The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

This book is the autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila, a 16th-century Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, and reformer. The work details her spiritual journey, from a youth marked by both piety and worldliness to her profound experiences with contemplative prayer and divine union. It serves as both a personal history and a guide to the spiritual life, famously using the analogy of watering a garden to describe four progressive stages of prayer. The narrative also chronicles the significant trials and divine guidance she received during the founding of the first monastery of the Discalced (reformed) Carmelites, St. Joseph's in Ávila. The text is supplemented by introductory materials providing historical and editorial context, as well as personal spiritual accounts, known as Relations, written for her confessors.

Context and Prefaces

The book begins with extensive front matter that provides a framework for understanding the main text. An introduction by Benedict Zimmerman (1904) discusses the manuscript's history, clarifies textual inaccuracies by comparing various editions to St. Teresa's autograph, and corrects the chronology of her early life, establishing her profession date as 1536. A preface by the original translator, David Lewis (1870), offers a biographical sketch and outlines the history of the "Life," including its examination by the Inquisition and its approval by spiritual masters like St. Juan de Ávila. This section also includes St. Teresa's own brief arguments for each chapter and a chronological annal of her life, collectively offering readers historical, theological, and structural context before they engage with her autobiography.

The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus

The main body of the work is St. Teresa's autobiography, which she divides into distinct phases of her spiritual development. She begins with her childhood, marked by pious inclinations, such as a desire for martyrdom, which were later corrupted by worldly vanities and the reading of chivalric romances. After a period of severe illness and spiritual lukewarmness, a pivotal moment before a picture of the wounded Christ inspires her to return to a life of prayer. The central and most influential part of her narrative details the four stages of prayer, which she likens to watering a garden. These stages progress from laborious mental prayer (drawing water from a well) to the prayer of quiet (using a water wheel), then to a near-union or "sleep of the faculties" (irrigating from a river), and finally to the prayer of union or rapture, which is like being watered by rain from heaven, a purely divine gift. Throughout this journey, she recounts numerous supernatural experiences, including intellectual and imaginary visions of Christ, angels, and the Holy Trinity, as well as divine locutions. These experiences were met with both personal fear of delusion and external persecution from those who doubted their divine origin. The autobiography culminates with the arduous but ultimately successful founding of St. Joseph's monastery in Ávila, a house dedicated to the primitive Carmelite rule of poverty and strict enclosure, which she undertook in obedience to a divine command.

The Relations

Following her autobiography, the book includes a series of "Relations," which are more direct and intimate spiritual reports written for her confessors and spiritual directors, including St. Peter of Alcántara and F. Rodrigo Alvarez. These documents provide a more focused look at specific spiritual states, visions, and locutions she experienced between 1560 and 1581. They offer deeper insight into complex mystical phenomena, such as the distinction between union and rapture, the nature of divine locutions, and the profound effects of these graces on her soul. She describes the "impetuosities" of divine love, the spiritual "wounding" of her heart, and her visions of the Holy Trinity and the Sacred Humanity. These writings also contain practical advice for spiritual directors, warnings against demonic deception, and personal accounts of the divine promises and reassurances that guided her through periods of intense trial and the work of the Carmelite Reform.