El Castillo Interior

"El Castillo Interior" ("trans.:The Interior Castle") was written by Saint Teresa of Ávila in 1577. After being ordered to write her book the "La Vida de la Santa Madre Teresa de Jesús" (The Life of S. Teresa of Jesus), Teresa was hesitant to begin writing again on her views of the perfection found in internal prayer. In the hands of the Inquisition at that time, her "Life" was commonly believed to be the weight in the scale of whether to call her experiences heretical or not. Her humility and claims that, “I am not meant for writing; I have neither the health nor the wits for it,” almost prevented Teresa from composing The Interior Castle. However, according to a letter written by Fray Diego, one of Teresa’s former confessors, Teresa was finally convinced to write her book after a she received a vision from God. Diego wrote that God revealed to Teresa,

“a most beautiful crystal globe, made in the shape of a castle, and containing seven mansions, in the seventh and innermost of which was the King of Glory, in the greatest splendor, illuminating and beautifying them all. The nearer one got to the center, the stronger was the light; outside the palace limits everything was foul, dark and infested with toads, vipers and other venomous creatures”.

With that, "Interior Castle" was born. It contained the basis for what she felt should be the ideal journey of faith, comparing the contemplative soul to a castle with seven successive interior courts, or chambers, analogous to the seven heavens Teresa's consumption of chivalric romances as a child subsequently influenced such imagery, which is prevalent in many of her mystical works. [ [http://www.anistor.co.hol.gr/english/enback/index.htm ANISTORITON Journal of History, Archaeology, ArtHistory: Back Issues ] ] It is also not unduly speculative that living in a walled city like Ávila must have influenced her thinking. The concept of an "interior" life is still important in Spanish thinking in the twenty-first century.

An English translation was published in London in 1852.

Seven Mansions

The "Interior Castle" is divided into seven mansions, each level describing a step to get closer to God. In her work, Teresa already assumed entrance into the first mansion by prayer and meditation. The first mansions begin with souls in a state of grace, but the souls are surrounded by sin and only starting to perfect themselves. The second mansions are also called the Mansions of the Practice of Prayer because the soul seeks to advance through the castle by religious practice. The Mansions of Exemplary Life are the third mansions and they are characterized by a love governed by reason and an outwardly model life. The fourth mansions are a departure from the soul actively acquiring what it gains as God increases his role. The fifth mansions contain incipient Union in which the soul prepares itself to receive gifts from God. If the fifth mansions can be compared to a betrothal, the sixth mansions can be compared to lovers. The soul spends increasing amounts of time torn between favors from God and from outside afflictions. The soul achieves clarity in prayer and a spiritual marriage with God in the seventh mansions.

References

Sources

*Paul Morris, "Lonesome Knights of a Spanish Nun: Teresa of Avila and Chivalresque Literature in Sixteenth-Century Spain," [http://www.anistor.co.hol.gr/english/enback/index.htm ANISTORITON: Viewpoints"] , 9, December 2005, Section V054.

*Teresa of Avila. "Interior Castle". Trans. Peers, E. Allison. New York: Doubleday, 1989.

External links

* [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/teresa/castle2.toc.html Interior Castle (CCEL)]