Sor Juana In\u00e9s de la Cruz and St. Elizabeth Seton lived about a century apart and in vastly different cultures. But they had much in common.<\/p>\n
Each woman was exceptionally literate, especially if one considers the paucity of formal education available to girls of their time. They both were determined to educate themselves by reading voraciously. Elizabeth was more drawn to prose and devotional works, whereas Juana was drawn to poetry. Through literature, they each found an intense devotion to the Virgin Mary\u2014Elizabeth for comfort and consolation, Juana for celebration.<\/p>\n
Sor Juana In\u00e9s de la Cruz (Sister Juana In\u00e9s of the Cross) lived in Mexico (then part of New Spain) in the second half of the 17th century. From childhood, Juana craved learning; she could read by the age of three. Since girls were barred from formal education, she became her own teacher by drawing on her grandfather’s library. When a new viceregal couple took her under their wing, she was brought into courtly society, where she was admired for her intelligence and wit. But as she reached marriageable age, she chose to enter a convent, a common move in New Spain for young women who wanted to avoid marriage for whatever reason. For Juana, the reason was to continue her studies and her writing, which the domesticity of marriage and childbearing would have prevented.<\/p>\n
Sor Juana threw her intellectual energy into writing poetry and plays\u2014both secular and religious. So outstanding was her poetry that a collection of it was published in Madrid in 1689. Then in 1690, she published a religious play, The Divine Narcissus<\/em>, followed in 1692 by a second volume of poetry published in both Spain and Mexico.<\/p>\n It was in Italy, after her husband’s death, that Elizabeth Seton first felt the pull of Mary. Her Catholic friends, the Filicchis, encouraged her to visit churches, and Elizabeth was struck by the images of the Madonna and Child everywhere. The images moved her because they gave a female and maternal dimension to a Christianity that, as an Episcopalian, she’d experienced only as Father and Son. Furthermore, she sensed that the Blessed Mother filled the void left by the death of her own earthly mother at an early age. It\u2019s no surprise that Elizabeth took the name of “Mary” at her Catholic confirmation.<\/p>\n What I do find surprising is that, years later, Mother Seton placed in the Emmitsburg chapel a large painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This image of Mary is of course of Mexican origin\u2026 not what we’d expect to find in the Maryland countryside.<\/p>\n We would<\/em> expect Our Lady of Guadalupe to appear, however, in the writings of Sor Juana In\u00e9s de la Cruz. And, yes, she does write about Our Lady of Guadalupe, though only occasionally. The most extensive place is in a poem beginning (in English translation): “The Marvel made of flowers \/ divine American Protectress.” The flowers are the roses that Juan Diego saw on the ground where Mary appeared.<\/p>\n Most of Sor Juana’s celebrations of Mary are in her villancicos<\/em>, which were songs\u2014commissioned by cathedrals\u2014for the common people to sing during the liturgy of specific feast days. Sor Juana wrote many villancicos<\/em> for the Feasts of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception, mostly in Spanish but at least one in the native Aztec language of Nahuatl, in which she was fluent.<\/p>\n Here’s a taste of one of her villancicos<\/em> for the Feast of the Assumption, in which Mary is a shepherdess:<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0That shepherd lass \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0who with just one look \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the lass whose Beloved And so on, until the rousing refrain:<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0To the Hill, to the Hill, to the Summit For the same feast, Sor Juana composed a villancico<\/em> in Nahautl. Here’s some of the English translation:<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Beloved Lady, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0However delighted \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Since the Son you love \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0If he seems unwilling, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Recall to his mind \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0With your intercession, And here’s the start of one of her villancicos<\/em> for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception:<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hear me one moment\u2014 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Hear me as I sing \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A moment only, In a more serious mode, Sor Juana wrote for her sister nuns a theological treatise called The Exercises on the Incarnation<\/em>, modeled on Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises<\/em>. In her Exercises<\/em>, Sor Juana conceives of Mary as the Mother of God, present during each of the six days of God’s creation in the Genesis narrative, and for each day Mary appears in a different image:<\/p>\n Day 1: God creates light; Mary is Queen of Light.<\/p>\n Day 2: God creates the heavens and waters, placing them all at Mary’s “virginal feet.”<\/p>\n Day 3: God creates the sea, the earth, and everything growing on the earth, while all give obedience to their Queen.<\/p>\n Day 4: God creates the sun, moon, and stars, which celebrate their Divine Queen, who is crowned with stars and has the moon under her feet.<\/p>\n Day 5: God creates all the fish of the sea and the birds of the air; the fish celebrate Mary as Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) while the birds\u2014in a pun on “Ave Maria” (Latin for “Hail Mary”)\u2014hail her as “Reina de las Aves” (Queen of the Birds).<\/p>\n Day 6: God creates all the earthly creatures, including humankind; Mary is addressed as “Queen of humanity, the Honor of nature and the crown of the human race.”<\/p>\n Elsewhere in her poems, Sor Juana images Mary as the temple of God or as the tabernacle of God.<\/p>\n
\nwith eyes so serene,
\nthe charm of the grove,
\nthe envy of Heaven.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nleft the shepherd smitten
\nsnared the lord of the summit
\nwith a single hair;<\/em><\/p>\n
\nwas myrrh to her once
\nwhen his dwelling place
\nwas between her white breasts\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n
\nhurry, shepherd lads, fly\u2014
\nMary is ascending the skies!
\nHurry, hurry, fly quick, fly quicker,
\nour lives, our souls she takes with her,
\nbears our wealth away in herself
\nand leaves our village bereft!<\/em><\/p>\n
\nsince you’re departing,
\noh, Mother, please
\ndo not forget us.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nwith Heaven above,
\nwill you not sometimes
\nhear how we pine?\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n
\nis much in your debt,
\nentreat him, Mother,
\nfor all your children.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nremind him gently
\nhow once you gave him
\nyour virginal feeding.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nhow you suckled him,
\nhow, a babe in arms,
\nyou lulled him to sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nyour unhappy children
\nwill all be made whole
\nand worthy to serve you.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI’m all set to sing
\nof a Moment that stood
\noutside of time!<\/em><\/p>\n
\nyou won’t find it trying
\nsince what I have to say
\nwill be only a Moment.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\nyet prized so high,
\nfor a Moment the Eternal
\nhung in suspense.<\/em><\/p>\n