Saint Teresa is endlessly fascinating, and there is no lack of documentation on her life, her thought, and her significance, not only to people of Catholic faith, but anyone interested in spirituality, leadership, feminism, social history, or simply a compelling character, role model or not.

Saint Teresa wrote voluminously during her career. Hundreds of letters are extant, as well as the theological classics on the nature of the contemplative life which earned her the distinction of Doctor of Theology of the Catholic Church, one of only two women to be honored with this title.

To begin, you might want to look into the The Life of Teresa of Jesus, her autobiography. This is available in at least two English language translations, and has been translated into numerous other languages.

The Foundations is Teresa's account of the circumstances of the establishment of most of the houses of the Reformed Carmelite Rule carried out during her lifetime. It presents a vivid picture of her life not only as a revered religious, but also as an astute deal cutter, politician and psychologist.

The Way of Perfection was written for the nuns of St. Joseph's in Avila, her first foundation. It contains her reflections and teachings to them on the nature and expectations of the way of life they have chosen as contemplatives, and the lifelong process of relationship with God.

Interior Castle. The most famous of St. Teresa's works on the nature of the contemplative's approach to God. A classic, justly renowned for its use of exquisite metaphor and its spiritual profundity.

Biographies of Saint Teresa

These are numerous, and written with many different biases and intentions. Below are some of my favorites.

Auclair, Marcelle. Saint Teresa of Avila. Translated by Kathleen Pond. Petersham, MA: St. Bede's Publications, 1988.

du Bolay, Shirley. Teresa of Avila: Her Story. Ann Arbor, MI: Charis, Servant Publications

Lincoln, Victoria. Teresa: A Woman. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1984.

Sackville-West, Vita, The Eagle and the Dove. New York: Doubleday, 1944 (o.p.)

Other Books on Saint Teresa

Two books by Tessa Bielicki give a very vivid picture of how alive Teresa is in contemporary spiritual life. Bielicki is a Carmelite and is co-founder of the Spiritual Life Institute. She is Mother of its two hermitages, Nada in Crestone, CO and Nova Nada in Kemptville, Nova Scotia. Try: Holy Daring. Brisbane, Australia: Element Books, 1994; and Teresa of Avila: Mystical Writings. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1994.

For a picture of the socio-economic conditions which made St. Teresa's remarkable reform possible, look into Jodi Billinkoff's The Avila of St. Teresa: Religious Reform in a Sixteenth Century City. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1989. Billinkoff is a professor of history at University of North Carolina at Greensboro and was a student of Natalie Zemon Davis (The Return of Martin Guerre) at Princeton. This book is excellent.

A personal meditation with great interest for anyone on their own spiritual search: Gross, Francis L. Jr., with Toni Perior Gross, The Making of a Mystic: Seasons in the Life of Teresa of Avila. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Alison Weber's Teresa of Avila and the Rhetoric of Femininity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990) is a rigorous decostruction of the often puzzling and contradictory nature of Teresa's writings.

Teresa's approach to prayer and the life of the spirit anticipated Jung's understandings of individuation and human growth. For an in-depth comparison and appreciation of both St. Teresa and Jung, try John Welch, O.Carm., Spiritual Pilgrims: Carl Jung and Teresa of Avila. New York: Paulist Press, 1982.

For an in-depth look at Teresian theology: Rowan Williams, Teresa of Avila. Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series, Brian Davies, OP, Ed. Wilson, CT: Morehouse Publishing, 1991.

I would be very happy to hear from anyone your suggestions for additional reading.