The Collected Works of
St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 2

Includes The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle

Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and
Otilio Rodriguez, OCD

First published in 1980, Volume Two of the acclaimed Kavanaugh-Rodriguez translation of The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila contains two of Teresa’s most popular works, The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, as well as one of her smaller works, Meditations on the Song of Songs.

The Way of Perfection
Shortly after writing The Book of Her Life for her confessor, St. Teresa wrote The Way of Perfection at the request of her nuns who embraced the reformed Carmelite life she established. Here, St. Teresa gives them practical counsels and advice on prayer and contemplation. As a handbook for spiritual formation, it presents the basic Christian spirituality undergirding the Constitutions and Rule of the Discalced Carmelite Order. The principles and teachings in Teresa’s book clearly lend themselves to broader applications and can work well in all walks of life. 

Meditations on the Song of Songs
A daring endeavor at a time when the interpretation of Scripture was under the careful watch of the Inquisition, St. Teresa’s Meditations on the Song of Songs is a claim for the importance of Scripture in the spiritual life. While Teresa did not have access to the complete biblical text, her meditations grasp the mystical depths of the Song of Songs, demonstrating the reality of intimate friendship between Christ and the soul seeking union with Him.

The Interior Castle
The Interior Castle is considered St. Teresa of Ávila’s masterpiece. She wrote this last work in just a few months in 1577, five years before her death. At this point in her life, she had been granted the highest mystical graces; this book is the fruit of her lived experience and a deep-felt praise of God for it. Using the image of a castle, Teresa describes the soul’s progressive inner journey through seven dwelling places, until finally reaching the center where, now transformed, it is united with God.

The translators have taken full advantage of all that recent scholarship has contributed to a better understanding of this first woman Doctor of the Universal Church and her writings. Clear and contemporary, this rendering of her classic texts captures Teresa’s spirit while remaining faithful to her thought.

• ICS code: ICS-TA2
• Format: paperback
• Pages: 504
• ISBN: 978-0-960087-66-2

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