Marina de Escobar
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2013) |
Venerable Marina de Escobar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal | |
| Born | 8 February 1554 Valladolid, Spain |
| Died | 9 June 1633 (aged 79) Valladolid, Spain |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Parents |
|
Marina de Escobar (8 February 1554 – 9 June 1633) was a Spanish Catholic mystic, and founder of a modified branch of the Brigittine Order.
Life
Marina was born in Valladolid, Spain, on 8 February 1554.[1] Her father, Iago de Escobar, was a professor of civil and canon law and for a time governor of Osuna; her mother was Margaret Montana, daughter of the Emperor Charles V's physician.[2] Marina was known for her piety from a young age, experiencing visions of the saints Bridget of Sweden, Gertrude the Great, and Matilda of Ringelheim.[1][3]
In 1568, Marina met Teresa of Avila, who discouraged Marina's ambition to join one of her discalced Carmelite convents.[3] Marina remained in her family home in Valladolid until 1603, when she and a group of other devout women moved into a property owned by Marina's family.[4] There, although bedridden after a 1603 accident, she made clothing for the poor and taught younger women.[4][5]
In 1615, a vision of Bridget of Sweden instructed Marina to found a branch of the Brigittine order.[4] This work was continued after Marina's death by Mariana de San José,[4] and the convent opened in 1637.[3]
Writings
Publication
Marina's spiritual guide was Luis de Ponte until his death in 1624, followed by Miguel de Oreña, rector of the Colegio de San Ambrosio; she also confessed to Luis de Ponte's brother Andrés.[2][4] Marina, whose health made it difficult for her to write, dictated accounts of her visions to the de Ponte brothers and to a secretary.[4] Luis de Ponte organized the writings and prepared them for publication.[4]
The collected writings were brought before the Spanish Inquisition under suspicion of heresy; it was suggested that Marina might be exhibiting alumbradismo or Quietism, and that her visions might not have been authentic.[4] As a result of this controversy, the causes for beatification of both Marina and Luis de Ponte were delayed for decades.[4] Jean Tanner, a Jesuit priest in Prague, published two influential works arguing for Marina's orthodoxy.[4]
The compiled edition of Marina's life and writings was eventually published at Madrid in 1664; a continuation by Pinto Ramírez followed in 1673.[4] It was translated into Latin by M. Hanel, S.J., and published again at Prague in 1672–1688, and in an enlarged edition at Naples 1690. A German translation in four volumes appeared in 1861.
Contents
The writings were published in one large volume and are divided into six books containing Luis de Ponte's remarks and her own, interspersed between the visions themselves. Book I treats of the means by which God had led her; II contains revelations about the mysteries of redemption; III about God and the Blessed Trinity; IV about guardian angels and the Blessed Virgin Mary's prerogatives; V gives means to help souls in purgatory and to save souls on earth; and VI reveals her perfection as shown under terrible sufferings.
The style of the work is free and flowing and she speaks with simplicity and naïve frankness. The visions are picturesque, and pleasing or alarming according to their subject, but the descriptions are mere outlines, leaving much to the imagination, and never going into details. Their variety is great, including: Daily communion and Satan's objection to it; mystic espousals; how the bodies of saints can appear in visions; internal stigmata; some saints with whom modern hagiographers have dealt harshly, as St. Christopher.
References
- ^ a b Pourrat, Pierre (1927). Christian Spirituality: Latter developments, pt. 1. From the Renaissance to Jansenism. P.J. Kenedey. pp. 213–214. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ a b Graham, Edward. "Ven. Marina de Escobar." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 10 Jun. 2013
- ^ a b c Lehfeldt, Elizabeth A. (5 July 2017). Religious Women in Golden Age Spain: The Permeable Cloister. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-351-90455-1. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Manning, Patricia W. (2021). "Publications by Jesuits". An Overview of the Pre-suppression Society of Jesus in Spain. Brill: 90–113. doi:10.1163/j.ctv1sr6hbh.19.
- ^ Reboiras, Fernando Domínguez, "Escobar, Marina de", Religion Past and Present 2011 ISBN 9789004146662
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ven. Marina de Escobar". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
