Life of St Teresa of Jesus | Page 5

convent a receipt for her bedding, habit and discipline. This
almost ludicrous scrupulosity was in conformity with a decision of the
general chapter of 1342 which said: Ingrediens ordinem ad sui ipsius
instantiam habeat lectisternia pro se ipso, sin autem recipiens solvat
lectum illum. As St. Teresa entered the convent without the knowledge
of her father she did not bring this insignificant trousseau with her;
accordingly the prioress became responsible for it and obtained a

receipt when St. Teresa went to the new convent. The dowry granted by
Alphonso Sanchez de Cepeda to his daughter consisted of twenty-five
measures, partly wheat, partly barley, or, in lieu thereof, two hundred
ducats per annum. Few among the numerous nuns of the Incarnation
could have brought a better or even an equal dowry.
The date of St. Teresa's profession being thus fixed on the 3rd of
November, 1536, some other dates of the chronology must be revised.
Her visit to Castellanos de la Canada must have taken place in the early
part of 1537. But already before this time the Saint had an experience
which should have proved a warning to her, and the neglect of which
she never ceased to deplore, namely the vision of our Lord; [10] her
own words are that this event took place "at the very beginning of her
acquaintance with the person" who exercised so dangerous an influence
upon her. Mr. Lewis assigns to it the date 1542, which is impossible
seeing that instead of twenty-six it was only twenty-two years before
she wrote that passage of her life. Moreover, it would have fallen into
the midst of her lukewarmness (according to Mr. Lewis's chronology)
instead of the very beginning. P. Bouix rightly assigns it to the year
1537, but as he is two years in advance of our chronology it does not
agree with the surrounding circumstances as described by him. Bearing
in mind the hint St. Teresa gives [11] as to her disposition immediately
after her profession, we need not be surprised if the first roots of her
lukewarmness show themselves so soon.
From Castellanos she proceeded to Hortigosa on a visit to her uncle.
While there she became acquainted with the book called Tercer
Abecedario. Don Vicente remarks that the earliest edition known to
him was printed in 1537, which tells strongly against the chronology of
the Bollandists, P. Bouix, and others. Again, speaking of her cure at
Bezadas she gives a valuable hint by saying that she remained blind to
certain dangers for more than seventeen years until the Jesuit fathers
finally undeceived her. As these came to Avila in 1555 the seventeen
years lead us back to 1538, which precisely coincides with her sojourn
at Bezadas. She remained there until Pascua florida of the following
year. P. Bouix and others understand by this term Palm Sunday, but
Don Vicente shows good reason that Easter Sunday is meant, which in
1539 was April the 6th. She then returned to Avila, more dead than
alive, and remained seriously ill for nearly three years, until she was

cured through the miraculous intervention of St. Joseph about the
beginning of 1542. Now began the period of lukewarmness which was
temporally interrupted by the illness and death of her father, in 1544 or
1545, and came to an end about 1555. Don Vicente, followed by Mr.
Lewis, draws attention to what he believes to be a "proof of great laxity
of the convent," that St. Teresa should have been urged by one of her
confessors to communicate as often as once a fortnight. It should be
understood that frequent communion such as we now see it practised
was wholly unknown in her time. The Constitutions of the Order
specified twelve days on which all those that were not priests should
communicate, adding: Verumtamen fratres professi prout Deus eis
devotionem contulerit diebus dominicis et festis duplicibus (i.e., on
feasts of our Lady, the Apostles, etc.), communicare poterunt si qui
velint. Thus, communicating about once a month St. Teresa acted as
ordinary good Religious were wont to do, and by approaching the
sacrament more frequently she placed herself among the more fervent
nuns. [12]
St. Teresa wrote quite a number of different accounts of her life. The
first, addressed to Father Juan de Padranos, S.J. [13] and dated 1557, is
now lost. The second, written for St. Peter of Alcantara, is Relation I. at
the end of this volume; a copy of it, together with a continuation
(Relation II.) was sent to Father Pedro Ibañez in 1562. It is somewhat
difficult to admit that in the very same year she wrote another, more
extensive, account to the same priest, which is generally called the
"first" Life. At the end of the Life such as we have it now, St. Teresa
wrote: