Chapter 6 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online
Chapter 6 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online Chapter 6 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online
Council of Castile recognized the gravity of this situation in a consulta of July 8, 1641, warning that poverty was pushing monks into scandal and crime. (35) Squeezed by a shrinking economic base and a rise in the cost of living, religious foundations had to support a clerical population that continued to grow until the last half of the seventeenth century. A description of a religious procession in Seville in 1579 [132] asserted that 1500 clergymen participated; by 1635 more than 3000 religious were reported in Seville. (36) A list of religious foundations in Seville and its nearby countryside in 1650 included 48 monasteries, 28 convents, 23 hospitales, and 9 hermitages. (37) The growing clerical population led to economic strain, less effective discipline, and a decrease in moral and intellectual quality. A clerical association with crime, therefore, was not surprising. Perhaps the most scandalous crime associated with monks and priests and isolated religious houses was pecado nefando, or sodomy. The Jesuit Pedro de León wrote that this was a serious problem among both religious and secular clergy. One Jesuit told him that women posed no problem for his brothers because they had many young male students and novices with whom they could sin. He mentioned one cleric who was penanced in a private auto de fé by the Inquisition for soliciting young boys in confession, but several other clergymen were "relaxed" (the euphemism for being handed over) to the secular authorities, who burned them for their crimes. (38) The example of the Jeronomite Monastery of San Isidro del Campo suggests the problems of controlling a religious house. Located about two miles outside the city, this monastery had both spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the village of Santiponce, site of the ancient Roman city of Italica. Noted in the sixteenth century for its rich endowment, the monastery had several powerful
nobles as patrons. When the Duke of Medina Sidonia died in 1558, his body was taken there. When Philip II visited Seville in 1570, he stayed there. (39) Despite its wealth and fame, the monastery was also known as a refuge for criminals and heretics. In the fifteenth century its patron, the Count of Niebla, wrote of cleaning out the monastery: [133] "well, the cave of thieves has been turned into a house of prayer, in which our Lord is now served." (40) In the sixteenth century the monastery became the refuge for a group of Protestants. Its prior and several members, as well as several nuns of the nearby Jeronomite convent of Santa Paula, were secure in this monastery until the late 1550's, when they had to flee the Inquisition. The Inquisition found that the monastery was one of the major centers of Spanish Protestantism, and that it had been used as one of the depositories for New Testaments printed in the Castilian language and smuggled into the country by Protestants. (41) In 1567 Philip II ordered the reduction of this monastery and six others. "The causes that moved the king to this decision (which time has borne out)," wrote one chronicler, "were the small amount of conformity in the superiors of these houses that disrupted in them the religious observance." (42) One year later the hermit monks of San Jerónimo, who had occupied the monastery, were incorporated into the larger Order of the Monks of San Jerónimo by order of the Crown, undoubtedly a move to bring the monastery under stricter control. The Crown wanted to curb the monastery of San Isidro del Campo because its wealth and fame and physical separation from Seville were increasing its independence. Philip II seemed less interested in the scriptural hair-splitting of heresy than in the political threat of a religious group who questioned the religious conformity buttressing his throne. He welcomed monasteries in his kingdom, but only if they supported this conformity. In Hapsburg Spain the Church could continue as a refuge only for people who did not threaten the teachings of the Church or the power of the secular order. THE CHURCH AS CARICATURE Underworld people used the Church as a butt for jokes and tricks. Tipsy prisoners dressed up as priests and held raucous [134] religious "services." Ruffians broke into city brothels and hooted as priests preached and tried to convert prostitutes there. False beggars posed as monks collecting money to buy oil for church lamps. Street children hid their stolen loot behind altar pieces. Criminals masqueraded as priests and escaped prison in pious dignity. (43) What is the significance of these jokes and tricks at the expense of the Church? Much underworld humor can be regarded as a strategy for survival. The false beggar posing as an almsgathering monk took hard-earned maravedís from a pious widow in order to have money for food, drink, and gambling. He also played this trick in order to laugh at the absurdity and misery of the world around him. If he could not occasionally laugh at some poor wretch, he would probably disintegrate under the burdens of his own miseries. His joke got bread for him, and it also preserved his mental health. Underworld jokes were often expressions of bravado. Prisoners who presented a religious "service" in the prison were making fun of the priest's performance before an altar, but they were also crying out against impotence. Tomorrow the priest might be able to lead them as lambs to the gallows, but tonight they could show how ridiculous he was as he bowed and chanted and mouthed words that he might not understand. Ridiculing the Church helped these prisoners to feel less impotent in the clutches of authority. Bravado can bluster away fears. Prisoners who dressed up in white penitential robes to accompany two condemned highwaymen to the gallows turned this religious ritual into a blasphemous carnival. They put on false moustaches, squabbled over rosaries, and proudly preened themselves to the dismay of the
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Council <strong>of</strong> Castile recognized the gravity <strong>of</strong> this situation in a consulta <strong>of</strong> July 8, 1641, warning that<br />
poverty was pushing monks into scandal and crime. (35)<br />
Squeezed by a shrinking economic base and a rise in the cost <strong>of</strong> living, religious foundations had to<br />
support a clerical population that continued to grow until the last half <strong>of</strong> the seventeenth century. A<br />
description <strong>of</strong> a religious procession in Seville in 1579 [132] asserted that 1500 clergymen participated;<br />
by 1635 more than 3000 religious were reported in Seville. (36) A list <strong>of</strong> religious foundations in Seville<br />
and its nearby countryside in 1650 included 48 monasteries, 28 convents, 23 hospitales, and 9<br />
hermitages. (37) <strong>The</strong> growing clerical population led to economic strain, less effective discipline, and a<br />
decrease in moral and intellectual quality. A clerical association with crime, therefore, was not<br />
surprising.<br />
Perhaps the most scandalous crime associated with monks and priests and isolated religious houses was<br />
pecado nefando, or sodomy. <strong>The</strong> Jesuit Pedro de León wrote that this was a serious problem among<br />
both religious and secular clergy. One Jesuit told him that women posed no problem for his brothers<br />
because they had many young male students and novices with whom they could sin. He mentioned one<br />
cleric who was penanced in a private auto de fé by the Inquisition for soliciting young boys in<br />
confession, but several other clergymen were "relaxed" (the euphemism for being handed over) to the<br />
secular authorities, who burned them for their crimes. (38)<br />
<strong>The</strong> example <strong>of</strong> the Jeronomite Monastery <strong>of</strong> San Isidro del Campo suggests the problems <strong>of</strong><br />
controlling a religious house. Located about two miles outside the city, this monastery had both<br />
spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the village <strong>of</strong> Santiponce, site <strong>of</strong> the ancient Roman city <strong>of</strong><br />
Italica. Noted in the sixteenth century for its rich endowment, the monastery had several powerful
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