The Aesthetics of Beauty in the Writings of Cloistered Women in Late Medieval and Golden Age Spain (Constanza de Castilla, Teresa de Cartagena, Isabel de Villena, and Teresa de Ávila)

In this article, written to commemorate the anniversary of Teresa de Ávila’s birth, I will examine how Teresa de Ávila, together with other cloistered women writers who preceded her, address the aesthetics of theological beauty. I will explore how each woman approaches the foundations of beauty in the natural order in creation and, then, I will examine the specifics of evangelical beauty, particularly Christ’s beauty. I will focus on how the women consider beauty is deformed through sin and will end on how they address the beauty of Christ’s atonement.