Ana de San Bartolomé (1549–1626), a contemporary and close associate of St. Teresa of Ávila, typifies the curious blend of religious activism and spiritual forcefulness that characterized the first generation of Discalced, or reformed Carmelites. Known for their austerity and ethics, their convents quickly spread throughout Spain and, under Ana’s guidance, also to France and the Low Countries. Constantly embroiled in disputes with her male superiors, Ana quickly became the most vocal and visible of these mystical women and the most fearless of the guardians of the Carmelite Constitution, especially after Teresa’s death.Her autobiography, clearly inseparable from her religious vocation, expresses the tensions and conflicts that often accompanied the lives of women whose relationship to the divine endowed them with an authority at odds with the temporary powers of church and state. Last translated into English in 1916, Ana’s writings give modern readers fascinating insights into the nature of monastic life during the highly charged religious and political climate of late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century Spain.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHER WRITINGS THE OTHER VOICE IN E A R LY M O D E R N EUROPE A Series Edited by Margaret L. King and Albert Rabil Jr. RECENT BOOKS IN THE SERIES MADE L E I NE D E L’ AUB E SP INE Selected Poems and Translations: A Bilingual Edition M ARIE- M A DELEINE PIOC HE DE LA V ERGNE, C OM TES S E DE LA FAY ETTE Zayde: A Spanish Romance Edited and Translated by Anna Kłosowska Edited and Translated by Nicholas D. Paige LAU RA B AT T I F E RRA DE GL I AMMANNAT I HORTENS E M A NC INI A ND M A R IA M A NC INI Laura Battiferra and Her Literary Circle: An Anthology Memoirs Edited and Translated by Victoria Kirkham Edited and Translated by Sarah Nelson C HIARA M ATR A INI PRI NCE S S E L I S AB E TH OF B OHE MIA AND RENÉ D E S CART E S Selected Poetry and Prose: A Bilingual Edition The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes Edited and Translated by Elaine Maclachlan, with an Introduction by Giovanna Rabitti Edited and Translated by Lisa Shapiro MO D E RATA F ONT E ( MODE STA P OZ ZO) Floridoro: A Chivalric Romance Edited with an Introduction by Valeria Finucci, Translated by Julia Kisacky, Annotated by Valeria Finucci and Julia Kisacky MAR Í A D E G U E VARA Warnings to the Kings and Advice on Restoring Spain: A Bilingual Edition Edited and Translated by Nieves Romero-Díaz JEANNE D E J U S S I E The Short Chronicle Edited and Translated by Carrie F. Klaus M ADELEINE A ND C ATHER INE DES R OC HES From Mother and Daughter: Poems, Dialogues, and Letters of Les Dames de Roches Edited and Translated by Anne R. Larsen M ARGHER ITA S A R R OC C HI Scanderbeide: The Heroic Deeds of George Scanderbeg, King of Epirus Edited and Translated by Rinaldina Russell KATHARINA S C HÜTZ ZELL Church Mother: The Writings of a Protestant Reformer in Sixteenth-Century Germany Edited and Translated by Elsie McKee Ana de San Bartolomé AU T O B I O G R A P H Y A N D OT HER W R I T INGS Edited and Translated by Darcy Donahue THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS Chicago & London Ana de San Bartolomé, 1549–1626 Darcy Donahue is associate professor of Spanish and women’s studies at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2008 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2008 Printed in the United States of America 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-14371-2 (c