The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain by Patrick J. O'Banion (review)

Recently, Spanish history has seen a movement away from the social/religious histories of the 1980s and 1990s, toward studies that focus on particular theological concepts and sacramental activity. In his new study of the sacrament of penance, Patrick O'Banion has tried to combine the old and the new. He both analyzes religious literature and attempts to present a portrait of actual Spaniards engaging with the sacrament in a variety of ways.

O'Banion argues that rather than the reflection of a clerical/lay hierarchy, early modern confession was a constant negotiation between confessor and parishioner. In the first two chapters, O'Banion takes the reader through the basic aspects of the sacrament: how to become a confessor and how to confess. He provides an overview of the theological issues involved, as well as the expectations about the relationship between the confessor and the confessant. He then details the process of confession, including a discussion of the basic physical rituals of kneeling and crossing oneself. In chapter 3, O'Banion explores the Catholic Reformation's attempt to regulate Easter confession. Unexpectedly, parish confessions declined toward the end of the sixteenth century. He argues that it was not that laypeople ignored the confessional; rather, they evaded the surveillance of parish priests (and friends and neighbors) by confessing to other clergy. Indeed, in the next chapter, he analyzes how the bula de la cruzada, which allowed purchasers to choose their own confessors, gave Spaniards surprising agency in their confessional practices. O'Banion then examines the roles of class and gender on the confessional experience, followed by a look at how Spain's converso, morisco, and gypsy populations engaged with the sacrament.

O'Banion's work reinforces the research on religious life in early-modern Spain that has clearly demonstrated that neither the pre- nor the post-Tridentine Church was effective at imposing a rigid orthodoxy on Spain's independent-minded populace; however, he missed some key opportunities to present a stronger argument. For instance, O'Banion tends to rely on speculation and rhetorical questions rather than archival research as he mulls over why people did or did not confess to their parish priests. A deeper interrogation of parish records, particularly episcopal visitations, might have provided him with more specific information about relationships between clergy and laity. There also is the nagging question of exactly who is the focus of the study. Although at points he acknowledges regional and urban/rural differences, his analysis nevertheless relies on a homogenized notion of a "Spaniard" that did not exist in the early-modern period. Current research has emphasized that the relationship between clergy and laity differed from one region to another and the authority of the Church was weaker in rural areas than in cities. Without a doubt, a parishioner in Barcelona interacted with a more educated, skilled clergy than his or her counterpart in the outback of La Mancha, and those differences thwart attempts at the creation of a "Spanish" experience of confession. Indeed, based on that homogenization of religious experience and regional identity, O'Banion makes the circular assertion that the sacrament of confession played a role in the development of a Spanish identity. Despite these issues, The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain contributes to our understanding of belief and practice in early-modern Spain and will be of interest to historians of Spain and religious historians more broadly.