The Imagery of Fire, Water and Marriage in Saint Teresa of Ávila^*

* This article is a revised version of Chapter 5 of my doctoral thesis, ‘Teresa of Ávila's Elaboration of Imagery in Her Literary Expression of Mystical Experience’ (University of Glasgow, 2005; supervisor: Ann L. Mackenzie [University of Glasgow]; external examiner: Colin Thompson [St Catherine's College, University of Oxford]).

I take this opportunity to put on record my enduring gratitude to Ann Mackenzie, as teacher, supervisor and friend. I have had the benefit and privilege of knowing Ann since, aged 19, I became an undergraduate at Liverpool University in 1970. She was my teacher there during my undergraduate studies for my BA Honours in Hispanic Studies (awarded 1974). At a later stage, I chose to return to Liverpool, to take the postgraduate courses she offered on Golden-Age theatre and the Spanish Mystics leading to a Masters degree, for which, under her guidance, I also completed a dissertation on Saint Teresa (MA awarded 1991). I owe Ann a particular debt for her knowledgeable, patient and tactful supervision of my doctoral thesis, initially at Liverpool, but mostly at Glasgow University. Her insights into the work and mysticism of Saint Teresa have been a source of inspiration to me in my own researches in this field.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size

Notes

* This article is a revised version of Chapter 5 of my doctoral thesis, ‘Teresa of Ávila's Elaboration of Imagery in Her Literary Expression of Mystical Experience’ (University of Glasgow, 2005; supervisor: Ann L. Mackenzie [University of Glasgow]; external examiner: Colin Thompson [St Catherine's College, University of Oxford]).

I take this opportunity to put on record my enduring gratitude to Ann Mackenzie, as teacher, supervisor and friend. I have had the benefit and privilege of knowing Ann since, aged 19, I became an undergraduate at Liverpool University in 1970. She was my teacher there during my undergraduate studies for my BA Honours in Hispanic Studies (awarded 1974). At a later stage, I chose to return to Liverpool, to take the postgraduate courses she offered on Golden-Age theatre and the Spanish Mystics leading to a Masters degree, for which, under her guidance, I also completed a dissertation on Saint Teresa (MA awarded 1991). I owe Ann a particular debt for her knowledgeable, patient and tactful supervision of my doctoral thesis, initially at Liverpool, but mostly at Glasgow University. Her insights into the work and mysticism of Saint Teresa have been a source of inspiration to me in my own researches in this field.

1 The Latin quotations throughout this article are taken from the following Vulgate edition: Biblia Sacra Iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam. Nova editio. Logicis partitionibus aliisque subsidis ornata a ALBERTO COLUNGA O.P. et LAURENTIO TURRADO, professoribus sacrae scripturae in P. Universitate Eccl. Salmanticensi, quarta editio, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos (Matriti, MCMLXV). I have taken the English translations from either the Revised Standard Version, or English Standard Version, or New International Version of the English Bible, depending on which, in my opinion, comes closest to being a literal translation. I have relied mostly on The Holy Bible, rev. standard ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1973).

I quote from the text of the Vulgate Bible because it was the authoritative text of the post-Tridentine Roman Catholic Church, and was the text which theologians and educated clergy of Teresa's time would have used as a basis for their teaching. While Teresa's own knowledge of Latin was weak, she tells us that God infused the meaning of the Holy Bible Latin into her mind. Moreover, her understanding of the Vulgate would have been assisted through sermons she heard and through readings from the Breviary.

2 For a detailed treatment of the nature, significance and practice of ‘oración’, see my (unpublished) doctoral thesis, Chapter 2, ‘The Meaning of “Oración” in the Writings of St Teresa’.

3 The vernacular translation is given as ‘El Señor es mi luz y mi salud … ’ (see Thomas à Kempis, Imitación de Cristo, versión castellana del Fr. Luis de Granada (d. 1588) (Buenos Aires: Biblioteca de Bolsillo, 1943), 3:7.

4 Translated in Imitación de Cristo as ‘Envía tu luz y tu verdad que vengan sobre mí, porque soy tierra vana y vacía hasta que tu me alumbres’ (Kempis, Imitación de Cristo, versión Granada, 3:27).

5 Translated in Imitación de Cristo as ‘para guiar mis pasos, una candela, que es tu palabra’ (Kempis, Imitación de Cristo, versión Granada, 4:11).

6 Francisco de Osuna, Tercer abecedario espiritual (1527), in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. & intros de Fr. Juan Bautista Gomis, BAC, 3 vols (Madrid: Editorial Católica, 1948), I, Tr. 2, c. 8. The story of the ‘burning, fiery furnace’ is found in Daniel 3.

7 For the critical edition of Las moradas (also known as El Castillo interior), see Obras de Santa Teresa de Jesús, ed. & anotadas por el P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, 9 vols (Burgos: Tip. de ‘El Monte Carmelo’, 1915–26), IV. I have also utilized The Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus, trans. & ed. E. Allison Peers, 3 vols (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946), II, 187–351. The in-text references next to the quotations I have used from the original Spanish identify first the ‘Mansions’ number, then the chapter number, and then the page-number. The ‘Mansions’ numbers and chapter numbers are valid for both Silverio's edition and Peers’ translation. The page-numbers given, however, are all keyed to Peers’ translation (which is based on P. Silverio's critical edition of Teresa's original text).

8 The story of the Burning Bush is found in Exodus 3.

9 See Kings 18:19 ff. Also, and especially, see 4 Kings 2:11: ‘Cumque pergerent, et incedentes sermocinarentur, ecce currus igneus, et equi ignei diviserunt utrumque; et ascendit Elias per turbinem in caelum’ (‘And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven’).

10 See [Juan de Jesús María (Aravalles)], Instrucción de novicios de la Virgen María del Monte Carmelo conforme a las costumbres de la misma Orden, ed. F.E.V.C., C.D., con ‘Dos palabras al lector’ (Toledo: Sebastián Rodríguez, 1925). All in-text references are to this edition. As the brief preface to this edition reveals, this book was evidently the work of the Venerable Padre Juan de Jesús María Aravalles, the first edition of which appeared anonymously in 1591.

I am most grateful to Ann Mackenzie for making this rare work available to me, for my doctoral researches, from the copy of the 1925 edition in her own library. She obtained this edition, with many other books, from her own teacher, Ivy McClelland, who, almost certainly, had inherited the same copy from her professor at Liverpool University, E. Allison Peers. I understand that Professor Mackenzie intends to donate this book either to Special Collections at Glasgow University Library or to the Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool.

11 Ezekiel (but not any of the passages cited above) is quoted in Instrucción de novicios descalzos de la Virgen María del Monte Carmelo, ed. F.E.V.C., C.D., in Cap. III, ‘Primera Regla’, 181; see also Tratado de oración escrito en 1587 por el V.P. Juan de Jesús María (Aravalles) carmelita descalzo, sacado ahora a luz por un religioso de la misma orden (Toledo: Sebastián Rodríguez, 1926), 103.

12 Hosea 2:14 is quoted in Instrucción de novicios descalzos de la Virgen María del Monte Carmelo, ed. F.E.V.C., C.D., in Cap. III, ‘Del Recogimiento’, 92.

13 Saint Bernard, Sermon 83.4, in S. Bernardi, Opera, ed. H. M. Rochais, C. H. Talbot & Jean Leclercq, 2 vols (Roma: Cistercienses, 1957–58), II, 300ff.

14 See for example, her Moradas 4:1, 235; 5:1, 252; 5:2, 257; 6:4, 290. See also Camino de perfección, 26:107 and Vida, 27, 174. As in the case of Las moradas, all quotations from and references to Teresa's other works, including the Vida and the Camino de perfección, are taken from the Obras de Santa Teresa de Jesús, ed. P. Silverio de Santa Teresa. The texts of both these works are to be found respectively in Volume I and Volume II of this edition. As with Las moradas, however (cf. note 7), the page-references given are taken from The Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus, trans. & ed. Peers, 3 vols. Peers’ translations of the Vida and the Camino de perfección are to be found in Volume I (The Life, 9–300) and Volume II (The Way of Perfection, 1–186).

15 For a detailed treatment of the imagery of earth and water in Teresa, see my doctoral thesis, ‘Teresa of Ávila's Elaboration of Imagery in Her Literary Expression of Mystical Experience’, Chapter 3, ‘The Imagery of Water’.

16 Luís de Camões, Os Lusíadas (Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional de Lisboa, 1971), 305–06.

17 Camões, Os Lusíadas, 318.

18 Cántico espiritual, opening stanza, in San Juan de la Cruz, Obra poética, ed. & pról. de Agustín del Saz (Barcelona: Ediciones Acervo, 1980), 83–90 (p. 83).

19 This text is referred to in Osuna, Tercer abecedario espiritual, in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. Gomis, I, Tr. 10, c. 5.

20 For his prose-exposition, also titled El cántico espiritual, quoted from here, see Obras del místico doctor San Juan de la Cruz, ed. crítica con introducciones & notas del Padre Gerardo de San Juan de la Cruz, 3 vols (Toledo: Imp., Librería y Enc. de Viuda e Hijos de J. Peláez, 1912–1914). San Juan de la Cruz began his prose-commentary on his poem Cántico espiritual in 1578–79, and did not finish it until 1584.

21 The vernacular translation of Psalm 42 was available to Teresa from the Tercer abecedario: ‘Así como el ciervo desea ir a las fuentes de las aguas, así esta ánima desea ir a ti, Dios’ (Osuna, Tercer abecedario espiritual, in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. Gomis, I, Tr. 11, c. 4).

22 Daniel 3 is alluded to in Osuna, Tercer abecedario espiritual, in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. Gomis, I, Tr. 2, c. 8.

23 Garcilaso de la Vega, Poesías castellanas completas, ed., intro. & notas de Elias L. Rivers (Madrid: Castalia, 1969), 119–34 (p. 121).

24 Garcilaso, Poesías castellanas completas, ed. Rivers; see Soneto XIII, p. 49.

25 For a detailed discussion of ‘The Imagery of Water in Teresa's Writings’, see Chapter 3 of my doctoral thesis on ‘Teresa of Ávila's Elaboration of Imagery in Her Literary Expression of Mystical Experience’.

26 Garcilaso, Poesías castellanos completas, ed. Rivers, 54.

27 Garcilaso, Poesías castellanos completas, ed. Rivers, 40.

28 For Teresa's Poesías, see Obras de Santa Teresa de Jesús, ed. P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, VI; this poem figures on p. 91.

29 Bernardino de Laredo, Subida del Monte Sión (1529) in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. Gomís, Vol. II; see Parte III, c.27, p. 371.

30 Laredo, Subida del Monte Sión, in Místicos franciscanos españoles, ed. Gomís, II, Parte III, c.27, p. 373.

31 Exclamaciones del alma a Dios, in Obras de Santa Teresa de Jesús, ed. P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, Vol. IV. As in the references to Teresa's other works discussed here, the page-references are from The Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus, trans. & ed. Peers; see Peers’ translation of Exclamations of the Soul to God, Vol. II, 400–20.

32 ‘De las homilías del Pseudo-Crisóstomo. Homilía 6 sobre la oración’, in Liturgia de las horas según el rito romano. II, Tiempo de Cuaresma, Santo Triduo Pascual, tiempo Pascual (Barcelona: Cooeditores Litúrgicos, 1992), 59.

33 See [Juan de Jesús María (Aravalles)], Instrucción de novicios descalzos de la Virgen María del Monte Carmelo, ed. F.E.V.C., Cap. I, 22.

34 The book of Ezekiel has further examples:

Argenti, et aeris, et stanni, et ferri, et plumbi in medio fornacis, ut succendam in ea ignem ad conflandum(Silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it) (Ezekiel 22:20)Ut conflatur argentum in medio fornacis(As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace) (Ezekiel 22:22)Et consumatur rubigo eius(So its impurities may be melted) (Ezekiel 24:11)

35 Sebastián de Cobarruvias, Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana o Española (1611), facsimile ed. (Madrid/México D.F.: Ediciones Turner, 1984), 415.

36 Cobarruvias, Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana o Española, 415.

37 The sketch, thought to be drawn by San Juan, of the crucified Jesus seen from above, comes to mind. The idea behind San Juan's sketch was, centuries later, to be the inspiration for Salvador Dalí's Cristo de San Juan de la Cruz.

38 See San Juan de la Cruz, Obra poética, ed. Saz, 77–78 (p. 77).

39 Compare Vida: ‘[ … ] mas llegada a Vos, subida en esta atalaya adonde se ven verdades [ … ]’ (21, 132), and Las moradas: ‘Dicen que el alma se entra dentro de sí y otras veces que sube sobre sí’ (4:3, 240; my italics).

* Disclosure Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.