Born in the Castilian town of Avila in 1515, Teresa entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation when she was twenty-one. Tormented by illness, doubts and self-recrimination, she gradually came to recognize the power of prayer and contemplation -... Read more

Born in the Castilian town of Avila in 1515, Teresa entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation when she was twenty-one. Tormented by illness, doubts and self-recrimination, she gradually came to recognize the power of prayer and contemplation - her spiritual enlightenment was intensified by many visions and mystical experiences, including the piercing of her heart by a spear of divine love. She went on to found seventeen Carmelite monasteries throughout Spain. Teresa always denied her own saintliness, however, saying in a letter: 'There is no suggestion of that nonsense about my supposed sanctity.' This frank account is one of the great stories of a religious life and a literary masterpiece - after Don Quixote, it is Spain's most widely read prose classic. Introduction The Saint's Prepatory Note] 1. How the Lord began to rouse her soul in childhood to a love of virtue, and what a help it is in this respect to have good parents 2. How she came gradually to lose these virtues, and of the importance of associating in childhood with good people * 3. How good company reawakened her desires, and how God began to shed some light for her on the illusions under which she laboured * 4. How the Lord helped her to force herself to take the habit, and of the many illnesses which His Majesty began to send her * 5. She continues to speak of the great infirmities that she suffered, of the patience which the Lord gave her, and of how she derived good out of evil, as will be seen from one incident which happened in the town where she went to be cured * 6. Of her great debts to the Lord for making her resigned to her great trials, of how she took St. Joseph, the glorious, as her mediator and advocate, and of the great profit that she derived from this * 7. How she began to lose the graces the Lord had given her, and of the evil life she began to lead. A description of the dangers arising from the lack of strict enclosure in convents * 8. Of the great profit that she derived from not entirely abandoning prayer, for fear that she might lose her soul. She describes the excellence of prayer as a help towards winning back what is lost, and exhorts everyone to practise it. She tells what great gains it brings and how very beneficial it is even for those who may later give it up, to devote some time to anything as good * 9. Of the means by which God began to rouse her soul, to give it light in its great darkness, and to strengthen her virtues, so that she should not offend Him * 10. She begins to explain the favours which God gave her in prayer, telling the extent to which we can help ourselves, and how important it is that we shall understand the favours God is granting us. She begs those to whom this book is to be sent to keep the rest of it secret, since they have ordered her to describe in detail the favours that she has received from God * 11. She explains why we cannot attain the perfect love of God in a short time, beginning with a comparison which sets out the four stages of prayer. Here she says something about the first, which is very profitable for beginners and for those who receive no consolations in prayer * 12. More about the first state. She tells how far we can, with God's help, progress by ourselves, and speaks of the danger of seeking supernatural and extraordinary experiences until the Lord bestows them on us * 13. She continues to speak of this first stage, and gives advice concerning certain temptations that the devil sends at times. This chapter is very useful * 14. She begins to explain the second stage of prayer, in which the Lord already grants the soul more special consolations. These she describes in order to show that they are supernatural, and this is a most noteworthy chapter * 15. Continuing the same subject, she gives certain advice on behaviour during the prayer of quiet. She tells how there are as many souls that advance to this stage, but few who pass beyond it. The matters touched upon here are most essential Less