Fray José de Sigüenza. Instrucción de maestros, escuela de novicios, arte de perfección religiosa y monásticaedición crítica y estudio

Zusammenfassung

This thesis consists of a critical edition of the work Instrucción de Maestros y Escuela de Novicios. Arte de Perfección Religiosa y Monástica {Instruction for Masters and School of Novices. Art of Religious and Monastic Perfection) by the spiritual master and most distinguished Fray José de Sigtienza, historian of the Order of San Jerónimo, prior of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Santo Tomé del Puerto, abbot of Parraces. We have based our work on the two editions kept in the Royal Monastery of El Escorial. The first edition, by José Rodriguez (1712), licensed in Madrid, is composed of a summary of the life of the Venerable Father Fray José de Sigüenza, written by Father Fray Francisco de los Santos; a prologue; the plot of the aforementioned work; and four treatises. The first treaty, which is in its turn divided into twelve chapters, deals with the profession of novice master, with the features necessary to carry out this job correctly, and with the difficulties that could be found in such employment. In the second, subdivided in eight chapters, the topics dealt with are the main religious ceremonies and customs and the way in which a religious person is expected to behave in every moment and in every place. The third treaty, entitled �De la oración� (on prayer), is organised in ten chapters and describes what other great authors had formulated about this topic, which is the main study and employment that a novice must have along his whole life according to the author studied in our work. For this reason, he speaks about its different parts, about the correct way to prepare for it, about meditation, about contemplation... The fourth treaty has seven chapters and is focused on the remedies that a novice needs to take into account in order to fight against some of the temptations that he is most likely to face: lack of devotion, the exercise of virtues, suspicion, certain vices... The second edition of this work is from 1793, and it includes two new treatises. The first one is written by Father Sigüenza as well, in the second part of his Historia de la Orden de San Jerónimo {History of the Order of Saint Jerome). This first added treaty deals with the way in which former Fathers educated the novices, how they taught them and gave them advice on the great mysteries and the sacraments performed in the holy ceremonies. The second one is a short treaty on confession, in which the main topic is the way in which virtuous and educated people confessed. In this treaty, we can also find the final chapter of this work completed, a chapter that the author had left unfinished in the first edition. This spiritual instruction is specially addressed to novices, and was written with the purpose of helping them follow a path of Christian perfection and cultivate the virtues associated to it, so that they could pursue their vocation and be an example for everyone. Thus, the correct education of the religious youth becomes deeply important for such purpose. In this book, Father Sigüenza expressed what he put into practice in his religious life. Perhaps because of this coherence, the spiritual master managed to have such a happy life. He was bom in Sigüenza in 1544, and the liveliness of his discourse was already known when was only twelve years old. He had a great command of grammar, rhetoric and philosophy. Moreover, he had a considerable knowledge of music, had a great ability to compose poetry, was an important humanist, and an expert in mathematics and Canon Law. However, he showed preference towards Expository Theology, the true science of God, as his wish was to understand what Jesus Christ himself understood. Due to this inclination, he left his scholastic studies and came back to the Royal Monastery of El Parral to pursue this motivation, and became a disciple of the Great Jerónimo. In this time, the sermons that Father Sigüenza gave in Segovia reached the ears of King Phillip II. The admiration of the monarch was such that he called for him to ask him to preach during the festivities in El Escorial. Every day, he read two lessons (one on arts and the other on the Holy Scriptures) to help the young of the school to meditate. It was during this time that he wrote Instrucción de Maestros y Escuela de Novicios. Arte de Perfección Religiosa y Monástica {Instruction for Masters and School of Novices. Art of Religious and Monastic Perfection), the price of which was established in six maravedís . In the monastery of El Escorial, he met the extremely erudite Arias Montano, in whom Sigüenza found what he was looking for. He became his disciple and Montano felt such esteem for him that he even dedicated some comments to him in some of his psalms. When Arias Montano went off to Aracena, José de Sigüenza took his place in the Royal Library of San Lorenzo of El Escorial. In 1606, at the age of sixty-two, he died and was buried in a common sepulchre of the monks of this Royal Monastery.