of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
Discussion of Chapter 14
Chapter 14 Contents
- Continuation Of The Foundation
Of The First House
Of DisCalced Carmelite Friars.
- Some Account
Of Their Life
And
Of The Improvement
Of Those Hamlets
To The Honour And Glory Of God
1. S. John of the Cross goes to Duruclo. —
2. Fray Antonio resigns the office of prior.—
3. Poverty. —
4. The houses of Carmel to be poor. —
5. The new Carmelite house of friars. —
6. Its poverty. —
7. The fathers go about preaching. —
8. A better house is offered to the friars. —
9. The miraculous well in Mancera. —
10. State of the house in Duruelo. —
11. The Saint thought the friars
too severe with themselves.
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Church of the Monastery at Duruelo
[The aboveDrawing is from:
"St Teresa of Jesus of the Order of Our Lady of Mt Carmel
embracing The Life , Relations, Maxims, and Foundations"
Edited by John J. Burke, C.S.P.
from www.books.google.com]
________________________________
Discussion of Chapter 14
▀ Continuation of the account of Duruelo,
the first foundation
of the Discalced Carmelite Friars
▀ The Fate of Duruelo
▀ Relocation to Mancera
▀ The Fate of Mancera
▀ St. Teresa advises priests and nuns
regarding the futility of "sumptuous buildings".
▀ Continuation of the account of Duruelo,
the first foundation
of the Discalced Carmelite Friars
St. Teresa continues the account of the
first foundation for the discalced friars.
of the Carmelite Order.
This was at Duruelo.
St. Teresa said that
after the consent was obtained,
from the Carmelite Provincial Fathers,
"I made all the haste I could
to begin,
because I was very much afraid
that some hindrance might arise".
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #1]
Recall from Chapter 13, she said:
- "to begin was everything.
- that God would soon help..."
[ Foundations: Ch. 13: #4 ]
Likewise, here in chapter 14,
in referring to the hardships to be faced
in transforming the site into a monastery
she emphasizes the importance
of the beginning
when it will be the hardest
but once confronted and committed
"all the difficulty is past"
"and if we make up our minds
to bear it
all the difficulty is past,
for the whole pain is
but a little in the beginning.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #4]
And so, the Fathers began:
Fray Antonio of Jesus
and
Fray John of the Cross
with the result that:
"the little house,
which just before
it was not possible to stay in,
(now) filled with such a spirit..."
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #10]
"The first mass was said..
Sunday, 28th November 1568,...
the first Sunday in Advent"
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #5 ]
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Footnote # 4 ]
"They used to go out to preach
in many places around
where the people needed instruction...
when they had preached
and heard confessions,
came home very late to their meal
in the monastery:
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #7]
"Neither of them thought
the house in any way bad:
so far from it,
they looked on themselves as settled
in great comfort.
"The Father, Fray Antonio has told me
that he thought he had now done
forever with the world,
abandoning all things, and
throwing himself into that desert...
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #3]
(He) gladly resigned the priorate *
and
promised to observe the primitive rule"
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #2]
* "Fray Antonio was prior of S. Anne,
in Medina del Campo,
a house of the mitigated observance."
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #2]
"Soon after the provincial arrived and made
Fray Antonio, prior,
Fray John of the Cross, sub-prior"
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #4]
St. Teresa said of their monastery church:
"I was amazed to see the spirit
which our Lord had inspired there"
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #5]
"Then, when I saw the little house,
which just before
it was not possible to stay in,
filled with such a spirit
that, look where I would,
I found matter of edification,
and when I heard
of their way of life,
of their mortification and prayer, and
of the good example they were giving...
I could not give thanks enough
to our Lord
in my excessive joy,
for I thought I saw a work begun for
the great increase of the order and
the service of our Lord.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #10]
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▀ The Fate of Duruelo
St. Teresa tells us in Paragraph 8
that Fray Antonio of Jesus, prior of Duruelo,
"consented to remove the monastery thither"
to a new house donated to them in Mancera.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #8]
The 'little house ' in Duruelo,
though thus abandoned,
was never forgotten in the order,
and friars went from Mancera
from time to time
on a pilgrimage to the place,
which they regarded
as the cradle of the Reform.
On 28th November 1585,
the (17th) anniversary of the foundation,
the monastery of Mancera
went in procession thither,
wearing no sandals, with bare feet.
The friars were intent
only on celebrating
the restoration of the order...
...preached a sermon on Genesis 40:13
'will remember your service, and
will restore you to your former place'
but the words were prophetic
in another sense,
for there grew up a great desire
to establish a community in Duruelo,
and at last the order purchased
the place from the heir
of the original donor,
to whom it seems to have reverted
on Its abandonment by the friars.
The purchase was completed
4th September 1612,
but it was not till February, 1640,
that the chapter of the order
admitted the restored foundation
among the houses of Carmel
[ Reforma, bk. 11. chs. xl. and xli.]
At present nothing is left of the chapel,
but the conventual buildings
are used for farming.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #13]
[ Blog note:
It is said that the Carmelite Order
of Discalced Nuns
built a monastery proximal to this original site
on July 20, 1947, the feastday of St. Elijah.
St Maria de las Maravillas Jesus
of the Order of Discalced Carmelites
was instrumental here
and in the expansion
and restorations of many Carmelite houses.
Also, the Carmelite nuns were responsible
for having chapels built
- in 1965 to commemorate this first monastery
of the Discalced Carmelite Friars
and another
- in 1968 to commemorate St. John of the Cross
and the 4th centenary
of the foundation of the first monastery ]
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▀ Relocation to Mancera:
"A better house is offered to the friars"
"Don Luis of Toledo,...
relative of the dukes of Alva..."
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #8]
"lord of the Five Towns...
offered them better houses and sites".
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #7]
"This nobleman had built a church
wherein to put a picture of our Lady,
which was certainly
most worthy of veneration...
The Father, Fray Antonio of Jesus...
having seen the picture,
was so struck by it,
that he consented
to remove the monastery thither.
The name of the place was Mancera.
...the nobleman
- built them a small monastery
in keeping with their profession,
and
- gave them the sacred vestments".
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #8]
"The translation was made
(relocation and dedication)
with great solemnity
on the feast of S. Barnabas,
11th June 1570...
Fray Alonso Gonzalez...
[ the Carmelite Provincial Father
See foundations: Ch. 13: Footnote #8 ]
brought the barefooted friars
in procession
from Duruelo to Mancera,
and then sang the first mass
in the new monastery.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #9]
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▀ The Fate of Mancera:
"The health of the fathers
failed them in Mancera,
and the bishop of Avila,
Don Lorenzo de Otayud,
who had a great veneration
for the order,
begged them to remove to Avila.
He supplied all that was necessary,
as the founder of the new convent
which, after several sites had been tried,
was finally established
on the grounds occupied
by the paternal house of S. Teresa.
A chapel has been built
where she is supposed to have been born,
though there are different opinions
as to the exact spot.
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: Foot note #12]
[ Blog note:
Footnote #12 (above) indicates
that this foundation was again relocated.
This time from from Mancera to Avila.
The Carmelite nuns founded a convent there
in 1944.
St Maria de las Maravillas Jesus
of the Order of Discalced Carmelite
was instrumental in this work. ]
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▀ St. Teresa advises priests and nuns
regarding the futility of "sumptuous buildings".
"O my God,
how little
these buildings
and outward satisfactions
furnish for the inner man !
I beg of you,
for the love of Him,
my sisters and fathers,
never to be otherwise
than most moderate
in the matter of large
and sumptuous buildings:
let us remember our true founders,
those holy fathers,
from whom we are sprung,
for we know it was
by the way of poverty and humility
that they attained to the vision of God".
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #3]
"Truly I have seen
greater spirituality
and also
greater inward joy
where bodily conveniences
seemed to be wanting
than I have seen later on
where
the house was large
and
the comforts many".
[ Foundations: Ch. 14: #4]
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End of the Discussion
of Chapter 14
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
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