JUAN DE ESPINOSA MEDRANO: BIOGRAPHY, WORKS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - BIOGRAPHIES - 2025

Juan de Espinosa Medrano (1630? -1688) was a religious of Peruvian origin. He stood out mainly for his literary work, full of poetry and plays. In addition, he was recognized for his level of oratory, which allowed him to stand out as a preacher in his religious role.

'El Lunarejo' was the pseudonym he chose to carry out his work and with which he gained recognition throughout the world. The popularity of the born in Cuzco occurred in the middle of the seventeenth century.

Source: Toño Zapata, via Wikimedia Commons.

He showed great interest in the indigenous communities in Peru and even mastered the Quechua languages, which were languages ​​used in the central Andes. This interest in indigenous communities fueled the idea that he was descended from Indians, although he was also considered mestizo and creole.

Biography

The life of Juan de Espinosa Medrano is full of unknowns and assumptions. To begin with, the date of his birth is not entirely clear. According to the writer Clorinda Matto, the religious was born in 1629, while the diplomat Francisco García Calderón affirmed that his birth occurred in 1632.

By consensus the year 1630 is used to designate his arrival in the world, which could have been in the town of Calcauso. In turn, his death was on November 22, 1688, before reaching the age of 60.

Studies

There is also little data on Espinosa Medrano's family and his education. Historians have claimed that he was trained at the San Antonio Abad Seminary, located in Cuzco. There he received an education focused largely on Jesuit ideas.

By 1654 he obtained a doctorate in the branch of theology, which was awarded by the San Ignacio de Loyola University.

He became a professor at the San Antonio Abad seminary where he studied. He was in charge of classes on art and theology. In 1683 he went on to serve as a preacher in the church in Cuzco.

The writer Agustín Cortés de la Cruz made reference to Espinosa Medrano's education when he wrote the prologue to The Ninth Wonder. Cortés stated that Lunarejo's knowledge covers many areas, including grammar, science, theology and music. In addition, he dominated Latin.

Nickname

Espinosa Medrano was better known as 'El Lunarejo', possibly due to a visible mole on his face. It was not the only nickname with which he was known, since the religious was also referred to as 'The Sublime Doctor' or as the 'Creole Demosthenes'.

The little information about his life has also led to doubts about his name. Some historians defend the idea that the true surname of the religious was 'Chancahuaña', like his father.

He adopted the surnames Espinosa Medrano for two possible reasons. The first was that some of the family's neighbors were called that. The second reason could be that he adopted the names of a priest who gave him protection.

church

From a very young age, his interest in the religious world was born, which is why he used the habits of the church from a very young age, specifically the Franciscan. This habit consists of a gray wool cross-shaped tunic.

His good verbiage and level of public speaking allowed him to excel in this area. His sermons were so important and eye-catching that they were compiled into a book called The Ninth Wonder.

His life as a priest had many interesting anecdotes. They say that important figures of politics, artists and people of great economic power gathered near the altar to witness his sermons.

Characteristics of his works

The Lunarejo presented in his works characteristic characteristics of Gongorism, a literary style that had a great boom during the 16th and 17th centuries. The term gongorismo was born by the influence of Luis de Góngora, who defined the bases of this style during the Baroque era. This evidenced the enormous influence of Spain in his work.

Two of his works had a theme focused on the apostles and the Papacy. In The Prodigal Son, he has endless social and language references that are from the West.

He stood out for the use of prose in his works, but also for the great culture that he demonstrated. He used the hyperbaton as an expressive resource, a characteristic that could be observed thanks to the metrics present in his writings and the construction of rhetorical figures in his speech.

During his homilies he referred to biblical sites, incorporated mythological details, or named fables. He spoke about different authorities of the church, being Saint Augustine one of his favorites. He also highly valued the ideas of Santo Tomás, San Epifanio or Alberto Magno.

Influence

Espinosa Medrano was a great reader, with many books he owned. This was known thanks to the will that remained after his death, where a count of all the assets that were his property was made. It featured religious works, poetry, theater, and books on subjects as varied as physics, astronomy, and the natural sciences.

He read the most varied authors. Góngora was obviously present in his library, but he also studied other modern authors such as Lope de Vega or Covarrubias. Literary works were also a constant with the renowned authors Homer, Virgilio or Ovidio.

Plays

The first work he published was The Abduction of Proserpina in 1645, when he was around 15 years of age. A short time later he was already the author of the most varied comedies, poetic works and religious theater.

His great command of languages ​​allowed him to write in Latin, as well as in Spanish, Greek and Hebrew. For example, for theater he created El amar su own muerte and El hijo prodigal, works written in Quechua. While Thomistic Philosophy Course was a work published in Latin and that showed his facet as a teacher.

One of his most important contributions is that he was in charge of translating La Eneida into Quechua. This was a work by Virgil written in Latin in the 1st century BC.

The Rape of Proserpina

It was his first work. It was a dramatization that came to be represented in different European countries, including Spain and Italy. It was a work with clear religious characteristics and it was written in Quechua.

The ninth wonder

It is perhaps the most important book of the Baroque period in Peru. It is a posthumous work by Espinosa Medrano since it was published in 1695. It was made up of 30 different sermons from the religious.

As a church preacher he was also the author of Panegyric Declamation, which came out in 1664. It had a style quite similar to that of the Apologetic.

Apologetic in favor of Luis Góngora

This was the work that gave him the most fame worldwide. It was published in 1662, two years after El Lunarejo finished writing it. It dealt with the life of the Spanish poet Luis Góngora, whom he vehemently defended.

This work consisted of an introduction and the development was carried out in 12 chapters. The objective was to refute the ideas of the Portuguese Manuel da Faria, a detractor of Góngora.

References

1. Becco, H. (1990). Spanish-American colonial poetry. Caracas: Ayacucho Library Foundation.
2. Buxó, J., Hernández Reyes, D., & Rodríguez Hernández, D. (2006). Permanence and destiny of New Spain literature. Mexico, DF: National Autonomous University of Mexico, Bibliographic Research Institute.
3. Chang-Rodríguez, R. (1999). Hidden messages. Lewisburg: Bucknell Univ. Press.
4. Moore, C. (2000). The art of preaching of Juan Espinosa Medrano in the ninth wonder. Peru: Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru Editorial Fund.
5. Tamayo Rodriguez, J. (1971). Studies on Juan de Espinosa Medrano (El Lunarejo). Lima: Ediciones Librería «Studium.»