ANNA DI GESÙ, VENERABILE

ANNA of Jesus, Venerable. – A Carmelite of the reform and collaborator of St Teresa, born at Medina del Campo (Spain) on 25 November 1545, died at Brussels on 4 March 1621. At the age of ten she took a vow of virginity. She received the Teresian habit in 1570 and was a companion of St Teresa in the foundation of the monastery of Beas (1575), of which she became prioress. She founded the monasteries of Granada (1582) and Madrid (1586). In 1604 she introduced the Teresian reform into France, founding the monasteries of Paris, Pontoise and Dijon, and then in Belgium, where she founded the monastery of Brussels (1607). She was held in great esteem by St Teresa and St John of the Cross. At her request the “Mystical Doctor” wrote the Spiritual Canticle, and Fray Luis de León the Exposition of the Book of Job.