Happy Birthday St. Teresa of Avila!
Today is the 500th birthday of St. Teresa of Avila (28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582).
She is a great saint, reformer and Doctor of the Church.
Perhaps you readers could contribute your own favorite quotes of the quotable St. Teresa.
One of my favorite tidbits is how her feast day wound up where it did in October.
Teresa died in 1582 on the night that the Gregorian Calendar took over from the previous Julian Calender, which was off several days. With the implementation of the Gregorian calendar 5–14 October were skipped. So, Teresa died either on 4 October (if she died before midnight) or on 15 October (if she died after). Very often saints’ feasts are the day they died and were “born” into heaven. Teresa’s feast, in any event, is on 15 October… her other birthday.
