The Eagle and the Dove

A brilliant double biography of two female saints- Teresa of Avila and Ther se of Lisieux

The two saints whose lives Vita Sackville-West contrasts in this double biography were recorded by very different epithets- ‘the great’ and ‘the little’. Both women were Carmelites, both canonised and both shared the same name. But whilst Teresa of Avila was aristocratic, intellectual, vigorous and humorous, a Spanish woman of the sixteenth century, Ther se of Lisieux was a guileless and sentimental figure of the French bourgeoisie. Teresa, the great mystic, is the patron saint of Spain; Ther se, the humble nun, is probably the most beloved saint in the entire Calendar. The extraordinary rise of the cult of both women is scrutinised.