Teresianum

Nel corso del XX secolo la persona e l’opera di Teresa di Gesù, a partire dai suoi scritti, sono state rilette con rinnovato interesse, seguendo l’evolversi delle problematiche contemporanee. Grazie anche all’impiego dei canoni storiografici correnti nell’ambito della storiografia teresiana, tanto la sua storia personale quanto il contesto in cui visse e operò sono stati ampiamente approfonditi. Il presente lavoro si prefigge di indicare alcune linee di ricerca che hanno maggiormente arricchito gli studi storici teresiani negli ultimi decenni.

Throughout the 20^th century, Teresa of Avila’s person and work, beginning with her writings, have been reread with renewed interest, in the light of evolving contemporary questions. Teresa’s personal history, as well as the context in which she lived and acted, have been extensively studied thanks to current endeavours in the field of Teresian historiography. The present contribution undertakes to indicate some of the lines of research which have been a main source of enrichment for Teresian historical studies in the last decades.

Il dono che santa Teresa d’Avila ha fatto alla Chiesa e al mondo consiste nella inesorabile logica d’amore, con la quale ha compreso tutta la vicenda umana, osservandola dal punto di vista più intimo e personale: quello di una preghiera sempre più “innamorata” e totalizzante. Assumere e insegnare la preghiera come “valore plenario” è stata la sua missione. Già scrivendo l’Autobiografia, Teresa ha compreso che tutta la sua vita era stata una preghiera e che la preghiera doveva abbracciare tutta la vita. Ma comprese anche che unificare in tal modo la propria esistenza è possibile, a noi uomini, solo per grazia: solo restando aggrappati alla santa Umanità del Figlio di Dio, venuto sulla terra come “preghiera vivente”, per darcene l’esempio. In seguito, fondando i suoi numerosi monasteri carmelitani (e scrivendo per loro il Cammino di Perfezione e il racconto delle sue Fondazioni), la Santa ha esteso all’intera comunità, e perfino alle strutture monastiche, la stessa concezione: tutto può essere e diventare occasione di un “dialogo orante con Dio”. Anche in questo caso, però, la comunità deve imparare a percepirsi come “corpo ecclesiale di Cristo”, che continua a vivere e a soffrire nella storia. E Teresa lo intuì partecipando con cuore appassionato ai drammi della Chiesa del suo tempo, lacerata dalle divisioni e malamente coinvolta nella “conquista” del Nuovo mondo. Negli ultimi anni di vita, poi, Teresa si soffermò ad analizzare accuratamente la “grande bellezza e dignità” di ogni persona umana descrivendola come un Castello interiore, dove abita lo stesso Dio Trinità che, nella Dimora più intima, attende l’anima per donarle in pienezza l’unione sponsale col Figlio di Dio. Così, con inesorabile e insistente logica d’amore, Teresa mostrò che la più alta e profonda esperienza mistica è donata alla Chiesa per permetterle di annunciare la sublime dignità di ogni persona umana. E che la massima profondità dell’esperienza cristiana rivela anche la massima estensione missionaria cui essa è destinata, a bene del mondo intero.

Teresa’s gift to the Church and to the world consists in the inexorable logic of love, her key to understanding all human life. She observes life from the most personal vantage point, namely, that of prayer, a prayer which is increasingly intimate and total. This was her mission: to embrace prayer and to teach prayer as an ultimate value. Already in the book of her Life Teresa recognised that all her life had been a prayer and that prayer had to permeate all life. But she also understood that reaching this kind of existential unity was possible only through grace: only by clinging to the sacred Humanity of the Son of God, who came to earth as a ‘living prayer’, leading us by example. As Teresa undertook her numerous Carmelite foundations (and wrote for them the Way of Perfection and the account of the Foundations), she extended this same vision to the whole community, and indeed to the structures of monasticism: everything can be and can become an occasion for a prayerful dialogue with God. This would mean the community learning to recognise itself as ‘the ecclesial body of Christ’ living and suffering in history. Teresa came to this intuition as she shared passionately in the drama of the Church of her time, torn apart by divisions and caught up in the ambiguous ‘conquest’ of the New World. Accordingly, in the last years of her life, Teresa focused on the ‘great beauty and dignity’ of every human person, described as an interior Castle where God dwells, and where the Trinity awaits the soul so as to bestow upon her the fulness of spousal union with the Son of God. Hence, with inexorable and insistent logic, the logic of love, Teresa showed that the highest and deepest mystical experience is given to the Church in order to enable the Church to proclaim the sublime dignity of every human person. Teresa showed that the deepest Christian experience reveals the fullest scope of the Church’s mission for the good of the whole world.

La lezione di santa Teresa di Gesù sull’humanum s’inscrive nel rendere conto di un «camminare nella verità» incentrato sul rapportarsi con Cristo, l’Amico per eccellenza. Tale cammino, che si dispiega fin sul piano dottrinale, costituisce un luogo teologico in cui Teresa scopre sempre di più il significato dell’esistenza della persona umana all’interno della economia della salvezza, quale economia del dono in Cristo risorto. Imperniata sulla positura dell’uomo nuovo - a partire dal centro dell’anima -, la lezione teresiana si sofferma sul suo dimorare in Dio Trinità. Codesto articolo enuclea così tre linee strutturanti, cioè dapprima la bellezza e la dignità dell’anima, quindi la crescita della persona umana sotto il regime del dono dello Spirito, infine il dimorare reciproco di Dio Trinità e dell’uomo.

Saint Teresa of Jesus’ lesson on the humanum accounts for a “walking in truth” centred in the relationship with Christ, the Friend par excellence. Such way, which unfolds as well on the doctrinal level, constitutes a theological topos in which Teresa discovers more and more the meaning of the existence of the human person in the economy of salvation as economy of the gift in the risen Christ. Based on the attitude of the new man - out from the centre of the soul -, the Teresian lesson fixes on its dwelling in God Trinity. This article brings out three structuring lines, i.e. the beauty and the dignity of the soul, the growth of the human person by the gift of the Spirit, and finally the reciprocal indwelling of God Trinity and man.

Una breve proposta che, in base a una comprensione della mistica teresiana quale antropologia dell’amore, fatta di un cammino esperienziale di amicizia e d’amore con il Tu di Dio e sintetizzata nell’assioma cristologico: «Conoscendo Dio impareremo a conoscere noi stessi» (1M 2,9), concretizza le condizioni di possibilità per avviarsi verso una cultura dell’amore.

This contribution focuses on the understanding of Teresian mysticism as an anthropology of love built on the experience of friendship and love with God. The synthesis in the Christological axiom «We shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God», provides the conditions of possibility for advancing towards a culture of love.

Il contributo propone una riflessione sull’esperienza che Teresa come donna fa nell’esperienza di relazione a Cristo uomo. Circoscrivendo lo studio al testo autobiografico Vita della Santa si vedono emergere peculiari caratteri propri della femminilità che si comprende e autocomprende nell’incontro progressivo con il divino incarnatosi in un’umanità concreta. La Santa è così avvicinata come capace di accogliere doni di grazie mistiche permanendo in ciò nella condizione di far emergere Dio in ogni tratto della sua femminile sensibilità.

This paper proposes a reflection on Teresa of Avila’s experience, as a woman, of relationship to Christ, as a man. A study of the saint’s autobiography shows the emergence of a specific type of femininity understood through a progressive encounter with the divine incarnate, in concrete humanity. Teresa is considered here in her capacity to remain open to mystical grace, allowing God to emerge in every trait of her femininity.

Thérèse d’Avila associe au mariage spirituel des phénomènes mystiques extraordinaires : vision intellectuelle de la Trinité, visions imaginaire et intellectuelle du Christ. La comparaison de son témoignage avec celui de Marie de l’Incarnation, ainsi que la prise en compte des neurosciences et de la psychanalyse, conduisent à une actualisation de son principe de discernement de l’origine de ces phénomènes, et à une pastorale de l’union transformante les relativisant fortement.

Teresa of Avila associates spiritual marriage with extraordinary mystical phenomena: an intellectual vision of the Trinity, an intellectual and an imaginary vision of Christ. Comparing her testimony with that of Marie of the Incarnation and taking neurosciences and psychoanalysis into account leads us to update her principle of discrimination of the origin of such phenomena, and to propose a pastoral of transforming union that strongly relativizes them.

L’expérience spirituelle de Thérèse d’Avila est portée, au sens musical du terme, par un thème intérieur ressaisi dans la formule célèbre : « Tout passe, / Dieu ne change pas ». L’existence de la Sainte constitue une variation de ce thème et comme sa déclinaison réelle. En nous mettant à l’écoute de cette variation dont les mouvements principaux sont repérables dans le récit qu’elle fait de sa Vie, nous chercherons à comprendre comment la Madre a assumé avec réalisme et de manière féconde le rapport de l’Absolu et du relatif.

Quelle est la portée anthropologique de l’expérience thérésienne du désir de Dieu ? Nous nous proposons de répondre à cette question en montrant que le désir humain est essentiellement orientation vers l’infini. Une orientation qui assume et résout la tension entre l’Absolu (“Tout”) et le relatif (“rien”).

Saint Teresa of Avila’s spiritual experience is sustained by an inner theme (in the musical sense of the word) which can be summarized in the famous phrase: «Everything passes away but God never changes». Teresa’s existence is a variation on this theme, and, in a way, brings it into being, in reality. By listening to this variation whose principal movements are distinguishable in the Book of her Life, we shall endeavor to understand the way in which the Madre came to fully integrate into her life – both realistically and fruitfully – the relationship between the Absolute and the relative. What is the significance of Teresa’s experience of desire for God, for anthropology? In order to answer this question we propose to show that human desire is necessarily and essentially directed towards infinity; in this fundamental orientation is the resolution of all conflict between the Absolute (“whole”) and the relative (“nothing”).

Se intenta hacer ver cómo en el libro teresiano de las Moradas, que generalmente viene considerado como exponente de una espiritualidad luminosa, la presencia de la noche oscura, de la que habla Teresa claramente en 6M 1 y 11, necesariamente tiene que calificar esta luminosidad. Es más, Teresa muchas veces expresamente acude a las actitudes evangélicas para determinar la calidad de esa luz, que se deriva de la experiencia. Por tanto la experiencia como tal no es absolutamente luminosa. A las ráfagas de luz siguen muchas veces en las Moradas zonas de tinieblas. Desde esta perspectiva y desde un análisis muy pormenorizado de cada Morada y su dinamismo místico-teológico parece que las Moradas puede definirse como la exposición de una experiencia de oscura luminosidad.

The goal of this work is to show how Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, generally considered to be a work which focuses on the luminosity of spiritual experience, also includes elements of the so-called dark night. Teresa explicitly treats these obscure aspects in 6M 1 and 11, enabling her to bring some necessary qualification to the luminous experience she has been describing. It is also often through reference to the gospel accounts that Teresa is able to qualify the light which comes from experience, thus showing that experience as such is not absolutely luminous. Moments of light in the Mansions are very often followed by zones of shadow. From this perspective and from a detailed analysis of each Mansion and its mystical and theological dynamic the The Interior Castle can be said to present an experience of clarity that involves shadow.

Alcune delle nozioni più usate nel Castello Interiore di Teresa d’Avila designano in modo simbolico la realtà umana. È particolarmente il caso della nozione di dimora affiancata a quella di castello. Nella progressione del discorso, la ricorrenza di un contesto particolare indica il “luogo decisivo” da cui scaturisce il significato del linguaggio. Pertanto l’ambito esperienziale della preghiera permette di cogliere l’unione dell’umano al divino a monte dell’antropologia teresiana. Per un’interpretazione credibile di essa, deve essere analizzato anche il contributo della Sacra Scrittura, particolarmente la nozione di immagine di Dio associata alla creazione dell’uomo e la nozione giovannea di dimora. Inoltre Teresa indica Dio come orizzonte di conoscenza dell’umano, ma il processo cognitivo designato oltrepassa una semplice gnoseologia intellettuale. Tale è il quadro complesso dell’ermeneutica dell’antropologia teresiana abbozzata in questo saggio, e qualificata come antropologia dell’unione.

Some of the symbolic notions most often used in Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle have an anthropological foundation. This is particularly true of the notion of the mansion in conjunction with that of the castle. In the elaboration of discourse, the recurrence of a particular context is an indication of the “decisive place” from which meaning is conveyed through language. Prayer can be considered, in this regard, as the experiential realm which leads to an understanding of union between God and the human being, at the basis of Teresian anthropology. The proper interpretation of this union requires a reference to Sacred Scripture and, in particular, to the notion of image of God in the creation of man and the Johanine concept of abiding. Teresa also shows that God opens up new perspectives to the human understanding which go beyond a purely intellectual cognitive process. This is the complex picture of the hermeneutics of Teresian anthropology outlined in this essay, and qualified as an anthropology of union.

Dans cet article, on montre d’abord que l’oeuvre écrite de sainte Thérèse d’Avila est phénoménologique, de par l’attitude fondamentale de la Sainte à l’égard des phénomènes particuliers qu’elle a expérimentés au cours de son itinéraire spirituel. Puis est démontrée la pertinence de l’analyse husserlienne de l’intentionnalité dans l’approche systématique du témoignage de Thérèse. L’interprétation du vécu de l’oraison, et de certaines expériences-clés de révélation auditive et de « vision » intellectuelle du Christ, révèle en revanche la structure spécifique de cette relation intentionnelle, par laquelle est démenti l’idéalisme transcendantal de la phénoménologie husserlienne.

This paper shows the way in which Teresa of Avila’s work and thought is phenomenological, as far as Teresa’s fundamental attitude towards mystical phenomena is concerned. The paper then proceeds to show that Husserl’s analysis of intentionality is relevant for a systematic approach to Teresa’s testimony. The interpretation of mental prayer experience, and of some key experiences, such as inner mystical speech-revelation, and intellective “visions”, reveals, however, that there is an original and very specific structure to this intentional relationship with the divine Persons. Husserl’s transcendental idealism is thus ultimately disclaimed.

En una época en la que los teólogos y las autoridades oficiales recelaban de la experiencia, ante el temor de que ésta favoreciera un subjetivismo como criterio de la propia justificación, y cuando la misma teología, con su teoría proposicional de la revelación y la consiguiente reducción del contenido de la fe a un sistema de enunciados sobre Dios, condujo a una comprensión de la fe como mero asentimiento, santa Teresa propuso la propia experiencia como lugar natal de la teología, instaurando una teología integrada en la propia vida.

In contrast to a view prominent in her time where experience was considered with suspicion, as a potential promotor of subjectivism, and in contrast to a theology of her time where a propositional theory of revelation resulted in a reduction of faith’s content to a system of statements about God, saint Teresa proposed her experience as the birthplace of theology, thus constituting a theology integrated into life.

El presente artículo es un acercamiento interdisciplinar a los escritos teresianos. Han sido disciplinas tales como la antropología o la fenomenología o la hermenéutica, así como la filología, las que nos han permitido una relectura novedosa de los grandes místicos durante el pasado siglo XX. Nuestro estudio tendrá en cuenta tales disciplinas para diseccionar el discurso teresiano desde una perspectiva múltiple y caleidoscópica.

The present article is a multidisciplinary approach to the works of Teresa of Avila. Anthropology, phenomenology and hermeneutics, as well as philology have enabled us, throughout the twentieth century, to reread the great mystics in a new manner. My study here makes use of these disciplines in order to analyse Teresa’s discourse from a manifold and kaleidoscopic perspective.

Grumo di indicibile sofferenza e incontenibile idealità, la malinconia è uno dei volti dell’humanum con cui Teresa di Gesù si è confrontata direttamente, nella fasi critiche della propria ricerca spirituale, e indirettamente, quando si è occupata della salute spirituale e corporale delle sorelle carmelitane e dei propri familiari. In particolare questo articolo si sofferma su come Teresa ha avuto “concetto” e “esperienza” della malinconia, come ne ha parlato, come ne ha disinnescato il potere distruttivo, trasformandola in qualcosa che è più simile a una tappa che a uno ostacolo verso la santità.

Melancholy, an entanglement of indescribable suffering and unrestrainable ideality, is one of the facets of the humanum with which Theresa of Jesus was directly confronted during the critical periods of her spiritual research, and with which she was indirectly confronted when devoting herself to the spiritual and physical health of her Carmelite sisters and of her relatives. The present article examines Theresa’s “conception” as well as her “experience” of melancholy by looking at the way she talks about it and the way in which she defuses its destructive power, turning it into something more like a step on the way to sanctity rather than an obstacle towards it.

Teresa d’Avila paragona la persona umana e in particolare la sua anima a un castello per mostrare che la relazione tra Dio Trinità e l’uomo presuppone l’interiorità. La relazione non accade semplicemente tra due persone (come per Buber), ma implica un’immanenza reciproca. L’articolo cerca di valutare il linguaggio spaziale per parlare dell’anima e propone di interpretare la spazialità come coinvolgimento della persona in ciò che vive e fa, cosicché penetrare nel castello significa essere impegnato nel proprio agire. In questa prospettiva, il cammino verso il centro del castello indica che tutte le dimensioni e tutta la vita della persona umana sono messe in gioco nella relazione con Dio.

Teresa of Avila compares the human person and in particular the human soul with a castle in order to show that the relationship between the triune God and the human person presupposes interiority. The relationship doesn’t just happen between two persons (as for Buber), but implies reciprocal immanence. The article attempts to evaluate the use of spatial language in speaking of the soul and proposes to interpret spatiality as a way of expressing the person’s involvement in life and activity. Penetrating into the castle would thus signify being involved in one’s actions. In this perspective, making one’s way to the centre of the castle implies all dimensions and the entire life of the person, engaged in the relationship with God.

Le petit nombre des religieuses est un des caractères distinctifs des fondations de Thérèse d’Avila, dans le but de favoriser les échanges fraternels entre les soeurs et de permettre à la communauté de vivre uniquement d’aumônes. Si Thérèse tint toujours fermement ce principe, son expérience la fit évoluer sur le nombre maximum de soeurs que pouvaient compter ses communautés, passant de 13 à 20 soeurs, par l’introduction de soeurs converses, puis de rentes permettant l’entretien de communauté plus nombreuses. La 21^e soeur fut introduite peu après sa mort, pour permettre sous certaines conditions l’admission d’une vocation manifeste quand bien même le nombre de 20 était déjà atteint.

One of the distinctive features of Teresa of Avila’s foundations is that the communities she founds comprise a small number of sisters. The reasoning behind this is that small communities can more easily promote fraternal exchange amongst their members and can be sustained entirely by alms. Although Teresa always remained firmly attached to this principle, her experience led her to modify the maximum number of sisters a given community might accept. Through the introduction of lay sisters and the acceptance of fixed incomes to provide for more numerous communities, there is a transition from communities of no more than 13 to communities of no more than 20. Shortly after Teresa’s death, allowance is made, under certain conditions, for the acceptance of a 21^st sister whose vocation appears evident.

El autor, que había estudiado antes otros sectores de la nueva liturgia carmelitana después del Concilio Vaticano II, aquí analiza toda la liturgia nueva teresiana (Misa y Liturgia de las Horas), llevando a cabo un repaso pormenorizado de textos bíblicos, eucología y hasta textos teresianos incorporados ahora a la celebración, de forma que aparezca evidente el cómo es recordada Teresa de Jesús dentro del contexto litúrgico. Todo ello no sin perder de vista ni dejar de comparar lo actual con la situación anterior de la liturgia teresiana. Vale también para constatar cómo el Carmelo Teresiano ha llevado a cabo la renovación litúrgica en el siglo XX a raíz del Concilio Vaticano II.

The author, who has already studied other aspects of the Carmelite liturgy, revised after Vatican Council II, offers us here a thorough analysis of the new Teresian liturgy (Mass and Liturgy of the Hours). The present contribution includes a detailed review of Biblical texts, prayers and Teresian writings used in liturgical celebration, thus enabling us to see how Teresa is commemorated in the liturgy. A comparison between the present Teresian liturgy and that of the past, brought forth throughout, is useful in determining the way in which Teresian Carmelites brought about liturgical renewal in the twentieth century after Vatican Council II.

Questo bollettino bibliografico teresiano (III) traccia il percorso degli studi dottrinali su santa Teresa d’Avila dal Concilio Vaticano II. L’esposizione è cronologica e tematica. Cronologicamente si concentra sulle ultime due tappe del teresianismo post-conciliare: dottorato della Santa (1970) e la preparazione al V centenario della sua nascita (2015). Include dottrinalmente importanti monografie su temi teresiani che coincidono per la maggior parte con le tesi di dottorato. Si è fatta una presentazione e una breve valutazione. All’interno del mare magnum della letteratura teresiana, l’obiettivo non è quello di elencare tutti i temi, ma segnalare le tendenze più importanti.

This Teresian bibliographical bulletin offers a chronological and thematic review of doctrinal studies on saint Teresa of Avila since Vatican II. Chronologically, we focus on two high points of post-conciliar Teresian study, namely her proclamation as Doctor of the Church (1970) and the Fifth Centenary of her birth (2015). The bulletin includes doctrinally significant monographs on Teresian themes, themes which in the main have doctoral theses as their backdrop. We offer a resumé of the studies and a brief evaluation. Our aim is not to list all the themes addressed in the vast literature on saint Teresa, but to point out the more significant trends.

H. Mialocq, La trajectoire du désir. De Jacques Lacan à Thérèse d’Avila, Études psychanalytiques, 519.

A. Brouillette, Le lieu du salut. Une pneumatologie d’incarnation chez Thérèse d’Ávila, Cogitatio fidei, 522.

P. Tyler, Teresa of Avila Doctor of the Soul, 525.

D. Fdez de Mendiola, El Carmelo Teresiano en la Historia. Una nueva forma de vida contemplativa y apostólica. Primera parte: El Carmelo Teresiano en Vida de la Madre Fundadora, Teresa de Jesús, 533.

S. Giordano (ed.), Teresa di Gesù. La parola, comunicazione e rappresentazione, 537.

B. Moriconi (ed.), Teresa d’Avila. Nata per tutti. “La stella del Carmelo”, 539.

Fco. J. Sancho Fermín, R. Cuartas Londoño (ed.), Las Moradas del Castillo Interior de Santa Teresa de Jesús. Actas del IV Congreso Internacional Teresiano en preparación del V Centenario de su nacimiento (1515-2015), 541.

Fco. J. Sancho Fermín (dir.), La identidad de la mística. Fe y Experiencia de Dios. Actas del Congreso Internacional de Mística, Ávila 21-24 Abril 2014. Homenaje a los 400 años de la Beatificación de Sta. Teresa de Jesús, 544.

Teresa von Ávila, Gesamtausgabe, Vol. 1: Werke, Vol. 2: Briefe, ed. e introd. Ulrich Dobhan, 553.