Chapter 16
Section 16 of A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 4. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by S.S. Kim, Seoul, South Korea. A History of the Inquisition of Spain, Volume 4 by Henry Charles Lee, Book 8, Chapter 5, Spheres of Action, Mysticism Part 16. While this comedy was in progress in Cuenca,
a similar one was performing in Madrid in the highest social ranks. Sor Maria Clara Rosa de Jesus, known as the Beata Clara, had acquired great reputation via visions and miracles. She was, or pretended to be, paralyzed and unable to leave her bed, and when she announced that a special command of the Holy Ghost required her to join the Capuchin Order, Pius VI granted her dispensation to take the vows without residence.
Athanasio de Puyal, subsequently Bishop of Galaura, obtained license to erect a private altar in a chamber where mass was celebrated daily and she received communion, pretending to take no other nourishment. All the great ladies of the court was accustomed to implore her intercession in their troubles and gave her large sums to be expended in charity. It is to the credit of the Inquisition that it broke up this speculative imposture by arresting her in 1801, together with her mother and confessor as accomplices. It was not difficult to prove their guilt, and in 1803 they were mercifully sentenced to reclusion.
For 300 years up to the time of its suppression, the Inquisition thus vainly labored to put an end to these speculations on the credulity of the faithful. It did its best, but the popular craving for the marvellous, for the concrete evidence of divine interposition in human affairs was too universal and too strong to be controlled, even by its supreme authority. After its downfall, the career of the notorious Sol Patrocinio proves how ineradicable was this and serves to bring medievalism down to our own time. Maria Rafaela Quiroga, known in religion as Sor Maria Cipriana del Patrocinio de San Jose, in 1829 took the veil in the convent of San Jose and soon commenced to have visions and revelations,
followed by the development of the stigmata. Her reputation spread and clothes stained with the blood of her wounds were enriqueced as curative amulets. When the death of Fernando VII, September 29, 1833, was followed by the Carlyst War, the clericas who favored Don Carlos saw in her a useful instrument. She was made to prophesy the success of the pretender and to furnish proof of the illegitimacy of the young kin Isabel. As in the case of Portuguese Maria de la Visita Sion, this dangerous factor in the political situation called for government intervention, and after some resistance in November 1835, the sword was removed from the convent to a private house, where she was kept under the care of her mother and of a priest, while three physicians were summoned to examine the stigmata.
They pronounced them artificial and promised a sputic cure if interference was prevented. This was verified, and in spite of a scab being torn off from one of them, they were healed by December 17th. On January 21, 1836, an official inspection by a number of dignitaries confirmed the fact, which was assented to by the sword, and on February 7th she made a full confession, stating that a capuchin, Padre Firmin de Alcaraz, had given her caustic with the direction to use it
on hands, feet, side, and head, telling her that the resultant pain would be a salutary penance. Prosecution was duly commenced against her and the vicar, prioress and vicaress of the convent, Padre Firmin having prudently disappeared. Sentence was rendered November 25, 1836, from which an appeal was taken, resulting in a slight increase of rigor. The convent was suppressed.
The vicar, Andres Rivas, was banished from Madrid for eight years, and the three women were sent to convents of their order, sor patrocinio being conveyed on April 27, 1837, to the nunnery at Talavera. Years passed away, and she seemed to be forgotten when the reaction of 1844 suggested that she might again be utilized. In 1845, the convent of Jesus was built for her. She returned with the stigmata, freshened, and her saintly reputation enhanced.
Imposing ceremonies rendered her entrance impressive, and she was conveyed to a convent under a canopy like a royal personage. In conjunction with Padre Fulgencio, confessor to Don Francisco de Assis, the King Consort, and with her brother Manuel Quiroga, whom she made the gentleman of the royal bedchamber, she became the power behind the throne. Dr. Armosa, who had cured her stigma, was persecuted, and Fray Firmin Acaraz, who had emerged from his hiding place, was made bishop of Cuenca. In 1849, she was held to have forced Isabel to dismiss the Duke of Valencia, Narvaez, and his cabinet. This was followed by what was known as Ministerio Lellampajo or Lightning Ministry, which held office for three hours on October 19, 1849, and was forced to retire by the threatening aspect of the people.
Narvaez was recalled and forthwith relegated to a distance, Sor Patricinio, her brother, Padre Fulgencio, and some of their confederates. She was soon recalled, however, and wielded an influence which Navarrez could not resist. His successor, Bravo Murillo, sought to get the respite by persuading the nuncio Brunelli to send her to Rome, but this availed little for she soon returned more powerful than ever with the blessing of Pius IX. Under her guidance, during the remainder of the reign of Isabel II,
the Camarilla practically ruled the kingdom and precipitated the revolution of 1868, which for a time supplanted the monarchy with the republic. With the fall of Isabel, she disappeared from the public view in the retirement of the convent of Guadalajara, of which she was the abyss. There she lingered in seclusion until January 27, 1891, when she died serenely comforted in her last moment with the telegraphic blessing from Leo XIII.
The Inquisition could suppress Judaism. It could destroy Protestantism. It could render necessary the expulsion of Moriscos, but it failed when it sought to eradicate the abuses of mysticism, which not only signalized the ardor of Spanish faith, but was so difficult of differentiation from beliefs, long recognized and encouraged by the Church. There seems to be in the average human mind an insatiable craving for manifestation of the supernatural.
Modern science with its materialism may weaken or even eradicate this in the majority and may explain psychologically much of what seems to be marvelous. But the success in our own land of the curious superstition known as Christian science shows us how superficial is latter-day enlightenment and should teach us sympathy rather than disdain for the fantastic exhibitions of credulity which we have passed in review.
