Religious biography Archives

Cover image of "The Life of St. Teresa of Avila" by Carlos Eire

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila (Lives of Great Religious Books), Carlos Eire. Princeton University Press (ISBN: 9780691164939) 2019

Summary: An account both of St. Teresa’s life and of her autobiography recounting her encounters with the divine.

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila, or as it is often known, the Vida, is one of the great works onf the spiritual life, tracing the religious progress of Saint Teresa of Avila and her encounters, some quite ecstatic, with God. It was so controversial at the time that it was not published for two decades. In this volume of the Lives of Great Religious Books. Carlos Eire not only offers an account of her life and the composition of the book. He also traces its after-history of reception and interpretation, down to the present.

Eire begins with her life story. He emphasizes the place of good books in her life. She entered the convent at age twenty and nearly died of an illness. However, it would be another twelve years of convent routines before Teresa’s transformation. This came when venerating a new image of Christ brought to the convent. From here, she rapidly evolved into a mystic, experiencing instances of union with God that included visions, raptures and even levitations. Eire also notes the influences of other mystics, including Francis Borgia and Pedro de Alcantara. This awakening resulted not only in mystical experiences of union with God, but a series of writings beginning with the Vida, and her leadership of efforts to reform the Carmelite order, resulting in establishing the Discalced Carmelites.

The origin of the Vida was less her desire to get her story out than a directive of her spiritual advisors, a kind of confession to answer questions about her experiences. This was the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Her unusual experiences raised eyebrows. It was fascinating to see how the work developed under her advisors oversight, which she heeded, which probably saved her from outright condemnation as a heretic. She had both defenders and opponents. She both remained free while the Inquisition succeeded in suppressing her work.

Eire then walks us through the content of the Vida. He sets the book in the context of her reading. He also discusses major themes, including mental prayer, the Four Waters, the prayers of quiet and union, and mystical phenomenon.

Then he turns to the afterlife of the Vida. Teresa died in 1582. He discusses both the lingering opposition to the work and its spread, including numerous translations. He also traces the representation of the Vida in art, which underscored the rapturous character of some of her experiences. The final chapters explore her treatment in modernity and in post-modern criticism. This includes those skeptical of her accounts, those who psychoanalyzed her experiences, and even Spanish fascists who sought to appropriate her for their cause. The book concludes with her elevation as a Doctor of the Church by Paul VI. Eire notes how her treatment as doctor orationis (Doctor of Prayer) remains in conflict with modern and post-modern readings of her life.

I’ve read Teresa’s Interior Castle but not the Vida. Eire’s account made me want to do so. And his commentary makes this an ideal companion that I’ll want to have on hand should I do so.

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The Last of the Fathers, Thomas Merton. New York: HarperOne, 1981 (originally published in 1954).

Summary: A brief life of Bernard of Clairvaux, published following the encyclical, Doctor Mellifluous, celebrating the eighth centenary of the death of Bernard, on August 20, 1153.

It was not planned but this review nearly coincides with the Feast Day of Bernard of Clairvaux, who died on August 20, 1153. The book, by Thomas Merton, was first published in 1954, the year following an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, Doctor Mellifluus, celebrating Bernard as a Father or Doctor of the church, eight centuries after his death. He is the last to bear this designation, and the encyclical, as Merton observes, is an argument based on the life and theology of Bernard, to put this beyond question.

After a brief preface, which discusses the occasion for this work and touches on the different “Bernards” united in the person of this last Father of the Church, this work is divided into four parts. The first is a brief life of Bernard, born in Cluny and having access to power and choosing instead the monastic life. Merton takes snapshots of his life at three points: 1115 as the young abbot of a new foundation at Citeaux sent out to begin a new work at Clairvaux with twelve men living in wood shacks; 1124, as he closes his own formation as an abbot and is tested by defections from the order, including Arnold, abbot of Morimond, resulting not in dissolution of the Order but reorganization and a great time of growth; and 1145, when a fellow Cistercian is Pope Eugene III and Bernard accepts the assignment of preaching a Crusade, one that sadly ends in failure–not his but those who led but with which he is associated. Merton observes that these Bernards are not at war but express a singular vision of the greatness of God and his order, communicated through the church to the world. Bernard’s preaching of the Crusade was accompanied by miracles wherever he went, including his overcoming of sickness. Just 21 years after his death, in 1174, he was canonized as a saint by Alexander III.

The second part of the work overviews the writings that warrant the title “Doctor of the Church.” Many focus on the greatness of God and God’s love, evoking the love for God of his children. He envisions a soul made in God’s image and destined for perfect likeness to God in love, captured in his treatise “On the Love of God.” He also wrote on free will, an Apologia challenging the comforts and extravagance of the Benedictines, calling for reform, a number of works on Mary, and De Conversione, on our continuing conversion as grace works in the soul. While many of his works and his life reflective contemplation on God and the spiritual life, he could also engage in discursive theology in writing “Against the Errors of Peter Abelard” whose views of the person of Christ, his Pelagianism, and his views of the work of Christ were deficient. Then there are the eight-six sermons on the Canticle of Canticles exploring the mysteries of God’s love and the mystery of godliness.

The third part of the work is “Notes on the Encyclical Doctor Mellifluus in which he comments on the different aspects of the encyclical beginning with its tribute to the sanctity and wisdom, arising from Bernard’s continual meditation on the scriptures and the Fathers. His theology was not stuffy, or intellectually arid, but flowed from devotion, love that discerned truth. Pius then commends particular works, especially the Canticles. He stresses the hope expressed in these sermons that every sinner might find not only pardon and mercy, but perfect union with God, elaborating the particular gracious workings of God to bring this about. We gain a picture of the unique balance of contemplation and action in the life of this vigorous saint. Part four, then, which follows is the text of the actual encyclical.

This little book by Merton uses the occasion of Pius XII’s encyclical to highlight for Cistercians of his own day and others, the ways that life and theology, contemplation and action, sanctity yoked to wisdom and learning combined in the life of Bernard. What might seem in conflict were rather qualities that walked together in the life of this man. Merton mentions how Bernard’s life came at the time of the early stirrings that would contribute to the rise of universities. For Bernard, knowledge and faith, study and practical leadership were part of a seamless life. Perhaps he may serve as an inspiration to all of us who believe that the love of God and the love of learning may walk hand in hand. And so, as the Feast Day of St. Bernard of Clairvaux approaches, I close with thanksgiving for this Father and Doctor of the Church.