Never Before Seen Images Of The Incorrupt Body Of Saint Teresa Of Avila!!

A tomb of a medieval Catholic saint was recently  opened last month for research and the condition   of her body stunned those who found her in  an August 28th press release translated from   Spanish to English the Diocese of Aila announced  the recent opening of the tomb of St Teresa of   Jesus the saint also known as St Teresa of Avila  was a Discalced Carmelite nun who died in 1582 the   diocese which is located in Spain explained that  the tomb was last opened in 1914 the tomb contains   most of St Teresa's corpse and has reportedly  remained incorrupt since 1582 according to the   diocese she was buried at the Convento de la  Anunciacion in Alba de Tormes 9 months after   her death the coffin was opened and her body was  to be found intact but the clothing had rotted   before the body was re-interred one of her hands  was cut off wrapped in a scarf and sent to Avila   Father Jeronimo Gracian the Spiritual Director  of St Teresa had cut off her little finger and   according to his own account kept it with him  until it was taken by the occupying Ottoman   Turks for whom he had to redeem it with a few  rings and pennies the body was exuded again on   25th November 1585 to be moved to Avila and  found to be incorrupt an arm was removed and   left in Alba de Tormes at the nun's request to  compensate for losing the main relic of Teresa   but the rest of the body was reburied in the  Discalced Carmelite Chapter House in Avila the   removal was done without the approval of the Duke  of Alba de Tormes and he brought the body back   in 1586 with Pope Sixtus V ordering that it remain  in Alba de Tormes on pain of excommunication a   grander tomb on the original site was raised in  1598 and the body was moved to a new Chapel in   1660 the previous opening of the tomb of St Teresa  of Jesus took place from August 16th to 23rd 1914   at that time the Diocese of Avila stated that the  body remained completely incorrupt according to   Carmelite Father Daniel de Pablo Maroto the tomb  was opened in 1914 because the Superior General of   the Discalced Carmelites Father Clemente de los  Santos wanted to take advantage of his visit to   Spain to see the bodies of the following Saints  St John of the Cross and Segovia and St Teresa in   Alba de Tormes the study that is now underway with  the remains of St Teresa of Avila will be similar   to that carried out in 1991 with those of St John  of the cross in Segovia on the occasion of the   fourth Centenary of his death Father Miguel Angel  Gonzalez explained how the Carmelite Mothers,   the Ecclesial Tribunal and the General Postulator  of the order of Carmelites transferred the coffin   while singing the Te Deum with hearts full  of emotion into a room where the scientific   medical team could exhume her body two goldsmiths  were present to help unlock the tomb a magnificent   gift from King Ferdinand VI and his wife Barbara  of Braganza the website explained that the tomb   has 10 keys in total three kept in Alba de Tormes,  three lent by the Duke of Alba, three held in Rome   by the General Father and the King's key three  of these keys are used to open the outer grill,   three to open the marble tomb and the remaining  four to open the silver urn the general postulator   of the order of Discalced Carmelites Father Marco  Chiesa said that the study had two purposes:   to confirm that St Teresa's body was still  incorrupt and to investigate her health before her   death we know that the last years were difficult  for her with walking and the pain she described   sometimes by examining a body specialists can  learn more about the person's condition when the   group analyzed the foot of the saint which is in  Rome they saw the presence of calcaneal spurs that   made walking almost impossible but for St Teresa  known for her mortifications continued to walk she   arrived at Alba de Tormes and then faced death but  her desire was to keep moving forward despite her   physical limitations as a woman Teresa stood on  her own two feet even in the man's world of her   time she was her own woman entering the Carmelites  despite strong opposition from her father she was   a person wrapped not so much in silence as  in mystery beautiful, talented, outgoing,   adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic  she was totally human like Jesus she was a mystery   of paradoxes wise, yet practical, intelligent yet  much in tune with her experience, a Mystic yet an   energetic reformer, a holy woman, a womanly woman,  Teresa was a woman for God, a woman of prayer,   discipline and compassion her heart belonged  to God her ongoing conversion was an artist   lifelong struggle involving ongoing purification  and suffering she was misunderstood, misjudged and   opposed in her efforts at reform yet she struggled  on courageous and faithful she struggled with her   own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition  and in the midst of all this she clung to   God in life and in prayer her writings on prayer  and contemplation are drawn from her experience   powerful, practical and graceful she was a woman  of prayer a woman for God Teresa was a woman for   others though a contemplative she spent much of  her time and energy seeking to reform herself   and the Carmelites to lead them back to the full  observance of the primitive Rule she founded over   a half dozen new monasteries she traveled, wrote,  fought, always to renew, to reform in herself,   in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts  to reform in all the people she touched she   was a woman for others, a woman who inspired  and gave life St Teresa of Aila, pray for us.