Ordinary Holiness: A Converso Jesuit’s Biography of His Merchant Father

This essay examines a letter by Luis de la Palma (c.1559–1641), written on the occasion of his father’s death in 1595. I argue that although ostensibly a family letter, it was intended for a broader Jesuit audience. In addition to offering a paean to his father’s lay piety, de la Palma presents an exemplary model of family relations, one that demonstrates the consonance of the Jesuit exigence for detachment from kin and the fulfillment of filial duty. Written just two years after the order adopted a purity of blood requirement, the letter also constitutes an implicit apologia for the Christian virtues of the converso merchant class.