[1689]. Carta de Vicente de Cuéllar, sacerdote, para Manuela de Barrios, monja.

Letter from Vicente de Cuéllar, a priest, to Manuela de Barrios, a nun.

The author writes Manuela de Barrios to tell her about his faith and to give her advice about hers.

In 1689, Vicente de Cuéllar was accused of being an 'Alumbrado' by the Inquisition Tribunal, after a denounce made by the priest Juan de Verdesoto Pinto, who had accused him of making heretical propositions and of maintaining a suspect behaviour towards the nuns of the Bernardine convent in Cuenca. Juan de Verdesoto Pinto had been warned about this situation by a prebendary of the church of Cuenca, Francisco de la Cámara, who had known the accused and had had also a correspondence with him, which had ended when he had realised that the content of the letters could have been considered as contrary to the Catholic authorities. Afterwards, he had destroyed these letters. In the meanwhile, he received knowledge that the accused made 'spiritual talks' with the nuns of the convent through the turnstiles of their cells. He then told everything to Juan de Verdesoto, the confessor of one of the nuns who had frequent contacts with the accused, María Josefa de la Puente. Once asked about her relationship with Vicente de Cuéllar, María Josefa de la Puente confessed everything and gave Juan de Verdesoto all the letters he received from de accused, which were then joined to the proceedings. During the interrogatory, María Josefa de la Puente told that all the letters were from 1689, and that their correspondence had started after a visit the accused had made to the convent and had not lasted more than two months. She also related to have burned several letters, fearing that someone could read the spiritual propositions contained in them. There were other two nuns with whom Vicente de Cuéllar had maintained a correspondence, which was then joined to the proceedings: Manuela de Barrios and Andrea de Villarreal. Eventually, the abbess of the convent was interrogated, María Ana de Otonel, who stated that the accused was deaf, and that was the reason why he wrote so many letters to the nuns with spiritual advice. All the nuns declared, in any case, that the letters of Vicente de Cuéllar caused them qualms and unease.

The original proceedings contain more letters than the ones here transcribed, together with other writings by Vicente de Cuéllar, but their content is very similar. We do not know, however, if he was eventually found guilty and which was the sentence.