Lenten Campaign 2025
This content is free of charge, as are all our articles.
Support us with a donation that is tax-deductible and enable us to continue to reach millions of readers.
In the summer of 2024, the tomb of Teresa of Avila was opened so that an in-depth study of her relics could be carried out. The famous Carmelite Doctor of the Church rests in the town where she died, in northwestern Spain: Alba de Tormes.
Teresa died in 1582 and in the following centuries, there was great interest in obtaining relics of her, i.e., a piece of her bone or flesh. This led to some of her remains being dispersed around Europe; however the majority, including her heart and arm, are kept under careful vigilance in the town of her death, on the beautiful Tormes River.
After 110 years, the tomb of the great Spanish doctor of the Church was opened for studies; researchers found that her body was still preserved in the state it had been previously.
The research project is divided into three separate phases and when concluded, the results will be published.
Now the Carmelites have announced that her relics will be made visible for public veneration. At a press conference on March 11, various Carmelite Church officials explained that the relics will be open for public veneration from May 11 to 25, 2025, in the Basílica of the Anunciación in Alba de Tormes.
At the end of this time period, the relics will be returned to their definitive resting place, and this will bring to an end the investigation process.
March 28 will be the 510th anniversary of her birth (in 1515). On that date the urn which is her definitive resting place will be presented to the public in activities commemorating her birth.
The May event will be just the third time in the 443 years since her death that her relics have been made available for public veneration. In 1760, her tomb was opened for 7 hours, and in 1914, it was opened for a day. That year, it had been previously opened for private veneration.
And today we celebrate...