An article in the Catholic Herald flagged up some difference of opinion about the appropriateness of a public display of the corpse of Spain’s most beloved saint.
This was the first public display of the body of Saint Teresa of Avila since 1914. Apparently nearly 70,000 people have travelled from across Spain and further to see St Teresa. For the past two weeks, the saint’s corpse has been exhibited in the Basilica of the Annunciation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Alba de Tormes, in northwestern Spain.
“A mild air of religious euphoria hangs over the town, which is surrounded by a vast meseta landscape of poppy-fringed pasture in the western Salamanca province,” writes Isambard Wilkinson in her “Letter from Spain” for The Times. St Teresa, she writes, was “was a pillar of Spain’s 16th-century Counter-Reformation and embodies the passion of Spain’s old faith”. She also notes that Spain’s dictator, Franco, was a great devotee, keeping a relic of her hand next to his bed!
“It’s historic as she has only been viewed by the public twice before since her death in 1582 and this is the longest she has ever been on show,” says Miguel Ángel González, the prior of the Discalced Carmelites of Salamanca who are responsible for looking after the saint’s remains, and who’s initiative it was to put her remains on public display.
But not everyone approved. “It is not a good idea to display the body of Saint Teresa in this way,” José Luis Retana, the Bishop of Salamanca, has publicly declared. “It only serves to encourage people’s morbid curiosity.” And a retired teacher from Asturias explained he was not drawn to the corpse by any religious fervour, but rather “because she was one of Spain’s great literary figures.” He adds: “Also, I confess to being here due to a certain morbid fascination.”
But it is now too later to go and see her. St Teresa’s remains were on public display from 11-25th May, but have now been removed.
Read the article here in the Catholic Herald.