Excerpt from the Autobiography of Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582)

Born in Ávila (central Spain) in 1515, the daughter of a minor nobleman, Tereza Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada became a Carmelite nun, mystic and religious reformer who rose to fame in Spain and beyond. ¹ Canonized by the Papacy in 1622, she became a Doctor of the Church (a recognized theological authority) in 1970. Raised to become a pious Christian, Teresa was grief stricken by the death of her mother when she was still a child and this tragedy moved her to adopt the Virgin Mary as her spiritual mother.