Inquisitor Soto returned the copy to Fra Banes, desiring him to
read it, and give his opinion thereon. Fra Banes did so, and
wrote his "censure" of the book on the blank leaves at the end.
That censure still remains, and is one of the most important,
because given during the lifetime of the Saint, and while many
persons were crying out against her. Banes wished it had been
published when the Saint's Life was given to the world by Fra
Luis de Leon; but notwithstanding its value, and its being
preserved in the book which is in the handwriting of the Saint,
no one before Don Vicente made it known. It was easy enough to
praise the writings of St. Teresa, and to admit her sanctity,
after her death. Fra Banes had no external help in the applause
of the many, and he had to judge the book as a theologian, and
the Saint as one of his ordinary penitents. When he wrote, he
wrote like a man whose whole life was spent, as he tells us
himself, "in lecturing and disputing." [22]

That censure is as follows:

"1. This book, wherein Teresa of Jesus, Carmelite nun, and
foundress of the Barefooted Carmelites, gives a plain account of
the state of her soul, in order to be taught and directed by her
confessors, has been examined by me, and with much attention, and
I have not found anywhere in it anything which, in my opinion, is
erroneous in doctrine. On the contrary, there are many things in
it highly edifying and instructive for those who give themselves
to prayer. The great experience of this religious, her
discretion also and her humility, which made her always seek for
light and learning in her confessors, enabled her to speak with
an accuracy on the subject of prayer that the most learned men,