FUENTE, MICHAEL DE LA

Carmelite spiritual writer; b. Valdelaguna, a village between Madrid and Toledo, March 2, 1573; d. Toledo, Nov. 27, 1625 (Nov. 17, 1626?). He was professed as a Carmelite on May 29, 1594, and then studied philosophy and theology at the University of Salamanca. After the province of New Castile was separated from that of Old Castile, he retained the office of novice master in the new province. He spent the rest of his life in Toledo, where he wrote a rule for the Carmelite Third Order that was highly important in the development of that group. Especially devoted to the Eucharist, the Passion, the Immaculate Conception, and the Brown Scapular, he is said to have had the extraordinary graces of ecstacy, levitation, and prophecy. Miracles before and after his death are reported. Several years after he died, his body was found incorrupt; his cause for beatification was introduced at Rome shortly after death. A nephew (d. 1629) of the same name was also a Carmelite. La Fuente's principal writing, Libro de las tres vidas del hombre corporal, racional y espiritual (Toledo 1623), an ascetical and mystical work, has assured him of a significant place among spiritual writers in and outside of his order.

Bibliography: t. motta navarro, Tertii Carmelitici saecularis ordinis historico-iuridica evolutio (Rome 1960) 178–194. a. de saint paul, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique 10 (Paris 1903–50) 2:1703–05. h. erharter, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (Freiburg 1957–) 7: 395–396.

[k. j. egan]