GIUSEPPE MARIA COLLIGNON (1778 -?) 1825

The first painting on the left wall of the church describes the transverberation of Saint Teresa of Avila, one of the most famous Carmelite Saints who, in her autobiography, recounts the most shocking ecstatic vision of her life: “I saw an angel close by me, on my left side, in bodily form. (…) I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God”.(Teresa, Life, ch. XXIX, par. 12-13) Aware of the immense suffering that the piercing would cause, Teresa looks towards the Holy Family in search of support, and her expression is one of pain but also of ecstasy. Her empathic gaze during the transverberation is in fact a sign of the deep union between Christ and the Saint, who wanted to share the pain suffered by Jesus during His Passion. The viewer is captivated by the Saint’s ecstasy, as a result of the driving force of the mystical, excited, and turbulent representation, a bridge capable of leading the faithful to God and encourage them towards a virtuous life. The vision is welcomed with open arms by Saint John of the Cross, the first Carmelite to support the Reformation sought after by Saint . . .