Teresa of Ávila
1515–1582
Spanish mystical writer

Teresa of Ávila was a noted mystic* religious reformer of the 1500s. Born Teresa Sánchez in the city of Ávila in central Spain, she received no formal education, although she read a great deal as a child. In 1535 Teresa entered the religious order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (known as the Carmelites). Around age 40 Teresa began to hear voices and see visions. At first the Carmelite priests were concerned about these experiences, but in time they came to agree with her view of them as evidence of a connection with God.

In 1562 Teresa founded a small convent called Saint Joseph's of Ávila. There she introduced such reforms as a simple lifestyle, devotion to inward prayer, and the rejection of racial prejudice. In 1567 she met the Carmelite priest who would later become St. John of the Cross. A great poet and mystic, he helped Teresa spread her religious reforms to other Carmelite institutions. By the time of her death in 1582, Teresa had founded 17 convents. Forty years later the Catholic Church declared her a saint. In 1970 she became the first woman to receive the title of Doctor of the Church, an honor granted to a select group of religious writers.

Scholars have viewed Teresa both as a model of womanly obedience and as a feminist who challenged the exclusion of women from positions of power in the church. Her three most famous works are her autobiography, entitled Book of Her Life; an allegory* called The Interior Castle; and The Way of Perfection, a guidebook to mental prayer. This text offered a strong defense of women's right to pursue a mystical path.

(See alsoReligious Literature. )

* mystic

believer in the idea of a direct, personal union with the divine

* allegory

literary or artistic device in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract qualities and in which the author intends a different meaning to be read beneath the surface