Letter (number unidentified). To Father Gracian, Madrid, Avila, November 15, 1578

The Saint condoles with him on his imprisonment and begs him not to leave the Order.

... God give you strength to be steadfast in the right amid such great peril. Blessed are such trials, however grave, when they do not turn us from the right path. I am not astonished that those who love your Paternity endeavour to free you from them and seek for the means, though it would not be well to forsake the Virgin in a time of such distress. I venture to declare that Dona Juana would not advise it, nor would she consent to such a change. God preserve us from it ! Instead of avoiding trialsyouwouldplungeyourself into them, for with God's favour, ours will soon be over, but perhaps those of the other Order might last your life -time.

The more I refled: upon the case of your being made Visitor again, the worse it seems. I should live in terror at seeing you involved in a thousand difficulties in countless ways. The power of making visits lasts no longer than eating a mouthful of bread, but we might witness your being constantly involved in danger. I entreat you, for the love of God, even if the Nuncio commands you. . .

CCLIII

Prefatory note.

The Count de Tendilla called on the Nuncio and begged him to allow the Discalced to state their case to him: on meeting with a refusal he lost his temper and spoke indignantly. Quitting Sega's presence, he went to Chumazero, the king's attorney-general, whom he persuaded to use the civil courts in defence of the friars. The issue was a decree of the Royal Council suspending the Nuncio's orders until the friars had had a hearing. Copies of the decree were sent to all the houses of the Discalced, but all of them, with the exception of Granada, of which the Count de Tendilla was a benefactor, declined the king's protection in that form and submitted to Sega.

Neither the Nuncio nor his emissaries nor the Mitigated Provincials and Visitors paid any attention to these provisions. Sega's deputies continued to visit the houses of the Reform, dispose of their superiors, change their constitutions and send exaggerated accounts of any faults they could discover to the king, the Nuncio, and the Royal Council. They also made vile accusations against the moral character of Father Gracian and the nuns, dragging even St. Teresa's fair fame in the dust. (Santa