The Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 3
BY WHAT MEANS
THE FOUNDATION
OF THE CONVENT OF S. JOSEPH
OF MEDINA DEL CAMPO
BEGAN TO BE PLANNED
1. The Fathers of the Society
help her. —
2. Julian of Avila. —
3. Commotion in Avila. —
4. Fray Antonio de Heredia. —
5. The journey to Medina. —
6. Fray Domingo Baiiez. —
7. The Saint resolves to go on. —
8. Arrives in Medina. —
9. Prepares the altar. —
10. She desponds. —
11. Father Baltasar Alvarez
sends to her. —
12. Watch kept over
the Blessed Sacrament. —
13. A private house is offered her. —
14.The house is finished. —
15. The Saint begins to prepare
for a monastery of friars. —
16. S. John of the Cross. —
17. The nuns of Medina.
.
|
1. The Fathers of the Society help her.
1. In the midst of all these anxieties
I determined to go for help
to the fathers of the Society,
who were greatly respected in Medina,
to whom for many years
I had entrusted my soul,
as I said before while giving an account
of the first foundation, [1]
and
for whom I have ever a special affection,
because ot the great good
they have done me.
I wrote to the rector there,
and told him
what our Father-General
had laid upon me.
had laid upon me.
That rector was one
who had heard my confession
for many years,
as I have said,
though I did not give his name.
He is Father Baltasar Alvarez,
now provincial.
He and the others said
they would do
what they could in the matter,
and accordingly they laboured much
to obtain the consent
of the town and
of the prelate,
which was in every way a difficult matter,
because the monastery was
because the monastery was
to be founded in poverty;
and accordingly the matter was delayed
for some days.
2. Julian of Avila. —
2. To arrange the affair there,
went thither an ecclesiastic,
a very great servant of God,
exceedingly detached from all the things
of the world, and
much given to prayer. [2]
He was chaplain of the monastery
wherein I was living;
Our Lord had given to him
the very same desires
that He had given to me,
and so he was a great help to me,
as will be seen hereafter.
It was Julian of Avila.
I had the permission to found (the monastery)
it is true,
but I had no house
nor money wherewith to buy one,
nor sufficient credit.
If our Lord did not give it,
how could a pilgrim like myself
have any ?
Our Lord provided;
for a most excellent young person,' [3]
( who later became Sister Isabel of Jesus. )
for whom there was no room
in S. Joseph's,
knowing that another house
was to be founded,
came to me, asking to be received into it.
She had a little money
— very little —
enough,
not for the purchase,
but only
for the hire of a house,
and
to help us on our journey thither;
and so we took a hired house.
Without any other support than this
we set forth from Avila
— two nuns, with myself, [4]
from S. Joseph's, and
four from the Incarnation, [5]
a monastery under the mitigated rule,
and in which I lived
before S. Joseph's was founded.
Our father chaplain, Julian of Avila,
went with us.
3. Commotion in Avila. —
3. There was a stir in the city
as soon as it was known.
Some said I was mad;
others waited for the end of this folly.
The bishop
— so he told me afterwards —
thought "it a very great folly,
though he did not say so at the time:
he would not trouble me
nor give me pain,
because of his great affection for me.
My friends told me so fast enough,
but I made light of it all,
for I looked on
that which they thought questionable
as so easy
that I could not persuade myself
to admit it could fail at all.
4. Fray Antonio de Heredia. —
4. Now when we left Avila [6]
I had already written to a father
of our order, Fray Antonio de Heredia, [7]
asking him to buy me a house.
He was then prior of S. Anne's there,
a monastery of our order.
He entreated with a lady, [8]
who had a great affection for him,
for a house,
which was in a good situation,
but, with the exception of one room,
in a ruinous condition.
She was so good as to promise
to sell it to him, and
so they settled the affair
without her asking him for security,
or anything more than his word.
If she had asked for security
we should have been helpless.
Our Lord was arranging it all.
The house was in so ruinous a plight
that we had to hire another
while they were repairing it,
for there was much to be done to it.
5. The journey to Medina. —
5. The first day's journey,
then, brought us,
late at night,
late at night,
and
worn out by the difficulties of the road,
to Arevalo.
As we were drawing near to the town,'
one of our friends, an ecclesiastic,
who had provided a lodging
for us in the house
of certain devout women, [9]
- came to meet us, and
- told me secretly [10]
-- that the house was not to be had,
because it was close to that
of the Augustinian friars,
who would resist
our taking possession,
and
-- that we should be forced
to go to law.'°
O my God,
how poor is all opposition
when Thou, O Lord, art pleased
to give us courage !
This seemed rather to encourage me,
for I thought,
seeing that the devil was beginning
to be troublesome,
that our Lord would take pleasure
in the monastery.
Nevertheless, I asked the priest
to keep silence,
not to trouble my companions,
particularly the two nuns
of the Incarnation, [11]
for the others
would have gone through
any trouble for me.
One of these two was then
sub-prioress there,
both of them of good families.
Great opposition had been made
to their coming with us,
and they came
against the will of their kindred,
for everybody thought it foolish;
and I saw afterwards
they had reason enough on their side.
But when our Lord will have me
found one of these houses,
my mind seems unable to admit
any consideration sufficiently strong
to make me refrain till the work is done;
then all the difficulties rise
all at once before me,
as will be seen hereafter. [12]
6. Fray Domingo Banez. —
6. When we had reached our lodgings
I found
that a Dominican friar
was in the place,
a very great servant of God,
who used to be my confessor
when I was in S. Joseph's.
In telling the history of that foundation
I spoke much of his goodness,
now I will only mention his name,
the master Fray Domingo Banez,
a man of great learning and discretion,
by whose counsels I was directed.
To him it did not seem
that what I was going to do
was so difficult
as it seemed to everybody else,
for the more God is known
the more easy is it to do His work;
so he thought it all quite possible,
because of certain graces
which he knew His Majesty
had bestowed on me,
and because of the things
he had seen
during the founding of S. Joseph's.
It was a great joy to me
to see him,
for under his direction
I thought everything would prosper.
Then when he had come in
I told him as a great secret
what was going on;
he thought we might quickly settle
with the Augustinians;
any delay, however, was irksome to me,
because I did not know
what to do with so many nuns;
and thus we all spent
that night in trouble,
for it was told at once to everybody
in the lodging.
7. The Saint resolves to go on. —
7. The next morning
the Prior of our order, Fray Antonio,
arrived;
he told us
- that the house he had agreed to buy
was large enough, and
- that it had a porch
wherein a small church might be made
by adorning it with hangings.
That we resolved to do.
To me, at least,
it seemed fair enough,
for the least delay was the best for us,
because
- we were away from our monasteries,
and moreover
- I was afraid of some opposition
now that I had learnt caution
by the first foundation;
so I wished to take possession
before our arrival became known ;
accordingly we made up our minds
to do so at once.
The master, Father Domingo,
agreed with us.
[13]
8. Arrives in Medina. —
8. We arrived in Medina del Campo
at midnight on the eve
of our Lady's feast in August,
- alighted at the monastery of S. Anne,
so as to occasion no disturbance,
and
- went on foot to the house.
It was a great mercy of our Lord
that we were met by no one,
for they were at that hour
shutting in the bulls
that were to run next day.
I never thought of that at all,
because of the excitement we were in,
but our Lord,
- ever mindful of those
who seek His service,
and certainly I had no other end
in the matter,
- delivered us.
Having reached the house,
we entered a court.
The walls seemed to me very ruinous,
but not so much so then
as afterwards by daylight.
It was our Lord's pleasure,
it seems, to make the blessed father
blind to the unseemliness
of reserving the Most Holy Sacrament
in such a place.
9. Prepares the altar. —
9. On looking at the porch
we saw
there was earth in it
which must be taken away,
the roof was broken, and
the walls not plastered.
The night was now far spent,
and we had nothing
but a few hangings,
I believe three,
and they were little better than none
considering the length of the porch.
I knew not what to do,
for I saw
it would never do
to put an altar there.
It was our Lord's pleasure
to have it done at once,
the steward of the lady had
- many pieces of tapestry
belonging to her in the house,
and
- a piece of blue damask;
and he had been told by her
to give us everything
we should want,
for she was very good.
When I saw
how well provided we were,
I gave our Lord thanks,
as did the others.
However, we did not know
what to do for nails,
and it was not a time for buying any,
so a search along the walls was begun;
at last, with some trouble,
we found enough.
Some began to hang the tapestry, [14]
and we nuns to clean the floor:
we made such haste
that the altar was ready,
and the little bell hung, by daybreak,
when mass was said at once. [15]
This was enough to take possession,
but we did not stop there,
for we had
the Most Holy Sacrament reserved:
there was a door opposite the altar,
and through the chinks therein
we saw mass said;
there was no other way.
Up to this moment I was happy,
for it is to me a very great joy
to see
but one church
the more wherein
the Most Holy Sacrament is reserved.
But my joy was only for a moment,
for when mass was over
I went to look at the court
through a little window,
and saw the walls in some places
were level with the ground,
and it would take many days
to repair them.
10. She desponds. —
10. O my God !
what anguish of heart was mine
when I saw His Majesty in the street
in times so full of peril
because of those
(who had left the church) [16]
Then all the difficulties
which they might raise
who had spoken against us
came before me at once,
and I saw plainly
that they had reason on their side.
I thought it impossible
to go on with the work,
for, as before everything seemed easy,
considering it was done for God,
so now the temptation
gathered strength against me
in such a way that it seemed
as if I had never received
any grace whatever from Him.
I thought only
of my own meanness and scanty strength.
Then, relying on a thing
so wretched as myself,
what good results could I hope for ?
If I had been alone,
I think I could have borne it better,
but it was hard to bear
when I began to think
that my companions would have
to return to their monastery,
out of which they had come
in spite of so much opposition.
I thought too
that, as the mistake was made
in the very beginning,
everything that I understood
our Lord would do later on
could never be.
Then there came upon me at once
a fear
that what I had heard in prayer
was a delusion, and
this was not the least
but the greatest pain,
for I was thrown into very great fear
that Satan had been deceiving me.
11. Father Baltasar Alvarez
sends to her. —
11. O my God !
what a sight is that soul
which Thou givest up to suffer !
Certainly, when I think
of this trial, and
of some others
I had to go through
while making these foundations,
I do not think
that any bodily sufferings,
however painful,
are to be even remembered
in comparison with this.
Notwithstanding all this distress
— and it was very hard to bear —
I did not let my companions know of it,
for I would not bring more trouble
upon them than they had already.
I remained in my sorrow
till the evening,
when the rector of the society [17]
sent one of the fathers to see me,
who gave me
great encouragement and comfort.
I did not tell him all my distress,
but only that which I felt
at seeing ourselves in the street
I began by speaking to him
about finding a hired house at any cost,
into which we might go
while this underwent repairs ;
and then I took comfort
when I saw so many people come in,
none of whom reflected
on our folly,
which was a mercy of God;
for had they done so,
most certainly the Most Holy Sacrament
would have been removed.
would have been removed.
At this moment
I am thinking
of my want of sense and
of their inconsiderateness
in not consuming the Host,
yet I believe
if that had been done
everything would have been undone.
12. Watch kept over
the Blessed Sacrament. —
12. Notwithstanding
all the search we made,
a house to let
was not to be found in the place,
and thus I was in sore distress
night and day;
for, though I always left men
to keep watch
over the Most Holy Sacrament,
I was afraid they might fall asleep;
and so I used to rise in the night
to look on through the window,
which I could easily do
in the moonlight.
During all these days
many people used to come,
and they
not only did not find fault with us,
but were even filled with devotion
at the sight of our Lord
once more in the porch;
and
His Majesty,
never weary of humiliations
For our sakes,
did not seem as if He wished to depart.
13. A private house is offered her. —
13. When eight days had gone by
a merchant [18]
living in a very good house,
seeing our necessity,
told us
we might go to the upper part of it,
where we might remain
as in a house of our own.
There was a very large hall in it,
decorated with gilding,
which he gave us for a church;
and a lady, Dona Elena de Quiroga, [19]
a great servant of God,
living near the house we had bought,
said that she
- would help me
to begin at once
the chapel for the Most Holy Sacrament,
and
- would also provide for our enclosure.
Others gave us abundant alms
in the way of food,
but it was this lady who helped me most.
14.The house is finished. —
14. Hereupon I began to be at ease,
for we
- were perfectly enclosed
where we were, and
- began to say the office,
and the good prior was hurrying
on the arrangements of the house
with much trouble.
It took, however, two months
to finish it;
but it was so done that
we were able to remain in it
quietly for some years;
since then our Lord
has made it more convenient.
15. The Saint begins to prepare
for a monastery of friars. —
15. While staying there
I was always thinking
of monasteries of friars,
but as I had not one friar
to begin with,
as I said before, [20]
I did not know what to do;
so I made up my mind
to discuss the matter
in the utmost secrecy
with the prior there,
and
see what he would advise me ;
accordingly I did so.
He rejoiced exceedingly
when he heard the matter,
and promised me
to be himself the first.
I took that for a pleasantry,
and said so to him:
though he was
- a good and recollected friar,
- thoughtful and fond of his cell, and
- learned beside,
yet, for the beginning of a work like this,
he did not seem to me
to possess
- the requisite courage or
- the strength to bear
the severity of the rule,
for he was of a delicate constitution,
and not inured to austerities.
He insisted on it,
and assured me
- that our Lord had for some time
been calling him to a stricter life;
- that he had made up his mind
to go to the Carthusians, and
- that they had promised to receive him.
Nevertheless I was
not very well satisfied,
though very glad to hear this from him;
and
so I asked him to
- wait a while
and
- try himself in the observances
of those things
he would have to promise to do.
He accordingly did so for a year,
and in that time
so many trials and
the persecutions of evil tongues
occurred
whereby it seemed our Lord meant
to prove him.
He himself bore all so well,
and made such great progress,
that I gave thanks to our Lord for it,
for it seemed to me
that His Majesty was preparing him
for the change.
16. S. John of the Cross. —
16. Shortly afterwards came a father,
still young,
who was Studying in Salamanca.
There was another with him
as his companion,
who told me great things
of the life of that father,
who was John of the Cross. [21]
I gave thanks to our Lord,
I spoke to the friar,
with whom I was greatly pleased,
and learned from him
that he too wished
to become a Carthusian,
I spoke to him
- of my purpose,
and
pressed him to wait
till our Lord gave us a monastery,
and
- of the great good it would do,
if he led a higher life,
-- to continue in the same order,
and
-- how much greater the service
he would render to our Lord.
He gave me a promise
on the condition
that I made no long delay.
When I saw
that I had two friars to begin with [22]
I looked on the work as done.
Still, however,
I waited for some time,
- I was not satisfied with the prior,
and so also
- for want of a place
to make a beginning in [23]
17. The nuns of Medina.
17, The nuns were growing in reputation
with the people, who conceived
a great affection for them,
and
I believe with good reason,
for they had no other aim
but that of serving our Lord
more and more,
each to the utmost of her power,
in everything
after the manner observed
in S. Joseph's of Avila,
for the rule and constitutions
in both places
were the same, [24]
Our Lord began to call some
to take the habit,
and so many were the graces
He bestowed on them
that I was amazed.
May He be blessed for ever, Amen.
For, in order to love,
He seems only
to wait to be loved Himself.
_________________
.
Foot Notes:
[1]
(*See "The Life: ch. xxxiii. #13.)
________________
[2]
Julian of Avila.
In the end of July 1567.
It took him a fortnight to arrange the
whole business
(Reforma, bk. 11. ch. v. 4, 5).
Don Julian Davila (or de Avila)
was the son of Christobal
and Ana de Santo Domingo,
and the brother
of Sister Mary of S. Joseph
(See Life, ch. xxxvi, 5).
His life
during a prolonged sojourn at Seville
had been anything but exemplary,
and though desirous of changing it
he lacked courage.
An accident
which might have proved fatal
having befallen him
he heard a voice saying,
'What, if thou wert dead ?'
He now
resolved on a complete change,
returned to his native place,
resumed his studies,
and
became a priest.
His natural gifts,
- prudence in the management of affairs,
- affability and kindness,
- together with supernatural light
made him eminently fit
for the guidance of souls.
The bishop of Avila
as well as the archbishop of Toledo
entrusted him with important offices,
the latter choosing him
as his companion
for the visitation of convents.
Don Julian was a chaplain
after S. Teresa's own heart.
Only once did she blame him rather severely
for indulging the fancies of some nuns
(Letter of 27th Febr. 1581).
He accompanied her
on nearly all her journeys,
and his reminiscences
written at an advanced age
are one of the most precious sources
of information concerning the details
of her life.
His death occurred at Avila,
24 th February 1605.
He was interred in the chapel of S. Anne
(now of S. John of the Cross),
in the conventual church
of S. Joseph's convent
by the side of his lifelong friend,
Don Gaspar Daza.
( Reforma, bk. 11. ch. v. 2 and 3;
El Monte Carmelo, Burgos, 1911, 345.
_______________________
[3]
Isabel, daughter of Francisco de Fontecha
and Maria de Villalba,
born at Avila.
On entering the convent
of Medina del Campo she
took the name, Isabel of Jesus.
She died there in 1608.
Oeuvres, 1L1. 347.
_________________
[4]
The nuns were
- Maria Bautista ( Maria Ocampo),
[ Maria of St. John the Baptist]
niece of the Saint,
already spoken of,
and
- Anne of the Angels (Ana Gomez),
from the convent of S. Joseph
(Life, xxxvi. nn. 30 and 32)
__________________
[5]
from the monastery
of the Incarnation,
- Ines de Tapia,
afterwards (known as) Agnes of Jesus,
with her sister,
- Ana de Tapia,
afterwards Anne of the Incarnation,
both cousins of S. Teresa
(Life, l.c.n. 14) ;
- Dona Isabel de Arias,
afterwards Isabel of the Cross, and
- Dona Teresa de Quesada
( Reforma, bk. 11. ch. v. 6).
The former of these was subprioress
of the Incarnation (Isabel of the Cross)
at the time she joined S. Teresa
in the foundation of Medina;
in the following year
she accompanied the Saint to Valladolid
of which convent
she became the first prioress;
When Teresa was elected
prioress of the Incarnation (1571)
she nominated Isabel of the Cross,
as subprioress,
who filled the office so well,
especially during the prolonged absence
of S. Teresa,
that at the expiration of the sister's tenure
of office, she was elected in her place.
. . . . . .
Dona Teresa de Quesada
was a younger sister
of Dona Ines de Quesada
who died at the Incarnation about 1600,
being nearly a centenarian.
She clearly remembered
- the visits to the monastery
of the youthful Teresa de Ahumada,
previous to her entrance,
and
- the dress worn by the future saint,
a petticoat of orange colour
with black velvet ribbons.
Dona Teresa de Quesacia
has been mentioned as one of those
who entered into a friendly dispute
with S. Teresa
as to which of them
was to be the Saint Teresa
whom the monastery
according to a prophecy
was to produce
(Life, Introd. p. xiv).
If she did not attain eminent sanctity
she at least did not fall far short of it.
Dona Maria Espinel
to whom we owe some precious records,
calls her 'a grand religious.'
Dona Teresa's name appears
in deeds of the Incarnation
dated 1557 and 1591
in which latter year
she was the second of the three keepers
of the keys.
At that time
there was also at the Incarnation
a young religious bearing the same name,
perhaps a relative of the former.
When S. Teresa undertook the foundation
of Medina del Campo
DonaTeresa accompanied her,
adopting the name
of Teresa de la Coluna;
Hhving been nominated prioress in 1571
she resigned that office after two years
and returned to the Incarnation
where she died at the age of eighty.
Notwithstanding her gentle birth
she would never accept
the privilege of a private room,
but contented herself with a place
in the common dormitory and infirmary.
(See Oeuvres, iii. 300 sqq., and
notes collected by the present writer.)
__________________
[6]
The Saint left Avila 13th August 1567;
but Julian had gone to Medina
in the end of July
with letters from the Saint
to Fr. Baltasar Alvarez,
her old confessor,
and
then rector in that city
of the house of the Society.
Father Alvarez was asked
to obtain the permission of the abbot
in whom the jurisdiction was vested.
The abbot took counsel
and made inquiries about the Saint.
Some spoke severely against her,
and the abbot, himself,
was not in favour of absolute poverty.
But Baltasar Alvarez knew
that S. Teresa would never give way
on this point,
and
Fray Dominic Banez
who was present
spoke so warmly for her
that within a fortnight
the abbot granted the permission
(Reforma; bk. II. ch. V. 4).
___________________
[7]
Fray Antonio de Heredia,
bachelor in divinity,
born at Requena about 1510,
where he also took the religious habit,
studied at Salamanca,
became prior successively
at Moraleja, Requena and Toledo 1561);
he assisted at the general chapter of 1564
in the quality of first socius
to the provincial of Castille
and
judge in matters relating to civil law.
In the following year
he was Prior at Avila
and as such
must have been well acquainted
with S. Teresa and her convent.
Philip II chose him
as one of the reformers
of the Spanish Carmelites,
but as the nomination was prematurely
and indiscreetly published abroad
the friars turned against him,
and their opposition was not allayed
by subsequent rumour
of his projected exchange
of the Carmelite habit
for that of the Carthusians.
These trials are alluded to
in this chapter, Chapter 3: #15.
and Reforma, bk. 11. ch. v, l. and
notes collected in Italy and Spain.
__________________
[8]
Dona Maria de Herrera.
Her house was in the Calle Santiago,
but as it was in a most ruinous state,
Julian of Avila hired a house
near the monastery of the Augustinian friars,
where the nuns might be lodged
till the purchased house
could be made ready to receive them
(Ibid. ch. V.)
__________________
[9]
Agnes of Jesus,
in the informations
taken in Medina
in the process of the Saint's beatification,
has preserved a fact
which S. Teresa seems
to have studiously omitted.
As they were drawing near to Arevalo
the Saint sent one of the priests
in her company on before,
with instructions to find Alonso Esteban.
He was to be found
walking under a certain portico,
and the messenger was to tell him
- that the Mother Teresa of Jesus
was coming into the town,
and
- that she asked him
to find a lodging
for her and her companions.
Everything happened
as the Saint had said,
and Alonso Esteban found a lodging
for her in the house of a lady.
Ana de Velasco
(De la Fuente, vi. 226,
where the event is said
to have taken place
on a journey from Medina to Avila).
________________
[10]
This priest was the bearer
of a letter
to Julian de Avila
from Alonso Alvarez,
who had let the house in Medina.
The writer said
that he, as a friend of the Augustinians,
could not give them the house
without the assent of those friars,
and begged him
to arrange the matter with them
before the nuns left Avila
(Ribera, bk. 11. ch. vii);
(Reforma, bk. 11. ch. v. 9).
_________________
[11]
The Saint had said before (§ 3)
(Foundations: Ch3: #3)
that she took four nuns
from the Incarnation.
The explanation
of the apparent contradiction
is to be found in Ribera, ii. ch. vii.
The Saint took only two nuns
from the Incarnation,
and that was the number
to which the general
had expressly limited her;
but a few days before
she set out for Medina,
two nuns, Ana and Ines de Tapia,
had come from the Incarnation
into the house of S. Joseph,
and were therefore
not strictly nuns of that monastery
on the 13th August 1567.
___________________
[12]
So also was it with her
when she made
the first foundation of the order,
that of S. Joseph in Avila
(See Life, ch. xxxvi. 5, 6j )
(See below, § 10. )
___________________
[13]
The Saint set out from Arevalo
in the morning,
sending four of the nuns
who were with her
under the care of Alonso Esteban
to Villanueva de Azerale,
where Vicente de Ahumada,
brother of two of them
— Agnes of Jesus and
Anne of the Incarnation —
was rector.
With the other two,
Mary of S. John Baptist and
Anne of the Angels,
she went on to Olmedo,
where the bishop of Avila
was then staying, and
arrived there in the evening.
The bishop received her with joy,
and, as she would not stop there,
sent her on her way in a carriage
which he provided for her,
and his chaplain with her.
Julian de Avila had gone on
before the Saint,
and was then waiting for her in Medina
( Ribera, ii. 7).
_________________
[14]
These were the priests and the religious
who had come with
Fray Antonio de Heredia
from his monastery
(Ribera ii. 8).
_________________
[15]
It was Fray Antonio dc Hcredia
who said the first Mass
(Reforma, bk. II . ch. V. 10).
_________________
[16]
Among the strangers in the town,
who were foreign merchants,
the Saint feared
there might be some heretics
(Reforma, bk. ii. ch. v. ii).
_________________
[17]
Baltasar Alvarez (See § 1, above).
(Foundations: Ch. 3: #1)
_________________
[18]
Bias de Medina
(Ribera ii. 9).
_________________
[19]
Dona Elena de Quiroga
- A niece of Cardinal Quiroga,
archbishop of Toledo, and
- widow of Don Diego de Villarroel.
Her house was close
to the new convent,
and she went to see the Saint,
who made such an impression on her
that she would have wished
to become a nun,
but was for many years
unable to carry out this design.
One of her daughters having married.
Dona Elena resolved to found,
with the help of the younger daughter,
a school for young ladies
on semi-conventual lines,
under the protection and supervision
of the Jesuits and Dominicans.
S. Teresa took the greatest interest
in the project,
as may be seen from her letter
of 27th July 1573,
but how far it was successful
seems doubtful.
Dona Elena's daughter,
Geronima de Villarroel,
- entered the Carmelite convent
at Medina
at the age of fourteen,
- took the habit
on 13th January 1575,
and
- made her profession,
25th March 1577,
- taking the name of
Hieronyma of the Incarnation.
Her mother entered the same convent
in 1581,
making her profession
1st November 1582,
under the name of
Helena of Jesus.
At a later period
both were called to Toledo
at the request of Cardinal de Quiroga,
and
filled there successively
the office of prioress.
Finally both returned to Medina
where Helena died,
2nd September 1596, and
Hieronyma on Easter Tuesday,
24th April 1612.
(Oeuvres, iii. 359 and 367.)
_______________
[20]
( See "Foundations":
Ch. 2: Paragraph #6 )
________________
[21]
At this time
he was John of S. Matthias,
and had been just ordained priest.
His companion was Fray Pedro Orosco
(Reforma, bk. II. ch. ix. 5).
S. John of the Cross was born
at Fontiveros, 24th June 1542
and entered the order
in the convent of S. Anne,
Medina del Campo,
of which Fray Antonio was now prior.
_______________
[22]
The Saint used to say playfully
that she had a friar and a half,
because
of the dignified presence
of Fray Antonio
and
of the small stature
of S. John of the Cross.
_______________
[23]
(See "Foundations": Ch. 13: #1. )
_______________
[24]
The Saint, on leaving the monastery,
made
Agnes of Jesus, prioress,
and
her sister, Anne of the Incarnation
sub-prioress.
When still in Medina
she received a visit
from Don Bernardino de Mendoza
(see "Foundations": ch. X. #1),
who knew her in Avila,
and
offered her a house in Valladolid
for a monastery.
She accepted the gift:
but Dona Leonor de Mascarenas was
at the same time
pressing her to go
to Alcala de Henares
to set in order the monastery
founded there
with her (Dona Leonor's) help
by Maria of Jesus
(see Life, ch, xxxvi. 29)
Accordingly, in November 1567,
the Saint arrived in Madrid
on her way to Alcala
with two nuns,
Anne of the Angels and
Antonia of the Holy Ghost
whom she had sent for from Avila.
She wished to make that journey
undisturbed by the presence
of secular people;
but Dona Maria de Mendoza,
who was going to Ubeda,
insisted on the Saint's travelling
in her carriage as far as Madrid.
In that city she was lodged
in the house of Dona Leonor
and was visited
by the grand ladies of Madrid,
who crowded around her,
some from devotion,
others from curiosity,
expecting to see miracles and ecstasies.
The Saint
- understood the temper of her visitors,
and
- spoke to them of secular things,
such as
the beauty of the streets of Madrid,
without the slightest allusion
to those of the city of God.
Some of these ladies admitted
that she was
a good sort of person enough,
but only an ordinary nun.
Others, however,
had a keener discernment,
as also
had the barefooted Franciscan nuns,
whose abbess (Juana de la Cruz),
was the sister of the Duke of Gandia,
and
whose house had been lately founded
by Dona Juana, sister of Philip II.
With them,
out of deference to the princess,
she remained a fortnight.
She left Madrid
20th November 1567,
with Dona Maria de Mendoza
who had been asked by Dona Leonor
to take her to Alcala de Henares.
Having arrived there,
she was received
by the venerable Maria of Jesus
and her nuns
as if she had been
their foundress and superior.
S. Teresa found the convent
on the verge of ruin,
as the foundress
with more zeal than discretion
had insisted on austerities
that were
not only above human nature
but even contrary to reason.
The keys of the house
were given to her,
and the whole community
offered itself to her
to be guided and instructed by her.
She gave them the constitutions
which she had drawn up
for her houses in Avila and Medina.
The Saint wished the community
to place itself
under the jurisdiction of the order,
as she had placed
her foundation in Medina;
but the nuns and the bishop
disliked the change,
and Fray Dominic Banez,
at that moment in Alcala,
advised her not to press the matter
(Reforma, bk. 11. ch. x.).
F. Ribera, S. J.,
- visited the Monastery
of Maria of Jesus
in 1585, and
- found the constitutions
and directions of S. Teresa
fervently observed therein (i. 16).
(Blogger's Note: Ribera Bk1; Ch16 ?)
Dona Leonor de Mascarenas
was one of the ladies
who had offered to intercede
for S. Ignatius
when he was imprisoned in Alcala
and suspected of heresy.
.
|
.
End of Chapter 3
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
.
|
