Do you enjoy poetry? I just discovered a new book of poems originally by an unofficial saint of mine, called Sweet Hunter: The Complete Poems of St. Teresa of Avila.

I know, most people know Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) as the author of the book, The Interior Castle. But she also wrote mystic poems, and a book review shows how this collection of curated poems lays them out in four sections:

1. Many Mansions – Poems of courtly love and desire for God
2. O Sisters – Direction for the Carmelite sisters Teresa led
3. Their Flocks by Night – Christmas poems from the POV of the shepherds
4. Made Flesh – Poetry about Jesus as God Incarnate.

I’m grateful to Jeannine M. Pitas for her wonderful book review, “Teresa of Avila speaks again,” in the September 2025 issue of The Christian Century.

The book’s translator and commentator, Dana Delibovi, must have done a terrific job, because the snippets of those long-ago poems in the review are both intriguing and vivid.