Teresa of Ávila possibly due to her mystical visions. The Spanish nuns who established Carmel in France brought this devotion with them, and it became widespread in France. Indeed, one of Teresa's most famous disciples, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, a French Carmelite, herself named for Teresa, took as her religious name Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. In the 1620s, Spain debated who should be the country's patron saint; the choices were either the current patron, Saint James Matamoros, or a pairing of him and the newly canonised Saint Teresa of Ávila. Teresa's promoters said Spain faced newer challenges,
Columba of Spain deny it, or after refusing the sexual advances of men. She became the patron saint of witches in Galicia, acting both as an intercessor on behalf of witches and as an intercessor against witches. At Coimbra, according to one 19th century travel guide, there was a small chapel that was said to mark the spot where Comba suffered martyrdom, and that "towards the close of the spring, the young girls of Coimbra deck her shrine with wreaths of roses in remembrance of the rosy crown of martyrdom they believe she won." Columba of Spain Saint Columba of Spain, or "Columba