Monastery of the Incarnation (Monasterio de la Encarnación), Ávila

The Monastery of the Incarnation was founded in 1478 inside the walled city, being at the beginning of the 16th century when the Carmelite convent moved to the outskirts of the city, building the monastery on land acquired from the Cabildo and that, previously It had been the Jewish cemetery.

This Monastery is one of the essential places in the life of Teresa of Ávila, where she remained almost uninterruptedly from 1535 to 1574. When Teresa of Cepeda, without parental permission, entered the Order of Carmel, the monastery was one of the most populated in the city. It had a very high number of assets, and like many others, convent life was not rigorous, with very marked social differences among the nuns. In La Encarnación he received the advice of Francisco de Borja, Juan de la Cruz and Pedro de Alcántara, and from here the Reform of Carmel was prepared.
The Convent houses a Teresian museum. One of the most outstanding works is a drawing made by Juan de la Cruz that represents Christ on the Cross.

In these convents, outside the city walls, Teresa entered as a 20-year-old woman. She lived in this Carmelite convent in 30 and developed her reform plans for the Order here. From here, she founded her first convent of St. Joseph, the Discalced Carmelite, on an area provided by her sister.
For a few years she returned as prioress to this convent, which did not follow its reform until the twentieth century.
On the way home from Burgos she died in the convent in Alba de Tormes on the last day of the validity of the Julian calendar.
In their spirituality, the love of God and man are closely connected:
"Whether we love God, you never know; But one recognizes the love of one's neighbor very well. "

Her most important spiritual experience, the "Transverberation" describes her as follows:
"I saw an angel next to me, on my left side, in a physical form, which I hardly ever see. [...] He was not tall, rather small, very beautiful, with such a glowing countenance, that he apparently belonged to the most exalted angels, who looked as if they were all in flames. [...] I saw in his hands a long golden arrow, and at the top of this iron seemed to lick a little fire. It was as if he thrust it into my heart a few times, and as if it were penetrating my guts. When he pulled it out, it seemed to me that he was tearing her away, leaving me burning with God's love. The pain was so strong that it caused me to moan, but at the same time the tenderness which this immensely great pain arouses in me is so overwhelming that even the desire does not arise to let it go, nor that the Soul contented with less than God. It is not a bodily pain, but a mental pain, even though the body certainly shares in it, and even quite a lot. "

de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_von_Ávila