La reforma espiritual de Santa Teresa de Jesús y su relación con las facciones cortesanas de la Monarquía hispana

Abstract

The presence of converted Jews in the family history of Teresa of Jesus was experienced by her with intense anxiety. Not merely because of the rejection shown by the Castilian society towards the converted Jews, but above all because of her fear of not being completely integrated into the mystic body of the Church. Her eagerness to show the contrary, her complete integration in both the Church and the Catholic Castilian society, took her to the practice of a radical spirituality, which took shape in the reform of her order. However, this spirituality was not in line with the political religious interests of the elites of Old Christians which directed the Monarchy of Philip II during the first half of his reign, but with the spirituality proposed by Rome after the Council of Trent. To be able to carry out the reform, the Saint had to convince and to persuade both Rome and the monarch that her religious foundations were according to their desires. She was successful in this "double game" just until the moment of her death.