Countering the "Heretics": Miracle Books and Marian Devotion in Early Modern Spain

• In Event: Reformation in the Spanish Empire

Abstract

Spanish “miracle books,” or histories of local shrines, acquired new meanings in the aftermath of the Protestant reformations. In response to the Protestant rejection of “superstitious” practices, spiritual authorities such as Teresa de Ávila re-imagined sacred images and their veneration as powerful weapons in the arsenal of a Church struggling against the perceived heresy of Protestantism. While Teresa addressed a relatively narrow audience, popular Marian shrines—including Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Santa María Vulnerata, and Nuestra Señora de la Peña de Francia—attracted huge crowds of pilgrims for annual devotions or romerías. I examine the late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century miracle books for these shrines to argue that they did more than simply recount tales of marvelous cures and conversions; they characterized romerías as front lines in the battle to against heresy. They were, therefore, critical bridges between church doctrines and “popular” practice.

Author

• Thomas C. Devaney, University of Rochester