This
year we celebrate the quincentenary of the birth of St Teresa of
Avila (1515). The celebration lasts from the 15th of October 2014 to
the 15th of October of the current year. The span of these twelve
months will most assuredly see us blessed with many special graces.
Since I have had the grace of teaching St Teresa of Avila for more than twenty years now, a few months ago a number of people suggested I write something on her, in her honour. The present book is the result of my efforts and includes many pertinent points for today's Church. The following sixteen chapters constitute the outline of these points:
I
hope that reading the present offering to the literature on St.
Teresa will whet the reader's appetite to go on to read her actual
works – her Autobiography for instance. This I consider
would fulfil a significant part of my purpose in writing the book.
Here,
I would like to express my warmest and deepest gratitude to
Francesca Crocker, who tirelessly and patiently worked to improve my
written English in order to make it understandable and more elegant.
Without her help this book would not have seen the light of day.
St
Teresa of Avila's Important Dates
1515
|
0
|
Birth : 28 March |
1528
|
13
|
Loses her Mother |
1535
|
20
|
Entering the Incarnation Monastery 2Nov |
1554
|
39
|
Conversion |
1556
|
41
|
Spiritual Betrothal |
1559
|
44
|
1st vision of Christ 29 June |
1560
|
45
|
Transverberation:
April
Vision
of Hell: Sept
Project
of Foundation.
1st
Relation |
1561
|
46
|
1st Reformed Monastery (S. José) |
1562
|
47
|
Life
Inauguration
of the first Monastery: 24 August
S
José1
(from
now on the small numbers indicate her foundations)
Starting
Way of
Perfection
1 et 3 |
1563
|
48
|
Constitutions
|
1565
|
50
|
Finishes
Life.
Way
of Perfection Val. |
1566
|
51
|
1st Version of her Meditations on the Song of Songs |
1567
|
52
|
Medina
del Campo2.
Meeting
John of the Cross
|
1568
|
53
|
Malagon3
Valladolid4
Foundation
of Duruelo 28 Nov (Carmelite brothers).
|
1569
|
54
|
Exclamations
Toledo5
Pastrana6
|
1570
|
55
|
Salamanca7 |
1571
|
56
|
Alba
de Tormes8
Prior
at the Incarnation
Starts
2nd version
of the Meditations
on the Song of Songs |
1572
|
57
|
Spiritual
Marriage
|
1573
|
58
|
Book
of Foundations
Book
Way of
Perfection Val.
End |
1574
|
59
|
Segovia9
2nd version
of the Meditations
on the Song of Songs
Index
of Valdès
|
1575
|
60
|
Beas10
Seville11 |
1576
|
61
|
Stopped
in her Foundations..
Way
to visit the monasteries.
Caravaca12 |
1577
|
62
|
Interior Castle. Persecutions |
1579
|
64
|
End
of Persecutions
|
1580
|
65
|
Villanueva
de la Jara13
Palencia14 |
1581
|
66
|
Soria15 |
1582
|
67
|
Granada16
Burgos17
Dies
at
Alba de Tormès 4 Oct at 9 pm |
1614
|
Beatified
|
|
1622
|
Canonisation
|
|
1970
|
Paul VI Declares her 1st Woman Doctor of the Church |
Her
Books
St
Teresa wrote four major books, namely, Autobiography, Way of
Perfection, Interior Castle, Foundations, some minor books known
as Relations, Constitutions, Comment on Song of Songs, How
to Visit a Monastery, Poems,... and a full collection of Letters.
If
what is sought for is her teaching on the Prayer of the Heart, this
can be found in the three following books: Autobiography, Way of
Perfection and Interior Castle, a
brief outline of which follows.
1-
In her Autobiography she describes four ways of doing the
Prayer of the Heart, and offers a first-hand account of her life and
particularly of her spiritual life.
2-
In the Way of Perfection, we find explained the foundations of
spiritual life, namely the three virtues of humility, love and
detachment, as well as one of her best descriptions on how to
practise Recollection (chapters 26, 28-31). It is the main book for
formation in the spiritual life.
3-
In the Interior Castle we find a more mature and structured
book, where she takes us by hand and leads us from the initial stages
in this process to the very last ones, the Spiritual Marriage. The
book describes the journey of growth, taking the example of a Castle
that symbolises the human being, the soul, and at its very centre the
Groom's room is to be found.The aim of the entire journey is to reach
this room.
As
a simple piece of advice, I would like to recommend a start be made
with her Autobiography when reading St Teresa. When St
Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein) read this book, she exclaimed:
this is the Truth.
Another
way of familiarising oneself with St Teresa, as Father Louis de Leon
said, is to visit one of her monasteries and meet the nuns - one can
almost see her alive and breathing in her nuns.
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