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The body of Saint Teresa of Jesus is on public display for the first time since 1914.(AFP) <\/p>\nSaint Teresa of Avila died over 440 years but Catholic worshippers still line up to see her remains kept inside an open silver casket. The remains of the 16th-century religious reformers and Spanish mystic have been kept in the town of Alba de Tormes.<\/p>\n
The body of Saint Teresa of Jesus is on public display for the first time since 1914.(AFP) <\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me a feeling of fulfillment, of joy, and of sadness,\u201d said Guiomar S\u00e1nchez, who traveled from Madrid with her two daughters on Sunday, the last full day of the exhibit.<\/p>\n
Inspired by her mother\u2019s belief in the Carmelite nun, S\u00e1nchez praised the mystic\u2019s writings as being ahead of her time. S\u00e1nchez said she also came in part to honor her mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing her was an inexplicable experience,\u201d S\u00e1nchez added.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, the casket of the saint who died in 1582 was resealed and carried through the town streets, with pilgrims following the procession. It is unclear how many years \u2014 or decades \u2014 will pass before the church once again makes St. Teresa’s remains visible to the public.<\/p>\n
Body preserved as relic<\/p>\n
Teresa was last displayed in 1914, when devotees had a single day to see the saint. This time, the display drew almost 100,000 visitors over two weeks, said Miguel \u00c1ngel Gonz\u00e1lez, the prior of the Discalced Carmelites of Salamanca.<\/p>\n
The casket that holds the saint’s remains is barely 1.3 meters (4 feet) long.<\/p>\n
What is visible is a skull dressed in a habit with vestments covering other parts of the body, not all of which is intact. The saint\u2019s heart is kept in another part of the church, officials said. Other body parts \u2014 fingers, a hand and a jaw \u2014 are kept as relics in churches across Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Teresa is a towering figure from Spain\u2019s Golden Age and 16th-century Counter-Reformation. Her explorations of the inner life and meditations on her relationship with God were controversial, yet they have been held up over the centuries as a \u201cprofound treatise on spirituality,” said Jos\u00e9 Calvo, a professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca who specializes in Medieval history.<\/p>\n Many have worshipped her. Former Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco<\/a> is believed to have kept a relic of the saint\u2019s hand next to his bed.<\/p>\n