March 17 by Joan
Saint Theresa lived in the 1500s. She is famous for founding several Carmelite convents and monasteries, and also for having written several readable books on how to live. But much of her fame today centers not around her life, but her death. To be exact, she is very famous, at least in Spain, for the distribution of her body parts after her death.
We didn't know much when we arrived in Alba de Tormes. We had read in a guidebook that Saint Theresa's actual heart is on display. So the morning that we were planning to ride to Salamanca, we stopped in Alba to check out the heart,
Alba had a busy little town square with lots of kids running around and their parents milling around talking. In the background we heard a jackhammer (more obras).
We went to the Saint Theresa museum and asked to see the heart. The curator of the one room museum said he would find the friar for us. In the meantime we checked out the museum's room. It had plates and photographs commemorating a Papal visit, some old editions of some of St. Theresa's books, and ... a few body parts: the index finger of St. John of the Cross, and a small piece of coarse material with a piece of bone and flesh from St. Theresa.
It is so odd to see body parts on display. But it turns out to be normal in Spain. Later, in St. Esteban church in Salamanca, we saw a whole framed box of bone shards from many, many saints. At first we thought they were rock samples, but then we asked, and the person at the museum confirmed they were bone shards.
Anyway, back to Saint Theresa.
Friar Antonio
met us at the museum. He wore monk's robes and thick dark rimmed
glasses. He was a very friendly guy and he spoke Spanish clearly
and slowly enough for us to understand. I was impressed at his
sincerity considering he does this tour probably every day. As
we walked from the museum to the chapel he dropped a huge silver
key and it clanked on the brick street. Inside the chapel of St. Theresa he showed us the bed she died in. They had placed a mannequin on it, to represent her. The bed had been next to the chapel so she could attend mass even from her deathbed. Her casket was set above the altar and it looks identical to the caskets at the royal sepulchre in El Escorial.
On either side of the altar are heavy wooden doors, with big locks. Friar Antonio u
sed
his big silver key on these. Behind each big doors was a small
vault. The good friar used another key to open those. In the vault
on the left side of the altar was St. Theresa's left arm. On the
right side was her heart, which Joan said looked like beef jerky.
Both body parts were encased in ornate gold and glass containers.Why all the locks and keys? Who wants old body parts? Apparently, somebody did.
Here's the story, as we later heard it from our Spanish teacher in Salamanca: St. Theresa intended to die in Avila, her birthplace. But she didn't make it. She was on her way when she got really ill. So she stopped about 75 km west of Avila, in Alba de Tormes.
She was sick for
about two weeks before she died. When she died, because she had
a strong friendship with the Duchess of Alba (wife of the Duke
of Alba, a famous warrior), she got buried IN Alba's church. In
those days it was very unusual to bury women in churches. Usually
only men were buried inside.Soon (a few weeks?) after she was buried, a strange, sweet smell filled the church. Someone suspected that it came from her tomb. So it was opened. Inside, her body was still totally intact. It had not decayed at all, though the skin had dried. Word spread. Saint Theresa's body was kept on public display inside the church. Soon people came to see the miracle.
Word spread to Avila, too. And the folks in Avila were mad. Since St. Theresa was from Avila, they figured they should be the ones to keep St. Theresa's body. They asked Alba to fork it over. Alba refused.
Then, one day, two men posing as pilgrims came from Avila to see the body. When no one was looking, they put the body in a sack, to carry it back to Avila. However, one of the burgulars, out of pity for Alba (if we understood the story correctly), cut off St. Theresa's left arm, and left it behind. That way, Alba would at least have her left arm.
But the thief who cut off the arm for Alba also wanted a personal souvenir. So he cut off the hand! and kept it for himself. This explains why the hand is not on view in Alba.
After the thieves left, the people of Alba discovered the theft. They were horrified. Somehow they knew the body had been taken back to Avila. Alba and Avila argued over it again. Finally, the Duke of Alba, who had a lot of prestige as a warrior, personally petitioned the Pope. The Pope ordered Avila to give the body back. Avila did. Alba received it, and sometime later, buried the body. Today the body is in a casket above the altar.
As for the arm, it is completely dry, and also looks like beef jerkey
. The left
hand had its own fate: it somehow ended up in the possession of
Franco, who kept it either in, or above his office (if we understood
our Spanish teacher correctly). Currently, the hand is in Sevilla.
But that's not all. According to our Spanish teacher, one more limb got separated: a finger off of the left hand! Apparently, someone took a finger for a personal souvenir. The finger traveled with a Christian warrior to Turkey, and then back west. It is supposed to be on display somewhere in Portugal! (At this point, we wondered if our Spanish teacher, Nurria, was joking, but she swears it is all true).
Probably all the body parts snatchers involved were illiterate and never read a word of St. Theresa's books.
Next: Salamanca
