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Introduction to the
book --
Books were vital to
Teresa de Ávila (known in the Spanish-speaking world as Teresa de Jesús)
from the time she was a girl. The daughter and granddaughter of
conversos (converted Jews), Teresa learned to read at an early age. She
mentions in her Vida that as a child she was an avid reader of chivalric
novels, a passion she shared with her mother: "I was so completely taken
up with this reading that I didn’t think I could be happy if I didn’t
have a new book" (2:1). Her father, Alonso de Cepeda, was a successful
silk and woolens merchant, a profession that would have required him to
draw up letters of agreement, contracts, and payment and production
schedules. Furthermore, like many other conversos, Alonso, like his
father, bought a patent of nobility to prove that he was an "old
Christian"—that is, a Christian with no Jewish or Muslim ancestors—and
was constantly involved in litigation to legitimize his claim to "pure
blood." Even if Teresa never read a single one of her father’s
documents, she would have grown up aware of the importance of the
written word. When Teresa’s mother died in 1528, the future saint became
swept up in the social whirl of Ávila. Her father, concerned that she
would fall prey to negative influences, placed her in the Augustinian
Convent of Our Lady of Grace as a boarder. Teresa writes in her Vida
that she had no intention of becoming a nun. However, under the
influence of the novice mistress, María de Briceńo, she eventually
changed her mind. She entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation
in 1536, at the age of 21.
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