female super saints - Mystics, Doctors & Demon slayers

Saint Hildegard of Bingen  was a German Benedictine abbess and mystic, recorded her visions in writing, also wrote lyric poems, letters of advice and prophecy, and treatises on medicine and physiology (declared Doctor of the Church in 2012)

She was astonishingly ahead of her time. Living a cloistered Benedictine life in the Middle Ages, she wrote about holistic medicine, natural science, music, ecology, and the healing power of God’s grace—what she called viriditas, the “greenness” that restores life to the soul.

Born in the Rhineland and entrusted to a convent at age eight, Hildegard became an abbess whose wisdom drew widespread attention. A true polymath, she was a prolific composer, a keen observer of the natural world, and a pioneering medical thinker centuries ahead of later discoveries.

Above all, Hildegard was a visionary mystic. From childhood she experienced vivid, waking visions of God, creation, and salvation, centered on Christ’s incarnation and the Church as His bride. Her writings were examined and approved by Pope Eugene III, admired by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and widely circulated through an extraordinary body of correspondence.

In her later years, she was even permitted to preach publicly—almost unheard of for a woman of her time. She died in 1179 and was declared a Doctor of the Church in 2012. As Pope Benedict XVI noted, no other medieval woman left behind a body of work so vast, varied, and profound.

Saint Catherine of Siena was a Third Order Dominican, mystic, ascetic, and contemplative who, despite being unable to read or write for most of her life, dictated letters and works of astonishing spiritual depth. Though deeply withdrawn interiorly, she boldly engaged the Church’s most urgent crisis: the papacy’s seventy-year exile in Avignon, a politically driven scandal known as the “Babylonian Captivity.”

With fearless holiness, prophetic insight, and irresistible intensity, Catherine confronted Pope Gregory XI and pleaded for his return to Rome. Against all odds, her efforts succeeded. In 1376, the Pope left Avignon and restored the papacy to the Eternal City, ending decades of division and scandal.

Born into a large, devout family, Catherine embraced radical penance, lived on minimal food, and experienced visions, ecstasies, and intimate union with God. She dictated hundreds of letters and spiritual works marked by profound theological insight. Worn out by prayer, penance, travel, and ecclesial labor, she died at just thirty-three.

Canonized in 1461, Catherine was named the first female layperson declared Doctor of the Church in 1970. Her body rests in Rome, her head in Siena—a lasting witness to a saint whose holiness changed the course of Church history.

Saint Teresa of Jesus, aka  Saint Teresa of Ávila. A reformer only after she was first a saint, Teresa purified herself, then her sisters, and finally the Carmelite Order—leaving a legacy that inspired later giants such as Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and Mother Teresa.

Born into a pious Spanish family, Teresa entered a comfortable Carmelite convent that was faithful but lax. Through illness, prayer, mystical experience, and deep self-examination, she became convinced that God was calling her to a more radical holiness. Despite fierce opposition, she founded the Discalced Carmelites in 1562—poor, austere, intensely prayerful communities limited in size, devoted to fasting and contemplation, yet marked by joy, warmth, and human affection.

For twenty years Teresa crisscrossed Spain founding convents, living simply, enduring hardship, and leading by example with obedience, humility, and cheerfulness. Her reform succeeded: the Discalced Carmelites became a distinct order after her death.

Canonized in 1622 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970, Saint Teresa of Ávila remains a luminous witness that lasting reform begins with holiness—and that saints, not systems, renew the Church.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus aka "The Little Flower" & French Carmelite Nun - was born in 1873 in Alençon, France, and raised in a deeply Christian family. After the death of her mother, she moved with her family to Lisieux. A miraculous healing through the intercession of Our Lady of Victories in 1883 marked a turning point in her young life.

Drawn to contemplative life, Thérèse boldly asked Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter the Carmel of Lisieux at just fifteen. Granted her request, she entered in 1888 and professed vows in 1890. In Carmel, she lived the spirit of Saint Teresa of Ávila with fervor, discovering her “little way” of spiritual childhood—doing ordinary things with extraordinary love.

Despite deep suffering, including her father’s illness and death, and a long trial of faith, Thérèse offered herself completely to God’s merciful love. Though hidden in the cloister, she embraced a powerful missionary vocation at the heart of the Church. She died of tuberculosis in 1897 at only twenty-four, declaring, “I am not dying, I am entering life.”

Canonized in 1925, named Patroness of the Missions in 1927, and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1997, Saint Thérèse remains a radiant witness that holiness is found in simplicity, trust, and love.