1515
Ávila, Spain
1582
Alba, Spain

Nun, mystic

"The pain was so great that it made me moan over and over, and the sweet delight into which that pain threw me was so intense that one could not want it to stop…"

Teresa de Ávila as quoted in The Life of Saint Teresa.

Teresa de Ávila (also known as Teresa of Jesus) was the founder of the Reformed Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelite Convent of San Jose. She is most famous today for her experiences as a mystic, which she described in her autobiography, Life (now titled The Life of Saint Teresa; published in 1611), and numerous other books.

Teresa was born Teresa de Alhumada in 1515 on a farm near Ávila, Spain. Her father was Alonso (Pina) de Cepeda, son of a wealthy Jewish businessman who had converted to Christianity, and her mother was Beatriz de Ahumada, a...