mechanical monk

In 1562 King Philip the Second's 17 year old son falls down the stairs, severely injuring his head. As his condition worsens, Philip, as a devout Catholic, calls for help from a friar who died around a hundred years earlier. According to some accounts, he went even much further, exhuming the corpse of the friar and putting it in bed next to his son. The patient magically recovered, and Philip ordered a watch maker to make a robotic version of the saint, that today can still be found in the Smithsonian in Washington DC. The friar moves around, making mea culpa crosses and kissing his crucifix.

Regardless of what parts of this colorful story are true, this robotic monk can be seen in a wider context. What larger story may Philip have wanted to tell with this robot? Can an automaton even pray and perform other rituals?

Now one has to realize that at this point in time, Europe was in the midst of reformation. The reformers were protesting for instance against the sales of indulgences, and other abuse of ritual practice by fraudulent clergymen. The issue of whether rituals work even if the one administering the sacrament (a key ritual) is a sinner had bothered catholics centuries before. For example say you are dying and the priest who is applying the annointing of the sick to you also has two girlfriends, or is a sinner in some other shape or form, will you still go to heaven? Luckily, Thomas of Aquino, the great Catholic philosopher, thought it over and formulated the principle Ex Opere Operato, from the work it has worked. A sacrament derives its power from the ritual itself, not from whom who applies the sacrament, as he is only a proxy for Christ - only Christ has true power and this is conveyed through the ritual.

Does this ultimately result in a mostly mechanistic view of religious ritual, and could this mean automatons could equally well as humans apply sacraments, as both are essentially powerless representatives? Did King Philip not just want to keep his promise to God, but also teach the reformers a lesson?

For in depth reading see these two excellent references:

Elizabeth King. Clockwork Prayer: A Sixteenth-Century Mechanical Monk. Blackbird, vol 1, nr 1, 2002.

L. J. Andrew Villalon. Putting Don Carlos Together Again: Treatment of a Head Injury in Sixteenth- Century Spain. The Sixteenth Century Journal. Vol. 26, No. 2 (Summer, 1995), pp. 347-365