The Venerable Anne of Jesus, O.C.D.: A Companion of St. Theresa of Avila

We are proud to bring into print a book that cannot be found anymore (at least until now), namely the life of the Venerable Anne of Jesus!

While copious references to her can be found in the works of St. Teresa of Avila, scarcely any work has been available on her in English. Anne of Jesus was the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite Reform in France and the Netherlands, and from her foundations there the Teresian reform spread all over Europe, America and eventually England. In many ways, this is the sequel to St. Teresa of Avila’s life.

One of the things that truly stands out about Anne of Jesus is her intense mysticism and love of our Lord, as well as her faithfulness to the original Teresian Constitutions.

This work, written by an anonymous nun in the 1930’s, is based entirely on primary sources, frequently quoting letters to and from Anne of Jesus, not only with St. Teresa, but also Fr. Gracian, the holy French Cardinal Mgsr. Berulle, and many other figures central to the history of Carmel in the 16th and 17th century. The work has been faithfully reproduced with the images and U.K. spelling preserved from the original (this is important to note, as at times with other reprints people have written that this or that is misspelled, in fact it is not, rather they are the old British spellings). To aid reading, we have added editorial notes concerning obscure terms used in the book that would have been better known 100 years ago.

This beautiful and fascinating book is wonderful both from the standpoint of Carmelite history as well as spirituality. A unique work that can be found nowhere else in English!