The role of women in Rainbow of Peace, by Fray Pedro de Santa María y Ulloa

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of women and the Virgin Mary in the vision of the Dominican friar of the XVII century, Fray Pedro de Santa María y Ulloa, the highest representative of the devotion to the Marian prayer in the Spain of this century. After introducing briefly a biography of this historical personage and the long theological dispute about the importance of the Virgin Mary in the Christian thought; we concluded that although the traditional thinking of this Dominican friar, maintained the classic ideology of gender roles so typical of the Catholic Church, the extreme importance that Santa María y Ulloa gave to the image of Mary was a small step that allowed that women had a greater significance in the catholic religion.