Miguel de Quintana’s Religion

Miguel de Quintana’s religious views evolved during his conflicts with local friars. In the beginning he utilized the metaphors then being propagated by the Franciscans to formulate his thoughts. His first poetic colloquia were addressed to Mary. In the second he said, she "frees you from the arrogant lion" and will intercede for him. In the third she said, "I am the refuge where the afflicted find solace."

When his problems with the friars persisted, Quintana turned directly to Jesus as represented in the Gospel of John. In that book, Jesus said "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Earlier he had said, "he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God."

In the fourth coloquio, the one in which he was transferring his allegiance from Mary to her son, Quintana referred to his writing as "the supreme and divine light granted to you by the immense power of God." In the next poem set he wrote, "God is who grants you that light" and added "Trust in Jesus, Miguel, for that light you carry is bright."

When that rendering of his relationship with Christ failed to persuade the Franciscans, Quintana appealed to the love Jesus had promised when he said, "as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you." In the same fourth coloquio quoted above, Quintana added "your poems and canticles raise you to Jesus, your God and sweet husband" and told the character Miguel "expect to be rewarded through His love."

When his problems with the friars continued, he turned to things he probably as taught was a student in Mexico City. At that time, Francisco Lomelí and Clark Colahan wrote the meditations of Miguel de Molinos were popular. They said the Spanish mystic had said "God is who He is." In the fifth coloquio, Quintana referred to "God is God," and repeated that phrase in his subsequent poems.

Finally, when he has been accused of listening to the devil, Quintana went beyond what he had been taught to describe a God very much like that of the Enlightenment, a God who "is very wise," is "Greek in His judgement," and "does not ask the impossible." He ultimately appealed to the implied reciprocity of John "I am come a light into the world; that whomsoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness."

His trajectory from received to independent thought was the one thing most feared by the Church. Molinos’ Spiritual Guide had been accepted by the Church when it was published in 1675, but when it stimulated others to seek mystical communions with God that bypassed the clergy, he was condemned by the Inquisition.

Quintana was never willing to make the confession of error that Molinos did in 1687 before he was sentenced to life in prison, while Quintana was still a youth. In his last coloquio, the God of John told the character Miguel, "do not fear those varied and different thoughts, for all are rightly guided by My love," and reminded him again, "the inner light that you enjoy is Miguel, from Jesus Christ and not an illusion of the devil."

Notes: Quotations in order are from Gospel of John 8:12, 3:21, 15:9, and 12:46. English translations from Douay version as the closest Roman Catholic one in time to Quintana.

Douay College. The Holy Bible, New Testament,1582 at Rheims.

Lomelí, Francisco A. and Clark A. Colahan. Defying the Inquisition in Colonial New Mexico, 2006.

Quintana, Miguel de. Coloquios, 1732 and 1737; originals and translations in Lomelí.

Wikipedia. Entry on "Miguel de Molinas."