Tessa Bielecki
Tessa Bielecki lives in a hermitage in Crestone, Colorado, in the spirit of the Christian Mothers and Fathers of the desert. Co-founder of the Spiritual Life Institute, she was a Carmelite monk and Mother Abbess for almost 40 years, establishing radically experimental monastic communities of men and women in Arizona, Colorado, Nova Scotia, and Ireland. She was also editor-in-chief of Desert Call, the quarterly magazine of the community. In 2005, she left SLI to embrace the eremitical life more fully and co-found The Desert Foundation with friend and fellow hermit, Father Dave Denny. The Desert Foundation is an informal circle of friends who explore the wisdom of the desert and encourage understanding between the three Abrahamic traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Tessa is the author of several critically acclaimed books on Teresa of Avila, including Teresa of Avila: Mystical Writings, and Teresa of Avila: Ecstasy and Common Sense. She co-authored a new collection of writings on the Christmas season, Season of Glad Songs, with Father Dave Denny, and continues to teach on Christian mysticism and the contemplative life at retreats and workshops around the world.
