Little is known about Cervantes’ religious and moral formation during his childhood and early youth.
It is believed that he attended a Jesuit school in Valladolid or in Seville, but we are certain that he studied with the humanist Juan López de Hoyos in Madrid. He probably read several spiritual writers that are mentioned in Don Quixote: Cristobal de Fonseca, Felipe Meneses, Francisco de Osuna and Saint Therese of Avila.
Since his youth, Cervantes excelled in the virtues of fortitude, courage and patience in the face of adversity. In 1571 he took part in the battle of Lepanto on board the galley La Marquesa, where he fought with bravery and heroism. Despite being ill with fever, he asked his captain to allow him to fight in the most dangerous section of the ship. During the battle, he received three gun shots resulting in deep bullet wounds to his chest and to the permanent loss of the use of his left arm.
The “Cripple of Lepanto” was aware of the importance of the victory. In the prologue of the second part of Don Quixote, he would remark that he did not lose the movement of his hand in some tavern but “on the greatest occasion that present, past, or future ages have ever seen or can ever hope to see.” (526) One of the characters, the captive captain would express the following comment about the battle: “On that day, so fortunate for Christendom, for on it the world and all the nations were disabused of the error that the Turks were invincible on sea. On that day, on which Ottoman arrogance and pride were broken forever.”
(I, 39; 396) [1]
The writer’s valor during his five year prison term in Algiers is well-documented in the work by Friar Diego de Haedo, Topographía e historia general de Argel, and in his works and interviews conducted after his rescue. During his captivity in Algiers, one of his fellow prisoners, Antonio de Sosa, attested that Cervantes would pass his time writing poems praising the Virgin Mary, The Blessed Sacrament, and other holy things. (Quoted by Muñoz Iglesias p. 328) [2]
In 1609 in Madrid, Cervantes entered the Brotherhood of Unworthy Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament, founded by the Trinitarian Alonso de la Purificación; it is good to remember that it was another Trinitarian, Friar Juan Gil, who rescued the writer from his captivity in Algiers. The duties of the members of the brotherhood included: attend Mass every day, receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month, pray the crown of the Virgin, not miss the exercises of prayer and discipline, visit the hospitals, and attend the funerals of the brothers. (Astrana Marín 1948, p.320) [3]
Three weeks before his death, Cervantes entered the Venerable Third Order of St. Francis (his sister and his wife, Catalina Palacios, were already members). Before his death, he received all the sacraments and gave a remarkable example of a good death. Lastly, because of his expressed wishes, he was buried in the Trinitarian Convent on April 23rd, 1616.
When we pass from the life of the writer to his work, it is very easy to find numerous passages that deal with human and Christian virtues. Two examples make the point clearly.
1) Don Quixote in a conversation with Sancho as they gallop towards “el Toboso,” after stressing that: “our deeds must not transgress those limits laid down for us by the Christian religion that we profess,” (I, 8, 581) begins to list all the capital sins and their corresponding virtues:
We must slay pride by killing giants, envy by our generous and noble bearing, anger by our calm behavior an equanimity, gluttony and drowsiness by fasting and long vigil, self-indulgence and lust by steadfast loyalty to those whom we have made the mistresses of our heart, and sloth by roaming everywhere in the world in quest of opportunities of becoming famous knights as well as Christians. (II, 8; 581)
2) The advice that Don Quixote gave Sancho before the latter left to become governor of an island comprises a complete program of government and human and Christian virtues. (II, 42) Don Quixote, in a quiet voice, “gives thanks to God” for the governorship of his squire. Then he lists a series of advice: “First of all, O my son, fear God, for to fear Him is wisdom. Secondly, consider what you are and try to know yourself, which is the most difficult study in the world. From knowing yourself you will learn not to put yourself up like the frog that wished to rival the ox.” Also, “consider it more deserving to be humble and virtuous than proud and sinful. […] Never let arbitrary law rule your judgments” and apply the law equally to rich and poor, and “not the whole rigor of the law press upon the guilty party, for a rigorous judge has not a better repute than the one who is compassionate.” Finally, show more “pity and clemency” than rigor with the guilty because “though one attribute of God is as glorious as another, His mercy shines more brightly in our eyes than His justice.”
With the advice given by his master, Sancho governs with common sense and wisdom but he has also been beaten and stepped on and decides to resign his governorship because he has acquired self knowledge:
At length, having put on his clothes and creeping along, a step at a time, because he was too much bruised to hurry, he wended his way to the stable, followed by all the company. Then, going up to Dapple, he embraced him and gave him a kiss of peace on his forehead. “Come hither,” said he with tears in his eyes, “my friend and partner of my toils and troubles; when you and I consorted together and had no other care in the world but mending your harness and feeding that little carcass of yours, happy were my hours, my days, and my years; but since I forsook you and mounted the towers of ambition and pride, a thousand woes, a thousand torments, and four thousand tribulations have entered my soul.” […] I was not born to be a governor, or to defend islands or cities from enemies who wish to attack them. I know more about plowing, digging, pruning, and planting vines than about making laws or defending cities and kingdoms. ‘St. Peter is all right at Rome,’ I mean to say that a man does best the job for which he was born.” (II, 53; 909)
In sum, human virtues and the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity were essential in the life of the writer, but they also have a place of honor in his masterpiece. Therefore, it is reasonable to affirm that we have here an exceptional example of intimate coherence between life and literature. The same type of unity which Don Quixote would mention to Don Diego de Miranda: “If the poet, however, is chaste in his morals, he will be chaste also in his verses. The pen is the tongue of the soul, and the thought begotten there will burgeon in whatever he writes.” (II, 16; 637)
Egberto Bermúdez
[1] Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote. Trans. Walter Starkie.
New York: New American Library, 1979.
[2] Salvador Muñoz Iglesias. Lo religioso en El Quijote. Toledo: Estudio
Teológico de San Ildefonso (Seminario Conciliar), 1989.
[3] Luis Astrana Marín. Vida ejemplar y heroica de Miguel de Cervantes
Saavedra. Vol. IV. Madrid: Instituto Editorial Reus, 1948.
