Introduction

Summary

Sources

In the dedicatory letter appended to the princeps edition of the works of Santa Teresa de Jesús, the editor, Fray Luis de León, admitted to Ana de Jesús, prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Madrid:

Yo no conocí ni vi a la Madre Teresa de Jesús mientras estuvo en la tierra; mas agora que vive en el cielo la conozco y veo casi siempre en dos imágenes vivas que nos dejó de sí, que son sus hijas y sus libros; que, a mi juicio, son también testigos fieles, y mayores de toda excepción, de su grande virtud.

Fray Luis’s observation of the continuing presence of Santa Teresa in her nuns and in her writings encompasses more than the tangible sense in which he may have meant it, for the influence of the foundress’s example is also manifest in the lives and works of those nuns who embraced the Discalced Carmelite Reform. Not least among them are the women who had known Santa Teresa in life and continued her work after her death in 1582. In this select group may be numbered Ana de Jesús herself, who founded houses in Spain, France, and the Low Countries. At the same time, she furthered the cause of publishing the works of Santa Teresa and advocated strenuously for adherence to the principles of the rule set forth by the foundress.

Others among the earliest members of the Reform also followed the example of the saint in founding new monasteries and in writing works similar to hers in their content and concerns. Ana de San Bartolomé, the first lay sister of the Reform and nurse-secretary to the saint, also established new convents in France and the Low Countries, even as she wrote letters, instructions for novices, and two accounts of her own life. In like manner, María de San José, first prioress in Sevilla and foundress of the Lisbon Carmel, corresponded with other houses of the Reform and wrote spiritual works in which Santa Teresa served as both model and speaker. In fact, numerous works preserved in Carmelite houses include biographies, autobiographies, and relaciones, written in circumstances not unlike those faced by the saint.