of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
CHAPTER 28 XXVIII
Chapter 28 Contents
The Foundation
of Villanueva De La Jara
1. Troubles of the Order. —
2. And of the Saint. —
3. The new nuncio. —
4. His severities. —
5. Fray Pedro Fernandez. —
6. Prayers for the king. —
7. Villanueva de la Jara. —
8. The Saint's hesitation. —
9. Counselled not to refuse
the foundation. —
10. The Saint importuned anew. —
11. But still hesitates. —
12. Other reasons for hesitation. —
13. A divine locution. —
14. She chooses the nuns
for the new foundation. —
15. She departs from Malagon. —
16. Courage. —
17. Arrival at the monastery
of La Roda. —
18. Dona Catalina de Cardona.—
19. Her strange vocation. —
20. Becomes a hermit. —
21. Her simplicity. —
22. Severity of her hermit life.- —
23. Tormented by Satan. —
24. She makes preparations
for founding a monastery. —
25. A vision
of Fray Ambrosio Mariano. —
26. She returns to Madrid. —
27. Her death and burial. —
28. Dona Catalina wished to remove
to a more distant place. —
29. The Saint's reverence
for Dona Catalina. —
30 Who appeared to her in a vision. —
31. The Saint reaches Villanueva,
21st February 1580. —
32. Is received with great rejoicing. —
33. Her humility. —
34. Penitential life in the house
of S. Anne. —
35. Piety of the recluses of S. Anne. —
36. Their devotions. —
37. The vocation of a Carmelite. —
38. Origin of the hermitage of S. Anne.
|
CHAPTER 28
JHS
The Foundation
of Villanueva De La Jara
1. Troubles of the Order.
1.
When the foundation in Seville
had been made
no other foundations were made
for more than four years;
the reason was
that great persecutions [1]
of the friars and nuns
arose all at once,
so that the order was
on the brink of ruin,
and, though there had been
persecutions enough before,
none had been so severe.
Satan showed clearly
what he thought of the blessed beginning
which our Lord had made,
and that he felt it to be His work,
seeing that it prospered.
The friars suffered much,
especially the foremost among them,
from
- the false accusations
brought against them,
and
- the opposition made to them
by nearly all the fathers
of the mitigation.
The most reverend our father general,
though a most saintly man, and
though he had given authority
for the foundation of all the monasteries
except the first,
that of S. Joseph in Avila,
made by authority of the Pope,
was influenced by the fathers
of the mitigation
that he would allow no more friars
of the primitive observance;
nevertheless he was always friendly
to the monasteries of the nuns.
2. And of the Saint.
2.
Now, because I had helped herein,
he was made to show his displeasure
against me,
and that was the greatest trouble
I had to bear
while making these foundations,
and I had to bear many;
for to give up helping
in the furtherance of this work,
which I saw clearly was for
- the service of our Lord
and
- the advancement of our order,
men of the highest learning,
to whom I confessed,
and
by whom I was advised,
would not allow me;
and then to go against
what I saw was the will of my superior
was a very death,
for, beside my obligation as his subject,
I had a most tender affection for him,
and it was justly due to him.
The truth is
I wished to please him herein,
but I could not,
because I was under visitors apostolic,
whom I was bound to obey.
3. The new nuncio.
3.
A saintly nuncio died, [2]
who greatly encouraged
every thing that was good,
and
who therefore had a great respect
for the barefooted friars.
Another came, [3]
whom God seemed to have sent
for the purpose of trying us
by sufferings; [4]
he was in some way related to the Pope,
and must have been
a great servant of God,
but he began by favouring very much
the friars of the mitigation. [5]
The information
he received from them
concerning us
convinced him
that it was not right to go on
with what we had begun,
and so he began to carry out his purpose
with the very greatest severity,
censuring, imprisoning, and banishing those
who he thought [6]
might be able to withstand him.
4. His severities.
4.
They who had most to suffer were
- the Father Fray Antonio of Jesus,
who began the first monastery of
the barefooted Carmelites,
and
- the Father Fray Jerome Gratian,
whom the late nuncio had made
visitor apostolic
of those of the mitigation;
against him and
- the Father Mariano of S. Benedict
his displeasure was great [7]
I have already said
who those fathers were
in writing of the previous foundations:
others, too, of the more grave fathers
he put in penance,
though not so severely.
Upon these he laid strict injunctions
that they were to meddle
with none of our affairs.
It was plain
that all this came from God,
and
that His Majesty allowed it
for a greater good, and
for the clearer manifestation
of the goodness of these fathers,
as indeed it was.
He made a father of the mitigation
our superior,
who was to visit our monasteries
of nuns and friars. [8]
If he had found
what he expected
we should have been in serious Straits,
and
we had accordingly very much to suffer,
as will be told by one
who is more able
than I am to write.
I do but touch the matter,
that the nuns
who shall come after us
may know how great
are their obligations
to make progress in perfection
when they find
that (which is) made easy to them
which has cost so much to us
who are now alive.
Some of them suffered in those days
from false accusations,
which distressed me much more
than anything I had to suffer myself;
for that on the contrary,
was a great delight to me.
I considered myself
as the cause of the whole tempest,
and if they had thrown me
into the sea with Jonas
the storm would have ceased, [9]
Praised be God who helps the truth,
and so He did at this time ;
for, as soon as our Catholic king, Don Philip
knew what was going on, and
learnt how the barefooted Carmelites
lived and kept their rule,
he took our cause into his own hands,
and would have the nuncio
not to be the sole judge of it,
but assigned four grave persons,
three of whom were religious,
to be his assistants,
in order that justice might be really done us.
[10]
5. Fray Pedro Fernandez.
5.
One of these was the Father Master
Fray Pedro Fernandez,
a man of most saintly life,
very learned and able.
He had been apostolic commissary and visitor
of the fathers of the mitigation
of the province of Castille,
and we, also of the primitive rule,
were subject to him.
He knew well and truly
how both the one and the other
were living,
for we all wished for nothing
but the making known our way of life.
Then, when I saw
that the king had named him,
I looked on the matter as settled, [11]
as, by the goodness of God,
it is.
May His Majesty grant it to be
for His honour and glory !
Though the noblemen of the realm
and the bishops who took great pains
to put the truth before the nuncio
were many in number,
yet it would all have been to little purpose
if God had not made use of the king.
6. Prayers for the king. —
6.
We are under very great obligations,
my sisters, all of us,
to remember him
in our prayers to our Lord,
together with those [12]
who undertook
His cause and
that of our Lady the Virgin,
and so I earnestly recommend you to do so.
You will understand now, my sisters,
what opportunity there was
for making foundations;
we were all intent
on prayer and penance without ceasing,
begging God to prosper
our foundations already made,
if they were for His service.
7. Villanueva de la Jara.
7.
In the beginning of these great troubles,
which thus briefly told
may seem to you slight, and
which long endured
were heavy,
there came to me in Toledo
in the year 1576, [13]
whither I had gone
from making the foundation in Seville,
an ecclesiastic
from Villanueva de la Jara
with letters from the municipality.
The purport was to arrange with me
for the receiving into a monastery
nine women, [14]
who were living together
in a hermitage of the glorious S. Anne,
which was in the neighbourhood.
They had lived some years
in a small house close by it,
and
in such recollectedness and holiness
that the whole population was moved
to make an effort to fulfil their desire,
which was that of beine nuns.
I received a letter also from a doctor,
the parish priest of the place,
Agustin de Ervias, [15]
a learned and good man,
and it was his great goodness
that made him help,
so far as he could,
in this holy work.
8. The Saint's hesitation.
8.
As for myself,
I thought
it was wholly out of the question
that I should accept the monastery,
for these reasons: —
1. Because they whom I was to accept
were so many, and
because I considered
it would be a very difficult thing
to train in our way those
who had been accustomed
to live in their own.
2. Because they had scarcely
any means of subsistence, and
the place has hardly
more than a thousand inhabitants,
which would furnish but scanty help
to those who have to live on alms:
though the municipality did offer
to maintain them,
I did not think that was to be relied on.
3. They had no house.
4. They were far away
from the other monasteries.
And, though I was told
they were very good,
yet as I had not seen them
I could not know
whether they had those gifts
which we claim for our monasteries,
and so I made up my mind
to a thorough refusal.
9. Counselled not to refuse
the foundation.
9.
To do this I must first speak
to my confessor,
the Doctor Velasquez,
canon and professor in Toledo, [16]
a most learned and excellent man,
now bishop of Osma;
for I am in the habit
of never doing anything
of my own will,
but only at the will of persons
such as he is.
When he
saw the letters and
understood the matter
he bade me not to refuse,
but to answer kindly;
for if God made so many hearts agree
together on a thing
it was plain He intended to be served thereby.
I did so,
for I neither accepted nor refused absolutely.
Time passed on
in importuning me and
in searching out those
who might persuade me to accept,
till this year 1580,
I, all the while, thinking it folly to do so.
When I made any reply
I never could reply altogether unfavourably.
10. The Saint importuned anew.
10.
The Father Fray Antonio ot Jesus
happened to come to the monastery
of our Lady of Succour,
which lies three leagues
from the town of Villanueva,
there to finish the term of his banishment.
[17]
He used to go and preach there,
and the prior of the monastery,
who at this time is the Father
Fray Gabriel of the Assumption, [18]
a most prudent man and servant of God,
went also frequently to the same place,
for they were friends of Doctor Ervias,
and began an acquaintance
with these saintly sisters.
Attracted by their goodness, and
persuaded by the people and the doctor,
they
took up the matter
as if it was their own,
and
began to persuade me,
writing very earnest letters;
and when I was in S. Joseph's in Malagon,
which is twenty-six leagues
and further from Villanueva,
the father prior himself came
to speak to me on the subject.
He told me
how it could be done, and
that, the monastery once founded,
the Doctor Ervias would endow it
with three hundred ducats a year
out of the revenues
of the living he held;
that leave to do so could be had
from Rome. [19]
11. But still hesitates.
11.
This seemed to me very uncertain,
for I thought
it might fail us
after the foundation was made,
yet with the little
which the sisters possessed
it might be well enough,
and so I gave many reasons,
and in my opinion
they were sufficient,
to the father prior,
to make him see
that it would never do
to accept the monastery;
I said further
- that he must look well to it,
he and Father Antonio;
- that I left it on their conscience,
thinking that
what I had told them
was enough to stop the matter.
When he had left I
reflected on his great earnestness,
and
thought he might prevail
on Fray Angel de Salazar,
our present superior,
to accept the monastery;
and so I wrote to Fray Angel immediately,
begging him not to grant his permission,
telling him my reasons
at the same time.
He wrote to me afterwards to say
he would not have granted it
unless I wished it myself.
12. Other reasons for hesitation.
12.
Six weeks, perhaps more, passed away;
When I was now thinking
I had put a stop to it
they sent me a messenger
with very pressing letters
from the two fathers,
as well as from the municipality,
by which they bound themselves
to furnish whatever was necessary;
Doctor Ervlas, too,
undertaking to perform
what I spoke of before.
My dread of receiving these sisters
was very great;
I thought they would be a faction
banded together against the sisters
whom I might take thither,
as it usually happens,
and also
because I saw no certain means
of maintenance for them,
for that which was offered
was not such as I was bound to accept:
so I was in great doubt.
Afterwards I saw
it was the work of Satan,
for, though our Lord had given me courage,
I was then so faint of heart
that I seemed to have
no trust in God at all.
The prayers, however, of those blessed souls
prevailed.
13. A divine locution.
13.
One day after communion,
while I was commending the matter to God,
as I was often doing
as I was often doing
— for the reason
why I answered favourably before
was the fear I had
(that) I might be hindering
the progress of some souls,
for my desire ever is
- to help in any way
to advance the glory of our Lord
and
- to increase the number
of His servants —
His Majesty rebuked me severely,
saying,
"Where was the treasury
that supplied the means
for the foundations already made ? "
I was to accept the house
without any misgiving:
it would be greatly
to His honour and the progress of souls.
So mighty are the words of God,
they
not only enter the understanding,
but also enlighten it to
- see the truth
and
- make the will ready to act:
so it was with me,
for I was
not only glad to accept the monastery,
but felt that I had been to blame
for holding back so long, and
clinging so much
to human considerations,
seeing that His Majesty had done so much
for our holy (Carmelite) Order
in ways undiscoverable by reason.
14. She chooses the nuns
for the new foundation.
14.
Having resolved to accept the foundation,
I thought it right to go thither myself
with the nuns who were to remain there,
and that for many reasons
which suggested themselves,
though very much against my inclination,
for I was very ill
when I came to Malagon, [20]
and
was so still.
But, thinking I should please our Lord
by going,
I wrote to the superior in order
that he might command
as he should judge best.
He sent the licence
for the foundation,
with an order for me
to go there myself,
and
to take with me
the nuns I preferred, [21]
which made me very anxious
because they would have to live
with those who were there already.
Earnestly commending the matter
to our Lord,
I took two nuns out
of the monastery of S. Joseph in Toledo,
one of whom was to be prioress,
and
two out of that at Malagon,
one to be sub-prioress;
and, as we had prayed so much
to our Lord,
the choice could not have been better,
which gave me no slight pleasure,
for in the foundations begun
with nuns only from our monasteries
everything falls happily into its own place.
everything falls happily into its own place.
[22]
15. She departs from Malagon. —
15.
The father Fray Antonio of Jesus
and the father prior
Fray Gabriel of the Assumption
came to fetch us. [23]
The city having furnished everything,
we left Malagon
on the Saturday before Lent,
13th February 1580.
It was the pleasure of God to send
(to) us
such fine weather,
and
to me
such health
that I seemed as if I had never been ill.
I was amazed, and considered
how important it is for us
never to think of our own infirmities
when we are employed
in the service of our Lord,
whatever the difficulties before us may be,
seeing that He is able to make
seeing that He is able to make
the weak strong and
the sickly healthy;
and
should He not do so
it will be better for our soul
if we suffer and forget ourselves
with our eyes fixed
on His honour and glory.
on His honour and glory.
Why are life and health given to us
but to be lost for so grand a King and Lord ?
Believe me, my sisters,
no harm will ever befall you
if you travel on this road.
16. Courage.
16.
I confess myself
that my wickedness and weakness
have put me very often
in fear and doubt,
but I cannot call to mind any occasion
since our Lord gave me
the habit of a barefooted Carmelite,
nor for some years before,
in which, of His mere compassion,
He did not enable me by His grace
to overcome these temptations,
and
to venture upon that,
however difficult it might be,
which I understood to be
for His greater glory.
I see clearly that
what I did myself
was very little,
but God asks no more
than a resolution of this kind
to do everything Himself.
May He be blessed and praised for ever ! Amen.
17. Arrival at the monastery
of La Roda.
17.
We had to go to the monastery
of our Lady of Succour,
already spoken of, [24]
which is three leagues from Villanueva,
and halt there to give warning
of our arrival,
for so it had been settled,
and it was only reasonable
I should in everything obey the fathers
with whom we came.
The monastery stands in a desert
and most pleasing solitude,
and when we drew near
the friars came forth in great orderliness
to receive their prior;
as they advanced barefooted
in their coarse cloaks of serge
they moved all
to devotion,
and I was melted at the sight exceedingly,
for I thought I was living
in the flourishing age of our holy fathers.
On that plain
they looked as white fragrant flowers,
and so I believe they are
in the eyes of God,
for in my opinion
He is most truly served there.
They went into the church
singing Te Deum
in a voice that betrayed their mortified lives.
The church is entered underground
as through a cave,
which figured that of our father Elias.
Certainly I went in
with so much inward joy
that I would have looked on
a much longer journey as profitably made,
though I was very sorry
for the death of the saint
by whom our Lord founded the house;
I did not deserve to see her
though I desired it greatly.
18. Dona Catalina de Cardona.
18.
I think it will not be a waste of time
to say something in this place
- of her life,
and
- how it came to pass that our Lord
would have the monastery founded
which, as I learn,
has been of so much advantage
to many souls
in the country round about.
I do so that you, my sisters,
beholding the penance done by this saint,
- may see how far we are behind her,
and
- make efforts to serve our Lord
with renewed courage;
for there is no reason
why we should do less than she did,
seeing that we are not sprung
from so refined and noble a race,
for, though this be of no consequence,
I speak of it because she once lived
in great comfort according to her rank,
for she
was a child of the ducal house of Cardona,
and
was known as Dona Catalina de Cardona
[25]
When she had written to me
a certain number of times
she signed herself simply 'The Sinner.'
How she lived
before our Lord bestowed on her
graces so great
they will tell you
who shall write her life,
and more particularly the great things
that may be told of it:
lest it should not come to your knowledge,
I will tell you
what I have been told by certain persons
who have conversed with her,
and
who deserve to be believed.
19. Her strange vocation.
19.
This holy woman,
while living among
great men and ladies of high rank,
was always careful about her soul
and did penance.
Her desire
of penance, and
of withdrawing into a place
where in solitude she
could have the fruition of God
and
spend herself in doing penance
undisturbed by others,
grew within her exceedingly.
She spoke of it to her confessors,
and they would not give their consent;
but, as
the world is now so very discreet, and
the great work of God
wrought in His saints, men and women,
who serve Him in the deserts,
is almost forgotten,
I am not surprised
that they thought her desire foolish;
but, as His Majesty never fails
to further true desires to their end,
He so ordered it
that she went to confession
to a Franciscan friar.
Fray Francis de Torres, [26]
whom I
knew very well and
look upon as a saint,
who many years ago gave himself
with great fervour to penance and prayer,
and he had to endure much persecution.
He must have been able, if any,
to discern clearly
the graces God bestows on those
who strive to be the recipients of them,
and so he told her
she was not to hold back,
but to obey the call of His Majesty.
I do not know
whether these were his very words or not,
but it is the substance of them,
for she immediately executed her purpose.
[27]
20. Becomes a hermit.
20.
She made herself known to a hermit [28]
who was in Alcala,
and begged him to go with her,
and never tell anybody.
They came to the place
where the monastery stands;
there she found a small cave,
which hardly held her,
in which the hermit left her.
But what love must she have had !
for she did
not think of any means of finding food,
nor of the dangers that might ensue,
nor of the evil speaking
that would result from her disappearance.
Oh, how deeply must that holy soul
have drunk of the wine of God!
So filled therewith was she
that she would have none to hinder her
in the fruition of the Bridegroom,
so determined to love the world no more,
seeing that she thus ran away
from all its comforts.
Let us
consider it well, my sisters, and mark
how she conquered it all at one blow;
for, though what you do is not less
than what she did
when you enter this holy order
— when you offer your will to God,
and promise such lifelong enclosure —
perhaps the first fervours of some of us
pass away,
and we become subject again in some things
to our self-love.
May His Divine Majesty grant
it be not so, and
that we
who already are followers
of this holy woman
in seeking to escape from the world,
may be very far away from it
in everything in our hearts.
21. Her simplicity.
21.
I have heard many details
of the great austerity of her life,
and only the least portion thereof
can be known;
for during the many years
she dwelt in that solitude
with such earnest desires of doing penance,
and having no one to check her,
and having no one to check her,
she must have treated her body fearfully.
I will tell you
what some persons have
heard her say herself,
and among them
the nuns of S. Joseph in Toledo,
when she went to see them.
She spoke openly
as if they were sisters,
and so she did to other persons;
for her simplicity was great,
and
her humility must have been so too.
As she was one who knew
that she was nothing in herself,
she was very far from vainglory,
and had a pleasure in speaking of the graces
which God bestowed upon her,
that through them
His name might be praised and glorified.
This is a dangerous proceeding for those
who have not reached her state,
for it may seem in them, at least,
to be praise of self.
Her openness and holy simplicity
must have saved her from that danger,
for I never heard that this imperfection
was ever laid to her charge.
22. Severity of her hermit life.
22.
She said
that she had been eight years in that cave,
living for many days together
on the herbs of the field and
on roots;
for when the three loaves were finished
which he who went with her to the cave
left behind
she had nothing until a poor shepherd
came to the place: [29]
he supplied her afterwards
with bread and meal
— that was her food —
cakes baked on embers, and nothing else,
of which she partook once in three days.
And it is most true,
as the friars too
who dwell there are witnesses;
and at a later time,
when she was much wasted,
they would make her occasionally
eat a sardine or something else,
when she went about seeking means
to found a monastery;
but she felt it do her more harm than good.
As for wine,
I never heard that she drank any.
Her disciplines were inflicted
with a heavy chain,
and frequently lasted two hours
and an hour and a half.
The sackcloth she wore
was of the very coarsest kind,
as I have learned from a certain person,
a woman who, returning from a pilgrimage,
Stayed with her one night,
and, while feigning to be asleep,
saw her take off her sackcloth full of blood
and wash it.
23. Tormented by Satan.
23.
What she had to bear from evil spirits
was still worse,
as she told the nuns mentioned before;
they appeared to her
as huge mastiffs,
leaping on her shoulders;
at other times
as serpents.
She was not in the least afraid of them.
After she had founded the monastery
she went still to the cave,
lived and slept in it,
and left it
only to be present at the divine office.
Before that she went to mass
in a monastery of the Mercedarians, [30]
a quarter of a league distant,
and that sometimes on her knees.
Her clothing was of kersey,
with a tunic of coarse cloth,
and so fashioned
that the people thought she was a man.
When those years were over
during which she lived so much alone
it pleased our Lord
to make her known,
and people out of devotion
began to visit her in such crowds
as were more than she could bear.
She spoke to all
with great charity and love.
As time went on the people
thronged around her more and more,
and he who could have speech of her
thought much of it.
She was so wearied herself
that she said they were killing her.
There came a day
when the whole plain was full of carriages.
Soon after the friars were established,
there was no help for it
but they must raise her up on high
that she might give them her blessing,
and in that way get rid of them.
When she had been eight years in the cave
— it was now larger in size,
for those who came to see her
had made it so — [31]
she had a most serious illlness,
and thought she should die of it;
and all this took place in that cave.
24. She makes preparations
for founding a monastery.
24.
She began wishing for a monastery of friars
in that place,
and did so for some time
not knowing to which order
it should belong.
On one occasion
our Lord showed her
when she was in prayer before a crucifix
which she always had with her,
a white mantle,
and she understood
it belonged to the barefooted Carmelites.
She had never heard
that there were such friars in the world,
and at that time only two monasteries
had been founded,
those of Mancera and Pastrana. [32]
She must have obtained
the knowledge thereof
after this;
then, having learnt
that there was a monastery in Pastrana,
and as she had been very friendly
in times past with the princess of Eboli,
wife of prince Ruy Gomez,
to whom Pastrana belonged,
she set out for that place
to find how she could have
the monastery she desired. [33]
There, in the monastery of S. Peter,
for that is its title,
she took the habit of our Lady [34]
not, however, with the intention
of becoming a nun
and making her profession,
for she never had any inclination
to be a nun,
because our Lord was leading her
by another way;
she thought
that if she were once under obedience
they would thwart her in her purpose
of living austerely and in solitude.
25. A vision of Fray Ambrosio Mariano.
25.
In the presence of all the friars
she received the habit
of our Lady of Carmel. [35]
Father Mariano was there at the time.
I have spoken of him before
in the story of these foundations, [36]
and he told me myself
that he fell into a trance or rapture
and lost all consciousness,
and saw while in that state
many friars and nuns lying dead;
some of them had their heads cut off, and
others their limbs and arms,
as having suffered martyrdom ;
for that is the meaning: of the vision.
He is
not a man to say
that he saw what he has not seen,
neither is he in the habit of falling
into a trance,
for that is not the way
by which God is leading him.
Pray to God, my sisters,
that the vision may be true, and
that we in our day may deserve
to behold so great a blessing,
and
be ourselves among the martyrs.
26. She returns to Madrid.
26.
In Pastrana the saintly Cardona
began to seek the means
of founding a monastery,
and in order to do so
went back to Madrid,
out of which she had gone away
with so much joy [37]
which was no slight torment to her;
and there she did not escape
trouble or
the tongue that speaketh evil,
for whenever she went abroad
she could not avoid the crowd;
it was thus wherever she was.
Some cut off pieces from her habit,
others from her mantle.
She went next to Toledo,
where she remained with our nuns.
All of them assured me
that there was about her
a fragrance as that of relics,
so strong
that it moved them
to give thanks to our Lord;
it clung even to her habit and her girdle
which she left behind,
for they took her habit from her
and gave her another;
and the nearer they came to her
the more strongly did they perceive it,
though her dress,
owing to the heat which then prevailed,
was of a kind to be offensive
rather than otherwise.
I know they would not say anything
that was not in every way tru ;
they had a great veneration for her.
At the court and other places
people gave her the means
to found the monastery,
and when she had the licence
it was founded. [38]
27. Her death and burial.
27.
The church was built
where her cave was,
and another was made for her
on one side having in it
a solid tomb.
There she remained both night and day
during the remainder of her life. [39]
That was not long
for she lived only about five years and a half
after the foundation of the monastery;
it seems supernatural,
and indeed so does her former life,
considering how severe it was.
She died in the year 1577,
as I find now. [40]
The solemnities of her burial
were very grand,
for a nobleman of the name of
Don Juan de Leon [41]
had a great veneration for her and
insisted on it.
She is now lying in a chapel of our Lady,
to whom she was so extremely devou t,
but only for a time,
till a larger church
than the one they have at present
shall be built,
as only fitting to contain her blessed body.
[42]
28. Dona Catalina wished to remove
to a more distant place.
28.
The monastery on her account
is a place of great devotion,
which still continues,
and so
is the whole neighbourhood,
especially on account
of the desert and the cave
where she lived.
Before she resolved
on building the monastery
I have been told on good authority
- that she used to be worn and wearied
at the sight of the great crowds
that came to see her,
- that she wanted to go to some other place
where nobody knew anything about her,
and
- that she sent for the hermit
who brought her thither
to take her away,
but he was then dead.
Our Lord,
who had ordained
that a house should be built there
for our Lady,
would not let her depart,
for I see, as I said before,
that He is greatly served there.
The friars are in marvellous dispositions,
and their countenances show plainly
what a joy they have
in being thus separated from the world,
especially the prior, [43]
- whom God had taken away
from many comforts
that he might wear the habit,
and
- whom He thus amply rewarded
by giving him
the comfort of His Spirit.
He showed me much affection there.
They gave us some of the furniture
of their church
for use in that which we were going to found;
for, as the saintly woman was held
in great respect
by so many persons of note,
their church was well supplied
with its furniture.
29. The Saint's reverence
for Dona Catalina.
29.
During my stay there
I was greatly comforted,
though to my exceeding great shame,
and the shame lasts, because I saw
that she
who there had borne so sharp a penance
was a woman like myself,
and more tenderly nurtured,
for she was of a nobler race,
and not so great a sinner as I am;
on this subject
there is no comparison possible between us,
for I received much greater graces
from our Lord in many ways,
and
that I am not this moment in hell
for my great sins
is a very great (grace) .
To follow in her steps,
if I can,
is my only comfort;
but that is not much (comfort)
for all my life has been wasted in desires;
as for works I have none. [44]
May God of His compassion succour me,
in whom I have always put my trust,
for the sake of His Most Holy Son
and the Virgin our Lady,
whose habit,
by the goodness of our Lord,
I wear !
30 Who appeared to her in a vision.
30.
One day after Communion
in that hallowed church
I became profoundly recollected,
and fell into a trance
in which my senses were withheld.
In that trance
I saw the holy woman
as a glorious body
by an intellectual vision.
There were angels with her;
she told me not to grow faint,
but strive to go on with these foundations.
I understand thereby,
though she did not say so expressly,
that she helped me before God.
She also told me something else,
but there is no reason
why I should repeat it here.
I was very much comforted,
and had a desire to labour;
and I hope,
in the goodness of our Lord,
that, with such good help as her prayers are,
I may be able to serve Him
in some measure.
You see now, my sisters,
that her troubles are over already,
and
that the bliss she is in
has no end.
Let us strive now
for the love of our Lord,
to follow this our sister:
hating ourselves as she hated herself,
we shall finish our journey,
for everything
passes rapidly away
and
comes to an end.
31. The Saint reaches Villanueva,
21st February 1580.
31.
On the first Sunday in Lent [45]
— it was the eve of the feast
of the Chair of S. Peter, and
the feast of S. Barbatian, 1580 —
we reached Villanueva de la Jara.
On that very day
the Most Holy Sacrament was brought
into the church of the Grlorious S. Anne
at the time of High Mass.
The whole municipality and
certain others with Doctor Ervias,
came forth to receive us,
and we alighted at the church of the town,
which is somewhat distant
from that of S. Anne.
32. Is received with great rejoicing.
32.
The joy of the people was so great
that it filled me with consolation
at beholding their pleasure
in receiving the Order
of the Most Holy Virgin our Lady.
When we were yet far away
we heard the ringing of the bells,
and on our entering the church
they began the Te Teum
one verse sung by the choristers
accompanied by the organ,
the other played on the organ.
That done they carried
the Most Holy Sacrament on a bier,
and on another our Lady,
with crosses and banners.
The procession moved on in great pomp;
we, in our white mantles, and faces veiled,
were in the middle
near the Most Holy Sacrament,
and
close to us
our barefooted friars,
who had come in great numbers
from their monastery; [46]
the Franciscans
— for there is a monastery
of S. Francis there —
went also,
and a Dominican who was in the place,
and though he was alone
it gave me pleasure to see that habit there.
33. Her humility.
33.
As the distance was great,
many altars had been raised.
The procession halted at times,
when something was sung about our order,
which moved me to great devotion: [47]
so also did it
to see
- that it was all in praise
of the great God there present,
and
- that so much was done
for us seven poor Discalced nuns
who were there.
Nevertheless, when I reflected upon it
I was filled with confusion,
remembering
- that I was among them, and
- that everyone there ought to have
turned against me
if they would but have treated me
as I deserve.
I have given you
at such length
this account of the honour done
to the habit of our Lady,
that you may
- give thanks to our Lord and
- beseech Him to make use
of this foundation,
for I have a greater joy
when a foundation is made
under persecution and with trouble,
and I speak of them the more willingly.
34. Penitential life in the house of S. Anne.
34.
It is true the sisters
who were already there
had been in trouble for nearly six years
— at least for more
than the five years and a half
which have gone by
since they went into this house
of the glorious S. Anne.
I do not speak of their poverty and toil
in earning their food,
for they never would ask alms;
the reason of that was
that they would not have their neighbours
think they were there
to be supported by them;
neither do I speak
of their great penance,
of their long fasts,
of their scanty food,
of their hard beds, and
of the small house
which, in the strict enclosure
they always observed,
was hard enough to bear.
What was hardest to bear,
they told me,
was the earnest longing they had
to put on the habit,
and which
was a most grievous torment
to them night and day,
for they thought they were never to wear it;
and accordingly
their constant prayer,
and that most frequently with tears,
was that God would bestow
that grace upon them.
When they saw any difficulty arise
they were distressed beyond measure,
and multiplied their penances.
They stinted themselves in their food,
that out of their earnings
they might have the means
of paying the messengers
who came to me, and
of showing what gratitude they could
in their poverty to those
who were able to help them in any way.
I see clearly myself
ever since I conversed with them
and saw how saintly they were,
that they must have obtained
their admission into the order
by their prayers and tears,
and so I looked on the possession
of such souls as these
as a much greater treasure
than a rich endowment,
and my hope is
the house will prosper greatly.
35. Piety of the recluses of S. Anne.
35.
When we entered the house
they were standing at the door within,
each of them dressed as usual,
for they were dressed as they were
when they first came,
and would never put on
the habit of beatas,
hoping for ours;
what they wore, however,
was most modest,
and
showed plainly how little thought
they had taken for themselves;
they were so poorly clad,
and almost all of them so thin,
as to show that they had been living
a most penitential life.
They received us
with tears of great joy,
and those tears were certainly not feigned.
Their great virtue shone forth
in their joy,
in their humility,
and
in their obedience
to the prioress and
to all those
who came to make the foundation;
they could not do enough to please them.
All the fear they had
was lest the nuns should go back
when they saw
their poverty and
the smallness of the house.
Not one of them had ever exercised
any authority over another,
but each one had
with great affection
laboured to the utmost of her strength.
Two of them,
and they were the eldest,
managed all their affairs when necessary;
the rest never spoke to anybody,
and would not do so.
The door of the house
had a bolt only, no lock,
and the eldest answered at it;
none of the others ventured near it.
They slept very little
that they might
earn their bread
and
not miss their prayer,
in which they spent many hours
— on festivals the whole day.
36. Their devotions.
36.
They directed themselves
by means of the books
of Fray Luis of Granada and
of Fray Peter of Alcantara.
Most of the time was spent
in saying the divine office
— they could hardly read it;
only one (of them could read well —
and that
in breviaries
that differed one from another;
some of these,
being of the old Roman form, [48]
had been given them
by certain ecclesiastics
who used them no longer,
others they had got anyhow,
and, as they did not know how to read,
they spent many hours upon them.
They did not say the office
where strangers could hear them;
God accepted their intention and toil,
but they must have said very little
that was correct.
When the father Fray Antonio of Jesus
began to know them
he made them say
the Office of Our Lady only.
They had an oven
in which they baked their bread,
and everything was orderly done,
as if they had some one to give directions.
The effect on me
was to make me give thanks to our Lord,
and
the more I conversed with them
the more glad I was
that I had come.
I believe that,
whatever difficulties I might have
had to undergo,
I should not have shrunk from them
to bring consolation to these souls. [49]
Those of my companions, who remained,
told me
that in the beginning, during the first days,
they were conscious
of a certain unwillingness
to live with them,
but that when they came to know them,
and saw how good they were,
they were very glad to stay,
and conceived a great affection for them.
Sanctity and goodness
can do great things.
37. The vocation of a Carmelite.
37.
The truth is,
those who came with me
were so good
- that, even if they met
with many difficulties and trials,
they would have borne all nobly
by the grace of our Lord,
for they desire to suffer in His service;
and
- that sister
who does not feel this desire
must not look upon herself
as a true Carmelite nun,
because the aim of our desires must be,
not rest
but suffering,
that we may in some measure
be like unto Him, our true Bridegroom.
May it please His Majesty
to give us His grace for that end !
Amen.
38. Origin of the hermitage of S. Anne.
38.
The hermitage of S. Anne
began in this way:
There lived here in Villanueva de la Jara,
an ecclesiastic
born in Zamora,
who had been a friar of the order
of our Lady of Carmel.
His name was Diego de Guadalajara;
he had a devotion to the glorious S. Anne,
and so he made this hermitage
close to his house, and
thereby had an opportunity of hearing Mass.
He went to Rome
because of this great devotion,
and obtained a bull for many indulgences
in this church and hermitage.
He was a pious and interior man.
He made a will
when he was dying,
and gave this house and all
that belongs to it
for a monastery of nuns
of our Lady of Carmel ;
and if that could not be done,
then for a chaplain
who was to say certain masses every week,
but that as soon as and whenever
the monastery should be founded
there should be no obligation
to say those masses.
For more than twenty years
the hermitage belongeci to the chaplain,
and the property was ruined,
for, though the women
took possession of the house,
they had nothing but the house.
The chaplain lived in another
belonging to the chapel,
which he will now give up to us
with the rest,
and that is very little;
but the compassion of God is so great
that He will not fail to befriend
the house of His glorious grandmother.
May it please His Majesty
to be ever served therein,
and
May all creatures praise Him
for ever and ever !
Amen.
J. H. S.
Foot Notes
|
[1]
Fray Jerome Tostado was
in Barcelona in March, 1576,
furnished with jurisdiction
over the whole order in Spain
(letter of 9th May 1576) ;
and
in Madrid 5th August,
he and Fray Jerome Gratian met.
The fathers of the mitigation had held
a chapter in Moraleja 12th May,
but into which they summoned three friars
only of the reform;
the rest were regarded as excommunicated
because their houses had been founded
without the permission of the father general
and ordered to be closed
by the General chapter.
Two of the three friars,
those from Pastrana and Alcala,
went to the nuncio Ormaneto for advice,
who told them to attend the chapter,
but to consent to nothing at variance
with their own usages.
The elections were over
when the two friars arrived;
the chapter decreed that there should be
no distinctions in the order hereafter,
the friars were to live together
in the practice of the same uses,
and the habits of all were to be alike.
In short, the reform of S. Teresa
was to be rooted out.
Fray Juan of Jesus,
prior of Mancera,
spoke for his brethren,
and told the assembled fathers
that their decrees would not be observed
in the houses of the reform
[ Reforma, bk. iii. ch. i].
Then, in August, Fray Jerome Tostado
attempted to use his powers
as vicar of the general;
but Fray Jerome Gratian confronted him
with the authority of the nuncio,
who, representing the Pope, had powers
which the general could not touch.
Tostado left for Portugal at the end
of the month,
and on 8th September 1576,
Fray Jerome Gratian,
as visitor by delegation of the nuncio,
held the chapter of Almadovar,
and severed the friars of the reform
from those of the mitigation.
Fray Antonio of Jesus
being chosen definitor.
This was the answer
to the chapter of Moraleja.
The next year, on the death of the nuncio,
Fray Jerome Tostado returned, and,
in the word: of the chronicler,
'unsheathed the sword of his power
in Madrid,'
by forbidding the further admission
of novices,
and commanding the friars
of the reform to be subject
to those of the mitigation.
He then summoned all in authority
among the reformed to attend him.
These for the most part hid themselves
In September 1577, S. Teresa
who had come to Avila in July
for the purpose of restoring
the monastery of S. Joseph to the order
— it had been founded under
the jurisdiction of the bishop —
implored the king, Philip II,
to protect the friars and nuns
of the reform.
The king placed the matter
in the hands of his council,
and thereupon the attorney-general
asked Fray Tostado to show his
authority before he proceeded further.
There was a lawsuit in due form,
and a conflict of jurisdictions,
in which the vicar,
as was to be expected,
lost his cause.
But the new nuncio was not afraid
of the council;
he therefore took up the question,
renewed some of the decrees
of the vicar,
and forbade further foundations.
Nevertheless, on the prayers
of the friars of the reform,
he said that the prohibition was
to be valid only where there were friars
of the mitigation already in possession.
He sent for Fray Jerome Gratian,
and asked him to give up his faculties
received from the former nuncio,
for it was on these that the friars relied,
but Fray Jerome forgot himself,
declined, and went to the king,
who told him to refuse
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxv.].
The vicar lost his cause
5th November 1577
(the Bollandists believe it was
in December, n. 1780),
and departed for Rome
[ ib. Ch. xxviii, i],
for the cause was only lost by the
intervention of the civil power,
and so far the friars of the mitigation
were not yet defeated.
___________________
[2]
See Foundations: ch. xxiv. i (note #4).
___________________
[3]
Valdemoro,
prior of the Carmelites of the mitigation
in Avila,
to the great scandal of the city,
in 1576,
removed S. John of the Cross
and Fray German of S. Mathias
from Avila,
where they were living in a small house
as confessors and chaplains
of the nuns of the Incarnation
(letter of 5th February 1576).
But the nuncio, Monsignore Ormaneto,
had the friars brought back from Medina,
whither Valdemoro had sent them,
and those of the mitigation
were forbidden by him
to meddle with the monastery
of the Incarnation.
After the death of Ormaneto
and the arrival of Monsignore Sega,
the new nuncio,
the observant friars took courage,
and on the night of 3rd December 1577,
seized on the confessors of the nuns
and hurried them away
secretly to prison.
S. Teresa appealed to Philip II
for help against persons
who had no authority
over the confessors,
or, at least, who had shown none.
(Letter of 4th December 1577.)
Fray Fernando Maldonado,
prior of Toledo,
had done this act of wrong,
and it was the more reprehensible
because the nuncio,
Monsignore Sega himself
had, if unwillingly, given orders
not to interfere with S. John of the Cross
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxvii. 2, 3].
Fray Fernando acted under the orders
of Fray Jerome Tostado, the vicar,
and took S. John of the Cross with him
to Toledo, where he shut him up
in a narrow cell,
into which the light entered
only by a loophole,
where his food was bread and water;
the whole community gave him
the discipline,
at first every night,
later on thrice in the week
and towards the end of his captivity
on Fridays only.
S. Teresa said she would rather see him
in the hands of the Moors
than in those of the friars
of the mitigation
(letter of 10th December 1577).
The king could give but little help,
for the friars of the mitigation,
however harsh and mistaken,
were within their rights,
and the authority of the nuncio
was on their side.
___________________
[4]
In October, 1577,
the nuns of the Incarnation in Avila
elected S. Teresa their prioress.
Some of the nuns opposed to the Saint
appealed against the election
to Fray Juan Gutierrez de la Madalena,
the provincial.
He came to the monastery,
by orders from Fray Jerome Tostado,
as he said,
and ignoring the election,
summoned the nuns to elect a prioress
from among the conventuals,
S. Teresa being of the number.
They obeyed him
and S. Teresa was chosen
[ Rejorma, bk. iv. ch. xxvi. 4.]
Fifty-five nuns voted for her,
but the provincial rejected the votes,
and declared those who gave them
excommunicated.
He came back another day,
and summoned the nuns to elect a prioress.
He was told by them
that they had made an election,
and when they were told by him
they were excommunicated,
forty-four nuns elected
Anne of Toledo,
but the others said
they would obey her only
as the deputy of the prioress.
That election was confirmed
by Fray Jerome Tostado.
(Letter of the end of October 1577.)
The nuns were for fifty days not allowed
to hear mass or communicate
with any outside the monastery,
and the latter prohibition was in force
so late as 16th January 1578.
This election added
to the trouble of the Saint, and
made both the friars of the mitigation
and the nuncio very angry with her.
____________________
[5]
Monsignore Philip Sega,
born at Bologna
and intimately befriended
with S. Charles Borromeo,
was bishop of Ripa Transona at this time,
translated the next year to Piacenza,
a most learned and admirable prelate,
but unhappily very much
under the influence of the Carmelites
of the mitigation,
and ill disposed towards the Saint
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxu. 2].
The Bollandists, n. 761,
say of him,
'Optime ac sanctissime gestis conspicuus'
and that he was made Cardinal
by Innocent IX
and died in Rome in 1596.
He was appointed nuncio In Spain
before the death of Ormaneto and
announced his arrival at Madrid
30th August 1577.
Master Johannes Franciscus Canobius,
apostolic notary,
having acted as internuncius.
_______________________
[6]
Fray Antonio of Jesus,
now that Fray Jerome
had resigned his authority,
took upon himself,
as the definltor elected in the chapter
of Almodovar held in August, 1576,
with the sanction of the late nuncio,
to call another chapter of Almodovar,
9th October 1578.
It is true he had the advice of lawyers.
To the chapter came, among others,
S. John of the Cross,
who had miraculously escaped
out of prison.
He, however, protested
against the proceedings,
but was overruled.
The friars erected the reform
into a separate province,
and chose Fray Antonio
as their provincial.
Fray Juan of Jesus arrived
before the fathers separated
and urged upon them the illegality of
what they had done,
but they shut him in a cell for a month
lest he should convince others
of their wrong.
They chose two fathers to go to Rome
to obtain the papal sanction.
One of them. Fray Pedro of the Angels,
was told by S. John of the Cross,
'You are going shoeless to Rome,
but you will return shod,'
as in fact he did,
for he returned to the mitigation,
notwithstanding the extreme austerity
of his life among the reformed.
The friars kept their doings secret
for a while,
but it was necessary
to let the nuncio know
what they had done.
He very naturally was angry,
and ordered the fathers to retire
into different monasteries.
Fray Antonio,
imprisoned at first in Madrid,
was sent to Roda;
and this is the banishment
to which the Saint refers
[ Rejorma, bk. iv.
ch. xxxi. xxxii. xxxiii. i ].
The Saint herself begged Fray Jerome
in a letter, 15th April 1578,
to remain quiet,
and abstain from attempting to do
what it was not lawful for them
to meddle with,
and advised recourse straightway
to the general of the order or
to the Pope himself.
________________
[7]
He was sent at first to Atocha,
a convent of the Dominicans,
but, as the king had a great affection
for him,
and might probably wish to see him,
the nuncio removed him to Pastrana,
probably at the end of the year,
for he was in Madrid,
13th November 1578
[ Reforma, bk. iv.
ch. xxxiii. and ch. xxxiv. 8, ad fin.].
_______________
[8]
He appointed
Fray Juan Gutierrez de la Madalena and
Fray Diego de Cardenas,
provincials respectively
of Castille and Andalucia,
with Fray Angel de Salazar,
prior of Valladolid,
all of the mitigated observance,
to be visitors of the friars and nuns
founded by S. Teresa,
and gave them power to bring them back
to the old usages of the order.
The decree was signed
16th October 1578
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxxvii. 3].
________________
[9]
When Fray Jerome Tostado was defeated
by the council,
the nuncio toolc the cause
into his own hands,
and commissioned friars of the mitigation
to visit the houses of the reformed,
revoking as he had a right to do,
22nd July,
the powers granted by the late nuncio
to Fray Jerome of the Mother of God
[ cf. Antonio of S. Joseph letter ].
In August, 1578, the visitors,
who were two fathers of the province
of Andalucia,
Agustin Suarez and Coria
—they had come to Madrid lOth July —
went to Pastrana to receive
the submission of
Fray Antonio,
Fray Jerome and
Fray Mariano.
For a moment the whole reform
of S. Teresa was in imminent danger,
for there were thoughts of resistance.
Fray Jerome happily took counsel
of a holy lay brother,
who advised absolute obedience.
This advice was taken,
as the friars yielded to the visitors,
and resigned into their hands
the faculties received
from the late nuncio.
The three fathers already named
went to Madrid and humbled themselves
before the new nuncio.
He, however, by way of penance,
forbidding them to hear or say mass
or to communicate with anybody,
relegated them to certain religious houses;
Fray Antonio to
that of the barefooted Franciscans,
Mariano
to Atocha, a convent of the Dominicans,
and
Fray Jerome
to the Carmel of Madrid.
The king's council at the same time
had ordered all the decrees
of the nuncio to be suppressed
by the civil power,
and the nuncio when he heard of it
believed that the friars were not sincere
in their submission;
hence the severity
with which he treated the three friars.
The nuncio sent for Fray Juan of Jesus,
to whom he spoke with great harshness
of S. Teresa herself.
These were his words:
— 'A restless gadabout woman —
femina inquieta, andariega —
disobedient and stubborn,
who under the cloak of devotion,
invented wicked opinion,
going about breaking enclosure,
contrary to the decree of
the Council of Trent
and
the orders of her superiors,
teaching as if she were a doctor,
in contempt of the teaching of S. Paul,
who commanded women not to teach
[Reforma, bk. iv.
ch.xxviii. XXX. 2].
_____________
[10]
Don Luis Hurtado de Mendoza,
count of Tendilla,
pleaded for the friars with the nuncio,
and, forgetting himself,
used unbecoming language.
Quitting the presence of the nuncio,
he went to Chumazero,
the attorney-general,
whom he persuaded to use the civil courts
in defence of the friars.
The issue was a decree of the council,
suspending the execution of the orders
of the nuncio
till the friars of the reform had a hearing.
Copies of this decree were sent
to the monasteries,
but all of them,
one only excepted, that of Granada,
declined the king's protection
in that form,
and submitted to the nuncio.
Granada had been founded
under difficulties,
and greatly befriended by the count;
three of the fathers, however,
left the house and
made their submission
to the vicar provincial of the observants
[Reforma , bk. iv. ch. xxxiii. 4].
The nuncio complained
of the count's behaviour
to the king,
who disapproved,
offered to rebuke the count,
and
ordered the president of the council,
Don Mauricio de Pazos,
bishop elect of Avila,
to convey his displeasure to him.
The president wrote to him,
for he had left Madrid, and
received a reply explaining his conduct.
The letter was shown to the king,
who was satisfied,
and requested Don Mauricio
to send it to the nuncio,
but not to let him know that he had seen it.
On his return to Madrid
the count called on the nuncio,
and again pleaded,
but in courteous language,
the cause of the persecuted friars,
who he said were,
in the opinion of all men,
more worthy of encouragement
than of the treatment
hitherto received by them.
The nuncio,
who was in good faith, and
who firmly believed
all he had heard against them,
told the count he should be glad
to have anybody
whom the king might appoint
as his assistants in the process,
for he had no interest to serve
but that of justice.
The count asked him
to put his offer in writing;
the nuncio did so at once,
and the count took away the paper,
which was immediately sent to the king.
Philip II was pleased,
and appointed
his chaplain
Don Luis Manrique,
his preacher the Augustinian
Friar Lorencio de Villavicencis,
the two Dominicans
Fray Hernando del Castillo
(also a royal preacher) and
Fray Pedro Fernandez,
provincial of Castille
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxxvi.].
_______________
[11]
Fray Pedro Fernandez
had made his former visitations
in great humility and charity,
travelling on foot.
When he was making the visit of Pastrana
he lived with the friars
and observed their rule.
It is, therefore, not to be wondered at
that S. Teresa trusted him.
__________________
[12]
The assessors found the nuncio
when they met,
1st April 1579,
under the dominion of prejudice,
and could not prevail upon him
to hear anything in defence of the friars,
whom he honestly believed to be
what their adversaries described.
Therefore they called for all the papers
he had received,
and these were produced,
for the nuncio felt
that they would amply justify
his previous acts.
They then called his attention to the fact
that there was nothing in them
but accusations
without a shadow of proof.
The nuncio saw at once
that he had been misled, and
that he had read the papers
in the light of the wrong information
given him by the Italian friars
before he left Rome,
who probably were themselves
innocently deceived.
He withdrew the faculties
he had given to the visitors
who had dealt so ruthlessly
with their brethren,
and appointed Fray Angel de Salazar
visitor, with strict orders
to save the reform and release it
from all subjection to the friars
of the observance.
The faculties of Fray Angel de Salazar
were signed 1st April 1579
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxxvii. 1-3].
____________________
[13]
Immediately on her arrival in Toledo,
in the month of June, 1576,
[ Yepes, ii. 29].
___________________
[14]
Among the many persons attracted partly
by curiosity and partly by veneration
round Dona Catalina de Cardona
there were four young ladies,
the daughters of pious and noble parents.
Their intention was to serve God
under the guidance of that holy anchoress,
but she would not consent to this,
and their brother, a priest,
as well as the parish priest of Villanueva,
advised them to lead the life of Beatas
while Dona Catalina foretold them
that one day they should found
a convent of Carmelite nuns.
A widow, mother of four daughters
who were animated by a similar purpose,
invited them to join her household,
and soon after another lady
was admitted into it as well.
The people of Villanueva
with the parish priest at their head
received them and led them in procession
to the hermitage of S. Anne
close to the house where the widow lived.
This happened in 1574.
Doctor Agustin Ervias,
canon of Cuenca,
who succeeded Juan de Rojas
as parish priest of Villanueva,
undertook to make
the necessary arrangements
with the municipality and
with Saint Teresa
for the new community
to be aggregated to her convents,
for which purpose
he despatched a messenger
who met her at Toledo,
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. iii. (# 2,3)
Oeuvrcs, iv. 99, note 2 ].
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
From another version:
Four young ladies went
to see Dona Catalina de Cardona
in her penance in the desert,
and were so moved of God at the sight
that they wished to follow her example.
That seemed beyond their strength,
and through their brother, a priest,
they obtained the advice of Don Juan le Rojas,
then parish priest of Villanueva de la Jara.
By his direction they lived together as religious,
and soon after a widow with four daughters,
knowing of their way of life,
came and joined them.
They sent word of all this to Dona Catalina
in the desert about the year 1572,
who comforted them by telling them
that they were to be the beginning
of a house of Cormel of the reform.
The municipality gave them the hermitage.
[Reforma de los Descalfos,
lib. v. ch. iii. §§ 2, 3].
[From: The book of the foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus,
written by herself,
Translated by David Lewis 1871 ]
_______________________
[15]
Don Agustin had been Canon of Cuenca;
wearied of that dignity,
he exchanged it for the parish church
of Villanueva
and Don Juan,
mentioned in the foregoing note,
became Canon of Cuenca
[ Ibid § 4].
[ ? Reforma, bk. v. ch. iii. iv]
____________________
[16]
See Foundations: ch. xxx. 1, note.
_________________________
[17]
See § 3 above.
The nuncio confined Fray Antonio at first
in the barefooted Franciscan monastery
of S. Bernardin in Madrid,
together with
Fray Gabriel of the Assumption.
But, as the latter was wanted
in his monastery of Roda,
the nuncio sent him back,
and with him Fray Antonio,
after a detention of some weeks in Madrid.
This was in the year 1578
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xxxiii. i, and
bk. v. ch. iii. 5].
_______________
[18]
Fray Gabriel of the Assumption
was a native of Pastrana;
his father, Juan de Buencuchillo, and
his mother, Ana Hernandez Ruiz,
were persons of great consideration
in the town.
Fray Gabriel was about to be married,
but gave up the world,
moved by our Lord,
at the ceremony of taking the habit by
Mariano of S. Benedict and
Juan de la Miseria,
in the chapel of Ruy Gomez, in 1569
(see ch. xvii. 13).
In the octave of the Assumption
of the same year
he took the habit himself,
being the third novice
who left the world
for the reform of S. Teresa.
He was prior of La Roda
during the troubles,
and died in 1584,
two years after the death of the Saint.
[ Reforma, bk. ii. ch. xxviii. 9 ;
ch. xxxvii. 6 ;
and bk. vi. ch. xxxiii).
_________________
[19]
This offer of Doctor Ervias
was made in 1580,
when the troubles of the order
were nearly over.
Fray Antonio had accompanied
the prior to Malagon,
to press the matter on the Saint
{Reforma, bk. v. ch. iii. 5).
_______________
[20]
The Saint had arrived in Malagon
25th November 1579.
She had gone from Toledo to Avila
in July, 1577,
where she remained
in the monastery of S. Joseph,
given to the (Carmelite) Order
by her
during the persecution,
till 25th April 1579,
when peace was restored.
She now visited the monasteries
and consolidated her work,
which had been grievously threatened,
and in some places shattered,
by the oppressive rule of the fathers
of the mitigation.
_______________
[21]
The Saint,
writing to Mother Mary of S. Joseph,
prioress of Seville,
1st February 1580,
says
- that Fray Angel de Salazar
had sent the permission
five days before, i.e. 28th January,
and
- that she meant to take with her
as sub-prioress,
Elvira of San Angelo,
professed in Malagon;
- that the prioress was to be from Toledo,
but she was then in doubt
whom she should choose.
[ Letter 272: etter 63 Vol 1 ed. Doblado]
according to a later edition by Lewis)
_________________
[22]
The Saint had a general procession
in the monastery
to obtain light for the purpose
of choosing the nuns.
With the Sister Elvira,
she took Anne of S. Augustine,
and then, going with them and
Anne of S. Bartholomew,
together with the friars
who came for her, to Toledo,
she took from that monastery
Maria of the Martyrs
whom she appointed prioress
—not Anne of the Mother of God,
as Ribera relates —
and Constance of the Cross
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. iii. 6].
___________________
[23]
The Saint, in a letter to
Fray Jerome of the Mother of God,
12th February 1580,
says
that the two friars were come
that day to Malagon, and
that they had brought with them
a carriage and a cart.
"Fray Antonio is come
in good health and fat;
trouble fattens this year, I think."
_______________
[24]
See Paragraph § 10 , above.
_______________
[25]
Her father was Don Ramon de Cardona,
descended from the royal house of Aragon,
and her mother was a near relative
of the princess of Salerno,
into whose house she was taken
on her father's death,
when she was but eight years of age.
She had a vision of her father in purgatory,
who told her that his release
would be the fruit of her penance.
Thereupon she at once began
to mortify and discipline herself
till she obtained her father's deliverance.
The princess of Salerno brought her
to Spain,
and, about the time
when S. Teresa was laying
the foundations of her reform.
Dona Catalina,
who was four years younger,
was moved to begin the life
of heroic austerity in the desert
of which the Saint here speaks.
When she was living in Valladolid
with the princess
she recognised the heretic
in the popular preacher Cazalla
when everybody else was running
after him.
On the death of the princess
she governed the household
for a time of Ruy Gomez,
and had also under her care
the prince Don Carlos and
his brother Don Juan of Austria.
The former she could not influence,
but for the latter
she had a most tender affection.
She led now a most austere life,
eating no flesh and
fasting four days in the week
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. i.-v.].
_______________
[26]
She had the advice and encouragement
also of S. Peter of Alcantara
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. iv. 10 ].
________________
[27]
Ruy Gomez went to visit an estate
he had just purchased, and
Dona Catalina begged she might
accompany him and the princess his wife.
Ruy Gomez consented,
and from his house in Estremera
she made her way, dressed as a man,
to the desert,
where she spent her life
in the service of God
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. v. 2, 3].
_______________
[28]
He was a priest Pina by name,
who, having visited
the holy places of Rome,
withdrew into the mountain of Vera Cruz,
near Old Alcala,
where he lived as a hermit,
much reverenced by all
for his sanctity and
the wisdom of his counsel.
He had some business with the prince
Ruy Gomez,
and that brought him into relations
with Dona Catalina,
whom he knew before in Madrid.
He approved of her resolution,
and then,
with Martin Alonzo,
a native of La Roda,
who had been chaplain of Ruy Gomez,
they set out, she in man's clothing,
before dawn, and
made their way to La Roda.
They found a cave for her,
and there left her
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. v.].
______________
[29]
His name was Benitez.
He and others knew that a hermit lived
somewhere in that country,
for he had been seen in the church
of Fuen Santa,
but none knew where he was living.
Dona Catalina had lived
three years in the cave
before Benitez found her
gathering herbs and roots for her support
[Reforma, bk. iv. ch. ix. i, 2].
________________
[30]
Friars of the order
of our Lady de la Merced,
founded for the ransom of captives
from the unbelievers
by S. Peter Nolasco
the first general, S. Raymond de Penafort,
and James I king of Aragon.
The fourth vow of the friars is,
that they will, if necessary,
deliver themselves up to the infidels
for the release of prisoners.
____________
[31]
One night when she was praying
she saw that the cave was crumbling,
for the earth had been loosened
by the moisture.
She tried to escape,
but was overwhelmed by the falling earth.
In the morning
she was
discovered half buried,
and
released,
and at the same time
were discovered also
her fearful instruments of penance.
The people cleared the cave,
and in doing so
made it larger,
and also protected it against the wet
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. x. 5].
_____________
[32]
The friars left Duruelo,
the first house,
and established themselves in Mancera,
11th June 1570.
The house in Pastrana was founded
a year earlier, 13th June 1569.
See ch. xiv. 8, note ;
ch. xvii. l3, note.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog Note:
As found on this blog
Foundations:ch. xiv: note #9
ch. xv11: Note # 19]
_____________
[33]
After the vision
she made inquiries about friars
such as she now understood
to be our Lord's will to send to La Roda,
and all were amazed at her questions.
A few days later
a poor man who had gone to Pastrana
came to her and said,
' Give me a reward;
I have seen your friars in Pastrana;
the prince Ruy Gomez
has built them a monastery there.'
She then wrote to the prince,
and he communicated the letter
to the friars.
Fray Ambrosio Mariano was sent
to the cave for her,
and brought her to Pastrana,
not without
much persuasion, and
some trouble in getting away
without the knowledge
of the neighbourhood.
On the 3rd of May 1571,
she came to Pastrana,
and the prince himself
with the duke of Gandia,
the successor of S. Francis Borja,
went out to meet her, with many others.
[Reforma, bk. iv. chs. xi. xii].
______________
[34]
She would have
the habit of a lay brother,
for she thought the life
of the Carmelite nuns
too soft for her,
and she was accordingly so clothed,
6th May,
by the Prior Fray Baltasar of Jesus (Nieto)
(Ihid., ch. xii. 5. 6).
_______________
[35]
6th May 1571.
______________
[36]
See ch. xvii. 5, note.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog Note:
see also Note #10 in this blog
_____________
[37]
She went to Madrid
accompanied by the fathers
Fray Pedro of the Apostles,
Fray Ambrosio Mariano, and the
Brother Juan de la Miseria.
As she had been in the habit
of giving her blessing to the people
who thronged around her in her cave,
so she continued to do in Madrid ;
and one day a zealous and good man
told the nuncio, Monsignore Ormaneto,
that he had seen a Carmelite lay brother
in a carriage with ladies,
giving his blessing like a bishop
to the people.
The nuncio sent for Fray Ambrosio,
whom he knew well,
and asked him who the brother was.
Fray Ambrosio told the whole truth,
but the nuncio would not be satisfied
— he must see the woman herself
and try her spirit.
Fray Ambrosio went for Dona Catalina
and took her to the nuncio;
she, as soon as she saw him,
gave him her blessing as usual,
but the nuncio was not pleased,
- asked the friar how he came
to bring her to his presence
in that dress,
and
- asked her what spirit it was
that made her bless the people
as if she were a bishop.
The two friars prostrated themselves
before the nuncio
and were silent,
and he,
touched by their humility,
bade them rise, and
by conversing with them
understood the matter,
and left Dona Catalina in peace,
asking her, however, to pray
for the success of the Catholic league
under Don Juan
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xiv. 4].
_____________
[38]
The licence
to make the foundation
was obtained for her by
the king from the provincial
of the mitigation, and
the visitor apostolic,
Fray Pedro Fernandez.
She received large presents
of vestments and vessels
for the celebration of mass,
which moved a grave ecclesiastic
to say to her
that woollen chasubles and leaden chalices
were well enough for poor friars.
She answered,
' You, a worm of the earth,
have a service of silver,
and want the King of kings
to be satisfied with lead.'
She left Madrid
in the beginning of March, 1572,
and in April
took possession of the place
where the new monastery
was to rise over the cave
which she had dwelt in for eight years
[Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xvi. 2, 3].
______________
[39]
In October, 1573,
at the earnest request
of a knight of S. James,
she left the cave on an errand of charity
to Madrid.
Don Gonzalo,
elder brother of the archbishop of Toledo,
was in danger of losing his life,
and she was to beg his pardon of the king,
who refused to listen to any one.
In this she was successful,
and set out for La Roda
in the beginning of the following year,
visiting the princess of Eboli in Pastrana,
who was already beginning
to be weary of the nuns.
Father Caspar de Salazar, S.J.,
sent by the Inquisition of Cuenca
to examine her spirit,
visited her in the cave,
and was
not only edified
but amazed
at what he saw and heard:
his report to the inquisitors
silenced all clamour
[Reforma, bk. iv. chs. xix., xx].
______________
[40]
The chronicler of the order says,
(bk. iv. ch. xx.)
- that she foretold her death,
which was to take place
within the octave of the Ascension,
and
- that she died 11th May 1577,
though others say
it was two years later.
Father Bouix says she died llth May 1577,
on the octave of the Ascension.
Now, in 1577 Ascension Day
fell on 16th May ;
but in 1578, it fell on the 8th,
and in that year 11th May
was within the octave.
Her body was afterwards
transferred to Villanueva.
_______________
[41]
the MS. says "Fray" Juan de Leon,
but Father Gratian rightly corrected this
by writing "Don"
adding, however,
that he believed (Don) Juan de Leon
would yet become a friar
since S. Teresa had given him this title.
____________________
[42]
In 1603 the monastery was removed
to Villanueva de la Jara,
and the friars took with them
the body of their foundress,
and three years afterwards,
when Fray Pedro of Jesus Maria was prior,
placed it in an honourable place
on the gospel side
[Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xx. 8].
_____________________
[43]
The prior of La Roda was
Fray Gabriel of the Assumption,
(see above, § 10, note.)
_____________________
[44]
See Relation iii. 12.
_____________________
[45]
21 St February 1580.
___________________
[46]
The monastery of our Lady of Succour,
La Roda.
__________________
[47]
Cantando muchos villancicos
a proposito de la venida tan deseada
de las religiosas
[ Yepes, ii. 30].
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog 's rough translation:
"Singing many hymns
pertaining to the coming
of the much longed-for Religious"
(the long awaited arrival of
St. Teresa and the Carmelite nuns)
___________________
[48]
At this time the breviary and missal
were corrected and reformed
by S. Pius V,
whereby the old books
became unserviceable.
The Saint calls them the ' old Roman '
to distinguish them from the new books,
and
to show that they had been used
by the secular clergy,
and were not the breviaries
of any religious order.
_________________
[49]
On the feast of S. Mathias,
25th February,
the Saint gave the habit
to the nine women
(see § 7)
who had shut themselves up
in the hermitage of S. Anne.
The sermon on the occasion
was preached by Fray Antonio of Jesus
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. iii. 10].
End of Chapter 28
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
