Un triunfo precario. Las fiestas de 1691 en honor a san Juan de Dios y cuatro santos en el ocaso de la Monarquía austriaca

Résumé En

Saint John of God (1495-1550) was canonised by Alexander VIII on 16 October 1690 in a triumphal ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. He is, so to speak, the last of the great cohort of Spanish saints beatified or canonised in the 17th century. And certainly the last of the founders of religious orders of the Hispanic Monarchy whose cult was proclaimed for the entire universal Church during the reign of the Habsburg dynasty. This canonisation was associated with that of four other saints, Saint John of Capistrán, Saint Pascual Bailón, Saint John of Sahagún, and a non-Hispanic saint: Saint Lorenzo Giustiniano. With these feasts, the Hispanic Monarchy during the reign of Charles II experienced a moment of glory in a context of decline and noble rivalries. This multiple canonisation echoed the one that had taken place in 1622, although a detailed analysis shows that its content was not so triumphant. The festivities that were organised were to be a swan song. The pomp was mixed with anguish and economic hardship. The main venues for the festivities were four Spanish cities: Salamanca, Valencia, Granada and Madrid, the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy. We will first examine the reasons for and modalities of his canonisation, and then describe the festive arrangements of the four celebrations