of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 26 XXVI
Chapter 26 Contents
- Continuation Of The Same Foundation
Of S. Joseph In The City Of Seville.
- Relates Some Very Noteworthy Doings
- Concerning The First Nun
Who Entered There
1. The Saint quits Seville. —
2. Her stay there full of trials. —
3. The first novice in Seville
falsely accused when a child. —
4. And cruelly treated. —
5. Her innocence manifested. —
6. Beginning of her vocation. —
7. She refuses to marry. —
8. And is most cruelly treated. —
9. Her goodness discovered. —
10. A vision. —
11. Sees Carmelites for the first time. —
12. Confesses to Father Gratian. —
13. And escapes into the monastery. —
14.. Her joy and bodily health. —
15. Assailed by temptations. —
16. And delivered.
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CHAPTER 26
1. The Saint quits Seville.
1.
You can well imagine, my daughters,
the joy we had that day.
Mine, I may say, was very great,
especially when I saw
that I was leaving the sisters
- in so good a house,
- so well placed,
- the monastery known, and
- with nuns in it who could pay
the greater part of the sum it cost,
so that by the help of those
who should come to fill up the number,
however small their dowry,
they might live without being in debt.
What gave me the greatest joy of all was,
that I had had a share
in their troubles,
and when I had to rest myself
I went away.
This festival took place
on the Sunday before Pentecost, 1576.
Immediately after, on the Monday,
I left the place,
to escape the great heat then beginning,
and
to avoid travelling,
if possible, in Whitsuntide, and
to keep the feast in Malagon,
where I wished much to stop a day;
that is why I made such haste to be gone. [1]
2. Her stay there full of trials.
2.
It was not our Lord's pleasure
that I should hear Mass
even once in the church;
the joy of the nuns was seriously disturbed
by my departure,
which they felt much.
We had been together for a year,
and had suffered so much,
as I have already said;
but I do not recount here
our greatest troubles.
I believe myself
that, with the exception
of the foundation in Avila,
with which none other
is to be compared,
I never had so much to endure
anywhere as here,
because my trials were
for the most part interior.
May His Divine Majesty grant
that He may be always served in this house !
as I trust He will be,
for if it be so
everything else is as nothing.
His Majesty has begun
to draw good souls into the house.
As to those in it
whom I took with me, five in number,
I have already said how good they were:
that is only a part
of what might be said of them,
and that the least.
3. The first novice in Seville
falsely accused when a child.
3.
I will speak of the first who entered,
because her story will give you pleasure.
She was the daughter
of most pious Christians,
her father a highlander. [2]
When she was still a child,
about seven years of age,
an aunt of hers begged her mother
to let her have her,
as she had no children of her own.
She took her home, and
must have caressed her and
shown her love for her,
as was natural,
for certain women in her service,
who, before the child came,
had hopes of inheriting
some portion of her property,
seeing clearly from the love shown her
that the aunt would leave her
the greater part,
agreed together to have her removed
out of the way by a diabolic act,
which was, to accuse the child
of an intent to murder the aunt,
and
of having given some money
to one of them
for the purchase of corrosive sublimate.
This was told to the aunt,
and as all the three said the same thing
she believed them;
the mother of the child,
who is a most excellent woman,
did so also.
4. And cruelly treated.
4.
The mother took the child
and carried her home,
thinking that in her she was nurturing
a very wicked woman.
Beatriz of the Mother of God
— for that is her name —
told me that for more than a year
her mother continued
to whip and torture her,
and to make her sleep on the bare floor,
because she wanted her
to confess so great a wickedness.
When the poor child said
- she had done no evil,
and
- that she did not know
what corrosive sublimate was,
her mother thought the worse of her,
as one possessed of a spirit
to hide her sin.
The poor mother was distressed
when she saw her thus hardened
in her denial,
thinking she could never be reformed.
It is strange the child did not accuse herself
to escape such chastisements,
but as she was innocent
God gave her Strength always
to speak the truth.
5. Her innocence manifested.
5.
But, as His Majesty helps those
who do no wrong,
He chastised two of those women
so severely
that they seemed to be mad;
they sent for the child secretly
to come to her aunt,
and begged her to forgive them,
and unsaid everything
now they were at death's door.
The third woman did as much
— she died in childbirth.
In a word, all the three died in great pain:
it was a chastisement for that
which they had made the innocent child
to suffer.
I know all this, not from herself only,
for afterwards her mother,
when she saw her a nun,
distressed at the evil treatment
she had received at her hands,
recounted it to me with other matters;
she had been most cruelly treated.
God permitted the mother,
who had no other child, and
who was a very good Christian,
to be thus cruel to her own daughter,
whom she loved exceedingly.
She is a most truthful and pious person.
6. Beginning of her vocation. —
6.
When the child was a little more
than twelve years of age
she read in some book the life of S. Anne, [3]
and conceived a great devotion
to the saints of Mount Carmel,
it being said there
that the mother of S. Anne
— I think her name was Emerenciana —
(Merenciana ) ?
used to converse often with them.
Hence her devotion
to the order of our Lady
became so strong
that she
- made a vow of chastity, and
- promised to become a Carmelite nun.
Whenever she could
she spent many hours alone and in prayer.
God and our Lady gave her
great and very special graces.
She wanted to become a nun at once,
but durst not
on account of her father and mother;
besides, she did not know
where to find the order,
which was strange,
for, though there was a monastery
of the mitigation in Seville, [4]
she never knew of it
till she heard of our monasteries
many years afterwards.
7. She refuses to marry.
7.
When she was old enough to be married
her father and mother considered
on whom they should bestow her,
she being still very young.
They had now, however, no other child,
for her brothers were all dead,
and she, the least cherished,
alone remained.
She had one brother living
when that affair happened
of which I have been speaking,
and he had defended her,
saying that the story was not to be believed.
When the marriage was already settled
they spoke to her about it,
thinking that she would make no objection;
but she told them
that she had made a vow never to marry,
and
that she never would be married
even if they were to kill her.
8. And is most cruelly treated.
8.
Her father and mother took it
into their heads
that she had misbehaved herself
in some way,
and therefore would not marry:
it was a delusion of Satan,
or a self-deception
which God permitted
to make a martyr of her.
So they
having promised her in marriage,
and
seeing what an affront it was
to the bridegroom,
beat her so much and treated her so cruelly
— even wishing to strangle her,
for they used to throttle her —
that it was fortunate they did not kill her.
God, who had chosen her
for other things,
gave her life.
She told me
- that at last she scarcely felt
the ill-treatment at all,
for she used to think
of the sufferings of S. Agnes,
which our Lord brought
to her recollection,
and
- that she rejoiced to suffer
something for His sake,
and did nothing else
but offer up her wrongs to Him.
They thought she would die,
for she was three months in bed
unable to move.
9. Her goodness discovered.
9.
It seems very strange
that a young girl
who never left her mother's side,
and
whose father, as I have heard,
was so prudent,
could be thought so ill of,
for she was always
pious and modest,
and so charitable
that whatever she could get
she gave away in alms.
When our Lord wishes to give any one
the grace to suffer
He has many ways of doing so.
Some years after this, however,
He made them see
the goodness of their child;
they would then give her
what she wanted for her alms-deeds,
and the persecutions were changed
into caresses.
Nevertheless, everything was a trial to her
because of her wish to be a nun,
and so she lived on, as she told me,
in great distress and sadness of heart.
10. A vision.
10.
Some thirteen or fourteen years
before Father Gratian went to Seville,
and when there was no talk
of barefooted Carmelite friars,
this happened:
She was with
her father and mother
and two women
from the neighbourhood
when a friar of our order came in,
clad in serge as they are now,
and barefooted.
They say his countenance
was cheerful and venerable,
but he was so old, however,
that his beard which was long,
looked like silver threads;
he stood close beside her,
and began to address her
in a language
which neither she nor any of the others
understood,
and when he had done speaking
he made the sign of the cross
over her three times,
saying,
'Beatriz, God make thee strong,'
and went away.
While he remained nobody stirred:
they were amazed.
Her father asked her who he was.
She thought that he knew him. [5]
They rose up in haste to look for him,
but they saw him no more.
She was greatly consoled herself, and
all were amazed,
for what they had seen
was the work of God,
and in consequence of it
they made much of her,
as I have just said.
All these years,
I believe fourteen, passed away,
she herself always serving our Lord, and
praying Him to fulfil her desire.
11. Sees Carmelites for the first time.
11.
She was in great distress
when the father-master
Fray Jerome Gratian
came to the neighbourhood.
One day she went to hear a sermon
in one of the churches of Triana
— it was there her father was living —
not knowing who the preacher was to be,
and there saw the father- master Gratian
go to receive the benediction.
When she saw him
in his habit and barefooted
she thought at once of him
whom she had seen before;
the habit was the same,
but the age and the countenance were not,
for father Gratian was
not yet thirty years of age.
She told me that she almost fainted away
in the excess of her joy,
for, though she had heard
that there was a monastery in Triana,
she did not know it belonged
to the Carmelites. [6]
From that day forth
she tried to go to confession
to Father Gratian;
it was the will of God, however,
that she should have no little trouble,
for she applied to him
as often as twelve times
— it might be more or less —
but he never would hear her confession.
She was young and beautiful,
for she must have been
then not twenty-seven,
and he, being extremely careful,
would not have any relations
with persons like her.
12. Confesses to Father Gratian.
12.
One day in the church
— she too was most careful herself —
a woman asked her
what the matter was,
for she was weeping.
She said that she had made
so many efforts to speak to that father,
who was then hearing confessions,
and all to no purpose.
The woman took her to the confessional,
and asked him to hear her confession;
and so she made a general confession to him.
He, when he saw so noble a soul,
was greatly comforted himself,
and comforted her too
by telling her
- that Carmelite nuns might be coming,
and
- that he would make them
receive her immediately;
and so it came to pass,
and the first thing he ordered me to do
was to receive her the first of all,
for he was satisfied with her spirit,
and told her so.
When we came she took much pains
to keep our arrival
from the knowledge of her father and mother,
for if they knew of it
she would have had no opportunity
of coming to us.
And so, on the very day of the feast
of the Most Holy Trinity, [7]
she left the women
who used to attend her
behind,
for her mother did not go with her
to confession,
and the monastery of the Carmelites,
where she always confessed,
and to which she gave great alms,
as well as her father and mother
for her sake,
was at some distance.
13. And escapes into the monastery.
13.
She had arranged
with a very great servant of God
to take her, and
told the women
who used to attend her
- to leave her,
as the woman
with whom she was going out
was very well-known in Seville
as a great servant of God,
given to good works,
and
- that she would return immediately.
They accordingly let her take with her
the habit and mantle of frieze;
how she carried them
I know not,
unless it was her joy
that made everything light.
Her only fear was
that somebody might stop her
and find out what she was carrying,
for she was walking out
in a way most unusual for her.
What cannot the love of God do ?
She had now no respect of persons,
and thought of nothing
but of the possibility of her desire
being frustrated;
We opened the door to her at once.
I sent word to her mother,
who came as if beside herself,
but said that she saw
that God was gracious to her child,
and, though she was distressed
because she could not speak to her yet
she was not immoderately so,
as others are;
on the contrary,
she gave us at once very large alms.
14. Her joy and bodily health.
14.
The bride of Jesus Christ
began to rejoice in the happiness
so much desired.
She was so humble,
and so pleased
with whatever she had to do,
that we found some trouble
in taking the broom out of her hands.
She who had been made so much of
at home
found all her recreation in hard work.
The great happiness she felt
caused her to gain flesh at once,
which so struck her father and mother
that they were glad to see her
in the monastery.
15. Assailed by temptations.
15.
Some two or three months
before the time of her profession,
that she might not have
so much joy without suffering,
she fell into most grievous temptations;
not because she was not determined
to make her profession,
but because she thought the religious life
most hard to bear.
She forgot all the years
during which she had suffered so much
to gain the blessing she now had,
and Satan tormented her so cruelly
that she could not help herself.
Nevertheless doing violence to herself
she conquered him,
and in the midst of her torments
made a resolution to be professed. [8]
Three days before her profession,
our Lord,
who would not let her strength
be tried any longer,
visited and consoled her
in a most special way,
and
put Satan to flight.
16. And delivered.
16.
She was now so consoled
that during those three days
she seemed to be beside herself with joy,
and for good reasons
— the grace she had received was great.
Within a few days
after she entered the monastery
her father died,
and her mother
took the habit in the same house, [9]
giving to it by way of alms
all she possessed.
The mother and child are
- living in the greatest joy,
- edifying all the nuns,
and
- serving Him
Who has bestowed upon them
so great a grace.
Moreover a year had not passed by
when there came another,
very much against the will
of her father and mother. [10]
Thus our Lord goes on,
filling this His house
with souls so eager to serve Him
that neither the austerities
nor the strictness of enclosure
can stand in their way.
May He be blessed for ever and ever !
May He be praised for ever and ever !
Amen.
_________________
Foot Notes:
[1]
The Saint left Seville
4th June 1576,
attended by her brother Don Lorenzo.
Fray Gregorio Nazianzen,
now professed,
went with her.
She was in Malagon on the 11th,
where she was still
in the beginning of July.
By order of Fray Jerome
she went to Avila to complete
the term of her priorship,
after which she ought to have gone
to Salamanca
where she was conventual.
But it was finally decided
she should go to Toledo,
whither she went,
bringing with her
as her companion and secretary,
the venerable Ann of S. Bartholomew.
On the 9th day of August
the Saint was in Toledo,
watching the storm
that had burst on the order,
and waiting for the calm.
________________
[2]
Alonso Gomez y Vero,
a native either of the Sierra Nevada
or the Sierra Morena,
and Juana Gomez.
The child bore the name Chaves,
probably that of her grandmother.
[ Ouevres, iv. 64. ]
_____________________
[3]
By the Carthusian, Pedro de Orhmdo.
( Pedro de Orozco) ?
________________
[4]
Founded in 1513
under the title of the Incarnation.
________________
[5]
She admitted in after times
to her confessors and others
whom she could trust
that it was the great prophet Elias.
It was a tradition in the order also
that Beatriz had then a vision
of the prophet of Mount Carmel
[ Reforma, bk. iii. ch. xxxviii. 8].
________________
[6]
The Discalced Carmelites founded,
6th January 1574,
a convent at Triana
called Nuestra Senora de los Remedios
from a hermitage under that title
given them by the Archbishop.
Father Jerome Gratian was Prior and
Father Mariano, master of novices.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 69, note.].
_________________
[7]
Three days after the arrival of the nuns,
the day when the first Mass
was being said.
_________________
[8]
Beatriz of the Mother of God
made her profession
29th September 1576;
in the following year after the Calced
fathers had mixed themselves up
with the government of the house,
she gave false evidence
against the prioress,
who in consequence was deposed,
and
against Father Jerome Gratian,
while she herself was nominated prioress.
But the falsehood of the accusations
having been proved,
Mary of S. Joseph was reinstated
by Fray Angel de Salazar.
It took Beatriz some time
to see her wrongs,
but being convinced, she humbled herself
and asked pardon.
The remainder of her life
was most edifying.
She died in 1624 at the age of 86.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 73 n. ]
_________________
[9]
She made her profession,
10th November 1577,
as lay sister under the name
Juana de la Cruz.
A cousin of Beatriz entered soon after,
taking the name, Leonor of S. Angelus.
The three together gave as dowry
house property of the annual value
of 100 ducats.
[ Oeuvres, 1. c. ]
_________________
[10]
Bernarda of S. Joseph,
who took the habit 10th March 1576 ;
[ Oeuvres 1. c. ]
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End of Chapter 26
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
