Indeed, the principle of nationality asserted itself in a very remarkable way, especially from the time of the Renaissance. This tendency of each nation to converge upon the lines of its own genius and language and religion reacted upon every manifestation of its life, and therefore upon its spirituality. Hence we actually find in recent times a Spanish spirituality, an Italian spirituality, and a French spirituality, a spirituality which is fundamentally one and the same so far as it is Catholic, but differs in the way in which it is conceived and presented.
Therefore the schools of spirituality of the later period no longer appear simply as belonging to religious families, as in the Middle Ages, but as those of nations. In each school, no doubt, the various religious orders keep their peculiar characteristics ; but they owe much to the national bent and interests and to the special currents of doctrine distinctive of each country. Thus the spirituality of Spanish writers cannot be thoroughly understood without some knowledge of the truceless and merciless war waged by the Spanish Inquisition during the sixteenth century against Protestant heresy and false mysticism. The Inquisition reacted strongly upon Spanish spirituality by enlisting it on behalf of its own interests, and thus was realised the unity of the Spanish School.
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