The Letters of Saint Teresa

This is a three volume set and complete collection of Saint Teresa of Avila's letters. The letters of great people are the best revelation of their personality. This is particularly true of the letters of the Saints of God, who in their correspondence reveal the working of the Spirit of God in their hearts, in a way which their more formal works and treatises do not do so fully. Letters are obviously more personal and display the true spirit of the writer in action. In regard to the letters of St. Teresa it is true that they have long been known in various translations and editions, but anyone who will take the trouble to compare the former translations with this present edition cannot fail to be struck with a great change for the better in the manner in which St. Teresa displays her wonderful personality. She appears to us, if one may use the expression, much more human and sympathetic. The great master, Cardinal Newman, in his 'Historical Sketches': thus speaks of the importance of having a correct version of the correspondence of God's saints. 'The passage is so interesting that it is worth quoting at length. 'I confess to a delight in reading the lives, and dwel1ing on the characters and actions, of the Saints of the first ages, such as I receive from none besides them; and for this reason, because we know so much more about them than about most of the Saints who come after them... This is why I feel a devout affection for St. Chrysostom. He and the rest of theIn have written autobiography on a large scale; they have given us their own histories, their thoughts, words, and actions, in a number of goodly folios, productions which are in themselves some of their meritorious works. I do not know where else to find the daily life, the secret heart, of such favoured servants of God, unveiled to their devout disciples in such completeness and fidelity. Modern times afford some instances of the kind: St. Teresa is one of them .... I repeat, what I want to trace and study is the real, hidden but human, life, or the interior, as it is called, of such glorious creations of God; and this I gain with difficulty from mere biographies. Those biographies are most valuable both as being true and as being edifying; they are true to the letter, as far as they record facts and acts; I know it: but actions are not enough for sanctity; we must have saintly motives; and as to these motives, the actions themselves seldom carry the motives along with them.