As you read that story of St Teresa's life set out by her own hand, in which she describes with extraordinary simplicity and wonderful subtlety that real experience of her own soul in prayer, we see her gradually through life drawing nearer and nearer to God. What strikes one almost beyond her daring and her courage, beyond even, in a way, her love of God, is that throughout every page of that life, surging in her heart and expressed in all she said and wrote, beating through every page of it, there is such a flame of enthusiasm for her faith.

It might seem as you come out from the great city, from the mighty labyrinth that is spreading across your river, as you pass by the gradually diminishing houses, and face the wide stretch of common, and then turn up the lane, it might seem as though this convent stood symbolically for all convents, as a haven of rest. It might seem as though the waste stretch of land was set there, as though the high walls had been built as a shelter, as though here people might escape from the foes around them, laying aside the noise and bustle, the responsibility and the dreadtulness of human life.

For many years, and indeed almost till the end of his life, Bede Jarrett was to me a remote though beneficent figure; important and attractive but in the background. I never heard him preach; I had never read even one of his books; I met him personally but once and then had not the opportunity of conversing with him. I was, however, deeply interested in the striking expansion of the Dominican Order in England, both on account of men whom I knew among its younger generation, and because I saw the valuable impression that the O.P.s were making on English Catholic life and thought.

This life of Fr Bede Jarrett by two of his own Dominican brethren fulfils a long-felt hope. Ever since his death in 1934, his many friends have looked forward to a record of his life and work—especially during his long Provincialate of sixteen years—and a penpicture of his lovable character and his very real holiness.

Article eight of the Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi speaks of work and asks that it should be organised in such a way that by its means, together with other legitimate resources, it will be possible to ensure the support of the convent.