St. Teresa Of Avila Medal and Necklace

Sterling Silver St. Teresa Of Avila Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold Filled St. Teresa Of Avila Medal and Necklace

14KT Gold St Teresa Of Avila Medal

St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa was born in Avila, Spain, March 28, 1515. Don Alfonso, her father, was a man of solid piety, most charitable to the poor, very gentle and considerate with his servants. Beatriz, her mother, brought up her nine children in the fear and love of God, devout to Our Lady and the Saints, thus laying the foundation of the spiritual life of Teresa.

The Beauty of Martyrdom

While reading the lives of the Saints, Teresa and one of her elder brothers thought that martyrdom was a very small price to pay for the vision of God. Therefore, when only seven years old Teresa and her brother planned to go to Africa, where they would be beheaded by the Moors. They left home, and when they reached the gates of the city they were met by one of their uncles, who took them home. Disappointed in their hopes of martyrdom, the two children resolved to become hermits in their father’s garden.

Upon the death of her mother, when Teresa was fifteen years old, she went in her sorrow to the Chanel of Our Lady of Charity in the hospital of the city. There before her image, she implored the Blessed Virgin with tears to be to her mother. Her prayer was heard, and Teresa relates that in all her trials she was always helped whenever she called upon that compassionate Mother. After many trials Teresa resolved to be a Nun, but her father refused to grant permission, saying that she might do as she pleased after his death.

Teresa saw the danger of delay, and made up her mind to execute her purpose no matter what the cost. Whilst preparing to obey the call of God, Teresa persuaded one of her brothers to become a Friar. Early in the morning of November 2, 1533, they secretly left their father’s house-he for the Dominican Monastery in Avila, she for the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation, where her friend Juana Suarez was a religious. Here she made her profession after many trials and sufferings.

Finding God in Illness

A severe illness, for which the physicians of Avila found no remedy, caused her father to bring Teresa home for special treatments. These proved futile and her condition worsened until she was at the point of death. She was paralyzed for nearly three years, and after praying to St. Joseph she partially recovered, but her health remained permanently impaired. She surrendered herself wholly to God.

In a vision St. Teresa saw the place destined for her in hell in the event she should be unfaithful to grace; ever afterwards she determined to seek a more perfect life and lived in the greatest distrust of self. She persevered in prayer, and God rewarded her abundantly with celestial visions and mystical prayer, her heart being pierced with Divine Love.

Establishing Convents

St. Teresa founded the convent of Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Rule of St. Joseph at Avila on August 24, 1562, and six months later took up her residence there. With the assistance of Antonio de Heredia and St. John of the Cross, she established her reform among the Friars. The greatness of her work may be determined for the fact that she founded fifteen monasteries of Friars and seventeen of consecrated women-the fruits of her sanctity and her legacy to the Church, of which she was always the humblest and most docile child.

St. Teresa died on October 4, 1582. Owing to the reform of the Calendar at that very time by Pope Gregory XIII, which caused the loss of fourteen days, her Feast falls on October 15th. St. Teresa’s body has remained incorrupt, surrounded with a fragrant liquid, and is honored with pious veneration. She was made illustrious by miracles both before and after her death; and in 1622, Pope Gregory XV enrolled her in the number of the Saints.
St. Teresa of Avila Rosary
UPC: 617759475715
Brand: Bliss