Teresa of Avila and Father Gracian-The Story of an Historic Friendship. 'Not All Nuns May Do This'

Teresa of Avila was an intensely loving person. The deeper her union with God, the more resolute her devotion to others. Most of all she loved her young spiritual director Gracián. This gave rise to all kinds of envy and misunderstanding in the Order. The saint herself wrote imperiously: 'I can permit myself, my father, to show you a great deal of love, but not all nuns may do this.' Yet after the death of Teresa, Gracián, 'Father of the Reform' of the Carmelite Order, went through very har...