The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~170,000 words · 814 passages
Cite this work
- APATeresa of Ávila. (n.d.). The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/teresa-of-avila/the-life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-of-the-order-of-our-lady-of-carmel
- MLATeresa of Ávila. The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/teresa-of-avila/the-life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-of-the-order-of-our-lady-of-carmel.
- ChicagoTeresa of Ávila. The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/teresa-of-avila/the-life-of-st-teresa-of-jesus-of-the-order-of-our-lady-of-carmel.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
Teresa of Ávila's book of her life: childhood, the years in the convent without fervour, the late conversion, prayer and the visions.
Context and history
It is worth knowing why it was written: not by her own choice but at the command of her confessors, who told her to set down in writing what was happening to her so that it could be examined. That explains the tone — she justifies herself constantly, belittles herself, accepts correction — and it explains too that the manuscript ended up with the Inquisition, which held it for years. The prose is among the finest sixteenth-century Castilian precisely because it does not try to be literary: she writes as she speaks, to be understood by those judging her.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
was very much given to the reading of good books; and so he had them in Spanish, that his children might read them. These books, with my mother's carefulness to make us say our prayers, and to bring us up devout to our Lady and to certain Saints, began to make me think seriously when I was, I believe, six or seven years old. It helped me, too, that I never saw my father and mother respect anything but goodness. They were very good themselves. My father was a man of great charity towards the poor, and compassion for the sick, and also for servants; so much so, that he never could be persuaded to keep slaves, for he pitied them so much: and a slave belonging to one of his brothers being once in his house, was treated by him with as much tenderness as his own children. He used to say that he could not endure the pain of seeing that she was not free. He was a man of great truthfulness; nobody ever heard him swear or speak ill of any one; his life was most pure. 2. My mother also was a woman of great goodness, and her life was spent in great infirmities. She was singularly pure in all her ways. Though possessing great beauty, yet was it never known that she gave reason to suspect that she made any account whatever of it; for, though she was only three-and-thirty years of age when she died, her apparel was already that of a woman advanced in years. She was very calm, and had great sense. The sufferings she went through during her life were grievous, her death most Christian. [1] 3. We were three sisters and nine brothers. [2] All, by the mercy of God, resembled their parents in goodness except myself, though I was the most cherished of my father. And, before I began to offend God, I think he had some reason,--for I am filled with sorrow whenever I think of the good desires with which our Lord inspired me, and what a wretched use I made of them. Besides, my brothers never in any way hindered me in the service of God. 4.…