Chess Goddesses


St. Teresa of Avila

 

Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahmada (1515-1582), was born into an aristocratic Castilian family at Avila, and her biography notes that she was known for her charm, affectionate exuberance, prudence and charity. At the age of twenty-one Teresa entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation. After twenty-five years or more of unreformed Carmelite life, in 1562 Teresa founded the house of St. Joseph of Avila, with very strict rules. She was famous in her time for her deep spiritual life, her administrative skills, and her real intelligence.

Theresa wrote many books during her lifetime; among the most noted of which is the "Way of Perfection" (circa 1565). It is in the "Way of Perfection" that Teresa utilized perhaps the most famous of her analogies:

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"I hope you do not think I have written too much about this already; for I have only been placing the board, as they say. You have asked me to tell you about the first steps in prayer; although God did not lead me by them, my daughters I know no others, and even now I can hardly have acquired these elementary virtues. But you may be sure that anyone who cannot set out the pieces in a game of chess will never be able to play well, and, if he does not know how to give check, he will not be able to bring about a checkmate. Now you will reprove me for talking about games, as we do not play them in this house and are forbidden to do so. That will show you what kind of a mother God has given you -- she even knows about vanities like this! However, they say that the game is sometimes legitimate. How legitimate it will be for us to play it in this way, and, if we play it frequently, how quickly we shall give checkmate to this Divine King! He will not be able to move out of our check nor will He desire to do so."

"It is the queen which gives the king most trouble in this game and all the other pieces support her. There is no queen who can beat this King as well as humility can; for humility brought Him down from Heaven into the Virgin's womb and with humility we can draw Him into our souls by a single hair. Be sure that He will give most humility to him who has most already and least to him who has least. I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist, without love, or love without humility, and it is impossible for these two virtues to exist save where there is great detachment from all created things."

"You will ask, my daughters, why I am talking to you about virtues when you have more than enough books to teach you about them and when you want me to tell you only about contemplation. My reply is that, if you had asked me about meditation, I could have talked to you about it, and advised you all to practise it, even if you do not possess the virtues. For this is the first step to be taken towards the acquisition of the virtues and the very life of all Christians depends upon their beginning it. No one, however lost a soul he may be, should neglect so great a blessing if God inspires him to make use of it. All this I have already written elsewhere, and so have many others who know what they are writing about, which I certainly do not: God knows that."

"But contemplation, daughters, is another matter. This is an error which we all make: if a person gets so far as to spend a short time each day in thinking about his sins, as he is bound to do if he is a Christian in anything more than name, people at once call him a great contemplative; and then they expect him to have the rare virtues which a great contemplative is bound to possess; he may even think he has them himself, but he will be quite wrong. In his early stages he did not even know how to set out the chess-board, and thought that, in order to give checkmate, it would be enough to be able to recognize the pieces. But that is impossible, for this King does not allow Himself to be taken except by one who surrenders wholly to Him."

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Teresa's mother died when she was fourteen, an age as which many young ladies were married off. She was evidently a great favorite of her father's however, and he educated Teresa, and her sisters, in a manner most unusual for the day and age. As the daughter of a well to do family Teresa was probably exposed to The Game at an early age and learned it well, for no one who was not intimately familiar with The Game could have written such a beautiful and eloquent analogy. Teresa wrote the words quoted above years after she founded a religious order known for its austerity and rejection of all worldly things (the "Discalced" or "shoeless" Carmelites). It is an enduring testament to her love for The Game, and a testament to The Game itself.

Information on Teresa's life from:
http://www.csn.net/advent/cathen/14515b.htm,
http://ccel.wheaton.edu/teresa/teresa.html,
http://www.ocd.or.at/eng/teresa.htm.

Picture of Teresa sculpture courtesy of
http://www.philiplamb.com/StTer.html.