Saint Teresa of Avila and the Inquisition

Teresa and the Inquisition

As Teresa deepened in her journey with the Lord, she continued with her daily life, fully living her commitment to her vocation as a nun, as well as to her immediate family. But this would turn into a time of struggle of the worst kind, a time when she would suffer one of her most painful temptations. She was plagued with doubts she had never had before: that her mystical experiences could be the work and deception of the devil.

It was a scary time! The Inquisition, established under the reign of Ferdinand and Queen Elizabeth, but dormant for a long time under Charles V, was suddenly resurrected by an incident that set fire to fires that were best left to extinguish. There was a nun whose reputation for holiness extended even to the Crown. The people, faithful to the Church, came from far and near on pilgrimage, to ask her prayers, taking with them the objects they had touched, such as relics. Members of the royal family held his holiness in such high esteem that they asked him to pray and intercede with our Lord Jesus for them. His reputation for intense fasting and sacrifice was accompanied by the claim that he had received the Stigmata8 from Our Lord Jesus. The Nun Magdalena de la Cruz also made it known that she lived strictly on the Consecrated Host, without the need for any other food to sustain life.

The Inquisition, suspecting, arrested and interrogated Magdalena, after which she made such a diabolical confession that it led to her imprisonment. He told the Cordoba inquisitors that he was not a Catholic, but an Alumbrada, a secret sect exposed a generation earlier by the Inquisition. It was an anti-Christian secret society that had been paralyzing Europe by undermining the teachings of Christ and his call for unity under the one true cross.

Today, as we are being insidiously attacked from within and without by a perilous and widespread heresy, which has been given the name New Age, the characteristics of the Illuminated sound suspiciously familiar.

The sect of the Alumbrados was also of oriental origin, derived from Buddhism. As with the sects of today, he advocated that the soul escape from all reality and implication, delving into itself to the exclusion of everyone and everything that surrounded it, seeking and reaching a state of nothing, the mind completely blank. . Today, people who have escaped the cults of today speak of the many who lost their minds as a result of this kind of mind-blowing meditation. Psychiatrists say that giving up total control of the mind is quite possibly flirting with insanity. The result is the annihilation of one’s individual consciousness and individual personality, and ultimately death. Many of the heresies throughout the centuries, even though they were Christian, were influenced by Eastern philosophy, in the sense that some denied the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, others His Divinity, and others the Holy Trinity. , advocating trust in feelings and intuition, rather than the true teachings of the Catholic Church.

The Alumbrado, closely allied with the devil, used his devious tactics; they took Christian expressions and truths and distorted them by using them against Christ and his followers. Following the model of other heretics, they taught that only God was to be obeyed, that Jesus had not delegated to others to guide and lead the Church towards Him and His Father. They advocated the distrust and fear of all who did not believe in their false doctrines. They promoted disobedience and infidelity. If an Alumbrada was married, she would detest the Sacrament of Matrimony. If she was religious, she should avoid other religious who would not embrace the doctrine of Alumbrado, lest they try to lead her back to Jesus and His Church.

Magdalena de la Cruz confessed to being a devil worshiper. The devil had induced her, at the age of seven, to feign holiness and the wounds of the stigmata. At the age of eleven, with the help of two demons who visited her periodically, she had administered the wounds on her hands, feet and side, imitating the Wounds of Our Beloved Lord Jesus. it became impervious to needle sticks and other forms of testing. He had been able to fool everyone into believing that he lived alone in the Sacred Host for twelve years, until one day food was discovered hidden in his cell in the Convent.

As incredulous as it may sound, although everyone who knew Teresa could clearly see that she was humble and sincere, she soon fell under suspicion. The townspeople began to whisper that she was like Magdalena de la Cruz. The problem with false mystics like Magdalena is that they can very skillfully imitate the external signs of a true mystic like Teresa. Although Teresa was for a long time free from the need to receive the approval of the world, she began to doubt her gifts, to believe that the townspeople might be right. Suppose you have been deceived by the evil one! She brought this fear to a priest whom she respected very much. This questioning of herself should have been proof that she was not an Enlightened, as they were hardly known for any kind of humility or sincerity.

Her friends, who loved her, began to conjecture whether Teresa’s gifts were from God or from the devil. A person whose opinions he valued suggested that he seek the spiritual advice of an exemplary priest known for his love of the Blessed Sacrament and for bringing many back to the Church. He was reputed to be a holy and truly trustworthy priest. Due to his humility, and always striving for perfection, he confessed what he called his terrible imperfections. The priest, concluding that the Lord would not give favors, as she said, to someone with all his faults, ordered her to abandon all forms of mental prayer.

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