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undoubtedly helped sustain the active role
that she played in the church during the
Counter-Reformation.
Like many believers, she had become
dissatisfied with the permissive, or even
corrupt, state of the religious orders that
had developed during the later Middle
Ages. Within her own order, the Carmel-
ites, she lamented the abandonment of
strict and rigorous rules of contemplation
and prayer that had been laid down hun-
dreds of years earlier by the founders of the
order. She became an outspoken champion
of reform, advocating a return to a strict
and simple community observance. In the
first of what would be a perpetual campaign
to win and hold support from church lead-
ers, she was given permission by Rome to
establish at Ávila a convent of Discalced
Carmelites (the reference to “unshod” indi-
cating the humility and minimalism of their
lifestyle). She was met with fierce opposi-
tion from leaders of other religious commu-
nities and civil authorities but eventually
succeeded in gaining papal authorization to
found more than a dozen additional con-
vents of the reform movement in Spain.
During the 1560s and '70s Teresa of Ávila
became a recognized leader of Catholicism's
growing commitment to counteract Protes-
tantism by a revival of Christian values and
virtues that had slackened over the centu-
ries. By her writings and her example she
evoked a renewed ardor among both clergy
and laiety. Her activities, coinciding with
the Catholic reform decrees of the Council
of Trent, nevertheless met with frequent
opposition from those who resented criti-
cism or feared the effects of change. At vari-
ous moments she was rebuked, ordered to
abandon her work, or even subjected to
questioning on the authenticity of her spiri-
tual ideas. Undaunted, Teresa did not hesi-
tate to seek and win the backing of the great
ones of her time, including the pope and
King P
HILIP
II. She undertook many labori-
ous journeys to argue her case or simply to
visit the communities that she had inspired.
When she died, worn out by the fatigues of
her labor, she could take satisfaction in hav-
ing achieved her goals.
Teresa of Ávila was canonized in 1622,
and in 1970 she was proclaimed a doctor of
the church, the first woman to receive this
title which recognizes its bearer as one of
the fundamental teachers and guides in the
practice of the Catholic faith. Teresa of Ávi-
la's legacy lies primarily in her mystical
writings, including poetry and the
Moradas,
o El castillo interior
(
The Interior Castle,
1588).
Her equally famous
Camino de perfección
(
Way of Perfection,
1583) and
Vida,
her auto-
biography, have inspired many to seek a life
of virtue. For the Spanish people she has
remained an inspirational figure of a differ-
ent sort—a strong-minded and energetic
woman, cheerful and even humorous but
irresistible in her determination to do the
right thing. She is venerated not merely as
a saintly figure but as a true heroine of
Spain's Golden Age.
terrorism
A form of political violence characterized by
random and ruthless attacks either upon
the forces of government or the general
public, terrorism is intended to disrupt
ordered society and to intimidate those who
oppose the aims of the terrorists. Some stu-
dents of terrorism distinguish between ter-
rorism “from below” and “state terrorism”
intended to maintain government author-
ity by extralegal and secret use of force.
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