Feast day · October 15
St. Teresa of Ávila
Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Born 1515, Ávila, SpainDied 1582, Alba de Tormes
“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass; God does not change. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.”
The reformer of Carmel and master of the interior life, first woman named Doctor of the Church.
The story
A lukewarm nun for twenty years, Teresa was converted at thirty-nine before a statue of the wounded Christ. She founded seventeen reformed convents, traveled Spain in ox carts, sparred with inquisitors, and wrote the Interior Castle and her Life, mapping the soul's journey to union with God with humor and precision.
What Teresa teaches
Prayer is friendship with God, "taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us."
Patronage
Spain, headache sufferers, those ridiculed for piety.
Prayer
St. Teresa of Ávila, teach us to pray, to persevere, and to be friends of God. Amen.
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