Las beatas de Baeza

Abstract

En Baeza durante el siglo XVI, existió una notable comunidad de beatas, encuadrada por testigos contemporáneos a ellas, entre unas 1.000 o 2.000. Eran mujeres que elegían dedicarse a la vida religiosa, no se casaban y tampoco eran monjas, no entraban a conventos, vivían fuera de toda institución eclesiástica, sin ataduras jurídicas, sin superior, ni regla ni normas a las que regirse. Entendían su religiosidad de manera diferente, basada en una unión íntima con Jesucristo, llevando una vida de recogimiento y penitencia. Aunque la religiosidad de las beatas, también estuvo estrechamente unida a los fenómenos místicos e íntimamente involucradas con la secta de Alumbrados baezanos, movimiento de religiosidad herética, que les trajo acusaciones inquisitoriales y desprestigio. En resumen, una original comunidad de mujeres que lograron conseguir amplios rangos de autonomía y libertad en la rígida sociedad del siglo XVI.

Throughout the 16th century, Baeza was the location of a notable community of Blesseds and their contemporary witnesses, they were 1.000 or 2.000 approximately. The Blessed were women who chose to devote their lives to religion so they didn´t marry, but they weren´t nuns either. They didn´t visit any church since they were not part of any ecclesiastic institution, and no legal ties or superior figures had power upon them. They understood their religiousness in a different way, it was based on a close union with God and a life of recollection and penitence. Moreover, their religiousness was inextricably linked to mystical phenomena and they were related to a sect ruled by those who were called ‘Los Alumbrados baezanos’. This sect was regarded by the Inquisition with pity and scorn due to its heretic origins, fact that brought problems to the blessed who were accused and discredited by the Inquisition. In summary, even though the 17th-century society was strict and severe they became an original community of women who surprisingly achieved a great range of autonomy and freedom.