The Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
Discussion of Chapter 25 XXV
Chapter 25 Contents - The Foundation Of The Glorious S. Joseph Of Seville Continued. - What Happened When Getting A House Of Our Own 1. Troubles and discouragements. — 2. Abandonment of the Saint. — 3. Her brother returns from the Indies. — 4. Difficulties in finding a good house. — 5. A house found. — 6. Difficulties of taking possession. — 7. The Saint takes possession of the new house. — 8. Troubles of Don Lorenzo. — 9. The church arranged. — 10. Preparations for the opening. — 11. Solemnities of the opening — 12. A miracle.
Discussion of Chapter 25
█ Summary
The chapter headings of Chapters
23, 24, 25, and 26
reference the foundation at Sevillle
▀ The Seville Foundations's First Site
The Foundation of S. Joseph of Carmel
in the City of Seville was founded
on May 29, 1575
on the feast of The Most Holy Trinity:
■ Difficuties in Seville at the first site
■ St Teresa's Faith in God
▀ Relocation of the Foundation
to a new site in Seville
■ A possible 2nd site was found
but was soon dismissed
■ A new and more suitable site is found
"29th April 1576 *
"In the beginning of May *
The first Mass offered on 29th April 1576 *
■ Making Known the new Monastery site
June 3, 1576
▀St. Teresa directs her Carmelites to pray
for those who have helped them
▀ Status of Teresa Peregrinations
current to this chapter
* dates are approximate (?)
_____________________
▀The Seville Foundations'sFirst Site The Foundation ofS. Joseph of Carmel in the City ofSeville ▪ "The first Mass of this Foundation was offered onMay 29, 1575 on thefeast of the Most Holy Trinity" [ Foundations: Ch. 24: #12 ] "Mass had been said with the archbishop's leave... It was one of hischaplains whom he had sent tosay thefirstMass." [ Foundations: Ch. 24: #13 ] ▪ A house is found and rented "the house in Seville, which the Father Fray Mariano had hired for us [ Foundations: Ch. 24: #3 ] ▪ The Prioress "Mary of S. Joseph(Salazar) nun of Malagon, The Saint took her to Veas and afterwardstoSeville, where she made herprioress" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note: #9 ] ■Difficuties in Seville at the first site ▪ Poverty "No one would suppose that in a city so rich as Seville, and among a people so wealthy, I should have had less help in making a foundation than in any other place wherein I had been. [1] They did so little for me that I sometimes thought it would not be well for us to have a monastery there." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #1 ] "The nuns lived in the most extreme poverty, sleeping on the floor..." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #1 ] ▪ Lack of new vocations: "As for those - who had spoken so much to the Father, the apostolic visitor, about entering the order, and - who had asked him to bring the nuns to Seville, they must have seen later that our life was too austere, and that they could not bear it. One only came to us..." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ] ■St Teresa's Faith in God and dependence on His Will; knowing she could do nothing without Him. "never in any other place was I so weak and cowardly. ... though I did not lose my ordinary trust in our Lord. ... I felt our Lord was... withdrawing His hand, that He might abide in Himself and that I might see that any courage I had before was not mine. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #1 ] "I saw that I was of no use whatsoever there, for that grace which God gives me here ("in Castile" - Foot note #6) of finding some one to help us in our work God did not give me there. (in Sevillle) [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ]
▀ Relocation of the Foundation to a new site in Seville ▪"I never thought of buying a house, and I had not the means of doing so, neither was there any one who would be surety for us. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ] ▪ "It pleased God that a brother of mine, Lorenzo de Cepeda arrived at this time from the Indies He took it more to heart than I did that the nuns had no house of their own" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #3 ] ▪ St. Teresa, because of her obedience to her Superiors in the capacity of Prioress of the Monastery of St. Joseph in Avila, as well as, the need to assist other foundations (old and new) knew she would need to leave Seville. She hoped to see the nuns in Seville in permanent housing of their own. "It was a very great grief to me to leave the nuns without a house of their own, [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ] "I, too, was then much more urgent in my prayers to our Lord, begging Him not to let me leave them without a house, and I made the sisterspray to Him for the same object, andto the glorious S. Joseph" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #3 ] "Relying on these, and seeing my brother bent on helping us, I began to treat about the purchase of certain houses" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #3 ] ■ A possible 2nd site was found but was soon dismissed ♦A new site was found, but the deed was never finalized: "though the matter seemed to be arranged, yet all came to nothing. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #3 ] "His Majesty saved us from buying one with which everybody was pleased becausethe site was good; (But) ... so old and... so ruinous a state that we were buying merely the site, and that for a little less than the housewe are incost us" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #4 ] "Fr. Garci Alvarez, who later "became chaplain and confessor to the nuns" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #8 ] "...knew the house well, he thought it very foolish to give so much for it, told us so every day, and wanted us to speak about it no more" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #5 ] "When the matter was settled, and nothing remained but the drawing up of the deeds, ...the very person who had sold the house, notwithstanding his great gain... made difficulties about the deeds when the time for signing them had come. We were, therefore, free to abandon our bargain without any fault on our part; and it was a great grace of our Lord to us, for those who might have had to live in it would never in all their life have finished the repairs it needed it would have been a great trouble to them, and their means were scanty" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #4 ] ▪ St. Teresa's Perspective of the suitability of this site: "I was not at all satisfied; it seemed to me that the last word I had heard in prayer was not fulfilled(by) that house, for that word, as I understood it, meant that God would give us agoodhouse; and it was His pleasure to do so" (as it turned out) [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #4 ] ■ A new and more suitable site is found ◦ "The house belonged toPedro Pablo, a minor canon of the Cathedral, and was in the street calledLa Pageria; until its demolition in 1882 it was called Casa de Santa Teresa. The house was good, but the neighbourhood evil" and the nunsremoved to another in 1586 [ Reforma, bk. iii. ch. xlvi. i ]. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #10 ] ▪Obtaining this new house "a brother of mine, Lorenzo de Cepeda helped us much, especially in finding for us the house wherein they dwell now" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #3 ] Father "Garci Alvarez... He and my brother went to see thatwherein the sisters are now living, and returned so pleased with it — and justly so, for our Lord meant it for us — that in two or three days the deeds were drawn up." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #5 ] "April 5(1576)Agreement for the new house at Seville signed". [ Life: Introduction; Editor:Peers ] ▪ Difficulties encountered in regard to this new site: ◦ Difficulties in taking possession "We had some trouble in moving into it, for ⌂ they who were then living in it, would not go out, and ⌂ the Franciscan friars, who lived close by, came at once to beg of us not to go in on any account. ...We were in this trouble for more than a month; the prioress and myself with the two other nuns; we did so by night, (they moved into the house) and in great fear, that the friars might know nothing about it before we took possession" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #6 ] ▪ The First Mass is said 29th April 1576 (?) "Early in the morning the goodGarci Alvarez, who came with us, said the first mass, and we had no fear now." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #7 ] "Fr. Garci Alvarez... came every day to say...Mass" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #5 ] "My brother was not here then... [12] [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #8 ] "...29th April 1576, as the Saint writes of it on that day. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #12 ] "In thebeginning of May the new house is occupied by her and her sisters. [Foundations: Introduction: Annals of the Saint's Life ] ◦ An error in the deed andher brother is held responsible: There seemed to be a probem which entailed a financial error but the pucrhase and transfer of the property was successful. "on account of a certain mistake made in the deed... we were in trouble... until he assigned some of his property as security…" "Later on, the matter was arranged satisfactorily" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #8 ] "Her brother, Don Lorenzo, took refuge in the monastery of the Carmelites with Fray Jerome of the Mother of God, and was there on the 29th April 1576, as the Saint writes of it on that day. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #12 ] ◦ Poverty "for, as everybody did not know of the monastery, because it was a private house, we received but scanty alms except from the Prior of [13] the Carthusians of Las Cuevas" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #8 ] "Don Fernando de Pantoja... From her, he learnt to have devotion to S. Joseph and S. Anne" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #13 ] ■Making Known the new Monastery site ▪Converting the house into Monastery and Church "We shut ourselves up in ...rooms on the ground floor, my brother was there all day among the workmen, [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #8 ] "My brother was very busy during this month in converting certain rooms into a church, and in furnishing it throughout [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #9] Father "Garci Alvarez adorned our cloister...and the church with the utmost care. He prepared handsome altars..." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #11 ] ▪Procession of the Blessed Sacrament "When it was finished I wished to have the Most Holy Sacrament reserved without noise" But both Father Garci Alvarezand the Father Prior of Las Cuevas said "if the monastery was to be known in Seville, the Most Holy Sacrrament must be solemnly reserved, and they went to the archbishop. It was settled among them all that the Most Holy Sacrament should be brought with great solemnity from one of the parish churches. ...(in) the procession, and the streets to be decorated." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #10 ] "The holy Prior of Las Cuevas... was in the procession himself... he had never seen anything like it in Seville, and... he looked on it all as being visibly the work of God The archbishop carried the Most Holy Sacrament. The people came in crowds." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #11 ] "3rd June 1576, on the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension. See Foundations: ch. 26: #1 " [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #16 ] This festival took place on the Sunday before Pentecost, 1576 Foundations: ch. xxvi. i." [ Foundations: Ch. 26: #1 ]
▀St. Teresa directs her nuns to pray forthe Prior of the Carthusians of Las Cuevas, Don Fernando de Pantoja, and for those who have helped them, whom "we owe much". "It is only reasonable...my sisters... that you should pray to God for one who has done so much for us, and for others also, whether he be living or dead. ...I write this for that end: to this holy man we owe much." [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #8 ]
▀Status of Teresa Peregrinations current to this chapter ▪ St. Teresa seems to have written this chapters on the Seville foundation around September of 1576 in Toledo: "1576 "In Toledo the Saint continues theBook of the Foundations as far as ch. xxvii, (ch 27) adding to it the account of the foundations of Segovia, Veas, Seville, and Caravaca" [ Foundations: Introduction: Annals of the Saint's Life" ] And St. Teresa does, by her remarksin Paragraph #2, refer to being in the area of castille during this account: "for that grace which God gives me here..." [6] "In Castille" [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 & Foot note #6 ] ▪Her stay in Seville She arrived Thursday,May 26, 1575 andleft Seville onJune 4, 1576 "I remained there from the time already mentioned till a little beforeLent" [3] [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ] "Ash Wednesday fell on7th Marchin1576, and the Saint had arrived in Seville onThursday, 26th May 1575. See ch. xxiv. 9. " [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #3 ] Perhaps the reference to "till a little before Lent" was the time that they stayed at the hired house in Seville, the first site of the monastery. From Paragraph #7, #8, and Foot note #12, it seems that they occupied the new (2nd) site on La Pageria on or about29th April 1576 but had bought it1 month priorto that. "We were in this trouble for more than a month" ( waiting to move in) [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #6 ] "The Saintleft Seville 4th June 1576 attended by her brother, Don Lorenzo(and) Fr. Gregorio Nazianzen" [ Foundations: Ch.26: Foot note #1 ] ( The 2nd site in Seville was announced on June 3, 1576 with solemn procession) "And now the time was come to order me to leave Andalucia, for other matters were now pressing here." [5] [ Foundations: Ch. 25: #2 ] "The Saint had now been ordered by the provincial to leave Seville and take up her residence in some other monastery, the choice of which was, however, left to her. [ Foundations: Ch. 25: Foot note #5 ] At the end of1575, "Fray Angel de Salazar, provincial of Castille, bids the Saint make no more foundations, and orders her further to withdraw into any one of her monasteries, and there to remain. She proposes to withdraw to Valladolid at once, leaving the foundation ofSevillein its troubles, but Fray Jerome bids her stay for the present where she is, [ Foundations: Introduction: Annals of the Saint's Life ] "4th June (1576) She sets out for Toledo... [ Foundations: Introduction: Annals of the Saint's Life ] "She was inMalagonon the 11th, where she was still in thebeginning of July. By order of Fray Jerome she went toAvila to complete the term of her priorship, after which she ought to have gone to Salamanca where she was conventual. But it was finally decided she should go toToledo, whither she went, bringing with her as her companion and secretary the venerable Ann of S. Bartholomew. On the9th day of August the Saint was inToledo." [ Foundations: Ch.26: Foot note #1 ]
End of the Discussion of Chapter 25 of the Book of the Foundations of S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
