Complete Works
of
Saint John of the Cross,
of the
Order Of Our Lady Of Mount Carmel
Translated From The Original Spanish
by
DAVID LEWIS, Esq. M.A.
Edited By The Oblate Fathers Of Saint Charles
With a Preface
by
His Eminence Cardinal Wiseman
Vol. I.
London:
Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green.
1864.
This Translation was made for the late Father Faber, Provost of the London Oratory.
He intended to publish it himself, but, hindered by many cares, and finally by failing health, he presented it to the Oblate Fathers of S. Charles, to whose laborious care this Impression is due.
The Fathers have further enriched it with marginal notes and a double index.
IT is now many years ago, long before the episcopal burthen pressed upon his shoulders, that the author enjoyed the pleasure of knowing, and frequently conversing with, the estimable Görres, at Munich. One day, the conversation turned on a remark in that deep writer’s ‘Philosophy of Mysticism,’ to the effect, that saints most remarkable for their mystical learning and piety were far from exhibiting, in their features and expression, the characteristics usually attributed to them. They are popularly considered, and by artists represented, as soft, fainting, and perhaps hysterical persons; whereas their portraits present to us countenances of men, or women, of a practical, business-like, working character.
The author asked Görres if he had ever seen an original likeness of S. Teresa, in whom he thought these remarks were particularly exemplified. He replied that he never had; and the writer, on returning to Rome, fulfilled the promise which he had made the philosopher, by procuring a sketch of an authentic portrait of that saint, preserved with great care in the Monastery of S. Sylvester, near Tusculum. It was painted for Philip II. by a concealed artist, while he was conversing with her.
This portrait confirms most strongly the theory of Görres, as the author wrote to him with the drawing; for while no mystical saint has ever been more idealised by artists, or represented as living in a continual swoon, than S. Teresa, her true portraits all represent her with strong, firmly set, and almost masculine features, with forms and lines that denoted vigour, resolution, and strong sense. Her handwriting perfectly suggests the same conclusion.
Still more does the successful activity of her life, in her many painful struggles, under every possible disadvantage, and her final and complete triumph, strengthen this idea of her. And then, her almost superhuman prudence, by which she guided so many minds, and prosperously conducted so many complicated interests and affairs, and her wonderful influence over men of high education and position, and of great powers, are further evidences of her strong, commanding nature; such as, in the world, might have claimed an almost unexampled preeminence.
It is not improbable that some who take up these volumes, or dip into them here and there, ...
![]() |
About The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Vol. 1Volume one includes the The Ascent of Mount Carmel and the The Obscure Night of the Soul. The Ascent of Mount Carmel is divided into three books: “The Nature of the Obscure Night,” “Proximate Means of Union, Faith,” and “The Purgation and Active Night of the Memory and Will.” The Obscure Night of the Soul is divided into two books: “OF the Night of Sense” and “Of the Night of the Spirit.” |
Support Info | comwrksstjohn01 |