St. Teresa of Avila dubbed the Pope Francis of her time

Witty and warm, she pushed the Carmelites towards reform

St. Teresa of Avila of the 16th Century was in many ways the Pope Francis of her day. Witty, warm and personable, she nonetheless pushed the Carmelite order to reform. St. Teresa taught the faithful not to be caught up with creature comforts, to be true to their vocation and to dedicate hours each day to contemplative Carmelite prayer.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Five hundred years ago, on March 28 1515, Dona Beatriz gave birth to her baby daughter Teresa. Born into an upper middle-class Spanish household, Teresa would become a Carmelite nun, reform her order, become known as a miracle worker and mystic. She would later be canonized a saint and recognized as a Doctor of the Church.

Teresa entered Carmel at 15. At the time of her joining, the Carmelites had become quite lax in their prayer life and had servants attending them. Teresa had always been charming, chatty and droll. In the early years of her vocation, she was known as a socialite, entertaining many guests in the parlor.

St, Teresa of Avila is remembered in this beautiful pendant!

It was not until her forties that she felt compelled to reform her order. Her order needed to return to their roots as Carmelites by adopting more austere rules and spending more time in mental prayer. She started a new convent in Avila in 1562, eventually going on to found 17 others.

An example of her ready wit is related in a famous story. Traveling by horse to see a convent of nuns who were getting sloppy, the vehicle had an accident and she was thrown into a puddle of mud. Embarrassed by the fact that she had to greet the nuns in a muddy habit, she looked up to the heavens to say, "God, if this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few."

Teresa was of Jewish descent and inherited a keen wit. Her humor also saw her through some tough times. She met a lot of conflict when she was reforming the Carmelites. Traveling a long way to see a bishop in heavy rain, when she arrived at the bishop's residence he had changed his mind. Declaring she was not welcome, he left her outside in the rain. Without missing a beat, she said, "And the weather so lovely, too!"

The Catholic Church today has seen the fruits of her hard work in fighting for the authentic Carmelite vocation to be lived by the priests and nuns of Carmel.

At least two other major saints with her name have been molded in the Carmel that St. Teresa of Avila reformed. There is St. Therese of Lisieux and there is also the martyr St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, or Edith Stein, who was so moved by St. Teresa's autobiography that it sparked her conversion to Catholicism.

Had St. Teresa of Avila not restored the true nature of a Carmelite vocation we may not have had such great saints as the Little Flower and St. Edith Stein.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online