Alba de Tormes, Spain (AP) – they were arranged to see it, silently and wonderful: inside an open silver ark was St. Theresa from Avila, more than 440 years after her death.
Catholic worshipers flock to Alba de Tormes, a city ringed by rolling pastures in Western Spain, where the remains of the Spanish saint, the mystical and religious reformer of the 16th century were exhibited this month.
“It gave me a sense of performance, joy and sadness,” said Guiomar Sanchez, who was traveling from Madrid with his two daughters on Sunday, the last full day of the exhibit.
Inspired by her mother’s faith in the nun Carmelite, Sanchez praised mystic’s writings as her time. Sanchez said she also came partly to honor her mother.
“Her vision was an inexplicable experience,” Sanchez added.
On Monday morning, the ark of the saint, who died in 1582, was strengthened and transferred to the city streets, with worshipers following the procession. It is not clear how many years – or decades – it will pass before the church again makes the remains of St. Theresa visible to the public.
Teresa was last shown in 1914, when the devils had one day to see the saint. This time, the display has attracted almost 100,000 visitors for two weeks, said Miguel Angel Gonzalez, the previous one of the distinct Carmelites of Salaman.
The ark that holds the remains of the saint is only 1.3 meters long (4 feet).
The visible is a skull dressed in habit with clothes covering other parts of the body, not all of which are intact. The saint’s heart is stored in another part of the church, staff said. Other parts of the body are stored as relics – fingers, hand and jaw – in churches throughout Europe.
Theresa is a towering figure from the Golden Age of Spain and the 16th century counter -reformation. Her studies of inner life and meditations on her relationship with God were controversial, but they were still held for centuries as a “deep treatise of spirituality,” says Jose Kalvo, a professor of theology at the University of Salamanka, who specializes in medieval history.
Many have worshiped her. Former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco is thought to have kept a relic in the saint’s hand next to his bed.
Last September, the newly elected Pope Leo XIV visited the saint’s birthplace in Avila, an hour by car from Alba de Tormes.
Teresa’s remains have also gave rise to memorials online for the ominous nature of clusters around her centuries -old skull.
In Alba de Tormes, church officials and experts downplay such reactions, saying that the display is nothing unusual about how Catholics have worshiped their saints for centuries.
“It was just something that people have always done when they think someone can be a saint,” says Kathleen Mebrak, who wrote the book Teresa from Avila, the progress of the soul.
“And the fact that her body has not fallen apart is also considered a sign of her worldwide,” Meduik added.
Some worshipers were visibly moved this month. On Sunday, a group of nuns from India wiped tears as they stood by the ark side and looked at the remains of the saint behind a glass case.
Gregory Martin Lopez, 75, climbed to a lifted part of the church behind the altar, hoping to get a better look on the top of the skull of the diminutive saint.
“The saint is something of great force to me. If they close it, I can say that I saw her,” Martin said, and with tears in her eyes, blown up a kiss to Teresa’s relic as organ music filled the space.
___
The Associated Press Religion coverage receives support through AP collaboration with the US conversation, such as funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is only responsible for this content.