The Lady in Blue descends from the sky (DRAWING BY JACK JACKSON)
THE LADY IN BLUE
In July 1629 about fifty Jumano Indians arrived at the Franciscan convent of Saint Anthony at old Isleta in New Mexico. The Indians had traveled a great distance from West Texas. These natives said that they came at the urging of a beautiful young woman who had appeared to them out of thin air. This Lady in Blue had taught the Jumanos about Christianity. The priests were amazed. Who was this mysterious image? How could a Spanish woman appear to the natives on a distant frontier, talk to them in a language they could understand, and influence them to seek Catholic missionaries? To answer these questions requires a belief in miracles.
In the 1600s María de Jesús, a nun in Spain, reported that her spirit often went to America to introduce Christianity to the natives. This separation of the spirit from the body so that they are in two different places at the same time is called bilocation. An investigation by the Catholic Church at the time supported María’s claims of bilocation, as did the tales told by the Indians.
To this day, many Catholics are inspired by the life of María de Agreda. These faithful believe in miracles. Other people, however, deny that bilocation is possible. They believe that the Lady in Blue is only a legend. After reading about Sister Maria’s life, you may decide for yourself.
María Coronel was born on April 2, 1602, in Agreda, a small village in northeastern Spain. She was the oldest daughter of very religious parents, Francisco Coronel and Catalina de Arana. The family owned a small castle but had little else by way of wealth. From the time of the baby’s baptism on April 11, the Catholic Church was an important part of Maria’s life.
Although not strong or healthy, María was an unusual child with an excellent memory. She seems to have had a supernatural vision when she was two. Then, at age twelve, María declared that she wanted to become a nun. Despite her deep religious feelings, however, the young woman was tempted to commit improper acts. She feared that this was an insult to God and felt a sense of loss when the Lord was “silent” to her. Her teenage years were full of “sickness, sadness, and despair.” Later in life, she concluded that this youthful suffering cleaned her spirit so that she could receive special grace (favor) from God.
Maria’s ties to the Catholic faith were strengthened by her upbringing. Catalina de Arana, who eventually had eleven children, provided her eldest daughter with a Christian education. Both parents “made their children pray in constant devotions and … engage in mental prayer.”
According to Catholic sources, Catalina had a dream in which God told her to make the Coronel castle into a home for a new order of nuns. Following these heavenly directions, she founded the Convent of Discalced (Barefooted) Franciscan Nuns of the Immaculate Conception. Along with her mother, María entered the new religious order in January 1619. Maria’s father entered a nearby Franciscan monastery, which already housed two of his sons. The young woman later wrote: “The Almighty [God] favored our family so much, that all of us were [pledged] to him in the religious state.” It is interesting that Maria’s strong faith did not permit her to complain that eight of her brothers and sisters had died while still young. She simply accepted this as God’s will.
On February 2, 1620, María Coronel took her formal vows to become a nun and accepted the name of María de Jesús. At that time, she was not yet eighteen years old. Unfortunately, this young woman was almost always in bad health, and she suffered emotionally as well. Fearing the temptation to sin, she worried that she might not be able to resist evil. María punished herself in attempts to achieve purity, and in doing so she often lost a great deal of blood. Her religious superiors became so concerned for her health that they ordered her to stop this practice. She then fasted for long periods of time by living on only bread and water. And in her own words, her life became one long “act of prayer … and complete self-denial.”
The Order of Discalced Nuns, also called the Poor Clares, wore brown habits with an outer cloak of coarse blue cloth. The group grew in numbers until the Coronel castle was too small to house all of them. The nuns, including Sister María, then moved to new and larger quarters, the Convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda.
After taking her vows as a nun, María began to have hundreds of out-of-body experiences during the 1620s and early 1630s. Kneeling in prayer, she would become pale, sway unsteadily, and pass out. At these times, no one was able to wake her. In those trances, the young nun had visions in which God sent her spirit to distant lands to teach Christianity.
The bilocations supposedly took María to New Mexico and Texas, where the Indians understood her preaching, even though she spoke in Spanish. The nun’s spirit also saw the Franciscan clergy who were working in New Mexico. María knew that the natives needed priests to baptize them. She advised the Indians to seek out these missionaries and ask them to come to Texas.
María told her confessor, Father Sebastián Mancilla, about her supernatural experiences. He truly believed that the miracle of bilocation was occurring and informed his superiors of the miraculous events. In turn, they asked Archbishop Francisco Manso y Zúñiga of New Spain (Mexico) to determine whether there was any truth to Maria’s stories. In 1628 the archbishop wrote to Father Esteban de Perea, head of the missionaries in New Mexico. Perea was asked to provide any information that could prove the claims of the Spanish nun in Agreda, Spain.
Just over a year later, in July 1629, the Jumanos arrived at Saint Anthony in New Mexico, as described at the beginning of this chapter. The natives wanted to be baptized. When asked why, they talked of a woman dressed in blue who came among them preaching. This was especially amazing because the Poor Clares in Spain wore blue cloaks. The Jumanos also said that this lady, who appeared out of the sky, had sent them to seek priests in New Mexico. This account by the Indians supported Maria’s claims of bilocation.
The timely arrival of the Jumanos caused Father Esteban to send a follow-up party into their land. With a Jumano chief as their guide, Fathers Juan Salas and Diego López marched over one hundred leagues (about three hundred miles) eastward. The trip was dangerous, because they had to pass through Apache country.
The Lady in Blue descends from the sky (DRAWING BY JACK JACKSON)
In Southwest Texas the two missionaries were welcomed by a large parade of Indians with tall crosses covered with flowers. The natives asked the Franciscan priests for baptism. Women with small babies at their breasts even asked that their infants be baptized.
The Indians said that the Lady in Blue had told them that the missionaries were coming. She also explained to them how they should properly welcome the priests. When asked about her, the Jumanos described the woman as young and beautiful, wearing a brown dress with a rough blue, sky-colored cloak. She always came softly before them like “light at sunset.” Kind and gentle, she spoke “sweet” words to them. She also taught them to respect the cross.
Fathers Salas and López were affected deeply by their experiences among the Jumanos and by the natives’ stories of their spiritlike visitor. When they returned to old Isleta, the two clergymen convinced Father Alonso de Benavides that he should go to Mexico City to report on the situation.
After spending some time in the Mexican capital, Father Alonso decided to go to Europe and seek out the Lady in Blue. He reached Spain in August 1630. Father Alonso then arranged a meeting with Fray Bernardino de Siena, the head of the Franciscan Order.
Fray Bernardino told Father Alonso that he had long known about María de Jesús’s bilocations. In fact, years earlier he had gone to her convent to hear the story from her own lips. More recently, Fray Bernardino had received a report from the archbishop of Mexico about the nun’s appearances in the New World. Fray Bernardino wanted to visit Sister Maria at Agreda again, but he had too many other duties. Instead, he urged Father Alonso de Benavides to meet this remarkable woman for himself.
Father Alonso reached the village of Agreda in late April 1631 and went directly to the convent. By this time, María was the mother superior (abbess) of her convent. She had been elected abbess a few years earlier at the unusually young age of twenty-five.
According to Father Alonso, Mother María de Jesús was a woman “of beautiful face, of white skin … and large black eyes. The form of her habit … is of brown sackcloth, very coarse … and over this brown habit is worn the white sackcloth habit. … The cloak is of blue sackcloth, very coarse, and the veil is black.”
María told Father Alonso that she recognized him. Her spirit had seen him baptizing Indians in New Mexico. She also accurately spoke of another missionary in New Mexico, whom she could not have seen in person. This priest, who was well known to Father Alonso de Benavides, was described as an old man who did not look his age because he had no gray hair. María also reported on the complexion and shape of this missionary’s face.
The abbess claimed that she had guided Juan de Salas and Diego López on their trip to the land of the Jumanos in West Texas. She described the main Jumano chief, whom the Spanish called Capitán Tuerto (Captain Squint-Eye), as well as other Indian leaders. Father Alonso asked why the nun had not allowed him and the missionaries to see her during her bilocations to America. She answered that the Indians “had a greater need” to observe her.
At the end of his interview with María de Jesús, Father Alonso asked the abbess to write down all that she had told him. She did as instructed. In this document, Mother María declared that God had chosen her, “his most unworthy subject, imperfect and incompetent,” to take the Catholic faith to all nations. She wrote that she was carried to the lands of the Jumanos and others “by the will of God, and by the hand … of the Angels.” Mother María said that the events being described had happened from 1620 to “this present year of 1631, in the region of Quivira and Jumanas.” Both of these names were used by Spaniards at that time to refer to lands occupied by Indians.
In her statement, the abbess begged the missionaries to carry on the work of converting the Indians with whom she had made contact through her spirit. Although hardships would be encountered, the rewards in the “harvest” of souls for the Roman Catholic Church would be great. María informed Father Alonso that she knew the Lord was pleased with the missionaries’ efforts in America. She claimed that she had learned this from God and his holy angels.
After his interview with Mother Superior María de Agreda, Father Alonso wrote from Spain in 1631 to his fellow missionaries in New Mexico. He explained that the nun felt sorry for those who did not know about “our Lord.” She believed that these poor souls were condemned to Hell unless someone brought Christianity to them. It had been her privilege to be chosen by God to preach the holy faith, especially to Native Americans.
Father Alonso stated that María’s spiritual trances sometimes happened as often as three or four times in a single day. In each case, her breathing became very slow and her body temperature dropped so that her skin felt cold to those who tried without success to wake her.
In his letter to the missionaries of New Mexico, Father Alonso also wrote about the “great uplift” of his soul when María had recognized him. He reported that the nun had described the aging but still dark-haired Father Cristóbal Quivoz exactly. She also provided familiar details about other missionaries, specific natives, and the frontier of New Mexico.
Father Alonso explained that he had begged Mother María to let the missionaries in New Mexico see her during her bilocations. She promised to do so, if God allowed it. Father Alonso also wrote his fellow Franciscans that they should feel comforted by having such a “companion and saint” in their labors.
In a formal statement presented to King Philip IV of Spain, Father Alonso wrote about the work of the Catholic Church in New Mexico and about María de Agreda’s “travels” to America. This account was in such demand that hundreds of copies were made. Some were even sent to the pope in Rome. Father Alonso de Benavides also spoke in person to the king. He begged continued support for the missionary efforts on the New Mexico/Texas frontier.
According to María de Jesús, she had no further bilocations after 1632. But in a letter written in 1634, Father Alonso declared that the Lady in Blue continued to have a positive influence on Native Americans. He wrote that five thousand “barbarian” natives had been converted at that time. Father Alonso again stressed the miraculous manner in which Christianity was introduced to the Jumano Indians. Before Spaniards came to their land, these natives had no priests to minister to them. And when asked why they chose to accept the Catholic religion, the Jumanos pointed to a portrait of an older Franciscan nun. Although younger in appearance, “a woman dressed like this passed among us always preaching,” the Indians stated.
After her period of bilocations, Sister María devoted herself to writing. Believing it to be a holy mission, she wrote a biography that told about the life of the Virgin Mary. This book, The Mystical City of God, caused many problems for the abbess. Some of the ideas that Mother María presented went against the accepted teachings of the Catholic Church at that time. A local priest ordered her to destroy the work, and she did.
The abbess, however, still felt herself to be under divine orders to tell of the life of Jesus’ mother. Since no one had forbidden the Lady in Blue to write the book a second time, that is exactly what she did! The task took five years to finish.
María’s writings also caused her to get into trouble with the Holy Inquisition. This was a powerful court within the Catholic Church that worked to keep the faith pure. Since the Spanish Inquisition often stirs interest among young readers, it seems appropriate here to tell how a person came to its attention and why María de Agreda was in trouble.
The Spanish Inquisition had been set up in 1478, at the time that Queen Isabella ruled the country. She, of course, would later sponsor the voyages of Christopher Columbus. The purpose of the Inquisition was to make sure that the Catholic faith was not undermined by the religious beliefs of Spanish Jews who had converted to Christianity.
During the 1400s, Christian rulers made it especially difficult for Jews, who had lived in Spain for centuries, to remain true to their faith. If a man was a Jew, he could not teach at any Spanish university, because it was feared that a Jewish professor might teach about his religion, rather than about Christian Catholicism. Likewise, Jews could not practice some professions, such as law or medicine.
If a Jew accepted baptism in the Catholic Church, however, and converted to that faith, then the restrictions that applied to universities, law, and medicine were removed. Although many Jews remained true to their faith and were denied employment because of it, thousands of others accepted Christian baptism. These recent converts were called New Christians, and they began attending services in the Catholic Church. But they were often viewed suspiciously by longtime Catholics, who were called Old Christians.
Some of that suspicion was justified. Many New Christians missed the practices of Judaism, which they had known all their lives. They also missed going to their own synagogues (religious temples) with old friends and relatives. So these recent converts to Catholicism sometimes observed the Jewish faith in secret, usually within their own homes. This was a dangerous practice, because it made them guilty of a serious crime known as apostasy (going back to one’s earlier faith).
Remember that religious freedom, which means having the right to follow any religion or none at all, did not exist at this time in history. The Christian kings of Spain wanted all Spaniards to share their faith. They used religion to unify their subjects and believed Catholics would be more loyal to them. So the Spanish Inquisition tried to find people who were regarded as “false Christians,” meaning those who appeared to be Christians in public but were secretly still Jews at heart.
Beginning in the 1480s, people suspected of being false Christians were arrested and brought before courts of the Inquisition. Such people had to prove that they were not guilty of apostasy. If they failed to do so, they could be tortured and even put to death on orders of Inquisition judges. The goal was for Spain to have only one religion. That faith was Catholicism and no other.
The Spanish Inquisition did not try cases involving Jews who had never converted to Catholicism. But this was not as fair at it sounds. In the spring of 1492, all Jews in Spain were given 120 days to convert to Catholicism. If they would not do so within four months, then they had to leave their homeland.
Thousands of Jews fled from Spain in 1492, with most of them going to North Africa. When the 120 days had expired, which came at the very time Columbus sailed from Spain, all Jews who stayed in Spain had to accept Christian baptism. At that time, they could no longer practice their old religion. If they did, they were likely to be arrested and severely punished on orders of the Inquisition.
At the time María de Agreda began writing her book, The Mystical City of God, Jewish apostates were no longer a serious problem in Christian Spain. But the Spanish Inquisition remained a powerful court to ensure that Catholicism was kept pure and sinners were punished. Other offenses tried by the Inquisition included sorcery (witchcraft), bigamy (being married to more than one person), and major heresy (denying the teachings of the Catholic Church).
The Catholic Church was especially suspicious of persons who believed that God had spoken to them directly, such as María de Agreda. This, in the mind of church leaders, was dangerous, because the voice that people heard might well be that of the devil. The Catholic Church wanted its faith to be taught by its priests and missionaries, who were trained in religion and took orders from the pope in Rome. This control ensured that all Catholics would receive the same message in matters of religion.
After María de Agreda died in 1665, the Spanish Inquisition examined her book “word for word” before it would agree to its publication. Finally, after five years, the Inquisition decided that the Lady in Blue’s work was acceptable for all Catholics to read. But that changed in a few years.
In 1681 María de Agreda’s book was judged not suitable reading for Catholics. The problem was that Mother María’s book placed too much emphasis on Jesus’ mother, Mary, and not enough on Jesus rising from the dead. Even so, within a few months, Pope Innocent XI decided that The Mystical City of God was a fine work that could be read by all Catholics. Later popes agreed, and the Lady in Blue’s book came to be popular with priests working in America.
Problems with the Inquisition during her lifetime did not stop María de Agreda from becoming a close friend of King Philip IV. In fact, she played an important role in his life for more than twenty years.
Although a Catholic, King Philip was also a worldly man. Despite the teachings of his religion, he committed adultery and fathered several illegitimate children. He also enjoyed hunting with friends, taking part in theatrical productions, and posing for portraits. At times these activities occupied more of his time than the duties of ruling an empire.
Many challenges faced Philip, and the demands of being king proved difficult for him. Both the Portuguese and the French were threatening his kingdoms. In the summer of 1643, the king headed to Aragon to take part in a war against France. While making the journey, he decided to visit the Convent of the Immaculate Conception and meet its famous abbess.
On July 10, 1643, the king met María de Agreda. He asked about the bilocation experiences that had been reported. In a convincing manner, she described to him her spiritual travels among the natives of America.
During their long conversation, Philip was deeply impressed with the nun’s wisdom. He was sorely in need of “unselfish” advice. Unlike others who attempted to influence him, this wise woman did not seek power or wealth. Instead, she cared only about Philip’s welfare and that of his kingdoms.
Sister María spoke critically to the monarch about those in the royal government who had committed harsh acts and used “ungodly methods.” She urged Philip to have faith in God and in himself, rather than rely on such men. As he prepared to leave Agreda, the king felt renewed hope. He asked the abbess to write him and give him her private advice. She should also pray for him with her “saintly soul.”
A strong spiritual link was formed between the king and the abbess. In Mother María, Philip IV found a trusted adviser, as well as a special friend. The two wrote to each other regularly. For more than two dozen years, he would confess his sins and weaknesses to her on paper. Understandably, Philip ordered the mother superior never to speak about the contents of the letters to anyone.
In his first letter to María on October 4, 1644, Philip wrote on only one-half of a sheet of paper (the left side of the page). María was instructed to write her reply on the right side of the same page and return it to the king. Whenever the king received a reply from the Lady in Blue, he always burned the letter after reading it. This method was meant to help keep the contents of their letters a secret, and they used it regularly.
In the letter of October 4, the king said that he was sorry for having sinned and offended God. Writing of the many problems facing his empire, Philip IV declared that he had very little trust in himself. He feared that he was to blame for the punishments falling upon his kingdoms. The monarch needed María’s help to “do right.” He asked the Lady in Blue to “speak with all frankness.” She should also pray for God to guide his actions and his arms.
In her reply, the abbess advised her monarch to trust in the Lord. She would pray for him. But she also warned that his kingdoms were in danger because he was at war with other Catholic countries. This was against God’s will. María assured Philip that things would improve “as soon as Your Majesty has abandoned the old evil ways and been delivered from sin.” The Lady in Blue also warned Philip IV to beware of those around him who cared more for their own welfare than his.
During the twenty-two years that the king wrote to Mother María, he told her not only about matters of state but also about personal affairs. Because he believed that no one else would ever see the letters, Philip wrote honestly about his concerns, his actions, and his associates. For example, he confessed to María that he continued to commit serious sins, such as adultery. In her replies to these letters, the abbess expressed a strong sense of justice and concern for her country. That she also cared greatly about her king was never in doubt.
When Philip IV died in 1665, he did not know that María de Agreda had made a copy of his letters and her replies before returning them to him. Although she disobeyed her king’s orders, we are lucky that she did. These copies give us valuable information about the nun, the king, and their times.
María de Jesús died at Agreda on May 24, 1665, in the same year as her king. Because she had led such an unusual life, the Lady in Blue stirred a lot of interest in the Catholic Church. After all, here was a person who could perhaps send her spirit across the Atlantic Ocean to Texas and New Mexico. If true, this was a miracle.
Here was a nun who had founded a new religious order in Spain, known as the Discalced Nuns. In a short time, while she was still in her twenties, she became an abbess because her leadership qualities were so unusual. Later in life, she wrote a book that got her in trouble with the Spanish Inquisition. In fact, as we noted, she had to write it twice! After her death, the book was regarded as a great work on religion.
All of this was highly unusual for a young woman who never left northeastern Spain. Yet she was even visited by the king of Spain at her monastery. As mentioned, Philip IV was so impressed by the Lady in Blue that he wrote letters to her for twenty-two years, sharing with her his personal weaknesses and thoughts.
It is little wonder that many high officials in the Catholic Church thought María de Agreda’s life to be so special that she deserved to be considered for sainthood. After her death, a bishop in eastern Spain began to take a careful look at the nun’s life and her special qualities.
The work of this bishop impressed Pope Clement X in Rome. In January 1673, the pope decided that María de Agreda was so unusual and special that she should be declared “Venerable.” This means that he thought the former abbess was worthy of becoming a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Thus began a long process that has continued for more than three hundred years. As recently as the 1970s, the Spanish government actively supported the hope that the Lady in Blue might become a Catholic saint.
Sainted or not, María Coronel played an important role in American and European history. Certainly, Father Alonso de Benavides, who once headed the Franciscans in New Mexico, believed that the souls of many Indians were saved through her efforts.
Today, the fame of the Lady in Blue lives on, especially in Texas history. According to one Indian legend, when Mother María last appeared to the natives, she blessed them and then slowly faded away into the hills. The next morning the area was covered with a blanket of strange flowers that were a deep blue color, like her cloak—the first Texas bluebonnets. She has been given credit for creating the first chili recipe, aiding malaria victims along the Sabine River in the 1840s, and appearing as a spirit during World War II.
The story of María de Agreda reminds us that a sickly child who spent her entire adult life in a convent in northeastern Spain could still make a difference in many lives and on two continents. She definitely influenced her king, Philip IV. Others insist that her bilocations brought a Christian message across the Atlantic Ocean to Indians in Texas and New Mexico. Studying her life helps us believe in miracles.
Materials used in preparing this chapter are described below. You can find more information about these sources in the Bibliography at the end of the book.
Books dealing with the Lady in Blue are Clark Colahan’s The Visions of Sor María de Agreda: Writing Knowledge and Power and T. D. Kendrick’s Mary of Agreda: The Life and Legend of a Spanish Nun.
Quotes in this chapter are from Clark Colahan, The Visions of Sor María de Agreda; Frances Parkinson Keyes, I, the King; and the following articles: Cuthbert Gumbinger, “The Tercentenary of Mother Agreda’s Mystical City of God,” Age of Mary (January-February 1958): 16; Joseph Mary Madden, “A Brief Biography of Venerable Mary of Agreda,” Age of Mary (January-February 1998): 91–92. Also quoted are the following published documents: Alonso de Benavides’s Letter from Spain, 1631, in Age of Mary (January-February 1958): 126–127; Letter of Venerable María de Agreda, 1631, in Age of Mary (January-February 1958): 127–128. An additional quote came from an unpublished work: Memorial of Father Alonso de Benavides Regarding the Conversions of New Mexico, February 12, 1634, Catholic Archives of Texas, Austin.
For general works on the Spanish and Mexican Inquisitions, see The Spanish Inquisition, by Henry Kamen, and The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century, by Richard E. Greenleaf.
Correspondence between María de Agreda and Philip IV is discussed in I, the King, by Frances Parkinson Keyes.
A single-issue journal, The Age of Mary: An Exclusively Marian Magazine (January-February 1958), contains valuable articles and documents on María de Agreda.
A good reference source for the Lady in Blue is the six-volume New Handbook of Texas, published by the Texas State Historical Association, as well as its online version at <www.tsha.utexas.edu>. You can also check out a María de Agreda website at <www.withmary.com/agreda/agreda.html>.