Description
The Monasterio de Santa Teresa de Jesús, in baroque style, was founded on a palace-house in 1615 (the construction of the temple began in 1673), after several failed attempts to found it in the capital of Gienne. It is a very austere Carmelite style temple with a very simple composition, which in turn gives it great beauty. In addition to the architecture itself, the monastery has important treasures inside, altarpieces, sculptures and paintings, but where we must highlight an authentic bibliographic treasure: the manuscript of the Spiritual Canticle of San Juan de la Cruz, also called the Jaén Codex.The Jaén Codex is not a San Juan autograph manuscript, but it is a direct copy of the mystical poet's writing, arriving at the monastery of the capital of Gien through Ana de Jesús, who gave it to Mother Isabel de la Encarnación and always carried it with her until she was sent to the new foundation of Jaén, with the manuscript remaining in the monastery since then. The manuscript, therefore, has been in the monastery since its foundation and has been kept since the beginning of the 20th century in a finely carved silver box-shaped case, which, in turn, is protected by an oak box. The Giennese Codex is a true literary relic, being the most important of all those found in the convents of this province, and one of the most valuable in the entire Carmelite world, as it has an exclusive stanza, stanza XI. Stanza XI (…) Discover your presence, and kill me your sight and beauty; look at the illness of love, which cannot be cured but with the presence and the figure. (…) Spiritual Canticle. San Juan de la Cruz
