Thursday, October 15, 2026

Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

memorial Ordinary Time

Selected Mass Reading

Gospel — Luke 11:47-54

Woe to you who build the monuments of the prophets: and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness that you consent to the doings of your fathers. For they indeed killed them: and you build their sepulchres. For this cause also the wisdom of God said: I will send to them prophets and apostles: and some of them they will kill and persecute. That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who was slain between the altar and the temple. Yea I say to you: It shall be required of this generation. Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered in: and those that were entering in, you have hindered. And as he was saying these things to them, the Pharisees and the lawyers began violently to urge him and to oppress his mouth about many things, Lying in wait for him and seeking to catch something from his mouth, that they might accuse him.

Feast Days

Aurelia of Regensburg Virgin, Recluse, Aristocrat d. 1027

Saint Aurelia of Regensburg, born in France according to local tradition and said to be a daughter of Hugh Capet, the first King of the Franks, chose Christ above the privileges of courtly life. When her parents arranged a marriage against her will, Aurelia fled in secret, disguising herself as a pilgrim so she could offer her life wholly to God. Her journey brought her to Regensburg, where Saint Wolfgang, the bishop of Ratisbon, recognized her true identity and guided her toward a hidden path of holiness. Embracing solitude, Aurelia settled near St. Emmeram’s Abbey and lived as a hermit for about fifty-two years, devoted to prayer, penance, and quiet fidelity. By the time of her death in 1027, her sanctity was widely known, confirmed by miracles that drew many to seek God through her intercession. Afterward, her relics were enshrined and her hermitage became a chapel and place of pilgrimage. She is invoked especially under the name Sainte-Aurélie and as a patron in times of fever. Her feast day is October 15.

Teresa of Ávila Carmelite nun, mystic, religious reformer, founder of the Discalced Carmelites (reform), author, spiritual writer 1515–1582

Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada was born on March 28, 1515, in or near Ávila, Spain. Raised in a devout home, she longed for holiness from childhood, even dreaming of martyrdom, and after her mother’s death she entrusted herself to the Virgin Mary as a spiritual mother. At twenty she entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Ávila. There, through suffering and serious illness, Teresa was drawn into deep prayer and a life of interior conversion, attributing her recovery to Saint Joseph’s intercession. As her love for Christ grew, she experienced profound mystical graces, including visions and the famous transverberation of her heart, which inflamed her with a burning desire to belong wholly to God. In the midst of the Counter-Reformation, Teresa became a courageous reformer, renewing Carmelite life and, with Saint John of the Cross, helping found the Discalced Carmelites. Her writings—especially The Life, The Way of Perfection, and The Interior Castle—continue to guide souls in prayer. Canonized in 1622, she was later named the first female Doctor of the Church. Her feast day is October 15.