Juana de la Cruz

The visionary sermons of Juana de la Cruz, who was born as Juana Vázquez Gutiérrez (1481–1534), are collected in the Libro del conorte, forming one of the largest compilations of women’s preaching in the European Middle Ages. Early in her life, Juana entered a community of Franciscan Regular Tertiaries living at the Convent of Santa María de la Cruz in Cubas de la Sagra (Kingdom of Castile), which was later reformed with her support in 1509. This transformation included her election as abbess and a privilege given by the influential Cardinal Cisneros (1436–1517) through which she took on responsibilities normally undertaken by a parish priest. Juana preached over 13 years in 6-hour-long prophetic performances, in which Christ used to speak though her mouth, dialoguing with various celestial characters, describing the kingdom of heaven, and even singing with different voices. During her life, Juana was considered a living holy woman (a santa viva) and her activity attracted a sizeable external audience that often included powerful members of the royal court. More than 70 of her sermons were collected by her community in the Libro del conorte, now preserved in two different manuscripts, whose dissemination was directly connected to her canonization process, abruptly stopped in the eighteenth century and officially reopened in 1996.