of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 22 XXII
Chapter 22 Contents
Treats Of The Foundation Of
The Glorious S. Joseph Del Salvador
In Veas,
On The Feast Of S. Matthias,
In The Year 1575
1. The Saint invited to Veas. —
2. She hesitates at first. —
3. The Visitor consents. —
4. Origin of the foundation. —
5. Dona Catalina Godinez. —
6. Her conversion. —
7. Grace the free gift of God. —
8. Satan's rage at the conversion. —
9. Fury of Satan. —
10. Perseverance of Dona Catalina. —
11. Her austerities. —
12. Her illnesses. —
13. Her trials. —
14. Her courage and confidence. —
15. Miraculously healed. —
16. Her great sufferings. —
17. Wished to conceal the miracle. —
18. Received the last Sacraments twice. —
19. The monastery founded. —
20. The two sisters take the habit. —
21. A vision of Dona Catalina. —
22. And its fulfilment. —
23. Her great confidence in God. —
24. The two sisters become nuns.
|
CHAPTER 22
1. The Saint invited to Veas.
1.
At the time
of which I have been speaking,
when they sent me
from the Incarnation to Salamanca,
there came to me,
when I was in the latter place,
a messenger from the town of Veas
with letters from
a lady there,
the parish priest, and
other persons,
all asking me to
go thither
and
found a monastery,
for they had a house ready,
so that nothing was wanting
but my going thither
to make the foundation. [1]
2. She hesitates at first.
2.
I made inquiries ot the messenger.
He told me great things of the country,
and justly so,
for it is very pleasant,
and the climate is good.
But when I considered
- the many leagues
that were between that place and
this, I thought it a folly,
- especially as I must have an order
from the apostolic commissary,
who disliked,
or at least did not like,
my making any more foundations.
I wished, therefore,
to say in reply
that I could not,
without telling him anything further.
Afterwards it struck me
that, as the commissary was then
in Salamanca,
it would not be right
to send such an answer
without having his opinion,
because of the commandment
I had received from the most reverend
our father-general,
not to omit making a foundation
if occasion offered.
3. The Visitor consents.
3.
When he saw the letters
he sent me word
• that he did not think it right
to give pain to the writers;
• that he was edified by their devotion;
• that I was to
◦ write to them and
◦ say that as soon as they should
have obtained
the permission of the order,
provision would be made
for the foundation.
He added, also,
that I need not trouble myself
— permission would not be given,
for he had heard
of the knights by other ways, [2]
and people had not been able
for many years
to obtain their consent;
but I was to send a friendly answer.
I think of this sometimes,
how, when our Lord wills anything,
though we will it not,
it happens without our knowledge
that we become the means
of doing it;
so it was now
with the Father Master,
Fray Pedro Fernandez,
the commissary;
Accordingly,
when the permission was obtained [3]
he could not withhold his own,
and the house was founded in that way.
4. Origin of the foundation.
4.
The monastery of the blessed S. Joseph
in the town of Veas
was founded on S. Matthias' day, [4]
( 24th February )
in the year 1575.
This was the way it began,
to the honour and glory ot God.
In the town dwelt
Sancho Rodriguez de Sandoval,
a nobleman of ancient descent and wealthy.
He was married to a lady
whose name is Dona Catalina Godinez.
Among the children
whom our Lord gave them
are two daughters
— the eldest, Dona Catalina Godinez; [5]
the younger, Dona Maria de Sandoval;
they are the founders of the monastery.
The elder was fourteen years of age [6]
when our Lord called her
unto His service.
Until then she was very far
from giving up the world:
on the contrary,
she thought so much of herself
that she looked upon
every offer of marriage
which her father brought to her
as not fitting for her.
5. Dona Catalina Godinez.
5.
One day,
in an inner room
beyond that in which her father was,
who had not yet risen,
she happened to read on a crucifix
that was there
the title on the upper part of the cross,
when in a moment,
as she was reading it,
our Lord changed her heart.
She had been thinking
of an offer of marriage made to her,
which was an exceedingly good one,
and saying to herself,
'How little satisfies my father
provided I marry an eldest son !
while I intend
that my family shall have
its beginning in me.'
She had no wish to be married,
for she thought it a meanness
to be subject to any one,
neither did she know
whence her pride arose.
Our Lord knew how to cure it,
blessed be His compassion !
6. Her conversion.
6.
Accordingly,
while she was reading the title
a light seemed to have entered her soul,
as the sun enters into a dark room,
whereby she saw the truth.
In that light she fixed her eyes
on our Lord nailed to the cross
shedding His blood,
and thought
of the ill-treatment He received
and
of His great humility,
and
then how differently she was demeaning
herself in her pride.
She must have spent some time thus,
for our Lord threw her into a trance, [7]
wherein His Majesty made her
- see deeply into her own wretchedness
and to
- wish that everybody saw into it.
He filled her with so great a desire
of suffering for God
that she wished she could undergo
all the torments of the martyrs,
giving her at the same time
so earnest a longing for humiliation
in her humility,
with a loathing of self,
that, if it had not been
an offence against God,
she could have wished herself
one of the most abandoned of women,
in order that everybody
might regard her with loathing;
accordingly, she began to hate herself,
having most earnest desires for penance,
which she afterwards carried into act.
She made a vow of chastity and poverty
on the spot,
and wished so much to be subject to others
that she would have been glad
if they had taken her there
to be a slave in the ( foreign) country
7. Grace the free gift of God.
7.
All these virtues have been so lasting
that it is plain
they were a supernatural gift of our Lord,
as will appear later,
in order that all may praise Him.
Blessed for ever and ever be Thou,
O my God,
who in a moment undoest a soul
and then createst it anew !
What does it mean, O Lord
I should like now
to repeat the question of the apostles,
who when Thou hadst healed
the blind man
asked if his parents had sinned. [8]
I ask, Who deserved so sovereign a grace ?
It was not she,
for the thoughts from which
Thou didst withdraw her,
when Thou gavest her that grace,
are what I have described.
O Lord, how high are Thy judgments !
Thou knowest what Thou doest,
and I do not know
what I am saying,
for Thy works and Thy judgments
are beyond all comprehension.
Glory be unto Thee forever,
who canst do still greater things;
for if it were not so
what would become of me ?
But her mother must have had
some share in this,
for, as she was a most devout Christian,
it is possible
that Thou, full of compassion,
must in Thy goodness
have granted her to see in this life
so great a virtue in her daughters.
I think sometimes
that Thou bestowest like graces
on those who love Thee,
and art so merciful unto them
as to give them children
in whom they shall serve Thee.
8. Satan's rage at the conversion.
8.
While she was thus occupied
she heard so loud a noise [9]
overhead in the room
that she thought the whole place
must be tumbling down.
The sounds seemed to descend
to the ground in a corner of the room,
and to come towards her in the spot
where she was standing.
She heard also loud roaring cries,
which lasted for some time:
so strange were they
that her father,
who, as I have just said,
had not yet risen,
was greatly alarmed and
began to quake with fear,
and then, like a man beside himself,
having put on his dressing-gown,
rushed into her room
sword in hand, and, pale with terror,
asked her
what the noise came from.
She answered him
that she had seen nothing.
He looked into another room beyond,
and seeing nothing told her
to go to her mother,
whom he asked
not to leave her daughter alone,
telling her what he had heard.
9. Fury of Satan.
9.
This shows plainly enough
what Satan must feel
when he sees a soul
which he thinks his own
rescued from his hands.
As he hates our welfare so much,
I am not surprised
that when he beholds
our merciful Lord bestowing
so many graces at once
he should be alarmed,
and show his anger so plainly,
especially if he sees that,
through the wealth of grace
treasured up in that soul,
he is to lose others
he looked on as his own.
I am persuaded myself
that our Lord never grants
a grace so great
without communicating it
also to other persons besides.
She never spoke of this to anybody,
but she had a very strong desire
to enter religion,
and frequently asked her parents
for their consent;
they would never give it.
10. Perseverance of Dona Catalina.
10.
At the end of three years,
during which she had often
asked their consent,
seeing that they would never give way,
she dressed herself very simply
on the feast of S. Joseph. [10]
She told her mother,
and her mother only,
whose consent to her becoming a nun
could be more easily had,
but she would not venture
to tell her father,
and so went to church trusting that,
once seen in public in that dress,
she might not be made to change;
and so It came to pass.
During those three years
she used
- to set aside certain hours for prayer,
and
- to mortify herself in every way
she could,
as our Lord taught her.
She would
go into the courtyard,
moisten her face,
and then
expose it to the sun,
in order that, being thereby disfigured,
she might escape
from the offers of marriage
with which she was harassed still.
11. Her austerities.
11.
She was unwilling to command others,
but, as she had the charge
of her father's household,
she must give orders to the women therein,
for she could not help it:
that done,
she would wait till they were asleep,
and then go and kiss their feet,
distressed at being waited on by those
who were better than herself.
As she was occupied all day
with her father and mother,
she spent the whole night,
when she might have been asleep,
in prayer,
so that very often
she hardly slept at all;
which seems Impossible,
were it not that it was all supernatural.
Her penances and disciplines were many,
for she had no director,
and so told nobody of them.
Among other things she did was this:
she once wore her father's coat
of mail next her flesh
during the whole of Lent.
She would retire for prayer
into a lonely place,
where the devil used to mock her
in strange ways.
Very often she began
to pray at ten o'clock at night,
and did not rise therefrom
till it was day.
12. Her illnesses.
12.
She passed nearly four years
in these practices,
when our Lord
— for she had to render Him
other and higher services —
began to send her
most grievous and painful sicknesses,
such as
a continual fever,
with dropsy and
disease of the heart.
He sent her also a cancer in the breast,
which was cut out.
In short, her illnesses lasted
about seventeen years,
and she was scarcely ever well.
After five years,
during which God was
thus merciful to her,
her father died; [11]
and her sister,
being fourteen years old,
though very fond of show,
- dressed herself simply
a year after her sister made the change,
and
- began also to grive herself unto prayer,
the mother encouraging them both
in their good desires and practices,
and
allowing them to occupy themselves
in an admirable work,
but foreign to their condition:
that of teaching little girls
to work and read;
- not for any payment,
- but simply for the opportunity
thereby had
of teaching them
their catechism and
their prayers.
A great good was wrought,
for many went to them,
and the good habits
in which they were thus trained
when quite young
may be traced in them at this day.
This did not last long,
for the devil,
vexed to see so much good done,
persuaded the parents
that it was mean in them
to allow their daughters
to be taught for nothing. [12]
This,
together with illnesses now beginning,
made them give up that work.
13. Her trials.
13.
Five years after the father's death,
the mother also died, [13]
and Dona Catalina,
as her vocation had always been
that of a nun
— only she could not obtain
her father's consent —
wished to become one at once.
Her kindred advised her,
as there was no monastery in Veas,
that, having means sufficient
for a foundation,
the sisters should found a monastery
in their own place,
which would be a greater service
to our Lord.
As the place belonged
to a commandery
of the knights of S. James,
a licence from the council of the orders
was necessary,
and so she began to make efforts
to obtain it.
It was so difficult to get
that four years went by
in much labour and expense,
and nothing was done
till a petition
was drawn up and
presented to the king.
The difficulty being so great,
it came to pass
that her kindred
told her it was folly to persist,
and
would have her give up her plan;
moreover, as she was almost always
in her bed, suffering so much,
as I said before,
they said that into no monastery
could she be received as a nun.
14. Her courage and confidence.
14.
Her answer was,
that if within a month
our Lord gave her again her health
it would be a sign to them
that He was pleased with her plan,
and she would herself go to court
to bring it about [14]
When she said this
she had been
for six months
without leaving her bed,
and
for eight months
had been scarcely able
to move herself in it.
At this time she had been for eight years
in a continual fever,
with consumption and dropsy;
she was also wasted
by an inflammation of the liver,
which was so violent
that the burning heat of it
was felt through the bedclothes,
and
singed her shirts.
It seems incredible,
but I heard so myself
from the physician
of whom I made inquiries
about the illnesses she then had,
and at which he was greatly amazed.
She had also rheumatic gout and sciatica.
15. Miraculously healed.
15.
On the vigil of S. Sebastian,
which was a Saturday, [15]
our Lord restored her
to health so completely
that she could not hide the fact,
that the miracle might not become known.
Her account is
that at the moment our Lord
was about to heal her
she had an inward quaking,
which made her sister think she was dying;
she herself was conscious
of some very great change in her body,
and
of another in her soul;
she felt so well.
She had now a greater joy in her health,
because it enabled her
to prosecute the affair of the monastery,
than she had had in suffering,
for from the very first
when God called her
she so hated herself
that she did not regard her sufferings.
She says that her desire to suffer
was so strong
that she used to pray God
with her whole heart
to try her in all manner of suffering.
16. Her great sufferings.
16.
His Majesty did not fail
to fulfil her desire,
for in eight years
she was bled
more than five hundred times,
and cupped so often besides
that the marks were still
to be seen in her flesh.
Sometimes salt was applied,
because one of the physicians said
it was good for drawing out
the poisonous humours
which caused the pain in her side:
this she underwent
more than twenty times.
What is more wonderful still is this:
— whenever the physician told her
that this remedy was
to be had recourse to,
she used to long
for the coming of the time
when it was to be used,
without any fear whatever,
and she herself
encouraged the physicians
when they cauterised the cancer,
which was often done,
and on other occasions
when such violent means were used.
She says
that what made her wish for suffering
was the desire to know
if those longings she had
to be a martyr
were real.
17. Wished to conceal the miracle.
17.
When she found herself suddenly well
she spoke to her confessor and physician
about removing into another place,
that they might be able to say
that a change of residence had done it.
They refused:
so far from it,
the physicians published it abroad,
for they looked on her state as incurable,
because the blood
that issued from her mouth
was so corrupt
that they said it was the lungs themselves.
She continued three days in bed,
and would not venture to leave it,
lest her restoration to health
should become known;
but, as she could not hide it any more
than she was able to hide her sickness,
it was of little service to her.
She told me
- that, one day
in the month of August previously,
she begged our Lord
either to take from her
the great desire she had
to be a nun and found a monastery,
or to furnish her with the means
of accomplishing that desire,
and
- that she was completely assured
that she would be well in time
to go to the court in Lent for the licence.
18. Received the last Sacraments twice.
18.
She says too
that, though her ailments were
at that time
much more grievous to bear,
she never ceased to hope
that our Lord would grant her that grace.
And, though she received
the Sacrament of the Last Anointing twice
— once in such imminent peril
that the physician said
there was not time enough
to send for the Holy Oil,
and
that she would be dead
before it could be brought to her —
she never abandoned her trust in our Lord,
being certain that she was to die a nun.
I do not mean
that she was anointed twice
between August and the feast of S. Sebastian
— it was before that time.
When her brothers and kindred saw
the goodness of our Lord to her,
and
the miracle He wrought
in the sudden restoration of her health,
they would not venture
to hinder her journey,
though they regarded it as a folly.
She was three months at the court,
and her request was in the end refused.
She then presented her petition
to the king,
who, when he saw it related
to the barefooted nuns of Carmel,
ordered it to be granted forthwith. [16]
19. The monastery founded.
19.
When the monastery came to be founded
it was plain
that she had treated the matter with God,
for the superiors,
though so far away, and
the revenue so scanty,
were ready to accept it.
What His Majesty wills
must be done without fail.
Accordingly the nuns arrived
in the beginning of Lent, 1575;
the people came forth in procession
to receive them with solemn rejoicings.
There was great joy everywhere;
even the little children showed it
to be a work pleasing to our Lord.
The monastery,
under the invocation of
S. Joseph of the Redeemer,
was founded in Lent
on the feast of S. Mathias. [17]
20. The two sisters take the habit.
20.
On the same day the two sisters,
to their great joy,
received the habit [18]
The health of Dona Catalina improved still.
Her humility, obedience, and
desire to be thought nothing of
show plainly
how real were her good desires
for the service of our Lord.
Unto Him be glory for ever and ever !
21. A vision of Dona Catalina.
21.
The sister told me,
among other things,
that, about twenty years before,
she went to rest one night
anxious to find
the most perfect order in the world,
that she might become a nun in it;
and that, as she thinks,
she began to dream she was walking
on a very steep and narrow path
in the utmost danger
of falling down a precipice,
when she saw a barefooted friar,
who said to her,
'Sister, come with me.'
On seeing Fray Juan de la Miseria, [19]
a lay brother of the order,
who came to Veas
when I was there,
she said
that he seemed to be the very person
she had seen.
The friar took her to a house
wherein were a great many nuns,
but there was no light in it
beyond that given by the lighted candles
which the nuns carried in their hands.
She asked them to tell her
what order it was;
all kept silence, and, lifting up their veils
showed countenances cheerful and smiling.
She assures me
- that she then saw the faces
of the very sisters
she has seen here, and
- that the prioress took her by the hand
and said to her,
'Child, I want you here,'
and showed her
the constitutions and the rule.
When she awoke from her dream
she was very joyous,
for it seemed to her
that she had been in heaven,
and wrote down
what she remembered of the rule.
For a long time she said nothing of this
to her confessor or to anybody else,
and nobody could tell her
what order that was.
22. And its fulfilment.
22.
A father of the society, [20]
came to the place
who knew her wishes;
she showed him the paper,
saying that if she could find that order
she should be happy,
for she would enter it at once.
The father knew our monasteries,
and so he told her
that it was the rule
of the order of our Lady of Carmel;
he did not, however,
say this clearly in as many words
so as to make her understand,
but only that it was the rule
of the monasteries I was founding;
of the monasteries I was founding;
and thus it came about that
she sent me a messenger,
as I said before. [21]
When my answer was received
she was so ill
that her confessor told her
she must be quiet,
for if she were in the monastery
they would send her away;
it was therefore very unlikely
they would receive her in her present state.
She was very much distressed at this,
and, turning to our Lord in great earnestness,
said,
'O my Lord and my God,
I know by faith
that Thou canst do all things;
then, O life of my soul,
either take away from me
these desires
or give to me the means
of carrying them into effect.'
23. Her great confidence in God.
23.
This she said in great truthfulness,
beseeching our Lady,
by the sorrow she felt
when she looked on our Lord
dead in her arms,
to intercede for her.
She heard a voice within herself saying,
'Believe and hope:
I am almighty:
thou shalt have thy health;
for to Him
who is able to hinder thee
from dying of so many diseases,
all of them in themselves deadly,
it is more easy to take them away.'
These words, she says,
gave her such strength and confidence
that she could not doubt
of the fulfilment of her desire,
though her sufferings became
much more grievous
until our Lord restored her to health,
as I have already said.
These things certainly seemed incredible,
and,
if I had not learnt them
of her physician,
of those of her household, and others,
I should not have been disinclined to think
— for I am so wicked —
that there was some exaggeration
in the story.
24. The two sisters become nuns.
24.
Although delicate,
her health is now such
that she can keep the rule,
and her constitution is good;
she is exceedingly cheerful,
and in every way, as I said before,
so humble
that we all praise our Lord for it.
The two sisters gave
all they possessed to the order
without any conditions whatever,
and if they should not be received as nuns
they required no compensation.
Her detachment from kindred
and her native place is great,
and she has even a strong desire
to go far away,
and is very importunate on this point
with her superiors;
yet so great is her obedience
that she abides there
in a certain contentment.
It was under obedience
that she received the veil,
for there was no persuading her
to be a choir nun
— she would be a lay sister —
till I wrote to her,
giving her many reasons,
and
finding fault with her
for having a will of her own
instead of yielding
to the father provincial.
I told her
that this was not the way
to increase her merit,
with much beside,
treating her somewhat sharply.
But it is her greatest joy
to be thus spoken to,
and in this way
she was won over very much
against her will.
I know of nothing about this soul
that is not pleasing unto God,
and she is so to all.
May it please His Majesty
to protect her with His arm,
and increase her goodness,
and the grace He has given her,
to His own further service and honour !
Amen. [22]
Foot Notes:
[1]
This was in 1573
[ Reforma, bk. in. ch. xxxii. 11 ].
Veas is situated on the border
of New Castille, Andalucia and Murcia.
_______________________
[2]
Veas was subject to the jurisdiction
of a military order,
that of the knights of S. James;
[ See Paragraph # 13. ]
______________________
[3]
S. Pius V,
applied to once more by Philip II,
undertook the reform of the Carmelites,
and
ordered all the friars in Andalucia
to submit to the visitation
of the ordinary,
who was to be assisted
by the Dominicans
in all those places
where Dominicans had a monastery.
The Carmelites resisted
and made loud outcries,
so that the king was compelled
to beg the Pope
to recall the order
and apply another remedy.
Thereupon his Holiness determined
that the Carmelites should be visited
by Dominicans,
and appointed as his delegate and visitor
for the province of Castille,
Fray Pedro Fernandez,
prior of Talavera de la Reina ;
and
for the province of Andalucia,
Fray Francisco de Vargas,
prior of S. Paul's, Cordova.
The bulls of these visitors
have been lost,
but their date is known,
20th August 1569;
they were made visitors for four years
[ Reforma, bk. 11. ch. xxxviii. 4].
Fray Antonio of S. Joseph says
that the original bulls were preserved
in the house of the Carmelite nuns
in Toledo.
__________________________
[4]
24th February.
_____________________
[5] Dona Catalina Godinez
Born in 1534
[ Reforma de los Descalcos
bk. iii. ch. xxxii. 2 ],
but in 1540 according
to the second vol. of the same work.
______________________
[6] Dona Catalina Godinez
She was exactly fifteen years old
on the day this event happened, (1555)
being born in 1540;
on the 24th of February 1575,
she took the habit
and died on the 23rd February 1586.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 3. sqq.]
________________________
[7] Dona Catalina Godinez
Our Lord showed her in a vision
her own heart,
full of corruption and loathsome worms
[ Reforma, ibid. ].
_______________________
[8]
S. John ix. 2:
Rabbi, quis peccavit hic aut parentes eius
ut caecus nasceretur
_____________________
[9]
The chronicler says the noise was
as the bellowing of bulls
[ Reforma, lib iii: xxxii, 2 ]
_______________________
[10]
19th March 1558,
'habito honesto',
that is, a kind of penitential dress
worn by devout women.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog Note:
'habito honesto',
habit honorable
honorable dress (habit)
1Timothy 2: 9
Asimismo también las mujeres,
ataviándose en hábito honesto,
con vergüenza y modestia;
no con cabellos encrespados,
u oro, ó perlas,
ó vestidos costosos.
"In like manner, women also
in decent apparel: adorning themselves
with modesty and sobriety,
not with plaited hair,
or gold, or pearls,
or costly attire"
___________________________
[11]
Dona Catalina,
seeing that while her father lived,
it was impossible for her
to enter religion,
prayed to God
for either the means of entering
or the removal of her strong desires
to leave the world.
She then heard a voice saying to her,
'Do not distress thyself;
thy father will die
within two or three weeks.
Bid him be ready.'
She was very unwilling to do this,
but as the time was passing away
she said to her father,
in a pleasant way,
'You are in better health, I think,
than you have ever been.'
Don Sancho replied,
'Well, I never was better in all my life.'
Whereupon the daughter said,
'Then it is a sign that death is near,
and remember that in our family
we always die in August.
You should put everything in order.'
Don Sancho was so much struck
by what his child said
that he set his affairs in order at once,
made his preparations for death,
and on the third day
God took him to Himself
[ Reforma, bk. III. ch. xxxii. 8].
It was in August 1560.
______________________
[12]
This sarcasm of the Saint is expressive,
and hits off the behindhand of Spaniards
in her day.
It is likely enough
that there was no school there
for little girls.
Two young ladies of noble birth
give themselves up out of charity
to the gratuitous education of children;
but people calling themselves gentlemen
find that their daughters must
not mix with the children of the poor,
nor be educated for nothing,
as they were.
They would rather have them ignorant.
That the country is behindhand
has been laid to the charge
of the religious orders.
Would it not have been better
to lay the fault at the door
of vanity and easygoingness,
the natural vices of the country?
(Fuente).
_____________________
[13]
Blog note:
This footnote position was tagged
but we (bloggers) couldn't locate the
intended footnote text in this book.
Another version** says:
"In 1560, about two years before the Saint
founded her first monastery in Avila"
** "St Teresa of Jesus of the Order
of Our Lady of Mt Carmel
embracing The Life , Relations,
Maxims, and Foundations"
Page 542
Edited by John J. Burke, C.S.P.
from www.books.google.com
________________________
[14]
She made this answer
19th December 1571,
according to Yepes, ii. 27;
but Rlbera, iii. 3, says
it was on the 29th December,
having in the previous August
received from our Lord a promise
that her heath would be restored to her
in time to go to Madrid in Lent,
as the Saint tells us (§ 17).
__________________
[15]
'The Vigil of S. Sebastian
which was a Saturday.'
This was 19th January 1572,
which actually did fall on a Saturday,
but it should be borne in mind
that the dates relative to Catherine of Jesus
( Catalina de Jesus )
present many difficulties;
the chronicler of the Order corrected
in his second volume
those given in the first, and
his amended figures have been adopted
by the editors of the new French translation
[ Oeuvres, iv. 6 J'ff.],
and also by the present writer,
with the exception of the last two dates,
whereas Mr Lewis had followed
those given in the first volume
of the Reforma.
Although S. Teresa's memory
with regard to dates
was sometimes at fault
the indication in the text seems too precise
to be set aside without cogent reason.
As to the actual circumstances
of the miraculous cure
the Reforma (bk. vii, ch. xx)
quotes a paper written by Catherine herself
in which she says
that on the day in question
an altar had been prepared in her room
with a picture representing
the Descent from the Cross,
for she was about to receive
Holy Communion.
In presence of several witnesses
among whom was a Jesuit father,
Juan de Eraso,
the face of Christ suddenly
was covered with heavy perspiration,
which some persons attributed
to a miracle
while others suggested some natural cause.
They handed the picture to the sick person
who was seized with a violent fit
of trembling and such anguish
that she thought her end had come.
Holding it in her arms
and pressing her face against
that of our Lord,
she, too, was covered with perspiration.
At the same time she felt
a great change in her whole body
as if all her diseases were
being taken away like a garment.
She heard a voice saying within herself:
'Arise, thou art cured,
go and ask for the permission
(to found a convent),
for thou wilt obtain it.'
And all at once she felt so well
as if she had never been ill.
_____________________
[16]
S. Teresa herself addressed a letter
to the king
supporting the request of Dona Catalina.
_______________________
[17]
On Thursday after the first Sunday in Lent.
The poverty of this house was so great
that in 1603 the superiors of the order
resolved to break it up,
and, in order to make the dispersion
of the nuns the more easy
to the other houses,
issued an order,
in the expectation
that the elder nuns would die,
that no more novices should be admitted,
but the inhabitants of the town
admonished by a vision of S. Teresa
offered resistance.
Thus it subsisted for many years,
but there was no death among the nuns.
The superiors at last recalled (recinded)
the order about novices,
and on the very day that recall was known
in the monastery postulants came in,
and the old nuns began to die.
(Fray Antonio of S. Joseph.)
The nuns were dispersed
in the civil wars,
and the convent became suppressed,
the only foundation of S. Teresa
that suffered such a fate.
But it was restored in 1899.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 364. ]
____________________
[18]
Dona Catalina was in religion
Catherine of Jesus,
and her sister, Maria of Jesus;
both made their profession
11th September 1576.
The eldest wished to be a lay sister, and
it required the authority of S. Teresa
to make her a choir nun
(See Paragraph § 24 ).
She was afterwards prioress of the house,
dying 23rd February 1586.
The younger sister (Maria of Jesus)
who became befriended
with S. John of the Cross
from whom she received two letters
(no. xii and xv),
was chosen for the foundation at Cordova
where she became prioress,
and died l0th August 1604.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 295 ].
____________________
[19]
See Foundations: ch. xvii, 5, note.
____________________
[20]
Father Bartholomew Bustamante.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 18, note. ]
____________________
[21]
See Paragraph § 1, above.
____________________
[22]
The final arrangements
for the foundation in Veas
were made when the Saint was prioress
of her own house in Avila;
the three years of her priorate
in her old house,
the monastery of the Incarnation,
being ended 6th October 1574.
She was in the monastery of Valladolid
at Christmas,
but returned to Avila after visiting her
sisters at Medina del Campo
early in the year 1575.
(See below, ch. xxvii. 5).
Then, leaving Avila for Veas,
she went through Toledo,
and took with her from the house there
Mary, of S. Joseph and
Isabel of S. Francis,
afterwards prioress in Lisbon and Seville.
She also sent for Anne of Jesus
from Salamanca.
From Toledo she went to Malagon,
and from that monastery took with her
Mary of the Visitation,
Isabel of S. Jerome,
Leonor of S. Gabriel,
Beatrix of S. Michael,
Anne of S. Michael and
Mary of the Holy Ghost.
Anne of Jesus was made prioress,
and the sub-prioress was
Mary of the Visitation
[ Ribera, iii, 3 ;
Yepes, ii, 27 ;
Reforma, bk. in. ch. xxxiii. i ;
Oeuvres, iv. 14 ] .
|
End of Chapter 22
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
