Letter 62. To Mother Mary Baptist, Prioress of Valladolid, Segovia, end of September, 1574

The Saint regrets thai she cannot visit Valladolid. SatisfaSiory settlement of affairs at Segovia. The foundation at Veas. The Life\ The Fen. Anne of ye sus. The future community.

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

IT is some consolation in my disappointment at leaving without seeing you, to know that you share my sorrow. However, God can easily arrange matters soon in a way we do not think of now, so that I may have a longer time for my visit to ValladoHd, for really I could not have done more than I have during my stav here. A short visit is very tiring; it is all spent in receiving callers and one has to sacrifice one's sleep in order to talk; besides which I should have been sure to have gossiped needlessly through my longing to chat with you. Yet many of the things I want to say cannot be put in a letter. One of them is that I wish to avoid offending Father Medina; believe me, I have my reasons for it. As I have already made some progress in his good graces, be sure to send him the enclosed letter, and take no notice if he is not very friendly, for he is not bound to be. Never mind what he says about me: why do you not tell me what it is?

You must know that I told the Father Provincial that they had made great efforts to bring us Señora Samanú. Do you know what strikes me? That God desires you to be poor but of an untarnished reputation, so He has given you Casilda who is both and who is worth more than all the gold. The Father Visitor seems to have recognised this, and has tried to make reparation to me. At any rate, he has cleared Father Orellana' of all blame, so I think that she must have urged him to do so. But I am vexed at having said so much about this good person.

After the letter you answered, I sent you another by a theatine or by some one else, I cannot

■ Casilda de Padilla.

remember whom. It must have been by the messenger who usually takes yours to the convent of the Madre de Dios! I told you in that letter that we have secured the money and that, glory be to God, all is settled! I am hastening matters so that we may be installed in the house before I leave. I do not know whether the difficulties will be overcome. There is little left to do: we are quite close to our new convent, so do not be anxious about it. God reward you for your advice; I think I can decipher the words you crossed out: I assure you that Veas is not in Andulusia, but five miles this side of it, and I am aware that I am not allowed to found convents in Andalusia.

My book came back, two or three days after the bishop went to court, I fancy. I must send it there to him but I do not know his address. The volume will be taken to you, and you ar?; to give it to him when he leaves without opening the parcel ; but let him have the enclosed letter at once as it contains a message for the Señora Doña Maria.

I am taking as Prioress Anne of Jesus,' who was received at St. Joseph's, was born at Plasencia, and is now at Salamanca. I do not know any one else just now who would be suitable. Wonderful things are told of the sanility and humility of one of the two foundresses: they are both good. No one must enter who would introduce imperfedlions, for, from what they say, this house is to inaugurate great things. I tell you this on account of your own nun. God willing, another foundation will soon be made, but the person who disagrees with you would not do to begin with, although I long to relieve you of her. Four nuns from Pastrana are to go, and even that does not make many. Two postulants are expected here; the one with fifteen hundred ducats is to arrive on Saturday. Every one is amazed at her fervour; I do not know what will come of it. I assure you that this is an excellent community. Six sisters are to go with the Prioress, who is from another house, and twenty-two will remain with the Subprioress, which is then accompanied the Saint to the foundation at Veas where she became Prioress. She made the foundation at Granada as St. Teresa's representative and here, as at Veas, had for her confessor St. John of the Cross who wrote his Spiritual Canticle for her. With him she made a foundation at Madrid in i 586 and while there had the Saint's books published (excepting the Foundations). When Doria tried to deprive the nuns of St. Teresa's Constitutions, Anne of Jesus, supported by several other prioresses, appealed to Rome and gained the point; she was severely punished by the superiors of the Order in Spain. She was at Salamanca until 1604, when she went to France to make the first foundations of Discalced nuns there; three years later she left for Belgium where she founded convents in the principal cities and introduced the Discalced Carmelite friars. She died in 1621 and has been declared Venerable b}' the Holy See. (Foundation of Granada, given in the Book of Found, p. 369).

enough. The four lay sisters are really very per-fed:. We shall be obliged to take more nuns from here, as I can see that many good subjects are ready to enter. This will show you that I cannot abandon the Veas foundation — in fad: we shall require another house as well.

You thought, my daughter, to do me a great favour bv stopping my projed, which will be carried out this winter. God has planned this for me, for the cold of this part of the country injures me so much that I do not think I could have borne another winter here. You must not fancy that what I suifer elsewhere can be compared to this. It may be that . . .