number of works, which have at all times maintained a high reputation among a large section of her own Church; their merits are also acknowledged by non- Catholic writers. The best -known treatises are her autobiography, "The Way of Perfection," "The Book of the Foundations," and "The Interior Castle." Her works in the original Spanish fill two folio volumes (Salamanca, 1587). Biographies have been written in Spanish, French, Italian, German and English.