St. Teresa of Ávila
Colors:
Hat - Thuja & Undyed
Body - Dune & Undyed
Arms - Hive Mind
Nose & hands - Mystery peach
Habit Hat
White edging on center front done in duplicate stitch across the edge stitches. Intended to look like the white veil poking out from under the edge of the habit.
I extended the back and side of the hat brim to look more like a habit by doing two extra rounds of short rows.
Body
The first inch after the stitch pickup is undyed to be the part of the veil that covers the shoulders.
The rest of the body is dune. The arms are in hive mind because I ran out of dune.
Book and Quill
Quill - metal jewelry bail with feather end cut into quill shape, poked through stitches on hand
Book - small metal book locket, glued onto hand with E6000
Symbols inside locket - hand drawn on cardstock with sharpie and colored pencil, glued into locket
Tambourine (“May God protect me from gloomy saints.”) and Pierced Heart (ecstatic vision of an angel piercing her heart)
About St. Teresa
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a Spanish mystic who lived during the Counter-Reformation, a period of religious turmoil in Europe. Teresa founded several houses for discalced (or “barefoot”) Carmelite friars and nuns, who sought to live according to the original rule of the order. This was a more primitive and ascetic form of monastic life than was practiced in Spain at that time. In addition, Teresa was author of numerous books, including her Life, a personal autobiography, the Way of Perfection, a handbook for her nuns, and Interior Mansions, in which she describes the many different steps taken on the path to mystical union with God. (https://aras.org/selection_ecstasy.aspx)
Of her ecstatic experience of her heart being pierced: “I saw an angel very near me, towards my left side, in bodily form, which is not usual with me; for though angels are often represented to me, it is only in my mental vision. This angel appeared rather small than large, and very beautiful. His face was so shining that he seemed to be one of those highest angels called seraphs, who look as if all on fire with divine love. He had in his hands a long golden dart; at the end of the point methought there was a little fire. And I felt him thrust it several times through my heart in such a way that it passed through my very bowels. And when he drew it out, methought it pulled them out with it and left me wholly on fire with a great love of God.” The heart and arrow symbolize this experience.
Teresa once prayed: “May God protect me from gloomy saints.” To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love, not a rule. She is sometimes pictured with tambourine to represent the joy she experienced in her faith.
St. Teresa was elevated to doctor of the church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, the first woman to be so honoured. The book and quill symbolize her writings and this honor.
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