strength, for I have none, but it is the effect of your prayers.
I beg of you, for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord, to burden
yourself with a prayer for me; He knows that I am asking this in
great need, and I think that is enough to make you grant my
request. I ask your permission to stop now, for I am bound to
write another letter. May Jesus be glorified in all and
by all! Amen.

"Your servant, for Christ's sake.
"Juan de Avila

"Montilla, 12th Sept., 1568."

Her confessors, having seen the book, "commanded her to make
copies of it," [15] one of which has been traced into the
possession of the Duke and Duchess of Alva.

The Princess of Eboli, in 1569, obtained a copy from the Saint
herself, after much importunity; but it was more out of vanity or
curiosity, it is to be feared, than from any real desire to learn
the story of the Saint's spiritual life, that the Princess
desired the boon. She and her husband promised to keep it from
the knowledge of others, but the promise given was not kept.
The Saint heard within a few days later that the book was in the
hands of the servants of the Princess, who was angry with the
Saint because she had refused to admit, at the request of the
Princess, an Augustinian nun into the Order of Carmel in the new
foundation of Pastrana. The contents of the book were bruited
abroad, and the visions and revelations of the Saint were said to
be of a like nature with those of Magdalene of the Cross, a