Letter 275. To the Mother Prioress and the Nuns of Valladolid, Avila, the end of May, 1579

A request for two hundred ducats for the Discalced fathers who had gone to Rome. Dowry of Father Gracians sister, Maria de San "Jose.

JESUS !

May the grace of the Holy Ghost be with your Reverence, my Mother, and with all mv dear sisters !

I WISH to remind you that, as far as I can remember I have never asked you either to admit a novice without a dowry, or to grant me any other favour of much importance. This has not been the case with other convents, for one has received as manv as eleven penniless nuns and is none the worse for that — in fa(fl, it is the most flourishing.

I want to ask you for something which vou are bound to give for the good of the Order and for several other reasons. Though it is to your own advantage, I choose to take it as a personal favour and you must consider it as done to me, for I am very anxious lest what is important for the service of God and our peace, should fail for want of funds.

The enclosed letters from a Discalced father, the Prior del Calvario, now in Rome, will show how urgently he begs us to send him two hundred ducats at once. The Discalced friars, having no superior, can do nothing. They could give so little help to Fray Juan de Jesus and the Prior of Pastrana, who have also gone to Rome (though I have not heard whether they have yet arrived), that the latter took with them a hundred and fifty ducats from our house at Veas, besides the sum I had already furnished. It is a great favour from our Lord that some of our convents can supply their needs. After all, it is only once in a lifetime.

Father Nicolas writes from Madrid saying that he has found some one who, out of regard for him, will advance the two hundred ducats on the dowry of Sister Maria de San Jose if the convent will give him a receipt for the sum. That will suffice, even though there should be delay in repaying him. I think this is very fortunate and beg you as a charity to send for a lawyer when you receive this letter. Let him draw out the form of her profession as though she were already professed in a businesslike manner (as otherwise nothing can be done) and forward it to me at once with the bill of promise. The two documents must be drawn out separately and not on the same sheet of paper. You see the importance of there being no delay.

If you think that it is a large sum and wonder why the other convents do not take their share, I assure you that each one is doing all it possibly can, and those, like this community, who can give nothing, give nothing. We all wear the same habit because we help one another; for whatever belongs to one, belongs to all, and she gives much who gives all she can. You would be astonished if you knew how heavy the expenses are. Sister Catalina de Jesus could tell you. If the convents do not provide the money, I can earn nothing with my maimed hand, though it costs me far more to colledt and beg for contributions — indeed, it is a torment I could undergo for no one but God.

Besides this, I have still to ask for another two hundred ducats promised to Canon Montoya, who has kept us alive. God grant that sum may suffice and that no more money may be needed! However it is a great mercy that money can purchase us such peace. What I have already asked you for is indispensable: the gift for which I am about to beg I leave to your good will, though the request seems to me reasonable and one of which both God and the world would approve.

As you are aware, you received Sister Maria de San Jose without a dowry for the sake of her brother. Father Gracian. I have learnt that her mother (who was very short of money) postponed her daughter's entrance into your convent until arrangements had been made that she should have four hundred ducats. Dona Juana thought that you would extend the charity you had shown Father Gracian and that she would be able to settle her own money difficulties with the dower money, for, as I said, she stands in need of it.

I am not astonished at her feeling its loss, though she is so good- hearted that she is always expressing her gratitude to you for what you have done. The enclosed letter from the Father Master Gracian will show your Reverence that a hundred ducats is to be discounted on account of the expense to which the girl has put her mother, so that your account should come to three hundred ducats. You must reckon little on what the sister will inherit, as her parents' income consists solely of what the king allows them — not a regular salary — and will cease when the secretary dies. Should any property remain, it will have to be divided among so many children that, as Doila J nana wrote to say, it is not worth reckoning. I do not know whether I have kept her letter: if I find it, I will send it to you. In short, the receipt ought to be for at least three hundred ducats. In my opinion, you would do well to acquit her of the whole four hundred ducats, as she will none the less send you the other hundred when she has them. Even if she did not, she has earned them well by the terrible trials she has passed through on account of her son in one way or another ever since the day he began his visitations, not to mention what we owe to Father Gracian. Many a dowerless nun has been received into the Order with much less reason than we have for taking one for his sake.

The nuns at Toledo asked neither for bed, trousseau, habit, nor anything else with his sister who entered there, nor was anything given her, and they would have been very glad to receive Sister Maria de San Jose on the same terms if she had chosen their house. God has bestowed such

ST. TERESA'S LETTERS characters and talents on this family that the nuns prefer them to other girls with dowries. As I said, you must do as you judge best about the hundred ducats, but there is no choice about the other sum as the necessity is urgent.

When once our affairs are settled, an examination must be made as to what each house has contributed and the surplus money returned to those who have given more than their proper share, which will be your own case. Let us help one another now as far as we can. I ask the Mother Prioress not to oppose the sisters' wishes, for I feel sure that they are no less loyal daughters of the Order than other nuns who are doing their utmost. May God make them as holy as I pray of Him ! Amen. Your servant,

Teresa de Jesus.

In any case, tell Sister Catalina de Jesus to read this letter before all the sisters, and I shall be greatly displeased if she omits a word. The same is to be done with the enclosed letter from Rome.

CCLXXXII

Prefatory note.

Fray Angel de Salazar had told Saint Teresa to go to Malagon where the nuns were in trouble and to take the office of prioress there, but was persuaded by Father Gracian to choose another nun for that post. However, he desired her to go to Malagon, calling on the journey at the houses ot Medina, Valladolid, Alba, and Salamanca. It was at the request of Bishop de Mendoza and his sister who were in trouble that she was sent to comfort thern at Valladolid. The patent to be confirmed was for the foundation of the house at Villanueva which took place on February 21, 1580. Saint Teresa was now a confirmed invalid of sixty-four years of age, with a crippled arm.