Letter 437. To Catalina de Cristo, Prioress of Soria, Valladolid and Medina, September 15, 16, 1582

Postponement of a profession. Foundation at Pamplona.

Jesus be with your Reverence, my daughter, and have you in His keeping for me.

[ RECEIVED your Reverence’s letters with great pleasure. I should like the kitchen and refectory to have been repaired, but you, being on the spot, will know best and must decide.

I am glad that Roque de Huerta’s daughter’ is such a good little thing. It seems to me that it would be well to defer her profession until the date you mention, for she is a child and it would not matter. Your Reverence must not be surprised if she is rather intractable at times; it is of little consequence at her age. She will come right; characters of that kind generally become more mortified than athers.

Tell Leonor de la Misericordia that I would willingly do what she asks and more too for her sake. If only I could go to her profession, I should be delighted and it would give me far more pleasure than many things I meet with here. [May God bring it about if it would render Him service.

beside myself. May itall render God service. Amen. Your Reverence must not suppose that I suggest the postponement of the profession in order to change the rank of the novices; it would be one of those points of worldly honour that offend me greatly and I do not wish your Reverence to pay attention to such questions. I should be glad of it, because the one is but a child and it would make her more mortified, but if any other motive were attributed to the delay, I should tell you to let her make her profession at once, for it would be well that the humility to which we lay claim should appear in our actions. I meant to have begun by saying this to your Reverence, for I know that Sister Leonor de la Misericordia is too humble to think of such worldly pretensions, so that I should be glad if the child waited longer before taking her vows.

I cannot write more as we are just starting for Medina. My health is as usual. My companions ask your Reverence for prayers. Ana wrote a short time ago, telling you the news about this place.’ Remember me kindly to all. May God make all the nuns saints as well as your Reverence.

Valladolid, September 1 Be

We have reached Medina. I am too busy to say anything except that we had a safe journey. Use tact in deferring Isabel’s profession, so that people may not suppose it has to do with the worldly rank of the novices, since that is not our motive.

"The text has acd, here, not alla, there, and refers to Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, not to the Ven. Anne of Jesus,

TO SENOR ALONSO VENIGRILLA gle Note.

As the following recently discovered letters were unfortunately not known to the translator until it was too late to place them in their proper order, she gives them here for the benefit of readers of the first edition.

CCCCLXIV