The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus
Transcriber's Note: Corrections suggested in the Corrigenda,
p. [viii] of the original text, have been made. Section number
added for L 3.9, since both the translator's preface and the
index refer to it. Footnotes gathered at the ends of chapters.
Typographical errors in two Scriptural quotations have been
corrected: In L 21 note 10, I have changed "Quae praeparavit Deus
iis qui" to "Quae praeparavit Deus his qui;" and in L 29 note 12,
I have changed "As the longing of the heart" to "As the longing
of the hart."
The Life
of
St. Teresa of Jesus
Re-imprimatur.
+ Franciscus
Archiepiscopus Westmonast.
Die 27 Sept., 1904.
The Life
of
St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
Written by Herself.
Translated from the Spanish by
David Lewis.
Third Edition Enlarged.
With additional Notes and an Introduction by
Rev. Fr. Benedict Zimmerman, O.C.D.
London: Thomas Baker.
New York: Benziger Bros.
MCMIV.
Contents.
Chap.
Introduction to the Third Edition, by Rev. B. Zimmerman
St. Teresa's Arguments of the Chapters
Preface by David Lewis
Annals of the Saint's Life
Prologue
I. Childhood and early Impressions - The Blessing of pious
Parents - Desire of Martyrdom - Death of the Saint's Mother
II. Early Impressions - Dangerous Books and Companions - The Saint
is placed in a Monastery
III. The Blessing of being with good people - How certain
Illusions were removed
IV. Our Lord helps her to become a Nun - Her many Infirmities
V. Illness and Patience of the Saint - The Story of a Priest whom
she rescued from a Life of Sin
VI. The great Debt she owed to our Lord for His Mercy to her - She
takes St. Joseph for her Patron
VII. Lukewarmness - The Loss of Grace - Inconvenience of Laxity in
Religious Houses
VIII. The Saint ceases not to pray - Prayer the way to recover
what is lost - All exhorted to pray - The great Advantage of
Prayer, even to those who may have ceased from it
IX. The means whereby our Lord quickened her Soul, gave her Light
in her Darkness, and made her strong in Goodness
X. The Graces she received in Prayer - What we can do
ourselves - The great Importance of understanding what our Lord is
doing for us - She desires her Confessors to keep her Writings
secret, because of the special Graces of our Lord to her, which
they had commanded her to describe
XI. Why men do not attain quickly to the perfect Love of God - Of
Four Degrees of Prayer - Of the First Degree - The Doctrine
profitable for Beginners, and for those who have no
sensible Sweetness
XII. What we can ourselves do - The Evil of desiring to attain to
supernatural States before our Lord calls us
XIII. Of certain Temptations of Satan - Instructions
relating thereto
XIV. The Second State of Prayer - Its supernatural Character
XV. Instructions for those who have attained to the Prayer of
Quiet - Many advance so far, but few go farther
XVI. The Third State of Prayer - Deep Matters - What the Soul can
do that has reached it - Effects of the great Graces of our Lord
XVII. The Third State of Prayer - The Effects thereof - The
Hindrance caused by the Imagination and the Memory
XVIII. The Fourth State of Prayer - The great Dignity of the Soul
raised to it by our Lord - Attainable on Earth, not by our Merit,
but by the Goodness of our Lord
XIX. The Effects of this Fourth State of Prayer - Earnest
Exhortations to those who have attained to it not to go back nor
to cease from Prayer, even if they fall - The great Calamity of
going back
XX. The Difference between Union and Rapture - What Rapture
is - The Blessing it is to the Soul - The Effects of it
XXI. Conclusion of the Subject - Pain of the Awakening - Light
against Delusions
XXII. The Security of Contemplatives lies in their not ascending
to high Things if our Lord does not raise them - The Sacred
Humanity must be the Road to the highest Contemplation - A
Delusion in which the Saint was once entangled
XXIII. The Saint resumes the History of her Life - Aiming at
Perfection - Means whereby it may be gained - Instructions
for Confessors
XXIV. Progress under Obedience - Her Inability to resist the
Graces of God - God multiplies His Graces
XXV. Divine Locutions - Delusions on that Subject
XXVI. How the Fears of the Saint vanished - How she was assured
that her Prayer was the Work of the Holy Spirit
XXVII. The Saint prays to be directed in a different
way - Intellectual Visions
XXVIII. Visions of the Sacred Humanity and of the glorified
Bodies - Imaginary Visions - Great Fruits thereof when they come
from God
XXIX. Of Visions - The Graces our Lord bestowed on the Saint - The
Answers our Lord gave her for those who tried her
XXX. St. Peter of Alcantara comforts the Saint - Great Temptations
and Interior Trials
XXXI. Of certain outward Temptations and Appearances of Satan - Of
the Sufferings thereby occasioned - Counsels for those who go on
unto Perfection
XXXII. Our Lord shows St. Teresa the Place which she had by her
Sins deserved in Hell - The Torments there - How the Monastery of
St. Joseph was founded
XXXIII. The Foundation of the Monastery hindered - Our Lord
consoles the Saint
XXXIV. The Saint leaves her Monastery of the Incarnation for a
time, at the command of her superior - Consoles an afflicted Widow
XXXV. The Foundation of the House of St. Joseph - Observance of
holy Poverty therein - How the Saint left Toledo
XXXVI. The Foundation of the Monastery of St. Joseph - Persecution
and Temptations - Great interior Trial of the Saint, and
her Deliverance
XXXVII. The Effects of the divine Graces in the Soul - The
inestimable Greatness of one Degree of Glory
XXXVIII. Certain heavenly Secrets, Visions, and Revelations - The
Effects of them in her Soul
XXXIX. Other Graces bestowed on the Saint - The Promises of our
Lord to her - Divine Locutions and Visions
XL. Visions, Revelations, and Locutions
The Relations.
Relation.
I. Sent to St. Peter of Alcantara in 1560 from the Monastery of
the Incarnation, Avila
II. To one of her Confessors, from the House of Dona Luisa de la
Cerda, in 1562
III. Of various Graces granted to the Saint from the year 1568 to
1571, inclusive
IV. Of the Graces the Saint received in Salamanca at the end of
Lent, 1571
V. Observations on certain Points of Spirituality
VI. The Vow of Obedience to Father Gratian which the Saint made
in 1575
VII. Made for Rodrigo Alvarez, S.J., in the year 1575, according
to Don Vicente de la Fuente; but in 1576, according to the
Bollandists and F. Bouix
VIII. Addressed to F. Rodrigo Alvarez
IX. Of certain spiritual Graces she received in Toledo and Avila
in the years 1576 and 1577
X. Of a Revelation to the Saint at Avila, 1579, and of Directions
concerning the Government of the Order
XI. Written from Palencia in May, 1581, and addressed to Don
Alonzo Velasquez, Bishop of Osma, who had been when Canon of
Toledo, one of the Saint's Confessors
Introduction to the Present Edition.
When the publisher entrusted me with the task of editing this
volume, one sheet was already printed and a considerable portion
of the book was in type. Under his agreement with the owners of
the copyright, he was bound to reproduce the text and notes,
etc., originally prepared by Mr. David Lewis without any change,
so that my duty was confined to reading the proofs and verifying
the quotations. This translation of the Life of St. Teresa is so
excellent, that it could hardly be improved. While faithfully
adhering to her wording, the translator has been successful in
rendering the lofty teaching in simple and clear language, an
achievement all the more remarkable as in addition to the
difficulty arising from the transcendental nature of the subject
matter, the involved style, and the total absence of punctuation
tend to perplex the reader. Now and then there might be some
difference of opinion as to how St. Teresa's phrases should be
construed, but it is not too much to say that on the whole
Mr. Lewis has been more successful than any other translator,
whether English or foreign. Only in one case have I found it
necessary to make some slight alteration in the text, and I trust
the owners of the copyright will forgive me for doing so.
In Chapter XXV., section 4, St. Teresa, speaking of the
difference between the Divine and the imaginary locutions, says
that a person commending a matter to God with great earnestness,
may think that he hears whether his prayer will be granted or
not: y es muy posible, "and this is quite possible," but he who
has ever heard a Divine locution will see at once that this
assurance is something quite different. Mr. Lewis, following the
old Spanish editions, translated "And it is most impossible,"
whereas both the autograph and the context demand the wording I
have ventured to substitute.
When Mr. Lewis undertook the translation of St. Teresa's works,
he had before him Don Vicente de la Fuente's edition (Madrid,
1861-1862), supposed to be a faithful transcript of the original.
In 1873 the Sociedad Foto-Tipografica-Catolica of Madrid
published a photographic reproduction of the Saint's autograph in
412 pages in folio, which establishes the true text once for all.
Don Vicente prepared a transcript of this, in which he wisely
adopted the modern way of spelling but otherwise preserved the
original text, or at least pretended to do so, for a minute
comparison between autograph and transcript reveals the startling
fact that nearly a thousand inaccuracies have been allowed to
creep in. Most of these variants are immaterial, but there are
some which ought not to have been overlooked. Thus, in Chapter
XVIII. section 20, St. Teresa's words are: Un gran letrado de la
orden del glorioso santo Domingo, while Don Vicente retains the
old reading De la orden del glorioso patriarca santo Domingo.
Mr. Lewis possessed a copy of this photographic reproduction, but
utilised it only in one instance in his second edition. [1]
The publication of the autograph has settled a point of some
importance. The Bollandists (n. 1520), discussing the question
whether the headings of the chapters (appended to this
Introduction) are by St. Teresa or a later addition, come to the
conclusion (against the authors of the Reforma de los Descalcos)
that they are clearly an interpolation (clarissime patet) on
account of the praise of the doctrine contained in these
arguments. Notwithstanding their high authority the Bollandists
are in this respect perfectly wrong, the arguments are entirely
in St. Teresa's own hand and are exclusively her own work.
The Book of Foundations and the Way of Perfection contain similar
arguments in the Saint's handwriting. Nor need any surprise be
felt at the alleged praise of her doctrine for by saying: this
chapter is most noteworthy (Chap. XIV.), or: this is good
doctrine (Chap. XXI.), etc., she takes no credit for herself
because she never grows tired of repeating that she only delivers
the message she has received from our Lord. [2] The Bollandists,
not having seen the original, may be excused, but P. Bouix (whom
Mr. Lewis follows in this matter) had no right to suppress these
arguments. It is to be hoped that future editions of the works
of S. Teresa will not again deprive the reader of this remarkable
feature of her writings. What she herself thought of her books
is best told by Yepes in a letter to Father Luis de Leon, the
first editor of her works: "She was pleased when her writings
were being praised and her Order and the convents were held in
esteem. Speaking one day of the Way of Perfection, she rejoiced
to hear it praised, and said to me with great content: Some grave
men tell me that it is like Holy Scripture. For being revealed
doctrine it seemed to her that praising her book was like
praising God." [3]
A notable feature in Mr. Lewis's translation is his division of
the chapters into short paragraphs. But it appears that he
rearranged the division during the process of printing, with the
result that a large number of references were wrong. No labour
has been spared in the correction of these, and I trust that the
present edition will be the more useful for it. In quoting the
Way of Perfection and the Interior Castle (which he calls Inner
Fortress!) Mr. Lewis refers to similar paragraphs which, however,
are to be found in no English edition. A new translation of
these two works is greatly needed, and, in the case of the Way of
Perfection, the manuscript of the Escurial should be consulted as
well as that of Valladolid. Where the writings of S. John of the
Cross are quoted by volume and page, the edition referred to is
the one of 1864, another of Mr. Lewis's masterpieces.
The chapters in Ribera's Life of St. Teresa refer to the edition
in the Acts of the Saint by the Bollandists. These and all other
quotations have been carefully verified, with the exception of
those taken from the works on Mystical theology by Antonius a
Spiritu Sancto and Franciscus a S. Thoma, which I was unable to
consult. I should have wished to replace the quotations from
antiquated editions of the Letters of our Saint by references to
the new French edition by P. Gregoire de S. Joseph (Paris,
Poussielgue, 1900), which may be considered as the
standard edition.
In note 2 to Chap. XI. Mr. Lewis draws attention to a passage in
a sermon by S. Bernard containing an allusion to different ways
of watering a garden similar to St. Teresa's well-known
comparison. Mr. Lewis's quotation is incorrect, and I am not
certain what sermon he may have had in view. Something to the
point may be found in sermon 22 on the Canticle (Migne,
P. L. Vol. CLXXXIII, p. 879), and in the first sermon on the
Nativity of our Lord (ibid., p. 115), and also in a sermon on the
Canticle by one of St. Bernard's disciples (Vol. CLXXXIV.,
p. 195). I am indebted to the Very Rev. Prior Vincent McNabb,
O.P., for the verification of a quotation from St. Vincent Ferrer
(Chap. XX. section 31).
Since the publication of Mr. Lewis's translation the uncertainty
about the date of St. Teresa's profession has been cleared up.
Yepes, the Bollandists, P. Bouix, Don Vicente de la Fuente,
Mr. Lewis, and numerous other writers assume that she entered the
convent of the Incarnation [4] on November 2nd, 1533, and made
her profession on November 3rd, 1534. The remaining dates of
events previous to her conversion are based upon this, as will he
seen from the chronology printed by Mr. Lewis at the end of his
Preface and frequently referred to in the footnotes. It rests,
however, on inadequate evidence, namely on a single passage in
the Life [5] where the Saint says that she was not yet twenty
years old when she made her first supernatural experience in
prayer. She was twenty in March, 1535, and as this event took
place after her profession, the latter was supposed by Yepes and
his followers to have taken place in the previous November.
Even if we had no further evidence, the fact that St. Teresa is
not always reliable in her calculation should have warned us not
to rely too much upon a somewhat casual statement. In the first
chapter, section 7, she positively asserts that she was rather
less than twelve years old at the death of her mother, whereas we
know that she was at least thirteen years and eight months old.
As to the profession we have overwhelming evidence that it took
place on the 3rd of November, 1536, and her entrance in the
convent a year and a day earlier. To begin with, we have the
positive statement of her most intimate friends, Julian d'Avila,
Father Ribera, S.J., and Father Jerome Gratian. Likewise dona
Maria Pinel, nun of the Incarnation, says in her deposition: "She
(Teresa of Jesus) took the habit on 2 November, 1535." [6]
This is corroborated by various passages in the Saint's writings.
Thus, in Relation VII., written in 1575, she says, speaking of
herself: "This nun took the habit forty years ago." Again in a
passage of the Life written about the end of 1564 or the
beginning of the following year, [7] she mentions that she has
been a nun for over twenty-eight years, which points to her
profession in 1536. But there are two documents which place the
date of profession beyond dispute, namely the act of renunciation
of her right to the paternal inheritance and the deed of dowry
drawn up before a public notary. Both bear the date 31 October,
1536. The authors of the Reforma de los Descalcos thought that
they must have been drawn up before St. Teresa took the habit,
and therefore placed this event in 1536 and the profession in
1537, but neither of these documents is necessarily connected
with the clothing, yet both must have been completed before
profession. The Constitutions of Blessed John Soreth, drawn up
in 1462, which were observed at the convent of the Incarnation,
contain the following rule with regard to the reception and
training of novices: [8] Consulimus quod recipiendus ante
susceptionem habitus expediat se de omnibus quae habet in saeculo
nisi ex causa rationabili per priorem generalem vel provincialem
fuerit aliter ordinatum. There was, indeed, good reason in the
case of St. Teresa to postpone these legal matters. Her father
was much opposed to her becoming a nun, but considering his piety
it might have been expected that before the end of the year of
probation he would grant his consent (which in the event he did
the very day she took the habit), and make arrangements for the
dowry. One little detail concerning her haste in entering the
convent has been preserved by the Reforma and the
Bollandists, [9] though neither seem to have understood its
meaning. On leaving the convent of the Incarnation for
St. Joseph's in 1563, St. Teresa handed the prioress of the
former convent a receipt for her bedding, habit and discipline.
This almost ludicrous scrupulosity was in conformity with a
decision of the general chapter of 1342 which said: Ingrediens
ordinem ad sui ipsius instantiam habeat lectisternia pro se ipso,
sin autem recipiens solvat lectum illum. As St. Teresa entered
the convent without the knowledge of her father she did not bring
this insignificant trousseau with her; accordingly the prioress
became responsible for it and obtained a receipt when St. Teresa
went to the new convent. The dowry granted by Alphonso Sanchez
de Cepeda to his daughter consisted of twenty-five measures,
partly wheat, partly barley, or, in lieu thereof, two hundred
ducats per annum. Few among the numerous nuns of the Incarnation
could have brought a better or even an equal dowry.
The date of St. Teresa's profession being thus fixed on the 3rd
of November, 1536, some other dates of the chronology must be
revised. Her visit to Castellanos de la Canada must have taken
place in the early part of 1537. But already before this time
the Saint had an experience which should have proved a warning to
her, and the neglect of which she never ceased to deplore, namely
the vision of our Lord; [10] her own words are that this event
took place "at the very beginning of her acquaintance with the
person" who exercised so dangerous an influence upon her.
Mr. Lewis assigns to it the date 1542, which is impossible seeing
that instead of twenty-six it was only twenty-two years before
she wrote that passage of her life. Moreover, it would have
fallen into the midst of her lukewarmness (according to
Mr. Lewis's chronology) instead of the very beginning. P. Bouix
rightly assigns it to the year 1537, but as he is two years in
advance of our chronology it does not agree with the surrounding
circumstances as described by him. Bearing in mind the hint
St. Teresa gives [11] as to her disposition immediately after her
profession, we need not be surprised if the first roots of her
lukewarmness show themselves so soon.
From Castellanos she proceeded to Hortigosa on a visit to her
uncle. While there she became acquainted with the book called
Tercer Abecedario. Don Vicente remarks that the earliest edition
known to him was printed in 1537, which tells strongly against
the chronology of the Bollandists, P. Bouix, and others.
Again, speaking of her cure at Bezadas she gives a valuable hint
by saying that she remained blind to certain dangers for more
than seventeen years until the Jesuit fathers finally undeceived
her. As these came to Avila in 1555 the seventeen years lead us
back to 1538, which precisely coincides with her sojourn at
Bezadas. She remained there until Pascua florida of the
following year. P. Bouix and others understand by this term Palm
Sunday, but Don Vicente shows good reason that Easter Sunday is
meant, which in 1539 was April the 6th. She then returned to
Avila, more dead than alive, and remained seriously ill for
nearly three years, until she was cured through the miraculous
intervention of St. Joseph about the beginning of 1542.
Now began the period of lukewarmness which was temporally
interrupted by the illness and death of her father, in 1544 or
1545, and came to an end about 1555. Don Vicente, followed by
Mr. Lewis, draws attention to what he believes to be a "proof of
great laxity of the convent," that St. Teresa should have been
urged by one of her confessors to communicate as often as once a
fortnight. It should be understood that frequent communion such
as we now see it practised was wholly unknown in her time.
The Constitutions of the Order specified twelve days on which all
those that were not priests should communicate, adding:
Verumtamen fratres professi prout Deus eis devotionem contulerit
diebus dominicis et festis duplicibus (i.e., on feasts of our
Lady, the Apostles, etc.), communicare poterunt si qui velint.
Thus, communicating about once a month St. Teresa acted as
ordinary good Religious were wont to do, and by approaching the
sacrament more frequently she placed herself among the more
fervent nuns. [12]
St. Teresa wrote quite a number of different accounts of her
life. The first, addressed to Father Juan de Padranos, S.J. [13]
and dated 1557, is now lost. The second, written for St. Peter
of Alcantara, is Relation I. at the end of this volume; a copy of
it, together with a continuation (Relation II.) was sent to
Father Pedro Ibanez in 1562. It is somewhat difficult to admit
that in the very same year she wrote another, more extensive,
account to the same priest, which is generally called the "first"
Life. At the end of the Life such as we have it now, St. Teresa
wrote: "This book was finished in June, 1562," and Father Banez
wrote underneath: "This date refers to the first account which
the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus wrote of her life; it was not
then divided into chapters. Afterwards she made this copy and
inserted in it many things which had taken place subsequent to
this date, such as the foundation of the monastery of St. Joseph
of Avila." Elsewhere Father Banez says: [14] "Of one of her
books, namely, the one in which she recorded her life and the
manner of prayer whereby God had led her, I can say that she
composed it to the end that her confessors might know her the
better and instruct her, and also that it might encourage and
animate those who learn from it the great mercy God had shown
her, a great sinner as she humbly acknowledged herself to be.
This book was already written when I made her acquaintance, her
previous confessors having given her permission to that effect.
Among these was a licentiate of the Dominican Order, the Reverend
Father Pedro Ibanez, reader of Divinity at Avila. She afterwards
completed and recast this book." These two passages of Banez
have led the biographers of the Saint to think that she wrote her
Life twice, first in 1561 and the following year, completing it
in the house of Dona Luisa de la Cerda at Toledo, in the month of
June; and secondly between 1563 and 1565 at St. Joseph's Convent
of Avila. They have been at pains to point out a number of
places which could not have been in the "first" Life, but must
have been added in the second; [15] and they took it for granted
that the letter with which the book as we now have it concludes,
was addressed to Father Ibanez in 1562, when the Saint sent him
the "first" Life. It bears neither address nor date, but from
its contents I am bound to conclude that it was written in 1565,
that it refers to the "second" Life, and that whomsoever it was
addressed to, it cannot have been to Father Ibanez, who was
already dead at the time. [16] Saint Teresa asks the writer to
send a copy of the book to Father Juan de Avila. Now we know
from her letters that as late as 1568 this request had not been
complied with, and that St. Teresa had to write twice to Dona
Luisa for this purpose; [17] but if she had already given these
instructions in 1562, it is altogether incomprehensible that she
did not see to it earlier, especially when the "first" Life was
returned to her for the purpose of copying and completing it.
The second reason which prevents me from considering this letter
as connected with the "first" Life will be examined when I come
to speak of the different ends the Saint had in view when writing
her Life. It is more difficult to say to whom the letter was
really addressed. The Reforma suggests Father Garcia de Toledo,
Dominican, who bade the Saint write the history of the foundation
of St. Joseph's at Avila [18] and who was her confessor at that
convent. It moreover believes that he it is to whom Chapter
XXXIV. sections 8-20 refers, and this opinion appears to me
plausible. As to the latter point, Yepes thinks the Dominican at
Toledo was Father Vicente Barron, the Bollandists offer no
opinion, and Mr. Lewis, in his first edition gives first the one
and then the other. If, as I think, Father Garcia was meant, the
passage in Chapter XVI. section 10, beginning "O, my son," would
concern him also, as well as several passages where Vuestra
Merced - you, my Father - is addressed. For although the book came
finally into the hands of Father Banez, it was first delivered
into those of the addressee of the letter.
Whether the previous paper was a mere "Relation," or really a
first attempt at a "Life," [19] there can be no dispute about its
purpose: St. Teresa speaks of it in the following terms: "I had
recourse to my Dominican father (Ibanez); I told him all about my
visions, my way of prayer, the great graces our Lord had given
me, as clearly as I could, and begged him to consider the matter
well, and tell me if there was anything therein at variance with
the Holy Writings, and give me his opinion on the whole
matter." [20] The account thus rendered had the object of
enabling Father Ibanez to give her light upon the state of her
soul. But while she was drawing it up, a great change came over
her. During St. Teresa's sojourn at Toledo she became from a
pupil an experienced master in Mystical knowledge. "When I was
there a religious" (probably Father Garcia de Toledo) "with whom
I had conversed occasionally some years ago, happened to arrive.
When I was at Mass in a monastery of his Order, I felt a longing
to know the state of his soul." [21] Three times the Saint rose
from her seat, three times she sat down again, but at last she
went to see him in a confessional, not to ask for any light for
herself, but to give him what light she could, for she wished to
induce him to surrender himself more perfectly to God, and this
she accomplished by telling him how she had fared since their
last meeting. No one who reads this remarkable chapter can help
being struck by the change that has come over Teresa: the period
of her schooling is at an end, and she is now the great teacher
of Mystical theology. Her humility does not allow her to speak
with the same degree of openness upon her achievements as she did
when making known her failings, yet she cannot conceal the Gift
of Wisdom she had received and the use she made of it.
St. Teresa's development, if extraordinary considering the degree
of spirituality she reached, was nevertheless gradual and
regular. With her wonderful power of analysis, she has given us
not only a clear insight into her interior progress, but also a
sketch of the development of her understanding of supernatural
things. "It is now (i.e., about the end of 1563) some five or
six years, I believe, since our Lord raised me to this state of
prayer, in its fulness, and that more than once, - and I never
understood it, and never could explain it; and so I was resolved,
when I should come thus far in my story, to say very little or
nothing at all." [22] In the following chapter she adds: "You,
my father, will be delighted greatly to find an account of the
matter in writing, and to understand it; for it is one grace that
our Lord gives grace; and it is another grace to understand what
grace and what gift it is; and it is another and further grace to
have the power to describe and explain it to others. Though it
does not seem that more than the first of these - the giving of
grace - is necessary, it is a great advantage and a great grace to
understand it." [23] These words contain the clue to much that
otherwise would be obscure in the life of our Saint: great graces
were bestowed upon her, but at first she neither understood them
herself nor was she able to describe them. Hence the inability
of her confessors and spiritual advisers to guide her.
Her natural gifts, great though they were, did not help her much.
"Though you, my father, may think that I have a quick
understanding, it is not so; for I have found out in many ways
that my understanding can take in only, as they say, what is
given it to eat. Sometimes my confessor used to be amazed at my
ignorance: and he never explained to me - nor, indeed, did I
desire to understand - how God did this, nor how it could be.
Nor did I ever ask." [24] At first she was simply bewildered by
the favours shown her, afterwards she could not help knowing,
despite the fears of over anxious friends, that they did come
from God, and that so far from imperilling her soul made a
different woman of her, but even then she was not able to explain
to others what she experienced in herself. But shortly before
the foundation of St. Joseph's convent she received the last of
the three graces mentioned above, the Gift of Wisdom, and the
scene at Toledo is the first manifestation of it.
This explains the difference of the "Life" such as we know it
from the first version or the "Relations" preceding it.
Whatever this writing was, it still belonged to the period of her
spiritual education, whereas the volume before us is the
first-fruit of her spiritual Mastership. The new light that had
come to her induced her confessors [25] to demand a detailed work
embodying everything she had learned from her heavenly
Teacher. [26] The treatise on Mystical theology contained in
Chapters X. to XXI., the investigation of Divine locutions,
Visions and Revelations in the concluding portion of the work
could have had no place in any previous writing. While her
experiences before she obtained the Gift of Wisdom influenced but
three persons (one of them being her father), a great many
profited by her increased knowledge. [27] The earlier writings
were but confidential communications to her confessors, and if
they became known to larger circles this was due to indiscretion.
But her "Life" was written from the beginning with a view to
publication. Allusions to this object may be found in various
places [28] as well as in the letter appended to the book, [29]
but the decisive utterances must be sought for elsewhere, namely
in the "Way of Perfection." This work was written immediately
after the "Life," while the Saint was as yet at the convent of
St. Joseph's. It was re-written later on and is now only known
in its final shape, but the first version, the original of which
is preserved at the Escurial and has been reproduced
photographically, leaves no doubt as to the intentions of
St. Teresa in writing her "Life." "I have written a few days ago
a certain Relation of my Life. But since it might happen that my
confessor may not permit you (the Sisters of St. Joseph's) to
read it, I will put here some things concerning prayer which are
conformable to what I have said there, as well as some other
things which appear to me to be necessary." [30] Again: "As all
this is better explained in the book which I say I have written,
there is no need for me to speak of it with so much detail.
I have said there all I know. Those of you who have been led by
God to this degree of contemplation (and I say that some have
been led so far), should procure the book because it is important
for you, after I am dead." [31] At the end she writes: "Since
the Lord has taught you the way and has inspired me as to what I
should put in the book which I say has been written, how they
should behave who have arrived at this fountain of living water
and what the soul feels there, and how God satiates her and makes
her lose the thirst for things of this world and causes her to
grow in things pertaining to the service of God; that book,
therefore, will be of great help for those who have arrived at
this state, and will give them much light. Procure it.
For Father Domingo Banez, presentado of the Order of St. Dominic
who, as I say, is my confessor, and to whom I shall give this,
has it: if he judges that you should see this, and gives it to
you, he will also give you the other." [32] While the first and
second of these quotations may be found, somewhat weakened, in
the final version of the "Way of Perfection," the last one is
entirely omitted. Nor need this surprise us, for Father Banez
had his own ideas about the advisability of the publication of
the "Life." In his deposition, already referred to, he says: "It
was not convenient that this book should become public during her
lifetime, but rather that it should be kept at the Holy Office
(the Inquisition) until we knew the end of this person; it was
therefore quite against my will that some copies were taken while
it was in the hands of the bishop Don Alvaro Mendoza, who, being
a powerful prelate and having received it from the said Teresa of
Jesus, allowed it to be copied and showed it to his sister, dona
Maria de Mendoza; thus certain persons taking an interest in
spiritual matters and knowing already some portions of this
treatise (evidently the contents of the divulged Relations) made
further copies, one of which became the property of the Duchess
of Alba, dona Maria Enriquez, and is now, I think, in the hands
of her daughter-in-law, dona Maria de Toledo. All this was
against my wish, and I was much annoyed with the said Teresa of
Jesus, though I knew well it was not her fault but the fault of
those to whom she had confided the book, and I told her she ought
to burn the original because it would never do that the writings
of women should become public property; to which she answered she
was quite aware of it and would certainly burn it if I told her
to do so; but knowing her great humility and obedience I did not
dare to have it destroyed but handed it to the Holy Office for
safe-keeping, whence it has been withdrawn since her death and
published in print." [33] From this it will he seen that Banez,
who had given a most favourable opinion when the "Life" was
denounced to the Inquisition (1574), resulting in the approbation
by Cardinal de Quiroga to the great joy of St. Teresa, [34]
returned it to the Holy Office for safety's sake. It was
withdrawn by the Ven. Mother Anne of Jesus when the Order had
decided upon the publication of the works of the Saint, but too
late to be utilised then. Father Luis de Leon, the editor, had
to content himself with the copy already alluded to.
St. Teresa wrote her "Life" slowly. It was begun in spring,
1563, [35] and completed in May or June, 1565. She complains
that she can only work at it by stealth on account of her duties
at the distaff; [36] but the book is written with so much order
and method, the manuscript is so free from mistakes, corrections
and erasures, that we may conclude that while spinning she worked
it out in her mind, so that the apparent delay proved most
advantageous. In this respect the "Life" is superior to the
first version of the "Way of Perfection." This latter work was
printed during her lifetime, though it appeared only after her
death. In 1586 the Definitory of the province of Discalced
Carmelites decided upon the publication of the complete works of
the Saint, but for obvious reasons deemed not only the members of
her own Order but also Dominicans and Jesuits ineligible for the
post of editor. Such of the manuscripts as could be found were
therefore confided to the Augustinian Father, Luis de Leon,
professor at Salamanca, who prepared the edition but did not live
to carry it through the press. The fact that he did not know the
autograph of the "Life" accounts for the numerous inaccuracies to
be found in nearly all editions, but the publication of the
original should ensure a great improvement for the future.
St. Teresa's canonisation took place before the stringent laws of
Urban VIII. came into force. Consequently, the writings of the
Saint were not then enquired into, the Holy See contenting itself
with the approbations granted by the Spanish Inquisition, and by
the congregation of the Rota in Rome. A certain number of
passages selected from various works having been denounced by
some Roman theologians as being contrary to the teaching of
St. Thomas Aquinas and other authorities, Diego Alvarez, a
Dominican, and John Rada, a Franciscan, were commissioned to
examine the matter and report on it. The twelve censures with
the answers of the two theologians and the final judgment of the
Rota seem to have remained unknown to the Bollandists. [37]
The "heavenly doctrine" of St. Teresa is alluded to not only in
the Bull of canonisation but even in the Collect of the Mass of
the Saint.
Concerning the English translations of the "Life" noticed by
Mr. Lewis it should be mentioned that the one ascribed to Abraham
Woodhead is only partly his work. Father Bede of St. Simon Stock
(Walter Joseph Travers), a Discalced Carmelite, labouring on the
English Mission from 1660 till 1692, was anxious to complete the
translation of St. Teresa's works into English. He had not
proceeded very far when he learnt that "others were engaged in
the same task. On enquiry he found that a new translation was
contemplated by two graduates of the University of Cambridge,
converts to the Faith, most learned and pious men, who were
leading a solitary life, spending their time and talents in the
composition of controversial and devotional works for the good of
their neighbour and the glory of God." One of these two men was
Woodhead, who, however, was an Oxford man, but the name of the
other, who must have been a Cambridge man, is not known.
They undertook the translation while Father Bede provided the
funds and bore the risks of what was then a dangerous work.
As there existed already two English translations of the "Life,"
the first volume to appear (1669) contained the Book of
Foundations, to which was prefixed the history of the foundation
of St. Joseph's from the "Life." When, therefore, the new