Interpreting St Teresa of Avila (XVIII)

Patrick Burke, O.Carm.

“Lineage and Social Status Matter Not”

It is generally recognised that the life lived by Carmelite Sisters is centred on and devoted to prayer. The monastic reform that saw their origin in 16th Century Spain helped to make personal prayer more contemplative, frequently accompanied by authentic religious experience for which many at the time believed women incapable. For Teresa a life of prayer was not something that could be acquired like passing an examination. For her such a life whether of the ordinary lay person or a committed religious was rooted in the imitation of Jesus and was primarily aimed at the ordinary service of the Lord, in their links with the whole Christ. It was to fulfil God’s will that Christ’s mission would spread across the world and through all the ages to come. For Teresa the redemptive work of Jesus – his life, sufferings and death – was the price by which all humankind are redeemed, objectively in fact “were redeemed”. In and throughout time, his work of our redemption continues to be applied for the salvation of souls. St. Teresa’s appreciation of this truth was grounded in her concept of God, perceived by her as immensely compassionate and wholeheartedly directed to the saving of souls, to the concern for the well-being of humankind and their immediate and ultimate good.

Throughout her long life, Teresa was always ready to criticise, even challenge, various important aspects of acceptable practices in either religious or social life. The position of women in Spain and in the Church of her day had not improved very much over the centuries. She herself was a literate Castilian in a well-to-do middle-class family, though of Jewish stock with aristocratic connections. Like others of her class and position (later as a religious), she displayed a selective awareness regarding her society and those who composed it. Scholars have remarked that in her writings, labourers or workmen get little mention, implying it seems, a bias or prejudice on her part. Beggars got little mention either. However she wrote in her ‘Foundation’: “Our Lord desired to give me light in this matter, and so at one time he told me that lineage and social status mattered not at all in the judgement of God. He gave me a severe reprimand for listening to those who spoke to me about this” (E 15, 16).

The lives of the Carmelite Sisters were to be centred through prayer on God’s will for themselves and for the Church, especially their friends in the world; developing a closeness to God that inevitably creates a deep concern for and a thorough commitment to intercede for the world and its peoples, conscious that the Word became flesh and lived amongst us for our redemption. Certainly one had to absorb the mind of Christ, according to one’s capability, holiness and graces. Members of the Carmelite community were not to be selective in their witness to the Church. Given the particular time in the Church, the appearance of new religious family and the reform movements in society that would produce spiritual forces opposing the secular indifference that would undermine the stability of old kingdoms, it is clear that the people involved, religious and lay, often came from middle-class well-to-do families with upper-class connections. For many people, like Teresa, there was an added drawback, being a converso, that is with Jewish antecedents or “blood”. Practical problems arose for her but with her own spiritual experience, she gives a freshness and healthy enthusiasm to the changing situation. But there were always problems.

For the Church in Spain at Teresa’s time, ‘the pure blood’ policy advocated by many began to give rise to a real problem. Some religious orders in the acceptance of new members now provided statutes for the admission process, demanding evidence of ‘pure blood’ of aspirants. From the beginning Teresa solidly refused to permit such statutes. Despite criticism of lowered standards of education and diluted quality of religious service as a consequence, Teresa herself was very definite about such discrimination. “Such an attitude doesn’t belong here. In this house, please God, may there never be any thought about such a thing; it would be a hell. But the one who is from nobler lineage should be the one to speak least about her father. All the Sisters must be equal” (Way 27,6).

Teresa had come to Toledo in Spain to establish a new Carmelite convent for women according to her reformed practices in the Carmelite tradition. Its primary purpose was prayer and simple fidelity to the Gospel. She had been promised the entire inheritance of a merchant Martin Ramirez and was so sure of her position that she rented a temporary residence for her new community and proceeded to arrange permissions, license etc to make the new foundation. Furious opposition came from some prominent noble citizens of Toledo, insulted by the efforts of the Ramirez family, whom they alleged were trying to establish themselves in the city.

The converso origin of the Ramirez family added to her difficulties. This was probably the Ramirez family trying to enhance their prestige in the traditional way, endowing the Church. Teresa writes about the frustrating situation in her book of ‘The Foundations’ (15, 16). “I didn’t know what to do, for after the foundation was made they again took up the negotiations. But since the house was already founded, I arranged to let them become the patrons of the large Chapel and settled things in such a way that they would have no connection with what pertained to the monastery, as is now the case”. She obviously didn’t know how to get out of the difficulties. However, “Our Lord desired to give me light in the matter, ... He gave me a severe reprimand for listening to those who spoke to me about this —concerns of this sort were not for those of us who had already despised the world” (F. 15, 16). She solved the problem by making the negotiators patrons of the Chapel. She then proceeded to secure a new house that became the Toledo Carmel. In her book: The Way of Perfection Teresa wrote of this work: “Let no one in this house speak of any other father but him. And strive, my daughters, so to behave that you will deserve to find your delight in him” (W 27, 6).

For Teresa, the invitation of Jesus was to all his followers; everyone is called to be holy, to be like Jesus and with Jesus in the ordinary situations of our everyday life. Everyone needs to live the Gospel humility, poverty and commitment to Christ in the way that Teresa and saints of our time live these virtues.

In her Spiritual Testimonies (N. 5), Teresa wrote about God’s standards and how different they are from the world’s. She had been concerned during the time of the Toledo Carmel’s foundation about the advice given to her not to grant a burying-place to one who did not belong to the nobility”. She recorded: “The Lord said to me: you will grow very foolish, daughter, if you look at the world’s laws. Fix your eyes on me, poor and despised by the world”.

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