TERESA, SAINT, one of the most remarkable of the female saints of the modern Roman calendar, and the most admired of the modern mystic writers of that commun ion, born at Avila, in Old Castile, March 28, 1515, was the daughter of Alfonso, of the noble house of Sanchez de Ceyeda. Even as a child, Teresa was remarkable for piety of a most enthusiastic kind; and when she was but seven years old, she and her little brother, Rodrigo, fled from her father's house, with the design of offering themselves for the crown of martyrdom among the Moors, but were overtaken and restored to their pa rents. Her mother died while she was still young, and she was educated in a convent at Avila, from which, however, she was compelled by illness to return home when she was in her 16th year. During her illness, she resolved, notwithstanding the very earnest opposition of her father, to become a nun, and having in her 18th year entered a con vent of the Carmelite order in her native city, she made her solemn vow on the 3d of November, 1534. In this convent she continued to reside for nearly thirty years, but it was not until about the year 1539 that her constitution became strong enough to permit Jaer to follow, even in an imperfect way, the observances of conventual life. Her own account of her mental and spiritual condition during this period, which extended to the year 1555, is extremely interesting, and, like the confession of St. Augustine, and other saints, has furnished endless materials to the spiritualists of more recent times. The change of heart and of purpose came in 1555-1536, and was as complete and decisive as her former condition had been purposeless or fluctuating. After a time her religious exercises reached a most extraordinary degree of asceticism. Her prayers were almost continual, and she was reported to be favored with visions, ecstasies, and other super natural visitations, of which many curious details are related by her biographers, and in her own letters and papers. The fame of her sanctity spread not only throughout Spain, but into almost every part of the church. By some, the reality of the reported super natural favors which were ascribed to her were called into question; and there were even some who threatened to invoke the rigorous investigation of the holy office; but the popular voice was freely accorded to her, and the authority of St. Francis Borgia, St. Peter of Alcantara, and other high names eventually disarmed the opposition. The most notable and permanent fruit of the enthusiastic spirituality of Teresa is the reform of the Carmelite order, of which she became the instrument. She commenced this work in concert with a few zealous members of her own sisterhood in the convent at Avila, where she had resided from the date of her profession; but after a time, she obtained permission from the holy see, under the direction of Peter of Alcantara, to remove with her little community to St. Joseph's, a small and very humble convent in the same city,
where she established in its full rigor the ancient Carmelite rule, as approved by Inno cent IV. in 1247, with some additional observances introduced by Teresa herself. This new convent was established iu 1562, and in the end of that year, or the beginning of 1563, Teresa took up her abode therein ; and in 1565 she obtained from pope Pius IV., a formal approval for the rule as modified by her. For two years Teresa lived in great piivacy and quiet in her convent of St. Joseph; but in 1567, the general of the Carmelite order, F. Rubeo, was so struck, during his visitation of the convents at Avila, with the condition of that over which Teresa presided, that he urged upon her the duty of extend ing throughout the order the reforms thus successfully initiated. Teresa entered upon the work with great energy, and although she met with much opposition, nevertheless succeeded in carrying out her reforms. In 1579, the Carmelites of the stricter observ ance established by Teresa were released from the jurisdiction of the old superiors, and united a distinct association, with a separate head and a distinct organization, which was approved in 1580 by pope Gregory XIII. Under this new constitution, the association flourished and extended; and within the lifetime of Teresa, no fewer than 17 convents of women and 16 of men accepted the reforms which she had originated. Teresa died at Alba, October 4, 1582, in her 68th year. She was canonized by Gregory XV. in 1621, her feast being fixed on the 15th of October. She left a number of works, which have at all times maintained a high reputation among the spiritualists of her own church, and whose merits, in many respects, are acknowledged by non Catholic writers. They consist of ascetical and mystical treatises, instructions in the conventual life, meditations, etc., besides a large number of letters, which possess re markable literary merit, quite independent of their doctrinal character. Her works in the original Spanish fill two folio volumes, and they have been in the whole or in part translated into almost every European language. Her life occupies nearly an entire vol ume of the new continuation of the Acta Sanctorum: and several more popular biogra phies have been written in Spanish, French, Italian, German—the best-known English one being that by the rev. Canon Dalton. See Leben der heil, Theresia von Dr. Fr. Posl (Regensburg, 1847).