Born in 1515, Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada in Avila, Spain. Her mother died when Teresa was only 14 years old, putting her in the hands of her father's care. She was sent off to study with the Augustian nuns at Santa Maria de Garcia, in 1531. However, she returned home after only 18 months, due to illness. Responsibility returned to her father with the help of other relatives. Her uncle was the first to introduce Teresa to the Letters of St. Jerome. The letters influenced her so greatly that she resolved to pursue religious life, much to the opposition of her father. Despite his efforts to divert her interests, by 1535, Teresa ran away home to join the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation at Avila.The following year, her health again gave her troubles, causing much suffering. This is the time when Teresa began the practice of mental prayer. She found that she could successfully overcome her physical limitations by fostering a heightened spiritual awareness. This permitted her the ability to release her soul into more direct communion with God.
Her divine visions increased into what she described as graces of emotional strength, reprimands (for unfaithfulness), and grace in times of challenge. Finding herself unworthy of such gifts, she described her experiences to her confessors who took the visions to be the work of evil. In response, when Teresa attempted to resist the manifestations, she felt her soul to become even more strongly affected by God's will.
Teresa shared her experiences and methods by the founding the convent of Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Rule of St. Joesph at Avila, in 1562, despite resistance by some religious authorties.
In 1567, she met another great contemplative, St. John of the Cross. St. John helped her establish the first convents of Discalced Brethren. A few years later, she was visited by the General of the Carmelites, who approved her work and allowed her to build more convents of friars and nuns.
In each case, Teresa established the convents in the face of violent opposition. Teresa's difficulty continued into1576, followed by a storm of persecutions which targeted her and her projects. The convents endured four years of trouble until the province of Discalced Carmelites was approved and canonically established with the help of King Philip II, in 1580. St. Teresa founded her last four foundations in 1581 and 1582.
By the end of her life, St. Teresa's health had deteriorated and she became weak from exhaustion. She died in 1582. She was beatified in 1614, and canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.
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