Anne of Saint Bartholomew was born Ana García Manzanas in Almendral, a village in Castile, Spain. At the age of 21, she joined the newly founded discalced Carmelite monastery in Avila and became a companion to Saint Teresa of Ávila. Anne led the establishment of new monasteries in France and the Netherlands. She sometimes struggled with her superiors as she set about founding new convents and holding her position as a prioress while later settling in the Spanish Netherlands where she opened a house and remained there until she died. In St. Teresa of Avila’s later years, Anne was her close friend and aide and the saint died in Anne’s arms in 1582.
Anne wrote about the foundation and origin of Teresa’s reform in Spain and France, including the Defense of the Teresian Inheritance. She also wrote her own autobiography, Spiritual Treatises, Conferences and Meditations, as well as numerous letters of which 665 are still extant.
Bl. Anne’s heroic virtue received confirmation from Pope Clement XII on 29 June 1735 who titled her as Venerable while Pope Benedict XV beatified her on 6 May 1917.
