What is Teresa of Ávila?
[[File:Santa Teresa de Jesús (Museo del Prado).jpg|thumb|right|Saint Teresa of Jesus]] '''Teresa of Ávila''', also called '''Saint Teresa of Jesus''', [[baptism|baptized]] as '''Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada''', (March 28, 1515 – early or mid October 1582) was a well known [[Spain|Spanish]] [[mystic]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] [[saint]], [[Carmelites|Carmelite]] [[nun]], [[writer]] of the [[Counter Reformation]], and [[Theology|theologian]] of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be a founder of the [[Discalced Carmelites]] along with [[John of the Cross]]. In [[1622]], forty years after her death, she was canonized by [[Pope Gregory XV]] and was in [[1970]] named a Doctor of the Church by [[Pope Paul VI]]. Her books, which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) and her seminal work El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle) are an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature as well as [[Christian]] mysticism and Christian meditation practices as she entails in her other important work, Camino de Perfección (The Way of Perfection). ==Quote== 'Would it not be gross ignorance, my daughters, if, when a man was questioned about his name, or country, or parents, he could not answer? Stupid as this would be, it is unspeakably more foolish to care to learn nothing of our nature except that we possess bodies, and only to realise vaguely that we have souls... (Interior Castle, chapter one) == Other websites == * [http://m.ccel.org/browse/authorInfo?id=teresa&show=worksBy Christian Classics] {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Teresa of Avila}} [[Category:1515 births]] [[Category:1582 deaths]] [[Category:Christian mystics]] [[Category:Christian saints]] [[Category:Spanish Roman Catholics]] [[Category:Spanish writers]] [[Category:Doctors of the Church]]