Minor Works Of St Teresa

This book contains Book of Her Foundations and Minor Works. Includes general and biblical index. In 1573, while staying in Salamanca to assist her nuns in the task of establishing one of her seventeen monasteries, Teresa began composing the story of their foundation. The Book of Her Foundations comprises the major portion of Volume Three. This book not only tells the story of the establishment of her monasteries but, characteristic of Teresa, digresses into counsels on prayer, love, melancholy, virtuous living and dying, plus other teachings of the Mother Foundress. This book also has an excellent introduction, chronology, and map of Teresa's foundations and journeys. Five of her brief works, including her poetry, complete ICS Publications' third volume of her Collected Works. Includes general and biblical index.

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Excerpt from Minor Works of St. Teresa: Conceptions of the Love of God, Exclamations, Maxims and Poems of Saint Teresa of Jesus The Benedictines of Stanbrook desire to express their sincere thanks to the Reverend Father Bene dict Zimmerman for his having kindly revised the. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

From the INTRODUCTION. The Minor Writings of St. Teresa, - Minor because they occupy but little space in print, although as a revelation of the beauty and grandeur of her soul they equal the Life and the Interior Castle, - comprise the Poems, the Conceptions of the Love of God, the Exclamations and certain Maxims. While the Exclamations and the Maxims are fairly well known to English readers, the Poems and the Conceptions will probably come as a surprise to many of them. It is necessary to say a few words by way of Introduction. "POEMS." "I know one," says the Saint in her Life, evidently speaking of herself," who, though she was not a poet, yet composed, without any preparation, certain stanzas, full of feeling, most expressive of her pain: they were not the work of her own understanding; but in order to have a greater fruition of that bliss which so sweet a pain occasioned her, she complained of it in that way to God." This was when she had reached what she describes as the "third water" or the third state of prayer, which leads to" spiritual inebriation. "It is an overflowing of the heart which can no longer contain the abundance of bliss infused into it. Alluding to the verse of the psalmist, "Cum dilatasti cor meum, - When Thou didst dilate my heart," St. Teresa considers that such graces, even of a less high order, cause, or require a widening of the heart, because they do not follow the narrow measure of poor humanity. What, then, must it be when grace comes in a mighty stream, a perfect torrent? Like a river it precipitates itself down the sheer rock into a narrow basin which cannot hold it, but casts it up again with double vehemence, though not in the form of a solid mass, but dissolved into a myriad of atoms which break up and reflect the sunlight in the delicate hues of the rainbow. Thus the vehemence of the spirit seeks an outlet, not by bursting its prison walls with elemental force, but by converting itself into sweet song. In moments of emotion the sober word is incapable of following the rush of thought. The love-stricken swain sings in verse the praises of the object of his passion. The ardent patriot rouses inert multitudes with mighty song ; the prisoner in his dungeon, the sufferer on his pallet, finds solace and revives hope in accents that vibrate in countless hearts. Thus, in a higher order of things, the soul yearning for the Supreme Good bursts into verse ; the prophet's words become a war song ; the wailing of the down- trodden, of him that is humbled by his fellow men, or all but crushed under the heavy hand of God, is turned into lyrics. More than that ! Is there not a song reserved for those who are purchased from the earth, a "new canticle which no man can say but the hundred and forty-four thousand?" "Who could tell the song when the morning stars praised Me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?" Above all, is not God himself the first and the greatest of poets? For, what is the universe but one great poem? Are not the Incarnation and the work of Redemption as it were the setting to music of the Word of God'...