Lope de Vega and the Immaculate Conception

Interest in and devotion to the Immaculate Conception in Spanish has been longstanding. During the XII and XIII centuries Marian shrines became centers of religious devotion, while by the XV century the present network of popular shrines was by and large in place. Several centuries prior to the time of Lope de Vega, Saint Ildefonso wrote a key work, La virginidad perpetua de Santa María, to which tradition ascribed credit for introducing the privilege in Spain. This key book was instrumental in the defense of the virginity of both Mary and her mother, an important topic not only in the works of Lope de Vega but also in his religious life.

Lope's inclusion of the theme of the Immaculate Conception in his drama occurs in a number of works whose dates of composition and publication coincide chronologically with a period of Intense and active demonstration of devotion to the privilege in Spain. His El capellán de la virgen, San Ildefonso presents a dramatization which intertwines references to the Immaculate Conception with events, both factual and legendary, of the Spanish saint; in La limpieza no manchada, the author introduces arguments and action not only to defend the idea of the Immaculate Conception but also to point the way towards his definitive work on this topic, the Auto de la puente del mundo, which represents a threading of a number of theological themes and literary trappings of a popular romance of chivalry. In all these works, Lope does not seem so much to convince his audience of the validity of the Immaculate Conception as dogma but, rather, to confirm them in their popular acceptance of it as an article of faith.