Return to search

An Internal Dilemma: Different Approaches to Handling Melancholia in Early Modern Spanish Religious Orders

This study argues that religious orders in early modern Spain developed informal sets of procedures to handle the consequences of melancholia in their communities. It also argues that three influential members of these orders, San Ignacio de Loyola of the Jesuits, and San Teresa de Avila and San Juan de la Cruz of the Discalced Carmelites, tailored these protocols according to their own private concerns and experience with the disease. The changing discourse surrounding melancholia and similar diseases during the early modern period, alongside the unique environmental concerns of these newly founded orders, created a need for new methods of dealing with the disruptions caused by melancholic members of the clergy. These solutions formed out of the immediate needs within each order, but ultimately defined the relationship between melancholic brothers and sisters and their communities.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:uky.edu/oai:uknowledge.uky.edu:history_etds-1039
Date01 January 2016
CreatorsNau, Jesse T.
PublisherUKnowledge
Source SetsUniversity of Kentucky
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations--History

Page generated in 0.0026 seconds