Martín de Roa, S.J. (1559–1637) and the Consolidation of Catholic Literary Culture in Spain

Abstract

The article traces the life and work of Martín de Roa, S.J. (1559–1637). It argues that he occupied an important place in the formation of seventeenth-century Catholic literary culture in Spain. 1 His literary production is discussed against the backdrop of Spanish religious literature of the period and is evaluated in connection to his institutional location as a member of the Society of Jesus. Inventories of private book collections as well as citations or quotations in the written works of learned authors are carefully examined to establish the circulation and appropriation of his writings. The article analyses how the Real Academia Española appropriated his writings for the Diccionario de la lengua castellana, published between 1726 and 1739. The article closes with a study of Roa’s Vida de Doña Ana Ponce de León, Condesa de Feria, y después monja en el Monasterio de santa Clara de Montilla (Córdoba 1604), which highlights his post-Tridentine construction of femininity and masculinity.