Jovellanos y la tolerancia de la religión de los sencillos

Abstract

Jovellanos’s criticism of certain manifestations of popular piety falls within the general framework of Enlightenment proposals. His main argument is based on the superstition often detected in them. But Jovellanos’s thought on this matter has a specific nuance: artificial religious practices and rituals are reprehensible, those in which an excessive baroque style has left its mark. In contrast, highly influenced by the ancestral customs of Asturias, he is a defender of the festive practices of simple people, marked by ingenuity and a natural relationship with God. This tolerance is directly connected with his personal way of living religion throughout his life, always illuminated by rational criteria. It is a sincere and self-demanding Christianity, but at the same time critical of the praxis of a Church that hindered the progress of the economy and social dynamism, elements that were persecuted on behalf of the prestige of the State.