Moral Sick Notes: Medical Exemptions to Religious Fasting in the Eighteenth-Century Spanish World

Abstract

Eighteenth-century moral theologians in Spain expressed concern that many Catholics were obtaining permission to avoid fasting and abstinence from meat by claiming that they were ill and required medical dispensations. This article examines the theological and medical debate which occurred over a series of treatises and essays in which physicians and moral theologians sought to come to a common understanding of when a Spaniard was infirm enough to be medically excused from fasting and, perhaps more importantly, who had the authority to make this decision. Throughout the eighteenth century in Spain, this responsibility continued to be shared by priests and physicians. The debate highlights the contest for medical authority, mitigated by doubt. It also suggests that any understanding of early modern medical pluralism must include members of the theological community as well as health professionals.