The Miracle of Saint Teresa of Ávila

The Miracle of Saint Teresa of Ávila

2024 - Los Angeles

Teresa del Rey is considered one of the sexiest women around. Tall, brunette and green-eyed, her gait is feline and her voice is sensual. Until now, she has had no need to enlarge her breasts or her lips. A critic once said that there was something unique and indefinable about her, that she is unlike any other woman.

 At twenty-five, Teresa is at the very peak of her career. Agents vie to represent her, film directors shower her with invitations, her fan base continues to grow and her peers all envy her. Teresa has everything she has ever wanted in life. But she lacks one thing, the most important: love.

Teresa knows that, despite being desired by millions of men and women, despite enjoying all the lovers she wants, despite the flowers and dinners, the flights on private jets, none of the men or women she beds truly love her. They may well love her body, her sexual prowess, her name, her fame and her wealth. But Teresa the woman, Teresa the simple girl raised on a farm, who fed the chickens and went to Mass on Sundays, who was destined to have a dead-end job in her small town before she fled to Los Angeles, Teresa the woman who is afraid of the dark and sleeps with a teddy bear, this Teresa, they don’t love. Stripped of her high profile, Teresa would be nothing to those people who idolise her.

But there’s something else that’s troubling her: what will she do when she grows old?

Teresa del Rey is a porn actress, inventing her screen name to avoid embarrassing her family, who emigrated from Mexico twenty-five years ago.

One evening, Teresa is sitting on the red sofa in her seafront apartment. The white walls are lined with posters of her films and the awards she has won - she barely notices them anymore. She is wearing a light-blue bathrobe and is barefoot. Her gaze is lost in the orange sunset sky. In her right hand, she holds a joint packed with more marijuana than usual. The sweet smell of burning weed wafts around the room.

Taking one last drag, Teresa opens the laptop at her side.

While browsing social media, she comes across an image that catches her eye: a woman lying on a cloud with an intense expression on her face, while a half-naked teenager is poised to pierce her with an arrow. Teresa’s eyes widen. She has never seen anything like it. Just what is that? She clicks on the image and discovers that it is a 17th-century sculpture by a certain Bernini called The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, on display in Rome in the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. Teresa isn’t fascinated by the ornate folds of the cloth covering the saint or the perfection of the angel’s body, nor by the golden rays shining down on them, nor by the Baroque altarpiece in which the piece is housed. No, these details hold little fascination for her. What fascinates her is the only thing she recognises and understands: the saint’s expression, teetering between pain and pleasure, as if close to a sexual climax. But there is something else she finds familiar: on either side of the church, there is a box with spectators watching that scene, just like the viewers of her films, who watch her on computer screens, or the team of lighting and sound technicians filming her.

While observing the saint’s face, Teresa begins to see disturbing similarities with her own: the cheekbones, the nose, the mouth and, of course, that extraordinary expression of carnal pleasure. She fantasises that she once had another life, in another time, where she was also famous and used her body to make money. She was the mistress of nobles, popes and the great Baroque artists. She was a courtesan. Which is why she was the model for this sculpture almost four hundred years ago. Or was it the saint herself who had those spiritual ecstasies? Suddenly, her thoughts morph into images and race through her mind: the actress, the model and the saint metamorphose into one another. Who is who? Which is which? The effect is so intense that Teresa is left wondering whether she is hallucinating or remembering past lives.

Lost in fantasy, Teresa now thinks she is merely continuing her old profession as a woman who pleases men. But there is another reason why she is better than her peers, unique and unrivalled. There is another reason why she has something that other women don’t: a certain saintliness to her.

In a profane version that only her fans understand, porn films are the Baroque art of the 21st century.

*

Rome - 1652

Ludovica Mastrantonio is nineteen years old and the latest addition to Domenico Piavoni’s brothel, the most luxurious in the Italian republics. Ludovica is tall, brunette and has fair eyes. Piavoni has realised that she is different from the others, a one-off, and only offers her to special clients.

One of them is Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Ludovica and Bernini are in a red room decorated with pictures of Venus and a statue of Cupid with an arrow in his hand. The evening light is filtered through a blue curtain. There is the scent of bergamot in the air that softens the odour of their bodies. The lovers are lying on a bed with a velvet mattress and silk sheets. Sweat drips down their skin. Bernini watches Ludovica. He strokes her cheek; she lowers her eyes and smiles. Then he covers her head with the sheet.

- I’m going to transform you into a saint.

Ludovica embraces him.

- And will I perform miracles then?

- You never know.

- It would be a miracle if someone were to get me out of here and marry me. What will become of me when I get old?

A few months later, Bernini is on the verge of finishing his masterpiece. Aged 50, he has enjoyed a long career of artworks designed to attract believers to Catholic churches by means of sensuality, drama and wealth. To combat the Protestant schism triggered by Luther, the Catholic Church had turned to the finest artists. The aim was to turn churches into palaces and Masses into a theatrical spectacle served by music, songs and works of painting and sculpture that would make believers feel close to heaven. They called it the Baroque style.

However, things hadn’t gone well for Bernini recently. The new Pope, Innocent X, had banned all artists who had worked with the previous Pope, Urban VII, considering him debauched and immoral.

Bernini was one of the banned artists.

His fortunes took a turn, however, when the Venetian cardinal Federico Cornaro chose him to decorate the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria, which he intended to use as his final resting place. With Cornaro’s approval, Bernini decided to honour the recently canonised Saint Teresa of Ávila with a sculpture depicting her mystical visions. What nobody expected, not least Cardinal Cornaro himself, was that Bernini would interpret the saint’s ecstasy just as Teresa described it herself.

And the result was scandalous. It all begins with her naked foot which, despite the rest of her body being covered, hints at the nudity of the saint; then an angel appears who looks more like Cupid, the son of Venus, preparing to penetrate her with an arrow; then that ambiguous face and twisted body, where carnal enjoyment takes precedence over spirituality; and, as a final heresy, all this is being watched by spectators in a box - the Cornaro family.

Criticism, indignation and threats flooded in, but Cardinal Cornaro would have none of it. He agreed with the critics who said that Saint Teresa would have been over forty when she saw the visions and couldn’t have had that youthful face, but then he countered with something about the creativity of artists, saying that Michelangelo had been equally inconsistent with his Pietà, and that was all. He loved the work. That woman reminded him of a passion from his youth. That sculpture rejuvenated him. And The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa remains in the church to this day.

*

Ávila - 1559

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada is forty-four years old. With a dark complexion and pale eyes, she still retains something of the pretty girl who used to arouse desire in men. But men have never interested her. She has loved no one but Jesus and wants to die like the holy martyrs. That’s why, as a child, she tried to escape from the walls of Ávila to hand herself over to the Moors. But Jesus didn’t want her to die and sent her uncle to prevent her escape. Then, when she was fourteen, He took her mother away so that she could enter the Convent of Our Lady of Grace. And Jesus saved her again when she fell so seriously ill that the nuns prepared her funeral.  

Teresa understands that all this has happened because Jesus has a plan for her.

One warm June evening, Teresa is walking down a dark corridor in the convent. She is dressed in a black habit with a white collar, her head covered by a grey cap, leather sandals on her feet. She carries an oil lamp to guide her way. Her footsteps are as silent as those of a ghost. She enters her cell. It is a small, low-ceilinged room with nothing but a stone bed and a straw mattress. There’s a burning candle that she never blows out because she’s afraid of the dark. The room smells of smoke and wax. Teresa can’t stand the heat any longer and takes off her habit. But the fire raging through her body does not go out. Her pupils dilate. Her lips feel like they’re going to burst. Sweat trickles down her skin and drips onto the granite slab.

Teresa gets down on her knees.

Her knees feel red raw, but she likes the pain. She raises her arms and closes her eyes. She knows that if she concentrates with all her faith, Jesus and the angels will appear to her. Shortly afterwards, Teresa begins to tremble, opens her mouth and moans. She stays like this, in ecstasy, for a few minutes until she finally collapses on the floor, unconscious.

The next day, she writes down an account of her vision:

In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease...

*

Los Angeles - 2024

For the first time in her life, Teresa logs into Amazon to shop for books: any book she can find on The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. She also considers buying a small reproduction, but realises that such copies have nothing to do with the original sculpture. In the meantime, she spends her free time researching the subject online. She discovers that the saint performed six miracles, but she puts no faith in that. Only the statue interests her. In a confused way, she feels that the sculpture might be able to reveal something about her destiny; she feels that this is where she’ll find the answers she’s been looking for.

She also tries to talk to her workmates, agents, directors and lovers, but nobody has the slightest idea who that Italian and that Spanish woman were. She even thinks about phoning her mum, because she surely knows something about the saint that isn’t in the books, but she’s afraid she’ll hang up on her again.

Teresa then realises that there is only one thing to do: go to Rome to see the masterpiece. She has the means to do so and can postpone any planned filming for a week. After all, she’s already done much crazier and more dangerous things in her life.

*

Rome - 2024

As soon as she enters the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria, Teresa is immersed in the Baroque atmosphere of coloured marble and gilded capitals, of light and shadows, of a theatricality that is familiar to her. The church is teeming with tourists taking photos with their mobile phones and talking loudly. Teresa weaves her way through them until she reaches the Carrara marble altar that houses the sculpture of the saint. When she sees it for the first time, she feels as if she is standing before an old friend, someone with whom she has experienced the most important moments of her life. And yet, the beauty of the statue strikes her like the golden rays that illuminate Saint Teresa lying on a cloud.

Her green eyes glisten. Her mouth opens. Her neck tilts slightly. In that instant, she shouts ‘Silence!’, and everyone falls silent. Some people move away from her.

Teresa then kneels in front of the saint and puts her hands together. People think she’s praying, but they’re wrong. She has forgotten her prayers and no longer believes in God. Teresa talks to the other Teresa, woman to woman.

‘Teresa, ever since I first saw you, I have known that there is a connection between us. There’s a secret that unites us. And I need to find out what it is to make sense of my life. Sometimes I even think we’re the same person, that I was once a saint and you’re now an adult film actress. You’ve had visions and I’ve had something similar. Yes, I know this is absurd. I’m not crazy, nor do I believe in reincarnation. So, it has to be something else. It’s something you know about me. Tell me, please, tell me...’

But statues can’t hear or speak. And Teresa, try as she might, receives no reply. She tries to enlist the support of the Cornaro family in the boxes, the audience that idolises her, but they remain as silent as Saint Teresa of Avila. After fifteen minutes of pleading, exhausted, Teresa loses control of herself and begins to cry. She feels like a fool and just wants to go home, to her films, to the people who, even if imperfectly, like her.

I’d rather be a rich whore than a crazy saint, she says to herself.

What Teresa doesn’t know is that ever since she arrived, she has been watched by a young Italian man who thinks she is a fellow devotee of the saint. As she gets up, Piero approaches her.

- È magnifica, non è vero?

For a moment, Teresa believes that the sweet voice has come from the angel with the arrow in his hand. She turns around and sees a tall boy with curly black hair, grey eyes and plump lips smiling at her. Teresa doesn’t speak Italian, but she has understood what he said. And now she understands him perfectly because Piero, laughing at his mistake, has started speaking in English. But Teresa is unable to say a word back to him as her whole body is drained of strength. She feels faint and would fall if Piero weren’t there to hold her. When she feels the touch of his hand, she believes it is the angel’s arrow that has pierced her flesh. Teresa closes her eyes and opens her mouth in a gasp of pain and pleasure. Several moments of happiness in her life flash through her mind and she wishes that moment would never end.

Not long afterwards, Piero takes her outside.

A balmy breeze is blowing. The sky is blue and the sun is shining. The light hits Teresa’s face and rouses her. Cars and motorbikes pass in the street. The noise of the engines and horns, as well as the smell of petrol, remind her of home. Piero smiles at her and strokes her cheek. Teresa blushes and lowers her eyes. Piero tells her he’ll accompany her to her hotel and they head off together. But they don’t walk towards the hotel. Instead they walk aimlessly, neither of them knowing where they are going. The pavements are full of passers-by, dogs too, but they don’t see them. They can’t see the shop windows or smell the aromas coming from the restaurants. They can no longer hear the infernal traffic. They don’t notice a flock of doves rising in a square and flying over their heads. Teresa and Piero walk in a cloud that floats over the streets of Rome. They hold hands and talk into each other’s ears. Their eyes sparkle. Their bodies are warming up, but it won’t be today that sweat trickles down their skin.