Christian Art | Saint Teresa of Avila
Saint Teresa of Avila, also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish mystic, writer, and reformer who lived in the 16th century. Born in Avila, Spain in 1515, Teresa was the daughter of a wealthy and prominent family. From an early age, she was deeply religious and felt a strong desire to dedicate her life to God.
Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices – A Prayer Of Saint Teresa
As a young woman, Teresa entered the Carmelite convent in Avila, but found the religious life there lacking in spiritual depth and discipline. She soon became convinced that there was a need for reform within the Carmelite order, and began to devote herself to this cause.
In 1562, with the approval of the papacy, Teresa founded the Discalced Carmelites, a new branch of the Carmelite order that emphasized simplicity, poverty, and contemplation. Despite opposition from many within the church, Teresa’s reform efforts were successful, and the Discalced Carmelites quickly gained popularity and influence throughout Spain.
Throughout her life, Teresa experienced a series of intense mystical experiences and visions, which she recorded in her writings. Her most famous work, The Interior Castle, describes the soul’s journey towards union with God, using the metaphor of a castle with seven mansions.
Teresa’s spirituality emphasized the importance of self-knowledge, humility, and detachment from worldly desires in order to progress on the spiritual journey. Her teachings have had a profound influence on Catholic spirituality and religious life, and she is recognized as one of the greatest mystics and spiritual writers in the Christian tradition.
Teresa died in 1582 at the age of 67, and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1622. She is celebrated as a saint and a Doctor of the Church, and her feast day is celebrated on October 15th.
Early Life And Religious Education
Saint Teresa of Avila was born in Avila, Spain in 1515. She was the third child of Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda and Beatriz de Ahumada, both of whom were from noble families. Her father was a successful textile merchant, and her mother was a homemaker who devoted herself to the care of her large family.
O my God, I love Thee. And I am certain that Thou lovest me. I love Thee for Thyself, and I love Thee in myself, and I love Thee in all things, and I will love Thee more and more until I love Thee perfectly. Grant that I may love Thee more and more in this life, and in the next life may I love Thee perfectly. Amen – A Prayer Of Saint Teresa
As a child, Saint Teresa was known for her intelligence, sensitivity, and love of reading. She was deeply religious from a young age and had a strong desire to please God. She was particularly drawn to the lives of the saints and would often spend hours reading about their lives and contemplating their examples.
At the age of seven, Saint Teresa was sent to a convent school run by Augustinian nuns. She was a dedicated student and excelled in her studies, but she was also deeply affected by the religious environment of the school. She was struck by the poverty and simplicity of the nuns’ way of life, and she began to develop a strong desire to live a similar life of religious devotion and service.
When Saint Teresa was 14, her mother died, and she was forced to return home to care for her younger siblings. It was during this time that she began to experience serious health problems, including fainting spells and seizures. These health problems would continue to plague her throughout her life and would often be interpreted by her as signs of her spiritual struggles.
Despite these setbacks, Saint Teresa remained committed to her religious faith and continued to seek out opportunities for spiritual growth and education. When she was 20, she entered the Carmelite order as a novice, hoping to deepen her spiritual life and devote herself more fully to God.
Spiritual Crisis And Conversion
Saint Teresa of Avila experienced a profound spiritual crisis that ultimately led her to turn to God more deeply. This crisis occurred in her early thirties when she was seriously ill and bedridden for several months. During this time, she was plagued by doubts about her faith and the existence of God. She also struggled with a sense of spiritual emptiness and felt that her prayers were ineffective.
I want to see God: I am impatient for death. To give myself wholly to God is my wish before I die. My soul, hear the call and hurry home to your Lord. Let nothing hinder you, not even the bright paradise. This I ask, this I desire, this I want, this I seek. Take me from myself and give me to God. Amen – A Love Poem by Saint Teresa
Saint Teresa’s illness and spiritual crisis had a significant impact on her spirituality and religious beliefs. Prior to this experience, she had been a devout Catholic and a member of the Carmelite Order, but her faith was not particularly fervent. However, her illness and doubts prompted her to seek a deeper relationship with God and to reexamine her beliefs.
Through prayer and meditation, Saint Teresa eventually had a profound spiritual experience that she described as a vision of Christ. This experience strengthened her faith and gave her a renewed sense of purpose. She began to experience a greater sense of closeness to God and became more deeply committed to her religious vocation.
Saint Teresa’s experiences during her illness and spiritual crisis also led her to develop a new approach to prayer and spirituality. She believed that the traditional practices of her time were inadequate for achieving true intimacy with God, and she developed a new method of prayer that focused on quiet contemplation and introspection. This method, which became known as ‘mental prayer’ or ‘the prayer of quiet’, emphasized the importance of inner stillness and the need to cultivate a deeper awareness of God’s presence.
Entry Into Carmelite Order And Early Years As A Nun
Saint Teresa of Avila made the decision to join the Carmelite Order at the age of 20. At the time, the Carmelite convent in Avila was known for its strict observance of religious practices, and Saint Teresa was drawn to the order’s emphasis on contemplative prayer and spiritual discipline.
Let nothing upset you, Let nothing startle you. All things pass; God does not change. Patience wins all it seeks. Whoever has God lacks nothing: God alone is enough – Bookmark Prayer by Saint Teresa
As a novice, Saint Teresa faced many challenges. She struggled with illness and found it difficult to adapt to the strict routine of the convent. However, she persevered and was eventually professed as a nun.
In her early years as a nun, Saint Teresa continued to deepen her spiritual life and develop her prayer practice. She became known for her devotion to the Virgin Mary and her profound experiences of mystical prayer.
Despite her dedication to the Carmelite Order, Saint Teresa began to feel a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the state of the church and the religious orders of her time. She felt that many of the convents and monasteries had become too lax in their observance of religious practices and that there was a need for reform.
Saint Teresa also became disillusioned with the emphasis on wealth and status within the church hierarchy. She believed that true spirituality was about humility and simplicity, and that the church needed to refocus on these values.
These feelings of dissatisfaction and a desire for reform would eventually lead Saint Teresa to embark on a mission to reform the Carmelite Order and to establish a new, more strict branch of the order known as the Discalced Carmelites. This mission would become one of the defining aspects of her life and legacy, and would have a lasting impact on the Catholic Church.
Reform Of The Carmelite Order
Saint Teresa of Avila is perhaps best known for her efforts to reform the Carmelite Order and establish a new, more contemplative branch of the order. She believed that many of the convents and monasteries had become too lax in their observance of religious practices and that there was a need for reform.
Oh! what a gracious and merciful thing it is to be united to the will of God! Since it is certain that, in all that happens to us, He means to do us good by ways that we cannot understand. Oh, my soul, how can you be so foolish as to vex yourself because things do not go exactly as you wish, when, by this very disposition of His providence, the Lord is disposing all things for your greater good? – Meditation on Psalm 137 by Saint Teresa
Saint Teresa’s first step in this endeavor was to establish a new convent in Avila, which would serve as a model for the kind of religious community she envisioned. This convent, known as the Discalced Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation, was founded in 1562 and quickly became known for its strict observance of religious practices and its focus on contemplative prayer.
From there, Saint Teresa worked tirelessly to establish additional Discalced Carmelite communities throughout Spain. She wrote extensively on the importance of contemplative prayer and developed a new method of prayer – as above known as ‘mental prayer’ or ‘the prayer of quiet’, which emphasized the importance of inner stillness and the need to cultivate a deeper awareness of God’s presence.
Despite her success in establishing new Discalced Carmelite communities, Saint Teresa faced significant challenges and opposition. Many religious leaders saw her reforms as a threat to the established order, and she faced criticism and opposition from both within and outside the church.
In particular, Saint Teresa faced opposition from the Carmelite Order itself, which was divided between those who supported her reforms and those who opposed them. She also faced opposition from the Inquisition, which was suspicious of her mystical experiences and her unorthodox approach to prayer.
Mystical Experiences And Spiritual Writings
Saint Teresa of Avila is perhaps best known for her profound mystical experiences and her writings on the spiritual life. Throughout her life, she had numerous visions and mystical encounters, which she wrote about extensively in her spiritual writings.
Nada te turbe, nada te espante, todo se pasa, Dios no se muda; la paciencia todo lo alcanza; quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta: Sólo Dios basta.
One of Saint Teresa’s most famous mystical experiences was her encounter with the ‘transverberation of the heart’. This occurred in 1559, while she was in prayer, and involved a vision of an angel piercing her heart with a fiery golden lance. St. Teresa described the experience as one of intense pain and sweetness, and believed it to be a sign of God’s deep love for her.
Saint Teresa’s spiritual writings are some of the most influential in the history of Christian mysticism. Her most famous works include The Interior Castle and The Way Of Perfection.
The Interior Castle is a mystical treatise on the nature of the soul and its journey towards God. In it, Saint Teresa uses the image of a castle with seven mansions to describe the process of spiritual growth and the stages of contemplative prayer. She emphasizes the importance of self-knowledge, humility, and detachment from worldly desires in order to progress towards the ultimate goal of union with God.
The Way Of Perfection is a more practical guide to the spiritual life, intended for the nuns in her community. In it, Saint Teresa offers advice on prayer, meditation, and the cultivation of virtues such as humility and obedience. She also discusses the challenges that arise on the spiritual journey, such as distractions, temptations, and dryness in prayer.
The Interior Castle | The Seven Mansions
The Interior Castle is structured around the metaphor of a castle with seven mansions, each of which represents a stage of the soul’s journey towards union with God. Saint Teresa describes each mansion in detail, emphasizing the spiritual challenges and graces associated with each one, as well as the importance of self-knowledge, humility, and detachment from worldly desires in order to progress through the mansions.
The seven mansions are as follows:
- First Mansion: In the first mansion, the soul is just beginning its journey towards God. The emphasis is on cultivating a desire for God and overcoming basic obstacles such as sin and attachment to worldly goods.
‘The chief thing is that we should realize that we are sinners and beg God to grant us the favor of seeing ourselves as such.’
- Second Mansion: In the second mansion, the soul begins to experience more deeply the reality of God’s presence and begins to make progress in prayer. However, there are still many distractions and temptations to overcome.
‘It is a great favor which His Majesty bestows on the soul when He desires to lead it to higher things and closer union with Himself.’
- Third Mansion: In the third mansion, the soul experiences a greater sense of the presence of God and begins to experience deeper levels of prayer. However, the soul still experiences many distractions and is in need of further purification.
‘This soul is now entering the third mansion, where it begins to have experience of very great favors which the Lord grants to those who seek Him in earnest.’
- Fourth Mansion: In the fourth mansion, the soul experiences a deeper sense of God’s presence and begins to experience the beginnings of mystical prayer. The emphasis is on the importance of humility and self-knowledge in order to avoid spiritual pride.
‘This favor which His Majesty grants the soul is of the greatest importance, and for the love of God we must be careful to make the most of it, and never to lose sight of the fact that we owe it to Him and not to ourselves.’
- Fifth Mansion: In the fifth mansion, the soul experiences even deeper levels of prayer and is given more profound mystical experiences of God’s presence. The emphasis is on the importance of detachment from worldly desires and the need to surrender oneself completely to God’s will.
‘Now the soul is so completely detached from everything that it is ready to leave the world, and to be dissolved and to be with Christ.’
- Sixth Mansion: In the sixth mansion, the soul experiences even deeper levels of union with God and begins to experience the transformation of the soul in God. The emphasis is on the importance of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and the need to overcome any remaining obstacles to union with God.
‘The soul is now so completely detached from all earthly things that it has no desire to live except to serve God, nor any fear of death.’
- Seventh Mansion: In the seventh mansion, the soul experiences the highest levels of union with God and experiences complete transformation in God. The emphasis is on the importance of surrendering oneself completely to God’s will and the need to continue to grow in holiness and love.
‘The soul is now in such close union with God that it has no desire to be separated from Him, even for a moment.’
The Interior Castle | The Ultimate Goal
In The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa of Avila describes the ultimate goal of the soul’s journey as union with God. This union is not a static state, but a dynamic and ever-deepening relationship with God. As the soul progresses through the seven mansions, it experiences various degrees of union with God, from the initial experience of God’s presence to the complete transformation of the soul in God.
Señor, dame la paz y la tranquilidad de saber que me amas tal como soy. Que no tema las pruebas ni las tempestades, pues siempre estás conmigo.
‘The ultimate goal of the soul’s journey is complete union with God, so that the soul is no longer aware of itself, but only of God dwelling within it. This union is the highest good that we can attain in this life, and it is worth all the effort and struggle that we must endure to achieve it.’
The first degree of union is described as the experience of God’s presence, which is often accompanied by great joy and consolation. However, this initial experience is only the beginning of the soul’s journey towards union with God. As the soul progresses through the mansions, it experiences deeper and more profound degrees of union with God, culminating in the seventh mansion, where the soul is completely transformed in God.
Saint Teresa emphasizes that this ultimate goal can only be achieved through surrender and trust in God’s will. The soul must be willing to let go of its own desires and attachments in order to be completely united with God. This requires a deep level of humility, as the soul recognizes its own limitations and surrenders itself to the wisdom and guidance of God.
At the same time, Saint Teresa acknowledges that the journey towards union with God is not easy, and that the soul will face many obstacles and challenges along the way. These may include spiritual dryness, periods of darkness and doubt, and even temptations to abandon the path altogether. However, she encourages the soul to persevere in its journey, trusting in God’s love and guidance to lead it towards ultimate union with Him.
‘The soul becomes aware that it is united with God, not by the imagination, but in a way that it cannot explain, or even understand clearly, for it is a mystery. The soul understands that it is one with God, and that this truth is incomparably greater than any vision or imagination could represent to it.’
The Interior Castle | Challenges And Obstacles
In The Interior Castle, Saint Teresa describes various challenges and obstacles that can arise on the soul’s journey towards union with God. These obstacles include distractions, temptations, and dryness in prayer. Saint Teresa emphasizes that these difficulties are a natural part of the journey and should not discourage the soul from persevering.
Distractions are one of the most common obstacles that souls face. Saint Teresa describes distractions as anything that takes the soul away from its focus on God, such as worries, anxieties, or worldly concerns. She advises that the soul should not be discouraged by distractions, but should simply acknowledge them and return to its focus on God.
Temptations are another obstacle that souls may encounter on the journey. Saint Teresa notes that temptations can come in many forms, such as pride, jealousy, or lust. She advises that the soul must be vigilant and watchful in order to resist these temptations, and must rely on God’s grace to overcome them.
Dryness in prayer is a common experience on the journey towards union with God. Saint Teresa describes dryness as a feeling of spiritual aridity, where the soul does not feel the presence of God. She notes that dryness can be a great trial for the soul, but advises that the soul should continue to persevere in prayer, even when it feels like nothing is happening.
Saint Teresa emphasizes that the soul must be humble and willing to undergo trials and sufferings in order to grow in holiness. She notes that God often uses trials and sufferings to purify the soul and prepare it for greater union with Him. She also emphasizes the importance of perseverance in the face of difficulties, noting that the soul must be willing to continue on the journey, even when it feels like it is making no progress.
‘God does not fail to grant us all the helps we need, provided we do not fail to seek them.’