Poet, mystic, and joint founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He entered the
Carmelite order in 1563, and studied at Salamanca (1564-8). Faced with the laxity
of the order, he considered becoming a Carthusian. *Teresa of Avila persuaded him
to stay and undertake her own kind of reform. He spent the rest of his life
furthering the reform and suffering imprisonment and banishment from those opposed
to his and Teresa's vision. Out of his suffering, his great works of mystical
theology were born. All take the form of commentaries on his own poems, among the
greatest in Spanish:
O living flame of love
That tenderly wounds
My Soul in its deepest center:
Since you are not disdainful,
Come now, if you will,
Break the veil of this sweet encounter
O smooth burning! O luxuriant wounding!
O soft hand! O delicate touch--
That tastes of eternal life
And pays every debt:
Killing, you change death to life.
The Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night of the Soul expound the *dark night, the Spiritual Canticle
expounds the whole spiritual life through commentary on his long poem inspired by
the Spiritual
Canticle, and the Living Flame of Love is concerned with
the unitive way. He died on December 14, saying, "Tonite, I shall sing
*mattins in heaven."
Teresa of Avila (1515-82)
Spanish Carmelite nun and mystic, canonized in 1622 and made a Doctor of
the Church in 1970. She entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation at Avila
in 1535. After years of a fairly lax discipline, she was drawn to a stricter life,
encouraged by her extraordinary mystical experiences. In 1562, she founded the
convent of St. Joseph at Avila, the first of the houses of the Carmelite Reform
(called 'discalced', i.e., 'without shoes'). Her reform met with much opposition,
but she found support from, amongst others, St. *John of the Cross.
Alongside her reform, she wrote for her nuns several books on the spiritual life,
especially her Autobiography, the Way of
Perfection, and the Interior Castle. In these she traces the
spiritual life from its beginnings to union with God in the 'spiritual marriage'
and illustrates its stages from her own experience. Her classification of
the various stages of prayer--*recollection,
quiet, union--has been enormously influential.** The 'interior
castle' is of access especially to those in religious orders ('I think it
will be a great consolation for you, in some of your convents, to take your
delight in this Interior Castle, for you can enter it and walk about in it at any
time without asking leave from your superiors'), but she affirmed, in letters
of spiritual encouragement, that it can be a refuge even for those in the midst of
a busy life. The test of spirituality is in practice ('The Lord is among the saucepans',
Book of Foundations).*** (**, ***: my emphasis -Jesse)
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