by

ST. TERESA OF AVILA

Translated & Edited by

E. ALLISON PEERS

from the Critical Editon of

P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.

Scanned by Harry Plantinga, 1995

From the Image Books edition, 1964, ISBN 0-385-06539-6

This etext is in the public domain

Only a few of the nearly 1200 footnotes of the image book edition have been
reproduced. Most of those that were not reproduced concern differences
between the manuscripts. The reader is referred to the print edition.
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The Way of Perfection
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Although St. Teresa of Avila lived and wrote almost four centuries ago, her
superbly inspiring classic on the practice of prayer is as fresh and
meaningful today as it was when she first wrote it. The Way of Perfection is
a practical guide to prayer setting forth the Saints counsels and
directives for the attainment of spiritual perfection.

Through the entire work there runs the authors desire to teach a deep and
lasting love of prayer beginning with a treatment of the three essentials of
the prayer-filled life”fraternal love, detachment from created things, and
true humility. St. Teresas counsels on these are not only the fruit of
lofty mental speculation, but of mature practical experience. The next
section develops these ideas and brings the reader directly to the subjects
of prayer and contemplation. St. Teresa then gives various maxims for the
practice of prayer and leads up to the topic which occupies the balance of
the book”a detailed and inspiring commentary on the Lords Prayer.

Of all St. Teresas writings, The Way of Perfection is the most easily
understood. Although it is a work of sublime mystical beauty, its
outstanding hallmark is its simplicity which instructs, exhorts, and
inspires all those who are seeking a more perfect way of life.

I shall speak of nothing of which I have no experience, either in my own
life or in observation of others, or which the Lord has not taught me in
prayer.” Prologue

Almost four centuries have passed since St. Teresa of Avila, the great
Spanish mystic and reformer, committed to writing the experiences which
brought her to the highest degree of sanctity. Her search for, and eventual
union with, God have been recorded in her own world-renowned writings”the
autobiographical Life, the celebrated masterpiece Interior Castle and The
Way of Perfection” as well as in the other numerous works which flowed from
her pen while she lived.

The Way of Perfection was written during the height of controversy which
raged over the reforms St. Teresa enacted within the Carmelite Order. Its
specific purpose was to serve as a guide in the practice of prayer and it
sets forth her counsels and directives for the attainment of spiritual
perfection through prayer. It was composed by St. Teresa at the express
command of her superiors, and was written during the late hours in order not
to interfere with the days already crowded schedule.

Without doubt it fulfills the tribute given all St. Teresas works by E.
Allison Peers, the outstanding authority on her writings:Work of a sublime
beauty bearing the ineffaceable hallmark of genius.
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CONTENTS

Introduction

Translators Note:

General Argument

Protestation

Prologue

Chapter 1”Of the reason which moved me to found this convent in such strict
observance

Chapter 2”Treats of how the necessities of the body should be disregarded
and of the good that comes from poverty

Chapter 3”Continues the subject begun in the first chapter and persuades the
sisters to busy themselves constantly in beseeching God to help those who
work for the Church. Ends with an exclamatory prayer

Chapter 4”Exhorts the nuns to keep their Rule and names three things which
are important for the spiritual life. Describes the first of these three
things, which is love of ones neighbour, and speaks of the harm which can
be done by individual friendships

Appendix To Chapter 4

Chapter 5”Continues speaking of confessors. Explains why it is important
that they should be learned men

Chapter 6”Returns to the subject of perfect love, already begun

Chapter 7”Treats of the same subject of spiritual love and gives certain
counsels for gaining it

Chapter 8”Treats of the great benefit of self-detachment, both interior and
exterior, from all things created

Chapter 9”Treats of the great blessing that shunning their relatives brings
to those who have left the world and shows how by doing so they will find
truer friends

Chapter 10”Teaches that detachment from the things aforementioned is
insufficient if we are not detached from our own selves and that this virtue
and humility go together

Chapter 11”Continues to treat of mortification and describes how it may be
attained in times of sickness

Chapter 12”Teaches that the true lover of God must care little for life and
honour

Chapter 13”Continues to treat of mortification and explains how one must
renounce the worlds standards of wisdom in order to attain to true wisdom

Chapter 14”Treats of the great importance of not professing anyone whose
spirit is contrary to the things aforementioned

Chapter 15”Treats of the great advantage which comes from our not excusing
ourselves, even though we find we are unjustly condemned

Chapter 16”Describes the difference between perfection in the lives of
contemplatives and in the lives of those who are content with mental prayer.
Explains how it is sometimes possible for God to raise a distracted soul to
perfect contemplation and the reason for this. This chapter and that which
comes next are to be noted carefully

Chapter 17”How not all souls are fitted for contemplation and how some take
long to attain it. True humility will walk happily along the road by which
the Lord leads it

Chapter 18”Continues the same subject and shows how much greater are the
trials of contemplatives than those of actives. This chapter offers great
consolation to actives

Chapter 19”Begins to treat of prayer. Addresses souls who cannot reason with
the understanding

Chapter 20”Describes how, in one way or another, we never lack consolation
on the road of prayer. Counsels the sisters to include this subject
continually in their conversation

Chapter 21”Describes the great importance of setting out upon the practice
of prayer with firm resolution and of heeding no difficulties put in the way
by the devil

Chapter 22”Explains the meaning of mental prayer

Chapter 23”Describes the importance of not turning back when one has set out
upon the way of prayer. Repeats how necessary it is to be resolute

Chapter 24”Describes how vocal prayer may be practised with perfection and
how closely allied it is to mental prayer

Chapter 25”Describes the great gain which comes to a soul when it practises
vocal prayer perfectly. Shows how God may raise it thence to things
supernatural

Chapter 26”Continues the description of a method for recollecting the
thoughts. Describes means of doing this. This chapter is very profitable for
those who are beginning prayer

Chapter 27”Describes the great love shown us by the Lord in the first words
of the Paternoster and the great importance of our making no account of good
birth if we truly desire to be the daughters of God

Chapter 28”Describes the nature of the Prayer of Recollection and sets down
some of the means by which we can make it a habit

Chapter 29 - Continues to describe methods for achieving this Prayer of
Recollection. Says what little account we should make of being favoured by
our superiors

Chapter 30”Describes the importance of understanding what we ask for in
prayer. Treats of these words in the Paternoster:Sanctificetur nomen tuum,
adveniat regnum tuum. Applies them to the Prayer of Quiet, and begins the
explanation of them

Chapter 31”Continues the same subject. Explains what is meant by the Prayer
of Quiet. Gives several counsels to those who experience it. This chapter is
very noteworthy

Chapter 32”Expounds these words of the Paternoster:Fiat voluntas tua sicut
in coelo et in terra. Describes how much is accomplished by those who
repeat these words with full resolution and how well the Lord rewards them
for it

Chapter 33”Treats of our great need that the Lord should give us what we ask
in these words of the Paternoster:Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis
hodie.

Chapter 34”Continues the same subject. This is very suitable for reading
after the reception of the Most Holy Sacrament

Chapter 35”Describes the recollection which should be practised after
Communion. Concludes this subject with an exclamatory prayer to the Eternal
Father

Chapter 36”Treats of these words in the Paternoster:Dimitte nobis debita
nostra

Chapter 37”Describes the excellence of this prayer called the Paternoster,
and the many ways in which we shall find consolation in it

Chapter 38”Treats of the great need which we have to beseech the Eternal
Father to grant us what we ask in these words:Et ne nos inducas in
tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Explains certain temptations. This
chapter is noteworthy

Chapter 39”Continues the same subject and gives counsels concerning
different kinds of temptation. Suggests two remedies by which we may be
freed from temptations

Chapter 40”Describes how, by striving always to walk in the love and fear of
God, we shall travel safely amid all these temptations

Chapter 41”Speaks of the fear of God and of how we must keep ourselves from
venial sins

Chapter 42”Treats of these last words of the Paternoster:Sed libera nos a
malo. Amen.But deliver us from evil. Amen.
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PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS

A.V.”Authorized Version of the Bible (1611).

D.V.”Douai Version of the Bible (1609) .

Letters”Letters of St. Teresa. Unless otherwise stated, the numbering of the
Letters follows Vols. VII-IX of P. Silverio. Letters (St.) indicates the
translation of the Benedictines of Stanbrook (London, 1919-24, 4 vols.).

Lewis”The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, etc., translated by David Lewis, 5th
ed., with notes and introductions by the Very Rev. Benedict Zimmerman,
O.C.D., London, 1916.

P. Silverio”Obras de Santa Teresa de Jesºs, editadas y anotadas por el P.
Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D., Durgos, 1915-24, 9 vols.

Ribera”Francisco de Ribera, Vida de Santa Teresa de Jesºs, Nueva ed.
aumentada, con introduction, etc., por el P. Jaime Pons, Barcelona, 1908.

S.S.M.”E. Allison Peers, Studies of the Spanish Mystics, London, 1927-30, 2
vols.

St. John of the Cross”The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, Doctor
of the Church, translated from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa
Teresa, C.D., and edited by E. Allison Peers, London, 1934-35, 3 vols.

Yepes”Diego de Yepes, Vida de Santa Teresa, Madrid, 1615.
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TO THE GRACIOUS MEMORY OF

P. EDMUND GURDON

SOMETIME PRIOR OF THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY

OF MIRAFLORES

A MAN OF GOD

INTRODUCTION

We owe this book, first and foremost, to the affectionate importunities of
the Carmelite nuns of the Primitive Observance atvila, and, in the second
place, to that outstanding Dominican who was also St. Teresas confessor,
Fray Domingo Baez. The nuns of St. Josephs knew something of their Mother
Foundress autobiography, and, though in all probability none of them had
actually read it, they would have been aware that it contained valuable
counsels to aspirants after religious perfection, of which, had the book
been accessible to them, they would have been glad to avail themselves. Such
intimate details did it contain, however, about St. Teresas spiritual life
that her superiors thought it should not be put into their hands; so the
only way in which she could grant their persistent requests was to write
another book dealing expressly with the life of prayer. This P. Baez was
very anxious that she should do.

Through the entire Way of Perfection there runs the authors desire to teach
her daughters to love prayer, the most effective means of attaining virtue.
This principle is responsible for the books construction. St. Teresa begins
by describing the reason which led her to found the first Reformed Carmelite
convent”viz., the desire to minimize the ravages being wrought, in France
and elsewhere, by Protestantism, and, within the limits of her capacity, to
check the passion for a so-calledfreedom, which at that time was
exceeding all measure. Knowing how effectively such inordinate desires can
be restrained by a life of humility and poverty, St. Teresa extols the
virtues of poverty and exhorts her daughters to practise it in their own
lives. Even the buildings in which they live should be poor: on the Day of
Judgment both majestic palaces and humble cottages will fall and she has no
desire that the convents of her nuns should do so with a resounding clamour.

In this preamble to her book, which comprises Chapters 1-3, the author also
charges her daughters very earnestly to commend to God those who have to
defend the Church of Christ”particularly theologians and preachers.

The next part of the book (Chaps. 4-15) stresses the importance of a strict
observance of the Rule and Constitutions, and before going on to its main
subject” prayer”treats of three essentials of the prayer-filled life”mutual
love, detachment from created things and true humility, the last of these
being the most important and including all the rest. With the mutual love
which nuns should have for one another she deals most minutely, giving what
might be termed homely prescriptions for the domestic disorders of convents
with the skill which we should expect of a writer with so perfect a
knowledge of the psychology of the cloister. Her counsels are the fruit, not
of lofty mental speculation, but of mature practical expedience. No less
aptly does she speak of the relations between nuns and their confessors, so
frequently a source of danger.

Since excess is possible even in mutual love, she next turns to detachment.
Her nuns must be detached from relatives and friends, from the world, from
worldly honour, and”the last and hardest achievement”from themselves. To a
large extent their efforts in this direction will involve humility, for, so
long as we have an exaggerated opinion of our own merits, detachment is
impossible. Humility, to St. Teresa, is nothing more nor less than truth,
which will give us the precise estimate of our own worth that we need.
Fraternal love, detachment and humility: these three virtues, if they are
sought in the way these chapters direct, will make the soul mistress and
sovereign over all created things”aroyal soul, in the Saints happy
phrase, the slave of none save of Him Who bought it with His blood.

The next section (Chaps. 16-26) develops these ideas, and leads the reader
directly to the themes of prayer and contemplation. It begins with St.
Teresas famous extended simile of the game of chess, in which the soul
gives check and mate to the King of love, Jesus. Many people are greatly
attracted by the life of contemplation because they have acquired imperfect
and misleading notions of the ineffable mystical joys which they believe
almost synonymous with contemplation. The Saint protests against such ideas
as these and lays it down clearly that, as a general rule, there is no way
of attaining to union with the Beloved save by the practice of thegreat
virtues, which can be acquired only at the cost of continual self-sacrifice
and self-conquest. The favours which God grants to contemplatives are only
exceptional and of a transitory kind and they are intended to incline them
more closely to virtue and to inspire their lives with greater fervour.

And here the Saint propounds a difficult question which has occasioned no
little debate among writers on mystical theology. Can a soul in grave sin
enjoy supernatural contemplation? At first sight, and judging from what the
author says in Chapter 16, the answer would seem to be that, though but
rarely and for brief periods, it can. In the original (or Escorial)
autograph, however, she expressly denies this, and states that contemplation
is not possible for souls in mortal sin, though it may be experienced by
those who are so lukewarm, or lacking in fervour, that they fall into venial
sins with ease. It would seem that in this respect the Escorial manuscript
reflects the Saints ideas, as we know them, more clearly than the later one
of Valladolid; if this be so, her opinions in no way differ from those of
mystical theologians as a whole, who refuse to allow that souls in mortal
sin can experience contemplation at all.

St. Teresa then examines a number of other questions, on which opinion has
also been divided and even now is by no means unanimous. Can all souls
attain to contemplation? Is it possible, without experiencing contemplation,
to reach the summit of Christian perfection? Have all the servants of God
who have been canonized by the Church necessarily been contemplatives? Does
the Church ever grant non-contemplatives beatification? On these questions
and others often discussed by the mystics much light is shed in the
seventeenth and eighteenth chapters.

Then the author crosses swords once more with those who suppose that
contemplatives know nothing of suffering and that their lives are one
continuous series of favours. On the contrary, she asserts, they suffer more
than actives: to imagine that God admits to this closest friendship people
whose lives are all favours and no trials is ridiculous. Recalling the
doctrine expounded in the nineteenth chapter of her Life she gives various
counsels for the practice of prayer, using once more the figures of water
which she had employed in her first description of the Mystic Way. She
consoles those who cannot reason with the understanding, shows how vocal
prayer may be combined with mental, and ends by advising those who suffer
from aridity in prayer to picture Jesus as within their hearts and thus
always beside them” one of her favourite themes.

This leads up to the subject which occupies her for the rest of the book
(Chaps. 27-42)”the Lords Prayer. These chapters, in fact, comprise a
commentary on the Paternoster, taken petition by petition, touching
incidentally upon the themes of Recollection, Quiet and Union. Though
nowhere expounding them as fully as in the Life or the Interior Castle, she
treats them with equal sublimity, profundity and fervour and in language of
no less beauty. Consider, for example, the apt and striking simile of the
mother and the child (Chap. 31), used to describe the state of the soul in
the Prayer of Quiet, which forms one of the most beautiful and expressive
expositions of this degree of contemplation to be found in any book on the
interior life whatsoever.

In Chapter 38, towards the end of the commentary on the Paternoster, St.
Teresa gives a striking synthetic description of the excellences of that
Prayer and of its spiritual value. She enters at some length into the
temptations to which spiritual people are exposed when they lack humility
and discretion. Some of these are due to presumption: they believe they
possess virtues which in fact they do not”or, at least, not in sufficient
degree to enable them to resist the snares of the enemy. Others come from a
mistaken scrupulousness and timidity inspired by a sense of the heinousness
of their sins, and may lead them into doubt and despair. There are souls,
too, which make overmuch account of spiritual favours: these she counsels to
see to it that, however sublime their contemplation may be, they begin and
end every period of prayer with self-examination. While others whose
mistrust of themselves makes them restless, are exhorted to trust in the
Divine mercy, which never forsakes those who possess true humility.

Finally, St. Teresa writes of the love and fear of God”two mighty castles
which the fiercest of the souls enemies will storm in vain”and begs Him, in
the last words of the Prayer to preserve her daughters, and all other souls
who practise the interior life, from the ills and perils which will ever
surround them, until they reach the next world, where all will be peace and
joy in Jesus Christ.

Such, in briefest outline, is the argument of this book. Of all St.
Teresas writings it is the most easily comprehensible and it can be read
with profit by a greater number of people than any of the rest. It is also
(if we use the word in its strictest and truest sense) the most ascetic of
her treatises; only a few chapters and passages in it, here and there, can
be called definitely mystical. It takes up numerous ideas already adumbrated
in the Life and treats them in a practical and familiar way”objectively,
too, with an eye not so much to herself as to her daughters of the Discalced
Reform. This last fact necessitates her descending to details which may seem
to us trivial but were not in the least so to the religious to whom they
were addressed and with whose virtues and failing she was so familiar.
Skilfully, then, and in a way profitable to all, she intermingles her
teaching on the most rudimentary principles of the religious life, which has
all the clarity of any classical treatise, with instruction on the most
sublime and elusive tenets of mystical theology.

ESCORIAL AUTOGRAPH”The Way of perfection”or Paternoster, as its author calls
it, from the latter part of its content”was written twice. Both autographs
have been preserved in excellent condition, the older of them in the
monastery of San Lorenzo el Real, El Escorial, and the other in the convent
of the Discalced Carmelite nuns at Valladolid. We have already seen how
Philip II acquired a number of Teresan autographs for his new Escorial
library, among them that of the Way of perfection. The Escorial manuscript
bears the titleTreatise of the Way of Perfection, but this is not in St.
Teresas hand. It plunges straight into the prologue: both the title and the
brief account of the contents, which are found in most of the editions, are
taken from the autograph of Valladolid, and the humble protestation of faith
and submission to the Holy Roman Church was dictated by the Saint for the
edition of the book made in‰vora by Don Teutonio de Braganza - it is found
in the Toledo codex, which will be referred to again shortly.

The text, divided into seventy-three short chapters, has no
chapter-divisions in the ordinary sense of the phrase, though the author has
left interlinear indications showing where each chapter should begin. The
chapter-headings form a table of contents at the end of the manuscript and
only two of them (55 and 56) are in St. Teresas own writing. As the
remainder, however, are in a feminine hand of the sixteenth century, they
may have been dictated by her to one of her nuns: they are almost identical
with those which she herself wrote at a later date in the autograph of
Valladolid.

There are a considerable number of emendations in this text, most of them
made by the Saint herself, whose practice was to obliterate any unwanted
word so completely as to make it almost illegible. None of such words or
phrases was restored in the autograph of Valladolid”a sure indication that
it was she who erased them, or at least that she approved of their having
been erased. There are fewer annotations and additions in other hands than
in the autographs of any of her remaining works, and those few are of little
importance. This may be due to the fact that a later redaction of the work
was made for the use of her convents and for publication: the Escorial
manuscript would have circulated very little and would never have been
subjected to a minute critical examination. Most of what annotations and
corrections of this kind there are were made by the Saints confessor, P.
Garc­a de Toledo, whom, among others, she asked to examine the manuscript.

There is no direct indication in the manuscript of the date of its
composition. We know that it was written at St. Josephs,vila, for the
edification and instruction of the first nuns of the Reform, and the
prologue tells us that onlya few days had elapsed between the completion
of the Life and the beginning of the Way of perfection. If, therefore, the
Life was finished at the end of 1565 [or in the early weeks of 1566] [1] we
can date the commencement of the Way of perfection with some precision. [But
even then there is no indication as to how long the composition took and
when it was completed.]

A complication occurs in the existence, at the end of a copy of the Way of
perfection which belongs to the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Salamanca, and
contains corrections in St. Teresas hand, of a note, in the writing of the
copyist, which says: This book was written in the year sixty-two”I mean
fifteen hundred and sixty-two. There follow some lines in the writing of
St. Teresa, which make no allusion to this date; her silence might be taken
as confirming it (though she displays no great interest in chronological
exactness) were it not absolutely impossible to reconcile such a date with
the early chapters of the book, which make it quite clear that the community
of thirteen nuns was fully established when they were written (Chap. 4,
below). There could not possibly have been so many nuns at St. Josephs
before late in the year 1563, in which Mar de San Jernimo and Isabel de
Santo Domingo took the habit, and it is doubtful if St. Teresa could
conceivably have begun the book before the end of that year. Even,
therefore, if the reference in the preface to the Way of perfection were to
the first draft of the Life (1562), and not to that book as we know it,
there would still be the insuperable difficulty raised by this piece of
internal evidence. [2] We are forced, then, to assume an error in the
Salamanca copy and to assign to the beginning of the Way of perfection the
date 1565-6.

VALLADOLID AUTOGRAPH. In writing for hervila nuns, St. Teresa used
language much more simple, familiar and homely than in any of her other
works. But when she began to establish more foundations and her circle of
readers widened, this language must have seemed to her too affectionately
intimate, and some of her figures and images may have struck her as too
domestic and trivial, for a more general and scattered public. So she
conceived the idea of rewriting the book in a more formal style; it is the
autograph of this redaction which is in the possession of the Discalced
Carmelite nuns of Valladolid.

The additions, omissions and modifications in this new autograph are more
considerable than is generally realized. From the preface onwards, there is
no chapter without its emendations and in many there are additions of whole
paragraphs. The Valladolid autograph, therefore, is in no sense a copy, or
even a recast, of the first draft, but a free and bold treatment of it. As a
general rule, a second draft, though often more correctly written and
logically arranged than its original, is less flexible, fluent and
spontaneous. It is hard to say how far this is the case here. Undoubtedly
some of the charm of the authors natural simplicity vanishes, but the
corresponding gain in clarity and precision is generally considered greater
than the loss. Nearly every change she makes is an improvement; and this not
only in stylistic matters, for one of the greatest of her improvements is
the lengthening of the chapters and their reduction in number from 73 to 42,
to the great advantage of the books symmetry and unity.

It is clear that St. Teresa intended the Valladolid redaction to be the
definitive form of her book since she had so large a number of copies of it
made for her friends and spiritual daughters: among these were the copy
which she sent for publication to Don Teutonio de Braganza and that used for
the first collected edition of her works by Fray Luis de Len. For the same
reason this redaction has always been given preference over its predecessor
by the Discalced Carmelites.
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[1] Cf. Vol. I, pp. 2-5, above

[2] See also the reference, in theGeneral Argument of the Valladolid
redaction, to her being Prioress of St. Josephs when the book was written.
Presumably the original draft is meant.
_________________________________________________________________

TRANSLATORS NOTE

In the text of each of the chapters, of the Valladolid autograph there are
omissions”some merely verbal, often illustrating the authors aim in making
the new redaction, others more fundamental. If the Valladolid manuscript
represents the Way of perfection as St. Teresa wrote it in the period of her
fullest powers, the greater freshness and individuality of the Escorial
manuscript are engaging qualities, and there are many passages in it,
omitted from the later version, which one would be sorry to sacrifice.

In what form, then, should the book be presented to English readers? It is
not surprising if this question is difficult to answer, since varying
procedures have been adopted for the presentation of it in Spain. Most of
them amount briefly to a re-editing of the Valladolid manuscript. The first
edition of the book, published at‰vora in the year 1583, follows this
manuscript, apparently using a copy (the so-calledToledo copy) made by
Ana de San Pedro and corrected by St. Teresa; it contains a considerable
number of errors, however, and omits one entire chapter”the thirty-first,
which deals with the Prayer of Quiet, a subject that was arousing some
controversy at the time when the edition was being prepared. In 1585, a
second edition, edited by Fray Jernimo Graci¡n, was published at Salamanca:
the text of this follows that of the‰vora edition very closely, as
apparently does the text of a rare edition published at Valencia in 1586.
When Fray Luis de Leon used the Valladolid manuscript as the foundation of
his text (1588) he inserted for the first time paragraphs and phrases from
that of El Escorial, as well as admitting variants from the copies corrected
by the author: he is not careful however, to indicate how and where his
edition differs from the manuscript.

Since 1588, most of the Spanish editions have followed Fray Luis de Len
with greater or less exactness. The principal exception is the well-known
Biblioteca de Autores Espaoles edition, in which La Fuente followed a
copy of the then almost forgotten Escorial manuscript, indicating in
footnotes some of the variant readings in the codex of Valladolid. In the
edition of 1883, the work of a Canon of Valladolid Cathedral, Francisco
Herrero Bayona, the texts of the two manuscripts are reproduced in parallel
columns. P. Silverio de Santa Teresa gives the place of honour to the
Valladolid codex, on which he bases his text, showing only the principal
variants of the Escorial manuscript but printing the Escorial text in full
in an appendix as well as the text of the Toledo copy referred to above.

The first translations of this book into English, by Woodhead (1675:
reprinted 1901) and Dalton (1852), were based, very naturally, on the text
of Luis de Len, which in less critical ages than our own enjoyed great
prestige and was considered quite authoritative. The edition published in
1911 by the Benedictines of Stanbrook, described on its title-page as
including all the variants from both the Escorial and the Valladolid
manuscript, uses Herrero Bayona and gives an eclectic text based on the two
originals but with no indications as to which is which. The editors
original idea of using one text only, and showing variants in footnotes, was
rejected in the belief thatsuch an arrangement would prove bewildering for
the generality of readers and that anyone who could claim the title of
student would be able to read the original Spanish and would have access
to the Herrero Bayona edition. Father Zimmerman, in his introduction,
claimed that while the divergences between the manuscripts are sometimesso
great that the [Stanbrook] translation resembles a mosaic composed of a
large number of small bits, skilfully combined,the work has been done
most conscientiously, and while nothing has been added to the text of the
Saint, nothing has been omitted, except, of course, what would have been
mere repetition.

This first edition of the Benedictines translation furnished the general
reader with an attractive version of what many consider St. Teresas most
attractive book, but soon after it was published a much more intelligent and
scholarly interest began to be taken in the Spanish mystics and that not
only by students with ready access to the Spanish original and ability to
read it. So, when a new edition of the Stanbrook translation was called for,
the editors decided to indicate the passages from the Escorial edition which
had been embodied in the text by enclosing these in square brackets. In
1911, Father Zimmerman, suspecting that the procedure then adopted by the
translators would notmeet with the approval of scholars, had justified it
by their desireto benefit the souls of the faithful rather than the
intellect of the student; but now, apparently, he thought it practicable to
achieve both these aims at once. This resolution would certainly have had
the support of St. Teresa, who in this very book describes intelligence as a
useful staff to carry on the way of perfection. The careful comparison of
two separate versions of such a work of genius may benefit the soul of an
intelligent reader even more than the careful reading of a version
compounded of both by someone else.

When I began to consider the preparation of the present translation it
seemed to me that an attempt might be made to do a little more for the
reader who combined intelligence with devoutness than had been done already.
I had no hesitation about basing my version on the Valladolid MS., which is
far the better of the two, whether we consider the aptness of its
illustrations, the clarity of its expression, the logical development of its
argument or its greater suitability for general reading. At the same time,
no Teresan who has studied the Escorial text can fail to have an affection
for it: its greater intimacy and spontaneity and its appeal to personal
experience make it one of the most characteristic of all the Saints
writings”indeed, excepting the Letters and a few chapters of the
Foundations, it reveals her better than any. Passages from the Escorial MS.
must therefore be given: thus far I followed the reasoning of the Stanbrook
nuns.

Where this translation diverges from theirs is in the method of
presentation. On the one hand I desired, as St. Teresa must have desired,
that it should be essentially her mature revision of the book that should be
read. For this reason I have been extremely conservative as to the
interpolations admitted into the text itself: I have rejected, for example,
the innumerable phrases which St. Teresa seems to have cut out in making her
new redaction because they were trivial or repetitive, because they weaken
rather than reinforce her argument, because they say what is better said
elsewhere, because they summarize needlessly [3] or because they are mere
personal observations which interrupt the authors flow of thought, and
sometimes, indeed, are irrelevant to it. I hope it is not impertinent to add
that, in the close study which the adoption of this procedure has involved,
I have acquired a respect and admiration for St. Teresa as a reviser, to
whom, as far as I know, no one who has written upon her has done full
justice. Her shrewdness, realism and complete lack of vanity make her an
admirable editor of her own work, and, in debating whether or no to
incorporate some phrase or passage in my text I have often asked myself:
Would St. Teresa have included or omitted this if she had been making a
fresh revision for a world-wide public over a period of centuries?

At the same time, though admitting only a minimum of interpolations into my
text, I have given the reader all the other important variants in footnotes.
I cannot think, as Father Zimmerman apparently thought, that anyone can find
the presence of a few notes at the foot of each pagebewildering. Those
for whom they have no interest may ignore them; others, in studying them,
may rest assured that the only variants not included (and this applies to
the variants from the Toledo copy as well as from the Escorial MS.) are such
as have no significance in a translation. I have been rather less meticulous
here than in my edition of St. John of the Cross, where textual problems
assumed greater importance. Thus, except where there has been some special
reason for doing so, I have not recorded alterations in the order of clauses
or words; the almost regular use by E. of the second person of the plural
where V. has the first; the frequent and often apparently purposeless
changes of tense; such substitutions, in the Valladolid redaction, as those
ofDios orSeior m­o forSeior; or merely verbal paraphrases as (to
take an example at random)Todo esto que he dicho es para . . . forEn
todo esto que he dicho no trato . . . Where I have given variants which may
seem trivial (such ashermanas forhijas, or the insertion of an
explanatory word, likedigo) the reason is generally that there seems to
me a possibility that some difference in tone is intended, or that the
alternative phrase gives some slight turn to the thought which the phrase in
the text does not.

The passages from the Escorial version which I have allowed into my text are
printed in italics. Thus, without their being given undue prominence (and
readers of the Authorized Version of the Bible will know how seldom they can
recall what words are italicized even in the passages they know best) it is
clear at a glance how much of the book was intended by its author to be read
by a wider public than the nuns of St. Josephs. The interpolations may be
as brief as a single expressive word, or as long as a paragraph, or even a
chapter: the original Chapter 17 of the Valladolid MS., for example, which
contains the famous similitude of the Game of Chess, was torn out of the
codex by its author (presumably with the idea that so secular an
illustration was out of place) and has been restored from the Escorial MS.
as part of Chapter 16 of this translation. No doubt the striking bullfight
metaphor at the end of Chapter 39 was suppressed in the Valladolid codex for
the same reason. With these omissions may be classed a number of minor
ones”of words or phrases which to the author may have seemed too intimate or
colloquial but do not seem so to us. Other words and phrases have apparently
been suppressed because St. Teresa thought them redundant, whereas a later
reader finds that they make a definite contribution to the sense or give
explicitness and detail to what would otherwise be vague, or even obscure.
[4] A few suppressions seem to have been due to pure oversight. For the
omission of other passages it is difficult to find any reason, so good are
they: the conclusion of Chapter 38 and the opening of Chapter 41 are cases
in point.

The numbering of the chapters, it should be noted, follows neither of the
two texts, but is that traditionally employed in the printed editions. The
chapter headings are also drawn up on an eclectic basis, though here the
Valladolid text is generally followed.

The system I have adopted not only assures the reader that he will be
reading everything that St. Teresa wrote and nothing that she did not write,
but that he can discern almost at a glance, what she meant to be read by her
little group of nuns at St. Josephs and also how she intended her work to
appear in its more definitive form. Thus we can see her both as the
companion and Mother and as the writer and Foundress. In both roles she is
equally the Saint.

But it should be made clear that, while incorporating in my text all
important passages from the Escorial draft omitted in that of Valladolid, I
have thought it no part of my task to provide a complete translation of the
Escorial draft alone, and that, therefore, in order to avoid the
multiplication of footnotes, I have indicated only the principal places
where some expression in the later draft is not to be found in the earlier.
In other words, although, by omitting the italicized portions of my text,
one will be able to have as exact a translation of the Valladolid version as
it is possible to get, the translation of the Escorial draft will be only
approximate. This is the sole concession I have made to the ordinary reader
as opposed to the student, and it is hardly conceivable, I think, that any
student to whom this could matter would be unable to read the original
Spanish.

One final note is necessary on the important Toledo copy, the text of which
P. Silverio also prints in full. This text I have collated with that of the
Valladolid autograph, from which it derives. In it both St. Teresa herself
and others have made corrections and additions”more, in fact, than in any of
the other copies extant. No attempt has been made here either to show what
the Toledo copy omits or to include those of its corrections and
additions”by far the largest number of them”which are merely verbal and
unimportant, and many of which, indeed, could not be embodied in a
translation at all. But the few additions which are really worth noting have
been incorporated in the text (in square brackets so as to distinguish them
from the Escorial additions) and all corrections which have seemed to me of
any significance will be found in footnotes.
_________________________________________________________________

[3] E.g., at places where a chapter ends in E. but not in V.

[4] One special case of this class is the suppression in V. of one out of
two or three almost but not quite synonymous adjectives referring to the
same noun.
_________________________________________________________________

BOOK CALLED WAY OF PERFECTION. [5]

Composed by TERESA OF JESUS, Nun of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel,
addressed to the Discalced Nuns of Or Lady of Carmel of the First Rule. [6]

General Argument of this Book

J. H. S.

This book treats of maxims and counsels which Teresa of Jesus gives to her
daughters and sisters in religion, belonging to the Convents which, with the
favour of Our Lord and of the glorious Virgin, Mother of God, Our Lady, she
has founded according to the First Rule of Our Lady of Carmel. In particular
she addresses it to the sisters of the Convent of Saint Joseph ofvila,
which was the first Convent, and of which she was Prioress when she wrote
it. [7]
_________________________________________________________________

PROTESTATIONS [8]

In all that I shall say in this Book, I submit to what is taught by Our
Mother, the Holy Roman Church; if there is anything in it contrary to this,
it will be without my knowledge. Therefore, for the love of Our Lord, I beg
the learned men who are to revise it to look at it very carefully and to
amend any faults of this nature which there may be in it and the many others
which it will have of other kinds. If there is anything good in it, let this
be to the glory and honour of God and in the service of His most sacred
Mother, our Patroness and Lady, whose habit, though all unworthily, I wear.
_________________________________________________________________

[8] This Protestation, taken from T., was dictated by St. Teresa for the
edition of the Way of perfection published at‰vora in 1583 by D. Teutonio
de Braganza.
_________________________________________________________________

PROLOGUE

J. H. S.

The sisters of this Convent of Saint Joseph, knowing that I had had leave
from Father Presentado Fray Domingo Baes, [9] of the Order of the glorious
Saint Dominic, who at present is my confessor, to write certain things about
prayer, which it seems I may be able to succeed in doing since I have had to
do with many holy and spiritual persons, have, out of their great love for
me, so earnestly begged me to say something to them about this that I have
resolved to obey them. I realize that the great love which they have for me
may render the imperfection and the poverty of my style in what I shall say
to them more acceptable than other books which are very ably written by
those who [10] have known what they are writing about. I rely upon their
prayers, by means of which the Lord may be pleased to enable me to say
something concerning the way and method of life which it is fitting should
be practised in this house. If I do not succeed in doing this, Father
Presentado, who will first read what I have written, will either put it
right or burn it, so that I shall have lost nothing by obeying these
servants of God, and they will see how useless I am when His Majesty does
not help me.

My intent is to suggest a few remedies for a number of small temptations
which come from the devil, and which, because they are so slight, are apt to
pass unnoticed. I shall also write of other things, according as the Lord
reveals them to me and as they come to my mind; since I do not know what I
am going to say I cannot set it down in suitable order; and I think it is
better for me not to do so, for it is quite unsuitable that I should be
writing in this way at all. May the Lord lay His hand on all that I do so
that it may be in accordance with His holy will; this is always my desire,
although my actions may be as imperfect as I myself am.

I know that I am lacking neither in love nor in desire to do all I can to
help the souls of my sisters to make great progress in the service of the
Lord. It may be that this love, together with my years and the experience
which I have of a number of convents, will make me more successful in
writing about small matters than learned men can be. For these, being
themselves strong and handing other and more important occupations, do not
always pay such heed to things which in themselves seem of no importance but
which may do great harm to persons as weak as we women are. For the snares
laid by the devil for strictly cloistered nuns are numerous and he finds
that he needs new weapons if he is to do them harm. I, being a wicked woman,
have defended myself but ill, and so I should like my sisters to take
warning by me. I shall speak of nothing of which I have no experience,
either in my own life or in the observation of others, or which the Lord has
not taught me in prayer.

A few days ago I was commanded to write an account of my life in which I
also dealt with certain matters concerning prayer. It may be that my
confessor will not wish you to see this, for which reason I shall set down
here some of the things which I said in that book and others which may also
seem to me necessary. May the Lord direct this, as I have begged Him to do,
and order it for His greater glory. Amen.
_________________________________________________________________

[9] The wordsFray Domingo Baes are crossed out, probably by P. Baez
himself. T. has:from the Father Master Fray Domingo Baez, Professor at
Salamanca. Baez was appointed to a Chair at Salamanca University in 1577.

[10] The pronoun (quien) in the Spanish is singular, but in the sixteenth
century it could have plural force and the context would favour this. A
manuscript note in V., however (not by P. Baez, as the Paris Carmelites”
Oeuvres, V, 30”suggest), evidently takes the reference to be to St. Gregory,
for it says:And he wrote something on Job, and the Morals, importuned by
servants of God, and trusting in their prayers, as he himself says.
_________________________________________________________________

[5] With few exceptions, the footnotes to the Way of perfection are the
translators. Square brackets are therefore not used to distinguish them from
those of P. Silverio, as elsewhere. Ordinary brackets, in the footnote
translations, are placed round words inserted to complete the sense.

[6] This title, in St. Teresas hand, appears on the first page of the
Valladolid autograph (V.) which, as we have said in the Introduction, is the
basis of the text here used. The Escorial autograph (E.) has the words
Treatise of the Way of Perfection in an unknown hand, followed by the
Prologue, in St. Teresas. The Toledo copy (T.) begins with the
Protestation.

[7] These lines, also in St. Teresas hand, follow the title in the
Valladolid autograph. P. Baez added, in his own writing, the words:I have
seen this book and my opinion of it is written at the end and signed with my
name. Cf. ch. 42, below.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1
Of the reason which moved me to found this convent in such strict observance.

When this convent was originally founded, for the reasons set down in the
book which, as I say, I have already written, and also because of certain
wonderful revelations by which the Lord showed me how well He would be
served in this house, it was not my intention that there should be so much
austerity in external matters, nor that it should have no regular income: on
the contrary, I should have liked there to be no possibility of want. I
acted, in short, like the weak and wretched woman that I am, although I did
so with good intentions and not out of consideration for my own comfort.

At about this time there came to my notice the harm and havoc that were
being wrought in France by these Lutherans and the way in which their
unhappy sect was increasing. [11] This troubled me very much, and, as though
I could do anything, or be of any help in the matter, I wept before the Lord
and entreated Him to remedy this great evil. I felt that I would have laid
down a thousand lives to save a single one of all the souls that were being
lost there. And, seeing that I was a woman, and a sinner, [12] and incapable
of doing all I should like in the Lords service, and as my whole yearning
was, and still is, that, as He has so many enemies and so few friends, these
last should be trusty ones, I determined to do the little that was in
me”namely, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could, and
to see that these few nuns who are here should do the same, confiding in the
great goodness of God, Who never fails to help those who resolve to forsake
everything for His sake. As they are all that I have ever painted them as
being in my desires, I hoped that their virtues would more than counteract
my defects, and I should thus be able to give the Lord some pleasure, and
all of us, by busying ourselves in prayer for those who are defenders of the
Church, and for the preachers and learned men who defend her, should do
everything we could to aid this Lord of mine Who is so much oppressed by
those to whom He has shown so much good that it seems as though these
traitors would send Him to the Cross again and that He would have nowhere to
lay His head.

Oh, my Redeemer, my heart cannot conceive this without being sorely
distressed! What has become of Christians now? Must those who owe Thee most
always be those who distress Thee? Those to whom Thou doest the greatest
kindnesses, whom Thou dost choose for Thy friends, among whom Thou dost
move, communicating Thyself to them through the Sacraments? Do they not
think, Lord of my soul, that they have made Thee endure more than sufficient
torments?

It is certain, my Lord, that in these days withdrawal from the world means
no sacrifice at all. Since worldly people have so little respect for Thee,
what can we expect them to have for us? Can it be that we deserve that they
should treat us any better than they have treated Thee? Have we done more
for them than Thou hast done that they should be friendly to us? What then?
What can we expect”we who, through the goodness of the Lord, are free from
that pestilential infection, and do not, like those others, belong to the
devil? They have won severe punishment at his hands and their pleasures have
richly earned them eternal fire. So to eternal fire they will have to go,
[13] though none the less it breaks my heart to see so many souls travelling
to perdition. I would the evil were not so great and I did not see more
being lost every day.

Oh, my sisters in Christ! Help me to entreat this of the Lord, Who has
brought you together here for that very purpose. This is your vocation; this
must be your business; these must be your desires; these your tears; these
your petitions. Let us not pray for worldly things, my sisters. It makes me
laugh, and yet it makes me sad, when I hear of the things which people come
here to beg us to pray to God for; we are to ask His Majesty to give them
money and to provide them with incomes”I wish that some of these people
would entreat God to enable them to trample all such things beneath their
feet. Their intentions are quite good, and I do as they ask because I see
that they are really devout people, though I do not myself believe that God
ever hears me when I pray for such things. The world is on fire. Men try to
condemn Christ once again, as it were, for they bring a thousand false
witnesses against Him. They would raze His Church to the ground”and are we
to waste our time upon things which, if God were to grant them, would
perhaps bring one soul less to Heaven? No, my sisters, this is no time to
treat with God for things of little importance.

Were it not necessary to consider human frailty, which finds satisfaction in
every kind of help”and it is always a good thing if we can be of any help to
people”I should like it to be understood that it is not for things like
these that God should be importuned with such anxiety.
_________________________________________________________________

[11] French Protestantism which had been repressed during the reigns of
Francis I and Henry II, increased after the latters death in 1559, and was
still doing so at the time of the foundation of St. Josephs.

[12] Lit.:and bad.

[13] All¡ se lo hayan.And serve them right! would, in most contexts, be a
more exact rendering of this colloquial phrase, but there is no suspicion of
Schadenfreude here.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 2
Treats of how the necessities of the body should be disregarded and of the good
that comes from poverty.

Do not think, my sisters, that because you do not go about trying to please
people in the world you will lack food. You will not, I assure you: never
try to sustain yourselves by human artifices, or you will die of hunger, and
rightly so. Keep your eyes fixed upon your Spouse: it is for Him to sustain
you; and, if He is pleased with you, even those who like you least will give
you food, if unwillingly, as you have found by experience. If you should do
as I say and yet die of hunger, then happy are the nuns of Saint Josephs!
For the love of the Lord, let us not forget this: you have forgone a regular
income; forgo worry about food as well, or thou will lose everything. Let
those whom the Lord wishes to live on an income do so: if that is their
vocation, they are perfectly justified; but for us to do so, sisters, would
be inconsistent.

Worrying about getting money from other people seems to me like thinking
about what other people enjoy. However much you worry, you will not make
them change their minds nor will they become desirous of giving you alms.
Leave these anxieties to Him Who can move everyone, Who is the Lord of all
money and of all who possess money. It is by His command that we have come
here and His words are true”they cannot fail: Heaven and earth will fail
first. [14] Let us not fail Him, and let us have no fear that He will fail
us; if He should ever do so it will be for our greater good, just as the
saints failed to keep their lives when they were slain for the Lords sake,
and their bliss was increased through their martyrdom. We should be making a
good exchange if we could have done with this life quickly and enjoy
everlasting satiety.

Remember, sisters, that this will be important when I am dead; and that is
why I am leaving it to you in writing. For, with Gods help, as long as I
live, I will remind you of it myself, as I know by experience what a great
help it will be to you. It is when I possess least that I have the fewest
worries and the Lord knows that, as far as I can tell, I am more afflicted
when there is excess of anything than when there is lack of it; I am not
sure if that is the Lords doing, but I have noticed that He provides for us
immediately. To act otherwise would be to deceive the world by pretending to
be poor when we are not poor in spirit but only outwardly. My conscience
would give me a bad time. It seems to me it would be like stealing what was
being given us, as one might say; for I should feel as if we were rich
people asking alms: please God this may never be so. Those who worry too
much about the alms that they are likely to be given will find that sooner
or later this bad habit will lead them to go and ask for something which
they do not need, and perhaps from someone who needs it more than they do.
Such a person would gain rather than lose by giving it us but we should
certainly be the worse off for having it. God forbid this should ever
happen, my daughters; if it were likely to do so, I should prefer you to
have a regular income.

I beg you, for the love of God, just as if I were begging alms for you,
never to allow this to occupy your thoughts. If the very least of you ever
hears of such a thing happening in this house, cry out about it to His
Majesty and speak to your Superior. Tell her humbly that she is doing wrong;
this is so serious a matter that it may cause true poverty gradually to
disappear. I hope in the Lord that this will not be so and that He will not
forsake His servants; and for that reason, if for no other, what you have
told me to write may be useful to you as a reminder.

My daughters must believe that it is for their own good that the Lord has
enabled me to realize in some small degree what blessings are to be found in
holy poverty. Those of them who practise it will also realize this, though
perhaps not as clearly as I do; for, although I had professed poverty, I was
not only without poverty of spirit, but my spirit was devoid of all
restraint. Poverty is good and contains within itself all the good things in
the world. It is a great domain” I mean that he who cares nothing for the
good things of the world has dominion over them all. What do kings and lords
matter to me if I have no desire to possess their money, or to please them,
if by so doing I should cause the least displeasure to God? And what do
their honours mean to me if I have realized that the chief honour of a poor
man consists in his being truly poor?

For my own part, I believe that honour and money nearly always go together,
and that he who desires honour never hates money, while he who hates money
cares little for honour. Understand this clearly, for I think this concern
about honour always implies some slight regard for endowments or money:
seldom or never is a poor man honoured by the world; however worthy of
honour he may be, he is apt rather to be despised by it. With true poverty
there goes a different kind of honour to which nobody can take objection. I
mean that, if poverty is embraced for Gods sake alone, no one has to be
pleased save God. It is certain that a man who has no need of anyone has
many friends: in my own experience I have found this to be very true.

A great deal has been written about this virtue which I cannot understand,
still less express, and I should only be making things worse if I were to
eulogize it, so I will say no more about it now. I have only spoken of what
I have myself experienced and I confess that I have been so much absorbed
that until now I have hardly realized what I have been writing. However, it
has been said now. Our arms are holy poverty, which was so greatly esteemed
and so strictly observed by our holy Fathers at the beginning of the
foundation of our Order. (Someone who knows about this tells me that they
never kept anything from one day to the next.) For the love of the Lord,
then, [I beg you] now that the rule of poverty is less perfectly observed as
regards outward things, let us strive to observe it inwardly. Our life lasts
only for a couple of hours; our reward is boundless; and, if there were no
reward but to follow the counsels given us by the Lord, to imitate His
Majesty in any degree would bring us a great recompense.

These arms must appear on our banners and at all costs we must keep this
rule”as regards our house, our clothes, our speech, and (which is much more
important) our thoughts. So long as this is done, there need be no fear,
with the help of God, that religious observances in this house will decline,
for, as Saint Clare said, the walls of poverty are very strong. It was with
these walls, she said, and with those of humility, that she wished to
surround her convents; and assuredly, if the rule of poverty is truly kept,
both chastity and all the other virtues are fortified much better than by
the most sumptuous edifices. Have a care to this, for the love of God; and
this I beg of you by His blood. If I may say what my conscience bids me, I
should wish that, on the day when you build such edifices, they [15] may
fall down and kill you all.

It seems very wrong, my daughters, that great houses should be built with
the money of the poor; may God forbid that this should be done; let our
houses be small and poor in every way. Let us to some extent resemble our
King, Who had no house save the porch in Bethlehem where He was born and the
Cross on which He died. These were houses where little comfort could be
found. Those who erect large houses will no doubt have good reasons for
doing so. I do not utterly condemn them: they are moved by various holy
intentions. But any corner is sufficient for thirteen poor women. If grounds
should be thought necessary on account of the strictness of the enclosure,
and also as an aid to prayer and devotion, and because our miserable nature
needs such things, well and good; and let there be a few hermitages [16] in
them in which the sisters may go to pray. But as for a large ornate convent,
with a lot of buildings”God preserve us from that! Always remember that
these things will all fall down on the Day of Judgment, and who knows how
soon that will be?

It would hardly look well if the house of thirteen poor women made a great
noise when it fell, for those who are really poor must make no noise: unless
they live a noiseless life people will never take pity on them. And how
happy my sisters will be if they see someone freed from hell by means of the
alms which he has given them; and this is quite possible, since they are
strictly bound to offer continual prayer for persons who give them food. It
is also Gods will that, although the food comes from Him, we should thank
the persons by whose means He gives it to us: let there be no neglect of
this.

I do not remember what I had begun to say, for I have strayed from my
subject. But I think this must have been the Lords will, for I never
intended to write what I have said here. May His Majesty always keep us in
His hand so that we may never fall. Amen.
_________________________________________________________________

[14] An apparent reference to St. Mark xiii, 31.

[15] In the Spanish the subject is in the singular: P. Baez insertedthe
house, but crossed this out later.

[16] St. Teresa liked to have hermitages in the grounds of her convents to
give the nuns opportunity for solitude.
_________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 3
Continues the subject begun in the first chapter and persuades the sisters to
busy themselves constantly in beseeching God to help those who work for the
Church. Ends with an exclamatory prayer.

Let us now return to the principal reason for which the Lord has brought us
together in this house, for which reason I am most desirous that we may be
able to please His Majesty. Seeing how great are the evils of the present
day and how no human strength will suffice to quench the fire kindled by
these heretics (though attempts have been made to organize opposition to
them, as though such a great and rapidly spreading evil could be remedied by
force of arms), it seems to me that it is like a war in which the enemy has
overrun the whole country, and the Lord of the country, hard pressed,
retires into a city, which he causes to be well fortified, and whence from
time to time he is able to attack. Those who are in the city are picked men
who can do more by themselves than they could do with the aid of many
soldiers if they were cowards. Often this method gains the victory; or, if
the garrison does not conquer, it is at least not conquered; for, as it
contains no traitors, but picked men, it can be reduced only by hunger. In
our own conflict, however, we cannot be forced to surrender by hunger; we
can die but we cannot be conquered.

Now why have I said this? So that you may understand, my sisters, that what
we have to ask of God is that, in this little castle of ours, inhabited as
it is by good Christians, none of us may go over to the enemy. We must ask
God, too, to make the captains in this castle or city”that is, the preachers
and theologians”highly proficient in the way of the Lord. And as most of
these are religious, we must pray that they may advance in perfection, and
in the fulfilment of their vocation, for this is very needful. For, as I
have already said, it is the ecclesiastical and not the secular arm which
must defend us. And as we can do nothing by either of these means to help
our King, let us strive to live in such a way that our prayers may be of
avail to help these servants of God, who, at the cost of so much toil, have
fortified themselves with learning and virtuous living and have laboured to
help the Lord.

You may ask why I emphasize this so much and why I say we must help people
who are better than ourselves. I will tell you, for I am not sure if you
properly understand as yet how much we owe to the Lord for bringing us to a
place where we are so free from business matters, occasions of sin and the
society of worldly people. This is a very great favour and one which is not
granted to the persons of whom I have been speaking, nor is it fitting that
it should be granted to them; it would be less so now, indeed, than at any
other time, for it is they who must strengthen the weak and give courage to
Gods little ones. A fine thing it would be for soldiers if they lost their
captains! These preachers and theologians have to live among men and
associate with men and stay in palaces and sometimes even behave as people
in palaces do in outward matters. Do you think, my daughters, that it is an
easy matter to have to do business with the world, to live in the world, to
engage in the affairs of the world, and, as I have said, to live as worldly
men do, and yet inwardly to be strangers to the world, and enemies of the
world, like persons who are in exile”to be, in short, not men but angels?
Yet unless these persons act thus, they neither deserve to bear the title of
captain nor to be allowed by the Lord to leave their cells, for they would
do more harm than good. This is no time for imperfections in those whose
duty it is to teach.

And if these teachers are not inwardly fortified by realizing the great
importance of spurning everything beneath their feet and by being detached
from things which come to an end on earth, and attached to things eternal,
they will betray this defect in themselves, however much they may try to
hide it. For with whom are they dealing but with the world? They need not
fear: the world will not pardon them or fail to observe their imperfections.
Of the good things they do many will pass unnoticed, or will even not be
considered good at all; but they need not fear that any evil or imperfect
thing they do will be overlooked. I am amazed when I wonder from whom they
learned about perfection, when, instead of practising it themselves (for
they think they have no obligation to do that and have done quite enough by
a reasonable observance of the Commandments), they condemn others, and at
times mistake virtue for indulgence. Do not think, then, that they need but
little Divine favour in this great battle upon which they have entered; on
the contrary, they need a great deal.

I beg you to try to live in such a way as to be worthy to obtain two things
from God. First, that there may be many of these very learned and religious
men who have the qualifications for their task which I have described, and
that the Lord may prepare those who are not completely prepared already and
who lack anything, for a single one who is perfect will do more than many
who are not. Secondly, that after they have entered upon this struggle,
which, as I say, is not light, but a very heavy one, the Lord may have them
in His hand so that they may be delivered from all the dangers that are in
the world, and, while sailing on this perilous sea, may shut their ears to
the song of the sirens. If we can prevail with God in the smallest degree
about this, we shall be fighting His battle even while living a cloistered
life and I shall consider as well spent all the trouble to which I have gone
in founding this retreat, [17] where I have also tried to ensure that this
Rule of Our Lady and Empress shall be kept in its original perfection.

Do not think that offering this petition continually is useless. Some people
think it a hardship not to be praying all the time for their own souls. Yet
what better prayer could there be than this? You may be worried because you
think it will do nothing to lessen your pains in Purgatory, but actually
praying in this way will relieve you of some of them and anything else that
is left”well, let it remain. After all, what does it matter if I am in
Purgatory until the Day of Judgment provided a single soul should be saved
through my prayer? And how much less does it matter if many souls profit by
it and the Lord is honoured! Make no account of any pain which has an end if
by means of it any greater service can be rendered to Him Who bore such
pains for us. Always try to find out wherein lies the greatest perfection.
And for the love of the Lord I beg you to beseech His Majesty to hear us in
this; I, miserable creature though I am, beseech this of His Majesty, since
it is for His glory and the good of His Church, which are my only wishes.

It seems over-bold of me to think that I can do anything towards obtaining
this. But I have confidence, my Lord, in these servants of Thine who are
here, knowing that they neither desire nor strive after anything but to
please Thee. For Thy sake they have left the little they possessed, wishing
they had more so that they might serve Thee with it. Since Thou, my Creator,
art not ungrateful, I do not think Thou wilt fail to do what they beseech of
Thee, for when Thou wert in the world, Lord, Thou didst not despise women,
but didst always help them and show them great compassion. [18] Thou didst
find more faith and no less love in them than in men, and one of them was
Thy most sacred Mother, from whose merits we derive merit, and whose habit
we wear, though our sins make us unworthy to do so. [19] We can do nothing
in public that is of any use to Thee, nor dare we speak of some of the
truths over which we weep in secret lest Thou shouldst not hear this our
just petition. Yet, Lord I cannot believe this of Thy goodness and
righteousness, for Thou art a righteous Judge, not like judges in the world,
who, being, after all, men and sons of Adam, refuse to consider any womans
virtue as above suspicion. Yes, my King, but the day will come when all will
be known. I am not speaking on my own account, for the whole world is
already aware of my wickedness, and I am glad that it should become known;
but, when I see what the times are like, I feel it is not right to repel
spirits which are virtuous and brave, even though they be the spirits of
women.

Hear us not when we ask Thee for honours, endowments, money, or anything
that has to do with the world; but why shouldst Thou not hear us, Eternal
Father, when we ask only for the honour of Thy Son, when we would forfeit a
thousand honours and a thousand lives for Thy sake? Not for ourselves, Lord,
for we do not deserve to be heard, but for the blood of Thy Son and for His
merits.

Oh, Eternal Father! Surely all these scourgings and insults and grievous
tortures will not be forgotten. How, then, my Creator, can a heart so
[merciful and] loving as Thine endure that an act which was performed by Thy
Son in order to please Thee the more (for He loved Thee most deeply and Thou
didst command Him to love us) should be treated as lightly as those heretics
treat the Most Holy Sacrament today, in taking it from its resting-place
when they destroy the churches? Could it be that [Thy Son and our Redeemer]
had failed to do something to please Thee? No: He fulfilled everything. Was
it not enough, Eternal Father, that while He lived He had no place to lay
His head and had always to endure so many trials? Must they now deprive Him
of the places [20] to which He can invite His friends, seeing how weak we
are and knowing that those who have to labour need such food to sustain
them? Had He not already more than sufficiently paid for the sin of Adam?
Has this most loving Lamb to pay once more whenever we relapse into sin?
Permit it not, my Emperor; let Thy Majesty be appeased; look not upon our
sins but upon our redemption by Thy Most Sacred Son, upon His merits and
upon those of His glorious Mother and of all the saints and martyrs who have
died for Thee.

Alas, Lord, who is it that has dared to make this petition in the name of
all? What a poor mediator am I, my daughters, to gain a hearing for you and
to present your petition! When this Sovereign Judge sees how bold I am it
may well move Him to anger, as would be both right and just. But behold,
Lord, Thou art a God of mercy; have mercy upon this poor sinner, this
miserable worm who is so bold with Thee. Behold my desires, my God, and the
tears with which I beg this of Thee; forget my deeds, for Thy names sake,
and have pity upon all these souls who are being lost, and help Thy Church.
Do not permit more harm to be wrought to Christendom, Lord; give light to
this darkness.

For the love of the Lord, my sisters, I beg you to commend this poor sinner
[21] to His Majesty and to beseech Him to give her humility, as you are
bound to do. I do not charge you to pray particularly for kings and prelates
of the Church, especially for our Bishop, for I know that those of you now
here are very careful about this and so I think it is needless for me to say
more. Let those who are to come remember that, if they have a prelate who is
holy, those under him will be holy too, and let them realize how important
it is to bring him continually before the Lord. If your prayers and desires
and disciplines and fasts are not performed for the intentions of which I
have spoken, reflect [and believe] that you are not carrying out the work or
fulfilling the object for which the Lord has brought you here.
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[17] Lit.:making this corner. The reference is to St. Josephs,vila.

[18] The italicized lines which follow, and are in the nature of a
digression, do not appear in V., and in E. they have been crossed out.

[19] Here follow two erased lines which are illegible but for the words
Thou didst honour the world. The exact sense of the following words (We
can . . . in secret) is affected by these illegible lines and must be
considered uncertain.

[20] Lit.:of those. P. Baez wrote in the marginof the mansions using
the word which is thus translated in the titles of the seven main divisions
of the Interior Castle. T. has:of the houses.

[21] Lit.,poor little one.
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CHAPTER 4
Exhorts the nuns to keep their Rule and names three things which are important
for the spiritual life. Describes the first of these three things, which is
love of ones neighbour, and speaks of the harm which can be done by individual
friendships.

Now, daughters, you have looked at the great enterprise which we are trying
to carry out. What kind of persons shall we have to be if we are not to be
considered over-bold in the eyes of God and of the world? It is clear that
we need to labour hard and it will be a great help to us if we have sublime
thoughts so that we may strive to make our actions sublime also. If we
endeavour to observe our Rule and Constitutions in the fullest sense, and
with great care, I hope in the Lord that He will grant our requests. I am
not asking anything new of you, my daughters”only that we should hold to our
profession, which, as it is our vocation, we are bound to do, although there
are many ways of holding to it.

Our Primitive Rules tells us to pray without ceasing. Provided we do this
with all possible care (and it is the most important thing of all) we shall
not fail to observe the fasts, disciplines and periods of silence which the
Order commands; for, as you know, if prayer is to be genuine it must be
reinforced with these things”prayer cannot be accompanied by
self-indulgence.

It is about prayer that you have asked me to say something to you. As an
acknowledgment of what I shall say, I beg you to read frequently and with a
good will what I have said about it thus far, and to put this into practice.
Before speaking of the interior life”that is, of prayer”I shall speak of
certain things which those who attempt to walk along the way of prayer must
of necessity practise. So necessary are these that, even though not greatly
given to contemplation, people who have them can advance a long way in the
Lords service, while, unless they have them, they cannot possibly be great
contemplatives, and, if they think they are, they are much mistaken. May the
Lord help me in this task and teach me what I must say, so that it may be to
His glory. Amen.

Do not suppose, my friends and sisters, that I am going to charge you to do
a great many things; may it please the Lord that we do the things which our
holy Fathers ordained and practised and by doing which they merited that
name. It would be wrong of us to look for any other way or to learn from
anyone else. There are only three things which I will explain at some length
and which are taken from our Constitution itself. It is essential that we
should understand how very important they are to us in helping us to
preserve that peace, both inward and outward, which the Lord so earnestly
recommended to us. One of these is love for each other; the second,
detachment from all created things; the third, true humility, which,
although I put it last, is the most important of the three and embraces all
the rest.

With regard to the first”namely, love for each other” this is of very great
importance; for there is nothing, however annoying, that cannot easily be
borne by those who love each other, and anything which causes annoyance must
be quite exceptional. If this commandment were kept in the world, as it
should be, I believe it would take us a long way towards the keeping of the
rest; but, what with having too much love for each other or too little, we
never manage to keep it perfectly. It may seem that for us to have too much
love for each other cannot be wrong, but I do not think anyone who had not
been an eye-witness of it would believe how much evil and how many
imperfections can result from this. The devil sets many snares here which
the consciences of those who aim only in a rough-and-ready way at pleasing
God seldom observe” indeed, they think they are acting virtuously”but those
who are aiming at perfection understand what they are very well: little by
little they deprive the will of the strength which it needs if it is to
employ itself wholly in the love of God.

This is even more applicable to women than to men and the harm which it does
to community life is very serious. One result of it is that all the nuns do
not love each other equally: some injury done to a friend is resented; a nun
desires to have something to give to her friend or tries to make time for
talking to her, and often her object in doing this is to tell her how fond
she is of her, and other irrelevant things, rather than how much she loves
God. These intimate friendships are seldom calculated [22] to make for the
love of God; I am more inclined to believe that the devil initiates them so
as to create factions within religious Orders. When a friendship has for its
object the service of His Majesty, it at once becomes clear that the will is
devoid of passion and indeed is helping to conquer other passions.

Where a convent is large I should like to see many friendships of that type;
but in this house, where there are not, and can never be, more than thirteen
nuns, all must be friends with each other, love each other, be fond of each
other and help each other. For the love of the Lord, refrain from making
individual friendships, however holy, for even among brothers and sisters
such things are apt to be poisonous and I can see no advantage in them; when
they are between other relatives, [23] they are much more dangerous and
become a pest. Believe me, sisters, though I may seem to you extreme in
this, great perfection and great peace come of doing what I say and many
occasions of sin may be avoided by those who are not very strong. If our
will becomes inclined more to one person than to another (this cannot be
helped, because it is natural”it often leads us to love the person who has
the most faults if she is the most richly endowed by nature), we must
exercise a firm restraint on ourselves and not allow ourselves to be
conquered by our affection. Let us love the virtues and inward goodness, and
let us always apply ourselves and take care to avoid attaching importance to
externals.

Let us not allow our will to be the slave of any, sisters, save of Him Who
bought it with His blood. Otherwise, before we know where we are, we shall
find ourselves trapped, and unable to move. God help me! The puerilities
which result from this are innumerable. And, because they are so trivial
that only those who see how bad they are will realize and believe it, there
is no point in speaking of them here except to say that they are wrong in
anyone, and, in a prioress, pestilential.

In checking these preferences we must be strictly on the alert from the
moment that such a friendship begins and we must proceed diligently and
lovingly rather than severely. One effective precaution against this is that
the sisters should not be together except at the prescribed hours, and that
they should follow our present custom in not talking with one another, or
being alone together, as is laid down in the Rule: each one should be alone
in her cell. There must be no workroom at Saint Josephs; for, although it
is a praiseworthy custom to have one, it is easier to keep silence if one is
alone, and getting used to solitude is a great help to prayer. Since prayer
must be the foundation on which this house is built, it is necessary for us
to learn to like whatever gives us the greatest help in it.

Returning to the question of our love for one another, it seems quite
unnecessary to commend this to you, for where are there people so brutish as
not to love one another when they live together, are continually in one
anothers company, indulge in no conversation, association or recreation
with any outside their house and believe that God loves us and that they
themselves love God since they are leaving everything for His Majesty? More
especially is this so as virtue always attracts love, and I hope in God
that, with the help of His Majesty, there will always be love in the sisters
of this house. It seems to me, therefore, that there is no reason for me to
commend this to you any further.

With regard to the nature of this mutual love and what is meant by the
virtuous love which I wish you to have here, and how we shall know when we
have this virtue, which is a very great one, since Our Lord has so strongly
commended it to us and so straitly enjoined it upon His Apostles”about all
this I should like to say a little now as well as my lack of skill will
allow me; if you find this explained in great detail in other books, take no
notice of what I am saying here, for it may be that I do not understand what
I am talking about.

There are two kinds of love which I am describing. The one is purely
spiritual, and apparently has nothing to do with sensuality or the
tenderness of our nature, either of which might stain its purity. The other
is also spiritual, but mingled with it are our sensuality and weakness; [24]
yet it is a worthy love, which, as between relatives and friends, seems
lawful. Of this I have already said sufficient.

It is of the first kind of spiritual love that I would now speak. It is
untainted by any sort of passion, for such a thing would completely spoil
its harmony. If it leads us to treat virtuous people, especially confessors,
with moderation and discretion, it is profitable; but, if the confessor is
seen to be tending in any way towards vanity, he should be regarded with
grave suspicion, and, in such a case, conversation with him, however
edifying, should be avoided, and the sister should make her confession
briefly and say nothing more. It would be best for her, indeed, to tell the
superior that she does not get on with him and go elsewhere; this is the
safest way, providing it can be done without injuring his reputation. [25]

In such cases, and in other difficulties with which the devil might ensnare
us, so that we have no idea where to turn, the safest thing will be for the
sister to try to speak with some learned person; if necessary, permission to
do this can be given her, and she can make her confession to him and act in
the matter as he directs her. For he cannot fail to give her some good
advice about it, without which she might go very far astray. How often
people stray through not taking advice, especially when there is a risk of
doing someone harm! The course that must on no account be followed is to do
nothing at all; for, when the devil begins to make trouble in this way, he
will do a great deal of harm if he is not stopped quickly; the plan I have
suggested, then, of trying to consult another confessor is the safest one if
it is practicable, and I hope in the Lord that it will be so.

Reflect upon the great importance of this, for it is a dangerous matter, and
can be a veritable hell, and a source of harm to everyone. I advise you not
to wait until a great deal of harm has been done but to take every possible
step that you can think of and stop the trouble at the outset; this you may
do with a good conscience. But I hope in the Lord that He will not allow
persons who are to spend their lives in prayer to have any attachment save
to one who is a great servant of God; and I am quite certain He will not,
unless they have no love for prayer and for striving after perfection in the
way we try to do here. For, unless they see that he understands their
language and likes to speak to them of God, they cannot possibly love him,
as he is not like them. If he is such a person, he will have very few
opportunities of doing any harm, and, unless he is very simple, he will not
seek to disturb his own peace of mind and that of the servants of God.

As I have begun to speak about this, I will repeat that the devil can do a
great deal of harm here, which will long remain undiscovered, and thus the
soul that is striving after perfection can be gradually ruined without
knowing how. For, if a confessor gives occasion for vanity through being
vain himself, he will be very tolerant with it in [the consciences of]
others. May God, for His Majestys own sake, deliver us from things of this
kind. It would be enough to unsettle all the nuns if their consciences and
their confessor should give them exactly opposite advice, and, if it is
insisted that they must have one confessor only, they will not know what to
do, nor how to pacify their minds, since the very person who should be
calming them and helping them is the source of the harm. In some places
there must be a great deal of trouble of this kind: I always feel very sorry
about it and so you must not be surprised if I attach great importance to
your understanding this danger.
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Appendix To Chapter 4

The following variant reading of the Escorial Manuscript seems too important
to be relegated to a footnote. It occurs the twelfth paragraph of ch. 4 (cf.
n. 24) , and deals, as will be seen, with the qualifications and character
of the confessor. Many editors substitute it in their text for the
corresponding passage in V. As will be seen, however, it is not a pure
addition; we therefore reproduce it separately.

The important thing is that these two kinds of mutual love should be
untainted by any sort of passion, for such a thing would completely spoil
this harmony. If we exercise this love, of which I have spoken, with
moderation and discretion, it is wholly meritorious, because what seems to
us sensuality is turned into virtue. But the two may be so closely
intertwined with one another that it is sometimes impossible to distinguish
them, especially where a confessor is concerned. For if persons who are
practising prayer find that their confessor is a holy man and understands
the way they behave, they become greatly attached to him. And then forthwith
the devil lets loose upon them a whole battery of scruples which produce a
terrible disturbance within the soul, this being what he is aiming at. In
particular, if the confessor is guiding such persons to greater perfection,
they become so depressed that they will go so far as to leave him for
another and yet another, only to be tormented by the same temptation every
time.

What you can do here is not to let your minds dwell upon whether you like
your confessor or not, but just to like him if you feel so inclined. For, if
we grow fond of people who are kind to our bodies, why should we not love
those who are always striving and toiling to help our souls? Actually, if my
confessor is a holy and spiritual man and I see that he is taking great
pains for the benefit of my soul, I think it will be a real help to my
progress for me to like him. For so weak are we that such affection
sometimes helps us a great deal to undertake very great things in Gods
service.

But, if your confessor is not such a person as I have described, there is a
possibility of danger, and for him to know that you like him may do the
greatest harm, most of all in houses where the nuns are very strictly
enclosed. And as it is a difficult thing to get to know which confessors are
good, great care and caution are necessary. The best advice to give would be
that you should see he has no idea of your affection for him and is not told
about it. But the devil is so active that this is not practicable: you feel
as if this is the only thing you have to confess and imagine you are obliged
to confess it. For this reason I should like you to think that your
affection for him is of no importance and to take no more notice of it.

Follow this advice if you find that everything your confessor says to you
profits your soul; if you neither see nor hear him indulge in any vanity
(and such things are always noticed except by one who is wilfully dull) and
if you know him to be a God-fearing man, do not be distressed over any
temptation about being too fond of him, and the devil will then grow tired
and stop tempting you. But if you notice that the confessor is tending in
any way towards vanity in what he says to you, you should regard him with
grave suspicion; in such a case conversation with him, even about prayer and
about God, should be avoided”the sister should make her confession briefly
and say nothing more. It would be best for her to tell the Mother (Superior)
that she does not get on with him and go elsewhere. This is the safest way
if it is practicable, and I hope in God that it will be, and that you will
do all you possibly can to have no relations with him, though this may be
very painful for you.

Reflect upon the great importance of this, etc. (pp. 58-9).
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[22] Lit.:are seldom ordered in such a way as.

[23]Other is not in the Spanish.When they are only between, is the
reading of T., which also omits:and become a pest.

[24] Here begins the passage reproduced in the Appendix to Chapter 4, below.

[25] Honra.
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CHAPTER 5
Continues speaking of confessors. Explains why it is important that they should
be learned men.

May the Lord grant, for His Majestys own sake, that no one in this house
shall experience the trials that have been described, or find herself
oppressed in this way in soul and body. I hope the superior will never be so
intimate with the confessor that no one will dare to say anything about him
to her or about her to him. For this will tempt unfortunate penitents to
leave very grave sins unconfessed because they will feel uncomfortable about
confessing them. God help me! What trouble the devil can make here and how
dearly people have to pay for their miserable worries and concern about
honour! If they consult only one confessor, they think they are acting in
the interests of their Order and for the greater honour of their convent:
and that is the way the devil lays his snares for souls when he can find no
other. If the poor sisters ask for another confessor, they are told that
this would mean the complete end of all discipline in the convent; and, if
he is not a priest of their Order, even though he be a saint, they are led
to believe that they would be disgracing their entire Order by consulting
him.

Give great praise to God, Daughters, for this liberty that you have, for,
though there are not a great many priests whom you can consult, there are a
few, other than your ordinary confessors, who can give you light upon
everything. I beg every superior, [26] for the love of the Lord, to allow a
holy liberty here: let the Bishop or Provincial be approached for leave for
the sisters to go from time to time beyond their ordinary confessors and
talk about their souls with persons of learning, especially if the
confessors, though good men, have no learning; for learning is a great help
in giving light upon everything. It should be possible to find a number of
people who combine both learning and spirituality, and the more favours the
Lord grants you in prayer, the more needful is it that your good works and
your prayers should have a sure foundation.

You already know that the first stone of this foundation must be a good
conscience and that you must make every effort to free yourselves from even
venial sins and follow the greatest possible perfection. You might suppose
that any confessor would know this, but you would be wrong: it happened that
I had to go about matters of consciences to a man who had taken a complete
course in theology; and he did me a great deal of mischief by telling me
that certain things were of no importance. I know that he had no intention
of deceiving me, or any reason for doing so: it was simply that he knew no
better. And in addition to this instance I have met with two or three
similar ones.

Everything depends on our having true light to keep the law of God
perfectly. This is a firm basis for prayer; but without this strong
foundation the whole building will go awry. In making their confessions,
then, the nuns must be free to discuss spiritual matters with such persons
as I have described. I will even go farther and say that they should
sometimes do as I have said even if their confessor has all these good
qualities, for he may quite easily make mistakes and it is a pity that he
should be the cause of their going astray. They must try, however, never to
act in any way against obedience, for they will find ways of getting all the
help they need: it is of great importance to them that they should, and so
they must make every possible effort to do so.

All this that I have said has to do with the superior. Since there are no
consolations but spiritual ones to be had here, I would beg her once again
to see that the sisters get these consolations, for God leads [His
handmaidens] by different ways and it is impossible that one confessor
should be acquainted with them all. I assure you that, if your souls are as
they ought to be, there is no lack of holy persons who will be glad to
advise and console you, even though you are poor. For He Who sustains our
bodies will awaken and encourage someone to give light to our souls, and
thus this evil of which I am so much afraid will be remedied. For if the
devil should tempt the confessor, with the result that he leads you astray
on any point of doctrine he will go slowly and be more careful about all he
is doing when he knows that the penitent is also consulting others.

If the devil is prevented from entering convents in this way, I hope in God
that he will never get into this house at all; so, for love of the Lord, I
beg whoever is Bishop to allow the sisters this liberty and not to withdraw
it so long as the confessors are persons both of learning and of good lives,
a fact which will soon come to be known in a little place like this.

In what I have said here, I am speaking from experience of things that I
have seen and heard in many convents and gathered from conversation with
learned and holy people who have considered what is most fitting for this
house, so that it may advance in perfection. Among the perils which exist
everywhere, for as long as life lasts, we shall find that this is the least.
No vicar should be free to go in and out of the convent, and no confessor
should have this freedom either. They are there to watch over the
recollectedness and good living of the house and its progress in both
interior and exterior matters, so that they may report to the superior
whenever needful, but they are never to be superiors themselves. As I say,
excellent reasons have been found why, everything considered, this is the
best course, and why, if any priest hears confessions frequently, it should
be the chaplain; but, if the nuns think it necessary, they can make their
confessions to such persons as have been described, provided the superior is
informed of it, and the prioress is such that the Bishop can trust her
discretion. As there are very few nuns here, this will not take up much
time.

This is our present practice; and it is not followed merely on my advice.
Our present Bishop, Donlvaro de Mendoza, under whose obedience we live
(since for many reasons we have not been placed under the jurisdiction of
the Order), is greatly attached to holiness and the religious life, and,
besides being of most noble extraction, is a great servant of God. He is
always very glad to help this house in every way, and to this very end he
brought together persons of learning, spirituality and experience, and this
decision was then come to. It will be only right that future superiors
should conform to his opinion, since it has been decided on by such good
men, and after so many prayers to the Lord that He would enlighten them in
every possible way, which, so far as we can at present see, He has certainly
done. May the Lord be pleased to promote the advancement of this to His
greater glory. Amen.
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[26] Lit.:I beg her who is in the position of a senior (mayor). Mayor was
the title given to the superior at the Incarnation,vila, and many other
convents in Spain, at that time.
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CHAPTER 6
Returns to the subject of perfect love, already begun.

I have digressed a great deal but no one will blame me who understands the
importance of what has been said. Let us now return to the love which it is
good [and lawful] for us to feel. This I have described as purely spiritual;
I am not sure if I know what I am talking about, but it seems to me that
there is no need to speak much of it, since so few, I fear, possess it; let
any one of you to whom the Lord has given it praise Him fervently, for she
must be a person of the greatest perfection. It is about this that I now
wish to write. Perhaps what I say may be of some profit, for if you look at
a virtue you desire it and try to gain it, and so become attached to it.

God grant that I may be able to understand this, and even more that I may be
able to describe it, for I am not sure that I know when love is spiritual
and when there is sensuality mingled with it, or how to begin speaking about
it. I am like one who hears a person speaking in the distance and, though he
can hear that he is speaking, cannot distinguish what he is saying. It is
just like that with me: sometimes I cannot understand what I am saying, yet
the Lord is pleased to enable me to say it well. If at other times what I
say is [ridiculous and] nonsensical, it is only natural for me to go
completely astray.

Now it seems to me that, when God has brought someone to a clear knowledge
of the world, and of its nature, and of the fact that another world (or, let
us say, another kingdom) exists, and that there is a great difference
between the one and the other, the one being eternal and the other only a
dream; and of what it is to love the Creator and what to love the creature
(this must be discovered by experience, for it is a very different matter
from merely thinking about it and believing it); when one understands by
sight and experience what can be gained by the one practice and lost by the
other, and what the Creator is and what the creature, and many other things
which the Lord teaches to those who are willing to devote themselves to
being taught by Him in prayer, or whom His Majesty wishes to teach”then one
loves very differently from those of us who have not advanced thus far.

It may be, sisters, that you think it irrelevant for me to treat of this,
and you may say that you already know everything that I have said. God grant
that this may be so, and that you may indeed know it in the only way which
has any meaning, and that it may be graven upon your inmost being, and that
you may never for a moment depart from it, for, if you know it, you will see
that I am telling nothing but the truth when I say that he whom the Lord
brings thus far possesses this love. Those whom God brings to this state
are, I think, generous and royal souls; they are