Letter (number unidentified). To Mother Mary Baptist, Prioress, Segovia, second half of June, 1574

OF VALLADOLID

Holy death of Isabel de los Atigeles. Advice about health and spiritual matters.

JESUS! May the Holy Spirit be with you my daughter!

AS you have not written, I should have felt anxious about your health, had not the Prioress of Medina told me that you were well. God be praised, for I very much wish you to be strong. It would not matter if your daughters were ill, were it the will of God, as they could gain merit by it.

You must know that God has called to Himself Isabel de los Angeles, about whom there was the dispute at Medina. Any one who died as she did would be called a saint. She is certainly with God, and I, a useless creature, remain on earth.

For the last three weeks I have suffered from a terrible cold in the head and greatly disturbed health. I am better now, although I have not completely recovered. I am delighted with the news I am sending to Fray Domingo;' let all of you thank our Lord for it as we do here. May He be praised for all things!

Will you kindly forward the enclosed letter to the Prioress of the Madre de Dios, to whom I am also sending a medicine which seemed to do me good. I am very sorry about her illness, from which I know she has suffered for years. It is a malignant disease.

What trouble Antonia has taken about sending me viper's grass! I have hardly tasted it yet, as I have a strong loathing for sweets. Still, I greatly appreciated her kindness in providing for the sister and for Isabel; she seems very good-hearted and full of love.

How simple of you to apologise to me about manual labour and all the rest. I dare not tell you until I meet what is the end I have in view in all this. In fad:, I feel freer every day. My only fear is as to whether this person is sure not to offend God; for I have witnessed great downfalls and dangers in such a position. I love that soul dearly for God seems to have given me charge of it, and

' Fray Domingo Bañez.

the greater its simplicity, the greater my misgivings on that account, so that I am much relieved that the person is in a safe place. Though indeed, no place is safe in this life nor is it well to think that we are safe, for we are at war and surrounded by many enemies.

To tell the truth, my daughter, except when I ani suffering from as severe a trial as I underwent here, I am extremely surprised at feeling any approach to disturbance. Keep this to yourself, for those who do not understand this should be diredted according to their character. And indeed, if there is any one who causes such an approach to disturbance in me, it is she to whom this letter is written. Yet a soul which is at liberty feels this slight movement keenly, as perhaps God desires it should, in order to ensure its aóting as His service requires.

0 my daughter! We live in a world that you will never be able to understand thoroughly, even when you come to my age. I do not know why

1 write such things without having made sure of a trustworthy messenger. However, I shall pay the man well.

It will be a good ad:ion to do all you can for Doña Guiomar.' She is a greater saint than people think and has many trials. It is a great blessing that the other left so quietly: God grant us more success with the one we have taken. I have many misgivings about her, for people who have governed their own houses are not suited for ours. However, she does not seem unsatisfactory at present. Isabel will tell you about her.

No messenger could be found until I had written as far as this; now they tell me that one has come and that letters must be given to him at once. .