St Teresa of Avila
1515-1582. ~ Born in Avila, Spain, Teresa’s parents, Alonso and Beatrice were devout Christians and taught Teresa from a very early age to love God. She grew up in a large family of thirteen children and was especially close to one of her little brothers. They would play in the garden and build hermitages and monasteries, pretending to be nuns and monks. When Teresa was only six and her brother younger, they set out to go on a pilgrimage and wanted to be martyrs so they would go straight to heaven. Luckily they were spotted by an adult and returned home. Teresa received her education from Augustine nuns, but she became ill and had to leave the convent. At twelve, her mother's death affected her badly and she rejected religion for a while. She wanted the material things in life, such as clothes and possessions and she fell into bad company. Her father, seeing the change in her, sent her back to the convent to continue her education. She began to settle down and contemplated following a nun’s life. At eighteen, she asked to be allowed to enter a convent, at first her father was not keen and refused consent. Teresa ran away to the Convent of the Incarnation at Avila. Her father allowed her to stay, thinking she would change her mind. Teresa did not have a second thought and she took her vows as a nun.
Teresa was not a healthy girl and had many medical problems, but despite this, she set about reforming and reorganising the many local convents and monasteries that had become lapsed in their rules and disciplines. Firstly she formed her own enclosed order of Carmelites nuns (St Joseph's) with her new strict ruling such as going barefoot. Not everybody agreed with her changes and she had some opposition, but the Jesuit priests helped and supported her and the disciplines were accepted. Teresa experienced many visions and voices during her life and wrote an account of her mystic happenings. Her order continued to grow all over Spain. In spite of her early fierce opposition, she succeeded in her work and the order spread worldwide. She died at Alba de Tormes in 1582.