SAINT TERESA OF AVILA: ‘NOT A SINGLE THING IS AS POWERFUL AGAINST THE DEVIL AS THIS’

St. Teresa of Avila is one of the greatest saints in the history of the Catholic Church, a nun, mystic and doctor of the church from the 16th century who said the famous quote about blessed water that you may have already seen, which reads: “No thing is so powerful as to suppress the devil, and make it no longer return, as much as the virtue of the blessed water.

But what is not well known is the experience that Saint Teresa had with demonic possession that led her to this conclusion.

The Experience of Teresa of Avila: Possession

Namely, in the 32nd chapter of her biography of St. Teresija describes being abused

‘A flame was coming out of his body, which, although it was very bright, did not cast a shadow. He told me in a terrible way that I had escaped from his hands but he would still oppress me in spite of that.

Tortured, I wanted to reject him with the sign of the cross. The demon would leave me for a while but would soon return. This happened several times, until I noticed that I had holy water nearby. I took water and sprinkled the area in his direction, after that the demon never came back.

He tortured me for five hours, and then I sprayed him…

In another place, the saint writes:

The devil was with me and tortured me for 5 hours with such terrible pain and internal and external anxiety that I don’t even know how I could bear it. The sisters who were with me were scared to death and had no idea how to help me. I experienced relief only after I asked for holy water and sprinkled the place where I saw the demon. Then the torment stopped.

Saint Teresa of Avila writes that the demonic attacks were repeated several times, and every time she sprinkled the holy water, she would experience relief, grace and joy, or rather, as she says, comfort for the whole soul.

Therefore, Avilska wrote that she can say from many years of experience that she has learned that nothing like holy water drives away devils and does not allow them to return. She also added that the devil flees before the Cross, but still returns. “The power of this water must be great” – Avilas also wrote, encouraging people to use the blessed water given to them with faith as one of the weapons of our holy Church to fight against evil.