Angélico Chávez noted Miguel de Quintana, in the coloquio he wrote in 1732 and 1737, avoided "anything that reminded him of sin and hell." He ascribed it to a conscience that had become abnormally fixated on its sins.
That comment made me realize that Quintana was more specific. His imagination was paralyzed by the contemplation of the "Sorrowful Mysteries," the ones today called The Agony in the Garden, The Scourging at the Pillar, The Crowning with Thorns, The Carrying of the Cross, and The Crucifixion. He stopped doing exercises suggested at meetings of the Third Order, which probably included beating himself.
I wondered if his problem wasn’t mental or spiritual as suggested by Chávez, but physical. In 1734, Manuel de Sopeña said Quintana "rarely goes to mass, giving as an excuse pain in the spleen." A few years later, Quintana wrote Juan Sánchez de la Cruz, "both of my bones are somewhat better."
Within his world of the four humors, the spleen was responsible for black bile. When the fluid sank into the joints it caused arthritis and rheumatism. The organ was associated with a melancholy temperament that, according to David Osborn, were associated with "dark, morose emotions."
Today, the terms arthritis and rheumatism are applied to any pain in the joints. Within the constellation of causes, rheumatoid arthritis is recognized as a degenerative disease that appears in middle age. It starts when part of the immune system turns on itself, and begins attacking the synovial fluid that lubricates joints. This leads to self-perpetuating chain of damage to bone cells followed by chemical overreactions that leads to more injury.
The inflammation or swelling of joints combined with reduced synovial fluid makes movement difficult. The emergency chemicals send messages through the nerves to the brain that register as pain. When the pain becomes chronic, the brain begins to direct avoidance behaviors that may exaggerate the effects of actions that cause pain. These stimuli are concrete and physical.
As mentioned in the post for 19 June 2016, Quintana was raised in Ciudad de México where masses were said by secular clergy. He probably didn’t confront the Franciscan emphasis on salvation through reenacting the agonies of Christ until he was in Santa Cruz. Their practices probably didn’t affect him until he was already in such pain he didn’t need reminders of it in sermons or in penances.
He told the local head of the Inquisition, José Antonio Guerrero, in 1734, that Cruz once "spoke about the punishments suffered by the damned in hell, and he felt his heart and spirit so distressed that it seemed to him - such was the terror that came over him - that he was going to be damned."
One suspects that whenever his pain was flaring, he became more afraid of exposing himself to additional reminders. He said the previous September "he was overcome with terror and great fear while coming to mass."
He added that, "If he starts praying the rosary, it happens that in the mysteries he loses his voice because of the pain, stays in a trance, and he remains alone in contemplation."
One rather assumes, when confronted with recollections of pain his mind simply shut down to protect itself from painful stimuli, whether visual, auditory, or physical. Such avoidance reactions can be counterproductive when they prevent people with joint problems from exercising them. They also can be hazardous when they cause people to withdraw from social activities in anticipation of harm.
Quintana himself may have recognized this danger. The mere existence of his interior dialogues suggested he had enough self-awareness to try to try to overcome his apprehensions. God constantly was admonishing, "Don’t be such a coward, Miguel."
He said that, even though he was afraid to go to that mass, "he felt other forces that urged him, saying ‘Hear mass! Hear mass!’ and he went to mass and felt an unsurpassable rejoicing in his soul."
Notes:
Chávez, Angélico. "The Mad Poet of Santa Cruz," New Mexico Folklore Record 3:10-17:1949.
Guerrero, José Antonio. Interrogation of Miguel de Quintana, 8 November 1734, Santa Fé; in Lomelí.
Lomelí, Francisco A. and Clark A. Colahan. Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico, 2006; contains Spanish and English versions of all documents described here.
Osborn, David K. "Pathologies of Black Bile," Greek Medicine website.
Quintana, Miguel de. Coloquio, 1732, Santa Cruz, reprinted in Spanish and English by Lomelí.
Sopeña, Manuel de. Verification of previous statement to José Antonio Guerrero, 4 November 1734, Santa Fé; included in Lomelí.
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