Teresa of Ávila in the context of "Infant Jesus of Prague"

The Discalced Carmelites, formally the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Latin: Ordo Carmelitarum Discalceatorum; abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times Latin: Ordo Carmelitarum Excalceatorum), is a mendicant order in the Roman Catholic Church with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers. The order was established in the 16th century, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, by two Spanish saints, Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross. Discalced is derived from Latin, meaning "without shoes".

The third order, which is affiliated to the Discalced Carmelites, is the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Saints named Theresa include:

• Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), or Teresa of Jesus, Spaniard, founder of the Discalced Carmelites, and Doctor of the Church
• Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (1747–1770), an Italian Discalced Carmelite
• Theresa of Saint Augustine (1752–1794), Discalced Carmelite and martyr
• Thérèse Couderc (1805–1885), co-founder of the Sisters of the Cenacle
• Maria Teresa of St. Joseph (1855–1938), founder of the Carmelite Daughters of the Divine Heart of Jesus
• Therese of Lisieux (1873–1897), or Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, French Discalced Carmelite nun, and Doctor of the Church
• Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891–1942), German Discalced Carmelite
• Teresa of Jesus of Los Andes (1900–1920), Chilean Discalced Carmelite
• Mother Teresa, ("Teresa of Calcutta") (1910–1997), founder of the Missionaries of Charity

New Christian (Latin: Novus Christianus; Spanish: Cristiano Nuevo; Portuguese: Cristão-Novo; Catalan: Cristià Nou; Ladino: Kristiano Muevo; Arabic: المسيحيون الجدد) was a socio-religious designation and legal distinction referring to the population of former Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity in the Spanish and Portuguese empires, and their respective colonies in the New World. The term was used from the 15th century onwards primarily to describe the descendants of the Sephardic Jews and Moors that were baptized into the Catholic Church following the Alhambra Decree of 1492. The Alhambra Decree, also known as the Edict of Expulsion, was an anti-Jewish law made by the Catholic Monarchs upon the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. It required Jews to convert to Roman Catholicism or be expelled from Spain. Most of the history of the "New Christians" refers to the Jewish converts, who were generally known as Conversos (or in a more derogatory fashion Marranos), while the Muslim converts were called Moriscos.

Because these conversions were achieved in part through coercion and also with the threat of expulsion, especially when it came to the Jews, the Catholic Inquisition and Iberian monarchs suspected a number of the "New Christians" of being crypto-Jews. Subsequently, the Spanish Inquisition and then the Portuguese Inquisition was created to enforce Catholic orthodoxy and to investigate allegations of heresy. This became a political issue in the kingdoms of the Portuguese–Spanish Union itself and their respective empires abroad, particularly in Spanish America, Portuguese America, and the Caribbean. Sometimes "New Christians" travelled to territories controlled by Protestant enemies of Spain, such as the Dutch Empire, the early English Empire, or Huguenot-influenced areas of the Kingdom of France such as Bordeaux, and openly practiced Judaism, which furthered suspicion of Jewish crypsis. Nevertheless, a significant number of those "New Christians" of converso ancestry were deemed by Spanish society as sincerely Catholic and they still managed to attain prominence, whether religious (St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of Ávila, St. Joseph of Anchieta, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Tomás de Torquemada, Diego Laynez, Francisco de Vitoria, Francisco Suárez, and others) or political (Juan de Oñate, Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, Hernán Pérez de Quesada, Luis de Santángel, and others).

St. John of the Cross OCD (Spanish: Juan de la Cruz; Latin: Ioannes a Cruce; né Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest, mystic, and Carmelite friar of Converso ancestry. He is a major figure of the Counter-Reformation in Spain, and he is one of the 38 Doctors of the Church.

John of the Cross is known for his writings. He was mentored by and corresponded with the older Carmelite nun Teresa of Ávila. Both his poetry and his studies on the development of the soul, particularly his Noche Obscura, are considered the summit of mystical Christian literature and among the greatest works of all Spanish literature. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. In 1926, he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI, and is also known as the "mystical doctor".

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (also known as Saint Teresa in Ecstasy; Italian: L'Estasi di Santa Teresa or Santa Teresa in estasi) is a sculptural altarpiece group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome. It was designed and carved by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the leading sculptor of his day, who also designed the setting of the chapel in marble, stucco and paint. The commission was completed in 1652.

The ensemble includes at the sides two sets of donor portraits of members of the Cornaro family, who watch the main central group as though in boxes in a theatre. The group is generally considered to be one of the sculptural masterpieces of the High Roman Baroque. The sculpture over the altar shows Saint Teresa of Ávila, a Spanish Carmelite nun (1515–1582), swooning in a state of religious ecstasy, while an angel holding a spear stands over her, following her own account of a vision she had.