Page:The Life Of Saint Gaetan Founder Of The Order Of Theatins.pdf/11

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PREFACE.
vii

others. When the world forgets God, they are mindful of Him: when sinners provoke God's anger, they ask for pardon. When God's ministers are engaged in the external labours of their ministry, they, by their prayers prepare the way for them by obtaining the grace of conversion and perseverance for sinners.

St Teresa in her cloister had chiefly in view the salvation of souls. In the third chapter of the Way of Perfection she explains to her children how they, shut up in their convent, may labour for the salvation of souls, namely, by praying, suffering, performing acts of mortification, with the intention that the Lord may give to his Church zealous and enlightened ministers, and make their ministry more fruitful.

She tells them that from the moment they cease to direct their good works to these truly Apostolic ends, they no longer do what God expects from them, and cease to fulfil the purpose for which they were brought to Carmel.

The Carmelite nuns, daughters of St. Teresa, carryout in the cloister the ends proposed to them by their holy mother. They promote by their prayers and good works the spirit which St. Cajetan and so many holy ministers of the Church spread by their ministry. In addition to the many other religious orders they possess,