Chapter 6 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

picaresque novel Lazarillo de Tormes. (12) In the midst of all the accusations and countercharges it is
not surprising that one poor beggar of the city, Bartolomé Fuentes, declared that God would not lower
Himself to the hands of undignified clergymen. This was too much for the Inquisition, which subjected
him to public penance in an auto de fé on December 22, 1560. (13)
Clerical reform might "purify" the clergy, but it also served political purposes. Both Church and Crown
were concerned with controlling ideology, and the Church was a strong competitor that showed
disturbing tendencies to act independently. Recognizing that clerical reform could curb this competitor,
Philip II readily came to the assistance of Cardinal Archbishop de Castro when he needed help
reforming his clergy in Seville. Clerical dissension was a timely excuse for the Crown's imposition of
restraint on the power, wealth, and independence of the Church. To many people clerical reform was
simply an extension of central control over more members of the clergy, a device to ensure that the
Church would be a tool of the secular government.
Cynicism about priests as intermediaries increased in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as Seville
became a major center of an heretical sect, the Alumbrados. These religious mystics taught that direct
union with God was possible without [123] a priestly intermediary. The nuns, monks, and secular
clergy who belonged to the sect acted as spiritual counselors rather than intermediaries. Mysticism was
also an important part of the devotional exercises of Jesuits and followers of Saint Teresa of Avila and
Saint John of the Cross, but these groups accepted the discipline of the Church and did not pose the
serious Alumbrado challenge to priests. Churchmen like Pedro de León tried to distinguish the "false
mysticism" of the Alumbrados from the "true mysticism" of loyal Christians, but their arguments
seemed mere hair-splitting to many people. (14)
The Alumbrados also increased cynicism about priests because they provided such tantalizing stories
about sexual irregularities accompanying religious ecstasies. Tongues wagged about the Alumbrado
monk, Brother Juan de Jesús María, who convinced another monk and a young girl that he could
communicate the spirit and love of God to them through his embraces and kisses. Asserting that they
could not be guilty of sin because they were in a close state with God, he urged that the three make a
spiritual union through the flesh. Francisco Mendez, an Alumbrado preacher, provided another juicy
tale when the Inquisition charged him with dancing with a group of beatas after Mass and working
them up into such a frenzy that they fell down with their legs uncovered. The Inquisition attempted to
root out salacious heretics like these, but their prosecutions also helped to publicize the scandalous
tales. (15)
Alumbrados held a special appeal for the women of Seville. Many noble women of the city were
followers of Padre Mendez, who may be the Francisco Mendez mentioned above. He stayed at the
Franciscan monastery in the city, and on some mornings more than thirty carriages waited there for
women who had come to pray and consult with him. An anonymous letter from Seville in 1623 asserted
that the greater part of the city was infected with the Alumbrado heresy, "and especially the women."
[124] Though some of these women were nuns and beatas, many were the wives and daughters of
respectable local aristocrats. It was reported that when the Church offered pardons to all who would
denounce themselves as Alumbrados, so many women responded that twenty notaries and twenty
inquisitors were not enough to handle all the confessions. More than 5000 pardons were issued in 1624
for this heresy in the Archbishopric of Seville. (16) The mass confession revealed not only the extent of
the heresy but also the willingness of many to conform ideologically to the teachings of the institutional
Church. It suggests that the ladies of Seville gained attention by indulging in a little mysticism and
confession of heresy. Religious mysticism was one of the few ways they could protest the priestly and
secular authorities who so rigidly controlled their lives. In addition, mystical experiments and
confession of heresy offered the emotional intimacy and adventure so lacking in the lives of these