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The Devil, Women, and the Body in Seventeenth-Century Puebla Convents*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Rosalva Loreto López
Rosalva Loreto López*
Affiliation:
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
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Extract

The mystical and supernatural experiences that many nuns faced in seventeenth-century convents in Puebla shaped New Spain's spirituality. These experiences and the way they were recounted provided the elements for an archetype of conduct and for socially accepted virtues. Using their imagination, these nuns, servants of God, enlightened and morally exemplary, maintained a direct relationship between the convent, the supernatural world, and colonial society.

Anthropological studies of popular religion have emphasized, almost exclusively, the collective and public aspects of religious expression but have ignored private, individual piety. Yet collective and private religious expressions have been linked throughout history. When individual manifestations of religious expression were socially endorsed, these private forms of piety influenced the creation of identity and models of behavior. Because these archetypes of religious conduct were so important within colonial culture as a whole, it is important to gain an understanding of the events that led to their formation and the way in which they travelled from the culture of the convent to that of the larger society.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , October 2002 , pp. 181 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2002 

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Footnotes

*

Translated by Sonya Lipsett-Rivera

References

1 For a critique dealing with Spain please see Acosta, Elías Zamora, “Aproximación a la religiosidad popular en el mundo urbano: El culto a los santos en la ciudad de Sevilla,” in La religiosidad popular, edited by Santaló, Alvarez et al. (Spain: T.I., 1989), p. 528.Google Scholar

2 She was born in 1596 in the city of Puebla de los Angeles, the daughter of Melchor de Bonilla and María de Piña, both originally from Brihuega. On May 19, 1614, she took her vows in the convent of the Discalced Carmelites and she died as an exemplary nun on February 2, 1633.

3 María de Jesús Tomellín was the daughter of the captain Sebastián Tomellín and Francisca Campos. She professed her vows as a nun of veil and choir on May 7, 1599 and she died in 1637. Her sister was Ana de San Sebastián who was a nun in the same convent. The first references to her life were compiled and transcribed by her cell companion Agustina de Santa Teresa who took her vows twenty years later. These materials became the basis for several biographies after her death. For this study I have relied upon the interpretation of de Felix, Jesús María, Vida virtudes y dones sobrenaturales de la Ven. Sierva de Dios, Sor María de Jesús, religiosa profesa en el V. monasterio de la Inmaculada Concepción de la Puebla de los Angeles de las Indias Occidentales, sacadas de los procesos formados para la causa de su beatificación y canonización (Rome: Imprenta de Joseph y Phelipe Rossi, 1756).Google Scholar

4 A Jesuit priest originally from Ireland, Father Godínez (1591–1644) had a master's degree in philosophy and was the prefect of study in the Seminary of San Pedro y San Pablo in the city of Puebla. His best known work is the Práctica de teología that was translated into Latin by Ignacio de la Reguera. Around 1620, as the confessor of the Carmelite Isabel de la Encarnación, he also published an original manuscript entitled “Dichos del Padre Miguel Godínez, varón muy espiritual de la Compañía acerca de la vida y virtudes de la Venerable M. Isabel de la Encarnación cuyo padre espiritual fue.” For more information on Miguel Godínez and Isabel de la Encarnación, see Medina, Manuel Ramos, “Isabel de la Encarnación, monja posesa del siglo XVII,” in Manifestaciones religiosas en el mundo colonial americano (Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Condumex, 1994), pp. 41–51.Google Scholar

5 María de San José was the daughter of Luis Palacios y Solórzano and Antonia Berruecos, both the children of Spanish immigrants. She professed as a nun of veil and choir in the Convent of Santa Monica and later left this Convent to found another in Oaxaca. She wrote autobiographical material at the orders of various people including the Bishop of Puebla, Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz and her confessors. See Myers, Kathleen, Word from New Spain. The Spiritual Autobiography of Madre María de San José (1656–1719) (Liverpool: University Press, 1993).Google Scholar For this part of the article I consulted the first five sections of Myers’ transcription.

6 The term Illuminati, used to refer to these visionary nuns, refers to the processes that were theologically recognized as “Illuminativa.” In this definition the supernatural phenomena are more palpable and are presented as part of the proofs that lead to the mystical phenomena characteristic of the ‘unitive’ life. See Tanquerey, A., Compendio de teología ascética y mística (Madrid: Sociedad de San Juan Evangelista, 1930), p. 622.Google Scholar

7 The life of perfection is also known as ‘unitive’ and is defined as the habitual and intimate union with God. Such a life presupposes that the individual in question has previously experienced a series of stages of purification and ordeals in their exercise of moral and theological virtues to reach a stage in which they live solely for God. See Tanquerey, p. 822.

8 Visions represent the supernatural perception of objects that are normally invisible to humans. They are not revelations unless they reveal some hidden truth. Visions that are felt physically are also called apparitions. The vision does not need to be physical; it can also involve the perception of a luminous form. See Tanquerey, pp. 952–3. The etymological roots of these visions suggest that they are fundamental to the notion of apparitions. See LeGoff, Jacques, Lo maravilloso y lo cotidiano en el Occidente medieval (Spain: Gedisa, 1986), p. 13.Google Scholar

9 Divine revelations are the supernatural manifestations of hidden truths that God does by three means: visions, supernatural speech, and divine touch. See Tanquerey, pp. 952–3.

10 Miguel Godínez, “Escrito del Padre Miguel Godínez, c. 1630 (unfoliated).

11 Ibid.

12 Feriglia, Josep María, “Bases para entender una prospectiva de la religión,” in Santaló, Op. cit. 1989, p. 594.Google Scholar

13 Espinoza, Manuel, La religiosa mortificada (Madrid: Imprenta Real, por Pedro Julián Pereyra, Impresor de Cámara de S.M., 1799), p. 298.Google Scholar

14 According to Feriglia, the nuns discerned the dimension of the world in which they lived and interpreted the messages that they received in their imagination and translated them into ordinary language (p. 591).

15 Godínez warned of the dangers these visionary nuns could risk if they fell into the hands of an uninformed confessor, Isabel de la Encarnación had some confessors who “harmed her considerably because they did not recognize her spirit. It is a terrible thing to put an uplifted and extraordinary spirit in the hands of an uninformed confessor … ibid non est scientia animae … nos ests bonum where there is no science and knowledge of the soul there is no good for the poor penitent, rather when God puts the sou) in … some terrible purgatory, afterwards the same God feels obliged to save that soul from such a person and direct the soul to experienced people who understand and console that person,” Godínez (unfoliated).

16 Santa Teresa, Agustina de, “Cuaderno primero sobre la vida de la Venerable Madre María de Jesús” c. 1630 Google Scholar, fol 4.

17 Godínez (unfoliated).

18 See López, Rosalva Loreto, “La sensibilidad y el cuerpo en el imaginario de las monjas poblanas del siglo XVII” in Actas del II Congreso Internacional del Monacato Femenino en el Imperio Español (Mexico City: CONDUMEX, 1995), pp. 542–3.Google Scholar

19 Cervantes, Fernando, “El demonismo en la espiritualidad barroca novohispana:” in Manifestaciones religiosas en el mundo colonial americano, ed. Ayluardo, Clara García and Ramos, Manuel (Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Condumex, 1993), p. 132.Google Scholar

20 Godínez (unfoliated).

21 Cervantes, Fernando The Idea of the Devil and the Problem of the Indian. The Case of Mexico in the Sixteenth Century (London: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1991)Google Scholar and “El demonismo en la espiritualidad barroca novohispana,” in Ramos Medina op cit., p. 139, also states that this transformation was brought about because of a shift from a system based on the seven capital sins to one based the Ten Commandments. The obsession with the Devil coincided with the establishment of the Decalogue as the center of Christianity's moral system.

22 Lora, José Sanchez, “Claves mágicas de la religiosidad barroca,” in Santaló, Op.cit., pp. 126–45.Google Scholar See also Delumeau, Jean, El Medio en occidente (Madrid: Taurus, 1989).Google Scholar

23 Christian, William, Apariciones en Castilla y Cataluña (siglos XIV-XVI) (Madrid: Nerea, 1990), p. 244.Google Scholar

24 Seventeenth-century visual representations of the Devil used in this article seem to be derived from the Old Testament. Bad demons are described in a language stemming from pagan religions that portrayed them as animals like hyenas, wild cats and owls and refers to their lairs. (Is 34, 14), Barbaglio, G. and Dianich, S., Nuevo Diccionario de Teología (Madrid: Ediciones Cristianidad, 1982), p. 965.Google Scholar

25 Beigbeder, Olivier, Léxico de símbolos (Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro, 1989, vol. 15), p. 45.Google Scholar

26 In the analysis of architecture, “what is most important before all else … is the disposition of the animals, whatever their nature.” Beigdeber, p. 46. This principle can be applied equally well to the examples in this article.

27 From a psychoanalytical perspective, animals that appear in the zoological phobias of children substitute the father, just as in ancient times they were related to a totemic animal. Freud, Sigmund, “Una neurosis demoniaca en el siglo XVII” in Psicoanálisis aplicado y tecnica psicoanalitica (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1974), p. 71.Google Scholar

28 Godínez (unfoliated).

29 One of the early manifestations of this phenomenon was the characterization of the anthill emphasizing the dynamic swarming action of the ants rather than their work. On the positive side the ants provide an example of hard work and foresight because they store provisions for the winter over the course of the summer. Ausejo, Serafín, Diccionario de la Biblia (Barcelona: Editorial Herder, 1966), p. 872.Google Scholar

30 The miracle consisted in the departure of all ants except for one ant colony in the patio. These ants, known as arrieras, became a kind of pet for the nuns. They threw them bread and biscuit crumbs to feed them and the ants harmed no one. From that time, the nuns dedicated themselves to Saint Joseph. de la Parra, Joseph Gómez, Fundación y Primer siglo, del muy religioso convento de Sr. S. Joseph de Religiosas Carmelitas Descalzas de la ciudad de Puebla de los Angeles en la Nueva España, el primero que se fundó en la América Septentrional, 27 de Diziembre de 1604 (Puebla: Miguel de Ortega en el Portal de las Flores, 1731), p. 29–30.Google Scholar

31 Francisca de la Natividad, 1614, folio 5v.

32 Ancient demonology always used flies to symbolize demons. Artists usually depicted them next to the ear of a Christian who was in the process of being tempted by Satan—they were “lending an ear” as Saint Gregory said “of the carnal desires.” There are two infernal entities—although they are really one and the same—Asmodeus and Beelzebub who were represented as flies. Charbonneau-Lassay, L., El bestiario de Cristo. El simbolismo animal en la antigüedad y la edad media (Barcelona: Editorial Sophia Perennos, 1997, vol. 2), p. 869.Google Scholar Flies are also emblematic of discomfort, anxiety, or disgust. They symbolize constant persecution; buzzing and hovering without ceasing. They multiply in decay and putrefaction and transmit the worst germs. Iguacen, 1992, p. 598.

33 Natividad, folio 3.

34 Textual citation from a note that Isabel gave to her confessor. Godínez (unfoliated).

35 Many times demons “caused [Isabel] to throw up bits of abscess and other times to vomit worms that were gnawing her day and night.” Natividad, folio 3v. In this passage the worm fits into the symbolism of the “voice of conscience” that repeats a reproach in order to bring about repentance. Charbonneau-Lassay, p. 841.

36 Cited by Myers, Kathleen, Word from New Spain, p. 117.Google Scholar Isabel de la Encarnación provides a similar description. Godínez (unfoliated).

37 In the Apocalypse, death's horse is remarkably similar to a lion and has the teeth of a dragon. The horses of exterminating angels have “lions’ heads” and their power is located in their mouth and neck. They are also connected with evil and death. In the Apocalypse, death is mounted on an emaciated horse. Ausejo, p. 250–251.

38 Godínez (unfoliated).

39 Ibid.

40 de Santa Teresa, Agustina, “Cuaderno primero sobre la vida de la Venerable Madre María de Jesús” circa 1630, folio 14-14v.Google Scholar

41 The procession in question was for the Virgin's Assumption. It was held every three years. Godínez (unfoliated).

42 In polytheistic cults the bull was a symbol of virility. In Antiquity, its sacredness was linked to fecundity. The association of harmful powers with the negative values of animal symbolism can be observed in the way that so many demons are seen as the freed spirits of animals, especially those feared by humans. See Ausejo, passim.

43 Godínez (unfoliated).

44 Natividad, fols. 10–11 v.

45 In ancient mythology, the snake was often a demonic image or a cosmic monster of chaos. In Genesis 3 it is represented as a symbol of sexuality and human ambition. The Apocalypse identifies Satan as the snake in Genesis, cf. Barbaglio, p. 966.

46 Ausejo, pp. 1835–1839.

47 Natividad, fol. 25v. In a similar incident, demons attacked Isabel de la Encarnación “first in the face as a snake encircled her forehead and head tormenting her senses and making it hard for her to breathe … and the demon entered her ears and tormented her to such a degree that it was as if a dagger had been plunged into her brain, so that she could not move any limbs and was as if dead.” Godínez (unfoliated).

48 Godínez, (unfoliated). In this case the animals symbolize the deceit and seduction associated with the Devil. See Iguacen, Damián, Diccionario del patrimonio cultural de la Iglesia (Madrid, Ediciones, 1991), p. 897.Google Scholar

49 Godínez states that, since her childhood, she received a special assistance from God to fool the Devil and triumph over his “schemes” (unfoliated).

50 See Adam, Kendon, Conducting Interactive Patterns of Behavior in Focussed Encounters (London, Cambridge University Press, 1990).Google Scholar

51 Godínez (unfoliated).

52 Godínez (unfoliated).

53 Santa Teresa, fol. 19. Another vengeful demon showed up in the Carmelite convent where “the demons made Isabel feel the consequences of any good acts accomplished in the convent. There were demons that tormented the sisters, who walked among them, some in the form of dogs, others as cats. But the demons made all the nuns demented by tripping them and making them fall.” Natividad, fols. 6v-7.

54 Godínez (unfoliated).

55 Ibid.

56 Santa Teresa, folios 9–9V.

57 “It took many nuns, with all their strength, to prevent her from hitting the walls, so much so, that when I was walking with the same nuns, she would throw us all to the ground, and jump. She hit her head against the wall so many times that it was pitiful. It took so much strength to hold her so that she would not hit herself any more.” Natividad, folios 4-4v.

58 Godínez (unfoliated).

59 Some of the other torments included trying to choke her, dragging her along the ground, playing with her as if she were a ball, making her bustle about, “finally they treated her like another Job, causing her more pain than she could ever explain in words.” Godínez (unfoliated).