Blessed Anne of Jesus

Ana de Jesús, born Ana de Lobera y Torres on 25 November 1545 in Medina del Campo in Castile, was a Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun and one of the principal collaborators of Teresa of Ávila in the Teresian reform. She was the daughter of the physician Diego de Lobera and Francisca Gómez de Torres. Her father died when she was an infant and her mother when she was about nine, after which she was raised by relatives. In youth she declined marriage and, after a period of discernment, entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery of San José in Ávila in 1570, taking the name Ana de Jesús and making profession the following year. She became known for administrative skill, literacy, and a contemplative life, and Teresa of Jesus came to rely on her for new foundations.

Teresa appointed her prioress of the Granada Carmel, founded in January 1582, and Ana later served in other Spanish houses, including Madrid. While prioress at Granada she worked closely with John of the Cross, then prior of the Discalced friars there; at her request he composed the commentary on his poem the Spiritual Canticle, which is dedicated to her. After Teresa’s death in October 1582, Ana helped gather and safeguard Teresa’s manuscripts and was instrumental, with the Augustinian Luis de León, in the first printed edition of Teresa’s works (Salamanca, 1588). In the 1590s she opposed certain constitutional changes pressed by the Discalced superior Nicolás Doria, seeking instead to preserve Teresa’s original constitutions. After a papal brief obtained in 1590 was later set aside, she was removed from office, restricted, and confined for a time, including a period at Toledo.

In 1604 she led a group of Spanish nuns to France at the invitation of French patrons associated with Barbe Acarie, founding the first French Discalced Carmel (the Incarnation in Paris) and taking part in further houses at Pontoise and Dijon. In 1607 the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, sovereign in the Spanish Netherlands, called her to Brussels, where she founded a Carmel and remained for the rest of her life. From Brussels she oversaw additional foundations in the Low Countries, including Leuven and Mons, and maintained an extensive spiritual correspondence. She was regarded within the order as a faithful interpreter of Teresa’s spirit and as a foundress of the Teresian Carmel in France and Flanders.

Ana de Jesús died in Brussels on 4 March 1621. A reputation for holiness and a local cult persisted among Discalced Carmelites. Her cause advanced slowly; Pope Francis authorized a decree on a miracle attributed to her intercession, and she was beatified on 29 September 2019 in Brussels (ceremony presided over by Cardinal Angelo Becciu as papal legate). She has not been canonized. She is venerated as Blessed Anne of Jesus (Blessed Ana de Jesús), a central figure in the spread of the Discalced Carmelite reform beyond Spain.