Teresa of Avila: the progress of a soul

Abstract

This is a modern biography of Saint Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest mystics and reformers to emerge within the Sixteenth Century Catholic Church. Her writings are considered a keystone to modern mystical thought. Cathleen Medwick reveals Teresa as both a powerful daughter of the Church and her times who was a very human mass of contradictions: a practical and no-nonsense manager, and yet a flamboyant and intrepid presence who bent the rules of monastic life to accomplish her work while managing to stay one step ahead of the Inquisition. She exhibited a very personal brand of spirituality, often experiencing raptures of an unorthodox, arguably erotic nature that left her locked in one position for hours, unable to speak. Out of concern for her soul and her reputation, her superiors insisted that she describe every voice and vision as well as the sins that might have engendered them. An account, which is now considered a literary masterpiece. Teresa's major work was the reform of the Carmelites, an enterprise which required all her considerable persuasiveness and talent for administration. In an era when women were seldom taken seriously, she sought and received permission to found two religious houses for men. In this account, Teresa is revealed as both more complex and comprehensible than she has seemed in the past.

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