For St. Teresa and Prayer

St. Teresa’s Prayer Center is a project initiated by the Carmelite Nuns of Jaro, Iloilo City, to honor the 4th Centennial Death Anniversary, Oct. 15 1582 – 1982, of St. Teresa of Jesus, Foundress of the Discalced Carmelite Order.

The purpose of the project is to provide people from different walks of life, a place where they can “come and rest awhile” to refresh the spirit in an intimate encounter with the Lord in silence and prayer. The Center hopes to meet the spiritual needs of modern man in order for him to develop and grow into a fully mature human person. It also hopes to reawaken in his heart the need for prayer, which according to St. Teresa, is the royal road to heaven.

St. Teresa’s Prayer Center is a complex which is located at Sambag, Jaro, Iloilo City, adjacent to the Carmelite Monastery. It will consist of: a) Prayer House where the Blessed Sacrament will be continually exposed; b) Retreat House complete with dormitory, conference room, library, refectory and kitchen; c) Hermitages for individual retreatants; d) Retreat House for Priests; e) House for the Associates of Carmel, a group of lay women who will be responsible for the supervision of the Center; f) House of the Carmelite Third Order. At the back portion of the complex will be a Garden which will provide an atmosphere of silence and solitude. Besides the garden will be the Way of the Cross and a Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes.

Ground-breaking ceremony was held last march 12, 1982, and immediately afterwards the construction of Phase I, the Prayer House was started.

As a way of celebrating the solemn feast of St. Teresa on our Centenary Year, we are sharing this historical milestone.