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Saint Teresa of Avila
Great saint, Doctor of the Church, teacher, mystic, founder of reformed Carmelite convents
and Patroness of Christian Mothers

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.” —Matthew 16:24-25

“And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.” —Matthew 19:29

“He who in the heights is the Lord, in the depths is the Beloved; above the stars He reigns; among the lilies He loves.” —St. Bernard

“He who loves Thee, O my God, travels safely by the open and royal road, far from the precipice; he has scarcely stumbled at all when Thou stretchest forth Thy hand to save him.” —St. Teresa

St. Teresa of Jesus,
also known as St. Teresa of Avila

ST. TERESA OF AVILA
1515-1582
REFORMER OF CARMEL
By F. A. Forbes

CONTENTS
1. Girlhood . . 1
2. The Call of God 10
3. The Great Mistake . . 19
4. Christ or Satan? . 28
5. Probation . . 37
6. The Divine Mission . . 47
7. Silence and Patience . 56
8. St. Joseph’s . 65
9. Foundations 76
10. Prioress of the Incarnation . 84
11. The Last Trial . . 92
12. The End of Sorrow . .101

Chapter 1 - Girlhood

"It was the little girl who made me do it,” pleaded Rodrigo de Cepeda, and although he did not know it, the excuse was as old as the world. The “little girl” in question was Rodrigo's seven-year-old sister Teresa, who had been seized with a burning desire for martyrdom. She wanted to see God, she passionately assured her brother, and as it was necessary to die first, martyrdom was obviously the only means to her end. Rodrigo himself had not seen the matter quite in the same light, but as Teresa was his own particular friend and playmate, and they had always done everything together, he had considered himself bound to enter into her views. The two had set forth hand in hand at an early hour in the morning to seek the desired martyrdom in the country of the Moors, but fate had been against them. Scarcely had the children left the town of Avila when they fell into the hands of an uncle, who was returning from the country. Untouched by their tears and prayers, he promptly took them home, to the relief of the anxious mother, who was searching everywhere for the missing pair. Rodrigo’s excuse has already been given. Teresa with earnest eyes repeated her assertion: “I wanted to go to God, and one cannot do that unless one dies first.”

Doña Beatriz de Ahumada was a wise and saintly woman. She explained gently to her little daughter that for most people the road to God lies through a life spent faithfully in His service. Such a life, especially if one tried one’s best to please God in everything one did and was careful to avoid offending Him, might be quite as meritorious as the shorter way of martyrdom, which was, moreover, only for the few. It was hard to give up all one’s dreams. Teresa consulted the Lives of the Saints and decided that the most desirable thing, after a martyr’s death, was a hermit’s life. Assisted by the faithful Rodrigo, she set to work to build a hermitage in the garden, but, as cement had not entered into their plans, the stones fell down as fast as they built them up. Teresa was at last obliged to admit sorrowfully that there seemed no more prospect of a hermit’s life than of a martyr’s death, and it was in this moment of discouragement that her mother’s words came back to her. To do one’s best to please God and not to offend Him seemed possible for anybody; she determined, therefore, to try this simple plan and with her usual energy set to work at once. She had not very much pocket-money, but what she had she gave to the poor; she tried to say her prayers as devoutly as possible and resolved to do a kind action or say a kind word to everyone she met. It sounds like a simple program, but it took the little girl all her time and cost her many acts of self-denial—how many, those who practice it will soon discover. But she brought sunshine with her wherever she went, and she began to be supremely happy, for there is no joy like that of giving joy to others.

Doña Beatriz de Ahumada, Teresa’s sweet young mother, did her utmost to bring up her large family in the fear and the love of God. Gentle, pure and devout, she was herself their best example. Of the three sisters and nine brothers who made up the merry family party in the big house at Avila, not one in later life lost the strong faith and fervor that had been so firmly rooted in their childish hearts. Don Alonso de Cepeda, her husband, was a man whom all respected. Truthful, charitable and chivalrous, he was loved as well as obeyed by all his children. St. Teresa herself tells us that she never knew her father or mother to respect anything but goodness and that all the children in mind and heart took after their parents. “All, that is,” she adds in her
humility, “but myself.”

The happy family life was soon to be broken up. When Teresa was between twelve and thirteen years old, Doña Beatriz died. In the anguish of loneliness that followed the loss of the mother to whom she had confided all her joys and sorrows, the child flung herself on her knees before the Blessed Virgin, begging her to be her mother now that she no longer had one on earth. Of all the family, Teresa was perhaps the one who missed Doña Beatriz the most sorely and needed her guiding hand the most. Maria, her elder sister, was already grown up; Juana, the younger, scarcely more than a baby; Teresa, beautiful,
brilliant and lovable, was just growing from childhood into girlhood. Her brothers adored her, and among the troop of young cousins who frequented the house she ruled as a little queen. There was no danger as long as Teresa carried out her resolution of pleasing God and never offending Him; but time wore on, and she who had inspired that resolution was no longer at hand to encourage and advise.

The apparition of the Holy Child to St. Teresa

There was one among Teresa’s cousins, a good deal older than herself, whose conversation, she tells us, did her much harm. She was a shallow and frivolous girl who thought of nothing but pleasure and amusement. By the time Teresa was fourteen, she seemed to have forgotten all her old desires of being a Saint. Whatever time could be spared from the reading of romances was spent in setting off her girlish beauty to the best advantage and enjoying the admiration that she received from all within the little home circle. But the Blessed Virgin did not forget the child who had thrown herself at her feet on the day
of her mother’s death. Though Teresa was her father’s darling, he was not so blinded by affection for his young daughter as not to notice the change in her behavior. He was the first to see that her prayers were more hurried, her visits to the church fewer; that she thought more of herself and less of others. He noticed with distress the unworthy friendship that was doing all the mischief. He noticed, too, that in spite of all her amusements, Teresa was less joyous than of old when she had set her childish steps to “go to God.”

He took counsel with his eldest daughter, Maria, who had also remarked the change in her sister and was grieving over it in silence. She herself was soon to be married, and it was this that helped them to come to a decision, for when Maria was established in a house of her own, Teresa could not very well remain at home alone with her brothers. It was decided to send her to the Augustinian Convent to complete her education, and no sooner was the wedding over than the plan was carried out. After the first week or two of homesickness, Teresa was heartily glad. She was already tired of the life she had been leading, and the old desires were tugging at her heartstrings. Sister Maria Briceño, the nun who was the mistress of the secular children at the convent, helped a great deal to set Teresa on the path to sanctity. It was she who opened Teresa’s mind, by her holy example and advice, to the possibility of becoming a nun.

Teresa remained a year and a half at the convent in the company of this holy nun. Then, however, she became seriously ill and had to return to her father’s house. When Teresa’s strength was somewhat recovered, she and her father, Don Alonso, set out for Castellanos de la Canada, the home of Teresa’s sister Maria. On the road lay the home of Don Pedro, Teresa’s uncle, a holy old man who lived the life of a recluse and a Saint in Hortigosa. Don Alonso’s stay could only be short, as he was obliged to return home on business, but Don Pedro was so delighted with Teresa that he begged his brother to leave her with him until he could come back and fetch her home himself a week or two later.

Hortigosa seemed a little dull to Teresa after the happy life she had led with her sister until Don Pedro, the greater part of whose time was passed in prayer and study, proposed one day that his niece should read aloud to him in her spare moments. Teresa, always ready to give pleasure to others, set herself bravely to a task which she did not expect to enjoy. To her surprise, however, the Epistles of St. Jerome and the writings of St. Augustine and St. Gregory, which were what her uncle chiefly preferred, turned out to be less dry than she had expected. Her quick intelligence and love of all that was noble and beautiful soon made her almost as eager for the hour of reading as Don Pedro himself, and many were the happy moments spent in the old Spanish garden at Hortigosa.

As the time went on, Don Pedro and his young niece found that they had much in common. They talked now over the daily reading, while the old desire to seek and to find God arose more strongly than ever in Teresa’s heart, with a deeper understanding of the means to be taken. Already she had discovered that earthly pleasures were unsatisfying. She had learned that those who give the most to God are the happiest, and yet her nature shrank, as human nature will, from sacrifice and suffering. How was it all to end? That was the question uppermost in Teresa’s heart when her father came to take her home to Avila.


Taken from Saint Teresa of Avila by TAN Books & Publishers, Inc.

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