Spanish mystics

Part of a series on
Christian mysticism
Theology and philosophy Apophatic Ascetical Cataphatic Catholic spirituality Hellenistic Mystical theology Neoplatonic Henosis
Practices Monasticism Monasticism New Silence Asceticism Mendicant Spiritual direction Meditation Meditation Lectio Divina Invoking of Mystic Saints Active asceticism Contemplation Hesychasm Jesus Prayer Quietism Stages of Christian perfection Hesychia Divinization Catharsis Theosis Kenosis Spiritual dryness Religious ecstasy Passive asceticism Abstinence Esoteric Charismatic Esoteric
People (by era or century) Antiquity Ancient African Origen Thomasines Gregory of Nyssa Pseudo-Dionysius Desert Fathers Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Moses the Black Syncletica Athanasius John Chrysostom Hilarion John Cassian 11th · 12th Bernard of Clairvaux Guigo II Hildegard of Bingen Symeon the New Theologian 13th · 14th Dominican Dominic de Guzmán Franciscan Francis of Assisi Anthony of Padua Bonaventure Jacopone da Todi Angela of Foligno English Richard Rolle Walter Hilton Julian of Norwich Margery Kempe Flemish Beatrice of Nazareth Lutgardis Hadewijch John van Ruysbroeck German Meister Eckhart Johannes Tauler Henry Suso Female Beatrice of Nazareth Bridget of Sweden Catherine of Siena Mechthild of Magdeburg Marguerite Porete 15th · 16th Spanish Ignatius of Loyola Francisco de Osuna John of Ávila Teresa of Ávila John of the Cross Others Catherine of Genoa 17th · 18th French Margaret Mary Alacoque Pierre de Bérulle Jean-Jacques Olier Louis de Montfort Charles de Condren John Eudes John of St. Samson Others Mary of Jesus of Ágreda Anne Catherine Emmerich Veronica Giuliani Francis de Sales 19th Dina Bélanger Catherine Labouré Mélanie Calvat Maximin Giraud Bernadette Soubirous Conchita de Armida Luisa Piccarreta Mary of the Divine Heart Thérèse of Lisieux Gemma Galgani 20th Padre Pio Therese Neumann Marthe Robin Alexandrina of Balazar Faustina Kowalska Sister Lúcia of Fátima Edgar Cayce Simone Weil Alfred Delp Thomas Merton Charles de Foucauld Edvige Carboni Elena Aiello Contemporary papal views Aspects of meditation (Orationis Formas, 1989) Reflection on the New Age (2003)
Literature and media Lingua ignota Ordo Virtutum Scivias Ascent of Mount Carmel Dark Night of the Soul Spiritual Canticle Way of Perfection Book of the First Monks The Interior Castle Abbey of the Holy Ghost A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart The Glories of Mary The Imitation of Christ The Ladder of Divine Ascent Philokalia Revelations of Divine Love The Story of a Soul Theologia Germanica Devotio Moderna Fatima in Lucia's Own Words Calls from the Message of Fatima The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima Sol de Fátima The Cloud of Unknowing On the Consolation of Philosophy The Mirror of Simple Souls Sister Catherine Treatise Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii The Vision of Adamnán Divine Comedy Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso Fatima
v t e

Part of a series on
Catholic Counter-Reformation
Faith, or The Church Triumphant, a 1665 portrait by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Catholic Reformation and Revival
Councils and documents Council of Trent Exsurge Domine Decet Romanum Pontificem Confutatio Augustana Regimini militantis Ecclesiae Roman Catechism Nova ordinantia eclessiastica Defensio Tridentinæ fidei Regnans in Excelsis Ascendente Domino Immensa aeterni Dei Unigenitus
Politics Diet of Worms Catholic League Augsburg Interim European Wars of Religion Dalecarlian Rebellions German Peasants' War Wars of Kappel Tyrone's Rebellion Olav Engelbrektsson's rebellion Pilgrimage of Grace Bigod's rebellion Dacke War Schmalkaldic War Prayer Book Rebellion French Wars of Religion Strasbourg Bishops' War Thirty Years' War Bohemian Revolt Rohan Wars Jacobite rising of 1689
Spirituality Confraternities Devotionalism French school of spirituality Gregorian chant Ignatian spirituality Interior life Mariology Popular piety Rosary Sacred Heart Spanish mysticism Tridentine Mass Transubstantiation Works of mercy
Art Schools Mannerism Polyphony Baroque Flemish Baroque Spanish Golden Century Artists Federico Barocci Gian Lorenzo Bernini Michelangelo Caravaggio Annibale Carracci Ludovico Carracci Anthony van Dyck Domenico Fontana Artemisia Gentileschi Luca Giordano El Greco Jacobus de Kerle Giovanni Lanfranco Orlando di Lasso Bartolomé Esteban Murillo Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Mattia Preti Andrea Pozzo Scipione Pulzone Guido Reni Jusepe de Ribera Peter Paul Rubens Vincenzo Ruffo Tintoretto Titian Georges de la Tour Juan de Valdés Leal Francisco de Zurbarán
People People Teresa of Ávila Thomas More Clergy Robert Bellarmine Charles Borromeo Joseph Calasanz Peter Canisius Erasmus Ignatius of Loyola John Eck John Fisher John of the Cross Lawrence of Brindisi Péter Pázmány Philip Neri Matteo Ricci Cardinal Richelieu Francis de Sales Francisco Suárez Francis Xavier Monarchs Charles V Ferdinand II Leopold I Louis XIV Mary I Maximilian I Catherine de' Medici Philip II Sigismund I Sigismund III William V Popes Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Pius III Paul III Julius III Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V
Inquisition Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Excommunicable offences Index Librorum Prohibitorum Portuguese Inquisition Roman Inquisition Spanish Inquisition Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition
Philosophy and education Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum Pontifical Gregorian University Second scholasticism School of Salamanca Molinism
Religious orders Augustinian Recollects Barnabites Capuchins Discalced Augustinians Discalced Carmelites Jesuits Oratorians Piarists Theatines Ursulines
Related topics Catholic literary revival History of Germany Holy Roman Empire Nationalism in the Middle Ages Nation-building Proto-Protestantism Reformation Renaissance
Catholicism portal
v t e

The Spanish mystics are major figures in the Catholic Reformation who lived primarily in the 16th- and 17th-centuries. The goal of this movement was to reform the Church structurally and to renew it spiritually. The Spanish mystics attempted to express in words their experience of a mystical communion with Christ.^[1]

These writers had a strong influence on the development of the Spanish Language and were said to have ushered in the "Golden Age of Spanish Literature." At the beginning of the time period, the language was viewed as coarse; by the end, the language had achieved what is called "the high baroque style of Spanish," which in certain forms (especially in formal letter-writing) continues to influence Spanish usage to the present.

In addition to being examples of Christian holiness and major Spanish literary figures, the Spanish Mystics were also real reformers in the Church. Their writings inspired a religious quest for God based on desire rather than obligation and medieval legalism, and three of them went on to found or reform religious orders that would carry on their work across continents and centuries.

• Teresa de Cartagena (writer)

• Grove of the Infirm
• Wonder at the Works of God

• St. Teresa of Ávila, OCD

• The Interior Castle
• The Way of Perfection

• St. John of the Cross, OCD (poet)

• Dark Night of the Soul
• Ascent of Mount Carmel

• St. Ignatius of Loyola, SJ

• The Spiritual Exercises
• Autobiography

• St. Francis de Borja, SJ
• Luis de León, OESA (poet)
• Venerable Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, OIC (writer)

• Mystical City of God

• Fernando de Herrera (poet)
• Blessed Ramon Lull, TOSF (philosopher of the 14th century)

• Gertrudis Anglesola
• Bernardo de Hoyos
• María Rafols Bruna