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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 Bañez, 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 Bañez
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, doña
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, doña Maria Enriquez, and is now, I think, in the hands
of her daughter-in-law, doña 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 Bañez,
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
translation of the latter appeared, in 1671, this portion of the
book was omitted. [38] The translation was made direct from the
Spanish but “uniformly with the Italian edition.”
Mr. Lewis, whose translation is the fifth, was born on the 12th
of November, 1814, and died on January the 23rd, 1895. The first
edition was printed in 1870, the second in 1888. It is
regrettable that the latter edition, of which the present is a
reprint, omitted the marginal notes which would have been so
helpful to the reader.
St. Teresa’s life and character having always been a favourite
study of men and women of various schools of thought, it may be
useful to notice here a few recent English and foreign works on
the subject:—
The Life of Saint Teresa, by the author of “Devotions before and
after Holy Communion” (i.e., Miss Maria Trench), London, 1875.
The Life of Saint Teresa of the Order of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel. Edited with a preface by the Archbishop of Westminster
(Cardinal Manning), London, 1865. (By Miss Elizabeth Lockhart,
afterwards first abbess of the Franciscan convent, Notting Hill.)
Frequently reprinted.
The Life and Letters of St. Teresa, by Henry James Coleridge,
S.J. Quarterly Series. 3 vols (1881, 1887, 1888).
And, from another point of view:
The Life of St. Teresa, by Gabriela Cunninghame-Graham, 2 vols,
London, 1894.
Histoire de Sainte Thérèse d’après les Bollandistes. 2 vols,
Nantes, 1882. Frequently reprinted. The author is
Mlle. Adelaide Lecornu (born 5 July, 1852, died at the Carmelite
convent at Caen, 14 December, 1901. Her name in religion was
Adelaide-Jéronyme-Zoe-Marie du Sacré-Coeur).
An excellent character sketch of the Saint has appeared in the
“Les Saints” series (Paris, Lecoffre, 1901):
Sainte Thérèse, par Henri Joly.
Although the attempt at explaining the extraordinary phenomena in
the life of St. Teresa by animal Magnetism and similar obscure
theories had already been exploded by the Bollandists, it has
lately been revived by Professor Don Arturo Perales Gutierrez of
Granada, and Professor Don Fernando Segundo Brieva Salvatierra of
Madrid, who considered her a subject of hysterical derangements.
The discussion carried on for some time, not only in Spain but
also in France, Germany, and other countries, has been ably
summed up and disposed of by P. Grégoire de S. Joseph: La
prétendue Hystérie de Sainte Thérèse. Lyons.
The Bibliographie Thérèsienne, by Henry de Curzon (Paris, 1902)
is, unfortunately, too incomplete, not to say slovenly, to be of
much use.
Finally, it is necessary to say a word about the spelling of the
name Teresa. In Spanish and Italian it should be written without
an h as these languages do not admit the use of Th; in English,
likewise, where this combination of letters represents a special
sound, the name should be spelt with T only. But the present
fashion of thus writing it in Latin, German, French, and other
languages, which generally maintain the etymological spelling, is
intolerable: The name is Greek, and was placed on the calendar in
honour of a noble Spanish lady, St. Therasia, who became the wife
of a Saint, Paulinus of Nola, and a Saint herself. See Sainte
Thérèse, Lettres au R. P. Bouix, by the Abbé Postel, Paris, 1864.
The derivation of the name from the Hebrew Thersa can no longer
be defended (Father Jerome-Gratian, in Fuente, Obras, Vol. VI.,
369 sqq.).
Benedict Zimmerman,
Prior O.C.D.
St. Luke’s Priory,
Wincanton, Somerset.
16th July, 1904.
1. Chap. xxxiv., note 5.
2. Chap. xviii. § 11.
3. Fuente, Obras (1881), vol. vi. p. 133.
4. See the licence granted by Leo X. to the prioress and convent
of the Incarnation to build another house for the use of the said
convent, and to migrate thither (Vatican Archives, Dataria, Leo
X., anno i., vol. viii., fol. 82). Also a licence to sell or
exchange certain property belonging to it (ibid., anno iv.,
vol. vii., f. 274; and a charge to the Bishop of Avila concerning
a recourse of the said convent (ibid., anno vii., vol. iv.,
f. 24).
5. Chap. iv § 9.
6. Lettres de Ste. Thérèse, edit. P. Grégoire de S. Joseph,
vol. iii, p. 419, note 2.
7. Chap. xxxvi. § 10. The date of this part of the Life can be
easily ascertained from the two following chapters. In xxxvii. §
18, St. Teresa says that she is not yet fifty years old,
consequently the chapter must have been written before the end of
March, 1565; and in the next chapter, xxxviii.
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