Church of the Annunciation

She would spend the last 15 intense days of her life in her convent in Albacete. Called to accompany the young Duchess in the birth of her son, she arrived at dusk on September 20th (the Duchess had given birth the day before) and had to go to bed immediately. On October 4th, she died as the clock struck nine (year after year, her daughters commemorate the anniversary by striking those nine times every October 9th). Her body was laid to rest in the church, and the following day, which was already October 15th due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar reform, her funeral was held at 10:00 a.m. in the recently completed church. Those who had attended the baptism of the Duke and Duchess’s new offspring the day before were also present, thus extending Teresa’s reputation for holiness (she was beatified in 1614 and canonized in 1622). In the last century, in 1922, she was named an Honorary Doctor by the University of Salamanca, and in 1970, a Doctor of the Universal Church.

Her body remains in Alba to this day, except for the short period she spent in Ávila: from November 25, 1585, to August 23, 1586. This eighth foundation thus became a fundamental Teresian milestone in which Teresa was especially present.

The founders were Francisco Vázquez and Teresa de Laíz, a woman of character who, having no children, encouraged the accountant and her own family to found this convent. An Alba tradition places Teresa in Alba in January 1571, overseeing the convent’s construction.

The church is made up of two clearly distinct parts:

The original part, built between 1571 and 1582, reaches the pulpit and includes the nave and the former main chapel.

The sacristy, transept, dome, and presbytery, with their corresponding altarpieces, are the result of a Baroque extension carried out between 1670 and 1680, known as the Royal Work.

The church’s façade has a large semicircular doorway. Above, the medallions of Saints Peter and Paul are located. The upper section is divided into two floors. The first features a relief of the Annunciation, with a cityscape in the background. The year 1570, which does not fit with the known date of the Foundation and which was later, was completed by a tympanum with the figure of God the Father among clouds. The cross is crowned on the mock scroll with the foundation cartouche, between recumbent figures on scrolls and others standing at the ends.

The original church, built between 1571 and 1576, contained only the first rectangular section of the current church: the nave with a wooden roof and a main chapel.

Inside, there are coats of arms of the convent’s patron saints, as well as the burial place of the Velázquez/Laíz family. Facing the entrance and beneath the choir stalls by the organ, is the tomb of Juan de Ovalle Godínez (†1596), his wife Juana de Ahumada, sister of Saint Teresa, (†1587), and their son Gonzalo de Ovalle (†1585).

In the center of the high altar, at the top, is the tomb of Saint Teresa, along with her relics: her arm and her heart.