Miguel de Molinos

Miguel de Molinos , 1640-1697?, Spanish priest and mystic. He was the founder of quietism , which he adhered to in its most extreme form. From 1669 he lived principally at Rome. His Guida spirituale (1675) set forth his quietistic principles—the complete contemplative passivity of the soul before God. In 1685 he was tried by the Holy Office, imprisoned, and condemned (1687) by the Inquisition. He died in prison, but received the rites of the Church before dying.

Bibliography: See biography by J. Bigelow (1882).

Molinos, Miguel de (1628–96), Spanish Quietist. Sent to Rome in 1663, he became a much-sought-after confessor and spiritual director. In 1675 he published his ‘Spiritual Guide’ (Guía espiritual), recommending the prayer of acquired or active contemplation. Unlike discursive meditation, this prayer of quietude, he held, needs no help from reason or imagination, but a total submission to the will of God and, once obstacles have been overcome, temptations can be disregarded. This imperfect contemplation is open to all under expert guidance, in contrast to infused or passive (perfect) contemplation which is entirely God's gift. Molinos was arrested by the Holy Office in 1686, tried and condemned; he submitted in 1687 but remained in prison for the rest of his life.

Quietism (in the Christian faith) devotional contemplation and abandonment of the will as a form of religious mysticism. Recorded from the late 17th century, the term originally denoted the religious mysticism based on the teachings of the Spanish priest Miguel de Molinos (c.1640–97); also called Molinism.