Miguel de Molinos (baptised 29 June 1628 – 29 December 1696) was a Spanish mystic, the chief representative of the religious revival known as Quietism.
Biography
He was born in 1628 near Muniesa (Teruel), in Aragon, a village around south of Zaragoza. His birthdate is unknown, but church records indicate he was baptised on 29 June 1628. He moved to Valencia in his youth and undertook religious education with the Jesuits there at the College of St Paul. He was ordained in 1652, and seemingly took his doctorate shortly thereafter at Coimbra. He held a benefice in the church of Santo Tomas and was confessor to a community of nuns.
On 4 June 1662, Molinos was admitted to the local chapter of the School of Christ, a religious brotherhood that would play an important role in his later life in Rome. He seems in these early years in Valencia to have held a number of secondary roles in the chapter's leadership, at least one of which earned him a place on the chapter's governing body.
In July 1663, Molinos was chosen to travel to Rome as procurator of the cause of the beatification of the Venerable Francisco Jerónimo Simón (d. 1612), a secular cleric and beneficer of the parish of St Andrews in Valencia. He left Spain in late 1663; he would not return.
There is almost no specific evidence of Molinos's activities in Rome in 1663–1675. It is known that Molinos was affiliated with the Roman chapter of the School of Christ (and, by 1671 at the latest, had become its leader). He also became well known as a spiritual director – and it was in this role that he gained prominence as the leading advocate of the teaching and practice that would come to be known as Quietism. He was a regular correspondent with Princess Borghese, and counted as an admirer, Cardinal Benedetto Odescalchi, who in 1676 became Pope Innocent XI. He also paid frequent visits to the house of the exiled Christina, Queen of Sweden. He was also in these years working on the case of the Venerable Simón; by 1675, however, Molinos had to admit to his superiors in Valencia that the Congregation of Rites had refused to reconsider the case. Molinos's royal commission and line of credit were revoked, and he was deprived of his official position in the Valencian delegation in Rome.
In the same year, 1675, Molinos published his most famous work, the Spiritual Guide. The initial Spanish edition was quickly followed by an Italian translation entitled Guida spirituale, che disinvolge l'anima e la conduce per l'interior camino all' acquisito della perfetta contemplazione e del ricco tesoro della pace interiore (Spiritual Guide, which releases the soul and conducts it through the interior path to acquire the perfect contemplation and rich treasure of interior peace). The work was published with the usual approval from the ecclesiastical authorities – the book received the imprimatur from the Dominican Raimondo Capizucchi, the pope's own theologian, and the book opened with approbations by clergy of the Trinitarian, Franciscan, Carmelite, Capuchin and Jesuit orders. This was followed soon after in 1675 by a brief Trattato della cotidiana communione (Brief Treatise on Daily Communion), in which Molinos argued that those who wished to receive the Eucharist daily should not be denied by their confessor, so long as they were in a state of grace. Again, this work was approved by the censors of several orders.
Quietist controversy
According to Daniel-Rops, Molinos' recommended absolute passivity and contemplation in total repose of the spirit. Activity disrupts passive receptivity, therefore, even devotions are harmful, as they focus on something sensible, such as the Humanity of Christ. God allows sin in order to discipline and purify the soul, so it was wrong to resist temptation. Molinos's writings were extremely popular. By 1685 seven editions had been printed in Italy and three in Spain. Translations of the book were made into Latin (1687), French (1688), Dutch (1688), English (1688), and German (1699)
His ideas might have been condemned sooner but for the esteem in which he was held by Innocent XI, Capizucchi, and some influential cardinals. Inigo Caracciolo, Archbishop of Naples, said that in convents of religious women, sisters rejected vocal prayer in preference to the prayer of quiet. Cardinal Albizzi of the Holy Office, also took a dim view. Rumors spread throughout Rome denouncing Molinos' alleged conduct with his female penitents.