Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Book of the Foundations ~ St. Teresa of Avila ~ Teresa of Jesus: The Book of the Foundations - Discussion of Chapter 23 - St. Teresa of Avila

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Book of the Foundations - Discussion of Chapter 23 - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus

The Book of the Foundations

of S. Teresa of Jesus

of the Order of our Lady of Carmel

Discussion of Chapter 23

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.

Discussion of Chapter 23

█ Summary

The chapter headings of Chapters

23, 24, 25, and 26

refer to the foundation at Seville

( 29th May 1575).

     This chapter, however, does not
   include the account of Seville.
   It describes Fr. Jerome Gratian,

Fr. Jerome of the Mother of God.

▀ Fr. Jerome Gratian

■ He became a Carmelite Friar of the Reform

■ He received the Carmelite habit at Pastrana

■ St. Teresa first met him in Beas

■ His work for the Carmelite Order

and the Reform

■ His Carmelite Vocation and

His Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

▀   Fr. Jerome Gratian

   ▪ "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."

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note #2 ]

▪ "and was ordained priest in 1569."

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note #2 ]

▪ "When he had taken his doctor's degree

he wished to enter the Society of Jesus,

and was accepted,

but...was required to wait..."

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23: #2 ]

■ He became a Carmelite Friar of the Reform

"Gratian took great pleasure

in learning everything

   about the (Carmelite) order

and

in consulting weighty authors

thereupon"

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23: #3 ]

"Jerome Gratian,

then a secular priest,

   preach a sermon in which he spoke

of the antiquity of the (Carmelite) order,

   and

of the many saints it had given

to the church of God".

[ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note: #3 ]



▪ " The prioress of Pastrana suggests

   to him to become a friar"

"Arrived in Pastrana,

   he went to speak to the prioress

about the reception of the nun

   who was to take the habit"

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23: #7 ]

     "...he was asked to go to Pastrana

to make arrangements with the prioress

of the monastery of our order...

about the reception of a nun.

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #4 ]

   The prioress was

   "Isabel of S. Dominic,"

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note: #5 ]

"the prioress told him

to pray to our Lord

that he might enter the order himself."

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #7 ]

   "It was with the prioress...

   she felt an immense desire

that he should enter the order"

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #8 ]



"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"



   He "...determined to

become the subject of the Virgin,

and

     put on her habit"

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #9 ]

   ■ He received the Carmelite habit at Pastrana

(25th March 1572)."



   "Fray Jerome took the habit,

   without returning to Alcala,

on the feast of the Annunciation,

     25th March 1572,

and was professed

   28th March 1573.

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note: #8 ]

     ■ St. Teresa first met him in Beas

"He came to Veas in April, 1575"

[ Foundations: Ch. 23:

Foot note: #2 ]

  "When I was staying

   in the town of Veas...

   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,

   who, living in Alcala

a few years before,

had taken our habit."

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #1 ]

   (Although according to chapter 24,

   it seems she had had prior

   communications with him by letters. )

■ His Work for the Carmelite Order

   and the Reform

"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 (Teresa)"

[ Foundations: Ch. 24:

Foot note: #2 ]

   "Our Lord sent the father-master

Fray Jerome of the Mother of God

   to our relief,

for he was made commissary apostolic

   and had to rule and govern

   both the friars and the nuns

of the barefooted Carmelites.

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #13 ]

and on the 4th of August following

(in 1573)

   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."

   [ Foundations: Ch. 24:

Foot note: #1 ]



   "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.

   [ Foundations: Ch. 24:

Foot note: #14 ]

■ His Carmelite Vocation and

   His Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

"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 (allow)

   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."

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #4 ]



"As a boy in Madrid

he used often to go

   to an image of our Lady

to which he had a great devotion...

He used to address her as his love...

.

   She must have obtained

   from her Son for him

   that purity in which he always lived.

   He says

that he saw her eyes sometimes...

   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."

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23: #5 ]

   "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"

[ Foundations: Ch. 23: #6 ]

"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.

   [ Foundations: Ch. 23: #13 ]

.

End of the Discussion

of Chapter 23

of the

Book of the Foundations

of S. Teresa of Jesus

of the Order of our Lady of Carmel

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Book of the Foundations - Discussion of Chapter 23 - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus

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