Foot Notes of Chapter 31
The Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
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Foot Notes:
[1]
In 1582 Easter Day fell on 15th April,
and the octave day was 22nd April;
xix in the text may be an error for xxii.
. . . . . . . .
Blog Note:
"The First Mass is Said 19 April 1582,
Octave of the Feast of the Resurrection"
If "Easter Day fell on 15th April",
the octave (8th day) would be
April 22 (xxii) not April 19th (xix)
________________
[2]
Don Christobal Vela,
son of the viceroy of Peru,
whose brother was S. Teresa's godfather.
The family belonged to Avila and
were befriended with S. Teresa's parents.
Don Christobal was
Bishop of the Canaries
from 1575 till 1579
when he was transferred
to the metropolitan See of Burgos
which he held till 1593.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 175, n. I. ]
__________________
[3]
The bishop was commissioned
to deliver the pallium
to the archbishop.
_____________
[4]
The archbishop was born in Avila
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. xxiv. 2].
___________________
[5]
Concil. Trident,
sess. xxv. ch. iii.,
de Regularibus et Monialibus;
nee de cstero similia loca erigantur
sine episcopi,
in cujus dioecesi erigenda sunt,
licentia prius obtenta.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog note: (Addition)
"nor shall any such places
be henceforth erected,
without the permission of the bishop,
in whose diocese
they are to be erected,
being first obtained."
Council of Trent:
Session 25
On Regulars And Nuns
Seventh Decree
Chapter 3
All Monasteries
save those herein excepted,
shall be able to possess real property:
the number of persons therein
to be determined
by the amount of Income, or of Alms.
No Monasteries, to be erected
without the Bishop's leave.
The holy Synod permits that henceforth
real property may be possessed
by all monasteries and houses,
both of men and women,
and of mendicants...(conditions listed)
But, in the aforesaid monasteries
amid houses, as well of men as of women,
whether they possess,
or do not possess, real property,
such a number of inmates
only shall be fixed upon
and be for the future retained,
as can be conveniently supported,
either out of the proper revenues
of those monasteries,
or out of the customary alms;
nor shall any such places
be henceforth erected,
without the permission of the bishop,
in whose diocese they are to be erected,
being first obtained.
______________________
[6]
Ch. xxix. 3.
______________________
[7]
See above, ch. xxix. 6.
_______________________
[8]
The patent authorizing S. Teresa
to make a foundation at Burgos
was written by the Provincial,
Father Jerome,
9th April 1581.
She received it at Palencia
before setting out for Soria.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 1 78 note and 492 ]
______________________
[9]
Probably Canon Juan Alonso Salinas.
His name appears in the deed
of the foundation,
dated 19th April 1582.
________________
[10]
In a letter, written in Soria
13th July 1581,
addressed to the
Canon Don Jerome Reinoso,
the Saint speaks of her distrust
of the archbishop.
______________________
[11]
See Foundations: ch. xxx. 12, note.
__________________
[12]
These were
Catherine of the Assumption and
Casilda of the Holy Angel
in Valladolid,
Mary of S. Joseph and
Isabel of the Trinity
in Palencia.
__________________
[13]
Saint Teresa writes repeatedly
'Don Alonso',
but Don Anselmo Salva
in his valuable article,
' Santa Teresa en Burgos'
[ El Monte Carmelo,
Burgos, 1906, p. 727 sqq.]
calls him with equal persistency
'Don Antonio Santo Domingo y Manrique',
procurador mayor.
On 4th November 1581,
he petitioned the town council
(ayuntamiento)
to consent to the foundation of a convent
projected by the celebrated
Teresa de Jesus.
The council commissioned him
and the regidor,
Don Hernan Ruiz de Castro
to wait upon the archbishop.
The latter evidently raised objections,
for on the 7th,
Don Alonso presented to the council
the following petition :
' Most illustrious sirs.
I, Catalina de Tolosa,
citizen of this town,
in order to show your lordships
that the convent of Discalced nuns
which Teresa of Jesus intends to erect,
shall be duly provided for,
promise,
for the glory of our Lord and
the utility of the common weal
of this town,
to give them a house wherein to live,
and
to provide for their livelihood
if there be any need for it.
I submit therefore that
in order to carry out so holy a work
it will suffice for your lordships
to grant your consent
which I pray you to give
for you will thereby
render great service to our Lord
and
bestow a benefit on this republic,
and
to me you will show great favour,
and
your lordships will secure
their continual prayers for
the peace and welfare of the city.'
After due deliberation the council passed
the following resolution:
'Whereas the council
have considered
the said letter and petition and
have heard the relation
of the said gentlemen
as to what is customary in similar cases,
it is resolved
that it will be for
the public benefit of this town
and
the common welfare
that the said convent be
established
and exist
and remain
in this town,
their lordships giving their consent
and agreeing that it be done
as the petition says,
and
therefore they have given and
hereby give their consent in due form.'
____________________
[14]
It appears from a letter dated Soria,
14th July 1581,
that the Provincial
Fray Jerome of the Mother of God,
had even laid his commands on the Saint
in the matter,
and
that she was therefore not to travel
in the winter to Burgos.
________________
[15]
Agnes of Jesus (de Tapia).
___________________
[16]
La Orden de los Vitorinos.
In Spain the Minims
of S. Francis de Paula
are called ordinarily frailes Vitorios.
She received the letters
only on 29th November.
__________________
[17]
Perhaps of the reform of the venerable
Mateo de la Fuente
(see ch. xvii. 7, note),
whom Gregory XIII had made subject
to one general in 1579
_______________
[18]
See before, § 11
_______________
[19]
The Saint went from Avila
on Monday, 2nd January 1582,
and arrived in Medina del Campo
on Wednesday the 4th,
staying there till Monday the 9th,
when she started for Valladolid
(Letter of 8th January 1582).
She was detained for four days
in Valladolid by illness,
but reached Palencia
on Monday the 16th,
intending to leave
on the Friday following
if the weather should be favourable
(Letter of 1 6th January).
Fray Jerome, the provincial,
came, it seems, from Salamanca,
having two friars with him —
one Fray Pedro of the Purification
[ Yepes, ii. 34]
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. xxv. 5];
the other may have been a lay brother.
________________
[20]
The nuns went to confession,
and then,
asking their mother to bless them,
recited the Credo.
The Saint,
though not wholly without fear,
looked cheerful, and
insisted on going on
first of all before the rest,
charging them,
if she were drowned,
to return.
She went on,
and the rest followed in safety
[ Ribcra, iii. 13].
On entering the waters
the Saint heard our Lord say to her,
'Fear not, my daughter;
I am here '
[ Yepes, ii. 34].
_________________
[21]
The Saint took Tomasina of the Baptist,
niece of Teresa de Layz
from Alba de Tormes;
from Valladolid,
Catherine of the Assumption,
daughter of Dona Catalina de Tolosa,
and
Catherine of Jesus.
From Palencia
the Saint took
Ines of the Cross,
having left Avila
with her constant companion
the Venerable Anne of S. Bartholomew,
with another lay sister,
Mary of the Baptist,
who was to remain in Burgos.
She also took with her
Teresa of Jesus,
her own niece,
who with Anne of S. Bartholomew
was to return with her to Avila.
Sister Tomasina was made prioress, and
Catherine of Jesus, from Valladolid,
sub-prioress
[ Reforma, bk. v.
ch. xxv. 4; and ch. xxvi, 5].
_______________
[22]
The Saint had spoken
of him before, and
of his election
(see ch. xxix. 24),
but it is probable
that her meaning is
that she had not done so
in this chapter
and the one immediately preceding,
which it is not unlikely were written
some time after ch. xxix.,
which when she had ended,
she may have regarded
as the last of her book.
See the next note.
_______________
[23]
It appears from this
that the Saint wrote this chapter
about three months before her death.
On the 3rd of August
the sore throat was gone,
as she says in a letter
to the prioress of Burgos.
______________
[24]
El Santo Crucifijo.
The celebrated crucifix of Burgos
in the church of the Augustinian friars
outside the gates of the city,
near the bridge of S. Mary.
It is now in a chapel of the Cathedral.
____________________
[25]
See Foundations: ch. xxix. 10.
______________
[26]
Don Pedro Manso,
afterwards bishop of Calahorra,
and mentioned by the Saint
(Paragraph § 22),
in his deposition in the process
of the Saint's beatification
[ Fuente, Obras, vi. 182, 4],
said that he visited her
in the house of Dona Catherine,
when ill in bed, unable to rise;
there was a window in her room
opening into the corridor,
which window had a grating,
and a curtain behind it
as in a monastery.
He spoke to her,
but saw her not,
and adds that, going to see her
in the conviction
that she was a great Saint
and friend of God, '
Conturbata sunt viscera mea,
et inhorruerunt pili carnis meet
through fear and reverence ;
and from that time forth
I am fully persuaded
that the Mother Teresa of Jesus
must have been a great pillar
of the Church of God.'
___________________
[27
These words though
in Don Vicente's transcript,
are not in the original MS.
but were inserted in the first printed edition.
__________________
[28]
See § 13.
____________________
[29]
In the university of Alcala de Henares
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch, xxvi. 7.]
___________________
[30]
The Saint had a great respect
for the Canon Manso,
chose him for her confessor,
and even gave him
her books to read, and
told him that he would be a bishop
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. xxv. 7].
His nephew Don Pedro Manso,
president of the royal council
and patriarch of the Indies,
in his deposition,
taken in the process o
f the Saint's beatification
(Fuente Obras, vi. 189, 7,)
where it is more accurately given
than in the chronicle,
says that his uncle Dr Manso,
afterwards the bishop of Calahorra,
heard the confession of the Saint,
and always on his return home
would say,
'Blessed be God, blessed be God !
but I would rather dispute
with all the theologians in the world
than with this woman.'
___________________
[31]
See above, § 11 .
_______________
[32]
Similar words in Relation, ix. 4.
_______________
[33]
He had to preach in Valladolid
during Lent
[Reforma, bk. v. ch. xxvii. I. ]
See § 29).
___________________
[34]
Founded by Don Diego de Bernuy
and handed over to the
Confraternity of the Conception,
1st July 1562.
It is situated in the suburb of Vega.
Part of it remains exactly
as S. Teresa knew it.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 199, note 1. ]
_______________
[ 35]
See above, § 8.
___________
[36]
Dona Catalina had promised
to leave her property after her death
to certain fathers
who had the direction of her conscience,
and these now filled her soul
with scruples in relation to
what she was doing for S. Teresa;
and thus between her confessors
and the Saint,
her life was very wretched.
__________________
[37]
God rewarded Catalina de Tolosa
even in this life, for
two sons
and five daughters
were called to the Order,
and finally,
after having offered up to Him
seven children,
she,
like the mother of the Macchabees,
made a sacrifice of herself.
(She entered the Carmel Convent
at Palencia)
Catherine of the Assumption,
the eldest daughter,
professed at Valladolid,
22nd August 1579,
became foundress and five times prioress
of the convent of Rioseco
where she died,
20th September 1616.
Casilda of S. Angelus
had accompanied her sister
to Valladolid and
took her vows on the same day
as the former.
She eventually was elected prioress there,
and died 2nd October 1632.
Mary of S. Joseph
took the habit at Palencia,
made her profession
22nd April 1582,
and died at Tarazona,
21st July 1613.
Isabel of the Blessed Trinity
took the habit and
was professed
together with her sister.
She never left Palencia
until her death
which occurred 8th October 1633.
The book of profession contains
the following notice in the handwriting,
and with the signature
of Father Jerome Gratian:
' On the 22nd of April 1582
(was professed)
Sister Mary of S. Joseph
who in the world was called
Maria de Muncharaz,
legitimate daughter of
Sebastian de Muncharaz and
Catalina de Tolosa,
citizens of Burgos ;
She gave 800 ducats in alms
to this convent of S. Joseph,
and renounced her share in both
her paternal and maternal inheritance
in favour of the convent
of Discalced nuns at Burgos
if ever it be founded, and
if not, or
if that convent had 500 ducats per annum
independently of her inheritance,
in favour of this convent of Palencia.'
The same notice occurs immediately
after with respect to her sister,
Isabel of the Blessed Trinity.
From this it will be seen
that Catalina de Tolosa
must have been very rich.
The fifth daughter to take the habit was
Elenita (Helena of Jesus)
who received it
from the archbishop himself
in presence of S. Teresa,
but did not make profession
until 25th June 1586.
The elder son of Dona Catalina,
Fra Sebastian of Jesus,
entered the Order at Pastrana in 1585.
He distinguished himself
as lecturer, preacher and administrator,
rising from one dignity to another,
inclusive of those of provincial and
definitor general
which he held at the time of his death.
The second son, Lesmes,
afterwards Fra John Chrysostom,
was only thirteen
when he took the habit, in 1587;
he became a celebrated professor
at Salamanca, and died at Palencia.
Another child, Beatriz,
having died in infancy.
Dona Catalina joined her two daughters
at Palencia in 1587,
being then forty years old.
She gave unmistakable proof
of humility and obedience
when her own daughter was prioress
and her son provincial;
she also showed her wisdom
and experience during three years
she held the office of prioress.
She died at Palencia 13th July 1608.
________________
[38]
He had been a fellow student
of Father Gratian at Alcala,
and was now a physician in Burgos,
and a great friend of the Saint:
he told her
that if the house could not be paid for
by the community at once
he would pay the money himself,
and keep the house
should they not be satisfied with it.
[ Reforma, bk. v. ch. xxvi. 2].
_______________
[39]
The house belonged then
to Don Manuel Francis
and his wife Dona Angela Mansino,
and was called Casa de Mansino.
A former proprietor,
noted for his evil life,
had died in it without the sacraments
and the house had the reputation
of being haunted, and
was therefore shunned.
Even after the nuns moved into it,
strange noises were often heard
which only ceased
when the Blessed Sacrament was reserved
[ Oeuvres, iv. 205, note i].
____________
[40]
Don Diego Ruiz de Ayala
who held a chaplaincy at the Cathedral,
with him was
Don Martin Perez de Rozas,
also a chaplain.
[ Oeuvres , Ic]
___________
[41]
In point of fact the deed shows
that the purchase took place
on the 12th,
and its ratification on the 16th;
in a letter to father Mariano,
dated 18th March 1582,
the Saint tells him
that the house has been bought.
Perhaps the deed was delivered on the 18th.
It will be found in Oeuvres iv. 512.
On the 16th Saint Teresa had already
given power to Father
Peter of the Purification
to take possession of the house
which he did without delay
as appears from a document
signed by him on the same day
[Oeuvres, I. c. 516, 518].
The conditions of the purchase
were unusually onerous,
inasmuch as one half of the sum
agreed to had to be paid
within four months
and the second half
after another four months,
instead of a whole year being allowed
for finding the money.
_______________
[42]
The house was sold to the saint
for thirteen hundred ducats,
and
Dona Catalina de Tolosa
paid one-third of the money at once.
[ Reforma, bk. V. ch. xxvi. 2].
______________
[43]
The obstinacy of the arclibishop
was the more galling to the Saint
because there was a chapel in the house
in which Mass had been said
for fourteen years
while it was in the possession of the Jesuits
(Letter of 18th March 1582).
The Saint and her sisters heard Mass
in the parish church of S. Luke
afterwards the church
of the Augustinian nuns.
________________
[44]
The authorization is dated 18th April,
and
the first Mass was said
on the next morning.
In a letter of 13th April, the Saint thanks
the bishop of Palencia for his intervention.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog Addition:
The Saint, in a letter
sent to the bishop of Palencia,
April 13, 1582,
said that the first mass was to be said
on the last day of Eastertide,
which would be April 22nd.
Yepes and the chronicler say
it was said April 9,
and Ribera on the 13th.
The heading of the chapter and
the letter agree in placing the blessing
of the church on Low Sunday,
and though difficulty is made
by the statement
that the octaves of Easter fell
in 1682 on the 19th,
instead of on the 22nd day of April.
[ Book of Foundations
Teresa of Jesus
transl. by D. Lewis 1871 ]
________________
[45]
Fray Juan de Arcediano,
Prior of the Dominican convent
of San Pablo.
In 1610,
being then prior
of Santo Tomaso at Avila
he gave evidence in the process
of beatification,
mentioning the fact of his having said
the first Mass at the Carmelite convent,
at which the archbishop assisted, and
having reserved the Blessed Sacrament.
He also speaks of his acquaintance
with the Saint
during her sojourn in Burgos.
[ Oeuvres, iv. 217, note. ]
________________________
[46]
See Life, ch. xxx. 24; and
The Way of Perfection, ch. xix. 4.
and
Interior Castle M. vi.,
ch. xi., 5.
and
Excl. IX. I.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blog addition:
S. John iv. 7.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria,
to draw water.
Jesus saith to her: Give me to drink...
13 Jesus answered, and said to her:
Whosoever drinketh of this water,
shall thirst again;
but he that shall drink of the water
that I will give him,
shall not thirst for ever:
14 But the water that I will give him,
shall become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into life everlasting.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exclamations,
or Meditations of the Soul on its God
EXCLAMATION IX.
1. O compassionate and tender Sovereign
of my soul,
Who dost also say:
"If any one thirst,
let him come to Me,
and I will give him to drink !
How parched with thirst
must men be
who are inflamed with covetousness
for miserable earthly goods !
Urgent is their need of this water,
lest they be totally consumed.
_________________
[47]
The Saint omits here to speak
of the inundation of Burgos
on 24th May,
which placed the convent and its inmates
in imminent danger.
_______________
[48]
See Letter of 10th March 1582.
_______________
[49]
Helena of Jesus,
the youngest of the daughters,
who were all Carmelite nuns.
The Saint calls her,
' my Gordilla (plump) '
in a letter to the prioress,
written in Palencia 9th August.
______________
[50]
Dona Beatriz del Arceo y Covarrubias,
widow of Don Hernando Venero,
a gentleman at the court of Philip II.
She made her profession 24th May 1583,
and was afterwards mistress of novices
and prioress of Vitoria.
Her name in religion was Beatriz of Jesus.
_______________
[51]
Here ends the Book of the Foundations
— then a blank leaf;
after which the passage following.
_____________
[52]
In the Life, see chs. xxxii-xxxvi.
_______________
[53]
The Saint more than once
calls attention to the fact
that her memory was not good.
In this instance she is probably in error,
for the monastery of S. Joseph
was founded in August 1562,
and the transfer of the jurisdiction
from the bishop to the order
was made in August 1577.
The Saint therefore
made a mistake of two years.
The change was made
after the Saint had fallen into disgrace
with the general of the order,
and during the severe persecution
she underwent
from the friars of the mitigation,
who, though they saw the Saint
deprive herself of a house of refuge
— for they could not have touched her
in her own house of S. Joseph
in Avila —
waged war against her to the end
and nearly destroyed the reform.
________________
[54]
See Life, ch. xxxiii. i8.
_____________
[55]
Don Alonso Velasquez,
afterwards archbishop of Compostella
(see Foundations: ch. XXX. 1 note).
_____________
[56]
The bishop consented
to the transfer of the jurisdiction
on the condition
- that he was to continue the patron
of the chancel of the church,
and
- that he was to be buried there
wherever he might be
when he died.
[ Reforma, bk. iv. ch. xvi. 3].
See a document concerning the change
in El Monte Carmelo,
Burgos, 1910, p. 728.
|
End of Chapter 31 Foot Notes
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
