Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/October 15

Saint Teresa of Ávila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptized as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) (March 28, 1515 – October 4, 1582) was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation as a prominent Spanish mystic and writer and as a monastic reformer. She died just as Catholic nations were making the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar which required the removal of 11 days from the calendar. She likely died on the night of October 4th but perhaps early on the morning of October 15 (in 1582 October 5-14 did not exist), which was adopted as her feast day. She was born at Ávila (85 km northwest of Madrid), Old Castile and died at Alba de Tormes (province of Salamanca). She is recognized by Roman Catholics as one of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church. She is one of only three female Doctors of the Church, along with St. Catherine of Siena, made so in 1970 and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, made so in 1997.

Leaving her parents' home secretly one morning in 1534, at the age of 19, Teresa entered the Monastery of the Incarnation of the Carmelite nuns at Avila. In the cloister, she

In 1567, she received a patent from the Carmelite general, Rubeo de Ravenna, to establish new houses of her order. In all seventeen convents, all but one founded by her, and as many men's cloisters were due to her reform activity of twenty years. Her final illness overtook her on one of her journeys from Burgos to Alba de Tormes.

Attributes: habit of the Discalced Carmelites, book and quill, arrow-pierced heart
Patronage: bodily ills; headaches; lacemakers; laceworkers; loss of parents; people in need of grace; people in religious orders; people ridiculed for their piety; Požega, Croatia; sick people; sickness; Spain
Prayer: