“Be gentle to all and stern with yourself.” Saint Teresa of Avila
Those are words that humanity should live by and maybe help erase all the current hatred we are living with.
With David out of commission fighting a bad cold and a day of nursing him back to health, I ventured out solo to Ávila. It was an adventure unto itself ~ having missed the train by a few minutes, but with the help of a friendly ticket agent, who sent me on a wild chase to catch the train at a different station; I made it safely to my destination.
Ávila, a UNESCO World Heritage city since 1985, is a fortified, walled city located in the autonomous region of Castile and León, about an hour and a half from Madrid. It’s sometimes called the Town of Stones and Saints; claiming it’s one of the towns with the highest number of Romanesque and Gothic churches in Spain. The city has complete medieval town walls built in the Romanesque style. Ávila has been described as “perhaps the most 16th-century town in all of Spain”.
My sole purpose in Ávila was to follow in the steps of Santa Teresa of Ávila, born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada (1515-1582). She was a daughter of Conversos, Jews forced to convert to Christianity or emigrate. Also known as Saint Teresa of Jesus, she was a Spanish noblewoman who chose a monastic life in the Catholic Church. A Carmelite nun, prominent Spanish mystic, religious reformer, author, theologian of the contemplative life and mental prayer … a social celebrity of her time.
Forty years after her death in 1622, Teresa was canonized by Pope Gregory XV, and four centuries after her death had the rare distinction of being declared a Doctor of the Church.
For reasons I cannot explain, is my strong affinity for Saint Teresa. I’ve always been attracted to what she represents and her views on our relationship to g-d and for those around us.
Teresa was a highly educated woman. She was at the center of church controversy as she took on the constant laxity found in her order. This was when the Protestant reformation was sweeping over Europe and the repressive Spanish Inquisition asserting church discipline in Spain.
Around 1556, friends suggested that her newfound knowledge and visions were diabolical, not divine. She had begun to inflict mortifications of the flesh upon herself. Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ presented Himself to her in bodily form, though invisible.
These visions lasted almost uninterrupted for more than two years. In another vision, a seraph drove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing an ineffable spiritual and bodily pain. This vision was the inspiration for one of Bernini’s most famous works, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
Her written contributions, which include her autobiography, “The Life of Teresa of Jesus” (which I have read) and her seminal work, “The Interior Castle,” are today an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature.
Today I visited the Convento de La Encarnación, the place where Santa Teresa lived for over twenty years and was the Abbess. The convent functions as a Carmelite cloistered order with about 49 nuns in residence. There is a small museum containing three rooms.
From the moment I walked in a wave of emotion spread over me, walking the same rooms she tread, viewing her relics and written words. Arriving at the glass door to her cell and touching it, I suddenly became a total blubbering mess. The docent that followed me into the rooms asked if everything was OK. Luckily it was just the two of us at the time.
I walked the path of meditation that Teresa would have followed in the courtyard … and by now you’re thinking Sergio’s a total groupie. I left the grounds filled with a wonderful sense of peace and calm.
The convento is outside the walls and a bit of a walk, so unless you are a devotee, most tourists will not make the trip … I will always cherish this opportunity and remember it always.
While in Ávila I took the time to visit:
The Cathedral of the Savior, built in the late Romanesque and Gothic architectural traditions. It was planned as a cathedral-fortress, its apse being one of the turrets of the city walls. Built in the early part of the 12th century it’s one, along with the Cathedral of Cuenca, as the first two Gothic cathedrals in Spain.
Basilica de San Vicente, one of the best examples of Romanesque architecture in the country. According to legend, Christian martyrs Vicente, Sabina and Cristeta were martyred during the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian; their corpses were buried into the rock and later a basilica was built over their tombs. In 1062 their remains were moved to the monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza in Burgos, but later, in 1175, they were returned to Ávila and the construction of a new basilica was started at the location.
While walking through the empty streets of Ávila, the skies opened in a torrential downpour. I stood in the portico of a castle to wait out the rain, but it had a sign denoting the Caprotti Collection, at the Palace of Superunda. Guido Caprotti, an Italian painter, earned his living mainly by painting portraits by commission, but his work also included a large number of local landscapes, making him a reporter of everyday Ávila’s life. His work appeared rustic, but vibrant in color. It made for a fortuitous diversion while waiting out the rain … a nice surprise in a day full of them.
Iglesia Convento of Santa Teresa and Museum, built in 1636 around the room where the Saint was born in 1515. This was holy ground, the epicenter of the cult surrounding Teresa. Its highly adorned gold Chapel was built over this room. The museum contains the trove of missives and responses she wrote and received during her life; located in the crypt under the church. The relics room contains the Saint’s ring finger, complete with ring – a bit macabre, but saints relics go back to the Middle Ages.
I will have to wait until another visit to Spain to see Saint Teresa’s burial site, since she’s at the Convento de la Anunciación in Alba de Tormes, an hour’s distance.
Exhausted and exulted I returned back to Madrid.
On the menu … a bite of this and a bite of that.
