Teresa of Ávila (1515–82, also known as St. Teresa of Jesús, Teresa of Ahumada, and Teresa of the Cross) was a Spanish mystic, a Carmelite nun, and a reformer of orders (Religious Orders and Congregations 1). Teresa came from a family of conversos (her grandfather was converted from Judaism to Christian faith in 1485) who purchased their title of nobility. According to her autobiography, Vida, or Libro de las misericordias del Señor (1565, Book of the mercies of the Lord), Teresa, as a child in 1522, wanted to flee to the Moors with her brother Rodrigo in order to …