of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 23 XXIII
Chapter 23 Contents
Treats Of
- The Foundation
of the Monastery
of the Glorious S. Joseph Of Carmel
in The City Of Seville.
- The First Mass Said on the Feast
of The Most Holy Trinity, 1575
1. The Saint becomes acquainted with
Fray Jerome of the Mother of God. —
2. His early education. —
3. Fray Juan of Jesus. —
4. Occasion of
Fray Jerome's conversion. —
5. His devotion to our Lady. —
6. Who protected him. —
7. The prioress of Pastrana suggests
to him to become a friar. —
8. The nuns pray for his vocation. —
9. And obtain it. —
10. Trials of the novitiate. —
11. Temptation to quit the Order. —
12. The great help he was to the Saint. —
13. Difficulties about the monasteries
of the friars.
|
CHAPTER 23
1. The Saint becomes acquainted with
Fray Jerome of the Mother of God
1. When I was staying
in the town of Veas, [1]
waiting for the permission
of the council of the orders
for the foundation in Caravaca,
there came to see me
a father of our order,
a barefooted friar,
by name the master Fray Jerome
of the Mother of God Gratian, [2]
who, living in Alcala a few years before,
had taken our habit.
He was a man of great learning,
understanding, and modesty,
united with great goodness
throughout his life,
and our Lady seems to have chosen him
for the furtherance of this order
under the primitive rule
when he was in Alcala,
very far from taking our habit,
though not from being a religious,
for, though his parents
had other views about him
because of the kind's favour
and his great abilities,
he was far otherwise minded himself.
2. His early education.
2.
From the time he began his studies
his father wished him to apply himself
to the study of the laws:
he, though very young,
felt so much on the subject
that he prevailed on his father
by dint of tears,
to let him learn theology.
When he had taken his doctor's degree
he wished to enter the Society of Jesus,
and was accepted,
but, for some reason or other,
was required to wait a few days.
He told me
that all his worldly ease
was a torture to him,
for he did not think
that was the right road to heaven;
and he always kept certain hours of prayer,
and was most recollected and modest.
and was most recollected and modest.
3. Fray Juan of Jesus.
3.
At this time a great friend of his,
Fray Juan of Jesus, [3]
also a doctor,
became a friar of our order
in the monastery of Pastrana.
I know not if it was a letter
he wrote to him
on the greatness and antiquity of our order,
or something else,
that first moved him;
for Gratian took great pleasure
in learning everything about the order
and
in consulting weighty authors thereupon,
and frequently
— so he says —
had scruples about neglecting
his other studies,
not being able to give up this,
spending therein
even his hours of recreation.
Oh, the wisdom and power of God !
how helpless we are
when we would thwart His will.
Our Lord saw
how necessary
for the work He had begun
was a man like this.
Often do I praise Him for being
so gracious unto us,
for if I had anxiously prayed
to His Majesty
for a person able
to arrange everything
for our order when it began
I could not have asked for such an one
as His Majesty has given us.
May He be blessed for ever !
4. Occasion of
Fray Jerome's conversion.
4.
He was very far
from thinking of taking our habit
when he was asked to go to Pastrana
to make arrangements with the prioress
of the monastery of our order,
not then removed thence [4]
about the reception of a nun.
Oh, the ways of His divine Majesty !
If he had made up his mind
to leave Alcala
for the purpose of taking the habit
he would probably have found so many
to dissuade him
that he might never have taken it.
But the Virgin, our Lady,
to whom he is extremely devout,
would reward him
by giving him her habit,
and so I think
that she interceded with God for him,
and obtained for him that grace.
The cause
even of his taking the habit,
and
of his being so devoted to the order,
was this glorious Virgin,
who would not
that one who longed so earnestly
to serve her
should be without the means of doing so;
for she is wont to help those
who wish to place themselves
under her protection.
5. His devotion to our Lady.
5.
As a boy in Madrid
he used often to go
to an image of our Lady
to which he had a great devotion
— where it was I do not remember.
He used to address her as his love,
and it was the image
he most frequently visited.
She must have obtained
from her Son for him
that purity in which he always lived.
He says that he saw her eyes sometimes
— so he thought —
filled with tears
over the many offences committed
against her Son.
That made him very eager and earnest
for the salvation of souls,
and gave him a sense of pain
whenever he saw people sin against God.
So greatly is he
under the dominion of this desire
for the salvation of souls
that he regards all troubles as nothing
if he thinks he can do any good thereby.
I have seen this to be true
in the many troubles he has undergone.
6. Who protected him.
6.
The Virgin then brought him to Pastrana,
he being all the while under a mistake,
for he thought
he was going thither
to obtain the habit for a nun,
and
God was leading him thither
to take it himself.
Oh, the secrets of God !
How, without our seeking,
He goeth about preparing us for His graces,
and
how He rewarded this soul
for the good works it had done,
for the good example it had always given,
and
for its earnest desire to serve
His glorious Mother !
for His Majesty must ever repay this desire
with exceeding great rewards.
7. The prioress of Pastrana suggests
to him to become a friar.
7.
Arrived in Pastrana,
he went to speak to the prioress [5]
about the reception of the nun
who was to take the habit,
and it seems
that the prioress told him
to pray to our Lord
that he might enter the order himself.
She saw how pleasing was his address
— and it is so much so
that for the most part
those who converse with him
come to love him;
it is a grace from our Lord,
and he is extremely beloved therefore
by all his subjects,
both friars and nuns;
for, though he overlooks no fault
— herein he is very exact
regarding the prosperity of the order —
he does it all with such winning sweetness
that no one is able to complain of him.
8. The nuns pray for his vocation.
8.
It was with the prioress
as with everybody else —
she felt an immense desire
that he should enter the order,
spoke of it to her sisters, and
told them all
- to consider it
as of great importance to them,
for there were then
very few or scarcely any like him,
and
- to pray to our Lord
not to let him go away
except in the habit.
This prioress is a very great servant of God,
and I believe His Majesty
would have listened to her prayers alone:
what, then, must He have done
what, then, must He have done
to the prayers of the holy sisters
who were there ?
Every one of them took the matter
into her own especial care,
and made continual supplications
to His Majesty
in fasting, disciplines, and prayer;
and in the end
He was pleased to be gracious unto us.
9. And obtain it.
9.
When Father Gratian went
to the monastery of the friars,
and beheld
- so much devotion and good will
in the service of our Lord,
and above all
- that this was the order
of His glorious Mother,
whom he so earnestly desired to serve,
his heart began to be moved, and
he had no wish to return to the world,
though Satan suggested many difficulties,
particularly the distress
of his father and mother,
who loved him much,
and relied much on him
to provide for their children [6]
They had many sons and daughters. [7]
He, casting that care upon God,
for whom he was leaving everything,
determined to
become the subject of the Virgin,
and
put on her habit;
and so they gave it to him,
to the great joy of everybody,
especially of the nuns and the prioress,
who gave earnest thanks to our Lord,
thinking that God had done this
for them in answer to their prayers, [8]
10. Trials of the novitiate.
10.
During the year of probation
he was as humble
as the least of the novices.
His goodness was once tried
in a special way:
in the absence of the prior,
a young and unlearned friar took his place
as the next elder,
but whose abilities were very poor,
and
who had no discretion in government;
he was also without experience,
for he had but lately entered. [9]
The way he ruled them and
the mortifications he made them undergo
were so severe
that each time I think of it I am astonished
that they were able to bear it,
especially such persons as were there;
and they needed the spirit
which God gave them
to endure it.
It was found out afterwards
that this friar was very subject to melancholy,
and wherever he may be,
even as a subject,
it is a trial to live with him;
what then must it have been
when he had to govern others ?
His melancholy temper has
great mastery over him,
and yet he is a good religious,
and God sometimes allows the mistake
to be made of putting persons of this kind
in authority for the perfecting
of the virtue of obedience
in those He loves.
11. Temptation to quit the Order.
11.
It must have been so in this case,
for God gave
to the Father Fray Jerome
of the Mother of God,
who merited therein,
the most clear light
in the matter of obedience
for the instruction of his subjects,
having made himself
so good a beginning
in the practice thereof.
And, that he might not be without experience
in everything necessary for us,
he was subject
to most distressing temptations
for three months preceding his profession;
but he, as one who had to be
a skilful leader of the Virgin's children,
resisted them so well
that when Satan was most urgent with him
to leave the order,
he defended himself
by making a promise
never to leave it,
and
to take the vows.
He gave me a certain work
he had written
in the midst of these heavy temptations;
it filled me with great devotion,
and plainly shows
what courage our Lord had given him. [10]
12. The great help he was to the Saint.
12.
It may seem absurd
that he should have told me
much about his soul:
our Lord, perhaps, would have it so
in order that I might write of it here,
to show forth His praise in His creatures,
for I know that he never revealed
so much to his confessor or to anyone else.
Now and then there were reasons for it:
he thought that I,
with my many years,
and
because of things he had heard of me,
might have some experience
in such matters.
He told me these things and others
which I shall not write of,
that I may not be tedious,
when we were conversing
about other matters.
I have laid great constraint
upon myself herein,
lest I should give him pain
if what I am writing
should ever fall into his hands.
I am not able
nor did I think it right
— for this writing,
if ever he should see it,
will not be shown him
for a long time —
to refrain from speaking of one
who has rendered such great services
in the renewal of the primitive rule;
for, though he was not the first
to make a beginning,
he came in due time,
for I should have been occasionally sorry
that the reform had been begun
if my trust in the mercy of God
had not been so great.
13. Difficulties about the monasteries
of the friars.
13.
I am speaking of the houses of the friars,
for those of the nuns
have, by the goodness of God,
prospered even until now,
and those of the friars have not failed;
but they had in them
an element of rapid decline
because,
not forming a province by themselves,
they were governed by the fathers
of the mitigated rule.
Those who could have governed them
had no authority,
such as Fray Antonio of Jesus, [11]
who was the first to make a beginning ;
nor had they any constitutions given them
by the most reverend the father general.
[12]
In every house
they did as they pleased.
Before the constitutions were given them,
and
before they had a settled government
of their own,
there was trouble enough,
some of them being for this and
others for that.
I was often in great distress about them.
Our Lord sent the father-master
Fray Jerome of the Mother of God
to our relief,
for he was made commissary apostolic [13]
and had to rule and govern
both the friars and the nuns
of the barefooted Carmelites.
He made the constitutions of the friars [14]
we had ours already
from the most reverend our father-general,
and thus it was
that he made none for us,
only for them,
in virtue of his apostolic authority
and of the good gifts,
as I said before,
which our Lord had given him.
The first time he made his visitation
he ordered everything
so wisely and so well,
thereby showing plainly
that His Divine Majesty was keeping him,
and
that our Lady had chosen him
to be a succour of her order;
and I pray her earnestly
to obtain from her Son
help for him always,
and
the grace to advance more and more
in His service.
Amen.
_________________
Foot Notes:
[1]
When the Saint was staying here
she received letters
from Don Alvaro de Mendoza,
Bishop of Avila, and
from the nuns there,
informing her that the officers
of the Inquisition
were searching for the 'Life,'
written by herself
[ see Relation, vii. 8. l6j. ]
_____________________
[2]
He came to Veas in April, 1575
[ Relation, vi. i ].
With this chapter and the first mention
of Father Jerome Gratian
of the Mother of God
begins the story
of almost unprecedented troubles
which not only embittered the life
of S. Teresa for the next five years
but brought her whole work
within a hair's breadth of utter destruction.
Jeronimo Gracian was born at Valladolid,
5th or 6th June 1545,
his father, Don Diego Gracian de Alderete
being secretary
to Charles V, and
to Philip II, and
his mother, Dona Juana de Antisco
(or Dantisco) being the daughter
of a Polish ambassador
who late in life took Holy Orders
and ultimately became bishop.
Jerome was the third son
out of twenty children,
of whom thirteen survived.
He received his first education
at the Jesuit College at Madrid,
went to the university
of Alcala de Henares in 1560,
took the degree of Master in divinity
in 1564.,
and was ordained priest in 1569.
S. Teresa relates the circumstances
which led him to ask
for the Carmelite habit at Pastrana
(25th March 1572).
Soon after his profession
(28th March 1573)
he was employed in the
administration and organisation
of the Reform,
by which work he was able,
more than anyone else,
to second the designs and intentions
of the Saint.
But it was also fruitful
in crosses and reverses
which cast a deep shadow
over his whole life,
blighting the brilliant prospects
of his early years, and leaving him to die,
an outcast, in a foreign country
and in a different Order.
Discreet, conciliatory, candid,
meek and amiable
he could not but endear himself
to S. Teresa
who conceived a singular veneration
and affection for him;
for she understood that our Lord
had chosen him to hold His own place
with regard to her
[ Relation, vi. i] ;
but lacking in decision,
promptitude, firmness,
he easily fell a victim to
the jealousies and intrigues of others,
less scrupulous and less charitable
than himself.
As long as Saint Teresa was alive
she assisted him
with her supernatural wisdom
and protected him from great dangers,
not the least of which
was his own impetuous zeal,
but after her death he was
unable to face the brewing storm,
and at length was swept away by it.
When the Discalced Carmelites obtained
the right of forming a province
of their own,
independently of the Calced friars
and nuns,
Jerome Gratian was elected provincial
with a very small majority
(3rd March 1581).
At the expiration of his term of office
the party of zelanti gained
the upper hand, and
Gratian went to Lisbon.
Complaints against him
became loud
but as long as S. John of the Cross lived,
— though himself a thorn
in the side of that party —
no decisive steps were taken;
but no sooner was this last prop removed
than the agitation against Gratian
assumed unprecedented violence;
on the strength of falsified evidence
he was at length expelled from the Order
whose soul and superior he had been
for so many years
(17th February 1592),
the sentence being confirmed
by the king, the nuncio
and even the authorities in Rome.
From the depth of his humiliation
Gratian rose to the height of heroism.
After vain attempts to join another Order
he was taken prisoner by pirates and
carried off to Tunis where he laboured
at the peril of his life
among the Christian slaves and
even the renegades of the bagno.
Set free after eighteen months
of captivity he was received
by Clement VIII, who exclaimed:
' this man is a Saint.'
His process was revised and
the injustice of the sentence of expulsion
established,
but for practical reasons, he was not
allowed to re-enter the Order
of Discalced Carmelites,
but was attached to the Calced Cannes.
He returned to Spain for a time,
was commissioned to re-establish
the monastery on Mount Carmel
whence the Order had sprung
(inedited letter to his sister, dated Genoa,
7th September 1600),
preached the jubilee to the Christian
slaves in Ceuta and Tetuan,
and at length was called to Brussels
by his friend and protector,
the archduke Albert (1606).
There he spent the last years of his life
in the practice of self-abnegation
and in the apostolic ministry
till death overtook him at Brussels,
21st September 1614.
Although much has been
concerning him,
no complete biography has yet appeared;
the two most important works are
- his autobiography entitled,
Peregrinación de Anastasio,
Burgos 1905,
and
- Le Pére Gratien et ses juges,
Rome 1904
Gregoire de S. Joseph
_________________
[3]
Fray Juan of Jesus
was born in 1543,
in the town of Sanahua,
in the diocese of Urgel,
at the foot of the Pyrenees, in Catalonia.
His father was Pedro Bullon,
and his mother Isabel Roca,
both most devout Christians.
Fray Juan was sent to Barcelona,
where he made all his studies,
and there was made doctor in theology.
He obtained a benefice
and was ordained priest.
Some time after he went to Alcala,
and there saw how empty
were all learned distinctions.
One day, in the monastery
founded by Maria of Jesus
[ Life, ch. xxxvi. 29],
he heard Jerome Gratian,
then a secular priest,
preach a sermon in which he spoke
of the antiquity of the order, and
of the many saints it had given
to the church of God.
He went thence to Pastrana,
for the reputation of the monastery
had filled the university of Alcala,
and in the beginning of the year 1573
made his profession
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxxix. 6, 7].
He distinguished himself
by great severity,
having successively filled
many and high offices
he fell at last into disgrace
owing to the discovery of his design
of joining the Italian branch
of the Discalced Carmelites.
He died at Barcelona in 16 14.
___________________
[4]
See Foundations: ch. xvii . 15.
___________________
[5]
Isabel of S. Dominic,
see ch. xvii. 14.
The postulant was
Dona Barbara del Castillo,
formerly attached to the household
of the Duchess of Alba.
She was a penitent of Fr. Gratian's;
having made her profession
16th March 1574,
under the name of
Barbara of the Holy Ghost,
she filled for many years
the post of sub-prioress of Caravaca,
and for some time also that of prioress.
She died 1st May 1609.
[ Oeuvres, iii. 450 ; iv. 26 note. ]
_____________________
[6]
Though the father of Gratian
was secretary to Philip II,
and high in his favour,
he was far from being wealthy.
Some of his daughters, sisters of Gratian,
had to be received as nuns
without a dowry, and out of charity,
because of the poverty of the family
( De la Fuente, who adds,
thinking probably of other secretaries,
Quantum miitatus ab illo !)
Blog Note: Rough translation
How changed from what he was !
__________________
[7]
They had twenty children,
six of whom
— three daughters and three sons —
became Carmelites;
but one of the latter had to leave
through ill health.
____________________
[8]
Fray Jerome took the habit,
without returning to Alcala,
on the feast of the Annunciation,
25th March 1572,
and was professed
28th March 1573.
________________
[9]
Fray Baltasar of Jesus,
prior of Pastrana,
having gone to Madrid,
to assist in the erection of a convent
at the royal court for the residence
of the procurator of the Order,
and the friars
whom business called to Madrid,
the superior, Fray Angel of S. Gabriel,
took over the government of the house
and the direction of the novices.
He introduced new
and unheard of mortifications
by which he made the convent
the laughing-stock of the public
and disturbed the peace and tranquillity
of the community.
He was an earnest, fiery man
of strong will,
and his superiors were not able
to withstand him,
still less to control him.
S. John of the Cross
was sent to restore order,
his first act being
to remove the superior.
S. Teresa,
while approving of this step,
thought it wise
to consult Fray Domingo Banez,
who assured her in a letter still extant
that the conduct of the master of novices
had been most rash.
[ Lewis, Life of St John of the Cross,
p. 63.
Oeuvres, iv. 30 note. ]
______________________
[10]
This writing has not come down to us.
______________________
[11]
Fray Antonio
became a source of some anxiety
to the Saint
a few years after this,
and before she had written
the whole of this book.
See Letters of 27th Sept. 1575
and 5th Sept. 1576.
____________________
[12]
It is somewhat surprising
that the Saint says
the friars had no constitutions given them
by the most reverend the father general,
seeing that on the contrary
he had drawn up constitutions
before even the first foundation at Duruelo
had been made (Appendix).
The explanation is probably
that these constitutions aiming
at the purely contemplative life
were considered inapplicable
to the mixed life
inaugurated by Antonio de Heredia
and S. John of the Cross,
and as a fact were never put into force.
__________________
[13]
[ See Foundations: ch. xxiv. i. note (#1). ]
Blog Note:
An excerpt of the note is
included here for clarification:
"Fray Jerome made his profession
28th March 1573,
and on the 4th of August following
was created visitor of Andalucia
by Fray Baltasar of Jesus,
prior of Pastrana,
acting under the authority
of Fray Francis de Vargas,
Dominican and apostolic visitor
of the Carmelites in Andalucia…"
[ Reforma, bk. iii. ch. xxi, xxii. ;
and ch. xxxvi. 3].
_________________________
[14]
The nuncio, Monsignor Ormaneto,
in 1575
made Fray Jerome,
superior of the Carmelites in Spain,
and accordingly in his visitation
in that year the constitutions were made
which Fray Jerome
gave to the friars to observe.
The constitutions of the nuns
had been already drawn up
by S. Teresa,
by authority given her
by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV,
who had approved of them
as did also the General.
She conceals the fact
that she had written them herself,
and says most truly
that the later monasteries received them
as the constitutions of the general.
|
End of Chapter 23
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel |
