instructions in 1562, it is altogether incomprehensible that she
did not see to it earlier, especially when the "first" Life was
returned to her for the purpose of copying and completing it.
The second reason which prevents me from considering this letter
as connected with the "first" Life will be examined when I come
to speak of the different ends the Saint had in view when writing
her Life. It is more difficult to say to whom the letter was
really addressed. The Reforma suggests Father Garcia de Toledo,
Dominican, who bade the Saint write the history of the foundation
of St. Joseph's at Avila [18] and who was her confessor at that
convent. It moreover believes that he it is to whom Chapter
XXXIV. sections 8-20 refers, and this opinion appears to me
plausible. As to the latter point, Yepes thinks the Dominican at
Toledo was Father Vicente Barron, the Bollandists offer no
opinion, and Mr. Lewis, in his first edition gives first the one
and then the other. If, as I think, Father Garcia was meant, the
passage in Chapter XVI. section 10, beginning "O, my son," would
concern him also, as well as several passages where Vuestra
Merced--you, my Father--is addressed. For although the book came
finally into the hands of Father Banez, it was first delivered
into those of the addressee of the letter.

Whether the previous paper was a mere "Relation," or really a
first attempt at a "Life," [19] there can be no dispute about its
purpose: St. Teresa speaks of it in the following terms: "I had
recourse to my Dominican father (Ibanez); I told him all about my
visions, my way of prayer, the great graces our Lord had given
me, as clearly as I could, and begged him to consider the matter
well, and tell me if there was anything therein at variance with
the Holy Writings, and give me his opinion on the whole