matter." [20] The account thus rendered had the object of
enabling Father Ibanez to give her light upon the state of her
soul. But while she was drawing it up, a great change came over
her. During St. Teresa's sojourn at Toledo she became from a
pupil an experienced master in Mystical knowledge. "When I was
there a religious" (probably Father Garcia de Toledo) "with whom
I had conversed occasionally some years ago, happened to arrive.
When I was at Mass in a monastery of his Order, I felt a longing
to know the state of his soul." [21] Three times the Saint rose
from her seat, three times she sat down again, but at last she
went to see him in a confessional, not to ask for any light for
herself, but to give him what light she could, for she wished to
induce him to surrender himself more perfectly to God, and this
she accomplished by telling him how she had fared since their
last meeting. No one who reads this remarkable chapter can help
being struck by the change that has come over Teresa: the period
of her schooling is at an end, and she is now the great teacher
of Mystical theology. Her humility does not allow her to speak
with the same degree of openness upon her achievements as she did
when making known her failings, yet she cannot conceal the Gift
of Wisdom she had received and the use she made of it.

St. Teresa's development, if extraordinary considering the degree
of spirituality she reached, was nevertheless gradual and
regular. With her wonderful power of analysis, she has given us
not only a clear insight into her interior progress, but also a
sketch of the development of her understanding of supernatural
things. "It is now (i.e., about the end of 1563) some five or
six years, I believe, since our Lord raised me to this state of
prayer, in its fulness, and that more than once,--and I never