Saint Teresa of Avila

The gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.

Teresa was a woman “for others.” Though a contemplative, she spent much of her time and energy seeking to reform herself and the Carmelites, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled, wrote, fought—always to renew, to reform. In her self, in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts to reform, in all the people she touched, she was a woman for others, a woman who inspired and gave life.

She wrote The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, both of which have helped people discover their interior and contemplative lives. 
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In 1970, she was named a Doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored.
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Saint Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers. 

Her feast day is October 15. 

Find more information about St. Teresa of Avila HERE