A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 4Lea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 4
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- Spain
From this statement it would appear that the extreme position assumed by
Pacheco had not been maintained and that simple mysticism was tolerated
unless it was complicated with the follies of Illuminism, especially as
concerned the relations between the sexes. The policy of the
Inquisition, in fact, was by no means uniform; for a time many harmless
mystics were allowed to enjoy in peace the veneration of their disciples
while, if there was scandal or imposture or some ulterior motive,
prosecution was easy. One such case was that of Fray Francisco García
Calderon whom we have seen (Vol. II, p. 135) concerned with the case of
the nuns of San Placido and the Marquis of Villanueva, in 1630. A
contemporary was Doña Luisa de Colmenares, popularly known as Madre
Luisa de Carrion, a nun of the convent of Santa Clara, at Carrion de los
Condes, who, at the age of seventy, had passed fifty-three years in a
cloister. She was not strictly an Alumbrado but a mystic of the type of
Santa Teresa, and her case is instructive as showing how general was the
belief attributing supernatural powers to beings favored by God, how
profitably this belief could be exploited by shrewd management, and how
effectively the Inquisition could intervene, in the face of the most
intense popular opposition. There is no reason to suppose that Madre
Luisa was consciously an impostor; she was merely an ignorant old woman,
hypnotically habituated to trances and visions like so many others, and
the Franciscan Order, to which she belonged, saw in her a speculative
value of which they made the most. Philip IV venerated her and popes
were her correspondents; there was an immense demand for objects
sanctified by her--crosses, beads, images of the Christ-child and
similar trifles--the sales of which brought in large profits and,
between these and the offerings of pilgrims, the Order was said to have
realized two hundred thousand crowns and to look forward to much more if
it could secure her canonization after death.
[Sidenote: _MADRE LUISA DE CARRION_]
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