209Castle, M. v. ch. i. 9. Life, ch. xxviii. 5. 210Life, ch. xl. 28. sqq. 211The Saint went through all this herself; every detail is taken from her own experience. See Life, ch. xxv. 20; xxviii. 20-24; xxx. 6; xxiii. 2. Anton. a Sp. S. l.c. tract, ii. n. 268. 212Life, ch. xxviii. 19. 213Rel. ii. 4. 214Anton. a Sp. S. l.c. ii. n. 272. Way of Perf. ch. xv. i; xvii. 4. Found. ch. xxvii. 19, 20. Life, ch. xix. 12; xxxi. 13-17, 25. 215’Forty years ago.’
The Saint seems to refer to her first experience in the mystical life, which took place during her illness in the winter of 1537-38. See Life, ch. iv. 9. 216Life, ch. iv. 6; v; vi; vii. 18; xi. 23; XXX. 9. 217Ibid. ch. iii. 6, 7. 218Life, ch. xiii. 21-27. Way of Perf. ch. v. 1, 2. 219Ibid, ch. xxx. 15. 220Ibid, ch. xxxviii. 21. Rel. ii. 15. 221Life, ch. xxviii. 20 sqq. 222Anton. a Sp. S. l.c. tr. ii. n. 313.
On this subject which is commonly called the passive purgation of the intellect, it would be advisable to consult some good author such as Philippus a SS. Trinitate, l.c. part. i. tr. iii. disc. iii.-v., especially disc. iv. art. 5, 6. 223Life, ch. xxv. 21. 224Ibid. ch. xxv. 23. 225Ibid. ch. xxiv. 3. Way of Perf. ch. xli. 5. Castle, M. vii. ch. iv. 1. 226Excl. xvi. 4. 227Life, ch. xxxi. 27. 228Mansion iv. ch. i.
Life, ch. xxix. 10-15. Rel. ch. viii. 15. 229The saint first wrote ‘relampago,’ flash of lightning, but afterwards altered it to ’trueno,’ clap of thunder. 230Rel. viii. 16. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Cant. st. i. 22 sqq. Poems 7, 8. 231Life, ch. xxix. 18. 232Life, ch. xv. 1. 233Ibid. ch. xxix. 17, 18. 234Ibid. ch. xv, 6; xviii. 4.; xxi. 9. 235Life, ch. xv. 15, 16. 236Life, ch. xxix. 6-10. 237Ibid. ch. xv. 12.
On the matter treated by St. Teresa in this chapter, compare St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, stanza i. (circa finem), stanza ix.; The Living Flame of Love, stanza ii. 238Life, ch. xxiii. 114. 239Antonius a Sp. S. l.c. tr. iii. n. 323. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xxvii. 240Life, ch. xxv. 13, 18. 241Ps. cxlviii. 5: ‘Ipse dixit et facta sunt.’ Life, ch. xxv. 5. Anton. a Sp. S. l.c. tr. iii. n. 353.
St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xxxi. calls these ‘substantial words.’ 242Life, ch. xxvi. 6; xxx. 17. Rel. i. 26. 243St. Luke xxiv. 36. 244Life, ch. xxv. 22; xxxiii. 10. Rel. vii. 22. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xxxi. 1. 245Life, ch. xxxv. 7. Rel. ix. 6. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. iii. ch. ii. 7. 246Rel. v. 14. 247Life, ch. xxv. 23-25.
See also Schram, Instit. theol. myst. 528 schol.; 529 schol. ii. and iii.; 5 3 I schol. ii.; 5 32 schol. ii. Exterior locutions may proceed direct from God, but generally are due to the ministry of angels; the same holds good with regard to the imaginary ones. Intellectual locutions, in which the words are merely impressed upon the substance of the soul without intervention of the imagination, can only proceed from God, Who alone is able to act upon the substance of the soul. See also Life, ch. xxvii. 7 (end), 8, 9, and 10, and the corresponding chapters in St.
John’s Ascent of Mount Carmel. 248Life, ch. xxv. 3, 10. Rel. ii. 17. 249Ibid, ch. xxv. 10. 250Jonas iv. 1: ’Et afflictus est Jonas afflictione magna et iratus est; et oravit ad Dominum et dixit: Obsecro, Domine, numquid non hoc est verbum meum cum adhuc essem in terra mea?’ 251Life, ch. xxv. 4 (end) and 5 (beginning). 252Ibid. ch. xxv. 4 (beginning). 253Way of Perf. ch. xxxix. 6. Life, ch. xxvi. 4, 5. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xxii. 14-18. 254Rel. vii. 15. 255Infra, ch. viii. 256Life, ch. xxvii, 8. 257Life, ch. xxv. 6 and 10 (end). 258Ibid. ch. xxv. 9, 16. 259Ibid. ch. xxv. 4, 6. 260Ibid, ch. xxv. 12 (beginning). 261The whole of this chapter as well as chapter xxv. of the Life prove clearly that the Saint speaks about herself and that she investigated the subject with the greatest care. 262Life, ch. xxv. 15. 263Life, ch. xii. 5: ‘The nearer we draw unto God the more this virtue (humility) should grow’; xv. 16; xix. 2; xx. 38. Rel. ii. 15; vii. 17; viii. 7, 9. Way of Perf. ch. xvii. 3. 264Life, ch. xxv. 21. 265Josue x. 12. 13: ‘Tunc locutus est Josue:... sol contra Gabaon ne movearis; steteruntque sol et luna.’ 266Life, ch. xxxix. 30. 267Castle, M. iv. ch. iii. 11. 268Life, ch. xx. passim. 269Philippus a SS. Trinitate, l.c. tr. i. disc. iii. art. 3. 270Rel. ix. 4. Way of Perf. ch. xix. 8. 271Philippus a SS. Trinitate, l.c. 272Gen. xxviii. 2. 273Exod. 2. 274Doña Maria Enriquez, wife of Ferdinand de Toledo, Duke of Alva. This visit took place in February, 1574, and lasted two days the Saint being then on her journey from Salamanca to Alva de Tormes. (Found. ch. xxi.) 275Castle, M. iv. ch. iii. 2. 276The Saint wrote here and elsewhere Memento, and not momenta as is commonly printed. It refers, of course, to that short interruption at Mass when the priest makes a Memento of those for whom he intends to pray. Likewise St. Teresa often speaks of the ‘space of a Credo or an Ave Maria’ always implying a very short duration. 277Cant. iii. 2: ‘Per vicos et plateas quæram quem diligit anima mea.’ 278St. John ix. 6. 279Life, ch. xx. 18. ‘Like a person who, having a rope around his neck and being strangled, tries to breathe.’ 280Life, ch. xx 23, 29. Way of Perf. ch. xxxii. Rel. viii. 8, 11. ‘The first effect of ecstatic prayer concerns the body, which remains as if the soul had departed; it grows cold from a deficiency of natural heat, the eyes close gently, and the other senses are suspended; and yet a weak body recovers health in this prayer.’ (Anton. a Spiritu Sancto, Direct. Mystic. tr. iv. d. 2, § 4, n. 150). 281’Digo para estar in un ser.’ 282 Christusque nobis sit cibus,Potusque noster sit fides;Læti bibamus sobriamEbrietatem Spiritus. Hymn for Lauds, Feria secunda, old version.
(Compare Anton. a Sp. S. l.c. tr. iv. n. 30.) 283Life, ch. xx. 30. 284Castle, M. vii. ch. iii. 4. Way of Perf. ch. xxxviii. 1. Excl. xiv. 3. Life, ch. xl. 27. 285Life, ch. xvi. 6. Rel. i. 4. 286Ibid. ch. xx. 5, 6. 287Life, ch. xxxi. 15. St. John of the Cross in stanza xiii. 8. of the Spiritual Canticle, refers to this and the following chapters. ‘This,’ he says, ‘is an appropriate opportunity for discussing the difference between raptures, ecstasies, and other elevations and subtle flights of the spirit, to which spiritual persons are liable; but as my object is to do nothing more than explain this canticle, I leave the subject for those who are better qualified than I am. I do this the more readily because our mother, the blessed Teresa of Jesus, has written admirably on this matter, whose writings I hope to see soon published,’ 288Rel. viii. 10, 11. Life, ch. xviii, 8; xx. 3. 289Life, ch. xx. 9. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, stanzas xiv.-xv. 23 sqq. Philippus a SS. Trinit. l.c. p. iii. tr. i. disc. iii. art. 3. ’This prayer of rapture is superior to the preceding grades of prayer, as also to the ordinary prayer of union, and leaves much more excellent effects and operations in many other ways.’ St. Catherine of Siena (Dialogue, ch. lxxix. 1) says: ‘Wherefore, oftentimes, through the perfect union which the soul has made with Me, she is raised from the earth almost as if the heavy body became light. But this does not mean that the heaviness of the body is taken away, but that the union of the soul with Me is more perfect than the union of the body with the soul; wherefore the strength of the spirit, united with Me, raises the body from the earth.’ (Transl. by Algar Thorold.) 290Life, ch. xxii. 20. 291Castle, M. iv. ch. ii. 3. 292Prov. viii. 29. 293St. Luke xii. 48: ‘Cui multum datum est, multum quaeretur ab eo, et cui commendaverunt multum, plus petent ab eo.’ 294Rel. ix. 8. This happened at Seville in 1575 or 1576. 2951 Cor. iv. 7: ‘Quid autem habes quod non accepisti?’ 2962 Cor. xii. 2: ‘Sive in corpore nescio, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit.’ 297This is called ‘lumen prophetiæ’ and is a transient form of the ‘lumen gloriæ.’ See St. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. theol. 2a 2æ, q. 175, art. 3 ad 2. 298The same thing is related of some Saints while on earth, e.g. St Paul the first hermit and St. Anthony, who greeted each other by name though neither knew nor had heard of the other. 299These words, though necessary for the context, were only begun, but not completed by St. Teresa. 300Life, ch. xx. 32. Castle, M. iv. ch. i. 10. 301 Compare §§ 8-10 with Philippus a SS. Trinitate, l.c. p. iii. tr. i. disc. iii. art. 3.
’Muchas veces he pensado, si como el sol estándose en el cielo, que sus rayos tienen tanta fuerza, que no mudándose él de allí, de presto llegan acá; si el alma y el espíritu (que son una misma cosa, como le es el soly sus rayos) puede, quedándose ella en su puesto, con la fuerza de calor que le viene del verdadero Sol de justicia, alguna parte superior salir sobre sì misma. En fin, yo no sé lo que digo, lo que es verdad es, que con la presteza que sale la pelota de un arcabuz, cuando le ponen el fuego, se levanta en lo interior un vuelo (que yo no sé otro nombre que le poner) que aunque no hace ruido, hace movimento tan claro, que no puede ser antojo en ninguna manera; y muy fuera de si misma, á todo lo que puede entender, se le muestran grandes cosas.’ 302Num. xiii. 24. 303Life, ch. xx. 31. The same distinctions with respect to divine and diabolical locutions may be found in Life, ch. xxv. 5. 304’Dexteram meam et collum meum cinxit lapidibus pretiosis; tradidit auribus meis inestimabiles margaritas.’ From the Office of St. Agnes. 305This is undoubtedly the correct rendering of this difficult and obscure passage. 306Excl. ii. See poem 4, ‘Cuan triste es, Dios mio’; and the two versions of ‘Vivir sin vivir en mi.’ (Poems 3 and 4. Minor Works.) 307Life, ch. xxv. 18. 308Ibid. ch. xxv. 20. Rel. vii. 7. 309Ibid. ch. xxvii. 1, 2. 310Rel. i. 6. 311Life, ch. xxxii. 14; xxxv. 13. Castle, M. vii. ch. iv. 21. Found. ch. i. 6, 7. 312Way of Perf. ch. i. 313III Reg. xix. 10. 314Ps. cxiii. 3; Exod. xiv. and Jos. iii. 315’When St. Martin was dying, his brethren said to him: ‘Why, dear Father, will you leave us? Or to whom can you commit us in our desolation? We know, indeed, that you desire to be with Christ, but your reward above is safe and will not be diminished by delay; rather have pity on us whom you are leaving desolate.’ Then Martin, always pitiful, moved by these lamentations, is said to have burst into tears. Turning to God, he replied to the mourners around him only by crying: ‘O Lord, if I am still necessary to Thy people, I do not shrink from toil; Thy will be done.’ (Sulpitius Severus, Life of St. Martin, letter 3.) 316Way of Perf.. ch. xvii. 4; xix. 6. 317Life, ch. xxix. 12. 318Compare with this what we have said in note 1 to the second chapter of the Fourth Mansions. Rel. ii. 12. 319Life, ch. xix. 1-3. 320Way of Perf. ch. xix. 6. Life, ch. xviii. 12 sqq. 321Philippus a SS. Trinit. l.c. p. iii. tr. i. disc. iv. art. 5. Antonius a Sp. S. l.c. tr. iv. n.156. 322Rel. ii. 12. 323St. Luke xv. 23. 324’He plunged into a large forest, and there in a loud voice and in French, he made the echoes resound with the praises of God. Some robbers, attracted by his singing, rushed out upon him. But the sight of so poor a man destroyed their hopes of booty. They questioned him, and Francis gave them no answer beyond saying in allegorical language: ‘I am the herald of the great King!’ The robbers considered themselves insulted by these words. They threw themselves upon him, beat him severely, and went off after having thrown him into a ditch full of snow. This treatment only added fire to the zeal of Francis. He sang his holy canticles with greater love than before.’ (Rev. Father Léon, Lives of the Saints of the Order of St. Francis, vol. 1, ch, i,) 325’St. Peter of Alcantara, in the jubilation of his soul through the impetuosity of divine love, was occasionally unable to refrain from singing the divine praises aloud in a wonderful manner. To do this more freely, he sometimes went into the woods where the peasants who heard him sing took him for one who was beside himself.’ (Rev. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints.) 326Way of Perf. ch. ii. 8; iii. i; viii. 1. 327Compare with this what has been said in the fourth chapter of this Mansion, § 17, note 17. 328Melancholia here as elsewhere means hysteria. 329Life, ch. vi. 7. 330Excl. vi. 4, 5. Supra, M. v. ch. ii, 5. Poems 2, 3, 4. Minor Works. 331Life, ch. xxi, 9. All editions have ‘Peter’. St. Teresa only wrote ’Po’ but the parallel passage proves she meant Pablo, and not Pedro. See also M. i. ch. i. 5. 332Life, ch. xxii. 9-11. 333Ibid. ch. xxii. i; xxiii. 18; xxiv. 2. 334’Deliberate forgetfulness and rejection of all knowledge and of form must never be extended to Christ and His sacred Humanity. Sometimes, indeed, in the height of contemplation and pure intuition of the Divinity the soul does not remember the Sacred Humanity, because God raises the mind to this, as it were, confused and most supernatural knowledge; but for all this, studiously to forget it is by no means right, for the contemplation of the sacred Humanity and loving meditation upon it will help us up to all good, and it is by it we shall ascend most easily to the highest state of union. It is evident at once that, while all visible and bodily things ought to be forgotten, for they are a hindrance in our way, He, Who for our salvation became man, is not to be accounted among them, for He is the truth, the door, and the way, and our guide to all good.’ (St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. iii. ch. i. 12-14. 335St. John viii. 12; xiv. 6, 9. 336Life, ch. xv. 20. St. John of the Cross treats the subject most carefully. He shows how and when meditation becomes impossible: Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xii. (circa finem) ch. xiii. (per totum). Living Flame of Love, stanza iii. 35. Obscure Night, bk. i. ch. x. 8, and bk. ii. ch. viii. That it should be procured whenever possible: Ibid. bk. i. ch. x. (in fine); that it should be resumed; Ascent of Mount Carmel; bk. ii, ch. xv. 337III Reg. xviii. 30-39. 338Continual sense of the presence of God: Life, ch. xxvii. 6. Rel. xi. 3: ‘The intellectual vision of the Three Persons and of the Sacred Humanity seems ever present.’ Castle, M. vii. ch. iv. 15. 339Cant, iii. 3; ‘Num quem diligit anima mea, vidistis?’ 340 ’I asked the earth, and it answered me: ‘I am not He’; and whatsoever it contains confessed the same. I asked the sea and the depths, and the living, creeping things, and they answered: ‘We are not thy God, seek above us.’ I asked the heavens, I asked the moving air; and the whole air with its inhabitants answered: ’Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God.’ I asked the heavens, sun, moon, stars. ’Nor,’ say they, ‘are we the God Whom thou seekest.’ And I replied unto all things which encompass the door of my flesh: ‘Ye have told me of my God, that ye are not He; tell me something of Him.’ And they cried out with a loud voice: ’He made us.’ By my thought of them I questioned them, and their beauty gave their answer.’ (St. Augustine’s Confessions, bk. x. ch. 6.)
St. Teresa may have read this in St. Augustine’s Confessions, (see above, p. 78), or in the Soliloquies, a collection of extracts from St. Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Anselm, etc., which was printed in Latin at Venice in 1512, translated into Spanish and brought out at Valladolid in 1515, and again at Medina del Campo in 15 53, and at Toledo in 1565. The words quoted by St. Teresa occur in chapter xxxi. See Life, ch. xl. 10. 341Life, ch. xiii. 17-23. 342Way of Perf. ch. xxv. 7. 343St. John xvi. 7: ‘Expedit vobis ut ego vadam; si enim non abiero, Paraclitus non veniet ad vos.’ Life, ch. xxii. 1, 2 and note. 344Life, ch. xxii. 11. Although the Saint defends herself against the charge of self-contradiction, there can be no doubt from this avowal that she too was at one time mistaken on this point. 345Life, ch. xxvii. 3, 5. Rel. vii. 26. 346Life, ch. xxvii. 7. 347Ibid. l.c. 4. Father Juan de Pradanos was then the Saint’s confessor. 348Life, ch. xxv. 22; XXX. 17. Supra, M. vi. ch. iii. 5. Rel. vii. 22. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. ii. ch. xxxi. 1. 349In fact, one and the same person. 350Life, ch. xix. a; xx. 38. Way of Perf. ch. xxxvi. 10. 351Life, ch. xxix 6. 352Gen. xvii, 1: ‘Ambula coram me et esto perfectus.’ 353’Magni doctores scholastici, si non sint spirituales, vel omni rerum spiritualium experientia careant, non solent esse magistri spirituales idonei—nam theologia scholastica est perfectio intellectus; mystica, perfectio intellectus et voluntatis: unde bonus theologus scholasticus potest esse malus theologus mysticus. In rebus tamen difficilibus, dubiis, spiritualibus, præstat mediocriter spiritualem theologum consulere quam spiritualem idiotam.’ (Schram, Theol. Myst. § 483.) 354Life, ch. v. 6. 355Ibid. ch. xxv. 18 sqq. Way of Perf. ch. iv. 11; v. 3. 356Life, ch. xxiii. 14-15. Rel. vii. 17. 357Life, ch, vii, 11. 358Ibid. xxix, 4. 359Life, ch, vii. 11, 12. 360St. Matt. xxv. 41: ‘Discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem æternum.’ 361’Whenever I ponder on the Day of Judgment I am overwhelmed by the thought and tremble from head to foot.’ (St. Jerome). The following saying is by some attributed to St. Jerome, though not to be found in his works: ‘Whether I eat or drink, or whatever else I do, the dreadful trumpet of the last day seems always sounding in my ears: Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.’ (Alban Butler, Life of St. Jerome). The Life of Christ by Ludolf of Saxony gives this quotation with the word vox instead of tuba (part ii. ch. lxxxvii. 9). 362Life, ch. iii. 363Excl. xiii, 3. 364Acts ix. 3, 4. 365Castle, M. vi. ch. iii. 12. 366Way of Perf ch, xl. 4. 367Life, ch. xxvi. 5; xxviii. 21. 368Way of Perf. ch. xl. 3. 369This was Father Dominic Bañez. Found. ch. viii. 3. Life, ch. xxix. 6, 7 and note. 370Letters of Blessed John of Avila (translated by the Benedictines of Stanbrook), i. 5, p. 19. 371Life, ch. xxviii. 13, 4. 372St. Teresa, when led in this way, always asked to be delivered from favours so dangerous as visions, etc. See Life, ch. xxv. 20; xxvii. 3. 373I. Reg. xv. 26-28. 374Life, ch. xl. 27. She herself was one, and the other, no doubt, was St. John of the Cross. 375Life, ch. xl. 13-16. 376Ps. cxv. 11. ‘Omnis homo mendax.’ 377St. John xviii. 38: Quid est veritas? 378Life, ch. xxix. 17. (Transverberation.) 379Ibid. ch. xxix. 13, 14. Rel. viii. 16-19. 380St. John of the Cross, Obscure Night, bk. ii. ch. i. (in fine); Spiritual Canticle, stanza xiii; xiv-xv. (in fine). When this happened to St. Teresa she was unable to write for twelve days. Ribera, Acta SS. p. 555 (in fine). Rel. viii. 13. Life, ch. xx. 16. 381St. John iv. 15. Life, ch. xxx. 24. Way of Perf. ch. xix. 4 sqq. Concept. ch. vii. 7, 8. Found. ch. xxxi. 42. See note, Life, ch. i. 6. 382St. John of the Cross, Obscure Night, bk. ii. ch. xii. 383Marginal note in the Saint’s handwriting. The ‘substantial’ pain of hell consists in the irrevocable loss of God, our last end and supreme Good; this is incurred from the first moment in its fullest intensity and therefore cannot increase. The physical pain with which the bodies will be afflicted when united to the souls after the general resurrection may vary, but will neither increase nor abate. The ‘accidental’ pain of the damned arises from various causes, for instance from the ever-increasing effects of evil actions, and therefore increases in the same proportion. Thus a heresiarch will suffer keener accidental pain as more and more souls are lost through his false teaching. 384 Rel. iv. 1. Concept. ch. vii. 2. Isabel of Jesus, in her deposition in the Acts of Canonisation (Fuente, Obras, vol. vi. 316) declares that she was the singer. The words were: Véante mis ojos,Dulce Jesús bueno:Véante mis ojos,Y muérame yo luégo.
Fuente, l.c. vol. v. 143, note 1. Œuvres, ii. 231. (Poem 36, English version.) There is a slight difference in the two relations of this occurrence. In Rel. iv. St. Teresa seems to imply that it happened on Easter Sunday evening, but here she says distinctly: ‘Pascua de Resurreccion, el postrer dia,’ that is, on Easter Tuesday, April 17, 1571, at Salamanca. 385Compare the words ’Que muero porque no muero’ in the Glosa of St. Teresa. Way of Perf. ch. xlii. 2. Castle, M. vii. ch. iii. 14. 386Way of Perf. ch. xix. 10. Excl. vi.; xii. a.; xiv. 387 See the two versions of the poems written by the Saint on her recovery from the trance into which she was thrown, beginning ‘Vivir sin vivir in me’ and the poem, ’Cuan triste es, Dios mio’ (Poems 2, 3, and 4, English version). See also St. Teresa’s poem, ‘Ya toda me entregué y dí.’ (Poem 7, English version). Struck by the gentle HunterAnd overthrown,Within the arms of LoveMy soul lay prone.Raised to new life at last,This contract ’tween us passed,That the Beloved should be mine own,I His alone. 388Rel. viii. 17. 389Acta SS. p. 64, n. 229. 390St. Matt. xx. 22: ‘Potestis bibere calicem quem ego bibiturus sum?’ 391St. Matt. xxvi. to: St. Mark xiv. 6; St. John xii. 7. Way of Perf. ch. xvi. 7; xvii. 4. Excl. v. 2-4.
Source: Interior Castle (CCEL)