The Way of Perfection - Footnotes

[1]
Cf. Vol. I, pp. 2-5, above
[2]
See also the reference, in the "General Argument" of the Valladolid redaction, to her being Prioress of St. Joseph's when the book was written. Presumably the original draft is meant.
[3]
E.g., at places where a chapter ends in E. but not in V.
[4]
One special case of this class is the suppression in V. of one out of two or three almost but not quite synonymous adjectives referring to the same noun.
[5]
With few exceptions, the footnotes to the Way of perfection are the translators. Square brackets are therefore not used to distinguish them from those of P. Silverio, as elsewhere. Ordinary brackets, in the footnote translations, are placed round words inserted to complete the sense.
[6]
This title, in St. Teresa's hand, appears on the first page of the Valladolid autograph (V.) which, as we have said in the Introduction, is the basis of the text here used. The Escorial autograph (E.) has the words "Treatise of the Way of Perfection" in an unknown hand, followed by the Prologue, in St. Teresa's. The Toledo copy (T.) begins with the Protestation.
[7]
These lines, also in St. Teresa's hand, follow the title in the Valladolid autograph. P. Baez added, in his own writing, the words: "I have seen this book and my opinion of it is written at the end and signed with my name." Cf. ch. 42, below.
[8]
This Protestation, taken from T., was dictated by St. Teresa for the edition of the Way of perfection published at Avora in 1583 by D. Teutonio de Braganza.
[9]
The words "Fray Domingo Baes" are crossed out, probably by P. Baez himself. T. has: "from the Father Master Fray Domingo Baez, Professor at Salamanca." Baez was appointed to a Chair at Salamanca University in 1577.
[10]
The pronoun (quien) in the Spanish is singular, but in the sixteenth century it could have plural force and the context would favor this. A manuscript note in V., however (not by P. Baez, as the Paris Carmelites -- Oeuvres, V, 30 -- suggest), evidently takes the reference to be to St. Gregory, for it says: "And he wrote something on Job, and the Morals, importuned by servants of God, and trusting in their prayers, as he himself says."
[11]
French Protestantism which had been repressed during the reigns of Francis I and Henry II, increased after the latter's death in 1559, and was still doing so at the time of the foundation of St. Joseph's.
[12]
Lit.: "and bad."
[13]
Alli se lo hayan. "And serve them right!" would, in most contexts, be a more exact rendering of this colloquial phrase, but there is no suspicion of Schadenfreude here.
[14]
An apparent reference to St. Mark xiii, 31.
[15]
In the Spanish the subject is in the singular: P. Baez inserted "the house", but crossed this out later.
[16]
St. Teresa liked to have hermitages in the grounds of her convents to give the nuns opportunity for solitude.
[17]
Lit.: "making this corner." The reference is to St. Joseph's, Avila.
[18]
The italicized lines which follow, and are in the nature of a digression, do not appear in V., and in E. they have been crossed out.
[19]
Here follow two erased lines which are illegible but for the words "Thou didst honor the world". The exact sense of the following words ("We can . . . in secret") is affected by these illegible lines and must be considered uncertain.
[20]
Lit.: "of those." P. Baez wrote in the margin "of the mansions" using the word which is thus translated in the titles of the seven main divisions of the Interior Castle. T. has: "of the houses."
[21]
Lit., "poor little one."
[22]
Lit.: "are seldom ordered in such a way as."
[23]
"Other" is not in the Spanish. "When they are only between", is the reading of T., which also omits: "and become a pest."
[24]
Here begins the passage reproduced in the Appendix to Chapter 4, below.
[25]
Honra.
[26]
Lit.: "I beg her who is in the position of a senior (mayor)." Mayor was the title given to the superior at the Incarnation, Avila, and many other convents in Spain, at that time.
[27]
Lit.: "There remains, as people say, no patience"; but, as the phrase "as people say" (which E. omits) suggests that this was a popular phrase, I have translated rather more freely and picturesquely. T. has (after "ache too"): "and it upsets us, and so on."
[28]
Ternura. Lit.: ''tenderness."
[29]
Lit.: "My life!" "My soul!" "My good!"
[30]
Lit.: de darnos todas a ƒl todo: "giving ourselves wholly to Him wholly."
[31]
The thirteenth was St. Teresa.
[32]
De sus tierras. The phrase will also bear the interpretation: "from their own countries."
[33]
The sense of this passage, especially without the phrase from E. which V. omits, is not very clear. T. remodels thus: "You know there is no worse thief for the perfection of the soul than the love of ourselves, for unless etc."
[34]
Here, in the margin, is written: "Humility and mortification, very great virtues."
[35]
Lit.: "to contrive not to die." But the reading of E. ("to think that we came to the convent for no other reason than to serve our bodies and look after them") suggests that this is what is meant.
[36]
Lit.: "which can be suffered on foot."
[37]
Lit.: "to look at (or to) what is needful" -- the phrase is ambiguous and might mean: "to worry about their own needs." The word translated "people" is feminine.
[38]
Lit.: "awakens."
[39]
Lit.: "Do you know why, apart from other things?"
[40]
Lit.: "did them to Him."
[41]
Lit.: "to this college of Christ."
[42]
I.e., St. Joseph's, Avila.
[43]
An untranslatable play upon words: corto y no muy cortado -- as though "sharpened" could be used in the sense of "refined".
[44]
Proverbs xxiv, 16.
[45]
The first four paragraphs of this chapter originally formed part of V., but, after writing them, St. Teresa tore them out of the manuscript, as though, on consideration, she had decided not to leave on record her knowledge of such a worldly game as chess. The allegory, however, is so expressive and beautiful that it has rightly become famous, and from the time of Fray Luis de Le—n all the editions have included it. The text here followed is that of E.
[46]
Chess was very much in vogue in the Spain of St. Teresa's day and it was only in 1561 that its great exponent Ruy Lopez de Segura had published his celebrated treatise, in Spanish, entitled "Book of the liberal invention and art of the game of chess".
[47]
Lit.: "the great virtues." In V. St. Teresa originally began this sentence thus: "In the last chapter I said that the King of glory, etc.," and ended it: "to gain the virtues which I there described as great." Later she altered it to read as above.
[48]
Lit.: "out of his hands", but the meaning, made more explicit in V., is evident. On the doctrinal question involved in this paragraph, see Introduction, above. P. Silverio (III, 75-6), has a more extensive note on the subject than can be given here and cites a number of Spanish authorities, from P. Juan de Jesus Mar’a (Theologia Mystica, Chap. III) to P. Seisdedos Sanz (Principios fundamentales de la m’stica, Madrid, 1913, II, 61-77.)
[49]
Lit.: "and tenderness."
[50]
Lit.: "low", contrasting with "high" at the end of the sentence.
[51]
Acts x, 34.
[52]
St. Luke xiv, 10.
[53]
Lit.: "These others."
[54]
Lit.: "would give them nothing", but the reference seems to be to payment.
[55]
Lit.: "very, very certain" -- a typically Theresan repetition.
[56]
Lit.: "who is such."
[57]
Lit.: "so many days."
[58]
Lit.: "It will have to go as it comes out."
[59]
St Teresa is probably referring to the treatises of Luis de Granada and St. Peter of Alcintara (S.S.M, 1, 40-52, II, 106-20). Cf. Constitutions (Vol. III, p. 236, below).
[60]
Lit.: "of his doing something on (the horse) which is not graceful."
[61]
St. John iv, 13.
[62]
Lit.: "But this one -- no, no."
[63]
The author probably refers to herself: Cf. Life, Chapter XX, and Relations, passim.
[64]
Lit.: "drowned."
[65]
Lit.: "We eat it without measure."
[66]
Lit.: "to cut the thread."
[67]
Presumably a reminiscence of Romans vii, 24 or Philippians i, 23.
[68]
This, too, is generally taken as referring to St. Teresa herself.
[69]
Cassian: Conferences, II. v.
[70]
E. ends the chapter here. This final paragraph appears to be based upon St. John vii, 37.
[71]
There is a reference here to St. John xiv, 2.
[72]
St. John vii, 37.
[73]
Lit.: "these are they who are, etc."
[74]
Cuenta de perdones: a bead larger in size than the remainder in the rosary and carrying special indulgences for the souls in purgatory.
[75]
Lit.: "of beginning so great a good."
[76]
Lit.: "save in God" -- i.e., save as those whose life is centered in God: not necessarily, I think, only of God.
[77]
"Do not be surprised, daughters, for this is the royal road (camino real) to Heaven." A more idiomatic translation of camino real would be "king's highway".
[78]
Lit.: "determined determination": this doubling of words is not uncommon in St. Teresa.
[79]
Lit.: "are such ingenious geniuses."
[80]
V.: alguna consideraci—n: the use of the singular form in a plural sense, with the shade of meaning which might be conveyed by "some occasional thoughts," is common in Spanish. E. uses one of St. Teresa's characteristic diminutives (see Vol. 1, p. xxi) alguna consideracioncita -- "some (occasional) trifling thoughts."
[81]
This is generally taken as referring to St. Teresa's visit to Do–a Luisa de la Cerda in 1562.
[82]
Lit.: "to call her 'Honor." The point of this delightfully unaffected reminiscence, omitted in V. and inserted here rather for its attractiveness than for its artistic appropriateness, is that "Your Honor" (Vuestra Merced: now abbreviated to Vd. and used as the third personal pronoun of ordinary polite address) was an expression merely of respect and not of rank: the Saint often uses it, for example, in addressing her confessors. It was as though a peer of the realm were to say "Just call me 'Sir."
[83]
For "fears" the original has "things"; but that seems to be the meaning.
[84]
Lit.: "a thing".
[85]
Lit.: "a Beauty . . .  itself", as though referring to obras: "works."
[86]
Lit.: "Yes, approach God, and, in approaching, try."
[87]
The words "think about our Spouse" appear in no manuscript but were added by Luis de Le—n.
[88]
Este cuidadito: lit., "this little attentiveness" -- another characteristic diminuitive.
[89]
Lit.: "a nothing at all" (una nonada).
[90]
No es nada delicado mi Dios. "Fastidious" might be nearer to the characteristically bold adjective of the original.
[91]
St. Luke xi, 9.
[92]
Lit.: "the good."
[93]
The word rendered "discuss", both here and below, is a strong one, entrometerse, to intermeddle.
[94]
More literally: "consider", "reflect".
[95]
Lit.: "and that His greatness is addressing her."
[96]
algarab’a. Lit.: "Arabic" and hence "gibberish," "jargon."
[97]
A vague reminiscence of some phrase from Canticles: perhaps ii, 14, 16, v, 2, or vi, 12.
[98]
Or "love Him". The verb in the Spanish can have either meaning.
[99]
Lit.: "With what majesty!"
[100]
Psalm xxxvi (A.V., xxxvii, 25).
[101]
Psalm xxxiii 20-1 (A.V., xxxiv, 19-20).
[102]
Lit. "when they deflect the soul in any way from going within itself."
[103]
Lit.: "see."
[104]
Lit.: "once we begin to be glad."
[105]
Lit.: "of recollection within me."
[106]
"Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come."
[107]
The allusion is, of course, to St. Luke ii, 25 ("just and devout"), 29.
[108]
Moradas. The "three tabernacles" of St. Matthew xvii, 4.
[109]
In the margin of T. the author adds, in her own hand, that this contemplative was St. Francis Borgia, Duke of Gand’a. No doubt, then, the other person referred to was St. Teresa herself. The addition reads: "who was a religious of the Company of Jesus, who had been Duke of Gand’a," and to this are added some words, also in St. Teresa's hand, but partially scored out and partially cut by the binder, which seem to be: "who knew it well by experience."
[110]
St. Luke xviii, 13. St. Teresa apparently forgot that the publican "would not so much as lift his eyes towards heaven".
[111]
Lit.: "and drawn along with it"; the same phrase is found at the end of the preceding paragraph.
[112]
Lit. "let the milk fall out of its mouth."
[113]
Algarab’a. Cf. n. 96 above.
[114]
Lit.: "neither the one nor the other will gain."
[115]
"Thy will be done: as in Heaven, so on earth."
[116]
Lit. "given it."
[117]
"Give us this day our daily bread."
[118]
Lit.: "should want as much for himself as for his neighbor, and for his neighbor as for himself." The italicized phrase is found in E. only.
[119]
Lit.: "each day, each day."
[120]
This, as will be observed from the title to this chapter, is the order of the words in the Latin.
[121]
Lit.: "in service" -- en servidumbre, a strong word, better rendered, perhaps, "servitude," and not far removed from "slavery."
[122]
The whole of this paragraph is lightly crossed out in the manuscript.
[123]
Lit.: "as if by (someone's) hand." St. Teresa is thought here to be referring to herself.
[124]
Lit.: "and have him within itself with love."
[125]
The sense of the verb here rendered "cause the loss of" is vague. Literally the phrase reads: "so many priests are lost."
[126]
St. Matthew viii, 25.
[127]
"Forgive us our debts."
[128]
Lit.: "ill-treated." The same verb is used in the following sentence.
[129]
Lit.: "our Honorer" -- Honrador nuestro: a rather unusual phrase which T. changes into the quite conventional honrado Maestro -- "honored Master."
[130]
St. Teresa left this sentence uncompleted. Luis de Le—n added: "You need not . . . prayer" in his edition, since when it has always been included. It figures as an anonymous correction in T.
[131]
Lit.: "He left it thus confused." Here follows in E., in place of the rest of this paragraph, a passage which interrupts the trend of the thought, and therefore, in the text above, is printed in italics and in brackets at the end of this paragraph.
[132]
The words "though . . . forgive" are crossed out in the manuscript, as is the following sentence "May He . . . before Him."
[133]
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
[134]
Lit.: "gains", as also in the next paragraph. E. has: "because they have hopes of becoming rich." The reference in both manuscripts is, of course, to the spoils and booty of war.
[135]
It will be noticed that this paragraph is similar to the last paragraph in the text of V. (p. 254, above). The differences, however, are so wide that each of the two is given as it stands.
[136]
A marginal addition made, in the autograph, to the title by another hand reads: "This chapter is very noteworthy, both for those tempted by false kinds of humility and for confessors." This is found in T. and in most of the editions.
[137]
Lit.: "these treasons."
[138]
Lit.: "these two virtues, so great, so great."
[139]
Lit.: "to an inn for ever, ever, for eternity." The repetition of "ever" (siempre) reminds one of the famous reminiscence of St. Teresa's childhood, to be found in her Life, Chap. I.
[140]
Lit.: "the infernal slaves."
[141]
Or "for [if we do this] we shall never reach our goal."
[142]
St. Luke xxii, 15.
[143]
Philippians iv, 13.
[144]
Lit.: "Let those who are so."
[145]
The Life.
[146]
The Life. I do not know what reason St. Teresa had to suppose this, but the Spanish of E. ("tambian os dari el otro") is quite definite.
[147]
Lit.: "you will take my will, as I have obeyed your command with the work" [i.e. in deed].

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