Mystical Experience of Blessed Mariam Thresia Passive Purification of the Soul

CHAPTER – 9

PASSIVE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL

In the active purification, the soul itself makes efforts with the help of divine
grace to purify the senses and spiritual faculties for the purpose of attaining divine
union. The full purification of the soul for the mystical union cannot happen without
passive purification. St. Teresa of Avila says “O my God, how many troubles both
interior and exterior must one suffer before entering the seventh mansion”. 1 The
teaching of St. John of the Cross is the best, clear and explicit in this case. He says:
“No matter how earnestly the beginner in all his actions and passions practises the
mortification of self, he will never be able to do so entirely-far from it-until God
accomplishes it in him passively by means of the purgation of this night”.2 In the
passive purification it is God who places the soul in the dark night. The soul does
nothing in an active way but suffers all passively and patiently. It is the Holy Spirit
with its gifts acts on the soul, purifies and illumines it. The soul is purified from
egoism, sensuality, self-love, intellectual pride, immoderate desire for consolations
and whatever that opposes the spirit of faith. The soul is completely and totally
purified through the passive purification.

The two principal manifestations of this passive purification are the passive
night of the senses and the passive night of the spirit. St. John of the Cross says that
the sensory night is common and happens to many; however, the spiritual night is the
lot of very few, of those who have been tried and proficient.3

1. Passive Night of the Senses

In the active purification the soul purifies itself from all affective attachment
to creatures and starts to seek God, but becomes strongly attached to the sensible
consolations and sweet delights in the practice of devotions. The soul needs a
profound purification from these consolations but can never achieve it by its own
efforts. Here God comes to purify or to liberate it in an unexpected manner. He
withdraws from the soul all consolations, whether natural or supernatural, plunging it

1
St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, 126.
2
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night ’,1,7,5.
3
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night ’, 1,8,1.

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into deep dryness with regard to all that concerns Him. In the book The Dark Night St.
John says: “God now leaves them in such darkness that they do not know which way
to turn in their discursive imaginings, they cannot advance a step in meditation, as
they used to, now that the interior sensory faculties are engulfed in this night. He
leaves them in such dryness that they not only fail to receive satisfaction and pleasure
from their spiritual exercises and works but also find these exercises distasteful and
bitter.”4 God may act directly on the soul effecting this dryness or through painful
events like sickness, death of someone dear, failures or unpleasant events. In this way
the soul is weaned violently and painfully from all attachments to creatures and to self,
so that it may be endowed with a new vision and seeks God alone in faith.

During this experience of the passive night of senses the soul should observe 1)
complete and loving submission to the will of God 2) perseverance in prayer in spite of
all dryness and aridity 3) remain in peace, quiet and contend simply with a loving gaze
on God, without any desire for delight and consolations. The following are certain
benefits produced in the soul by the passive night of the senses 1) self-knowledge 2)
great respect to God than when enjoyed sensible consolation 3) more vivid picture
concerning God’s grandeur 4) profound humility 5) love for neighbour 6) submission
and obedience 7) purification of avarice, lust and spiritual gluttony 8) recollection in
God with a fear of falling back 9) exercise of virtues 10) victory over the enemies of
soul: world, flesh and devil and 11) enjoys the fruits of the Holy Spirit.5

1.1 Passive Purification of the Senses in Mariam Thresia

According to His plan, God allowed Thresia to be purified in the furnace of
His love. Only those, whom God wishes to elevate to the highest degree of union,
undergo the strong purgation from God. God prepares each one by the purification in
accordance with the degree He wishes to raise him/her also according to the person’s
impurity or imperfections.6 Thresia from her childhood was very cautious never to
offend God even by a venial sin. Hence her severe purifications were most probably
to elevate her to the highest degree of union with God. Physical pains, illness,
sufferings, mental trials and the poor conditions of the family were the loving kisses
through which God purified her.7

4
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night ’, 1,8,3.
5
Aumann, Spiritual Theology, 201,202.
6
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Living Flame of Love’1, 24.
7
Vithayathil, Biography of Rev. Mother Mariam Thresia, 18.

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1.1.1 Physical illness

Physical illness is due to various reasons. It can be due to physical infirmity,
psychic problem, emotional imbalance etc. Here we speak of physical infirmity
caused in sound psychic persons. In illness one may experience powerlessness,
weaknesses and limitations. It can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even
despair and revolt against God. It can also make a person more mature; provoke a
search for God and a return to Him.8 While St. Teresa of Avila speaks of trials she
says: “The Lord is also in the habit of sending the most grievous infirmities. This is a
much greater trial, especially, if the pains are severe, in some ways, when they are
very acute. I think they are the greatest earthly trial that exists.”9

From the very childhood Thresia was purified through various illnesses. In the
autobiography she has mentioned four times about her sickness before she was twelve
years old.10 In all the four cases, in one way or other, Thresia’s heroic trust in God or
a virtuous act is revealed.

In the first case, when Thresia’s condition of health was getting worse (may be
due to rigorous ascetical practices) her mother was worried and took her for an expensive
treatment. However, the treatment made her condition worse and then Thresia instructed
her mother saying: “Hasn’t God given me good health? Is it not because you opposed His
will that I am sick again? Therefore let us place our trust in God.”11

In the second case she was having a boil and swelling on her arm. Her brother
and friends while playing a stone fell on her arm and because of severe pain she fainted.
For their carelessness her father was about to spank them, then she said: “I won’t be
relieved of my pain even if you punish them”. She requested him to forgive them.12

In the third case Thresia was about to die because of asthma and high fever.
The Physician too left her without hope. Suddenly she felt better and got up from the
bed and said that she was not going to die and she praised God.13 In the last case she

8
CCC, 287.
9
St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, 129.
10
Thresia’s mother expired when she was twelve. Her mother’s interference is mentioned in the last
sickness referred.
11
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 29.
12
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 30.
13
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 32, 33.

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was discerning God’s will through the parish priest for treating the ailment which she
decided to suffer for the love of God. 14 Child Thresia’s extraordinary faith in the
direct intervention of God and her desire to suffer for the love of God is revealed in
her sickness.

There are many references in the letters where Thresia was in great distress
and excruciating pain due to the physical illnesses. The following are a few examples:
“The boil in my abdomen seems to have three peaks. Pain is really unbearable. I do
offer all these to God.”15

“Last night my ailments have become worse than usual. Praise to God for it.”16

“I feel worried that I am more sick than usual. Please pray to God that I suffer it with
goodwill.”17

“Father, I am not well. I don’t know what exactly to say if you ask me what
my illness is. I feel a kind of burning sensation and uneasiness inside my stomach.
Besides, there is pain in my stomach and on both sides. I need not tell you the rest. In
spite of all these I do place my trust in God.”18
“You know about my illness. A narrow abscess begins to appear on the
boil. I need not tell you how painful it is. The entire waist is onion red.
Thighs are badly swollen. I am sorry that I have to tell you this thing, to
you brother. But what shall I do? My nature is to be indifferent to pain.
But this has become like a spear in my dress. My brother, I want only the
strength to suffer. Never had I an illness like this. Please pray for me! Let
the will of God be done!”19

There are many more instances where various types of illness are mentioned in the
Letters and in the Diary of Fr. Joseph Vithayathil. It is understood that her whole life
was a mixture of interior and exterior suffering and pain. She was able to accept every
bit of pain from God as His will and without a word of complaint. As she has
14
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 34.
15
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 51.
16
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 64.
17
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 73.
18
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 79.
19
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 90.

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mentioned in the Letter 48, her nature is to be indifferent to pain. She never desired
for attention and sympathy. In the autobiography she wrote, “Whenever I got sick, I
used to keep quiet about it and would keep on helping my mother in every possible
way.”20 In fact she expressed happiness when others did not care for her.21

Thresia’s spiritual father has recorded in the Diary the details of her sickness
during the years of 1903 to 1918. This was a crucial period for Thresia. She was
thoroughly purified both in senses and spirit. A few times she was at the point of
death.22 She bore the pains with great patience and surrendered herself totally to the
will of God. She objected to every type of treatment or medication.23 Thresia always
smiled at the sufferings and never uttered a word of complaint. She had told her
spiritual father that her treatment is ‘Akasa chikilsa’ (heavenly treatment). 24 Many
occasions she was healed miraculously through the interventions of Jesus,25 Blessed
Virgin Mary,26 Infant Jesus,27 the Holy Family28 and Angels. 29 In severe pain very
often Mother Mary used to console her.30

Physical illness helped Thresia grow in self-knowledge, perseverance in

prayer, deep faith and trust in God and turn to God alone for consolations. Letter 22
provides us with an idea about her attitude in physical illness:
I find it very hard to move about since the evil in me grows stronger.
Hence at least now, please have mercy on me, and point out the faults in
me and make me do necessary penances. Since my illness gets worse, I
feel like complaining. I try to get rid of that temptation; but to no avail;
there will always be pain. Please give permission to wear the coarse
jacket and to use the pillow stuffed with gravel.31

20
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 29.
21
In the manuscript and in the Malayalam text of the letter 14, we read “nobody was particularly
worried about it and for this I am very happy”. In the English translation, Writings of Mother
Mariam Thresia edited by A.Mathiaas Mundadan, ‘for this I am very happy’ is missing.
22
Vithayathil, Diary, 133, 165.
23
Vithayathil, Diary, 174.
24
Vithayathil, Diary, 175.
25
Vithayathil, Diary, 165, 166, 163.
26
Vithayathil, Diary, 100.
27
Vithayathil, Diary, 171.
28
Vithayathil, Diary, 174.
29
Vithayathil, Diary, 163.
30
Vithayathil, Diary, 100.
31
M. Thresia,‘Letters’, 65,66.

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1.1.2 Sufferings from Others

A soul has to be weaned violently and painfully from its attachments to
creatures and to the self before it attains the final union with God.32 God allowed
Thresia to be purified in the crucible of humiliations, misunderstandings and
rejections from her near and dear ones and from the ecclesiastical authorities. This
night of senses was necessary in her journey toward her Beloved.

1.1.2.1 Family Members

Until the age of twelve Thresia was well cared for and loved by her parents. At
the age of twelve her devout mother expired. Then onwards she had to fight against
the rough aspects of life. She filled the vacuum caused by the death of her mother by
dedicating her soul and body to Blessed Virgin Mary.33 Thresia was greatly distressed
because of the lack of peace among the other members of the family, especially due to
the disturbance due to the brother who used to come home drunk. She had a hard time
with making them live in peace. Her brothers and sisters showed disapproval and
hatred towards Thresia and she was ridiculed for the unusual happenings in her life.34
This pain gets a mention in the letter 35: “The people, my father and the rest of my
relatives find fault with me very much. I suffer these not with joy. How could I be
happy over the life of my father and my brother? Oh my father, I have offered all my
happiness to God.”35

A misunderstanding from an aunt caused great distress and confusion to

Thresia. She shared it with her spiritual father: “My aunt has sent me a letter in which
she says I am pregnant. I cannot write the whole content”.36 However, for such a great
insult she could praise God and pray for them: “Praise be to God! Lord have mercy on
them. May they grow in grace more and more”.37 In the later years after founding the
congregation too Thresia had to suffer insults from her drunken brother Ouseph. He
used to halt at the convent gate at Kuzhikkattussery, on the way back home after
drinking and shower abuses. Thresia took these humiliations with extraordinary
courage and remained calm and serene.38

32
St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, 106. St.Teresa describes the trials that a soul has to endure
before entering into union with God, taking the similitude of the silkworm. After being ‘dead to
the world’, and ‘hidden in the greatness of God’, the silk worm emerges, ‘a little butterfly’, which
is the state of a soul in union with God.
33
Vithayathil, Biography of Rev. Mother Mariam Thresia, 46.
34
Vithayathil, Biography of Rev. Mother Marium Thresia, 46; Diary, 45.
35
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 77,78.
36
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 81.
37
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 81.
38
Positio, ‘Summarium’, 93.

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1.1.2.2 Friends and Neighbours

Thresia started to face ridicules and criticisms from people even from her
childhood. Teaching catechism to small children under obedience to the parish priest
was a cause for ridicules which she offered for the glory of God.39 The extraordinary
happenings and the diabolic assaults became a theme of recurring mockery and
mimicry for the people.40 A girl of marriageable age visiting homes and caring the
patients even in the nights caused people to shower abuses and sarcastic remarks on
her.41 However her attitude towards such criticisms was: “May be it is in God’s will
that people must speak ill of me. I do resign myself to it totally.”42 No opposition
could stop her from doing the will of God. Thresia had suffering from her companions
too, who were with her from her childhood. When the congregation was founded they
were accepted as postulants. Fr. Joseph Vithayathil makes a mention of that: “Two of
her companions were of slightly disagreeable temperament and became unhappy
easily and murmured against her. But Thresia was always careful to give them
necessary counsel and humbly ask pardon to them for failures.”43

1.1.2.3 Ecclesiastical Authorities

Thresia had to bear unbearable criticisms not only from lay people but even
from priests, especially one who was once her parish priest, confessor and an
admirer.44 Bishop John Menachery, the local ordinary, was also suspicious about her
extraordinary experiences. Fr. Joseph Vithayathil, Thresia’s spiritual father, reported
to him everything that was happening to Thresia.45 As Thresia found many obstacles
to loving God in her own home, she requested her spiritual father to build a small
house for her. When he informed the matter to the Bishop, he did not permit and
asked him to wait for bigger signs from God.46 The Bishop tested her in the crucible
of fire and purified her. Knowing about the continuous diabolic attacks on Thresia, he
gave a written order for exorcism and asked to paste it in her room. Thresia accepted

39
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 28.
40
Vithayathil, Diary 17,18.
41
Positio, ‘Summarium’,28
42
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’,81.
43
Vithayathil, Diary, 187.
44
Vithayahtil, Diary, 130; Biography of Rev. Mother Mariam Thresia, 85.
45
Vithayathil, Diary, 5, 19.
46
Vithayathil, Diary, 28.

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this humiliation with great joy.47 He also kept a ban on receiving Holy Communion
daily48 and on having special food.49 Her spiritual father presents the event as follows:
His Excellency Bishop John Menachery knew through them (priests) that
she was taking such food as coffee, milk and bread. At once the Bishop
issued an order on 24 October 1905 to her spiritual father to forbid her to
take any food except the ordinary food in her house. She complied readily
and submitted to the ban quite happily. She was not actually taking coffee
or milk. According to the order of the spiritual father, she was having
only a piece of bread…. Though she tried to take gruel and rice after this
ban in obedience to the command of the spiritual father, the stuff did not
go down through her throat. However hard she tried to drink rice water it
was vomited as soon as it reached her stomach. Thus she lived on simple
water for a month. Her spiritual father informed the matter to the Bishop.
His command was that the existing order was to be maintained, since he
suspected that devils were at work in her.50
In all these sufferings and humiliations Thresia set aside her own will to conform it
even more to the sovereign will of God. It was like gold being refined in the crucible.

2. Passive Night of the Spirit

The passive night of the spirit happens as the soul enters into the prayer of
passive contemplation. For any soul to reach the seventh mansion or the transforming
union, the night of the spirit is indispensable. During the passive night of the senses,
the soul is totally in aridity with regard to its sensible nature but it enjoys in spirit
deep peace and is aware of being loved by God. In the night of the spirit, the
purification which begins in the night of the senses is completed. God withdraws the
awareness that it is loved by God, detaching and purifying the last consolation that it
has been enjoying. By means of the terrifying trials of this night, the defects of the
soul are uprooted. St. John says “the first purgation or night is bitter and terrible to the
senses, but nothing can be compared to the second, for it is horrible and frightful to
the spirit.”51 Only the most heroic souls who are to reach the height of sanctity enter

47
Vithayathil, Diary, 169.
48
Vithayathil, Diary, 169.
49
Vithayathil, Diary, 130.
50
Vithayathil, Diary, 130; Nedungatt, Crucified with Christ for All, 77,78.
51
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’ 1.8.2.

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upon this night. In this dark night of contemplation, the soul discovers its own
ugliness, impurity and unworthiness. It gives a shock and throws the soul into
darkness and despair. The soul feels that God is against it and that it is forsaken and
condemned by all creatures. Another pain that inflicts and torments the soul is the
inability to pray. At times it fails to do its usual, daily chores. “The soul is purified in
this forge like gold in the crucible….God humbles the soul greatly in order to exalt it
greatly afterwards.”52 The soul which passes through this night comes forth from all
trials resplendent and beautiful, completely transformed in God, free from its
weaknesses, imperfections and miseries.

2.1 Mariam Thresia in the Passive Purification of the Spirit

“The cords of death encompassed me, the torrents of perdition assailed me, the
cords of Sheol entangled me and the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I
called upon the Lord, to my God I cried for help” (Ps. 18:4-6). When the soul enters
into the passive purgation of spirit, it feels very vividly the shadow of death, the
sorrows of hell, which is reflected in the feeling of God’s absence, of being chastised
and rejected by Him and also in the feeling of being unworthy of Him. 53 Thresia
underwent great affliction both in body and in spirit especially during the crucial
period from 1902 to 1909. This is expressed vividly in many of her letters. The Diary
of Fr Vithayathil too provides detailed explanations of Thresia’s experience of great
agony.

For the purpose of a better study Thresia’s spiritual purgation can be

categorized into two sections; 1) deep affliction in the spirit feeling the absence of
God and 2) fierce battle with demons which God allowed to test and confirm her
virtues.

2.1.1 Absence of God

The most piteous and heavy affliction for the soul is the experience that God
has abandoned it. The soul suffers harsh trials in its intellect, severe dryness and
distress in its will and burdensome knowledge of its own miseries in its memory. In
its substance the soul suffers abandonment, supreme poverty and dryness. It finds no

52
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’, II.6.6.
53
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’, II, 6 .2.

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relief or consolation or even cannot raise its heart to God.54 God allowed Thresia to
undergo these kinds of suffering and she tried her best to articulate her deep affliction
to her spiritual father. Following are a few extracts from her letters:
“I feel that I am in great trouble. I am even afraid whether God has forsaken
me. I begin to forget your advice too. I feel like being thrown into a deep abyss. I
have many other forms of tribulations. No good thoughts come to me. Father, I don’t
know. Father what a disaster has befallen me!”55

“I don’t know to explain to you where exactly and how much I feel the pain.
To put in one way, my pain is like a tempestuous sea. God willed it so for me.”56

“I have the fear to ask with my tongue and pray with my mind because of my
unworthiness.”57

“Dear Father, although God sends me sufferings, I am not worried. The pain is
terrible. Yet please don’t spare me the due punishment for my faults, thinking of my
worries. I, a sinner, beg you, Father, that these afflictions are necessary for my illness
and preparation for my death. My pain is really dreadful.”58

“I feel always much pain and distress inside. Even though I would like to
endure all the sufferings God gives me with goodwill, sometimes despair envelops me
and I feel like complaining.”59

“I find it very hard to move about since the evil in me grows stronger. Hence
at least now please have mercy on me and point out the faults in me and make me
practise necessary penances.”60

St. John of the Cross says that some times the afflictions pierce the soul and it
suddenly remembers its evils and becomes uncertain of any remedy.61

54
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Living Flame of Love’, 1, 20.
55
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 53.
56
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 57.
57
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 68.
58
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 50.
59
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 47.
60
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 65.

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In another letter she expresses her confusion and the fear of the fruitlessness
of her life. May be in her confusion she was not able to experience the presence of
God. She wrote: “Father, don’t feel any dislike because of me! This is a time of
confusion. I feel confused. What shall I do, Father? I am swimming fruitlessly without
reaching the shore. I don’t have the ability to convey to you adequately the depth of
my confusion and conflicts-my predicament. I have much sorrow too. What shall I do
then? How terrible! You yourself have to help me.”62

In this night of the spirit the soul also feels forsaken and despised by
creatures.63 Thresia expresses her desire to be forsaken by all the creatures. “I don’t
care for worldly fame. I desire so much to enjoy the glory of heaven. I do pray
earnestly that all the God’s creatures must hate me and forsake me.”64

To reach union with God St. John of the Cross says: “The soul must first be
set in emptiness and poverty of spirit and purged of every natural support, consolation
and apprehension, earthly and heavenly.”65 In the same letter Thresia continues to
speak of her emptiness. She discovers her own ugliness, impurity and unworthiness:
“I do not find anything to be proud of in this world. For me, if it is miseries of sin,
there is nobody like me among the children of God; of poverty, I am the poorest; of
illness, manifold are my ailments. Can such people feel proud? God has given me all
these because of the evil in me. I have no complaints whatsoever. Praise be to God!”66
In the letter 45 Thresia expresses her inability to pray or do anything because she feels
that her presence of mind is lost:
I couldn’t come to the church today owing to the sufferings God has
given me. I don’t know, I feel like losing my sense. I feel bad that I won’t
be able to answer if you ask some questions to me. Father, will I go mad?
Nothing is clear to me. What is my condition now? How I look like? I
walk around and do things without much sense. God alone knows what is
going on in me. 67

61
St. John of the Cross,‘The Dark Night’, II, 7.1.
62
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 78.
63
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’, II.6.2.
64
M. Thesia, ‘Letters’, 80.
65
St. John of the Cross,‘The Dark Night’, II, 9.4.
66
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 81.
67
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 87.

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Once, Thresia complained to her spiritual father that she was unable to pray after
Holy Communion, that even she forgot His presence.68 On another occasion she felt
aridity in prayer which she overcame by the grace of God.69 Yet another time she felt
God was silent and not speaking at all. 70 Very often the evil spirit tormented her
saying God had abandoned her.71

2.1.2 Fierce Battles

The next category of the sufferings is caused by the devils. Both St. John of
the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila have mentioned of the dreadful, terrible and fierce
torments of the evil spirit on those who are in contemplative stage. The evil spirits
attack the soul in three ways: temptation, obsession and possession. God permits the
soul to be incited by evil spirit in order to give it an occasion for acquiring greater
merits. Victory of the soul over the devil humiliates him and brings greater glory for
God. This experience purifies the soul, fills it with deep humility, repentance and
confidence in the grace of God. It helps the soul to be always vigilant and alert and to
pray continuously.72

The synoptic gospels tell us that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil. Forty nights He fasted and then He came face to face with
the devil. He defeated the evil spirit with the word of God and came victoriously to
the public ministry. With great power He cast out evil spirits (Mk. 1:23-27) and said
that Satan had no power over Him (Jn.14:30).

The evil spirit remains at the passage of the soul’s way from senses to the
spirit, deceiving them and feeding their senses with sensible things. Certain souls
thinking that there is not any loss in it remain at the threshold to watch what is
happening outside the sensory part and fail to enter into the indwelling of the Lord.
Very few souls like Thresia, who reached the high spiritual maturity, enter a sublime
recollection in such a way that the devil cannot distract by his alluring. He struggles to
make the soul advert to them at least through horrors, fears or bodily pains, or exterior

68
Vithayathil, Diary, 144.
69
Vithayathil, Diary, 161.
70
Vithayathil, Diary, 165.
71
Vithayathil, Diary, 12.
72
Royo and Aumann, Theology of Christian Perfection, 239.

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sounds and noises and thereby draws the soul out and diverts it from the interior
spirit.73 St. John of the Cross adds: “If permission is given them they can do this very
easily, for since the soul at this time enters into great nakedness of spirit for the sake
of these spiritual exercises, the devil can easily show the spirit to the soul, because he
is also spirit”74 The devil sees every high thing (Job.41: 25). It is far more worth for
the devil to hinder those souls which are in glorious delight than to tempt other less
perfect souls to fall into numerous serious sins, for these others have nothing to lose
compared to the souls which are growing into perfection. “The loss of a little pure
gold is much worse than the lose of many other base metals”.75

In the case of Thresia, she could conquer her sensory area and enter into the
inner spiritual level, so that the devil could not disturb her in the sensory level. Hence
as in the case of Job (Job.1,2.) the devils got permission from the Lord to torment her
in a variety of ways. Devils concentrated their power on Thresia through temptation
and obsession than by possession. Obsession usually occurs in the souls that are far
advanced in virtue. In the obsession, devils act upon all the exterior and interior
senses of the soul in a series of unusually violent and persistent temptations. Upon the
sense of sight, by appearing sometimes under repulsive forms to frighten the souls and
thus turn them away from the practice of virtues; upon the sense of hearing, by
causing blasphemous or obscene words like ‘God has abandoned you’ to be heard;
upon the sense of touch by blows and wounds or by embraces to tempt them to sin;
upon the sense of smell by causing tempting by pleasant odours or an unbearable
stench; upon the sense of taste by arousing feelings of gluttony or by mixing repulsive
objects with the food so that it is impossible to swallow or digest. In the diabolic
possession devils invade and manipulate the body by residing within the body and
operate it and treat it as their own property. Ordinarily possession occurs only in
sinners and precisely as a punishment for sin. 76 Thresia had to face terrible
temptations against faith, hope, charity and strong suggestions against purity
accompanied by phantasy in the imaginations. Thresia herself has recorded the
intensity of the torture in the autobiography:

73
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Living Flame of Love’,3.64. ;William Jonston, The Wounded Stag,
London: (William Collins Sons& Co Ltd, 1984), 65.
74
St. John of the Cross, ‘Spiritual Canticle’, 16, 6.
75
St. John of the Cross, ‘Spiritual Canticle’, 16.2.
76
Aumann, Spiritual Theology, 404,408-410; Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, 718-721.

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The devils tortured me very much. They knocked down things from my
hands and threw stones at me on the road. They even cut off my hand and
put it aside. With the help of Blessed Mother, it was reattached and the
wound was healed. They even threw me down from the top of the roof;
but Blessed Mother helped me to get up. They would bind my hands and
legs tightly with rope, beat me all over my body, smash me with their
fists, rub my eyes with chilly powder, and abuse me while saying prayers,
snatch away the rosary, throw rubbish into the food and show me things
against chastity. This troubled my mind very badly.77

In certain letters Thresia shared with her spiritual father the torture she underwent
because of the horrible attack of the demons.

“The devils torment me by using my body. Doesn’t God know when a person
is being used like this? I wonder why he allows this! God knows,”78

“The devil is playing every possible trick…I am not at all sorry for it.”79

“I felt as though the devil was ill-treating my whole body. If he were to do like
this how could I remain without worries and pain.”80

There are many witnesses who have testified to the diabolic attacks Thresia
underwent and the way she resisted them. Sr. Yohanna chf says “I often observed that
the food she was going to put into her mouth was tossed away by some invisible
power. Very often we heard her groaning and cries due to the great torments she
suffered.”81 “Once she was driven to the rafters and was being drawn from the other
side, when she fell quite unconscious”.82

Fr. Vithayathil’s Diary provides a detailed description of Thresia’s terrible

experiences due to diabolic torments which she narrated to him and he himself
witnessed. The devils asked the Lord for permission to try to subdue Thresia by

77
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 37-39.
78
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 49.
79
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 67, 68.
80
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 85.
81
Positio, ‘Summarium’, 115.
82
Positio, ‘Summarium’, 182.

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melting her in the furnace of suffering for three years.83 With the Lord’s permission
she was tested against faith, hope and chastity.84 The devils came in large numbers to
attack her. Each time the number was increasing from four hundred 85 to seven
hundred,86 to three thousand,87 to six thousand88 and finally the number reached up to
ten thousand. 89 It is a logical conclusion that the increase in the number of devils
indicates their relative weakness and at the same time increase in Thresia’s spiritual
power and energy.90 Any soul which is attacked in this manner cannot be freed by
itself. St. John of the Cross says: “It is not in a person’s power to be freed of these
until the Lord sends His angel, as is said in the Psalm, to the persons that fear Him
and thus delivers them (Ps.33:8) and until He brings peace and tranquillity, both in the
sensory and spiritual part of the soul.”91 Aumann says that beside the suffering soul,
there will be Mother Mary and the guardian angel, whose power is greater than that of
the devil, to help the soul.92 Whenever Thresia was severely tormented, she was freed
from them by the assistance of Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Family, and the angels
or by the prayer of exorcism done by Fr. Vithayathil. Very often Mother Mary was
consoling and strengthening her. A few times St. Teresa of Avila too had come to
console Thresia.93

Whenever Thresia got a little relief from their torments, she would do severe
penance.94 In the midst of cruel attacks, Thresia says: “You can do these things only
to my body, you however, cannot do anything to my soul.”95 Once when Thresia was
frightened of the devil’s harassment, Jesus told her that only if she persevered in the
sufferings she would be able to see Him and that if the sufferings were taken away she
would never see Him, and that she should suffer all these for the conversion of
sinners.96 Devils tried their utmost to make her desperate by creating in her disgust
and unpleasantness towards her normal acts of penance. The daily beating, punching,

83
Vithayathil, Diary, 6; Biography of Rev. Mother Mariam Thresia ,33.
84
Vithayathil, Diary, 6, 9, 11, 12.
85
Vithayathil, Diary, 6.
86
Vithayathil, Diary, 14.
87
Vithayathil, Diary, 32.
88
Vithayathil, Diary, 39.
89
Vithayathil, Diary, 72.
90
Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, 721.
91
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Spiritual Canticle’, 16.2.
92
Aumann, Spiritual Theology, 408.
93
Vithayathil, Diary, 31,32.
94
Vithayathil, Diary, 54.
95
Vithayathil, Diary, 55.
96
Vithayathil, Diary, 65,66.

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stabbing and throwing went on continuously. So the pain in her whole body became
intense. All these temptations and torments Thresia suffered with courage and thus
she won over the devils.97

2.1.2.1 Thresia to Mariam Thresia.

In the book of Genesis we read about Jacob wrestling with a man: When Jacob
was left alone he had an experience of wrestling with a man the whole night and when
the man saw that Jacob had prevailed he touched the hollow of his thigh and put it out
of its joint. Jacob felt that the man was a divine person and he asked for his blessing.
Then he blessed Jacob and told him that he will again be called ‘Israel’ because he
fought with God and men and prevailed (Gen. 32:22-29).

Thresia had a similar experience of the change of her name after successful
battles with the devils. Fr. Vithayathil has narrated this incident in detail in his Diary
and in the Biography of Rev. Mariam Thresia. There are references to it in her
writings too.

God permitted the devils to test Thresia for three years. One day Mother Mary
informed Fr. Vithayathil through the voice of Thresia while she was in a trance: “The
period allowed to the devils by God to test her will terminate on 23 January1905.
After that I wish her to live in this world only for a short time. In the meantime many
things are to take place through her.”98 However, Bishop John Menachery, who was
waiting for concrete signs to believe that Thresia’s experiences were of heavenly
origin, requested Fr. Vithayathil to get the duration of the diabolic test reduced to 8
December 1904. 99 Accepting the request of the Bishop, Mother Mary told Fr.
Vithayathil: “As regards your request yesterday, the period has been shortened to 8
December. But during the last three days there will be continuous torments. That time
the devils will not leave even if they are ordered to do so. So you must come and
comfort her for a long a time. On those days the Holy Eucharist should be exposed for
public adoration, and you must ask others to pray. After these days she must be
named Mariam Thresia (Thresia of Mary).” 100 In one of the letters Thresia has

97
Vithayathil, Biography of Rev.Mother Mariam Thresia, 34, 36.
98
Vithayathil, Diary, 45.
99
Vithayathil, Diary, 58.
100
Vithayathil, Diary, 59.

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referred to these three days of sufferings: “It is the will of God that the Father be here
most of the time today. If you are not free for it please come and console me at 2
o’clock and 5 o’clock. You can imagine what would be the intensity of my suffering
for these three days.”101

In keeping with this prediction Thresia went through severe torments during
those three days. Then the spiritual father had gone to her home to give her necessary
counsel and help to hope in God and gain courage. Amidst the terrible mental and
physical torments she could take only a little cold water and a little gruel. Her interior
sufferings were more intense than the exterior ones. While she suffered she invoked
the name of Jesus and repeated the ejaculation, ‘Sweet Heart of Jesus, help me to love
you more and more. Immaculate Heart of Mary be my refuge’. On 8 December
evening at 8 o’clock, she became motionless like a corpse for an hour. When she was
able to talk she called the spiritual father and told him secretly that the devil had said:
“We are defeated and you have won”. And Thresia replied to this: “It is not I who
won, but Jesus”. When the spiritual father asked the devils how many they were in
number, they said they were ten thousand in all and that all except seven were
returning. Then Mother Mary informed the spiritual father that her sufferings had
ended and that in thanksgiving to God she had to be called ‘Mariam Thresia’ and that
acts of love and gratitude should be offered.102

After this experience Thresia addressed a few letters in her new name, Thresia
of Mariam.103 In the letter 50 which she wrote from Carmel Convent, Ollur, she has
mentioned that the Bishop called her by the new name. During the religious
profession the Bishop gave her the same name Mariam Thresia officially as a sign of
entrusting to her a new mission and becoming a new person like Simon who was
changed into Peter (Jn.1:42) and Saul to Paul (Acts 13:9).

The insistence of the devils on tormenting the souls again and again is one of
the best proofs that the soul has not succumbed to the temptations. Every fight of the

101
M. Thresia, ‘Letters’, 55.
102
Vithayathil, Diary ,72 ; Biography of Rev.Mother Marium Thresia, 42,43.
103
Thresia addressed herself in three of her letters nos; 20, 32, 35 as Thresia of Mariam before she
made her religious committment. Among that one letter was sent for her cousin brothers, in which
she wrote Thresia of Mariam, Daughter of Mankydian Thoma.

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devil repulsed is a source of new merit before God and greater strength for the soul.104
After the period of permission to attack Thresia for three years was over, the devils
persistently asked God to let him inflict again bodily torments on her saying that they
would win over her. God gave permission for nine days and then for seven more days
to oppress her body tempting against chastity;105 and then for one month to tempt her
against the theological virtues of faith, hope, charity and other virtues like humility,
all at the same time.106 Each time they tormented her with all their might. However,
Thresia was gloriously victorious by the grace of God.107

2.1.2.2 Authority over Evil Spirits

Jesus exercised great power on Satan; “With authority He commands even the
unclean spirits and they obey Him” (Mk.1:27). In St. John’s gospel Jesus says; “He
has no power over me” (Jn.14:30). St. John of the Cross explains the strength of a
perfect soul: “The devils not only fear to attack her (a soul), but they do not even
venture to appear before her. For they become greatly frightened upon seeing her so
exalted, courageous, and bold with the perfect virtues in the bed of her beloved. When
she is united with him in transformation, they fear her as much as they do Him, and
they have not even the courage to look at her. The devil has an extraordinary fear of
the perfect soul.”108 Though the devils with all their might tried to subdue Thresia by
repeatedly getting permission from God, there isn’t any record that she ever yielded to
their temptations. In fact she got the power to drive them away. Once she saw devils
in the church and ordered them to leave the church. Then they asked her back: “Who
gave you the authority to drive us away” and came to attack her. But Thresia
fearlessly commanded them and sent them out. 109 Thresia has recorded in the
autobiography too, how she courageously acted on them: “Whenever I went to help
the sick, the devil used to abuse me and threaten me with a club. Without any fear I
would remain there and continue to help them. I have seen the fight of the devils at
the time of the death (of others): then I would pray to Blessed Mother so that the
dying could overcome the despair and die a peaceful death.110

104
Aumann, Spiritual Theology, 161.
105
Vithayathil, Diary, 162.
106
Vithayathil, Diary, 172.
107
Vithayathil, Biography of Rev.Mother Mariam Thresia, 44.
108
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Spiritual Canticle’, 24.4.
109
Vithayathil, Diary, 155,156.
110
M. Thresia, ‘Autobiography’, 36, 37.

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The severe tortures against the virtues of faith, hope, charity, chastity and
humility left Thresia’s intellect in darkness, will in aridity, memory in emptiness and
affections in affliction and anguish. Her expressions in the letters are a proof for this.
Her spiritual father has recorded that with great patience she won all the trials.111 By
these trials Thresia truly humbled herself in preparation for her coming exaltation.112

111
Vithayathil, Diary, 172, 190.
112
St. John of the Cross, ‘The Dark Night’, I,14,4.

112