| Into the Interior Castle Background
Citation: Lives of the Saints
St. Teresa of Avila (c.1515-1582) was always a person of action, and even at the young
age of seven she sought to be with God. At that time, Teresa and her brother ran away from
home that she might be so lucky as to be capture by the Moors and have her head
lopped-off. How wonderful it would be to be a martyr, but they didn’t get very far
from home before her uncle discover them, and returned them to their mother. Oh, the
romance of being a martyr in that day and age, but still at the young age of seven she was
assertive. She carried with her this chivalrous spirit throughout her life, but it was
later balanced with intelligence and grace.
She was born in Avila Spain to Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda and Beatriz de Ahumada along
with eight siblings, as well as three other children from her father’s previous
marriage. When her mother died, Teresa was only thirteen, and it was at that time her
father thought it best to put her in the convent. She was a studious child that enjoyed
reading, and she could pursue her studies in the convent. Her stay was just a brief year,
before she became ill and ended-up returning home. During her illness she started to read
the Letters of Saint Jerome and discovered that she related to his spiritual
writings. It was around this time that Teresa pondered becoming a nun and entering the
convent for good. Her father, like many in today’s world, reacted negatively to the
notion of his daughter entering the convent. He would have none of it, and would not
consent to Teresa becoming a nun. He told her that she must wait until his death to enter
the convent, but Teresa worried that she may not be strong enough to wait that long.
Although she loved her father, Teresa slipped away in secret and entered the Carmelite
convent of the Incarnation located in Avila. This wasn’t easy for her to do, because
she respected her father, but he eventually gave in to her in a years time and she was
professed.
Her infirmity returned and she suffered for three years. These years were not wasted,
because she applied herself to mental prayer and contemplation which drew her closer to
God, but in the end she was permanently impaired in her health. Teresa was popular and had
many friends and when her health returned to a satisfactory state, she began to visit with
them once again. She not only visited with them, but she charmed them and inreturn they
showered her with admiration and affection. She spent her time enjoying her friends, and
allowed herself to become more and more the focus of her life. Why should I pray when
I’m so sick, she would think to herself, and her prayer life was abandoned. Besides,
there were other people and things to occupy her time, and with her health she could only
do so much. Depression rolled in like the tide after she found herself wasting time on
social pursuits. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her friends, but somehow deep
within her soul she knew something of the insufficiency, even if it was only obscure and
not really tangible at the time.
With new resolve, Teresa returned to prayer and contemplation. She longed for and
nurtured her relationship with God, a relationship of interior union! As with the gift
from God of her vocation to the Religious Order of the Carmelites, she received a new gift
that not only illuminated her, but distressed her greatly. She began having "visions
of divine things…and heard inner voices." She confided in her friends (to which
she swore to secrecy) and her confessors. She thought that they may know more about the
mysteriousness of what all this might mean. Unfortunately, her stories of her experiences
of the visions and voices leaked out into Avila, and she became a joke to many. She was
personally mortified by her unwanted fame, and the intensely personal nature of her
experiences being spread throughout the land. To top it off, many didn’t think it so
mysterious after all, because they thought it was obviously the work of the devil.
In her journey of faith, she went on to found a convent of reform, which eventually
reformed the entire Carmelite Order. In her assertion, she accomplished many great and
amazing things, but always through the grace of God. She is closely linked to St. John of
the Cross, and their friendship is important to the development of her spiritual life.
Among her writings are her Autobiography, The Way of Perfection, the Book
of Foundations, and The Interior Castle in which this retreat is modeled after.
Find-out more about St. Terese
Avila
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