Observations placeholder
Saint Teresa of Avila - Hears a very soft voice speaking to her
Identifier
000436
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
She has auditory hallucinations that these days might have had her committed as a schizophrenic. We need to remember here that she probably, as a result of her heart problems, suffered very regular oxygen deprivation.
A description of the experience
The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself
in this state, I went to a very lonely hermitage, of which our convent has several, in which there is a picture of Christ bound to the column....... then I heard a very soft voice speaking to me, as it were, in a whisper. All my hair stood on end with terror. I tried to hear what He said to me, but I could not and it was quickly over. When my fear left me, I felt a calm, a joy and an inward delight; it amazed me that the mere hearing of a voice – for this I heard with my physical ears -should have such an effect on my soul, even though I did not understand a word