She was born in Spain. Her father was rigidly honest and pious, but he may have carried his strictness to extremes. Her mother loved romance novels but her husband objected these fanciful books, she hid the books from him. This put Teresa in the middle especially she liked the romance too.
Her father told her never to lie but her mother told her not to tell her father. Later she said she was always afraid that no matter what she did she was going to do everything wrong.
When she was 7 yrs old, she convinced her older brother that they want to be martyred but her uncle found them and brought them back.
After this incident, she led a fairly ordinary life, though she was convinced that she was a horrible sinner.
As a teenager, she cared only about boys, clothes, flirting and rebelling.
When she was 16, her father decided to send her to a convent. At first she hated it but eventually she began to enjoy it partly because of her growing love for God and the convent was a lot less strict than her father.
When the time came for her to choose between marriage and religious life, she had a tough time making the decision. She'd watch a difficult marriage ruin her mother. On the other hand being a nun didn't seem like much fun.
Finally she chose religious life, with motivation that it was the only safe haven for someone as prone to sin as she was.
Once settled at Carmelite convent, she started to learn and practice metal prayer, she tried as hard to keep Jesus present with her but it so hard for her. She prayed this way off and on for 18 years without feeling that she was getting results, partly because many women who had no place else to go wound up at the convent whether they had vocations or not.
Nuns would arrange their veils attractively and wear jewelry. Prestige depended not on piety but on money. The spiritual life there was involved hysteria, weeping, nosebleeds and self induced visions.
She suffered problems too as she was too charming. Everyone liked her and she liked to be liked. She found it too easy to slip into a worldly life and ignore God.
She got more involved in flattery, vanity and gossip than spiritual guidance.
Then she fell ill until paralyzed for three years. Instead of helping her spirituality, her sickness became an excuse to stop prayer completely. Later she would say " Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed." Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.
As she hardly prayed at all, she thought as a wicked sinner she didn't deserve to get favors from God. But turning away from prayer was like "a baby turning from its mother's breasts, what can be expected but death? "
When she was 41, a priest convinced her to go back to her prayer, but she still found it difficult.
She sympathizes with those who have difficult time in prayer. "All the trial we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles."
For mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends, it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.
The important thing is not think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love.
Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.
As she started to pray again, God gave her spiritual delights.
She felt that the best evidence that her delights came from God was the experiences gave her peace, inspiration and encouragement.
At age of 43, she became determined to found a new convent that went back to the basics of a contemplative order ; a simple life of poverty devoted to prayer.
But it's not smooth sailing journey, she faced many tribulation from the sisters itself.
To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love not a rule. Although she proclaimed poverty, she believed in work, not in begging. She believed in obedience to God more than penance.
If you do something wrong, don't punish yourself - but CHANGE.
When someone felt depressed, her advice was that she go some place where she could see the sky and take a walk.
When someone was shocked that she was going to eat well, she answered "There's a time for partridge and a time for penance."
She believed that the most POWERFUL and ACCEPTABLE prayer was that prayer that leads to action.
Good effects were better than pious sensations that only make the person praying feel good.
She is the founder of the Discalded Carmelites. In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church for her writing and teaching on prayer.
She is the patron saint of Headache Sufferers.
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