Letter 351. To Father Gracian, Alcala, Palencia, February 21, 1581

Notes for the Chapter of Alcala. Liberty in convents for preachers outside the Order. Constitutions concerning sandals, head-dress, collation, the Breviary, journeys and income.

Will you fasten it up with a seal like my own and forward it to him.

The Prioress of Segovia called my attention to the liberty left to the nuns of inviting clerics not belonging to the Order to preach to them: after considering the matter I have left them free to do so. It is not merely a question of those who are living now, my Father, but after their death there may be superiors who will interfere with this, and with more than this. Therefore will your Paternity do us the charity of insisting upon it and upon the point of which I spoke to you the other day, setting them clearly and fully before the Father Commissary. If he does not leave us this freedom, we must appeal to Rome, for I know its importance as regards the sisters’ souls and peace of mind and the distress that arises in other convents from too strict a control in spiritual matters, for souls kept under restraint cannot serve God well, and the devil tempts them by that means, Whereas, when they have liberty to choose, they very often neither think about it nor care to use it.

If the Commissary has power to amend the Constitutions and to make an authorized set, I wish the additions and omissions to be those for which we are now asking. But no one will see to that unless your Paternity and Father Nicolas take the matter seriously -to heart. As you remark, and as I think I mentioned in my letter, it is needless to consult the friars about the nuns, nor did Father will you consider whether this and the rest of the Constitutions on the subject had not better be changed, lest those who read it should imagine that we had very soon become relaxed. Or the Father Commissary could declare that, as the Council of Trent permits of incomes, he allows them.

I should like our Constitutions to be printed, as there are different versions of them, since some prioresses think nothing of leaving out or inserting what they choose when copying them. I wish the Chapter to make a stri@ rule that no one may add to or subtract from them, so that the fa@ may be understood.’ Your Paternity must do as you think best in all these little matters —I mean as regards us nuns. I wish Father Nicolas to be consulted about our affairs so that they should not seem to be left to you alone, and I think that Fray Juan, too, would be interested in what concerns us. I should like to say more but it is nearly nightfall and the letters are to be fetched soon: besides, I must write to our friends,

I am touched at your asking what will become of the Discalced nuns! At all events, you will always be their true father under any circumstances, and indeed, you owe it to them. If you were to be their Provincial for ever, and they were to have no other superior, ‘there would be little reason for making some of these petitions, Oh, how anxious the sisters are that you should be made Provincial! I think nothing else would content them, May