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A team of researchers will spend the next four days studying the body of St. Teresa of Avila, after her tomb was opened this August 28. The 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.
In fact, to open the urn containing her body, 10 separate keys are needed; three of these are habitually kept in Rome.
[Here you can watch a video showing the Carmelites moving the urn from the chapel to the room where the studies will be done.]
Upon the opening of her tomb on August 28, the researchers could determine that the saint's remains are still as they were the last time the tomb was opened, in 1914.
Carmelite Fathers Marco Chiesa, postulator general of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, and Miguel Ángel González, prior of Alba de Tormes, detailed the progress of today's work, reported ABC Castilla y León, notably verifying that the saint's remains are still as they appear in photos from 1914.
Father Chiesa explained that researchers are hoping to be able to determine more about the life of the saint, including the types of illnesses she suffered. They also aim to decide about how the relics should be preserved for the future.
This research is about “getting to know the saint better, her offerings, her last years of life defined by pain,” he said. For example, the priest noted, "it has already been detected that she suffered from calcium spurs in her foot, that made it impossible for her to walk [without pain], but she walked and reached Alba de Tormes. And her desire was to continue."
Within the urn, the team found chronicles of moving her body within the monastery in 1754, as well as photographs from 1914.
Father González shared his joy at how the body was found, although he added that the discovery was expected, particularly as the heart and the arm, which are preserved beside the urn in glass reliquaries, are incorrupt.
The research will be carried out in three separate phases, over the coming several months. When concluded, the results will be published.
