Letter (number unidentified). To Father Gracian, Madrid, Palencia, March 23 and 24,05 R8E0

The Saint's joy at seeing the Brief printed. The Joundation at Palencia. Easter cake of St. Sohn of the Cross. Congratulations on Father Gracian’s being made Provincial,

ESUS be with your Paternity and repay you for the comfort your parcel brought me, especially the printed copy of the Brief? N othing is lacking now to make it all complete except that the Constitutions should be printed. God will see to beginning of the second edition of the Constitutions printed at Madrid, in 1588.

_ They were Printed during this year. A translation of the Constitu« tions of both friars and nuns is given at the end of the Foundations,

TO FATHER GRACIAN 153

I have read very little of the Brief which, bein g in Latin, I do not understand: I shall wait until this holy season is over and some one can translate it for me. It was given me yesterday, Tenebrae Wednesday, and as there are very few of us and I wish to join in the divine Office, I have not dared to use my head except for letters. I should like to know where you intend going when you leave Madrid, as in case I wish to consult you I shall need your address.

Your Paternity must know that I have been, and still am, seeking a house here, and cannot find any that is not very dear and inconvenient in many ways, so I think that we shall take the one near Nuestra Sefiora (de la Calle), though it has several drawbacks. If the town council would allow us to purchase some open spaces near, for which we could pay by degrees, we could make a good kitchen garden. The church is already built and has two chaplaincies; the price of the houses has been lowered by four hundred ducats and will, I think, be reduced still more. I am astonished at the goodness of the townsfolk who give generously to us, and if only we can manage to feed ourselves (for the church costs a great deal) I think this will be one of the best of your convents. When some galleries are removed, people say the cloisters will be well lighted, and the house is more roomy than we need. May God be faithfully served in it, and may He have your Paternity in His keeping. I must not write more for it is Friday of the Cross,

(Good Friday).

I forgot to ask your Paternity for my ‘Easter cake’: God grant you may give it to me. I must tell you that one day, when I was consoling Fray John of the Cross for having to live in Andalusia, (for he cannot bear the Andalusians) I told him that when God gave us a separate province I would try to bring him back to Castile. Now he asks me to keep my word: he is afraid of being made Prior of Baeza and writes to beg your Paternity not to confirm the election. If the thing can be done, it would be right to comfort him for he has had trouble enough. I certainly hope, my Father, that we shall not found many houses in Andalusia, for I believe they will injure the convents of Castile. They say that the ‘Prioress’ of San Alejo’ is mad with joy and it is amusing to see her sweeping and working. The nuns here cannot restrain their delight at having such a father: they are full of joy: God grant us such joy where it never ends and give you a happy Eastertide, which you must wish your relations, for me—and happy it must be if your Paternity is with them. All the sisters, especially my companions, beg you to pray for them. I shail keep the rest of my news for my letter to Father Nicolao. Oh, how glad I am that you have had so good a companion! I should like to know what has

“ The ‘Easter cake’ was the equivalent of our ‘Easter egg’ : it was made of eggs baked in dough. St. John of the Cross returned to Baeza after the chapter of Alcald as Rector of St. Basil’s college and was made Prior of Granada during the following June. The Castilian proverb says: ‘Stones and the sign of the Cross for the Andalusians.’