Kathleen Pond
The following article on Fr. Jerome Gracián was written by Kathleen Pond and taken from the Discalced Carmelite Quarterly, Mount Carmel, Vol. 12, No. 4, Spring 1965. The story of Fr. Gracián is an ever-interesting one. Expelled by the Discalced Carmelites, Fr. Gracián spent time in captivity and suffered much. In 1999, the General Definitory issued an official declaration of rehabilitation for Fr. Gracián (see Carmelite Digest, Vol. 15, No. 3, Summer 2000). Reprinted with permission.
Perhaps one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of the sixteenth and early seventeenth century Carmelites in Spain is that of Fr. Jerome Gracián of the Mother of God. At first sight, he appears imprudent and headstrong, if not disobedient. Was it not Fr. Gracián who persuaded St. Teresa to make the foundation of nuns at Seville despite the opposition of the superiors of the Carmelite Order? A closer examination will show that this is not the whole picture and will convince us that not only was Gracián much misunderstood but a man of real holiness of life.
Born in 1545 at Valladolid, then the capital of Spain, of an impoverished but distinguished family, Gracián seemed destined for some employment at court. 
His father had been secretary to Charles V and two of his numerous brothers, Antonio and Tomás (the family numbered nineteen brothers and sisters), served Philip II in the same capacity. A third brother, Luis, was secretary to the queen regent of Sicily. Yet Gracián himself sought a higher service. He tells us in his autobiographical Peregrinacion de Anastasio, the chief source for his life, that he had to struggle with his vocation for about eighteen months. He felt unsuited to religious life naturally on account of his lack of health and natural weakness. Moreover, he doubted his capacity for the particular studies it involved. At first he thought of offering himself to the Society of Jesus, but his burning desire to belong to an order devoted to Our Lady prevailed, and he entered the Carmelite Reform at Valladolid in 1572. Shortly after taking the habit, he was sent to Pastrana, the first important novitiate of the Reform, about thirty-five miles northwest of Alcala de Henares. Here in the absence of the prior, such severe austerities were introduced by Fr. Angel de San Gabriel that St. John of the Cross had to intervene and moderate them. Even as a novice, Gracián was placed in a position of authority owing to the lack of subjects at this time of the Reform’s beginnings. He was disturbed by the excessive austerities and even thought of leaving and transferring to the Calced friars. He was reassured and confirmed in his vocation by Mother Isabel, prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Pastrana. His diet during one whole Lent in the Pastrana monastery was soup and turnips, and his feet were swollen and purple from walked barefooted in the snow.
In 1573, at the age of twenty-eight and with only six months’ profession behind him, Gracián was appointed apostolic visitor by Fr. Francisco Vargas, provincial of the Dominican Order and apostolic visitor of the Calced Carmelites of Andalusia. This was in contradiction to the wishes of the general of the Order, and it led to considerable trouble.
Later, in August of 1575, Gracián was appointed apostolic visitor of both the Calced and Discalced Carmelites in Andalusia by Papal Nuncio Ormaneto. Gracián tried to persuade Cardinal Quiroga to write to the king on his behalf so that he might be released from the office of visitor to the Calced, saying that he feared death at their hands. Cardinal Quiroga’s reply was, “Who are we to trust ourselves to but to men like you who don’t fear death?” When, however, Gracián went to the Calced monastery in Seville and presented his brief as visitor, the friars refused to accept it and closed the doors against him. Calumnies and insults did not fail to follow. Such was Gracián’s fear of being poisoned in the houses of the Calced friars that he would eat nothing there but eggs cooked in their shells.
In June of 1577, Nuncio Ormaneto died. It was his commission Gracián had held when as apostolic visitor in Andalusia he governed Calced and Discalced. Ormaneto was succeeded in his office by Philip Sega who was no friend to the Carmelite Reform. However, he sent for Gracián and told him to continue his visitation. The latter, feeling some doubt as to the canonical position, went to the king who had given him Ormaneto’s brief and the letters for the visitation and asked what he should do. Philip II told Gracián to suspend his work while he wrote to the Pope to find out whether a particular commission from Rome, such as Ormaneto had, was necessary in order to continue the visitation. Thus Gracián found himself faced with a problem of divided authority.
The king said he was not to comply with the nuncio’s request until the reply came from Rome. Sega complained loudly and blamed Gracián for frustrating the apostolic jurisdiction. The Pope’s reply was the nuncio should not meddle with the friars except in cases when he was specifically asked to do so by the king. Sega, who was of a harsh disposition, was exceedingly angry at the turn of events, more especially at certain reports that Gracián had given to the king, pointing out the great inconvenience that would arise in the religious orders in Spain if nuncios issued briefs contrary to the instructions of the orders’ superiors. Sega lost no time in acting. Fr. Gracián; Fr. Antonio de Jesus, who was one of St. Teresa’s first two friars, the other being St. John of the Cross; and Fr. Mariano were excommunicated. All three were imprisoned in Madrid. Fr. Mariano was confined in the monastery of Nuestra Senora de Atocha, Fr. Antonio in that of the Discalced Franciscans at San Bernardino. Fr. Gracián was imprisoned in the house of the Calced Carmelites who, annoyed at his visitation, treated him badly. The prisoners could neither say nor hear Mass. Ormaneto talked at this time of subjecting the Discalced Carmelite friars to the Calced; but in the meantime, Philip II wrote to the Pope asking that Calced and Discalced should be erected into separate provinces.
Sega then demanded Gracián’s condemnation. Fr. Gracián feared that if he accepted the condemnation, Sega’s sentence would be harsh. But, much more, he feared the fact that he would remain under a cloud all his life and would lose the fruit he might gain for the Church with his talents. Therefore he felt himself bound in conscience to defend his honor. If, on the other hand, he obeyed the nuncio and appointed a commissioner to go to Andalusia for him and investigate matters, there were three difficulties. First, Gracián was entirely without resources; the friars would give him no money, and he felt it was not reasonable to approach his parents. Second, he feared that those who had calumniated him to the nuncio would uphold the false accusations they had made. Third, he feared that this step would bring about the subjection of the Discalced to the Calced. After consulting theologians who reassured him that he was under no strict obligation to defend his honor, Gracián decided not to do so and accepted the condemnation. He adopted this course solely with a view to the good of the Discalced, that they might not be subjected to the Calced friars.he nuncio sentenced Gracián to deprivation of any voice in chapter. He was to be confined in the monastery of Alcala de Henares with numerous fasts, disciplines, and prayers. He was allowed to say Mass there, however, and the rector, Fr. Elias, several times sent him, when he himself was ill, to hold chapter in his place. From this, fresh trouble arose, for three of the Alcala friars wrote to Sega complaining that, despite his sentence, Gracián was intervening in the government of the monastery.
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