The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself by Teresa de Jesús

The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself Reviews

• 
  Valeriu Gherghel

  Fiindcă prezentarea cărții pe Goodreads îmi aparține, aș putea să o mut aici. Firește, nu voi face asta.
  
  Cu mulți ani în urmă, cînd am scris postfața, am fost interesat îndeosebi de statutul femeii la sfîrșitul Evului Mediu, căci sfînta Teresa de Jesús a fost un exemplu mai mult decît elocvent. În vremea ei, femeia nu căpătase încă dreptul la cuvînt. Nu l-a căpătat nici astăzi. Din pricina asta, nu e bine să ne închipuim că biografia a fost redactată în deplină solitudine și că tot ce cuprinde se cuvine luat întocmai. Prin însuși statutul ei de monahie, Teresa de Jesús avea (cel puțin) un confesor, un așa-numit „director de conștiință”. Nu putea ascunde de ochii și de mintea lui ceea ce scria. Și, probabil, nici nu-i trecea prin cap...
  
  De altfel, înainte de a fi publicat, manuscrisul a trecut din mînă în mînă. Sfînta Teresa de Jesús a început să-l scrie, în 1561, la îndemnul dominicanului Pedro Ibáñez. A terminat prima versiune în iunie 1562. În 1564, manuscrisul a ajuns la Francisco de Soto y Salazar. Acesta l-a trimis mai departe, preotului și scriitorului mistic, Juan de Ávila. Abia în 12 septembrie 1568, Teresa a primit o epistolă de acceptare din partea celui din urmă. Cartea putea merge la tipar...
  
  Dincolo de a fi un îndreptar în viața de obște, Cartea vieții mele, mărturia unei femei, întrerupea șirul masculin al autobiografiilor. Aș aminti numai două. Mă gîndesc, în primul rînd, la călugărul benedictin Guibert de Nogent și la scrierea lui cu titlul De vita sua sive Monodiæ (1115) și apoi la Pierre Abélard, care și-a evocat viața într-o scrisoare către un destinatar necunoscut, scrisoare cunoscută sub titlul Historia calamitatum (1132). Nu mai e nevoie să spun că aceste autobiografii aproximative aveau ca model Confesiunile sfîntului Augustin.
  
  Cele două scrieri și, nu mai puțin, autobiografia sfîntei Teresa, reprezintă o contribuție însemnată la descoperirea eului.
• 
  booklady

  After reading
  The Cloistered Flame, a fictional novel about Teresa, I reread, or rather re-listened to this. At first I accidentally recorded it under a different book by Teresa. Got in too much of a hurry. 😞
  
  Will return to write an updated review. Loved this just as much, if not more this time. Also, want to compare this to other translations of Teresa's Life.
  
  
  December 10, 2009: Thank you Jane! I have read, reread, listened to, savored and thoroughly enjoyed this book. I most highly recommend the audio version* which I've been listening to in my car off and on for the past six weeks. Teresa is of course herself, engaging, deeply and humbly insightful, charming and humorous in a way that transcends centuries of time, and cultural and linguistic differences. Mirabai Starr's translation is both fresh and in line with more conventional versions.
  
  One observation, however, or word of caution: I offer this rating and review as a Teresian-devotee. Those not so well versed in Saint Teresa's life story might do well to read this book in conjunction with a more conventional biography of her. Teresa isn't writing your usual run-of-the-mill autobiography; nor for that matter is she much interested in telling her life story, except as it relates to Him Whom she loves, God. As such this is a spiritual story and tends to wander off into some of the world's greatest known discourses on Prayer ever written. It was some of these writings which led to her being declared the first woman 'Doctor of the Church', her official title being, the 'Doctor of Prayer'.
  
  This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to improve his/her prayer life.
  
  *I could "hear" Santa Teresa's voice in Tessa Bielecki's rendering of the audio text.
• 
  Manuel Alfonseca

  ESPAÑOL: He leído este libro por tercera vez. Más que una autobiografía, es una lección sobre la oración mental (meditación).
  
  Cada vez que lo he leído me ha sido beneficioso. Esta vez más aun que las anteriores.
  
  ENGLISH: This is the third time I have read this book. Rather than an autobiography, it is a lesson about mental prayer (meditation).
  
  Every time I have read it has been beneficial, perhaps this time more than the previous ones.
  
• 
  Jay D

  A spiritual/devotional masterpiece.
• 
  Rochelle

  Great book. Teresa of Avila was a woman of very modern sensibilities. Her love affair with God is an integral part of this extraordinary autobiography/confession. There are the usual markers of the narrow-mindedness of the contemporary culture in which she lived: the pervasive religious fascism and fanaticism--a fanaticism fostered and promoted by the Church's power through the mandate of the Inquisition, the fear of the Devil's power to overthrow one's soul and the Devil's association with Negroes (or Black-skinned races (Moors)), the intolerance for other religions (Lutherans), the abasement of women within the Church. Yet for all of this, it retains its sense of the modern, due in no small part to Teresa's extraordinary skill in psychological analysis, knowledge of Doctrine as well as Dogma, Scripture and supporting texts such as St. Augustine's Confessions, and her use of Church politics and hierarchy to criticize the ecclesiastical structure and its ruling elite. Despite her liberal sprinkle of self-deprecatory remarks, the reader will discover, I think, that St. Teresa of Avila was an ambitious nun, careful to hold herself apart from criticism by inviting it as a penance from God, while carefully courting the favor of powerful interests to lobby on behalf of projects or persons she identified as "true servants of God," eventually obtaining what she desired, enclosure in a stricter House, which she founded, and which was based upon poverty-the convent of Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Rule of St. Joseph at Avila. Readers may find her nested digressions excessive. Still, I think it was worth the effort to read about a woman who rose in prominence and influence at a time of great cultural and religious conservatism.
• 
  Frank

  Teresa is a very special woman. The story of her life as she wrote it is one of the great reads. To read this book is to make a friend for life. I like the one incident where she is tossed out of a coach into a muddy stream during a heavy rain and complained to God as she sat in the mud and water soaking wet. And God answered her and said this is how he treated his friends. Teresa was not one to be overwhelmed even by God and responded. "Well it is no wonder you have so few." A great book to read.
• 
  DS25

  Non si esce dalla lettura di questo testo come vi si è entrati. Un ventata di acqua fresca, il simbolo di cosa significhi aver una fede smisurata e applicata sul campo da una persona massimamente razionale, capace di porre freni e domande e scrupoli ad ogni sua visione ed esperienza mistica, un emblema di saggezza al femminile “scaltra come volpe e semplice come colomba”.
  
  Dal punto di vista strettamente letterario è un testo che batte e ribatte, sul modello della teologia delle onde. È un modo assolutamente ridondante di far capire cosa ci sia in ballo e l’importanza di essere attenti sulle questioni spirituali. L’autrice dà a intendere i danni che derivano da una chiusura troppo grande all’esperienza mistica, ma anche dal lasciarsi trascinare da essa senza discernimento.
  
  Dal punto di vista storico il testo è un bellissimo spaccato sulla realtà monacale e, in second’ordine, sull’impatto dei gesuiti nella vita nella Spagna del siglo. L’autrice, di altissima schiatta, ha una visione particolare della società, resa ancora più unica dal suo modello di vita, una vita lontana dagli altri ma allo stesso tempo inturbinata nel mondo e negli affetti da cui lei cerca strenuamente di allontanarsi. Infine, l’Ombra Inquisitoria ha pochissimo spazio nella vita, anche per via della precisione teologica assoluta dell’autrice (che comunque aveva notevoli alleati, come il celeberrimo Banez).
  
  A chi serve questo testo? A chi non vuole rassegnarsi ad un mondo piatto, dove l’unica realtà possibile é quella dell’avere; serve a capire una realtà che avvolge tutti i propri eventi, anche i più sfortunati come la malattia, il dolore e la solitudine. Serve a capire le nostre priorità, anche quando non ci sembra ci siano. E infine, per il Cristiano, serve a progredire verso la felicità.
• 
  Alberony Martínez

  Si algo he logrado con este reto de ir alternando libros clásicos y libros contemporáneos, ha sido leer aquellos libros que de algún modo en algún momento he leído o he pasado mi vista por ellos, y es por ello estoy por darle más tiempo a los mismos. Este libro del cual comentaré, fueron muchas las veces que hojeé sus páginas. El libro de la Santa Teresa de Jesús o de Ávila es todo un cauce existencial que la arrastra a la mismísima intimidad del Amor.
  
  Con una prosa que ambiciona una perfección, que frecuenta el carácter constante de su revolución espiritual, una mujer que lucha consigo misma, y que ya desde temprana edad fue alcanzada por el Amor, que la hizo vaso repositorio para ser corneta de Dios, sin importar las tentaciones, las incompresibles situaciones que la vida le iba preparando, muchas de las veces topada por la soledad. No escatimó esfuerzo para seguir el camino piadoso, bien firme con sus conviccionesnes, y que puso a muchos de sus contemporáneos ante el asombro de lo que es capaz una mujer espiritual.
  
  Un libro con un profundo impacto en la espiritualidad cristiana durante cinco siglos. Texto donde se entrecruzan lo humano y lo divino y que ha sido de admiración entre los lectores místicos y filósofos, sin importar de que la Inquisición española le hiciere una encerrona, pero con todo y esto el libro se convirtió en bandera de la Contrarreforma. Y es verdad que es un grito del corazón a Dios y una descripción de la teología mística como una busqueda de amor.
  
  En lo personal es un libro interesante, independientemente de las criticas de un grupo que mira con una locura lo que nos dice Teresa de Jesús. Este tipo de literatura la tomo como libro para el aprendizaje, para saber como pensaban esos autores en termino religioso en una época donde cualquier palabra facilmente eran enjuiciado. Hay que dale el puesto de libro religioso, para aquellos adversarios, no es un manual para demostrarte a Dios, sino para que a través de su amor puede allegarte a el.
  
• 
  Frightful_elk

  For me this was a rather disconcerting read.
  
  As an atheist you can't entertain the idea that the continual visions and spiritual experiences Teresa reads are visitations from God, there doesn't seem to be a 'conventional' explanation for what's going on. Teresa is lucid enough to write a clear and intelligent account of her experiences, her theology is complete and consistent (and conveniently in-line with the dogma that was current at the time). So she is not raving mad, I entertained the idea that she was deceiving herself, but in the end that didn't seem to fit either. So you become forced to accept a coherent madness that is more alarming than the other possibilities.
  
  I was so curious about this undeniable account of visions and experiences in someone otherwise lucid I did a bit of research, the best fit I could find are accounts of temporal lobe epilepsy.
• 
  Zarina

  A summary:
  
  teresa: oh i am a mortal sinner i don’t deserve happiness and hopefully god dooms me to a fate of eternal damnation amen
  god: lmao what was ur sin, my child?
  teresa: i looked in a mirror this one time
  
  In all seriousness it was a somewhat boring text but really does a lot to show how she weakened her own credibility with this constant self-shame, possibly for the sake of making her religious convictions palatable to men.
  
• 
  Karina

  This is the book that St. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Holy Cross) read in one sitting and which moved her to convert from atheism.
• 
  Joshua Nomen-Mutatio

  When reading this in liberal arts school and participating in discussion based class sessions I drew great knee jerk, PC-er than thou, dogmatic insistence at tolerating all things with word 'religious' or 'spiritual' attached to them (besides red state Christian fundamentalism) type of reactions by calling Ms. Teresa a junky looking for her God fix. I stand by this assessment today. I found her writing to be an interesting read nonetheless but also felt sorry for her and her rejection of the present world in favor of 18 hours of praying per day focusing only on thoughts of the hereafter. She sought the rush of endorphins and called it spiritual ecstacy. She spoke of God as her lover. She expressed a vicious hatred for the present world with all of its imperfections.
  
  I do like that sculpture on the cover though. David Foster Wallace references it in Infinite Jest when describing the way Madame Psychosis (AKA The Prettiest Girl Of All Time, P.G.O.A.T.) feels when free basing cocaine: the Ecstacy of Saint Teresa of Avila.
• 
  Yolanda

  This is Teresa's thoughts, feelings and over all relationship with God. At times I did find it difficult to understand her thought process, I took my time and did enjoy it. While audio books are not my first choice I would like to hear this one.
• 
  Sanya Ruggiero

  Direct, unwavering, humble and courageous beyond words - truly an example in the path to Sainthood. Saint Theresa of Avila’s autobiography is as applicable today as it would have been when it was completed in 1562. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone on the journey of discovering their faith, the power of prayer or the nature of our supremely merciful God. Even for one who is still at the very beginning of the path, without much insight and wisdom, St. Theresa is able to connect in a deep in powerful way.
  
  I was particularly moved by two findings that she provides in the course of the book:
  
  1. It does us immeasurable good to Meditate on our soul as a mirror in which we should be able to see God’s reflection clearly. A soul in mortal sin is as if covered by a cloak.
  
  2. Everything that does not please God is a lie. That is the Truth is God and God is the Truth.
  
  Finally, Saint Theresa’s profound discourse on the four stages of prayer that the Lord has given her to understand, while at first a little tricky, is explained through a sublime garden analogy. The soul being the garden, with ourselves and God working as gardeners to water and cultivate a divine home for the Lord within us.
  
  This piece of writing is undoubtedly inspired by the Lord and should be on any faithful soul’s reading list ♥️
• 
  Sam Bizar

  I marked "The Life" as a favorite mostly because I need to (digitally) remind myself to revisit St. Teresa. Mesmeric: the unwinding of the alleged dichotomy between pleasure and pain. Where a lineage of philosophers - Bentham, Mill, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, yada yada - write of pleasure and pain as antithetical, Teresa provides a compelling case of pleasure-derived-from-pain. Religious devotion is phenomenological. It ceases to be an intellectual epistemology (such as with Augustine, with whom I might closely pair readings of Teresa), but a physical reckoning.
  
  We all know the "spear me" incident. It is the moment at the center of this autobiography that mutates the understanding of religious apotheosis from divinely spiritual to visceral sensorial. The world of the convent, too, with the cloistered sisters and time spent mulling over the relationship between the individual and the divine, becomes a deeply materialistic, physical articulation of religious virtue.
  
  My thoughts on Teresa are, as yet, underdeveloped. I would like to hail her as a raucous break in a male-dominated theological tradition (a proto-feminist Catholic intervention, if you will). I'm ultimately unsure, but within these pages might lie the secrets to life's mysteries. An ecstatic read, one to return to, and one to excite pleasure (and pain).
• 
  Merry

  tkm
• 
  Little Zap

  It took me a long time to finish this book, especially after having to start and re-start several times. I found the first half pretty difficult to follow as it was heavy on her family history. Her later years were much easier to follow as it focused on the fruits of her purification. What I really loved about this autobiography was the snapshot it gave of a saintly life on earth, that is, a life of total dedication to God while in the constant process of deepening conversion.
  
  For example, she makes a remark of how she struggles with attachment to certain people- that she has a greater investment in those closest to her doing well, than a random person she might meet. Later, with the help of a spiritual director, she realizes that this type of "attachment" (i.e. wanting those you love to be taken care of and not destitute) is not a sinful behaviour but just a part of being in relationship with others. It's okay to desire good things for those you love.
  
  This account, and similar ones to it, show that the road to sainthood is nuanced and not always clear to the one living it.
  
  -
  "For even if we wear ourselves to pieces with penances and prayers and all kinds of other things, we can acquire but little if the Lord is not pleased to bestow it. God, of His greatness, desires the soul to realize that His Majesty is so near it that it need not send Him messengers, but may speak with Him itself; nor need it cry aloud, because He is so near it that is has only to move its lips and He will understand it. "
  
  
  "Where, my Lord, did I think I could find help save in Thee? What foolishness to flee from the light and to walk on all the time stumbling! What a proud humility did the devil find in me when I ceased to make use of the pillar and the staff whose support I so greatly need lest I should suffer a great fall! As I write I make the sign of the Cross: I do not believe I have ever passed through so grave a peril as when the devil put this idea into my head under the guise of humility. How, he asked me, could one who, after receiving such great favours, was still as wicked as I, approach God in prayer? It was enough for me, he would go on, to recite the prayers enjoined upon me, as all the nuns did, but I did not even do this properly: why, then, should I want to do more? It was showing small respect and indeed contempt for the favours of God. I was right to think about this and to try to realize it, but extremely wrong to put my thoughts into practice. Blessed be Thou, Lord, Who didst thus succour me!
  
  This seems to me to be the principle on which the devil tempted Judas, except that he dare not tempt me so openly: none the less, he would gradually have brought me to the same fate. For the love of God, let all who practise prayer consider this. Let them be told that by far the worst life I ever led was when I abandoned prayer."
  
  
  "I have also been thinking of the comparison which follows. Assuming that what is given to the most advanced soul is the same as what is given to beginners, it is like food shared by many people; those who eat very little of it experience the pleasant taste only for a short time; those who eat more derive some sustenance from it; while those who eat a great deal derive life and strength. It is possible to eat of this food of life so frequently and with such satisfaction as to derive no pleasure from eating any other. For the soul sees how much good it is deriving from it and its palate is now so completely accustomed to its sweetness that it would rather no live than have to eat any other food, for that would do nothing but spoil the pleasant taste left by the good food. Again, the companionship of good people does not afford us such profitable conversation in one day as in many; and if we have the help of God and are long enough in their company, we may become like them."
  
  
  "Your Reverence may suppose that it would have needed no great effort to behold those hands and that beauteous face. But there is such beauty about glorified bodies that the glory which illumines them throws all who look up such supernatural loveliness into confusion."
  
  
  "I had always taken him for a man of great intelligence, but now he seemed to me shrewder than ever. I thought what great talents and gifts he had and what a deal of good he could do with them if he gave himself wholly to God. For some years now I have felt like this- I never see a person whom I like very much without immediately wishing that I could see him wholly given to God, and sometimes this yearning of mine is so strong that I am powerless against it."
• 
  ruzmarì

  I am always rediscovering Sta Teresa. She is the first of so many things in so many ways - first woman Doctor of the Church, first reformer of the Carmelite order, first woman to found an order of men, first "modern" (i.e. post-Inquistion) western mystic ... -, and each time I reread her, it's like the first time all over again, at a new depth and with a new dimension.
  
  I was wary about this translation because the introduction is, well, froofy and kinda new-age in a way that peeves me. In my ideal world, the translator is NOT an "I" presence in the work who tells you about her swami boyfriend-slash-guru or peppers her sentences with "I love this so much." I prefer a transparent translator, like an overlay that enhances and makes the translated text visible for my new reading. But in all fairness, Mirabai Starr's translation work of Sta Teresa's autobiography does precisely this - and she even brings up the subject of letting go of her "her-ness" in the introduction. You just have to wade through a lot of inclusive jargon that borders on post-modern hippiedom, in order to get to the searing glory of Sta Teresa's words, which have clearly inspired and transfigured Starr's.
  
  I have to pace myself because the book is like molten gold or very fine champagne. I don't want it to go to my head all at once. With a one-chapter-per-day limit, I am both eagerly devouring and luxuriantly savoring the timeless words. Gracias, Teresa.
• 
  Rachel

  While the life of Saint Teresa is interesting, she could have used a good editor. The book is a rambling, unfocused mess. I could have even overlooked that, but the translation was a big problem for me. How can you translate a 16th century book by a nun and edit out almost all references to the devil? How can you translate "sin" as "missing the mark"? I don't care if the translator is a Jewish-Buddhist-New Age whatever. She ruined the book for me. While I was looking forward to reading other works by Spanish mystics, now I'll look for them in the original Spanish.
• 
  Pepe B&V

  La vida de la Santa... Difícil de explicar. El lenguaje castellano, más antiguo, de dialecto más o menos culto para la época, lo cierto, no ha sido un gran problema, sino una dificultad menor. Más bien mi poca empatía con una religión que no comparto (soy agnóstico) y el entramado de tramas -redúndeme- tanto de autobiografía como de pautas de la vida cristiana me han, sin duda, desencantado o desconcertado. No se si es que me falta valía para apreciar algo o soy inteligente al no apreciar lo inapreciable. De todo modo, dos estrellas y mi beneplácito más indiferente.
• 
  dely

  16/10/2021 Ci riprovo.
  14/11/2021 Finito. Ce l'ho fatta!
  
  ***
  25/10/2020: Dopo un anno mi sono finalmente decisa di sospenderne la lettura. Spero di ricominciarlo in un periodo più tranquillo e meno stressante per dedicargli tutta l'attenzione che merita. Non l'ho accantonato perché non mi stava piacendo, anzi, ma perché non avevo la concentrazione necessaria per immergermi completamente nella lettura meditando su ciò che ha scritto la Santa.
• 
  Marina

  DNF at 24%. This is of no interest whatsoever for a non-Catholic, let alone an atheist. I don't know what I was thinking when I downloaded it.
• 
  Claudia PerezLuna

  Éste libro me lo pidieron para mi Diplomado de Espiritualidad y se me hizo pieza clave para entender la vida de Santa Teresa
• 
  Alisa Wilhelm

  I appreciated this translation: it's quite modern and slightly abridged to cut down on the repetition a bit. Even so, there is a lot of repetition and circling back. In a way, I'm glad there was so much repetition because it took me over a year of occasional reading to get through it! (thanks to #AxeTheStacks I finally finished it off).
  
  Teresa's personality shines so earnest and true, it is hard to believe that she wrote this nearly 500 years ago. She must have been so full of energy and zest. And her blunt honesty made me smile.
  
• 
  Sasha Ruggiero

  This is really hard to understand for the first couple of chapters regarding the metaphor of the garden. However, you must persevere as after that it is considerably easier to understand and imparts great understanding of both God and the nature of one’s own soul through the lens of her own life’s journey up until the book concludes in 1562.