committing a sin:“If I or anyone else
does this, holds your hands and em-
braces you, since we are in God as we
are, it is no sin or bad thing.”Rival Faith
Tortured by remorse about what had
occurred, Francisca, his first victim,
reported the alms collector to the Se-
ville Inquisition. In her statement,
Francisca revealed her own and Tere-
sa’s encounters with the rogue monk.
The court summoned Teresa, and
based on the testimony of the two
women,thecalificadores—members
of the inquisitorial tribunal whoI
n its zeal for religious uniformity,
the Holy Office not only spied on
Spain’s lay population, but also
closely monitored the activities of
the priesthood and religious orders.
Clerics who abused their authority
were duly punished. But, as this tale
of a wayward monk reveals,the seri-
ousness of a crime in the eyes of the
Inquisition could often be less about
the acts committed than the hereti-
cal thinking behind them.
Juan Elías was a lay brother in the
Monastery of San Pedro Alcántara
in Seville,and he was about 50 when
the Inquisition turned its attention
to him around 1730. Juan Elías’s du-
ties consisted of collecting alms in
the city’s different neighborhoods.Reports describe how his calm
speech and sweet voice earned him
a reputation as a holy,virtuous man.
But he was not quite all he seemed.
During his visits, the monk en-
gaged in pious talk with the local
people, explaining the theology be-
hind the Lord’s Prayer and telling
them that all men are brothers before
God and that they should love one
another. On this pretext, he started
visiting a 35-year-old married wom-
an,Francisca.After gaining her trust,
he began to hold her hand and then
placed it on his thigh. On the next
occasion, he even embraced her in
her bedroom,reassuring her that his
intentions were pure and that he was
thinking only about God during their
times together.
A later meeting fol-
lowed, in which the
sources suggest that
Francisca started to dis-
courage the monk’s ad-
vances. Juan Elías turned
his attention instead to a
neighbor, a single wom-
an of 25, named Teresa.
Records from the time
describe how he as-
sured her that they could
be intimate withoutORONOZ/ALBUMA SPANISH MONK
17TH-CENTURY PAINTING BY
FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN1730
Brother Juan Elías
Teacher of a
Rival Faith
72 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019