by ST. TERESA OF AVILA
Translated & Edited
by E. ALLISON PEERS
from the Critical Editon of
P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.
.
.
PROLOGUE J. H. S. The sisters of this Convent of Saint Joseph, knowing that I had had leave from Father Presentado Fray Domingo Banes, [9] of the Order of the glorious Saint Dominic, who at present is my confessor, to write certain things about prayer, which it seems I may be able to succeed in doing since I have had to do with many holy and spiritual persons, have, out of their great love for me, so earnestly begged me to say something to them about this that I have resolved to obey them. I realize that the great love which they have for me may render the imperfection and the poverty of my style in what I shall say to them more acceptable than other books which are very ably written by those who [10] have known what they are writing about. I rely upon their prayers, by means of which the Lord may be pleased to enable me to say something concerning the way and method of life which it is fitting should be practised in this house. If I do not succeed in doing this, Father Presentado, who will first read what I have written, will either put it right or burn it, so that I shall have lost nothing by obeying these servants of God, and they will see how useless I am when His Majesty does not help me. My intent is to suggest a few remedies for a number of small temptations which come from the devil, and which, because they are so slight, are apt to pass unnoticed. I shall also write of other things, according as the Lord reveals them to me and as they come to my mind; since I do not know what I am going to say I cannot set it down in suitable order; and I think it is better for me not to do so, for it is quite unsuitable that I should be writing in this way at all. May the Lord lay His hand on all that I do so that it may be in accordance with His holy will; this is always my desire, although my actions may be as imperfect as I myself am. I know that I am lacking neither in love nor in desire to do all I can to help the souls of my sisters to make great progress in the service of the Lord. It may be that - this love, - together with my years and - the experience which I have of a number of convents, will make me more successful in writing about small matters than learned men can be. For these, being themselves strong and handing other and more important occupations, do not always pay such heed to things which in themselves seem of no importance but which may do great harm to persons as weak as we women are. For the snares laid by the devil for strictly cloistered nuns are numerous and he finds that he needs new weapons if he is to do them harm. I, being a wicked woman, have defended myself but ill, and so I should like my sisters to take warning by me. I shall speak of nothing of which I have no experience, either in my own life or in the observation of others, or which the Lord has not taught me in prayer. A few days ago I was commanded - to write an account of my life - in which I also dealt with certain matters concerning prayer. It may be that my confessor will not wish you to see this, for which reason I shall set down here some of the things which I said in that book and others which may also seem to me necessary. May the Lord direct this, as I have begged Him to do, and order it for His greater glory. Amen. _____________________________________ Foot Notes: [9] The words "Fray Domingo Banes" are crossed out, probably by P. Banez himself. T. has: "from the Father Master Fray Domingo Banez, Professor at Salamanca." Banez was appointed to a Chair at Salamanca University in 1577. [10] The pronoun (quien) in the Spanish is singular, but in the sixteenth century it could have plural force and the context would favour this. A manuscript note in V., however (not by P. Banez, as the Paris Carmelites-- Oeuvres, V, 30--suggest), evidently takes the reference to be to St. Gregory, for it says: "And he wrote something on Job, and the Morals, importuned by servants of God, and trusting in their prayers, as he himself says." _____________________________________ [5] With few exceptions, the footnotes to the Way of perfection are the translators. Square brackets are therefore not used to distinguish them from those of P. Silverio, as elsewhere. Ordinary brackets, in the footnote translations, are placed round words inserted to complete the sense. [6] This title, in St. Teresa's hand, appears on the first page of the Valladolid autograph (V.) which, as we have said in the Introduction, is the basis of the text here used. The Escorial autograph (E.) has the words "Treatise of the Way of Perfection" in an unknown hand, followed by the Prologue, in St. Teresa's. The Toledo copy (T.) begins with the Protestation. [7] These lines, also in St. Teresa's hand, follow the title in the Valladolid autograph. P. Banez added, in his own writing, the words: "I have seen this book and my opinion of it is written at the end and signed with my name." Cf. ch. 42, below. . |
CHAPTER 1
- Of the reason which moved me
to found this convent
in such strict observance.
When this convent was originally founded,
for the reasons set down in the book
which, as I say, I have already written, and also
because of certain wonderful revelations
by which the Lord showed me
how well He would be served in this house,
it was not my intention
that there should be so much austerity
in external matters,
nor that it should have no regular income:
on the contrary,
I should have liked there to be
no possibility of want.
I acted, in short,
like the weak and wretched woman
that I am,
although I did so with good intentions and
not out of consideration for my own comfort.
At about this time there came to my notice
the harm and havoc
that were being wrought in France
by these Lutherans and the way
in which their unhappy sect was increasing. [11]
This troubled me very much,
and, as though I could do anything,
or be of any help in the matter,
I wept before the Lord and
entreated Him to remedy this great evil.
I felt that I would have laid down
a thousand lives
to save a single one of all the souls
that were being lost there.
And, seeing that I was
a woman, and
a sinner, [12] and
incapable of doing all I should like
in the Lord's service,
and as my whole yearning was,
and still is,
that, as He has
so many enemies and
so few friends,
these last should be trusty ones,
I determined to do the little
that was in me--
namely,
to follow the evangelical counsels
as perfectly as I could, and
to see that these few nuns
who are here should do the same,
confiding in the great goodness of God,
Who never fails to help those
who resolve to forsake everything
for His sake.
As they are all
that I have ever painted them
as being in my desires,
I hoped that their virtues would
more than counteract my defects,
and I should thus be able
to give the Lord some pleasure,
and all of us,
by busying ourselves in prayer
for those who are defenders of the Church, and
for the preachers and learned men
who defend her,
should do everything we could
to aid this Lord of mine
Who is so much oppressed by those
to whom He has shown so much good
that it seems as though these traitors
would send Him to the Cross again and
that He would have nowhere
to lay His head.
Oh, my Redeemer,
my heart cannot conceive this
without being sorely distressed!
What has become of Christians now?
Must those who owe Thee most
always be those who distress Thee?
Those to whom Thou doest the greatest kindnesses,
whom Thou dost choose for Thy friends,
whom Thou dost choose for Thy friends,
among whom Thou dost move,
communicating Thyself to them
through the Sacraments?
Do they not think, Lord of my soul,
that they have made Thee endure
more than sufficient torments?
It is certain, my Lord,
that in these days withdrawal from the world
means no sacrifice at all.
Since worldly people have so little respect for Thee,
what can we expect them to have for us?
Can it be that we deserve
that they should treat us any better
than they have treated Thee?
Have we done more for them
than Thou hast done
that they should be friendly to us?
What then?
What can we expect--
we who,
through the goodness of the Lord,
are free from that pestilential infection,
and do not,
like those others,
belong to the devil?
They have won severe punishment at his hands
and their pleasures have richly earned them
eternal fire.
So to eternal fire they will have to go, [13]
though none the less it breaks my heart
to see so many souls travelling to perdition.
I would
the evil were not so great and
I did not see more being lost every day.
Oh, my sisters in Christ!
Help me to entreat this of the Lord,
Who has brought you together here
for that very purpose.
This is your vocation;
this must be your business;
these must be your desires;
these your tears;
these your petitions.
Let us not pray for worldly things, my sisters.
It makes me laugh, and
yet it makes me sad,
when I hear of the things
which people come here to beg us
to pray to God for;
we are to ask His Majesty
to give them money and
to provide them with incomes--
I wish that some of these people
would entreat God to enable them
to trample all such things beneath their feet.
Their intentions are quite good,
and I do as they ask
because I see that they are really devout people,
though I do not myself believe
that God ever hears me
when I pray for such things.
The world is on fire.
Men try to condemn Christ once again,
as it were,
for they bring a thousand false witnesses
against Him.
They would raze His Church to the ground--
and are we to waste our time
upon things which,
if God were to grant them,
would perhaps bring one soul less to Heaven?
No, my sisters, this is no time
to treat with God
for things of little importance.
Were it not necessary
to consider human frailty,
which finds satisfaction
in every kind of help--
and it is always a good thing
if we can be of any help to people--
I should like it to be understood
that it is not for things like these
that God should be importuned
with such anxiety.
_________________________________
Foot Notes:
[11] French Protestantism
which had been repressed during the reigns of
Francis I and Henry II,
increased after the latter's death in 1559,
and was still doing so at the time of the
foundation of St. Joseph's.
[12] Lit.: "and bad."
[13] All se lo hayan.
"And serve them right!"
"And serve them right!"
would, in most contexts,
be a more exact rendering of this colloquial
phrase, but there is no suspicion of
Schadenfreude here.
___________________
- End of Prologue and Chapter 1 - |
