Blessed Anne of Jesus

Ana de Jesús, known in English as Anne of Jesus (25 November 1545 – 4 March 1621), was a Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun and writer. She was the founder of the Carmelite reform and a close companion of Teresa of Ávila, and served to establish new monasteries of the Order throughout Europe. Known as a mystic and for her writings on prayer, she has been beatified by the Catholic Church.

Childhood Born Ana de Lobera y Torres in Medina del Campo in the Province of Valladolid, her parents were Diego de Lobera and Francisca Torres, who also had a son called Cristóbal, who became a Jesuit. As a small child she was assumed to be deaf and dumb. However, she started to talk at the age of seven. Her father died some months after her birth, and her mother died too when Ana was nine years old, so she was left an orphan and went to live with her father's relatives.

Monastic life Having made a vow of virginity, Lobera entered the Monastery of St. Joseph in Ávila, founded by Teresa of Ávila, in 1570. In 1571, while still a novice, she was sent to a new foundation in Salamanca, where she professed religious vows on 22 October, and she remained there until 1575. That year she accompanied Teresa for the foundation of the Monastery of Beas, Spain, of which she became the first prioress.

After being in a new monastery in Granada, Ana made a foundation at Madrid (1586), where she also served as a prioress. It was there that she became involved in a dispute which was to have long-term repercussions. The friar in charge of the monastery, Nicholas of Gesu Maria Doria, made changes requiring severe rigidity in the Constitutions of the nuns, drawn up by Teresa with the assistance of Jerome Gratian, and approved by a chapter in 1581. His intentions was, that by concentrating all authority in the hands of a committee of external officials, he could thereby guard the nuns against any relaxation of their life. Ann of Jesus, determined to preserve intact Teresa's work, with Doria's knowledge appealed to the Holy See for papal confirmation of their Constitutions. This was granted by Pope Sixtus V in a papal brief dated 5 June 1590. Then, however, Doria complained to King Philip II of Spain that the nuns had gone over the head of their superiors, as a result of which the king twice forbade the meeting of a monastery chapter to receive the papal brief, and the nuns, and their advisers and supporters, the friars Luis de León and Domingo Bañez, fell into disgrace. Furthermore, for over a year no friar was allowed to hear the nuns' confessions. When the king finally heard the story from the nuns' point of view, he ordered that the internal council of the monastery resume its authority, and he further petitioned the Holy See for an approval of the Constitutions. This was granted by Pope Gregory XIV on 25 April 1591, revoking the decrees of his predecessors.

Doria resumed his authority over the nuns, but his first act was to punish Ana de Jesús severely for having made the appeal to the Holy See. She was forbidden from receiving Holy Communion for three years, and separated from all interaction with the other nuns of the monastery. When the period for this penance was over, she was sent to Salamanca, where she became prioress from 1596 to 1599.

In the meanwhile, a project had developed for bringing the Teresian Reform to France. Mother Marie of the Incarnation, the first French woman in the Order, warned by Teresa and assisted by Francis de Sales, the Abbé de Brétigny and Cardinal de Bérulle, brought a few nuns, mostly trained by Teresa herself, with Ana de Jesús at their head, from Avila to Paris, where they established the Monastery of the Incarnation, 16 October 1604.

Ana was a friend of John of the Cross, who dedicated his work the Spiritual Canticle to her. Saint John of the Cross even entrusted the book to her which she conserved until 1586 when she gave it to the novice Isabel of the Incarnation, who took it to the foundations in Baeza and Jaén, where it was bound and is preserved. When Ana saw Saint John of the Cross for the first time, he was all battered and hurt, she sent two nuns to sing Liras en Loor de los trabajos to him, when he heard just the first verse, they had such an impact on him he fell into ecstasy. There are many authors who attribute these Liras to Ana, but today there is doubt about her authorship.

Relationship with Teresa of Ávila From the moment Teresa of Ávila met Ana de Jesus she became her favorite daughter, and, along with Mary of St. Joseph, were her pillars in her life and work. In 1881, the diocese of Mechelen opened the process on the fame of sanctity, life, miracles, and new apostolic decrees were written about her works and the validity of the apostolic process. Her writings were approved on 2 May 1885. On 14 December 2023, Pope Francis recognized the miracle necessary for Ana's beatification. She was beatified on 29 September 2024 at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.

Apparition to St. Therese Even though she was declared venerable in 2019, the Carmelites have always called her "Venerable Mother Anne". Therese of Lisieux refers to her as "Venerable Anne of Jesus". In Saint Therese's Story of a Soul she writes of a dream she has in which Venerable Anne of Jesus appears to her and lets her know that she will soon be able to go to heaven. Therese says: "Without the least hesitation, I recognized Venerable Anne of Jesus, foundress of the Carmel in France. Her face was beautiful but with an immaterial beauty." She later continues on to ask her if she will be able to go to heaven soon and Ana responds saying "Yes, soon, soon I promise you".

She has left behind a great amount of letters and documents but the letters written to her by Mother Teresa of Avila were burnt, by her, after being instructed to do so by Teresa herself, in those years they had problems with the Calced Carmelites. Ana remembers this with pain in 1597.

There are 53 conserved letters, from 1590 to 1621. They encompass all of her religious life, from her becoming a prioress to a few days before her death. They are of great historical value because they reference many diverse people during that time. These letters contain different content depending on who they were sent to; like those sent to Fr. Diego of Gueverra from those sent to Sor Beatriz of the Conception. The first of these letters talk about the monastic foundations, spiritual advice, problems with the edition of his book Libro de Job or the translation to flamenco of Saint Teresa's writings; the second of these letters has a more intimate and personal tone, she writes her emotions, her suffering in the distance that separates them or about her health problems.