St. Teresa of Avila

"Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention."

"To have courage for whatever comes in life -- everything lies in that."

- St. Teresa of Avila (1515 - 1582)

Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus), the famous founder of the Discalced Carmelites. Teresa was born in 1515 in Spain. At the tender age of five, Teresa convinced her brother that she and he should go and be martyred by the Moors. They got as far as the road from the city where their uncle saw them and brought them back home. Besides this incident, the rest of Teresa's childhood and youth were very ordinary. At the age of 16, her father put her in a Carmelite convent because of her rebellious behavior, and she later became a nun at that same convent. Unfortunately, the convent was very undisciplined (ex. the nuns were able to have parties with male persons invited, etc.) and this did not help Teresa. In her forties, Teresa became very close to God and even had visions of Jesus.  At the age of 43, she felt called by God to open a convent of contemplative Carmelites that went back to the simple life of poverty and prayer. There was much opposition to this, but in time everything worked out and her convents spread throughout Spain (and today they are throughout the world). She died on October 4, 1582, at the age of 67. She was canonized in 1622, and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She is the patron saint of those who suffer from headaches and also of Spanish Catholic writers. 

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

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Picture of and Information About St. Teresa Taken From:

http://cantuar.blogspot.com/2010/10/top-10-quotes-from-saint-teresa-of.html

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208