Miguel de Molinos

Founder of Quietism, born at Muniesa, Spain, 21 December, 1640;
died at Rome, 28 December, 1696. In his youth he went to Valencia,
where, having been ordained priest and received the degree of
doctor, he held a benefice in the church of Santo Tomas and was
confessor to a community of nuns. He pretended to be a disciple of
the Jesuits and quoted them as his authority in his differences
with the university. In 1662 he went to Rome as procurator in the
cause of the beatification of Venerable Jer�nimo Sim�n. Here,
after residing in various other places, he finally took up his
abode at the church of Santo Alfonso which belonged to the Spanish
Discalced Augustinians. The Jesuits and Dominicans having accused
him of pernicious teachings, the Inquisition ordered his books to
be examined. He defended himself well and was acquitted; but again
Cardinal d'Estrees, French ambassador at Rome, acting on
instructions from Paris, denounced him to the authorities In May,
1685, the Holy Office formulated charges against him and ordered
his arrest. The report of the process was read on 3 September,
1687, in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in the
presence of an immense concourse of people gathered for the
occasion by means of grants of indulgences; he was declared a
dogmatic heretic, sentenced to life imprisonment, to be
perpetually clothed in the penitential garb, to recite the Credo
and one-third of the Rosary, and to make confession four times
every year. He received the sacraments on his death bed. He taught
interior annihilation, asserting that this is the means of
attaining purity of soul, perfect contemplation, and the rich
treasure of interior peace: hence follows the licitness of impure
carnal acts, inasmuch as only the lower, sensual man, instigated
by the demon, is concerned in them. In the cases of seventeen
penitents he excused their lascivious acts, and claimed that those
committed by himself were not blameworthy, as free will had no
part in them.

Innocent XI, in the Bull "Coelestis Pastor" (2 November, 1687),
condemned as heretical, suspect, erroneous, scandalous, etc.,
sixty-eight propositions which Molinos admitted to be his, being
convicted of having asserted them in speech and in writing,
communicated them to others, and believed them--propositions which
are not those of the "Gu�a Espiritual" alone. Moreover, the pope
prohibited and condemned all his works, printed or in manuscript.
Molinos had followers in abundance; when he was arrested, it is
said that twelve thousand letters from persons who consulted him
were found in his possession. More than two hundred persons at
Rome fond themselves implicated in the affair; several communities
of nuns practised the "prayer of quiet", while the inquisitorial
proceedings in Italy lasted until the eighteenth century. In
Spain, the Bishop of Oviedo, taken to Rome and imprisoned in the
Castle of Santo Angelo, the priest Juan de Causadas, and the
Carmelite lay brother Juan de Longas, who corrupted a convent of
religious women, were all punished as disciples of Molinism. In
France, the semiquietism of Fenelon and Jeanne Guyon took from
Molinos only the teaching of "pure love".

Among the writings of Molinos may be mentioned the following:

�  "La devoci�n de la buena muerte" (published at Valencia, 1662,
under the name of Juan Bautista Catal�);

�  "La Gu�a espiritual" (published first in Italian, at Rome,
1675, then, in Spanish at Madrid, 1676), approved by various
theologians and by ecclesiastical authority, so much so that
twenty editions appeared in twelve years, in Latin (1687), French,
English (1685), German (1699), etc.;

�  "Tratado de la Comuni�n cuotidiana" (1687).

ANTONIO PIREZ GOYENA
Transcribed by Paul T. Crowley
Dedicated to the Sacred Heart

From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc. Taken from the New Advent Web Page
(www.knight.org/advent).

This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the  entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this  worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For  more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.

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