of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 17
Chapter 17 Contents
The Foundation Of The Monasteries
Of Friars And
Of Nuns At Pastrana,
In One And The Same Year
1579, I Mean 1569
1. The Saint's joy in Toledo. —
2. And pain at parting. —
3. Directed to go to Pastrana. —
4. Arrives in Madrid. —
5. Fray Juan de la Miseria —
6. Mariano of S. Benedict. —
7. His Vocation. —
8. The Saint persuades Mariano
to become a Carmelite. —
9. He consents. —
10. A site found
for the new monastery of friars. —
11. The two provincials consent —
12. The princess of Eboli troublesome. —
13. The friars established at Pastrana. —
14. The princess of Eboli
becomes a nun. —
15. The nuns depart from Pastrana. —
|
CHAPTER 17
1. The Saint's joy in Toledo
1.
In about a fortnight
after the foundation
of the house in Toledo,
- when I had
arranged the little church,
put up the gratings,
and
done what was very troublesome to do
— for, as I said, we remained
about a year
in that house —
and
- when I was worn out
looking after the workmen,
and all was at last finished,
it was the eve of Pentecost. [1]
That very morning,
as we were at meals in the refectory,
I felt a great joy in seeing
there was nothing more to do,
and
that on this feast
I could for some time
taste of the sweetness of our Lord;
I could scarcely eat,
so great was the joy of my soul.
I did not much deserve this consolation,
for they came to tell me
while I was thus employed
that a servant of the princess of Eboli, [2]
wife of Ruy Gomez de Silva, [3]
was waiting.
I went out, and learnt
that she had sent for me:
it had been arranged between us
some time before
that I was to found
a monastery in Pastrana.
I did not think
it was to be so soon.
2. And pain at parting.
2.
It gave me some pain,
because there was great danger
in leaving a monastery
so newly founded,
and
to which opposition had been made.
I therefore determined at once
that I would not go,
and said so.
He replied
that this was inconvenient,
for the princess
- was there already,
having gone thither
for no other purpose;
- that it would be an affront to her.
Nevertheless,
I was not minded to go,
and told him so;
he might go and take some food;
I would write to the princess,
and he might depart.
He was a very honourable man,
and, though not at all pleased,
yet when I told him my reason
he was satisfied.
3. Directed to go to Pastrana.
3.
The nuns
who had just arrived, and
who were to live in the monastery,
did not see
how it was possible for me
to quit the house so soon.
I went before the Most Holy Sacrament
to beg of our Lord
that I might write in such a way
as to give no offence,
for we were in a very difficult position,
because of the friars
who had then begun the reform,
and in every way
it would be well for us
to have the good graces of Ruy Gomez,
whose influence
over the king and
all people
was so great.
However, I do not remember
whether I thought of this,
but I know well
that I wished not to offend the princess.
While I was in this perplexity
our Lord said to me
- that I was to go without fail,
- that I was going for something
more than for that foundation,
and
- that I was to take with me
the rule and constitutions. [4]
When I heard this,
though I had great reasons
for not going,
I durst not act
but according to my custom
in like circumstances,
which is to be guided
by the advice of my confessor.
I then sent for him;
I did not tell him
what I had heard in prayer,
for I am always better satisfied so,
but I implored our Lord
to give my confessors light
according to the measure of that
which they naturally understand,
and
His Majesty puts it into their hearts
whenever He will have anything done.
4. Arrives in Madrid. —
4.
This has often happened to me
— so did it now,
for my confessor,
having considered the whole matter,
was of the opinion
that I ought to go,
and thereupon 1 determined to go.
I left Toledo
on the morrow after Pentecost. [5]
Our road lay through Madrid,
and we went to lodge,
my companions and I,
in the monastery of the Franciscans,
with a lady
who had founded it, and
who was living in it,
Dona Leonor de Mascarenas,
formerly governess of the king,
and
a very great servant of our Lord.
I had been lodged there on other occasions
when I had to travel that way,
and that lady ever showed me
much kindness. [6]
5. Fray Juan de la Miseria —
5.
That lady told me
she was glad
I had come at that time,
for there was a hermit there
who greatly desired to see me,
and that he and his companions,
she thought,
were living in a way
very like that prescribed by our rule.
To me,
who had but two friars,
came the thought
that it would be a great thing
if by any means it were so,
and so I asked her to find an opportimity
for us to speak together.
He lodged in a room
which the lady had given him,
with another brother,
a young man by name
Fray Juan de la Miseria, [7]
a great servant of God,
and most simple
in the ways of the world.
Then, when we were talking together,
he told me that he wished to go to Rome.
Before I go on further
I should like to say
what I know of this father,
by name Mariano of S. Benedict. [8]
6. Mariano of S. Benedict. —
6.
He was an Italian by birth,
a man of very great abilities and skill,
and a doctor.
When in the service of the queen of Poland,
entrusted with the ministry
of her household,
having never any inclination to marry,
but holding a commandery
in the order of S. John,
he was called by our Lord
to give up all he possessed,
that he might the better labour
for his own salvation.
He had afterwards to undergo some trouble,
for the death of a certain person
was laid to his charge.
Kept in prison for two years,
he would not allow a lawyer
or any other to defend him,
but only God and His justice.
There were witnesses
who said that he had asked them
to commit the murder.
As it happened to the old men
who accused S. Susanna, [9]
so it did to these,
for, each of them
being severally questioned
where he was at the time,
one said he was sitting on his bed,
another that he was at the window;
at last they confessed
that the accusation was a falsehood.
He told me
- that it cost him a great sum
to set those witnesses at liberty
without being punished, and
- that the very man
who had caused him all that trouble
fell into his hands,
- that he had to proceed judicially
against him,
but that he had stretched his power
to the utmost not to do him any harm.
7. His Vocation.
7.
It must be for these
and his other virtues
— he was a pure and chaste man,
hating the conversation of women —
that he merited light from our Lord
to see what the world is,
that he might withdraw from it.
Accordingly he began to consider
which order he should enter,
and, testing now one, now another,
he must have found something in all,
as he told me,
unsuited for himself.
He heard that some hermits
were dwelling together near Seville,
in a desert called Tardon,
having for their superior a most holy man,
whom they called Father Matthew. [10]
Each hermit had his own cell;
the divine office was not said,
but they had an oratory
where they met together to hear mass.
They had no revenues,
and neither would nor did receive alms,
but maintained themselves
by the labour of their hands, and
every one took his meals
by himself poorly enough.
When I heard of it,
I thought it was a picture
of the holy fathers of our order.
He had been living in this fashion
for eight years.
8. The Saint persuades Mariano
to become a Carmelite.
8.
When the holy Council of Trent
had been held,
and
when the decree came forth
by which all hermits were to be brought
under the discipline of the regular orders,
Mariano wished to go to Rome,
to beg that they might be left
as they were;
and this was his object
when I spoke to him.
When he had recounted to me
his way of life
I showed him the primitive rule
of the order,
and told him
he might without all that trouble
keep his observances,
for they were the same as ours,
especially that of living
by the work of his own hands,
which was that
which had the greatest attraction for him.
He had said to me
that the world was ruined by greed,
and
that this it was
that brought religion into contempt.
As I was of the same opinion myself,
we agreed at once
on this,
and also upon everything else;
so that when I showed him
he might serve God in this our habit
he told me he would think of it
that very night. [11]
I saw
that his mind was nearly made up,
and understood the meaning of
what I had heard in prayer,
that I "was going for something
more than for a monastery of nuns." [12]
It gave me the very greatest pleasure,
for I saw
that our Lord would be greatly served
by his entering the order.
9. He consents.
9.
His Majesty,
who willed it,
so moved his heart
during the night
that he called upon me the next day,
having then fully made up his mind,
and
being also amazed
at the change
so suddenly wrought in himself,
especially by a woman;
for even to this day
he sometimes tells me so,
as if she had been the cause of it,
and not our Lord,
Who is able to change
the hearts of men.
His judgments are deep !
for this man,
having lived so many years
without knowing
what resolution to take
concerning his state
— he was then in no state at all,
being under no vows or obligation
beyond that of a solitary life —
was now so quickly led of God,
Who showed him
how great a service he might
render Him in this state,
and
that He wanted him
for the purpose of carrying on
what had been begun.
He has been a great help,
and it has cost him much trouble,
and will cost him more
before everything is settled, [13]
if we may judge
by the opposition made
to the primitive rule;
for he is a man who,
because of his abilities, temper,
and excellent life,
has influence with many persons
who help and protect us.
10. A site found
for the new monastery of friars.
10.
He then told me
- that in Pastrana
— the very place I was going to —
Ruy Gomez had given him
a good hermitage,
and a place for making there
a settlement for hermits, and
- that he would give it to the order
and take the habit himself.
I thanked him,
and praised our Lord greatly;
for as yet,
of the two monasteries
for the founding of which
two licences had been given me
by the most reverend our father-general,
only one had been established.
Thereupon I sent a messenger
to the two fathers already mentioned,
the present and the last provincial,
earnestly begging them
to give me leave,
for the foundation could not be made
without their consent.
I wrote also to the bishop of Avila,
Don Alvaro de Mendoza,
who was our great friend,
asking him to obtain the licence from them.
11. The two provincials consent
11.
It pleased God
that they should give their consent.
They must have thought
that the monastery would do them no harm
in a place so far out of the way.
Mariano promised to go thither
when the permission should come;
so I went away extremely glad. [14]
I found the princess
and the prince Ruy Gomez in Pastrana,
by whom I was most kindly received.
They gave us a lodging for ourselves alone,
wherein we remained
longer than I expected.
As the house was so small,
the princess had ordered
a great part of it
to be pulled down
and then to be rebuilt;
not the outer walls, however,
but a very large part ot it.
12. The princess of Eboli troublesome.
12.
I was there three months,
during which I had much to endure,
because the princess insisted
on certain things unbecoming our order; [15]
and so, rather than consent to them,
I made up my mind to go away
without making the foundation;
but the prince Ruy Gomez,
in his good nature,
which is very great,
listened to reason,
and
pacified his wife,
and I accepted some of her conditions;
for I was more anxious
for the foundation of the monastery
of the friars
than for that of the nuns,
seeing how important that was,
as I saw afterwards.
13. The friars established at Pastrana.
13.
At this time Mariano
and his companion arrived
— the hermits spoken of before—
with the licence of the provincial.
The prince and princess consented
to grant the hermitage
they had given him
to the barefooted friars,
while I sent for the Father
Fray Antonio of Jesus,
who was the first, from Mancera,
where he was at that time,
that he might begin
the foundation of the monastery.
I prepared their habits and mantles for them,
and did all I could
to enable them to take the habit at once.
I had sent at this time for more nuns
— for I had brought
but two with me — [16]
to the monastery in Medina del Campo.
There was a father living there,
then in years
— not very old,
however, still not young —
but he was a great preacher,
by name Fray Baltasar de Jesus, [17]
who, when he heard
that we were founding the monastery,
came with the nuns,
intending to become
a barefooted friar himself,
as indeed he did when he came,
and for which I gave praise unto God
when he told me of it.
He gave the habit
to Father Mariano and his companion
but as lay brothers;
for Mariano wished
not to be a priest,
but to be less than all the rest,
nor could I prevail upon him
to do otherwise.
At a later time he was ordained priest
by commandment of the most reverend
the father-general. [18]
14. The princess of Eboli becomes a nun.
14.
The two monasteries, [19]
then, being founded, and
the Father Fray Antonio of Jesus
having arrived,
novices began to come in
— what they were will be known by
what I shall say of some of them
further on —
and so earnestly to serve our Lord,
as any one more able to speak
than I am
— for I must be short
even in what regards the nuns —
will tell,
if it should so please our Lord.
As to the latter,
their monastery there was held
in great esteem
by the prince,
and the princess,
who was very careful
to comfort and treat them well
down to the death of the prince Ruy Gomez,
when the devil,
or perhaps
because our Lord permitted it
— His Majesty knoweth why —
sent the princess here as a nun,
in the tumult of her grief
for her husband's death. [20]
In the distress she was in,
the observance of enclosure,
to which she had never been accustomed,
could not be very pleasant for her;
and the prioress,
because of the holy council, [21]
could not give her
all the liberty she desired.
15. The nuns depart from Pastrana.
15.
She (The princess) became displeased
with her (the prioress) and
with all the nuns,
so that,
even after she laid aside the habit, and
while living in her own house,
they were still an offence to her.
The poor nuns were living
in such disquiet
that I strove with all my might,
imploring the superiors
to remove them,
that they might come to Segovia,
where I was then
founding a monastery,
as I shall mention further on, [22]
Thither they came,
leaving behind all
that the princess had given them,
but bringing with them certain nuns
whom the princess had ordered them
to admit without any dowry.
The beds and trifling things
which the sisters, themselves,
had taken with them
they brought away,
leaving the inhabitants there
exceedingly sorry. [23]
I had the greatest joy in the world
when I saw them in peace,
for I knew very well
that they were blameless
as to the offence which the princess took
— far from it,
for they treated her,
during the time she wore the habit,
with as much respect
as they did
before she had put it on.
The cause of it all was
that which I mentioned just now,
and the distress the princess was in,
but a servant
whom she had brought with her
was, I believe, to blame for it all.
In a word, our Lord,
Who permitted this,
must have seen
that the monastery was
not rightly placed there;
His judgments are
high, and
surpass the understanding of us all.
I could not have been
so bold as to do
what I did
relying on my own understanding,
but I was guided by the advice
of saintly and learned men.
_________________
Foot Notes:
[1]
Whitsunday in 1569 fell on 29th May.
_______________________
[2]
Ruy Gomez de Silva,
prince of Eboli,
first duke of Pastrana,
treasurer of Spain and the Indies.
The princess,
Dona Ana de Mendoza y la Cerda,
daughter of
Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza,
Count of Melito,
was born 29th June 1540,
and became celebrated for her beauty.
______________________________
[3]
She was betrothed to the prince
who was considerably older,
at the age of 12.
She had ten children
of whom three died in infancy.
She had the misfortune
of losing her right eye.
The prince died in Madrid
29th July 1573.
Dona Catalina de Cardona
in her desert
saw him in a vision at the moment,
when he told her
that for the great alms
he had given through her
he was saved and in purgatory,
but in torments
that none would believe.
She was to get the prayers
of the Carmelite friars
of our Lady of Succour,
and have the masses said at once
which his wife, the princess, was to ask.
Dona Catalina, pitying her friend,
disciplined herself at once to blood,
and the next day
the vicar of the monastery
entering her cell
saw the state it was in,
and rebuked her
for her excessive penance.
She told him the truth,
and the vicar marked
the day and the hour
to test it.
On the third day
came a messenger from the princess
announcing the death, and
bringing alms to the monastery
of seventy ducats,
beside the retribution
for two hundred masses.
Within a few days
Dona Catalina had another vision
of the prince,
who thanked her for her service,
and told her of the great relief
it had brought to him
(Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xviii. 5).
_________________________
[4]
See Foundations: Ch. 17: #8. (above)
________________________
[5]
On Monday, 30th May,
in a carriage
which the princess of Eboli
had sent for her.
Isabel of S. Dominic
was left prioress
of S. Joseph's in Toledo,
and the Saint took with her
Isabel of S. Paul, and
Dona Antonia del Aguila,
who had come from her old monastery
of the Incarnation, Avila
[ Rcforma, bk. 11. ch. xxvii. 2]
_____________________
[6]
See Foundation: Ch. 3: Foot note #23.
______________________________
[7]
Juan de la Miseria,
in the world, Giovanni de Narduch,
was born in the kingdom of Naples:
in his youth
he had been with Ambrogio Mariano;
after some years of separation
they met again in the desert
of Tardon, near Cordova,
where they renewed their friendship.
They entered the order
of Mount Carmel together,
Juan de la Miseria as a lay brother
[ Reforma, bk. ii. ch. xxvii. 8]
Fray Jerome Gratian
of the Mother of God,
in the third part of his Declamacion,
says that he ordered Fray Juan,
when painting the cloisters of the monastery
of the nuns in Seville,
to paint a likeness of S. Teresa.
Being then the superior of the Saint,
he made her,
for her greater mortification,
sit for her portrait.
Juan was a poor painter,
but in no other way
could a portrait of the Saint be had,
for neither she nor I, says Fray Jerome,
would have allowed any other
to make a likeness.
Fuente quotes this passage,
and adds a note to the eftect
that the portrait was ill done;
and that the Saint,
looking at it when finished,
said mirthfully,
'Fray Juan, God forgive thee !
what I have had to suffer
at thy hands
and after all to paint me
blear-eyed and ugly.'
This painting is still
at the convent of Seville,
but has been partly repainted,
a later artist having added
- the arms and hands of the Saint
which Fray Juan had forgotten,
and also
- the dove,
- scroll and rays, as well as,
- the first and the third parts
of the legend.
[ See Oeuvres, iv. 412. ]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog Note:
Picture from
"The Life of Teresa of Jesus"
Editor: Lewis
. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
In the troubles of the order
when the Fathers
of the Mitigated Observance
for a time
brought the Reform
within their jurisdiction,
Juan had to suffer,
and in Rome consulted S. Philip,
who advised him to suffer and obey.
(Note of Fray Antonio de San Joseph,
on Letter of 19th Aug. 1578.)
Juan de la Miseria
died in Madrid in the year 1616,
in great reputation for sanctity,
being more than a hundred years old.
[Reforma, bk. 11. ch. xxxvii. 16).
________________________
[8] ( Mariano of S. Benedict )
On the margin of the MS,
is written by Father Gratian:
"Mariano de Acaro."
Ambrogio Mariano Azaro
was born in Bitonto,
in the kingdom of Naples,
of noble parents.
One of his companions at school,
where he was greatly distinguished,
was Hugo Buoncompagno,
afterwards Pope Gregory XIII,
who always retained his affection for him.
Mariano became a doctor
in canon and civil law,
was sent to the council of Trent,
where his ability and wisdom
led to his employment
in many difficult affairs
both in Germany and the Low Countries.
Later on he entered
the order of S. John of Jerusalem.
He came to Madrid,
having under his care the prince
of Salmona, a boy of nine,
and there his eyes were opened
to see the vanities of the world.
In Cordova,
where he was on business of state,
he made the spiritual exercises
under the direction of the Jesuits,
and was inclined to join the society,
but could not make up his mind
to do so,
because the fathers never met in choir,
and mixed much in the world.
One day, from the window of his cell,
which opened into the church
— it was during his retreat —
he saw the hermit Matthew enter,
by whose venerable aspect
he was attracted,
and finally led
into the desert of Tardon,
in the year 1562,
where he lived under obedience
to that simple man,
being himself
not only a brave soldier,
but a learned doctor, and,
the more to humble himself,
gained his bread by spinning.
He was professed in Pastrana in 1570,
and died in Madrid in 1594,
helped in his last hour
by the presence of the martyrs
SS. Cosmas and Damian,
to whom he had been very devout
during his life
[ Reforma, bk. 11.
ch. xxvii. and xxviii. 5 ]
_________________________
[9]
Daniel, ch. xiii.
__________________________
[10]
The venerable Father Mateo de la Fuente,
restorer of the order of S.Basil in Spain,
born about the year 1524,
in Almanuete, near Toledo.
He studied in Salamanca,
began his eremitical life
in the neighbourhood of Cordova,
and withdrew into the recesses
of the Sierra Morena
because of the concourse of the people.
Blessed Juan de Avila, his director,
commanded him to take some
to live with him,
and thus he peopled a desert
where wild artichokes grew
{Cardos syhestris),
and gave it the name of the Cardon,
which was afterwards changed
into the Tardon.
These hermits tilled the ground,
for their maxim was that
he who does not work shall not eat.
They adopted the rule of S. Basil
when S. Pius V ordered the hermits
to observe a rule already approved
[ De la Fuente).
See the Bull, Lubricum vitae,
17th Nov. 1568.
S. Teresa says the hermitage
and much of Tardon was near Seville,
but in a letter addressed to
Dona Catalina de Cardona,
dated May 1571
[Blog note: text is obscure
May 11th ? 1571 ]
Father Mariano
who must have known best,
says distinctly it was near Cordova.
This letter which is in edited
contains the following passage:
'At present the Pope
has given us a rule
and we have established
a house in this place,
near Pastrana,
close to the Prince Ruy Gomez.
The Lord be praised,
for in two years
we have erected seven monasteries
of our Discalced Carmelite nuns
and two of Discalced Carmelite friars
like those of our Capuchins in Italy,
yet in even greater poverty.
When it shall have pleased you
to give me a full account
of your doings
(for which I ask as for an alms)
I shall write more at length.
Our Lord be in your soul.
Your servant in the Lord,
Doctor Mariano Azaro,
Italian,
Discalced Carmelite Friar.'
_____________________
[11]
S. Teresa gave a copy of the rule
to Mariano,
who took it with him
to his lodging
where he read it aloud,
and explained it to Juan de la Miseria,
his companion.
Before he had gone through it
he cried out,
'Brother John,
we have found
what we are seeking for;
that is the rule we should keep.'
The next morning he told Dona Leonor
what had been the fruit
of the night's meditation,
and she carried the good news at once
to the Saint
[ Reforma, bk. 11. ch. xxvii, 3, 4 ].
[12] See § 3, above.
_______________________
[13]
The Saint wrote this in 1573 or 1574,
and before the persecution began.
______________________
[14]
The Saint,
having asked Mariano
to remain in Madrid
till he received the expected permission
from the provincial,
set out for Pastrana
with the two nuns
who had come with her from Toledo
(see foot note #5), (above)
and a postulant recommended to her
by her great friend
Dona Antonia de Brances,
who received in religion the name of
Beatriz of the Most Holy Sacrament
[ Reforma, bk. 11. ch. xxvii. 5].
_________________
[15]
The princess had brought
with her from Madrid
an Augustinian nun
belonging to a house
of her order in Segovia,
Dona Catalina Machuca,
who was to lay aside her own habit,
and enter the new foundation
as a Carmelite in Pastrana.
The im petuous princess insisted
on its being done at once,
and would not listen
to the objections of the Saint.
To soothe the irritation
caused by the refusal,
the Saint laid the matter
before Fray Dominic Banez,
who approved the act of S. Teresa.
The princess at last gave way,
and the new house was spared
the difficulty of training a nun
who had
either learned the spirit
of another order
or was incapable of such training.
The princess wished the monastery
to be unendowed,
but the Saint would not hear of it,
for she knew
that the place was poor,
and
that the people,
supposing that a great personage
like the princess of Eboli
had taken care
of the temporal necessities
of the house she had founded,
would therefore suffer the nuns
to perish of want.
The generosity of the princess
was not to be relied on.
At this time the princess of Eboli
found out
that the Saint had written her Life,
and insisted on reading it.
The Saint for a long time
withheld it,
but at last yielded
to the importunities of Ruy Gomez,
who came to his wife's aid.
The princess ridiculed the book;
left it for her servants to read;
and these,
following her example,
divulged its contents, and
raised an outcry against the Saint.
It was this conduct of the princess
that led to the Inquisition
to demand the book
[ Reforms, bk. 11. ch. xxviii. 5-7].
See also Relation, vii. # 17.
_____________
[16]
The Saint had only two nuns
with her at this time
(see foot note #5),
and so she sent to Medina for
Isabel of S. Jerome and
Anne of Jesus,
who had both taken the habit there.
In addition to these,
there came another nun,
Jeronyma of S. Augustine (Gutierrez),
from her old monastery
of the Incarnation, Avila
[ Ribera, bk. 11. ch. xv ].
______________________
[17] (Fray Baltasar de Jesus)
Baltazar Nieto,
born at Zafra, in Estremadura,
belonged originally to
the Order of Minims,
but joined the Carmelites about 1563,
having obtained a Papal brief
which enabled him to make
his solemn profession
without having completed
a year's novitiate.
He and another friar having expressed
a desire to go to the West Indies,
Rubeo, who was then Vicar.Gencral,
charged the provincial to assign him
in the meantime conventuality
in one of the monasteries of Andalucia
and to enable him to proceed
to the new world
as soon as an opportunity
should be found.
For some reason or other
this project could not be realised,
but Nieto was successively elected prior
in several convents.
In August 1565,
his brother Melchior Nieto,
also Carmelite,
had an unseemly scene with a fellow friar
at the convent of Ecija,
for which he was severely punished.
Baltasar helped him to escape
from the conventual prison,
which fact rendered him liable
to undergo the punishment
due to Melchior.
But Rubeo, who was now General,
dealt mercifully with him;
he commuted the imprisonment
into one year's exile from the province,
with loss of privileges, place and voice
in chapter,
but having regard to Baltasar's ill-hcalth,
he mitigated this sentence,
sending him to the convent of Utrera,
with permission to preach,
to hear confessions,
to go about freely
within the precincts of the convent,
and once a month
to go into the town for a walk
or on business.
After Kaster of the following year (1567)
he was to proceed to Castille,
there to complete the term of his exile.
But even this punishment
was further relaxed
in as much as he was allowed
to go to Jaen or Gibralcon.
When Easter came
he went to Valderas in Castille
where he was received,
not as a prisoner,
but as an honoured guest,
his privileges and rank being restored
and many favours shown him.
He went to Madrid to meet the General
who in the meantime
had received fresh complaints against him
which he was unable to disprove.
Rubeo's patience, being now exhausted,
he commanded the friar
to seek within a given time
admission into some other Order
of equal or greater austerity,
failing which he was to be
relegated for life
to some distant convent,
and
subjected to rigorous penance.
Under these circumstances
it is not surprising
that he eagerly seized the opportunity
of joining the Discalced Carmelites,
for by so doing
he completely wiped out
all previous delinquencies and penalties.
He arrived at Pastrana,
gave the habit to the two hermits
and afterwards took it himself,
choosing for his name
Baltasar of Jesus.
There not being enough religious
in that convent
to justify its erection as a priory
Baltasar,
though nominally a novice,
was made vicar;
after his profession
in the following year
he was entrusted by the Visitor apostolic
(Pedro Fernandez)
with the post of Vicar-provincial
of the Discalced Carmelites of Castille.
In April 1573
the powers of Delegate visitor-apostolic
of the Carmelites of Andalucia
were granted him,
but for the reasons explained
in the Intoduction
he subdelegated Father Jerome Gratian
in August of the same year.
Later on, however,
he turned against this father,
going even so far
as to bring false evidence against him.
He spent the last years of his life
at Lisbon and died there in 1589.
Great talents
(he was a celebrated preacher)
and deep piety had been marred
by impetuosity and inconsistency,
which spoiled what might have been
a most brilliant career.
When Rubeo learned
that Nieto had joined
the Discalced Carmelites at Pastrana,
he addressed letters patent to
'the Contemplative Carmelites
of the province of Castille,'
dated Rome, 8th Aug. 1570,
the knowledge of which is
of the greatest importance
for the understanding
of the subsequent troubles.
He prohibits the 'Discalsati'
to receive any
of the Calced Carmelites
of Spain or Portugal
without a written permission from himself;
and he formally forbids them
to receive those
of the province of Andalucia
whom he has had occasion to punish,
namely
Master Ambrose de Castro,
formerly prior of Valladolid,
Gaspar Nieto,
Melchior Nieto,
Juan de Mora and their accomplices,
'lest the whole fold
of the Contemplative
become corrupted by them,
for they have always
caused dissensions and quarrels.'
Should any Portuguese friars
desire to be received
and to remain permanently
with the Discalced friars
no obstacle should be put into their way
provided they
are not fugitives and
have the written permission
of their provincial;
and likewise those
of the province of Castille
may be received
with the consent of the provincial,
but the latter must exercise discretion
in granting it,
so as not to leave the existing convents
without the necessary number
of priests and brothers
for the fulfilment of the monastic
and ecclesiastical obligations.
Any Carmelite who,
after having been received
by the Discalced fathers,
leaves them,
shall be perpetually banished
from all and any
of the Spanish provinces.
The Discalced Carmelites
are to be subject to
the government and
visitation of the provincial,
and, in case of necessity,
may be punished by him,
but they may not be
taken from their own convents and
sent to those of the Calced fathers,
no more than any of the latter
may be sent to a convent
of the former
against their will.
The priors and socii
of the Discalced fathers
are to have place and voice
both active and passive
in the provincial chapters,
and to be in every respect
on the same footing
as the priors and socii
of the other convents.
The Discalced fathers may found
no other houses
besides those they already possess,
nor may there be
more than twenty religious
in any of their convents.
_______________________
[18]
Fray Mariano was ordained priest in Lent,
1574
and was the first master of novices
in Seville
[ Reforma, bk iii. ch. xxiv. i ]
___________________________
[19]
The monastery of the friars
was founded 9th June 1569,
on which day the friars
took civil possession of the place;
but as Fray Antonio of Jesus
had not then arrived,
for whom the Saint intended
the honour of making the foundation,
the Most Holy Sacrament
was not reserved on that day,
but on the 13th,
which is counted as
the true date of the foundation
[ Reforma, bk. n. ch. xxx. 1 ].
The Saint went
from Pastrana to Toledo,
and sent back from that house,
in the carriage
in which she had travelled herself,
the Sister Isabel of S. Dominic,
who had made her profession in Avila,
to be the prioress of Pastrana
[ Ribera, bk. n. ch. xv).
The prioress was charged
by the Saint
to have a strict account
of every thing, small and great,
given them
by the prince and princess of Eboli,
kept in writing,
with the day of the month,
and signed by the prioress herself
[ Reforma, bk. II. ch. xxviii. l0].
The sub-prioress of Pastrana was the
Mother Isabel of S. Paul.
Anne of the Angels,
prioress of Malagon,
was sent to Toledo
to fill the place of Isabel of S. Dominic,
and her own place was filled by
Mary of the Most Holy Sacrament .
[ Ribera, bk. ii. ch. xv].
____________________
[20]
Ruy Gomez died
in Madrid, 29 July, 1573,
attended in his last illness
by Father Mariano
and Fray Baltasar of Jesus.
The princess,
in her unreasonable sorrow,
insisted on becoming
a Carmelite nun at once,
and Mariano weakly yielded
to her fury
[ Reforma, bk. in. ch. xxi. l].
She leaves Madrid
before her husband is buried,
and hastens to Pastrana
to enter the monastery.
Fray Baltasar of Jesus
hurries before her,
and at two o'clock in the morning
disturbs the nuns with the news
that the princess was coming.
When the prioress,
Isabel of S. Dominic,
had heard the story,
she replied,
'The princess a nun ?
the monastery is lost.'
The prioress called up the nuns,
and with them
made what preparations they could
for the reception of their benefactress.
About eight o'clock in the morning
the princess arrived with her mother.
The nuns gave her another
and a cleaner habit,
and she insisted on their admitting
at the same time
two persons as novices
she had brought with her.
The prioress objected,
for such a thing was not to be done
without the sanction of the superior,
whereupon the new nun cried out,
'What have the friars to do
with my monastery ?'
The novices were received
after consulting the prior,
but the demands of the princess grew,
and at last she insisted
on admitting her visitors
within the cloister,
and
on having two maids
to wait upon her.
The nuns offered to be her servants,
but she must have her own way.
The prioress had assigned her
as foundress
a seat next herself in the refectory,
and the princess
(who took the name
Anne of the Mother of God),
notwithstanding prayers and entreaties,
took the lowest place.
At last her self-will exhausted
the patience of the prioress,
who told her
that if she did not suffer them
to keep the rule
Mother Teresa would remove them
from Pastrana.
Thereupon she left the house,
and retired into one
of the hermitages in the garden,
had a door made in the wall,
and admitted all her friends
to see her in a nun's dress,
doing her own will.
At last she left the monastery,
but she also left it to struggle
with poverty,
for the alms promised
by her husband and herself
were withheld
(ib. bk. iii. ch. xxviii. 2 — 5).
___________________________
[21]
Council Trent , sess. xxv. cap. 5.
___________________
[22]
See Foundations: Ch. xxi.
____________________
[23]
The Saint,
when she found
that it was no longer possible
to preserve the house of Pastrana,
consulted the provincial,
Fray Angel de Salazar,
Fray Pedro Fernandez,
Fray Dominic Banes, and
Fray Hernando del Castillo.
They all agreed
in the removal of the nuns
if no change could be wrought
in the temper of the princess.
Fray Hernando was sent to see her
— he had been a friend
of her husband —
but she refused to see him,
feigning illness.
The prioress,
being told to prepare everything
for the departure of the nuns,
sent for the corregidor,
who came with a notary,
who recorded the transaction.
The prioress,
provided with her accounts,
delivered up everything
received from the princess
into the charge of the corregidor,
who accepted the trust, and
gave her a formal receipt
for the same.
The princess now became uneasy
and wished the nuns to stay,
but the last mass had been said,
and the Most Holy Sacrament consumed,
so the prioress answered
it was too late.
The princess then begged them
to take with them the two nuns
who had been in her service;
they said they would readily take
one of them, Anne of the Incarnation;
as for the other,
the princess might provide for her
as she pleased.
They left Pastrana at midnight,
according to Yepes,
and, under the care of Julian of Avila,
Antonio Gaytan,
and Fray Gabriel of the Assumption,
arrived in Segovia
in the holy week of 1574.
They were once
in danger of death
on the road,
and the Saint,
at the moment in Segovia,
said to her nuns:
'Let us pray for those
who are coming from Pastrana.
The bishop of Segorbe
followed them to Segovia
with a message from the princess
asking the Saint
to take also the sister
whom they had left behind;
she declined,
because the monastery was already full.
He then threatened them
with an action at law
for the recovery
of what the princess
had given them in Pastrana,
whereupon the receipt of the corregidor
was produced
and the bishop said no more
[ Reforma, bk. iii. ch. xxviii. 7, 8].
The chronicler says
the Saint received
but one of the nuns
thrust on the monastery
by the princess;
perhaps the Saint may
have relented later,
and accepted her
after she had been left behind
at Pastrana,
and, to hide her generosity,
spoke of her as having arrived
with her sisters.
Anne of the Incarnation
made her profession in Segovia
on the feast of SS. Simon and Jude, 1574,
and was in the monastery of Caravaca
in 1581
[ De la Fuente, vi. 79 ].
( Blog Note:
Another source indicates
De La Fuente ii, 367 )
|
End of Chapter 17
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
_____________________
Blog note:
From Foot Note # 1
"The princess (of Eboli)
Dona Ana de Mendoza y la Cerda"
From Foot Note # 20
"the princess (of Eboli)
(who took the name
Anne of the Mother of God)"
. . . . . . . . . . . .
She is not to be confused with:
Anne of the Mother of God
of the Convent in Toledo
who was mentioned in Chapter 16:
Ana de la Palma
was a wealthy widow,
and had been so for twenty years,
living a most holy life in her own house.
She was forty years old
when she entered the order,
and made her profession in Toledo,
15th November 1570,
[ Foundations: Ch. 16: Foot note #1]
|
