Chapter XXIV

Continuation of the Foundation at Seville.

When, as I have said, Father Master Fray Jerónimo Gracian came to see me at Veas, we had never met, although I had greatly desired it; sometimes written, however. It gave me great pleasure when I heard he was there, for I greatly desired to see him on account of the good which had been told me of him. But very much more was I delighted when I began to talk with him: for he pleased me so much that I felt as if those who had extolled him to me had not really known him. I had been so sorrowful; but when I saw him it seemed as if the Lord were making me see the good which was to come to us by means of him. And so during those days I went about in such exceeding joy and satisfaction that truly I myself was surprised at myself. At that time he only held a commission for Andalusia; but while he was at Veas, the Nuncio sent for him to see him, and then he gave it to him for the Barefoot monks and nuns of the Province of Castille¹.

My spirit was so full of joy that, during those days, I could not give thanks enough to our Lord, nor did I want to do anything else.

At that time the licence to found at Caravaca was brought

Commission, supreme in the Order in Andalusia; and as such — and also because of her admiration and affection for him — was the recipient of Sta Teresa's obedience. He was summoned to Madrid by the Nuncio whilst he was at Veas to take possession of the new brief that had been made out for him investing him direct with the powers formerly held by Vargas (April 1575). A month afterwards the General Chapter of the Order by virtue of the Pope's revocation denounced Vargas' Commission, and that held by his colleague Fernandez for Castile, and fulminated their edicts against the reformers. The issue was thus joined. On the one hand was the King, the Nuncio, Sta Teresa, Gracian, the Court and the Beformers; on the other the Pope, the General and Provincial of the Carmelites and the old Observants. The next move (a disastrous one for Gracian) was for the King and the Nuncio to invest Gracian with full powers as "Visitor over the Descalzos Houses of Castile and Andalusia, and Apostolic Commissary over the Observant Houses of Andalusia." This was in the autumn of 1575. When Sta Teresa says that she was brought under his obedience by reason of his Apostolic Commission for Castile she meant that this was in regard of her foundations in Castile (Avila, Salamanca, Valladolid, etc.) as she had already been under his obedience in respect to her foundation in Veas, by reason of his Apostolic Commission for Andalusia. Teresa, writing her Fundaciones some time afterwards, rather confused matters. Gracian was summoned from Veas by the Nuncio not primarily to be made Commissary for Castile: that appointment was made some months afterwards as a retort to the action of the Carmelite Chapter, but to receive the direct brief from the Nuncio appointing him Visitor of Andalusia, in order that the Papal revocation of the powers held by Vargas might in no case divest Gracian of his authority there. Gracian thenceforward therefore held the authority by a double tenure: i.e. by Vargas' transfer and by the direct brief of the Nuncio. The authority over Castile was given to him four months later for the reasons stated above.

It is curious that Sta Teresa herself did not know until a few months before she saw Gracian that Veas was for ecclesiastical purposes in Andalusia. She first learnt it from her Prioress at Valladolid, Maria Bautista. MAKTIN HUME.] me, but different from what was necessary for my purpose, and so it had to be sent back to the Court again. For I had written to the foundresses saying that in no wise could it be founded unless permission were obtained for a certain particular thing which was here lacking; so it had to go back to the Court. I myself did not at all like waiting at Veas so long, and I wanted to go back to Castille. But, as Father Fray Jerónimo was there, to whom that convent was already subject, he being Commissary of all the Province of Castille², I could do nothing without his will; so I communicated with him. He thought that, once I was gone, the foundation at Caravaca would drop through. Also that it would be greatly to the service of God to found a convent at Seville: which seemed to him very easy, because certain people had asked him for it who were very well able to give a house at once; and the Archbishop of Seville was so much in favour of the Order that he felt certain it would be doing him a great pleasure. So it was agreed that the Prioress and nuns whom I was taking for Caravaca should go to Seville.

For certain reasons I had always greatly resisted the foundation of convents in Andalusia. (For when I went to Veas, if I had known that it was in the Province of Andalusia, I should never have gone: but the mistake was that, although it is not in the country of Andalusia, but, I think, about four or five leagues before that begins, it is in that [ecclesiastical] Province.) Yet, when I found that that was the mind of the Superior, I immediately fell in with it: for our Lord gives me grace to think that they are right in everything. Although I had settled to found elsewhere, and although I had certain very serious reasons against going to Seville, I began to prepare for the journey quickly, because it was beginning to be very hot.

Father Gracian, the Apostolic Commissary, being sent for by the Nuncio, went off by himself, and we to Seville with my good escort, Father Julian of Avila and Antonio Gaytan and a Barefoot Brother. We went well covered up in carts, which was always our manner of travelling, and when we went into the inn we took an apartment good or bad as there might be, and a Sister took in at the door whatever we needed; for not even those who travelled with us came in. We made such haste that, although we did not travel on feast days, we got to Seville on the Thursday before the Feast of the Blessed Trinity, having endured the greatest heat on the journey. For I can tell you, Sisters, that when the whole force of the sun was beating down on the carts, going into them was like going into a purgatory. What with sometimes thinking on hell, at other times feeling that they were doing and suffering something for God, the Sisters travelled very contentedly and cheerfully: for six of those who went with me were souls such that I think I could have ventured to go with them into the land of the Turks and they would have had courage, or more properly speaking, the Lord would have given it them to suffer for Him. For such were their desires and their conversation, well trained as they were in prayer and mortification. Because, as they had to remain so far away, I had arranged that they should be of those who seemed to me most fitted for the purpose. And they needed it all, they had to go through such troubles: some of which, and the greatest, I will not relate, because a certain person might be concerned.

One day before Whitsuntide, God gave them a grievous trouble, which was the giving me a very bad fever. I believe that it was their crying to God which availed to arrest the sickness: for never in my life have I had a fever of that kind which did not go on to worse. It was of such a sort that I seemed like one asleep, I was so light-headed. They took to throwing water on my face, but so hot from the sun that it gave but little refreshment. I will not omit to tell you what a bad lodging we had in this extremity: that is, they gave us a little room with an unceiled roof. It had no window; and if the door was opened, the full sun poured in. You must remember that the sun there is not like the sun of Castille, but much more harassing. They had me laid in a bed, but I thought it better to lie on the floor, because the bed was so uneven that I did not know how to lie in it, for it seemed to be made of sharp stones. What a thing is sickness! for in health everything is easy to bear. At last I thought it best to get up and go on: for the sun seemed more bearable in the open air than in that little room. What must it be for the wretched people in hell, who can never make a change, for ever! For although it be from hardship to hardship, a change seems some alleviation. I have sometimes happened to have a severe pain somewhere, and if I got one somewhere else, although quite as painful, the change seemed an alleviation. So it was in this case. It gave me no distress that I can remember to find myself ill: the Sisters suffered much more than I did. It pleased the Lord that the worst of it did not last more than that day.

A little before that — it may have been two days — something else happened which put us in a little difficulty while we were crossing the Guadalquivir in a ferryboat. At the time when the carts crossed, it was not possible to go straight across where the rope was, but slanting down the stream, although the rope partly helped us, slanting it also. But those who were holding it chanced to let it go, or somehow it happened that the ferryboat floated away with the cart without rope or oars. Seeing the ferryman's distress I minded very much more than the danger. We fell to prayer, all aloud. There was a gentleman watching us from a castle near at hand, and, moved with pity, he sent someone to help us, while we still had the rope, and our brethren were holding on to it with all their might; but the force of the current carried them all away, so that some of them tumbled down. A son of the ferryman caused me such edification that indeed I shall never forget it — he looked about ten or eleven — he was so unhappy at seeing his father in trouble that it made me give praise to our Lord. But as His Majesty always tempers afflictions with mercy, so it was here; for the boat happened to ground on a sandbank, and there was not much water between it and the bank, and so all came right. We should have had difficulty in finding our way out to the road, for it was already dark, if the men from the castle had not guided us. I did not mean to speak of these things, which are of little importance, or I might have told of plenty of misadventures by the way: I have been begged to narrate this one at some length.

A far greater trouble to me than the above was what befell us on the last day of Whitsuntide. We had made great haste to arrive early at Cordova, so as to hear mass without anyone's seeing us, and we were directed to a church across the river, for greater retirement. When we came to cross, we had no licence for carts to cross, for the mayor has to give it: and more than two hours passed before it came, because they were not up; and many people kept coming to find out who was travelling there. This we did not much mind, because they could not; for we travelled very closely shut in. When at last the licence came, the carts could not get through the door of the bridge, and had to be cut smaller or something in which more time was spent.

When at last we arrived at the church where Father Julian of Avila was to say mass, it was full of people, because it was the Feast of its dedication to the Holy Spirit, of which we did not know; and there was a great festival and a sermon. When I saw this, I was greatly concerned; and to my thinking it would have been better to go away without hearing mass than to go down into such a hurly-burly. Father Julian thought not; and as he is a theologian, we Sisters all had to bow to his judgement; for the rest of our escort perhaps would have followed mine, which would have been very improper: although I do not know that I should have trusted my judgement alone. We alighted close to the church. And although nobody could see our faces, for we always wore long veils over them, it was enough to see us in them and the white serge cloaks which we always wear, and sandals, to stir them all up: and so it did. The shock of this it must have been — for assuredly it was a severe one to me and to us all — that quite drove away my fever.

As soon as we entered the church, a good man came up to me to keep off the people. I earnestly begged him to take us into some chapel. He did so, and locked it, and did not leave us until we started again to get out of the church. A few days after this he came to Seville, and he told a Father of our Order that he thought God had done him a favour on account of that good deed of his; for he had been given a large property of which he had no expectation.

I can tell you, daughters, that although this may seem nothing to you, it was for me one of the worst moments that I have passed; for the uproar among the people was as if bulls had come into the church. So I was longing to get out of the place. Although there was no place near at hand wherein to spend the festival, we kept it under a bridge³.

When we had arrived at Seville at a house which Father Mariano had hired for us, for he had been told beforehand to do so, I thought everything was accomplished. For, as I have said, the Archbishop was greatly in favour of the Barefoot Carmelites; and he had sometimes written to me, shewing me great affection. This did not suffice to shield me from much trouble; for God so willed it. The Archbishop is much against convents of nuns without endowment; and he has good grounds for his view. That was the mischief — or rather the good, that this work might be accomplished — for if they had told him of it before I set out, I am certain he would never have agreed to it. But the Father Commissary and Father Mariano, being perfectly certain that my going would give him the greatest satisfaction, and that they were doing him the greatest service through my going, did not tell him beforehand. And, as I say, it might have been a great mistake, they thinking that they were right. For, in the rest of the convents, the first thing which I sought to obtain was the licence of the Ordinary, as the Holy Council⁴ [of Trent] commands. In this case we not only took it as given, but, as I say, thought we were doing him a great service, as indeed it was, and he has since seen it. But it has been the Lord's pleasure that no foundation should be made without much trouble to me, some in one way, some in another.

Well, when we arrived at the house which, as I have said, had been hired for us, I thought to take possession immediately, as we were used to do, in order to say the Divine Office. But Father Mariano — for it was he who was on the spot — began to put me off; for he did not like to tell me the whole truth, not to distress me. But as his reasons were insufficient, I saw what the difficulty was — that we had not got the licence. Thus he told me he thought it had better be an endowed convent, or other things of that kind; I forget what. At last he told me that the Archbishop did not like a convent for nuns to be established by his leave, nor since he had been Archbishop had he ever given leave for any. (He had been many years there and at Cordova, and he is a great servant of God⁵.) Particularly for a convent without endowment: and he would not give it. This was as much as to say that the convent would not be founded. For one thing, its being in the city of Seville would have gone much against the grain with me: because the places where I have founded endowed Houses are little villages, where they must either be founded in this way or not at all, because there is no means of supporting them. For another thing, we had only one halfpenny left over from the cost of the journey, nor had we brought any goods with us except the clothes we wore, and some tunics and hoods, and what was necessary for travelling hidden up and comfortably in the carts: and for the return journey of those who had come with us we had to try to borrow money. A friend of Antonio Gaytan's lent him this; and Father Mariano tried to borrow some for fitting up the house; nor had we a house of our own. So it was an impossibility.

It must have been for the aforesaid Fathers' great importunity that the Archbishop allowed us to hear mass for the Day of the Blessed Trinity, which was our first day there. He sent to say that no bell was to be rung; nor even put up, he said, unless it was put up already. In this way we went on more than a fortnight; and I know my mind was, that if it had not been for the Father Commissary and Father Mariano, I should have returned with my nuns to Veas for the foundation of Caravaca, with small sorrow. Much more did I endure during that time — as my memory is bad, I do not remember how long it was, but I think over a month. For the going away in the end would have been worse to bear than going right away at once; because people had heard about the convent. Father Mariano would never let me write to the Archbishop, but little by little he kept getting him to relent, being aided in this by letters from the Father Commissary from Madrid.

One thing relieved me myself from much doubt: and that was our having had mass said with his leave; and we always said the Divine Office in Choir. He did not omit to send people to visit me, and to say that he would soon see me; and it was one of his own servants he sent about saying the first mass. Whence I saw clearly that all this served no purpose but to keep me in distress; although my distress was not for myself, nor for my nuns, but for the Father Commissary's distress; for it was great, as it was he who had commanded me to go: and it would have been very great if any disaster had taken place, for which there were abundant occasions.

During that time the Calced Fathers also came, to know by what authority we were founding. I shewed them the patents I had from our Most Reverend Father General; and with this they were satisfied: but I think this would not have sufficed, if they had known about the Archbishop. But nobody thought of this; for everyone believed that it was much to his liking and satisfaction. At last it pleased God that he should come to see us; and I told him what harm he was doing us. In the end he said that what I wished should be done, and as I wished: and from that time forward he has always favoured us and done us kindnesses at every opportunity.

Footnotes

1. [The circumstances were as follows. The battle between the Observant Carmelites and the Keformed Descalzos had just begun. Gracian was selected by the latter as the best man to lead them. Vargas, the Dominican, had at the request of Philip II been appointed by the Pope Apostolic Visitor of the Order in Andalusia with very wide authority. He was in favour of reform and had transferred his powers to Gracian late in 1573, whereby the latter secretly was invested with authority over the Order in the Province even greater than that of the General and the Provincial. As soon as this was discovered by the latter they obtained from the new Pope Gregory XIII a revocation of Vargas' powers (though the revocation was not made public at the time). The reform party with the aid of Philip II obtained from the Nuncio, Ormaneto, in the meanwhile a confirmation of Vargas' powers (22 Sept. 1574). So that when Gracian went to Veas in the spring of 1575, after Lent, he was, by Apostolic authority and the transference of Vargas' ↩

2. [A slip for Andalusia. Tr.] ↩

3. And to get possession of even this they had to turn out some pigs, as the Venerable Julian of Avila relates in his Life of the Saint. ↩

4. The Council ordered that the Ordinary's leave was to be prlus obtenta — obtained beforehand. ↩

5. The Archbishop was the celebrated Don Cristobal de Eojas y Sandoval, formerly Bishop of Oviedo and of Cordova. He was promoted to Seville in 1571, and died in 1580. He was present at the Council of Trent, and he was distinguished by his strictness in matters of ecclesiastical order and discipline and his charity to the poor. ↩