PREFACE OF THE FIRST EDITION.

...to the enjoyment of His glory, which we believe this blessed Mother A title of deep respect for St. Teresa of Avila, the foundress of the Discalced Carmelites, who had died a few years before this preface was written. already to possess. I trust she will not forget those that loved her during life, nor those devoted to her since she has gone.

May Christ ever dwell in the souls of your Reverences A formal honorific used here to address the community of Carmelite nuns to whom the book is dedicated. with the abundance of His grace.

Theotonio de Braganza (1530–1602) was a significant ecclesiastical figure in Portugal and a supporter of the Carmelite reform. He was instrumental in publishing the first collected works of St. Teresa in 1588.