Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, (March 28, 1515 – October 4, 1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites.

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV, and in 1970 named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Her books, which include her autobiography, The Life of Teresa of Jesus, and her seminal work, El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), are an integral part of the Spanish Renaissance literature as well as Christian mysticism and Christian meditation practices as she entails in her other important work Camino de Perfección (The Way of Perfection).

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada was born in 1515 in Gotarrendura, in the province of Ávila, Spain. Her paternal grandfather, Juan de Toledo, was a marrano (Jewish convert to Christianity) and was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition for allegedly returning to the Jewish faith. Her father, Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda, bought a knighthood and successfully assimilated into Christian society. Teresa's mother, Beatriz, was especially keen to raise her daughter as a pious Christian. Teresa was fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, and ran away from home at age seven with her brother Rodrigo to find martyrdom among the Moors. Her uncle stopped them as he was returning to the city, having spotted the two outside the city walls.

Edith Stein, also Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, sometimes also known as Saint Edith Stein (October 12, 1891 – August 9, 1942), was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and nun, regarded as a martyr and saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Born into an observant Jewish family but an atheist by her teenage years, she was baptized January 1, 1922 into the Roman Catholic Church and received into the Discalced Carmelite Order as a postulant in 1934. Although she moved from Germany to the Netherlands to avoid Nazi persecution, in 1942 she was arrested and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where she died in the gas chamber. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998.

Stein is one of the six patron saints of Europe, together with Saint Benedict of Nursia, Saints Cyril and Methodius, Saint Bridget of Sweden and Saint Catherine of Siena.

Stein was born in Breslau, in the German Empire's Prussian Province of Silesia, into an observant Jewish family. Born on October 12, 1891, she was a very gifted child who enjoyed learning. She greatly admired her mother's strong faith. By her teenage years, however, Edith had become an atheist.

Al Cisneros ( /sɪsˈnɛəroʊs/ is an American musician from San Jose, California. He has performed bass guitar and vocals for the bands Sleep, Om, Shrinebuilder, and Asbestosdeath.

He began his musical career in 1989 by founding a local punk metal band, Asbestosdeath, along with Chris Hakius (drums), Matt Pike (guitar) and Tom Choi (guitar). Cisneros performed bass guitar for the band, and they released two EPs in 1990. Shortly thereafter, Choi left the band.

Cisneros, Hakius and Pike renamed themselves Sleep. In 1991 they released their debut album, Volume One. They soon gained a devoted underground following in the doom metal scene. In 1992 they released their next album, Sleep's Holy Mountain, which is widely considered a key release in the early development of stoner metal. Between 1995 and 1998, Sleep worked on what would become their final album, Dopesmoker, a single song lasting one hour. However, their record label refused to release it, and in 1998 Sleep disbanded. The album was released in shortened form during 1999, and in its entirety during 2003.