SECRETARIATUS GENERALIS PRO MONIALIBUS O.C.D.

- ROMAE
THEOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL REFLECTION PROJECT
FOR THE DISCALCED CARMELITE NUNS

The Teresian Charism

Vatican Council II, speaking about religious life, highlighted its charismatic nature by defining the
evangelical counsels as "a gift of God which the Church has received from her Lord and which by his
grace she always safeguards" (LG 43). This gift, attributed to the renewing action of the Holy Spirit,
finds concrete expression in those outstanding men and women (LG 45) who have given new
religious families to the Church which has then officially authorized them (LG 45 and PC 1).
The Council speaks of "the spirit and aims of the founders" which characterize the particular nature
of each religious family in the Church (PC 2 and 7-10) and which must be "known and observed".
The document Mutuae Relationes offers us a description of charism in these words: "The charism of
the Founders is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Cf. Ev. Test. n.11) passed on to their disciples who must
put it into practice, safeguard it, deepen it and develop it constantly in harmony with the Body of
Christ in perennial growth (Mut. Relat. n.11).
Following this doctrinal inspiration, the Constitutions of the Discalced Carmelite nuns have a lengthy
consideration of the Teresian charism. This synthesizes the foundational process in the experience of
Holy Mother, rooted in the tradition of Carmel, while highlighting the charism's essential values.
Numbers 4-11 of the Constitutions, linked with nn. 1-3 which speak of the origins of our vocation,
describe in synthesis this fruit of the Spirit which our Holy Mother received, which is recorded in her
autobiographical and doctrinal writings and confirmed by the testimony of the first nuns. An
attentive reading of the text of the Constitutions, compared with the abundant notes to each
number, enables us to evaluate the spiritual experience which gave birth to the Teresian Carmel.
I. - THE FOUNDATIONAL PROCESS
1. - A providential preparation
The definition of the charism as "a fruit of the Spirit" permits us to broaden our vision of the
foundational process so that we do not concentrate on events only but rather on the person who
experienced them. The consideration of the charismatic process of our religious family in the Church
begins with the person of Teresa of Jesus herself, who was chosen by God for this mission and who
was brought by Him through her spiritual experience to the achievement of his designs. From this
viewpoint, we can say that the Book of her Life as a whole, in which we are given the "story of
grace" of our Holy Mother, is the spiritual nucleus from which must begin the entire description of
the foundational process. Chapters 32-36, in which are described specifically the story of the
foundation of St. Joseph's, are the peak expression of a grace process, the beginnings of which are
to be found in Teresa's autobiography.
For all those who have received the grace of being called by God to follow Teresa, the entire book of
the Life is important for an understanding of the foundational process and also for a fitting
identification with the experience of our Holy Mother . In fact, the providential vision of her whole
life, from her very infancy, the chapters in which she tells about her religious vocation and her
experiences at the monastery of the Incarnation, the grace of her conversion and the series of
mystical experiences which follow this decisive moment, the growing awareness of the mystery of

the Church and of her own present life, are all the "prologue" and the "preparation" for the
foundation of St. Joseph's. The tract on prayer itself (chs.8 and 11-22) constitutes the basis of what
would later be the primordial commitment of Teresa and of her daughters in St. Joseph's. The final
pages of the autobiography were written in the peace of the house of St. Joseph's, among "a few
holy companions" (L 40:22), and they reflect the living out of a charism in total continuity with all of
the previous writing.
Carmelite religious life cannot be understood correctly as being grounded in tradition together with
the charismatic freshness of St. Joseph's, Avila, without an attentive reading of all Saint Teresa has
to say in the Book of her Life about her religious vocation (ch.3,5-7), her first years as a Carmelite,
her experience of religious life in the Incarnation, with her critical evaluation of it and herself.(L 5-7;
13:8-9; 31:23-24). Teresa was able to experience Carmelite religious life in the Incarnation. She
was nourished at the founts of the spirituality of Carmel. In the atmosphere of its liturgy and
popular devotions she breathed the primitive ideal. Her keen perception and her openness of spirit
enabled her to penetrate beyond what she saw and practiced, so that she was able to return to the
origins of the Order to become one with the high ideals of the ancient Fathers, to the point where
she felt the desire to renew the Order of our Lady. It was from these founts and these concerns that
was born, as a providential preparation, her charism of Foundress.
On the other hand, her urge to communicate, her ability to enthuse others with her ideals from the
first years of her religious life (Cf. L 6:3-4), her initial leadership in teaching about prayer (Cf. L
7:13) reveal Teresa as a person qualified to create a group around her. This quality passes through
a test of solitude which makes her throw herself into the worldly dissipation of the parlour and at the
same time makes her long for a kind of religious life where mutual support in the service of the Lord
would be the norm of life (Cf. L 7:20-22). In this story of the spiritual friendships of Teresa, who
meets as channels of spiritual communication the friends whom God sends her ("the five of us who
at present love each other in Christ", Cf. L 16:7), and in the group of nuns which has her cell for its
centre within the community of the Incarnation , an ambience was created within which the idea of a
new monastery germinated. It is significant that before the famous "velada" (an evening gettogether) in the Incarnation when the idea of St. Joseph's arose, the Saint recalls this fact: "since I
was sharing with some of the nuns what those with whom I was consulting were teaching me, much
good was being done" (L 32:9). Her confessor, Fr. Ibez, in the "Dictamen" which he wrote in her
favour, will testify to the spiritual influence of Teresa in her monastery with these words: "So great
is the profit to her soul from these things and the great edification that she gives by her example,
that over forty nuns are enjoying lofty recollection in her house" (B.M.C. II, p.131).
Without any doubt, a place of honour must be given in the charismatic preparation to the mystical
graces which mark her supernatural ascent after her conversion. Indeed, the grace of personal "new
life" which gives her conversion the character of an inner renewal, (Cf. L 23:1) is followed by
affective freedom (Cf. L 24:5-7), the first words of Christ (Cf. L 25), Christ's promise to be a living
book for Teresa (Cf. L 26:5), the vision of the Resurrected (Cf. L 27-28), the experience of the
infusion of love purifying and enlarging the ability to love (Cf. L 29: 13-14), an awareness of the
mystery of evil (Cf. L 31). We are, then, in the presence of a fullness of spiritual life and mystical
experience. The birth of the Teresian charism comes from this spiritual abundance and from this
spousal maturity.
These references to the providential preparation are intended to show how correct is the compact
synthesis with which n.4 of the Constitutions begins: "The beginning of the Teresian family within
Carmel, and the meaning of its vocation in the Church, are bound up closely with the development
of the spiritual life of Saint Teresa".
2. - The charismatic origin (Const. n.4)
The account of the beginning of the monastery of St. Joseph is inset in a flow of mystical graces. A
careful reading of the Teresian text of the five long chapters she gives to this event (L 32-36) will
yield pleasant surprises for us. The backdrop of this account is remarkable for the same conviction:

it was all God's doing; it is He who was the protagonist; the foundation of St. Joseph's was a work of
God, a story of divine graces in the midst of human opposition. She is convinced that the whole
thing has the characteristics of an authentic charism. Everything came from God. It is he who
wanted it and it is he who accomplished it. Teresa is conscious of a divine intervention.. Let us fix
our attention on this moment, in the subsequent steps and in the primordial elements which
characterize the charism in its origin.
a) Teresa's concern and response
Chapter 32 of the Life recounts a series of events which, in a very effective and proximate way,
prepare in the heart of Teresa the inspiration to found St. Joseph's in Avila, before the Lord explicitly
commanded it.
- The vision of hell (L 32:1-5) rekindles apostolic longings and desires to please God in Teresa's
heart: "From this experience also flow the great impulses to help souls and the extraordinary pain
that is caused me by the many that are condemned (especially the Lutherans, for they were through
baptism members of the Church). It seems certain to me that in order to free one alone from such
appalling torments I would suffer many deaths very willingly" (ib.6).
- There arises a personal disquiet which wavers between the desire to respond to God with all her
being, to do penance or to flee far away: "I was desiring to flee people and withdraw completely
from the world" (ib.7-8).
- There is a glimmer of a first response: "I was thinking about what I could do for God, and I
thought that the first thing was to follow the call to religious life, which His Majesty had given me,
by keeping my rule as perfectly as I could" (ib.9). Disquiet leads to realism: to be a perfect
Carmelite religious. But the circumstances of the monastery and her own personal situation led her
to see that she could not respond to God perfectly in this place.
- The idea which is born of spiritual communion opens up a new channel: "It happened once while I
was with someone that she mentioned to me and to others in the group that if we couldn't be nuns
like the Discalced, it would still be possible to found a monastery" (ib.10). The idea arises as a
sequence to what was already being practiced in draft form around Teresa, in her cell at the
Incarnation. The idea came from the young Mara de Ocampo, the future Mara Bautista, who thus
recalls the decisive moment: "One day in the cell of Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus while we were
considering, jokingly, how to reform the Rule which was observed in that monastery, which was that
of our Lady of Mount Carmel, mitigated, and to set up some monasteries like the hermits, just like
the primitive one founded by our ancient Holy Fathers where this Rule was observed first, I joined
in, enjoying the discussion, since it was a matter of importance, and I said to the Holy Mother that I
would help with a thousand ducats so that it could begin" (Cf. Toms de la Cruz - Simen de la S.
Familia, O.C.D., La Reforma Teresiana, Teresianum, Rome 1962, pp.210-211; we will cite this book
with the abbrev. RT).
- However, the indecision continued for Teresa who wavered between desire, fear, attachment to
her community her personal situation: "Since I was having these desires, I began to discuss the
matter..... Yet since, on the other hand, I was perfectly content in the house in which I was because
it was very much to my liking and the cell in which I lived was just what I wanted, I was still
delaying. Nevertheless, we agreed to pray fervently to God over the matter" (ib.10).
b) God's desire
In the account of the origin of the foundation of St. Joseph's it is striking to note God's
interventions, his words, his indications, the apparitions of Christ. This supernatural origin, strongly
stressed by Teresa, shows us that we have here a charism, a grace for the Church. It is worth
recalling some of these interventions, which underline God's interest in the foundation of the
Teresian Carmel and demand fidelity to something which he himself planned...

- The first words and promises. A central moment of the charism is the event narrated by the Saint:
"One day after Communion, His Majesty earnestly commanded me to strive for this new monastery
with all my powers, and He made great promises that it would be founded and that He would be
highly served in it. He said it would be called St. Joseph..."(L 32:11). It is the Lord himself who
orders the foundation, assures his protection and illuminates with his promises a future of grace. In
the words of the Lord, transmitted by the Saint, there is the revelation of a project cherished by
him, thought out in all its details, even the title: "And that this saint would keep watch over us at
one door, and our Lady at the other, that Christ would remain with us, and that it would be a star
shining with great splendour.." (ib.). We stress this type of "living together" and protection by our
Lady and St. Joseph; especially the promise "Christ would remain with us", which gives to the
foundation of St. Joseph's the savour of an experience of the presence of Christ amidst his disciples,
according to the evangelical promise: "Where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with
them" (Matt. 18:20). Christ gives assurance that the new monastery will have a bright future in the
Church. Against any appearance of reformist reaction, the words of the Lord are a defence of
religious life, even with the shortcomings of which St. Teresa was aware: "He said that even though
religious Orders were mitigated one shouldn't think He was little served in them: he asked what
would become of the world were it not for religious" (L 32:11).
- Other interventions. From this moment on, the Lord takes a hand in the matter with continuous
interventions: "But often the Lord returned to speak to me about this new monastery, presenting
me with so many clear reasons and arguments that I saw it was His will." (L 32:12). On another
occasion, when the first problems arose, he spoke words which were very significant for Teresa: "His
Majesty began to console and encourage me. He told me that in this I would see what the saints
who had founded religious Orders had suffered...(ib.14); Teresa also, then, was to be a Foundress.
Frequently God reminded her that "I will fulfil what I have promised" (L 26:2). The chain of
interventions lengthens (Cf. L 32:18; 33:3,8,10 and 12); it is the Lord who tells Teresa not to give
obedience to the Order for the moment, and he suggests to her the way she can get permission
from Rome. He insists on a foundation in absolute poverty (L 35:6 and 36:20). In the midst of the
storm blown up by the foundation he assures her: "Don't you know that I am mighty? What do you
fear?" (L 36:16).
c) A work of the Virgin Mary
Teresa's charism is also a gift of the Virgin, Mother and Patroness of Carmel. Together with the Lord,
Mary takes part in the foundation of the new monastery. This is clear from the Marian grace received
by St. Teresa (probably on August 15, 1561). From that beautiful vision, where St. Joseph also
appeared and which can be considered a kind of Marian investiture enabling St. Teresa to serve the
Church and Carmel (Cf. L 33:14-16), we recall the words of the Virgin which are an echo of those of
Christ: "She told me I made her very happy in serving the glorious St. Joseph, that I should believe
that what I was striving for in regard to the monastery would be accomplished, that the Lord and
those two would be greatly served by it, that I shouldn't fear there would ever be any failure in this
matter even though the obedience which was to be given was not to my liking, because they would
watch over us, and that her Son had already promised us He would be with us, that as a sign that
this was true she was giving me a jewel" (ib.14).
d) The approval of the Church
When the problems of the future jurisdiction of the monastery had been solved, from Rome the
Church approved with its authority, by means of several successive documents, the foundation of
St. Joseph's in Avila thus giving the Church recognition which guarantees every charism as a service
to ecclesial sanctity. On February 7, 1562, the Apostolic Penitentiary signed the Brief of Foundation
"Ex parte vestra" (Doc. in RT, pp.139-146), and this arrived in Avila at the beginning of July when
the Saint returned from Toledo at the Lord's command (Cf. L 35:8 and 12; 36:1). The acceptance of
the monastery by the bishop guaranteed the protection of the local Church; the intervention of St.
Peter Alcntara was providential (Cf. L 36:2). This first roman Brief was followed by the one on
absolute poverty to the "beloved daughters in Christ, abbess and nuns of the monastery of St.

Joseph in Avila, of the Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel" (Doc. of 5-XII-1562 in RT, pp.150-151).
Then comes permission from the Nuncio for Teresa de Ahumada to reside in St. Joseph's (Doc. 21VIII-1564), and finally a Bull of Pius IV "Cum a nobis" confirming all the previous Briefs, where the
Saint for the first time is called "Teresa of Jesus", and granting her the right to draw up "statutes
and ordinances" (Doc. 17-VII-1565 in RT, pp. 181-186). Teresa refers with devotion and trust to
this approval of the Roman Pontiff which includes the option for absolute poverty in these words:
"For it had cost me no small amount of trouble that this observance of poverty would have all the
backing and authority of the Holy Father behind it so that no one could change it that there never be
any income" (L 33:13). (All the primitive official documents are in Mon. Hist. Carm. Ter., Documenta
primigenia, I (1560-1577) pp. 22-23.31-32.43-47.48-53).
e) First ideal project
Of special importance in the story of the Teresian charism, is a letter Holy Mother sent to Quito, at
the end of 1561, addressed to her brother Lorenzo de Cepeda. He was a providential benefactor who
sent from America the first financial resources for the new monastery. In this letter, Teresa traces
her ideal with vigorous flourishes; these are the first strokes of an ideal which is taking shape in the
heart and the mind of the Saint. Here we have some of the first intuitions: "I have been unable to
avoid doing this because the inspiration came from God ... I must put all I can into this task, which
is the foundation of a monastery, where there will be only fifteen nuns, and this number is never to
be added to; they will live in the strictest enclosure, never going out, and seeing no one without
having veils over their faces, and the foundation of their lives will be prayer and mortification"
(Letter, 23-XII,1561,2). The title of the house will be "St. Joseph" ("this is the name it must bear")
and its state: "Poor and small though the house is, it has lovely views and grounds" (ib.3). A touch
of poverty, beauty, simplicity and recollection, in the external framework of the prayer life!
With regard to the future inhabitants, she writes: "I hope in the Lord that, if He allows the work to
be finished, it will be to His great glory; and I think it undoubtedly will, for those who are to enter
the monastery are the choicest souls, and such as will give the best of examples in humility,
penitence and prayer" (ib.4).
f) The foundation
The Saint has described for us in great detail the story of the foundation of St. Joseph's, her joy at
seeing the Blessed Sacrament reserved and the taking of the habit of the first four Discalced nuns:
"Well, with me it was like being in glory to see the Blessed Sacrament reserved and that four poor
orphans (for they didn't bring any dowry) and four great servants of God ... and to see a work
accomplished that I knew was for the service of the Lord and to the honour of the habit of His
glorious Mother - for these were my concerns. It also consoled me to have done what the Lord had
so often given me the command to do; that there was another church in this city, dedicated to my
glorious father St. Joseph, in whose honour none was yet built" (L 36:6). Here we have in synthesis
the various reasons which had prompted her to found St. Joseph's.
Teresa wishes to show in her minute account of the events the paradox of the human opposition,
even of good people, which could not obstruct God's work (Cf. the entire ch.36 of the Life).
g) Beginnings of the life
The picture of the origins of the charism is ideally completed with the testimonies which the Saint
has left us about the first moments of the life in St. Joseph's, bereft of grace and experiences of
God.
- Significant is the account of the return to the monastery of St. Joseph, after the events which had
separated temporarily the first Discalced nuns: "Before entering the new monastery, while in prayer
outside in the church, being almost in rapture, I saw Christ who seemed to be receiving me with
great love and placing a crown on my head and thanking me for what I did for His Mother" (L

36:24). The Lord, who had promised to remain with the Discalced nuns, again receives Teresa on
her return. The Marian note of the foundation is also expressed in this grace of the first days:
"Another time while all were at prayer in choir after compline, I saw our Lady in the greatest glory
clothed in a white mantle; it seemed she was sheltering us all under it. I understood how high a
degree of glory the Lord would give to those living in this house" (ib.).
- The supernatural environment is reflected thus: the house of St. Joseph is "a little dwelling corner
for God. I believe this is what it is; it is an abode in which His Majesty delights, for He once said to
me while I was in prayer that this house was a paradise of delight for Him" (L 35:12). The words of
the Lord to Teresa evoke well-known biblical expressions going back to the choice of the People of
God and the promise to make his abode in it and to dwell with it permanently (Cf. Lev. 26:11,
Ex.37:27). Peace, joy and sweetness are the spiritual atmosphere of the new monastery (Cf. L 36:
25, 29): "everything is borne with ease", "it is very clearly seen to be bearable and can be carried
out calmly. The main disposition required for always living in this calm is the desire to rejoice solely
in Christ, one's Spouse. This is what they must always have as their aim: to be alone with Him
alone. And there should be no more than thirteen in the house...." (L 36:29).
- In this poor house where Teresa wrote the final redaction of the book of her Life (Cf. L 10:7 and
14:8), she found a "haven" after the storms of the previous years. For her it is a "little corner so
enclosed", a "safe refuge", where she is among "a few holy companions". In these phrases we have
a kind of eschatological anticipation: "I observe as though from on high", "it seems to me that I am
dreaming what I see", and of course the apostolic desire is strong: "Moreover, I would like some
soul to profit a little by all that can be said about me. Since I have been living in this house, the Lord
has been pleased that all my desires converge upon this one desire"; and therefore she ends the
book of her Life with these sentiments, addressed to Fr. Garca de Toledo: "This is the way in which
I now live, my Lord and Father. May your Reverence beg God that He either take me to Himself or
show me how to serve Him" (L 40:21-23).
- This is the same atmosphere described by the Saint in ch. 1 of the Foundations and nicely summed
up in the well-known remark of the Way of Perfection 13, 7: "This house is a heaven, if one can be
had on earth. Here we have a very happy life if one is pleased only with pleasing God and pays no
attention to her own satisfaction". Two outside testimonies confirm the Teresian description. The
first comes to us through St. John of the Cross, speaking about Mara de Cristo, one of the first
Discalced nuns of St. Joseph's: "Our Lord communicated with her a good deal in prayer....; our Lord
told our Mother Teresa of Jesus that those twelve religious were twelve very pleasing flowers in his
sight; that His Majesty held them in his hand" (Cf. B.M.C. V, p.7 or in RT, p.208). The second is that
of Isabel de Santo Domingo who in an unpublished account writes about the beginnings: "One
observed the presence of our Lord in the consolation and contentment which everyone enjoyed and
this made it easy to bear the poverty".
h) A look back
When the Bull of Pius IV "Dilectis in Christo" arrived on July 17, 1565, Teresa looked back to see
how all the Lord's promises were duly accomplished and she praises him for his fidelity and for
having remedied her imperfections (Cf. L39:14). The account of the foundation of St. Joseph's ends
on a characteristic note which reflects the fulfillment of God's promises and the establishment of the
new life now beginning:
- ecclesial resonance: "Once the liturgical Offices were initiated the people began to grow very
devoted to this house" (L 36:25);
- abundance of vocations: "More nuns were accepted" (ib.);
- hostilities cease: "The Lord started to inspire our most vigorous persecutors to show us much
favour; and they gave us alms"...... (ib.);
- evidence that it was God's work: "They said that now they knew the house was a work of God
since in spite of so much opposition His Majesty desired the foundation to go forward. And there
isn't anyone at present who doesn't think it was right to let the house be founded.... (ib.);

- stability of the Carmelite ideal: "We observe the rule of our Lady of Mount Carmel and keep it
without mitigation..." (ib.26);
- the atmosphere of evangelical perfection: "Their conversation is about how they can make
progress in the service of God. Solitude is their comfort....Their language allows them to speak only
of God..." (ib. 26 and 29);
- God's promises for the spiritual prosperity and fecundity of the monastery: "I hope in the Lord that
what has been begun will prosper, as His Majesty has told me it would" (ib.27).
Thus Teresa saw a grace of God for the Church of which she was a witness and of which she also
wished to be an "evangelist", telling of the wonders worked by God.
3. - Ecclesial development (Const. 5)
Open to the fruit of the Spirit, the Teresian charism goes on to receive fresh impulses: "The
progressive experience by which the Saint fathoms and, as it were, interiorizes the life of the Church
- its sorrows, the fresh sundering of its unity and, above all, the profanation of the Eucharist and the
priesthood - contributed to the development and clarification of the original project" (Const. 5).
a) Original apostolic orientation
The apostolic ideal and ecclesial service are not foreign to the beginnings of the charism (Cf. L
32:6). The book of her Life reflects her ecclesial awareness and her knowledge of the disunity which
separated the Lutherans from the ecclesial trunk. There are references to the evils in the Church (Cf.
L 7:5; 13:10,21) and an openness to the desire to serve the Lord in the Church of God by prayer
(Cf. L 15:7; 40:12). Ecclesial service is seen as Teresa's ardent desire in the final pages of the book
(Cf. L 40:15: "Happy the lives lost for such a purpose", that is, in serving God "in the extreme need
the Church is now in").
In the first Spiritual Testimonies the apostolic ideal of service to the Church is taking shape: "I feel
in me the greatest desire, more than usual, that God have persons, especially learned men, who
serve Him with complete detachment... Since I'm aware of the great needs of the Church - for these
afflict me so much that it seems to me silly to feel sorrow about anything else - I don't do anything
but pray to God for these persons" (ST. 3:7). "It seems to me I would stand up alone against all
Lutherans in order to make them understand their error. I greatly grieve over the perdition of so
many souls" (ib.8; Cf. ST. 4:6,10).
However, we must come to the redaction of the pages of the Way of Perfection to get the full impact
of the ecclesial experience of the Saint in face of the great evils of the Church, the reference to the
"harm being done in France" and to the "havoc the Lutherans have caused" (W 1:2). The deep
emotion aroused by these events translates into a response of radical fidelity to the Gospel and to
an apostolic orientation for the nascent Carmel.
b) An intense experience of Church
When Teresa begins to write the Way of Perfection her experience of the Church was in full flood.
The words she writes, the emotion with which she expresses her pain, the fervour with which she
proposes to the nuns of St. Joseph's her ecclesial and apostolic ideal, all reveal the intensity of her
sorrow; there is a great spiritual stirring in the Mother Foundress, as if her heart were the soundingbox of these happenings; she conveys these same sentiments to her daughters as if the future of
the Church were in the hands of a few nuns. The primitive ideal grows and its ecclesial orientation is
clarified.
A careful reading of chs. 1 and 3 of the Way of Perfection gives us an exact measure of this
charismatic development which creates in the Church the originality of a contemplative life totally
given to the service of the Church, through prayer and consistency of life. We can note some of its
features in the Teresian exposition:

- "In the beginning..... At this time". The Saint clearly indicates the development brought about in
her life from the first moment when the idea of founding St. Joseph's was born and the subsequent
ecclesial experience. It is not easy to determine the exact moment when Teresa began to experience
so intensely the evils of the Church. In 1562 the religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots
began again. The alarming news reached the Council of Trent, and Philip II conveyed it to the
monasteries of Castile. Teresa must have participated deeply in all of this consciencization, since her
words reecho the descriptions of the events contained in the documents of the time.
- "The harm being done in France and the havoc the Lutherans had caused". The words used by the
Saint show that she sees these events as a tragedy for the Church, with all the severity of her
words: she calls the Lutherans of that time "this miserable sect" (W 1:2); she looks at the tragic
state of the Church: "The world is all in flames; they want to sentence Christ again... they want to
ravage His Church..." (ib.5). Teresa identifies Christ and the Church, because the Church is Christ
now present on earth; above all, this identification becomes more real when she looks at the
Eucharist and the profanations of it: for "nowadays these heretics have so little regard for the
Blessed Sacrament that they take away its dwelling places by destroying churches" (W 3:8). In
another passage Teresa sums up her information with this description: "the very great evil and
disrespect committed and shown in places where this most Blessed Sacrament is present among
those Lutherans, where churches are destroyed, so many priests lost, and the sacraments taken
away" (W 35:3). Added to this is her intense inner participation with all her emotions: "The news
distressed me greatly" (W 1:2); "I cried to the Lord and begged Him that I might remedy so much
evil" (ib.); "My heart breaks to see how many souls are lost" (ib.4).
- St. Teresa's response. Inner emotion and intense prayer are not enough. Teresa looks for ways in
which to serve the Church. Her desires are limitless: "It seemed to me that I would have given a
thousand lives to save one soul out of the many that are being lost there" (W 1:2); just as on other
occasions Teresa's call to martyrdom in the service of God and the Church for the good of souls
comes to the fore (Cf. L 32:6; 33:5; ST 4:6). Her possibilities are limited: "I realized I was a woman
and wretched and incapable of doing any of the useful things I desired to do in the service of the
Lord" (W 1:2). The fact that she was a woman and a nun made it impossible for her to give God the
response that she wished to give. And so her providential resolve similar to what she had already
referred to in principle, but this time in the company of her nuns : "I resolved to do the little that
was in my power; that is, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could and strive that
these few persons who live here do the same" (W 1:2). Teresa and her daughters.
- "To be of such a kind": prayer and life. Teresa of Jesus creates a new formula of religious life in
the service of the Church: a praying community at the service of the Mystical Body of Christ, for
priests and learned men "the defenders of the Church", but supported by an authentic life-style, for
a totalitarian ideal which Teresa calls in various places "to be of such a kind" (Cf. W 1:2; 3:1,2,5;
4:1). This is the "task", at once vital and prayerful, of the Teresian Carmel. Hence the call to prayer
is peremptory: "Help me beg these things of the Lord. This is why He has gathered you together
here. This is your vocation. These must be the business matters you're engaged in. These must be
the things you desire, the things you weep about; these must be the objects of your petitions" (W
1:5); "all occupied in prayer for those who are the defenders of the Church..." (ib.2). This is the
exhortation to prayer and way of living that Teresa repeats throughout ch.3 when she is developing
the theme of the "chosen group", committed fully to God and to the evangelical life, constantly
interceding for the Church and its greatest servants. In this text, after the previous exhortations,
Teresa herself becomes a petitioner and intercessor for the Church (Cf. W 3:7-8), and she ends with
the well-known defense of Carmelite life in its ecclesial orientation, writing in fiery terms: "And when
your prayers, disciplines, and fasts are not directed towards obtaining these things I have
mentioned, reflect on how you are not accomplishing or fulfilling the purpose for which the Lord
brought you here together" (ib.10).
- "The great task": The ideal traced out in the first chapters is realized in the internal structure of
the life and pedagogy of the Teresian Carmel outlined by the Saint throughout the Way of
Perfection. This is how chapter 4 begins: "Now, daughters, you have seen the great task we have

undertaken. What do you think we must be like if we are not to be considered very bold by God and
the world?". Prayer and life are the key words in the Teresian ideal: a life of silence, austerity,
communion, detachment, poverty and humility, as indicated by the virtues proposed by the Saint in
the first chapters of the Way of Perfection (chs. 4-15). A life which is the measure of "being
contemplative", according to the Teresian concept (W 16-18), and which determines the vocation to
prayer and contemplation, with its practical pedagogy and its vital demands, as set out by Holy
Mother in the Way of Perfection (chs. 19-42).
c) The testimony of the first Discalced nuns
We can record here how the first Discalced nuns perceived the Teresian inheritance, especially in the
Processes of Beatification and Canonization. From the lengthy series of testimonies we select just a
few (Cf. in RT, pp. 268-326).
- Isabel de Santo Domingo stated: "She knows, also, that this was the principal purpose and motive
which Holy Mother had in this foundation: because in the counsels and talks which the Saint gave to
her religious she told them that they were not fulfilling their vocation and way of life if they did not
take great care with the practice of prayer, and to commend in it to our Lord all the needs of the
Church. And she also knows that with the outbreak of many heresies in Flanders, Germany, England
and in other kingdoms, in which the heretics destroyed the churches and monasteries, that she
heard Holy Mother saying frequently that she was very concerned that in such calamitous times that
our Lord should be served, and she wished to contribute to the building, in many towns and
kingdoms, of other houses and churches where the Blessed Sacrament would be reserved, respected
and reverenced" (B.M.C. 19, p.470).
- Ana de los Angeles said: "She knows that the Holy Mother had as her principal purpose in this
foundation, as in the others, to help the Catholic Church with her prayers. She knows this because
she heard Mother Ana de San Bartolom saying that when a religious does not show great love for
the good of the Church and the conversion of souls, even though she be very penitential or given to
the practice of other virtues, all of this she considered of little importance but rather she was
considered suspect and not very dependable" (B.M.C. 19, p.557).
- Mara de San Jos explains: "This witness knows that the motive by which our Lord prompted
Mother Teresa to found these monasteries in the severity of the first rule of Carmel was especially to
counteract the heretics in France, since she could not, being a woman, oppose them with
preaching...Mother Teresa set herself with all her might to found and reform these monasteries in
place of those which the heretics had destroyed in France..." (B.M.C. 18, p.489). - Ana de Jess
(Lobera) recalls: she wanted "people who would serve God with perfection and petition a remedy for
His Church, because she was very saddened to see how the heretics were persecuting it at that time
and the many churches they destroyed; and so it was very easy for her to bear many labours for the
foundation of these monasteries" (ib. 463-464).
All these testimonies confirm the great Teresian intuition: the task of renewal in the service of the
Church which in her language sometimes is tinged with terms of "spiritual struggle": "If we can
obtain some answers from God to these requests, we shall be fighting for Him even though we are
very cloistered" (W 3:5). In fact, what is in question here is an inner violence calling for evangelical
perfection, and this is manifested in the way of life, as well as the entire prayer-life being dedicated
to the service of the Church. It is a beautiful perception of Teresa that her nuns, as contemplatives,
carry the flag of perfection in this struggle; they hold aloft in the Church the ideal of Christian living
to stimulate everyone to be faithful to the Gospel. They are the standard-bearers of the Church (Cf.
W 2:8; 18:5).
4. - Missionary fullness (Const. 6)
"The full measure of the vocation of the Teresian Carmel is the fruit of the experience by which Holy
Mother was gradually enlightened about the mystery of the members still waiting to be united to the

Mystical Body of Christ. This experience led her to turn her gaze on the immense field of the
missions" (Const. 6). A new experience expands even more the Saint's ecclesial horizon. The
ecclesial dynamism which also involves the nuns of St. Joseph's is shown in this brief extract from
ch. 1 of the Foundations:
"I tried to please the Lord with my poor prayers and always endeavored that the Sisters would do
the same and dedicate themselves to the good of souls and the increase of His Church. Whoever
conversed with them was always edified. And these were the things with which my great desires
were fully taken up" (F 1:6). God's response comes with the visit of the Franciscan, Alonso
Maldonado, a missionary who arrived from Mexico, the new Spain, to advocate the cause of the
American Indians with the King and the Pope. This visit took place in the Summer of 1566. Not only
did the fiery missionary explain "about the many millions of souls that were being lost there for want
of Christian instruction"; he was also bitterly critical of the conquistadors. The effect of his words on
Saint Teresa was similar to what she had previously experienced at the spectacle of the division of
Christians in Europe: "I was so grief-stricken over the loss of so many souls that I couldn't contain
myself. I went to a hermitage with many tears. I cried out to the Lord, begging Him...." (F 1:7). It is
significant that she retired to a hermitage to alleviate her pain in prayer, with cries and entreaties of
supplication for the salvation of souls.
This event enfleshes once again her apostolic concerns and desires to serve the Lord: "I was very
envious of those who for love of our Lord were able to be engaged in winning souls, though they
might suffer a thousand deaths..."; and she reveals her natural inclination, given by God, towards
the good of her neighbour: "This is the inclination the Lord has given me, for it seems to me that He
prizes a soul that through our diligence and prayer we gain for Him, through His mercy, more than
all the services we can render Him" (F 1:7).
The Lord's response was not long in coming. Once again, just as at the beginning of the foundation
of St. Joseph's, we have his intervention with words of promise and hope: "Our Lord represented
Himself to me.... He showed me much love, manifesting His desire to comfort me, and said: 'Wait a
little, daughter, and you will see great things'" (ib.8).
The visit of Fr. Rubeo, the General of the Order, in the Spring of 1567 gave Teresa the opportunity
of opening her soul and revealing her apostolic concerns and her desires to found monasteries of
Discalced Carmelite nuns (Cf. F 2:4-7). The concerns of St. Teresa would soon find in St. John of the
Cross their exact fulfillment (F 3:17).
The Constitutions summarize this fact as follows: "In the light of these new prospects for the
Church, the apostolic spirit of the Saint came to full flower, and her heart conceived the purpose of
spreading the family of the first Discalced Carmelite nuns and of extending her work by founding the
Discalced Carmelite Friars. The friars were to be partakers in the same spirit so that they might help
the nuns to live their common vocation and themselves serve the Church through prayer and their
apostolic action" (Const. 6).
These words show the unity of the charism of the Order and the common fount whence was born
the Teresian Reform. Isabel de Santo Domingo, with her usual fidelity, gives us St. Teresa's thinking
as follows: "She very much wanted that there should be Discalced Carmelite friars who would
carefully engage in the practice of prayer and contemplation, and in preaching and confessions,
because with both of these activities they would be very helpful to the Church of God" (B.M.C. 19, p.
470).
II. - THE JURIDICAL STAMP AND THE SPIRITUAL VALUES OF THE CHARISM
The foundational process, the stages of which we have attempted to described by following the
Constitutions, contributed to the enrichment of the Teresian charism by a series of spiritual values
around which the ideal of life of the Discalced Carmelite nuns centered. These values have for their
juridical stamp the primitive rule and the Teresian Constitutions, but they find more detailed

expression and richness in the writings of the Mother Foundress, in her practical counsels, and in the
testimonies and memoirs of the first Discalced nuns.
1. - The juridical stamp
On completion of the account of the foundation of St. Joseph's, Teresa of Jesus cries out with pride:
"we observe the rule of our Lady of Mt. Carmel and keep it without mitigation as ordained by the
Friar Cardinal Hugo of Saint Sabina and given in 1248, in the fifth year of the pontificate of Pope
Innocent IV" (L 36:26). In the next article she refers to the complementary legislation: "they have
other observances which seemed to us necessary in order to observe the rule with greater
perfection" (L 36:27). What is in question are the Teresian Constitutions which, in line with the
legislation of the Order and the new characteristics which Mother Teresa stamped on Carmel, very
soon formed the juridical basis for life in St. Joseph's. She had received permission to do so in the
foundation Brief, and it would seem that it is to these Constitutions that she is referring in the first
chapters of the Way of Perfection (WE. 5:1; W 6:1; 4:1,4).
2. - The essential values
Numbers 7 to 11 of the Constitutions compactly synthesize the values or nucleus of the spiritual
values which constituted the Teresian charism in its first formulation. This is a first synthesis of the
elements of the charism which then are dealt with in the following chapters.
a. - The values of the Carmelite tradition
"As she carried out her work, the Saint intended faithfully to secure the continuity of Carmel"
(Const. 7). This simple expression helps us to understand how the Teresian Carmel is based on the
essential values of the Order which Teresa takes, renews and enriches from her personal
experience. These values are:
- the principle of the rule and its spirit, especially the fundamental principle of prayer, solitude and
the eremitical ideal, manual work, austerity and penance, the principle of absolute poverty (Cf. L
35:2-3; 36:26-27; W 4:2,9; 21:10).
- the Marian character of the Order is later expressed in a life devoted to the service of our Lady, in
tender and filial devotion, in imitation of the virtues of Mary (Cf. L 36:6,28; W 3:5,8;13:3; IC III.
1:3, etc.). It is a devotion which Teresa enriches from her experience.
- spiritual communion and continuity with the race of the holy Fathers of Carmel, seen as a model of
solitude, poverty and contemplation (W 2:7;11:4; IC V, 1:2; F, 14:4,5; Cons 32). Teresa frequently
repeats the word which refers to the "memory" of the events and persons at the beginning of the
Order: "Let us remember our holy Fathers of the past" and she considers herself a "descendant" of
this spiritual "race" of Carmel.
b. - The contemplative orientation
Number 10 of the Constitutions points out the contemplative and theological character of the
Carmelite vocation. Although prayer is the basis of the rule and insistence on the theological virtues
are also characteristic of this valuable primitive text, Teresa of Jesus gave prayer all the meaning of
her own contemplative and mystical experience. Therefore as the central nucleus of the values one
must highlight:
- prayer as friendship with God, open, therefore, to all the possibilities and demands of communion
with God; this is the way of prayer traced by Saint Teresa in the Way of Perfection and in the
Interior Castle as an expression of her own spiritual life (Cf. L 8:5; Way and Interior Castle,
passim);

- commitment to the practice of prayer as the high point of personal and community life and the
supreme value which gives hierarchy and order to all the other aspects of the life (W 17:1-2; 18:4;
21:10; Cons 2 and 7);
- the apostolic meaning of the life and practice of prayer as a special form of contemplative service
in the Church (W 1 and 3).
c. - The following of Christ
The Teresian response to God's inspirations was expressed from the beginning in a sturdy
evangelism: "to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could" (W 1:2). The following of
Christ is a forceful requirement of the charism:
- the meaning of contemplative religious life as an experience similar to that of the apostles, living
with Christ, hence the strongly communitarian expression: "little college of Christ" (WE 20:1), or the
evangelical identification with the house of Bethany where one lives with the Lord (W 17:5-6);
- openness to the fundamental evangelical values in religious life: poverty, mutual love, detachment
as evangelical self-denial, humility, the way of the cross; these are the props of Teresian asceticism
as the norm for the following of Christ (Way, passim);
- imitation of Christ in his fundamental role as model and teacher of prayer (Cf. W 24:4) in solitude
and the call to pray with Him, as a master who must be listened to and followed, since He teaches
without noise of words (Cf. W 24:5; 26:10; 27ff.).
d. A sense of Church
A sense of Church is one of the more vigorous and original marks of the charism, the very purpose
of the existence and prayer of the Teresian Carmel. This ecclesiality is expressed in practice in some
attitudes of life:
- to be Church, above all, as the best way of serving the Church; Teresa sees her monasteries as
"little castles of good Christians" (W 3: 1-2), as praying communities around the Eucharist (F 18:45);
- to be of one mind with the Church; a Teresian counsel which includes an awareness of being and
living in the local Church, knowing its needs and bringing to an authentic prayer experience all the
happenings of ecclesial life. Hence the ecclesial sense which Teresa inculcated in the formation of
her daughters (F 1:6);
- to serve the Church, by prayer and life in fervent intercession and in a silent outreach through the
witness of a committed Christian life (Cf. W 1:5; 3:5,10).
e. - A new style of community life
Number 8 of the Constitutions highlights the new style of community life: "She proposed a
magnanimous observance and a cordial sisterly lifestyle that made it a joy to live together as the
family of God. She promoted the dignity of the person, friendship among the sisters, and
communion among the various monasteries". These are touches of the Teresian charism, of the new
lifestyle of the community. In this new style we can underline:
- the sense of profound spiritual communion in Christ, who is present amidst the community (Cf. L
32:11; W 7:10; 17:5-6; WE 20:1); Christ is the Spouse, the Master, the Lord of the house and the
Captain of love; the relationship of communion among the members of the group arises from this
supernatural sense of His presence;

- the demands of authentic love; the Saint develops a whole delicate pedagogy of love in the
community based on evangelical love (Cf. W 4:11 and Cons 28), after the example and counsel of
Christ, with its demands of affective and effective love (Cf. W 6 and 7; IC V: 3, 6-12);
- the humanism of joy and simplicity: This gives the Teresian community, in accordance with the
character and style stamped on it by Teresa, a sense of humanistic openness and evangelical
simplicity, equality, sincerity, joy, affability and delicacy which the Saint herself recommends (Cf. for
example W 41: 7-8).
CONCLUSION
In number 11 of the Constitutions there is reference, as a final synthesis, to a whole series of
elements of the charism which must be put into practice in a balanced way, thus forming an
authentic ecclesial community: contemplative life which harmonizes solitude and silence with
fraternal communion; this is built on the presence of Christ and on love for him above all, expressed
in charity and in evangelical self-denial. In fact, it must be said that the Teresian charism has a
wealth of aspects in a balanced synthesis. This is the root of the composition of the harmonious
ensemble of essential values, coherent and concrete, in its aspects of life. Thus the personal is
harmonized with the communitarian; the supernatural character and the openness to human values
are fused into one, put into practice as love of Christ and of the brethren. Asceticism is placed at the
service of mystical life; cohesion and internal unity are stressed, but open to the ecclesial outreach
of prayer and witness of life. There is perfect continuity with the primitive tradition of Carmel
together with an enrichment given to these fundamental values.
To the charism, "the fruit of the Spirit" and bearer of an authentic renewing burden, Saint Teresa
gave an exact definition as fidelity to the grace of the beginnings in a dynamism of renewal:
"Now we are beginning, and let them strive to advance always from good to better" (F 29:32).
Remembering the birth, progress and fullness of the Teresian charism, together with its essential
values is thus transformed into a concern for fidelity and continual renovation.
POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Describe briefly the three progressive moments of the charismatic process of the Saint.
2. How did the Saint react to the news she received of the disunity of Christians in the XVI century?
3. Pick out the essential values which go to make up the Teresian charism.
4. Which evangelical values does the Saint highlight in the Way of Perfection?
5. Explain the ecclesial meaning of the contemplative vocation of the Teresian Carmel.
6. What are the aspects of continuity and novelty of the vocation of Carmel in the experience of
Saint Teresa?
ABBREVIATIONS
L: The Book of her Life
IC: Interior Castle
W: Way of Perfection
WE: Way of Perfection (Escorial)
ST: Spiritual Testimonies (Relations)
Cons: Constitutions of St. Teresa
Const: 1991 Constitutions
B.M.C.: Biblioteca Mstica Carmelitana (Burgos)
The English translation of the works of St. Teresa is that of Kavanaugh-Rodriguez. The quotation
from her Letters is taken from Allison Peers. The English version of the 1991 Constitutions was used
for quotations from the Constitutions.