CHAPTER XL.

The Saint continues the sr.me discourse, and relates some more of the great favors our Lord showed her ; she then finishes the account of her life, ....... 375
APPENDIX.
i. Historical notice of Sir Tobie Mat hews, Knt. . . 387
ii. Notice of Mr. Abraham Woodhcad, .... 394
in. Canonizatio Sanctac Thcresioe Virginis, . . . 407
iv. Hymn of Saint Teresa, ...... 419
v. Canticle of Saint Teresa after Communion, . . 426
vi. Letter to Father Pedro Ibanez, ..... 430
PREFACE
TO THE SECOiND EDITION.
IT is with an Immble diffidence, united with a sincere desire to make the works of the glorious St. Teresa more and more known in tins country, that I now present the public with a Second edition of the Saint's Life written by herself.
To some persons, whose judgment demands respect, the translation of such a life into English may appear quite un called-for. " How few," it may be said, " can understand it ! It is too dry, too extraordinary, too mystical for the generality of readers. It may do a great deal of harm to some persons. We want something more simple, practicable, and intelligible." Such is the substance ( f the objections which I have sometimes heard urged against St. Teresa's Life. This is not now the place to answer them, though how far the translation of such and such lives of the saints may or may not be desirable, is certainly a subject which requires much consideration. Every one is entitled to hold and maintain his own opinion on the matter.
In my humb e judgment, I consider — at least I earnestly hope — that the translation of St. Teresa's life will do a great deal more good to many souls than harm. This Second Edition being called for by the public, shows an increasing desire to become acquainted with the means whereby she arrived at such a height of perfection. Those means are within the reach of all, when aided by God's powerful grace. St. Teresa was no enthusiast. Amidst all her visions and rap tures — (which she never desired or sought after) — she perpetually and emphatically inculcated humility, poverty, obedience, mortification, cheerfulness, purity, resignation to 2 13
14 PREFACE.
the Divine will, and an ardent love of God, &c. Her judg ment and common sense were wonderful.
Earnestly do I hope, then, that my readers may derive profit and delight from the perusal of this wondrous life. The works of St. Teresa, we all know, are highly prized and extensively read in Catholic countries. Year after year they are becoming more and more dear to every devout soul. And here 1 cannot too strongly recommend the new French translation of the saint's works, lately undertaken by the Rev. Father Bouix, of the Society of Jesus.* It is certainly most admirable. The good father visited all those places in Spain that are consecrated by St. Teresa ; and above all, he had the happiness of inspecting the autograph manuscripts of the Saint's writings, and of comparing the printed editions with them.
The notes in the body of the translation are exceedingly valuable and interesting. To have embodied only a part of them in the present volume was found impossible, without at the same time increasing the price of the work, which the publisher did not wish to risk.
I trust D'Andilly's Jansenistical translation will now be superseded altogether by that of Father Bouix's.
JOHN DALTON.
NORTHAMPTON, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1854.
* Four volumes have already appeared — " The Life," " The Founda tions," The " Way of Perfection," and " The Letters."
P HE FACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.
To many it may seem presumption in me to have attempted a translation of the Lite of St. Teresa. I candidly acknowl edge that I myself have had the same opinion, for I know nothing whatever about " Mystical Theology ;" and though I have read several writers on the subject, such as Scaramelli, Cardinal Bona, St. John of the Cross, Father Baker, the Life of Balthasar Alvarez, &c. ; yet I must confess, that after all, I have very imperfect notions of the matter. " How then," I often asked myself, " can yon venture to translate a Life which is so difficult, so sublime, so extraordinary, so different from the ordinary lives of the saints ? " Such were my thoughts ; and so far did they prevail on me, that 1 often resolved to abandon the intention of translating the Life, hoping that sonic one else, more competent than myself, might, perhaps, sooner or later, undertake the work. Still, with all my diffidence, I felt a secret desire not to abandon the intention altogether : and I was encouraged therein, by the very kind manner in which both Bishop Wareing and Bishop Ullathorne, as well as several priests, whose judgment I valued, spoke of my intention to give a translation of the Saint's Life.
I accordingly commenced, and was highly delighted with the novelty of the undertaking. The edifying and interest ing account the Saint gives of her early years, and cf the means employed by God gradually to draw her from the vanities of the world, quite enchanted me, especially as the first ten Chapters are so very easy to translate. But when I was led into the inmost sanctuary of the Saint, and heard words uttered, " Arcana verba, qua; non licet homiui loqui;"
16
16 PREFACE.
secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter ; when visions, and raptures, and divine colloquies, and all the wonders of the supernatural life came before me, and were related in abstruse words, and in a language I had never been accustomed to, then I was indeed strongly tempted to stop: and yet I did not. And why not? Because, in spite of the many difficulties I met with, there was a something so charming, though so sublime, in the Saint's narration ; the heroic sentiments with which her Life abounds ; the heavenly virtues of obedience, mortification, humility, self-denial, and divine love, which the Saint inculcates in almost every page; the admirable rules she lays down for the guidance of souls in the way of perfection ; the excellent maxims of a spiritual life, which her holy mouth so frequently uttered ; these, and many other advantages, induced me to persevere. I could not resist the attractions by which I was surrounded.
But many imagine there is nothing "practical" in the Life of St. Teresa, or in any of her other works ; that it is next to impossible to understand her account of the different degrees of supernatural prayer, to which she was raised ; that being continually absorbed in the contemplation of Him whom her soul loved, she wings her flight too high for ordinary mortals to follow ; that she hardly speaks of anything but visions and raptures ; and hence, that her works are useful and intelligible only to persons who have attained an eminent spirit of prayer, and of these there must be a very small number, even in religious communities.*
Such are some of the prejudices and objections which we sometimes hear urged, and which we know are entertained by many against the works of St. Teresa : but nothing can be more unfounded and erroneous. There is hardly any modern saint who displays more solid judgment and common sense than St. Teresa. She is eminently practical. She is all for action, " either to die or to suffer," were the noble words that were always on her lips. " Do you see Teresa of Jesus ? " exclaimed F. Balthasar Alvarez, " what sublime graces has
* See these objections refuted in "L'Esprit do Sainte Therese," par M. Emery, (Pref. xii.)
PREFACE. 17
she not received of God, and yet she is like the most tracta ble little child, with regard to everything 1 can say to her !" To speak here of her practical piety, and of those virtues which every one may imitate by the Divine assistance, would be too tedious. Those who have not the opportunity of reading the high eulogium passed upon her by Ilibera, Yepes, Palafox, Villefore, Boucher, the Venerable John of Avila, S. Antonio,* and the learned writers of the last mag nificent volume of the Bollandists, may form some idea of those virtues which adorned her soul, from the interesting life our own Alban Butler has written of her. Father Faber very justly says, " That she represents the common sense, the discreet enthusiasm of devotion, and the interior life which distinguishes Catholic asceticism and the mysticism of the saints from the fanatical vagaries of the heretics. "f As to the works of the saint, let us hear the illustrious Bishop Milner speak : . ..." I will venture to assert, that as far as we can pronounce on the opinion of the Church, where no formal decision has taken place, there are, perhaps, no writings that have been more pointedly or more strongly ap proved of by this unerring judgment, than those of St. Teresa. Her spirit of prayer, and the character of her ascetical works, were not only examined and approved of by the most eminent divines of the age, but also by a constel lation of her holy contemporaries, such as St. F. Borgia, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. John of the Cross, and St. Lewis Ber- trand, who were the best, because they were experimental judges of the excellency of her 'heavenly doctrine,'J for so it is styled by the Church in the prayer inserted in her public liturgy, after a second examination of our Saint's spirit and writings had taken place,"§ &c.
Diego de Yepes says of her works : " That they arc written with such simplicity and sublimity, with such sweetness and
* "Vita di Santa Teresa." (Roma, 1837.) This life of the Saint is very valuable, and ably drawn up.
t Preface to "Catholic Hymns." (/{urn*, IS (9.) •
I " CoL'lestis ejus doctrinio pabulo nutriainur," Ac.
$ Preface to the translation of St. Teresa's "Exclamations." (London, 1199.)
2*
18 PREFACE.
beauty of style ; and that what she says pcnerates the heart so easily, that it is evident she learnt her doctrine from Heaven, and wrote her works by the particular assistance of the Holy Spirit." This testimony is confirmed by St. Teresa herself in many passages which I might quote ; one, however, will be sufficient : — " As our Lord said to me on one occasion, that many of the things I have mentioned here were not my own invention, but that He, my heavenly Master, told thorn to me." Lewis de Leon, to whom the Saint's works li;id been given for examination, and who was a very learned and prudent Father of the Order of St. ]>omiiiic, thus speaks of them, in a letter addressed to the Carmelite Nuns of Madrid : " I never saw nor knew the Blessed Mother Teresa of Jesus, while she lived in this world ; but now, when she lives in Heaven, I know her, and do in reality see her continually in two living images of herself, which she left amongst us, viz., her daughters and her 1 ooks," £c.
How highly does St. Francis of Sales (-peak of our glo rious Saint, in the preface to his treatise on the " Love of God." Bishop Palafox, in a letter to F. Didacus, uses the following remarkable words : " I never knew a person who was devout to St. Teresa, that did not become a spiritual man ; nor did I ever know a spiritual man who read her works, that did not become more spiritual, and most devoted to the Saint." S. Antonio, in the fourth volume of his Life of St. Teresa, gives many proofs of the great advantage the works of the Saint arc to the faithful.
But it would be superfluous to enter into more details on this part of the subject. Every one knows that St. Teresa's works, and especially hor Life, have always been eagerly sought after by the learned and devout, not only among Catholics, but also among Protestants. The many editions which have appeared in Spanish and French prove this truth.
I had at first intended to say something (in this Preface) b^ way of explanation, respecting those sublime degrees of supernatural prayer to which our Lord was pleased to raise St Teresa. But when I attempted to clothe my imperfect ideas in words, I found how incompetent I was for such a
PREFACE. 19
task. Being immediately convinced of my utter inability to do justice to the subject, I wrote to one of our beloved bishops, who I am sure is quite competent to write a valuable treatise on Mental prayer ; but he declined, through want of time. No other alternative, therefore, was left, but to give, in a few words, the substance of what St. Teresa herself has said on prayer, and to refer the reader to some standard works on the subject. St. Teresa commences, in the tenth Chapter of her Life, to speak of prayer. She says that she began to consider Christ as present in her soul, in the same manner as she had been accustomed to do after communion. From the twentieth year after she had first applied herself to this exercise, she made little use of interior discoursing or reasoning, to inflame her affections, for the intuitive consider ation of any object immediately excited in her soul the most ardent acts of divine love, praise, thanksgiving, and com punction. The tenderness of her love, nnd the deep sense of her own sins and miseries,* constituted her prayer, without her being obliged to have recourse to studied words, or to long reflections in her meditations. " This prayer suspends the soul," she says, " in such a way, that she seems to be wholly out of herself. The will is in the act of loving ; the memory seems to be in a manner lost, and the under standing reasons not." The Saint distinguishes four degrees of Mental prayer, comprising the prayer of Quiet, and that of Union. In the former, she represents a soul so perfectly shut up within herself, as to receive no impressions from without, the avenues of the senses and imagination, by which external objects press upon her, being at that time stopped, so that she then converses entirely with God alone. " He who begins this way of prayer (says our Saint, chap, xi.) must imagine that he is beginning to make a garden, for the pleasure and delight of his Lord, though it may be in a very unfruitful soil, full of weeds. It is His Majesty who must now be pleased to plant good herbs, and root up the bad ones But, by the help of our Lord, we also must
* Though St. Teresa represents herself, through her most wonderful humility, us the most base and wicked of creatures, yet all her confessora declared that she never committed a mortal sin.
20 PREFACE.
be careful, like attentive gardeners, in seeing that these good herbs which are planted may grow, and we must not forget to water them, that so they may not wither, but bring forth sweet-smelling flowers, which may give delight to our Lord, and induce Him often to come into this garden, and regale Himself with the virtues of our soul," &c. She men tions how these plants may be watered in four ways: 1. By drawing water out of a well. 2. By means of a wheel, with little buckets attached to it. 3. Or, by turning a small stream into the garden . and, lastly, the garden is watered when a good shower of rain falls upon it, for then our Lord Himself waters it, without any labor at all of ours. The Saint explains, (in the eleventh Chapter,) these four ways more fully, to which I refer the reader.
In the twelfth Chapter, she says : " In Mystical Theology, the understanding ceases from working, because God sus pends it, as I will explain afterwards, if I be able," &c. By the term " suspends," the Saint means, that God repre sents to the intellect supernatural things in so clear a light, that the soul sees them by an intuitive view, without dis coursing or reasoning upon them ; and this, too, so strongly, that she is not able to turn her attentiou to any other object. But this operation is not confined to the intellect alone ; it passes oh to the will also, and inflames it. The understand ing becomes strongly fixed on the object which it sees, and is astonished at the clear sight it obtains. The Saint calls this suspension " supernatural," because in it the soul is passive much more than active, though she may at the same time produce acts of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. The Saint tells us, that we must not desire these suspensions, nor use any efforts to obtain them, " because the devil may bring some illusion upon us." (Chapter xii.)
In the thirteenth Chapter, she continues the explanation of the first degree, and gives excellent advice against certain temptations. " His Majesty," she says, " is a very great friend of courageous souls, provided they proceed with humility, and not with any confidence in themselves." Be ginners, the Saint remarks, particularly require a learned and experienced director , " for I have met with certain souls,
PREFACE. 21
who have been afflicted and dejected, because he who had the instruction of them wanted experience, and I was very sorry for them." Again, she remarks a little further on • " I consider that a person who exercises prayer, and consults learned men, will never be deceived by illusions of the devil, if he have not a mind to deceive himself. I believe that the devil is greatly afraid of learning, whenever it is accompanied with humility, for he knows that he will be discovered in the end," &c.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapters, the Saint ex plains still more at length the prayer of Quiet or Kecollcc- tion, " which is easily perceived by the peace and satisfac tion which is felt, accompanied with very great contentment and calmness of the powers, and with the sweetest delight." In Chapter the eighteenth, she begins to speak of the prayer of Union. It would be too long to give here even the sub stance of what the Saint says on this sublime degree. Alban Butler has a very excellent note on this prayer of Union, which I will take the liberty of quoting at length: "The second, and more sublime prayer is that of Union. By this term is not meant a union of the presence or place, by which God is present to all creatures , nor that of sanctifying grace, by which every just man is a partaker of the friendship of God ; but this mystical union is that of the powers of the understanding and will, which, by their vital actions, are closely united to God The understanding, divested of all corporal images, is penetrated with the clear light and in finite brightness of the divine wisdom, while the will is closely joined to God by the most ardent love, which, like a fire, consumes all earthly affections."* But let us hear the great Saint herself : "The soul being in this state, finds herself almost sinking under a sweet and most excessive delight. She faints, and even the breath and all corporal strength begin to fail, so that the person is then not able so much as to move her hands without great pain. The eyes are also closed, though without there being any intention of shutting them ; and when, by accident, they chance to open, the soul
* October 15.
•22
PREFACE.
sees nothing distinctly ; and if she should read, she cannot know any of the letters correctly. She sees, indeed, that there are letters, but as the understanding does not give her any assistance, she knows not how to read even if she wished.
She hears, but does not understand what she hears
As for speaking, it is vanity so much as to think of any such thing, for she cannot possibly form any words ; and if she could, she could not pronounce them, because all the strength of her body is absolutely lost, on account of the greater increase of tha uf the sou!, that so she may enjoy her glory
the better However long this prayer may last, it
does not put the soul to any kind of inconvenience, at least it never put me to any ; nor am I able t - remember, that when our Lord showed me this favor, I ever found myself the worse, however weak or unwell I might have been, but rather my health was the more improved thereby. - nd, in deed, what harm can Le done to any one by so great a blessing as this?" (Chapter xviii.) In the nineteenth Chapter, the Saint explains the wonderful effects of the prayer of Union. To this Cha ter I refer the reader, who, if he cannot understand nil the sublime words the Saint utters, he will at least learn to admire her wonderful sanctity, that deserved to be so richly rewarded by her beloved Spouse ; and he will, at the same time, be astonished at the most profound humility of the -aint, who became the more humble, the more she was caressed and exalted. It was by the prayer of Union, that she saw in such a clear manner the im rense greatness of God, the emptiness of all earthly things, and her own misery ; for she beh' Id herself covered with imperfections and innu merable sins, (so her tender conscience magnified the;n,) in such a way, that she exclaimed, " O Lord ! who shall be justified before Thee ? "
Such is the short and very imperfect explanation I have given of the prayer of Quiet and Union. The truth is, as St. Teresa herself frequently mentions, few can understand this kind of prayer, but those who have experienced it. It may, however, be useful to mention some of the most ap proved writers on the subject, so that if any one should feel inclined to study the subject, as it were, he may know what
PREFACE. 23
authors to consult. First of all comes the Venerable Father Baker's " Sancta Sophia," which is quite a treasure in itself; besides containing many valuable treatises and rules on prayer, it also gives a translation of V. Balthasar Alvarez's* account of his manner of prayer, which he wrote by the command of his superior. When we remember that Alvarez was confessor to St. Teresa, and that she speaks of him in (he highest terms of praise, we shall know how to appreciate what he says on prayer. Father Baker's "Sophia" is certainly Me best work we have in English on prayer : " nothing is more clear, simple, solid, or profound," as Bishop Ullathorne justly remarks, in a private letter his lordship kindly sent me some time ago.
"II Direttorio Mistico," by Scaramelli, is, perhaps, the next best treatise, though I must confess it is very dry. It is, however, a standard work.
There is an admirable, but scarce work, in French, en titled "Secrets Sentiers," which was composed by a holy man named Barbason. It comprises everything on the subject. I have already mentioned the " Life of B ilthasar Alvarez," which is exceedingly useful and edifying.
In German, Gorres has written an historical account of all the principal mystical writers, in a preface to one of the works of Suso. Benedict XIV. has treated the subject with his usual clearness and learning, in his great work " On the Beatification and Canonization of tke Saints."
Cardinal Bona's "Via Compedii ad Deum," will also be found very useful. It is written with great unction, solidity, clearness, and learning. Other authors might be added, such as Thomas S. Jesu ; Dionysius the Carthusian ; Gerson ; Richard of St. Victor ; St. F. of Sales ; Harphius ; Rus- brochius, Taulerus, Suso, Blosius ; " Scala Perfections, " by F. Walter Hinton ; and lastly, the works of St. John of the Cross, which I possess in Spanish, though I have not read them.f I almost forgot to mention, that St. Teresa, in her
* The life of this holy man has been written by Lewis do Fonts or Puente, and translated into French. (Part*, 1846.)
•f See Father Baker, '* On Reading Spiritual Books," Ac. (p. 85, cap. iii.)
24 PREFACE.
" Way of Perfection," lays down many excellent rules for mental prayer ; and so also docs St. Peter of Alcantara, in his " Golden Treatise on Mental Prayer."
From the prayer of Union came those wonderful ecstacics and raptures ; those impetuosities of the Spirit ; those mys terious, yet familiar visions and representations of super natural objects ; words spoken by our Lord to comfort or direct her in her troubles and afflictions ; revelations ; in fused knowledge and understanding of the highest mysteries ; — all these, and many other wonders the Saint speaks of so frequently, and with so much sincerity and humility, that we seem at once admitted into Heaven itself, — into tlu very sanctuary of the Divinity. God seems to have poured out on the blessed soul of Teresa the plenitude of His choicest gifts, so that she might with some degree of justice exclaim with Mary, " Fecit mihi magna qui potens est." She sees God as clearly as the prophets ; she converses with Him as familiarly as the patriarchs did : she speaks of Him as learnedly and sublimely as the Doctors of the Church. It is sufficient for us to remain at the foot of the moun tain, while she ascends the top, and hears and sees things " which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard." Her visions and raptures we are amazed at. But what we admire still more, and what contributes more to our edification, is to see that Teresa is in no way dazzled by such brightness, nor elated by such living caresses ; but rather, the more she is exalted by her beloved Spouse, the more humble, the more fearful does she become. I must refer the reader to the twentieth Chapter of the Saint's Life, where she men tions the dLerence between union and rapture. In the latter, she says, " Our Lord catches up the soul, (as we may say,) just as the clouds catch up the vapors from the earth ; and so He, taking her wholly up from the earth, the cloud rises up to Heaven and carries her along with it, and He shows her certain things which are prepared for her there." Again : " In these raptures it does not seem that the soul even animates the body ; and so the body itself feels very great trouble, through being deprived of its natural heat ; and it seeks to cool itself, though enjoying the most excos-
PREFACE. 25
6lve sweetness and delight. Here there is no means of resisting, though in the prayer of Union there is some remedy. .... But here there is no remedy, nor any help ; for the rapture often comes, without our being able to prevent its coining, even in thought. And there comes such a sudden and strong impetuosity, that you feel the cloud raising itself up ; or rather, this strong eagle takes you and carries you quite away between its wings," &c. The examples of certain women, who about this time were found to be miserably de luded by tho devil and their own wayward imagination, greatly terrified our Saint, though at the same time she was firmly persuaded her favors came from God. Passing over the twenty-first and twenty-second Chapters, which are full of the most sublime narrations, we find St. Teresa resuming the history of her Life in the twenty-third Chapter. She says : " This fear now increased to such a degree, that it made me inquire diligently after some spiritual persons with whom I could speak concerning my troubles, and already 1 had received some account of such persons."* The first person to whom she opened her mind was a gentleman whose name was Francesco de Salscdo, a married man, who for thirty- eight years had practised mental prayer, together with his virtuous wife. Their piety was an example to the whole country, and St. Teresa bestows on them both the highest praise. This gentleman introduced her to a very learned priest named Gaspar Daza. But both of them, after an examination of our Saint's manner of prayer, expressed their fears to her, and said, " they thought there was an evil spirit in some things, but they could not be certain." This judgment they formed, because they supposed that the ex traordinary favors which the Saint received were inconsistent with all the sins and imperfections which she magnified to them. G reat was Teresa's affliction and abundant her tears on hearing what they said, though she could not persuade her self she was deluded by the devil. At length the gentle-
* She alludes to the Jesuits, who came into Spain about the year 1553. The Saint always loveil the Society of Jesus, because she heard what holy lives the Fathers led: ''Era inti affieionada. (i quien, desolo saber el moilo
3
2G PREFACE.
man above mentioned strongly advised her to consult one of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, (who had lately come into Spain,) and were eminent for their experience in guiding souls. He told her also to make a general confession to the father ; to explain everything to him with candor, and to be very careful in doing whatever he should command or ad vise her. St. Teresa did so ; and the father assured her, after having heard the account of her life, that her prayer came from God ; he encouraged her not to desist from her present practice ; and exhorted her every day to meditate on some part of our Saviour's passion, besides giving her many other wise and wholesome counsels. " In all things," says the Saint, " it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of this father for the good of my soul."
In 1557, St. Francis Borgia came into Spain. St. Teresa was desired to consult him ; and having done so} he assured her that " the Spirit of God was the author of her prayer," &c. She was comforted by his words. But shortly after wards he was called away, to the great sorrow of our Saint, for she thought she would never be able to find another like him. Her next director, however, was one according to her own heart, — the venerable servant of God, F. Balthasar Alvarez. He told her that she would do well to beg of our Lord to enlighten her mind, and teach her what He willed her to do, and that for this object she should recite every day, " Veni, Creator Spiritus." While she was once reciting this hymn, she fell so suddenly into a rapture, that she be came as it were out of herself ; then she heard these words : "I will not have thee hold conversation with men. but with angels." These words were spoken in the interior of her soul, and terrified her greatly, though on the other hand they afforded her much consolation. Those words were also veri fied to the letter ; for the Saint assures us that ever after she *ould not entertain any particular affection for any one, except for those who she thought loved God and wished to seirve Him. I refer the reader to the twenty-fourth Chapter. WLile Balthasar was her director, our Saint suffered most grievous trials and persecutions for about three years. Thovjjh it was her earnest desire that all her visions and
PREFACE. Zl
raptures should be kept qnite secret, yet they soon began to be known, in spite of all her precautions. The world is always censorious, — more inclined to blame than to praise and take one's part. Accordingly, St. Teresa was ridiculed in every place, and censured without mercy. Few had a good opinion of her at first. She was called an enthusiast, — a hypocrite, — and even a devil ! She was shunned as something unclean : as one who had dealings with the prince of darkness. Six individuals consulted together, and de cided that she was evidently deluded by the devil ; and they prevailed on F. Balthasar to command her " not to communi cate so frequently ; not to live so retired, nor prolong her meditations beyond the usual time," &c. Her confessor, however, consoled her to the best of his power ; bade her not despond, nor lose her courage ; for even if she were de luded by the devil, he told her he could not hurt her, so long as she endeavored to advance in obedience, humility, patience, and divine love. One day the Saint fell into a rapture, when her soul was in the greatest affliction, and heard a voice interiorly, uttering these words : " Fear not, daughter, it is I ; and I will not forsake thee : do not fear." Her mind was instantly composed. (See Chapter xxv.)
Passing over many other things for the sake of brevity, but which, I am sure, will be read with the deepest interest in the Life, I must not omit the edifying account the Saint gives us of St. Peter of Alcantara,* in the twenty-seventh Chapter. This great saint visited Avila in 1559, being ap pointed the commissary of his Order. At that time St. Teresa was suffering the most cruel persecutions from her friends, and even from her confessors, as well as laboring under very severe interior trials from scruples and anxieties. A pious lady, named Guiomera d'Ulloa, and an intimate friend of St. Teresa, who was also aware of all her afflictions, obtained leave of the Provincial of the Carmelites for St. Teresa to remain a few days at her house, that so our Saint
* See the Life of this greut saint, written by F. John of St. Mary, in Ifil9, and also by F. Martin of St. Joseph, in 1644 : there is likewise an interesting account in Wadding's Annals of the Franciscan Order, and in Alban Butler, (Oct. 19.)
28 PREFACE.
might there have an opportunity of consulting St. Peter of Alrunt;ini. From li is own great experience and knowledge of l)ivine manitesta'.i >n s he was easily able to understand he :•, to clear uj) all her perplexities, and give her the strong est assurance that her prayer and visions, £c., came from the Spirit of God. He even publicly declared, that, next to the truths of religion, " nothing appeared to him more evident than that her soul was conducted by God." The authority of so glorious a saint, — the reputation of his solid judgment and eminent sanctity, gave hi.s decision the great est weight, and completely turned the scales in favor of our persecuted and afflicted Saint.* Still, the holy father assured her that her troubles were not yet over ; for about this time, besides interior troubles and temptations, the blessed mother often met with exterior afflictions, and fre quently saw devils in most hideous figures ; but she always drove them away, either by making the sign of the cross or by holy water. Respecting the latter, the words of the Saint deserve to be remembered : " I have found by experience, that there is nothing from which the devils so certainly fly (so as to return no more,) as from holy water. They also fly from the cross," &c.
In the .thirty-second Chapter comes the celebrated and terrible description of hell, which the devils (as our Lord gave her to understand,) had prepared for her on account of her sins ; or rather she saw the place, which she was doomed to inhabit in hell, had not our Lord delivered her; and she also actually felt in her soul the torments of that frightful prison. The different pains she experienced are described with great force and earnestness, as well as the effects pro duced in her soul by the representation. The impression could never be effaced afterwards : and from that time, she tells us, " she was in very great pain for the many souls of the Lutherans, who are condemned to hell, especially because they were once members of the Church." The impulses she felt thereby to do good to souls, inspired her with the idea of reforming her Order. Having consulted God on the subject,
* See Chapter xxx. Chapters xxviii. a.id xxi.x. must be ruau «^e» very carefully.
PREFACE. 29
His Divine Majesty, one day after she had communicated, commanded her to use all her exertions to accomplish this object, promising her, at the same time, that the monastery should certainly be established, and that it should be called St. Joseph's Monastery. In the thirty-second and thirty- third Chapters, (which are additions to the Saint's Life,) she gives us a most interesting account of the foundation of St. Joseph's Monastery at Avila.* It would be too long to mention in detail all the trials and persecutions, — all the slanders and reproaches, and the immense labors St. Teresa had to endure in establishing this house. Every one seemed against her at first : the people of the town, her superiors, the provincial, the mayor, the magistrates, the nobility, her sister nuns, — a 11 protested against the foundation, not in words merely, but by scoffs, jeers, laughter, ridicule, and calumnies. Our glorious Saint, however, could not be daunted ; her courage was superior to all their persecutions ; and so calm was her soul under every trial, that she inspires us with unbounded admiration for her heroic patience and endurance. She simply recommended to God his own work, and He was pleased one day to comfort and encourage her, by these words, spoken to her in a vision : " Dost thou not know that I am mighty ? What dost thou fear ? Be assured the monastery shall not be dissolved. I will accomplish all that I have promised thec." The new monastery of St. Joseph was at last established, on the feast of St. Bar tholomew, in the year 1562, to the great joy and consolation of St. Teresa. The people gradually became attached to the nuns ; and they who persecuted them the most were their kindest and greatest benefactors afterwards. They acknow ledged " that it was the work of God." (See Chapter xxxvi.) Many Protestants will, no doubt, ridicule and disbelieve the visions and raptures of our Saint, and call them all illu sions, or the result of an excited, enthusiastic, or weak
* In the same town was the convent of the Incarnation, in which the Saint lived several years. Many relaxations, however, had crept in, espe cially that of admitting too frequent visit? of secular persons at the prntc. The original rule, drawn up liy Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, w:is verv austere. (See Yepes and Kil>era.)
3*
30 PREFACE.
imagination. But it is one thing to assert, and another To prove a fact. I defy any one to prove that the visions, £c., of St. Teresa were illusions. The raptures and visions carry with them their own evidence ; for, as Cardinal Bona ob- serves, writing on this very suhject, " St. Teresa's vision* and revelations were approved by men endowed with human and divine wisdom ; and this by signs and marks which it is
worth one's while to recount here Now, that St.
Teresa's was a good spirit, and her revelations true, may be
proved by the following arguments: — 1. She always feared
diabolical illusions, and therefore never asked or desired
visions. 2. She always besought God to conduct her soul
by the usual way, and only wished that God's will might be
done. 3. She obeyed her directors most punctually, and
after her visions she advanced the more in charity and humility,
&c. 4. She was more willing to treat with those who were
less credulous and more suspicions. 5. She always made it
a point of duty to mention everything to her confessors;
whereas the devil usually tries to conceal from others what
he reveals. 0. She submitted to be examined by persons
who at that time were eminent in Spain for their learning and
piety; such as St. Peter of Alcantara, St. F. Borgia, the
Ven. John of Avila, Balthasar Alvarez, Banez, &c. 7.
Her mind possessed the highest tranquillity and delight,
transcending all the consolations of the world. 8. She had
a most inflamed zeal for the salvation of souls ; most chaste
thoughts, a great candor, and a fervent desire after perfection.
9. Her visions came after long and fervent prayers, or after
receiving the Blessed Sacrament, and they enkindled in her
soul a most ardent desire of suffering for God. 10. She
chastised her flesh with fasting, disciplines, and hair shiits ;
she rejoiced in tribulations, detractions, and sickness. 11.
She loved solitude, and avoided the conversation of men,
and was entirely disengaged from all earthly things. 12.
Learned men never observed anything in her visions and
revelations whic'i was contrary to the rules of faith or
Christian perfection."*
* " DC Discretione Rpirituum " (cap. xx.) These effects correspond with those mentioned by Benedict XIV. ("De Canon, et Beatif. Sanctorum.")
PREFACE. 31
Gerson lays down a sure method (if distinguishing between Irne and false visions ; viz. if the person so favored is known to advance in humility alone : " Si unuin hoc huinilitatis signum bene excuteretur et pateret, alias inquirere notas aecesse non foret. Nam ex huuiilitate et superbia in rebus spiritus facillime quis discat, quajnam verse sint, et qufenam falsitatem oleant : " such are his words ; and tlicse cor respond with what our Saviour says, " By their fruits ye shall know them." St. Teresa often speaks on the deceits of the imagination and the fancy ; and in the " Book of the Foundations," she points out to her Nuns the great danger of giving way to melancholy ; indeed, she was very careful not to admit into the convent those who seemed subject to it. She lays down as a rule, " that if the person will not observe what her confessor commands her, nor allow him to guide her, it is either some evil spirit or a terrible melan choly." (Foundations, chap, xiii.)
It is also very remarkable, that nothing was ever spoken to her in any of her raptures, which was not afterwards literally fulfilled. Thus the death of St. Peter of Alcan tara was revealed to her a year before it took place ; so that St. Teresa says, " When these words came from God, I find the truth thereof in many things which bad been told me two or three years before, arid they have all proved true." (Life, chap, xxv,)
The Admirable letter which Father Avila sent to the Saint, after having perused the account of her Life, also confirms what has been said respecting her visions and raptures. I will quote a few passages : " The doctrine concerning prayer is, for the most part, good, and you may well acquiesce in it, and follow it; and in the raptures, I find the signs which those have that are true. The method of God's teaching a soul without the imagination, and without interior words, is safe. I find nothing to scruple at, and St. Augustine speaks
well of it I think these things have benefited your
soul, and especially have made you know your own misery and defects, and amend them ; they have continued a long time, and always with spiritual profit ; they excite you to
32 PREFACE.
love God and despise yourself, and to do penance. I do not see why I should blame them,"* &c.
\\ hon we remember how spiritual a man Father Avila was, and how deeply versed in all the wonders of the supernatural life, his words must have immense weight. In addition to all these proofs, we know that the account of her Life was ex amined by the Spanish Inquisition, and much commended; and above all, her doctrine has been styled by the Church, "heavenly." \Vhatstrongerproofscanbedesired? Much more might be said on the subject.
St. Teresa passed five years in her convent of St. Joseph, with thirteen devout Nuns, who led the lives of angels on earth. In August, 15G7, the Saint founded the convent of Medina del Campo; after which came the foundations of Malagon, Valladolid, Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia, Vcas, Se ville, &c. Burgos was the last, and the most trying and diffi cult. And here I cannot forbear inserting the following most edifying account of the death of St. Teresa, translated from the History of her Life, written by Kibera and Diego do Yepez, both of whom had been for some time her confessors.
" After the holy mother had finished the foundation of Burgos, she departed to Palentia, and from thence to Medina, with the intention of making the best of her way to Avila, where she was prioress, and there bestowing the veil on her niece, Teresa of Jesus. But the Most High had appointed otherwise, for at Medina she found Father Anthony of Jesus, at that time the Deputy-Provincial, who, at the request of the Duchess of Alva, had come to meet her there, on pur pose to take her along with him to Alva. There she was carried in a litter, suffering great pains all the way, and so much sickness, that when she came to Peynaranda, the next town, she felt such excessive torment, together with such an incredible decay of strength, that she quite swooned away ; »ior was there anything to be found that could relieve her sufferings but a few figs. The venerable Anne of St.
* The whole of this letter may be found in the Preface of Mr. A. Woodhead'l translation of the works of St. Teresa. The remarks of Woodhead on the Saint's visions, Ac., are exceedingly valuable. Seo also the Bollandists (Oct. 15.)
PREFACE. 3U
Bartholomew,* her individual companion, was exceedingly troubled, that in so great a necessity she could afford the holy mother no better help. But she comforted her, saying, 4 Do not afflict yourself, daughter ; these figs are very good, and many poor people have not such.'
" The next day on entering another town, they met with nothing but boiled herbs and onions, to make amends for the meanness of their dinner the day before ; yet, with these she stayed her appetite as tfell as she could, though such food was bad for her health.
" The same night, being the Vigil of St. Matthew, she was brought to Alva. She was then so spent and sick, that when she came into the house she was persuaded to go to bed, and take a little rest. The next morning, however, she got up, and went to the church to hear mass, where, with great fervor of soul and extraordinary devotion, she received the Blessed Sacrament. She continued, sometimes better and sometimes worse, till the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel ; on which day, after hearing mass and communicating, (which was now her daily practice,) she took to her bed and never rose from it agafh.
" The three days before her decease she spent in earnest prayer and devout supplications to God ; and in the morning she called for F. Anthony of Jesus to hear her confession. It is believed that our Lord had then revealed to her the hour of her death, for some of the nuns heard F. Anthony tell her, to entreat our Lord not to take her away so soon. To whom the holy mother replied, ' That she seemed to be no longer useful in the world.' After this, she began to give many excellent instructions to her daughters, saying : ' I be seech you, my dear daughters, to observe the constitutions and rules very exactly ; and I likewise beg of you, not to
* This holy servant, when very young, was one of the first who took the habit in St. Teresa's convent of St. Joseph, at Avila, of which city she was a native. Her eminent spirit of humilty and prayer endeared her, in a particular manner, to St. Teresa. After the saint had expired in her arms, she was sent into France, with Anne of Jesus, and was ap pointed, by Cardinal Berulle, prioress of a convent founded at Pontoise. She died at Antwerp, in 1626. (Note of Alban Butler.)
34 PREFACE
regard the bad example which such a sinner as I have given you ; but, in whatever I have offended, I desire you will forgive me.' So overpowered were the sisters with grief, that not one could answer a word.
" At five, in the evening, she asked for the holy viaticum. As soon as the sacred pledge of our redemption was brought into her room, though just before she was so ex hausted and oppressed with pain, that she could neither move in her bed, nor turn from one side to the other, except by the help of the sisters ; yet now she raised herself up in the bed with such vigor and ease, as if nothing were the matter ; her face shone with unusual beauty, and darted forth rays of light, looking much younger than she really was ; then, with a venerable look of majesty, closing her hands, she be gan to utter out of the abundance of her blessed heart, certain sweet and amorous expressions ; among the rest were these : * 0 my Lord and my Spouse ! the desired hour I have so long wished for is now come. Now the time is come when we shall see each other. It is now time, 0 Lord ! for me to depart ; happy and prosperous may the journey prove ; Thy will be done. The hour is come at last, when I shall pass out of this exile, and my soul shall enjoy, in Thy company, that which she hath so much longed for.' She also gave thanks to our Lord for His goodness in having made her a child of the Church, and given her the grace to die in its bosom : she often repeated those words : ' At last, O Lord ! I am a daughter of the Church.' With great humility and compunction of heart, she begged of our Lord the pardon of all her sins, hoping, as she often said, for eternal salvation by the merits of Jesus Christ, humbly entreating her daugh ters to beg this of our Lord for her. She often repeated these words : ' A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit. A contrite and humbled heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise. Cast me not away from thy face, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me : create a clean heart in me, 0 God,' &c. * A contrite and humbled heart, () God, thou wilt not despise,' was frequently in her mouth, till her speech failed her.
" At nine o'clock the same evening, she received, with great, reverence and devotion, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction,
PREFACE. 35
joining with the nuns in the penitential Psalms and the Litany. F. Anthony asked her a little after, if she wished her body, after her death, to be taken to Avila or to remain at Alva? She seemed displeased with the question, and only an swered, ' Am I to have a will in anything ? Will they deny me here a little earth for my body ?' All that night she suffered excessive pains. The next day, at seven in the morning, she turned herself on one side, just in the posture and manner that the blessed Magdalen is commonly drawn by painters. Thus she remained for fourteen hours, holding a crucifix so firmly in her hands, that the nuns could not take it away till after she died. She continued in an ecstasy, with an inflamed countenance and great composure, like one wholly taken up with internal contemplation. When she was now drawing near her end, one of the nuns, viewing her more attentively, thought she observed in her certain signs of our Saviour talking to her, and showing her some wonderful things.
" Thus she remained till nine in the evening, when she sur rendered her pure soul into the hands of her Creator. She died in the arms of "Sister Anne of St. Bartholomew, on the 4th of October, 1582; but the next day, on account of the reformation of the calendar, was the fifteenth of that month, the day now appointed for her festival. The Saint was sixty- seven years old, forty-seven of which she had passed in re ligion ; twenty seven in the monastery of the Incarnation, and twenty in that of St. Joseph."
At the moment that the Saint expired, several of the nuns saw many wonderful signs of her happiness and glory ; a i globe of light raising itself in the air ; a dove mounting to wards heaven from the room where the Saint expired, &c. A nun, who had charge of the infirmary, while sitting at a window of the room where the Saint lay, heard a confused kind of noise, as of a multitude rejoicing ; and soon after, she saw a great multitude of persons, all in white, glittering with a wonderful splendor; entering the room where the holy mother reposed, they surrounded her bed, as if they had come to accompany her to heaven. A most agreeable odor filled the whole house. The countenance of the Saint
36 P E E F A 0 E .
looked most beautiful and heavenly, not a wrinkle was to be seen on it.* These, and many other thims, are attested in the Bull of her canonization. The Saint's body was honorably buried at Alva. On the 4th day of July, 1 583, nine months after her death, the coffin was opened, and the body was found to be as perfect and incorrupt as if it had but lately been buried. The scent from the body was wonder fully sweet. Before the body was enclosed in a new coffin, the Father Provincial took off the left hand, which he after wards carried to Lisbon, for a monastery of discalced nuns lately founded there. In 1585, by a decree of the Pro vincial Chapter of the Order, held at Pastrana, the body was secretly removed to Avila. The body was then ex amined again, and found in the same state as before, incorrupt, and sending forth a very sweet odor. But in 1586, the Duke of Alva, being quite angry at the removal of the Saint's body, obtained leave of the Pope to have it translated back again to Alva, which was accordingly done, with great honor and reverence ; and there it remains, incorrupt, at the present day. More particulars may be seen in Ribera, (lib. v.,) and also in the Bollandists, (Oct. 15.) I should have mentioned, that the heart of St. Teresa, (as it is credibly believed, and can be proved,) was miraculously transfixed. The Church alludes to this wonderful fact in the hymn appointed for her festival : it is also mentioned in the Acts of her canonization, and by Benedict XIV. The Carmelites in Spain say the office of the Transfixion at the present day.
Many relics of the Saint are to be found in several parts of Europe. Her right foot is at Rome: a middle finger at Paris; one of the shoulder-bones at Brussels; and in Milan and Venice are some of her teeth. In Naples, her scapular is preserved ; and at Paris her mantle. The two fervent communities of Teresians in England, and some of the houses in Ireland, also possess some valuable relics of their glorious mother.
* (See Ribera's Life of St. Teresa, in the Hol'andists, lib. iii.; also Yepez, lib. ii. cap. xxxviii. Villefore likewise gives the same account of St. Teresa's death, lib. v.j
PREFACE. 37
The original manuscript of the Saint's Life, together with her " Way of Perfection, the Foundations, and the Manner of visiting Convents," are still carefully preserved in the royal library of the Escurial.
The different Spanish editions of the Saint's works which have appeared, and the translations which have been made, into various languages, sufficiently prove the high estimation the world has formed of the Saint's writings. To enumerate nil the different editions is unnecessary. In Spanish, the following are the principal ones: Eborse, 1583; Salamanca, 1588; Naples, 1594; Madrid, 1597, 1611, 1615, 1622, 1627, 1635, 1636, 1661, 1662, 1670, 1678, 1752, 1778, 1793, Brussels, 1610, 1612, 1674, 1675, 1684, 1740; Antwerp, 1630, 1649, 1661.
Francisco Bordini, a disciple of St. Philip Neri, translated St. Teresa's Life into Italian, in 1601.* I believe there is another Italian translation, but I have not seen it. An edi tion of the " Foundations" was published in Home, 1622 ; and at Venice in 1636. Her Life has also been translated into German, Latin, and French. Arnauld d'Andilly's translation was first published in Paris, in 1670 ; and since then there have been several editions, one at Brussels, in 1839, and the last in 1840, published by the Abbe Migne, who deserves much praise for his noble exertions in the cause of religion and literature. D'Andilly's translation is, on the whole, not very faithful, for here and there several passages might have been translated more accurately. But the reader must be on his guard in reading his translation, for as D'Andilly was a Jansenist, he tries to misrepresent what St. Teresa says in several places. I am not acquainted with any other translation of her " Life" into French, though several of her other works, including her admirable Letters, have been translated at different times.
Several eminent persons have written " Histories" of her Life. Among these, the first that deserves to be mentioned is F. Ribera, so well known by his Commentaries on the
* There is also an Italian translation, entitled " Opere Spirituali delhi Santa Madra Teresa di Griesil," (in 2 vols., Venice, 1f>90). Another trans lation was published at Turin, in 6 vols., 12ino. 1830-40.
4
38 PREFACE.
Holy Scripture. He was born in 1537. Having commenced his studies at Salamanca, he was afterwards made one of the Professors in the Archiepiscopal College of Toledo ; but, after a few years, he resigned this office, and entered the Society of Jesus. He made his noviciate under P. Baltha- sar Alvarez. After leading a most virtuous and edifying life, he died at Salamanca, in 1591. So great was his hu mility, that his superiors were obliged to command him to publish his Commentaries on the Holy Scripture.* He pub lished all his works in Latin, except his " Life of St. Teresa,'1 which he wrote in Spanish, and which was published at Sala manca, in 1590. It has been translated into Latin, under the following title : " Vita S. Matris Teresiae de Jesu, auc- tore R. P. Francisco Ribera ; ex Hispanico sermone in Lati- num convertebat Mathias Martinez :" Colonies *tfgrippince, 1620. This translation is a very good one. The Bollandi.sts have republished it at the end of their magnificent volume (page 538). In 1645, Ribera's Life of St. Teresa was pub lished in French, by Pere de Bretigny, who was assisted by