[1] While studying law at the University of Salamanca (he graduated in 1583), he read some of the unpublished writings of Teresa of Avila and in 1586 he became a monk in her order.

[1] He filled many offices as a priest and founded both "desert" hermitages and ordinary convents across Europe while writing on Catholic theology.

[1] Thomas's deserts were in the tradition of the 16th-century Carmelite reform movement, facilitating intensive, personal, deep relationships with God.

[3] Even smaller buildings dotted around the property (which was allowed to grow wild[3]) were used for monks who wished to live in total isolation for Advent or Lent.

[3][2] Other priests went on to found deserts in Santa Fe, Mexico (1606),[2] Varazze, Italy (1616), Czerna, Poland (1631), Mannersdorf, Austria (1644).