Was Saint John of Avila Jewish?
Much like the famous Roman Catholic Carmelite saints of the European Counter-Reformation – Saint Teresa of Avila (1) and Saint John of the Cross – (2) the prominent Catholic saint (and a favourite of the Jesuit order) Saint John of Avila is often claimed to have been of jewish origins.
For example, Antonio Dominguez Ortiz claims that there is ‘no reasonable doubt’ that Saint John wasn’t of jewish origins (3) because his ‘convert background’ was ‘so notorious’ that it made it hard for him to enter the Jesuit order. (4) Dominguez Ortiz also trots out the claim that Saint John argued that the jews shouldn’t be accused of Deicide as evidence that he was of ‘jewish origins’ (5) by which he means that Saint John was of ‘New Christian’ (i.e., converso = converted jewish) origin.
The problem with this is that despite the fact that it gets repeated again and again there doesn’t appear to be any actual evidence to support such an accusation given that some claim his father Alfonso de Avila was jewish (6) and others claim that Alfonso de Avila as well as Saint John’s mother Catherine Chicona (alternatively Xixon or Gijon) were both of the descendants of converted jews. (7)
These allegations in the literature are both decidedly modern – for example Ignatius Smith in the ‘Catholic Encyclopaedia’ in 1910 knows nothing of them (8) and nor apparently does J. C. Wilkie in his 2003 entry on Saint John in the ‘New Catholic Encyclopaedia’ – (9) and seemingly based on ‘castles in the air’ conjured by modern writers about highly speculative ‘jewish origins’ of Spanish saints concerning which Colin Thompson poignantly warned in 2002. (10)
This is because there has been – to my knowledge – no evidence presented that Alfonso de Avila or Catherine Chicona were of jewish origins at all and the theory as to the ‘jewish origins’ of Saint John are purely based on a rather selective reading of events of his life and his theology.
What few biographical details we have of Saint John – for example that he was born in the town of Almodovar del Campo on 6th January 1500 and died in Montilla on 10th May 1569 – largely come his first biographer who had access to Saint John’s first disciples and those who knew him – Fr. Luis de Granada of the Dominican Order – who do not mention or imply any jewish ancestry whatsoever. (11)
Indeed, Saint John’s biographers about two centuries after his death quite clearly state that his parents’ families had ‘untainted faith’ (i.e., were ‘Old Christians’ not ‘New Christians’) which is completely at odds with modern attempts to style Saint John as a converted jew. (12)
It is a modern biographer – Joan Francis Gormley – however who despite believing the ‘Saint John was a jewish convert’ claim actually explains the ‘evidence’ that is so commonly cited and also why it isn’t true.
She begins by stating that it is a ‘certain fact’ that Saint John was jewish but note that she claims this the only thing we know about him ‘for certain’ which is decidedly odd if it were true:
‘Though information about Father Avila’s family life is scarce, consisting of little more than a few anecdotes that may or may not have their basis in fact, there is one certain fact that had enormous consequences for him throughout his life. His father was of Jewish ancestry, and his mother may also have been Jewish.’ (13)
However, then she begins to indirectly reveal the details which allegedly ‘confirm’ this ‘certainty’ which are that his family was from the region - Ciudad Real - where the famous popular riots against jews and a mass forced conversion of the jews had taken place over a century earlier. (14)
The fact that Saint John opposed the official doctrine of limpeza de sangue on theological grounds (15) and because it would been expedient to support it, he is thus argued to be of ‘New Christian’ origins. This is often buttressed by the claim that he was ‘rejected’ by the Jesuits because these same origins. (16)
Some scholars also cite Saint John’s denunciation to the Spanish Inquisition in 1531 for stating that those the inquisition had burned in as part of the ritual of the auto-da-fé had been better Christians than those who burned them as evidence of this. (17)
Others further cite Saint John’s withdrawal in 1517 from his studies at the University of Salamanca as evidence of ‘anti-converso discrimination’ and thus imply that Saint John was of converso heritage. (18)
However, these arguments are easily shown to be an elaborate ‘castles in the air’ with little to actually support them – as Thompson grumbled about historians doing – (19) in the first instance Saint John and his family being from the Ciudad Real region is not ‘evidence’ that they were of converted jewish origin.
Since while there were indeed popular anti-jewish riots and a mass baptism that took place there in the late fourteenth century; (20) there is no evidence provided that Saint John’s parents’ families were part of this just speculation that they were.
This claim is simply surmise based on no evidence and rather than assume the majority situation (that they were ‘Old Christians’ and not ‘New Christians’) proponents assume that they were per force part of a local minority which is simply ridiculous to do without any kind of evidence to support such a position.
Next, we have Saint John’s opposition to the doctrine of limpeza de sangue which is the most frequently cited piece of ‘evidence’ that is brought forward in support of his allegedly being of ‘New Christian’ origins. Since – so the argument goes – it would have been in Saint John’s interest to support limpeza de sangue as the official doctrine of the Spanish and Portuguese Catholic Churches of the time.
The problem with this of course is Saint John was a clerical reformer not a careerist and this argument assumes that he would have done whatever was in the interest of his career in the church – which he never did throughout his life and ministry – not what he personally thought was the correct ‘spirit of the gospel’ and should be done.
This placed Saint John on the theological left so-to-speak within the Catholic church in that he promoted a universalist interpretation of ‘neither Jew nor Greek’ in that if someone had been baptised and was seemingly a Catholic in good standing and piety then you should take them as such and not hold their jewish or Muslim ancestors against them and be suspicious of them because of it. (21)
The latter is important precisely because proponents that Saint John was a converted jew frequently forget to the mention the same logic could be used to argue that he was a converted Muslim (i.e., a morisco) instead!
The claim that he couldn’t enter the Jesuits because his ‘jewish origins were so notorious’ (22) is simply wrong in part because the Jesuits were notoriously filled with ‘New Christians’ – (23) in part because their founder Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a flagrant philo-Semite – (24) and the truth was that Saint John didn’t seek entry into the Society of Jesus but rather was a strong supporter from outside the order and actively recruited for it. (25)
So where did this idea come from?
Well because Saint John got upset that the Jesuits still made a show of claiming to adhere to limpeza de sangue despite not actually doing so which Saint John criticised them for since he argued they should take good Christian candidates with jewish and/or Muslim ancestors regardless of their ancestry and all that matters was the sincerity of their conversion and their faith. (26)
This has since been transmuted by modern historians to mean he was ‘rejected’ by the Society of Jesus because he was a ‘notorious converso’ which simply isn’t true.
Indeed, Saint John’s run in with the Spanish Inquisition which is so often mentioned as ‘evidence’ for his ‘converso origins’ is also not what it is claimed to be.
Saint John was indeed denounced to the Spanish Inquisition in 1531 for stating that those the inquisition had burned in as part of the ritual of the auto-da-fé had been better Christians than those who burned them. In fact he was imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition between 1532 and 1533 while he was investigated as a potential Judaizer and heretic, but he was formally cleared of all charges in 1533 when it became clear that was Saint John had actually stated was that because of the grace granted by the auto-da-fé process; those being executed were in a state of grace compared to those who were executing them, (27) which was theologically correct for the time and meant that Saint John actually supported the auto-da-fé process and burning Judaizers and heretics as a good Catholic.
So, then Saint John’s support for strident anti-jewish measures – although not the doctrine of limpeza de sangue – has essentially been turned on its head and falsely made into evidence that he himself was a ‘converted jew’!
Lastly, we have the claim that Saint John left the University of Salamanca in 1517 because of ‘anti-converso discrimination’, but we do know that Salamanca and its university were a centre of converso (and later Marrano) culture. (28) This then renders it a rather odd claim because Saint John had been at the University of Salamanca since 1513 and as such had there been notable ‘anti-converso discrimination’ he wouldn’t have stayed there for four years!
The truth is – as Gormley has pointed out – (28) that Saint John left the University of Salamanca not because of ‘anti-converso discrimination’, but because of his nascent religious vocation and a Franciscan friar he met after he had gone back to his parents’ house in Almodovar del Campo encouraged him to go back to university which he did and completed his studies.
We can thus see that there is no actual evidence whatsoever that Saint John of Avila had any jewish ancestry whatsoever and the ‘evidence’ on which this is widely claimed is simply non-existent at best and at worst a deceitful selection of claims that are based on misstating what evidence we have and hoping people don’t bother to check the claims being made.
Thus we can see that there is no evidence whatsoever that Saint John of Avila was of jewish ancestry.
References
(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/was-saint-teresa-of-avila-jewish
(2) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/was-saint-john-of-the-cross-jewish
(3) Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, 1992, ‘Los Judeoconversos en la España Moderna’, 1st Edition, Editorial Mapfre: Madrid, p. 262
(4) Ibid., p. 263
(5) Ibid.
(6) For example: https://www.thepathtosainthood.com/post/saint-john-of-avila
(7) For example: https://www.catholicidaho.org/post/saint-john-de-avila
(8) https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08469a.htm
(9) J. C. Wilkie, 2003, ‘John of Avila, St.’, pp. 963-964 in Berard Marthaler (Ed.), 2003, 'New Catholic Encyclopaedia’, Vol. 7, 2nd Edition, The Catholic University of America: Washington D.C.
(10) Colin Thompson, 2002, ‘St. John of the Cross: Songs in the Night’, 1st Edition, SPCK: London, p. 28
(11) Cf. Luis de Granada O.P., 1964, [1587], ‘Vidas del padre maestro Juan de Avila’, 1st Edition, Juan Flors: Barcelona
(12) For example: Longaro degli Oddi S.J., John MacLeod (Ed.), 1898, [1753], ‘Life of the Blessed Master John of Avila: Secular Priest, called the Apostle of Andalusia’, 1st Edition, Burns and Oates: London
(13) Joan Francis Gormley, 2006, ‘Audi, Fila: Listen O Daughter’, 1st Edition, Paulist Press: New York, p. 5
(14) Ibid., p. 6
(15) Ibid.
(16) Dominguez Ortiz, Op. Cit., p. 263
(17) Gormley, Op. Cit., p. 11
(18) Ibid., p. 7
(19) Thompson, Op. Cit., p. 28
(20) David Nirnberg, 2003, ‘Enmity and Assimilation: Jews, Christians, And Converts in Medieval Spain’, Common Knowledge, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 137-138
(21) Gormley, Op. Cit., pp. 6-7; 11-12
(22) Dominguez Ortiz, Op. Cit., p. 263
(23) Cf. Robert Maryks, 2010, ‘The Jesuit Order as a Synagogue of Jews: Jesuits of Jewish Ancestry and Purity-of-Blood Laws in the Early Society of Jesus’, 1st Edition, Brill: Leiden
(24) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/saint-ignatius-loyola-and-the-jews
(25) Maryks, Op. Cit., pp. 80; 85
(26) Gormley, Op. Cit., p. 6
(27) Ibid., pp. 11-12
(28) https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/salamanca
(29) Gormley, Op. Cit., p. 7