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The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel

Teresa of Ávila, Saint · c. 1562 primary

passage 381 of 382 · Chapter XXV., § 4, St. Teresa, speaking of the difference between the Divine and the imaginary locutions, says that a person commending a matter to God with great earnestness, may think that he hears whether his prayer will be granted or not: y es muy posible, "and this is quite possible," but he who has ever heard a Divine locution will see at once that this assurance is something quite different. Mr. Lewis, following the old Spanish editions, translated "And it is most impossible," whereas both the autograph and the context demand the wording I have ventured to substitute. > Book, a living, xxvi. 6. (8/9)

in brief
Saint Teresa explains that an intense assurance a prayer will be granted may come from a person’s own feeling, but those who know divine locutions can instantly tell the difference from imaginary ones.

Tenderness of soul, x. 2.

Teresa, St., desires martyrdom, i. 4; placed in a monastery, ii. 8; unwilling to become a nun, ii. 10; becomes more fervent, iii. 2; is resolved to follow her vocation, iii. 6; first fervours of, iv. 2; failure of health, iv. 6; God sends her an illness, v. 4; suffers grievously, vi. 1; afraid of prayer, vi. 5; leads her father to prayer, vii. 16; present at her father's death, vii. 22; perseveres in prayer, viii. 2; found it hard to pray, viii. 10; delights in sermons, viii. 17; devout to the Magdalene, ix. 2; never doubted of God's mercy, ix. 8; depreciates herself, x. 9; willing to have her sins divulged, x. 10; always sought for light, x. 13; complains of her memory, xi. 9; unable to explain the state of her soul, xii. 10; supernaturally enlightened, xii. 11; reads books on prayer to no purpose, xiv. 10; writes with many hindrances, xiv. 12, xl. 32; bewails her ingratitude, xiv. 16; scarcely understood a word of Latin, xv. 12; understands her state in the prayer of imperfect union, xvi. 3; and describes it, xvi. 6; bewails her unworthiness, xviii. 6; writes under obedience, xviii. 10; confesses ignorance, xviii. 20; abandons her prayers for a time, xix. 8; evil spoken of, xix. 12; misled by false humility, xix. 23; prays to be delivered from raptures, xx. 5, 6; never cared for money, xx. 34; gives up her whole being to God, xxi. 7; unable to learn from books, xxii. 3; afraid of delusions, xxiii. 3; is directed by a layman, xxiii. 10; severe to herself, xxiv. 2; her first ecstasy, xxiv. 7; had no visions before the prayer of union, xxv. 14; told by her confessor that she was deluded by Satan, xxv. 18; prays to be led by a different spiritual way, xxv. 20, xxvii. 3, Rel. vii. 7; not afraid of Satan, xxv. 27; spoken against, xxvi. 3; troubles of, because of visions, xxvii. 4, xxviii. 6; her defence when told that her visions were false, xxviii. 18, 19; afraid nobody would hear her confession, xxviii. 20; harshly judged by her directors, xxviii. 23; would not exchange her visions for all the pleasures of the world, xxix. 5; vehemence of her love, xxix. 10; her supernatural wound, xxix. 17; manifests her spiritual state to St. Peter of Alcantara, xxx. 4; bodily trials of, xxx. 17; finds no relief in exterior occupations, xxx. 18; buffeted by Satan, xxxi. 3; converts a great sinner, xxxi. 7; troubled because well thought of, xxxi. 13-17; her singing of the Office, xxxi. 26; commanded to labour for the reform of her Order, xxxii. 14; commanded to abandon her purpose, xxxiii. 1; her vision in the Dominican church, Avila, xxxiii. 16; goes to Toledo, xxxiv. 3; the nuns wish to have her as their Prioress, xxxv. 8; restores a child to life, xxxv. 14, note; begins the Reform, xxxvi. 4; her grievous trial, xxxvi. 6, 7; her health improved, xxxvi. 9; would suffer all things for one additional degree of glory, xxxvii. 3; her affection for her confessors, xxxvii. 6; supernaturally helped when writing, xxxviii. 28; obtains sight for a blind person, xxxix. 1; and the cure of one of her kindred, xxxix. 2; her spiritual state became known without her consent, xl. 28; submits all her writings to the Roman Church, Rel. vii. 16.

Theology, mystical, x. 1, xi. 8, xii. 8; the Saint says she does not know the terms of, xviii. 4.

Thomas, St., assisted at the deathbed of Fra P. Ibañez, xxxviii. 15.

Throne, vision of a, xxxix. 31, 32.

Trance, a, xviii. 17, xx. 1; outward effects of, xl. 11; gradual, Rel. viii. 10.

Transport, Rel. viii. 10.

Trials followed by graces, xi. 18; promised to the Saint, xxxv. 9; shown her in a vision, xxxix. 25.

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topics: crime and punishment · divination and oracles · reason and the intellect · religious persecution and toleration

The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel · Teresa of Ávila, Saint · 1562–1565