Guide to Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, a Catholic Masterpiece

Apr 30, 2011
Melissa Roberts

St. Theresa Experiences Union with God in Baroque Sculpture - Napoleon Vail

Explore Baroque sculptor Bernini's marble masterpiece, Ecstasy of St. Teresa, in the Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome and its meaning in Catholic devotion.

For millenia, the faithful have poured time and resources into expressing the majesty and power of God through art. Explore Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, a well-known and potentially controversial sculpture, in this first in a series of masterpieces in Church art and architecture.

Who was Bernini, Creator of Ecstasy of Teresa

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), known simply as Bernini, is only one in a long stream of creative geniuses who created masterpieces to enhance the relationship between the believer and God in the Church.

Bernini is widely considered one of the greatest artists of the Baroque period, an era in the late 17th century characterized by its grandiosity and appeal to the viewer's emotions. A child prodigy, Bernini produced his first major sculpture at the age of eight, attracted Vatican attention at age eleven, and won his first major Vatican commission at the age of twenty-five.

History of Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa

Cardinal Federigo Cornaro chose Bernini to design his family's funeral chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria, Rome. Seeking to communicate the power of God's love that transcends death, Bernini focused on the visions of St. Teresa of Avila as a starting point. The master combined sculpture, painting, and light to recreate Teresa's ecstasy, described in the saint’s autobiography as God piercing her heart with the arrow of burning love.

Bernini’s masterpiece is twenty-four feet wide and forty-five feet high. Like all Baroque art, the artist hoped to illicit an emotional response from visitors in the chapel, so that they could connect with the subject in stone, in this case St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila.

Who was Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy?

St. Teresa of Avila, Spain was a Catholic sister and founder of the Discalced Carmelites, a religious order. Spiritual writings such as the Interior Castle and her spiritual autobiography earned her the tilte of Doctor of the Church.

Teresa also is one of the best known mystics in the Catholic tradition. Known for her quick wit and tumultuous relationship with God, Teresa struggled with visions of God for most her live, fearing they were Satanic temptations. Those who witnessed the saint’s visions described the saint as experiencing a seizure- shaking and convulsing.

Sex in Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini

Bernini’s sculpture has been controversial over the centuries due to the saint’s posture and facial expressions. In Bernini’s sculpture, Teresa reclines with her body limp, eyes closed, and mouth open in a silent moan. An angel, smiling down at her, lifts up her habit with one hand and holds the golden arrow of Divine Love with the right hand, aimed to pierce the saint’s heart.

The casual observer may wonder if the saint is experiencing orgasm based on her body language. Bernini’s sculpture is based on an excerpt of Teresa’s journal, where she describes her union with God as “a pain that was so great it made me moan, and yet so surprisingly sweet that I could not wish to be rid of it” (Wallace 144). Indeed, in Bernini's day many artists communicated spiritual love with amorous looks, vulnerable postures, and other means suggestive of sex.

Despite sexual connotations in both the sculpture and the saint’s journal, Teresa’s ecstasy has a specific meaning for the Church -- union of God creates awe that humans may experience as intense pleasure. Bernini attempts to leave the viewer with an intense physical, emotional, and spiritual awe of God by recreating what the saint herself described in her journal.

St. Teresa in Ecstasy’s Legacy for the Church

Bernini recreated not Teresa's fear of her visions in his sculpture, but God's love blessing Teresa and moving her beyond human thought and feeling, an experience known as ecstasy. Believers are encouraged, like Teresa, to believe in the power of God’s love and sustain hope that God’s love will pierce and enflame their individual hearts for God's glory.

Bernini’s St. Teresa in Ecstasy, like all great religious art, invites the viewer into the Christian story and faith. St. Teresa’s body, languid in love of God, testifies not only to Bernini’s skill as an artist, but also to his ability to communicate the saint’s experience of God to all believers.