the devil women and the body in seventeenth century puebla convents

The Devil, Women, and the Body in Seventeenth-Century Puebla ConventsAuthor(s): Rosalva Loreto LpezReviewed work(s):Source: The Americas, Vol. 59, No. 2, The Devil in Latin America (Oct., 2002), pp. 181-199Published by: Academy of American Franciscan HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1008534 .Accessed: 07/05/2012 14:59

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The Americas 59:2 October 2002, 181-199 Copyright by the Academy of American Franciscan History

THE DEVIL, WOMEN, AND THE BODY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PUEBLA CONVENTS*

The mystical and supernatural experiences that many nuns faced in seventeenth-century convents in Puebla shaped New Spain's spirituality. These experiences and the way they were recounted provided

the elements for an archetype of conduct and for socially accepted virtues. Using their imagination, these nuns, servants of God, enlightened and morally exemplary, maintained a direct relationship between the convent, the supernatural world, and colonial society.

Anthropological studies of popular religion have emphasized, almost exclusively, the collective and public aspects of religious expression but have ignored private, individual piety.1 Yet collective and private religious expressions have been linked throughout history. When individual manifestations of religious expression were socially endorsed, these private forms of piety influenced the creation of identity and models of behavior. Because these archetypes of religious conduct were so important within colonial culture as a whole, it is important to gain an understanding of the events that led to their formation and the way in which they travelled from the culture of the convent to that of the larger society.

In this article I focus upon the lives of individual nuns and how events in their lives influenced the creation of a religious identity and an ideal of feminine conduct in the colonial period. I concentrate upon the way in which some seventeenth-century Poblano nuns struggled against the Devil, especially as he appeared in animal form. These battles occurred within the norms of the prevailing cultural imagination and religiously accepted prac-

* Translated by Sonya Lipsett-Rivera 1 For a critique dealing with Spain please see Elias Zamora Acosta, "Aproximaci6n a la religiosidad

popular en el mundo urbano: El culto a los santos en la ciudad de Sevilla," in La religiosidad popular, edited by Alvarez Santal6 et al. (Spain: T.I., 1989), p. 528.

181

182 THE DEVIL IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PUEBLA CONVENTS

tices. Out of their victories over the Devil, these nuns and their adherents created a prototype of desired female bodily control and constructed models of accepted feminine gestures.

In the local culture of seventeenth-century Puebla, residents identified with the nuns' private lives and accepted these women as symbols of religious perfection. The convent's cultural influence linked individual nuns to the community around them. This culture provided a framework within which individual nuns' feats became extremely significant for society at large. It was in this way that particular religious practices that developed behind the convent's cloistered walls were communicated and became an important part of local religiosity. The supernatural experiences reported by nuns were apparently rare, but they became part of the local urban devotion and Creole culture. The hagiographies of nuns emphasized these apparitions as part of a cultural process. The supernatural events, properly interpreted, directed women towards the kind of goals, methods, and values to which they should aspire in order to conform to the model of ideal femininity established by the nuns.

The sources for this study consist primarily of letters written by the nuns' friends or companions who were following their confessors' orders. These documents differ from the printed hagiographies in that the authors were closer to the protagonists and their writings are therefore more revealing. In the biographies that came at a latter stage, confessors interpreted this material and adjusted it to the pertinent religious canons. Although the confessors who wrote biographies of the nuns used the materials produced within the convents, they left aside many aspects of the "marvellous." They tended to focus on the ordering of information to convey the story and the miracles that supported doctrinal conventions.

Three nuns who experienced these visions, and who were recognised as visionaries by the society of Puebla and the official church, took their vows and lived in the convents of la Purisima Concepciin, Santa Teresa, and Santa M~nica. Some of the other nuns who wrote about Isabel de la Encarnacifn2 and Maria de Jesus3 did so at the behest and under the direction of their mutual con-

2 She was born in 1596 in the city of Puebla de los Angeles, the daughter of Melchor de Bonilla and Maria de Pifia, both originally from Brihuega. On May 19, 1614, she took her vows in the convent of the Discalced Carmelites and she died as an exemplary nun on February 2, 1633.

3 Maria de Jestis Tomellin was the daughter of the captain Sebastian Tomellin and Francisca Campos. She professed her vows as a nun of veil and choir on May 7, 1599 and she died in 1637. Her sister was Ana de San Sebastian who was a nun in the same convent. The first references to her life were compiled and transcribed by her cell companion Agustina de Santa Teresa who took her vows twenty years later. These materials became the basis for several biographies after her death. For this study I have relied upon

ROSALVA LORETO L6PEZ 183

fessor and spiritual director, Father Miguel Godinez.4 The life of Maria de San Jos6 (1656-1719) also provides some examples of supernatural manifestations. She joined the cloistered Augustinians in the Convent of Santa M6nica.5

These documents are generally extremely rich in detail but they all share one fundamental and invariable feature: they report the astounding events that formed the basis of the Convents' constructed imagery. The supernatural manifestations experienced by these visionary nuns6 were a fundamental part of the path towards a life of perfection.7

Apparitions, visions,8 and revelations9 reproduced the culture of the marvellous in the convents. In the seventeenth century the supernatural formed

the interpretation of Jestis Maria de Felix Vida, virtudes y dones sobrenaturales de la Ven. Sierva de Dios, Sor Maria de Jestis, religiosa profesa en el V monasterio de la Inmaculada Concepcidn de la Puebla de los Angeles de las Indias Occidentales, sacadas de los procesos formados para la causa de su beatifi- cacidn y canonizacidn (Rome: Imprenta de Joseph y Phelipe Rossi, 1756).

4 A Jesuit priest originally from Ireland, Father Godinez (1591-1644) had a master's degree in phi- losophy and was the prefect of study in the Seminary of San Pedro y San Pablo in the city of Puebla. His best known work is the Prdctica de teologia that was translated into Latin by Ignacio de la Reguera. Around 1620, as the confessor of the Carmelite Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, he also published an original manuscript entitled "Dichos del Padre Miguel Godinez, var6n muy espiritual de la Compafifa acerca de la vida y virtudes de la Venerable M. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n cuyo padre espiritual fue." For more information on Miguel Godinez and Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, see Manuel Ramos Medina, "Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, monja posesa del siglo XVII," in Manifestaciones religiosas en el mundo colonial americano (Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia and Con- dumex, 1994), pp. 41-51.

5 Maria de San Jos6 was the daughter of Luis Palacios y Sol6rzano and Antonia Berruecos, both the children of Spanish immigrants. She professed as a nun of veil and choir in the Convent of Santa M6nica and later left this Convent to found another in Oaxaca. She wrote autobiographical material at the orders of various people including the Bishop of Puebla, Manuel Fernindez de Santa Cruz and her confessors. See Kathleen Myers, Word from New Spain. The Spiritual Autobiography of Madre Maria de San Josd (1656-1719) (Liverpool: University Press, 1993). For this part of the article I consulted the first five sec- tions of Myers' transcription.

6 The term Illuminati, used to refer to these visionary nuns, refers to the processes that were theo- logically recognized as "Illuminativa." In this definition the supernatural phenomena are more palpable and are presented as part of the proofs that lead to the mystical phenomena characteristic of the 'unitive' life. See A. Tanquerey, Compendio de teologia ascdtica y mistica (Madrid: Sociedad de San Juan Evan- gelista, 1930), p. 622.

7 The life of perfection is also known as 'unitive' and is defined as the habitual and intimate union with God. Such a life presupposes that the individual in question has previously experienced a series of stages of purification and ordeals in their exercise of moral and theological virtues to reach a stage in which they live solely for God. See Tanquerey, p. 822.

8 Visions represent the supernatural perception of objects that are normally invisible to humans. They are not revelations unless they reveal some hidden truth. Visions that are felt physically are also called apparitions. The vision does not need to be physical; it can also involve the perception of a luminous form. See Tanquerey, pp. 952-3. The etymological roots of these visions suggest that they are fundamental to the notion of apparitions. See Jacques LeGoff, Lo maravilloso y lo cotidiano en el Occidente medieval (Spain: Gedisa, 1986), p. 13.

9 Divine revelations are the supernatural manifestations of hidden truths that God does by three means: visions, supernatural speech, and divine touch. See Tanquerey, pp. 952-3.


the core of this set of ideas. The confrontations of visionary nuns with the actions of beings and objects of a diabolical or a celestial nature were of fundamental importance. Only God could be the cause of these confrontations. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, in an exemplary fashion, "had a great appreciation for the way of the cross, which she wanted to experience." In her desire to die or suffer, "which God granted her," she followed the example of her mother, Saint Teresa of Avila. As her confessor and biographer Miguel Godinez notes: "there are few souls about whom we read in ancient history who suffered more than Mother Isabel de la Encarnaci6n." He relates that when it appeared that she was dying, "it seemed that the demons hurried there in order to torment her, but Our Lord permitted them to do so."'o

Religious authorities from the Holy See examined and endorsed the various supernatural expressions that came to be considered divine manifestations upon the human consciousness. This symbolic-religious experience was always characterized as coming from the celestial world, something given by "divine grace" and not inherent to the nun. Godinez recognized that "revelations are not essential or integral parts of the spiritual life, as Saint Bonaventure noted quite clearly, because they are not acts of virtue, nor are they meritorious ... but rather they are an accidental ornament of the spiritual life.""

Theologians recognized the nuns' visions as a valid mechanism for communication with God. These visions became part of the convent's culture and that of the monastic community as a whole. The nuns aimed to use the lessons imparted by these sacred messages. But since they were integrated into the theological model of punishment and mercy, these supernatural manifestations also served to reaffirm the convent's methods of devotion.

Dreams, metamorphoses, hallucinations, sensations, and trips to and visits from these other worlds were the source of the marvelous in the nuns' hagiographies. These supernatural manifestations were categorized and defined symbolically and culturally. They formed an important element of New Spain's religious culture because it was through this culture that the secular as well as the religious lives of Christians were given shape.12

In the nuns' visions, typically, one or more divine figures appeared. These divine figures would talk and, sometimes, touch the nuns. Very frequently

10 Miguel Godinez, "Escrito del Padre Miguel Godinez, c. 1630 (unfoliated). " Ibid. 12 Josep Maria Feriglia, "Bases para entender una prospectiva de la religi6n," in Santal6 Op. cit.

1989, p. 594.


they would walk beside the nuns and would show them things or entrust them with sacred objects. Those who experienced these apparitions felt emotions, sensations, and bodily reactions that supplemented the visions. Emotions, such as fear or solace, were evidence that the visions were benevolent. Certain manifestations seemed to have moral significance; for example, pain in the heart, a sensation particularly cherished by the nuns. But such pains were not real in themselves. Like dreams, they were part of their contact with God and a type of divine message to decipher.

These unusual sensations were part of a moral etiology in which illnesses or other physical symptoms were part of a divine logic. In the seventeenth century, this set of attitudes was part of the road toward a life of perfection leading towards the consummation of a spiritual marriage--the transform- ing union in which the life of the nun was fused to that of her Beloved.'3

For these women such supernatural manifestations were external and formed part of their individual corporeal experience. They were part of a practice of mental control; the products of training and preparation in which images were ranked in order to establish systems of communication. The power to perceive these visions, or to have extraordinary bodily experiences on an individual basis, presupposed the possibility of separating the real world from that of the imagination. At the same time one had to be able to articulate this imaginary world within oneself. Messages received could be differentiated, but they all formed part of one field of significance: the supernatural world. In this context, the nuns functioned as intermediaries between God, the convent community, and society. As receptors of the divine message, the nuns could decode God's word and apply it to their everyday existence.14

Catholicism deliberately encouraged these mental images through its promotion of the saints' lives as models. In the saints' hagiographies, the miraculous and the wonderful were possible. Individuals could reproduce the saints' experiences by stopping the normal functioning of their nervous system and preventing it from controlling their senses. They did so through fasts, penance, and the wearing of hair shirts or spiked belts. The images that individuals perceived were ranked in a hierarchy of significance. The visionary nun accepted what she saw as a valid experience, endorsed by the reli-

13 Manuel Espinoza, La religiosa mortificada (Madrid: Imprenta Real, por Pedro Juliin Pereyra, Impresor de Cdmara de S.M., 1799), p. 298.

14 According to Feriglia, the nuns discerned the dimension of the world in which they lived and interpreted the messages that they received in their imagination and translated them into ordinary language (p. 591).


gious system, and confessors played an important role by encouraging these experiences.15

For the visionary nuns these interior images were as real as the things they saw around them. The apparitions could be spontaneous and they could include dreamlike visions. It was important to analyze the elements of these visions in order to categorize and rank them according to their symbolism. One night, for instance, Mother Maria de Jes6s opened her eyes and saw a beautiful vision of the child Jesus. Upon seeing it, she immediately knelt down and received the blessing that this divine visit imparted. The child Jesus disappeared and "she was filled with so much strength. It was as if she had experienced beautiful dreams all night." Before the child disappeared, he made her understand what the colors of his tunic meant: "White signified purity and that He suffered, purple meant love..,. and red signified the compassion of gen- erous redemption that He provided with the spilling of His blood."6

When the vision's information was interpreted, it became part of a system of categories that were thematically organized. The biography of Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, for example, had a section that specifically explained "the various guises under which demons appeared and the innumerable torments that they caused."'17 These apparitions provided a medium for the construc- tion of a sacred world.

THE DEVIL AS A CHARACTER IN THE CONVENT'S MARVELOUS IMAGES

As the instigator of the apparitions and miracles, God controlled and reg- ulated all of the nuns' supernatural experiences. The system of symbolism permitted specific functions for each character that formed part of the convent's images. As well as Christ and the Virgin Mary, the saints, the souls in purgatory, and the angelic soldiers also mediated the nuns' experiences with the Devil and the demons.

Apparitions, hallucinations, temptations, and diabolical torments were constant elements of the nuns' imagination. Because they were on the path

15 Godinez warned of the dangers these visionary nuns could risk if they fell into the hands of an uninformed confessor. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n had some confessors who "harmed her considerably because they did not recognize her spirit. It is a terrible thing to put an uplifted and extraordinary spirit in the hands of an uninformed confessor... ibid non est scientia animae... non ests bonum where there is no science and knowledge of the soul there is no good for the poor penitent, rather when God puts the soul in... some terrible purgatory, afterwards the same God feels obliged to save that soul from such a person and direct the soul to experienced people who understand and console that person," Godinez (unfoliated).

'6 Agustina de Santa Teresa, "Cuaderno primero sobre la vida de la Venerable Madre Maria de Jestis" c. 1630, fol 4.

17 Godinez (unfoliated).

ROSALVA LORETO LOPEZ 187

to perfection, the nuns were sensitive to visions and supernatural phenomena. God took advantage of their obsession as a purifying mechanism and used it to prepare them for their mystical union with Him.18 In this way the Devil was part of the divine plan because Satan's torments "seemed to increase in proportion to the degree of virtue and patience with which they are tolerated."'19 Father Godinez noted that "demons are like God's ministers in that they carry out His orders; sometimes God assigns them power over His servants' bodies reserving their souls for Himself."20 This was often the case in the experiences of the nuns studied in this article.

The early modem development of concepts surrounding the Devil and demons was part of a long process that included the transformation of the culture of magic and the supernatural through a Christian spirituality that tended towards introspection and individual internalization.21 Outside of sensuality, in particular the temptations that could threaten purity and chastity, the Devil was powerless. As long as the Devil only tormented his victims physically, this suffering was part of a divine plan. The Devil could defy the laws of nature. He was not, for example, governed by gravity, and he could move people from one place to another in a moment and transform them into animals.22

One of the Devil's "pemrnicious" qualities was to provoke false visions. St Vincent Ferrer had warned in two chapters of his Tratado de la vida espiritual that visions, revelations, hallucinations, and demonic temptations could be false. Most other spiritual manuals of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- turies were equally cautious.23 This logic dictated that, at any given moment, the Devil could, through an angel's intervention, negotiate for either the freedom of his victims or the degree of torment applied. Mortification,

18 See Rosalva Loreto L6pez, "La sensibilidad y el cuerpo en el imaginario de las monjas poblanas del siglo XVII" in Actas del II Congreso Internacional del Monacato Femenino en el Imperio Espafiol (Mexico City: CONDUMEX, 1995), pp. 542-3.

9 Fernando Cervantes, "El demonismo en la espiritualidad barroca novohispana:" in Manifestaciones religiosas en el mundo colonial americano, ed. Clara Garcia Ayluardo and Manuel Ramos (Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia and Condumex, 1993), p. 132.

20 Godinez (unfoliated). 21 Fernando Cervantes The Idea of the Devil and the Problem of the Indian. The Case of Mexico in

the Sixteenth Century (London: Institute of Latin American Studies, 1991) and "El demonismo en la espiritualidad barroca novohispana," in Ramos Medina op cit., p. 139, also states that this transformation was brought about because of a shift from a system based on the seven capital sins to one based the Ten Commandments. The obsession with the Devil coincided with the establishment of the Decalogue as the center of Christianity's moral system.

22 JOS6 Sanchez Lora, "Claves migicas de la religiosidad barroca," in Santal6 Op.cit., pp. 126-45. See also Jean Delumeau, El Medio en occidente (Madrid: Taurus, 1989).

23 William Christian, Apariciones en Castilla y Cataluiha (siglos XIV-XVI) (Madrid: Nerea, 1990), p. 244.


sacred relics, holy water, or the cross could sometimes limit his power. On the other hand, since a human soul was the Devil's most precious prisoner, the loss of a soul through the intercession of the nuns' prayers was a great defeat for the fiend.

Certain images that were used to represent the Devil in the baroque period-animals, dark-skinned men, imaginary beings such as dragons, goblins, or griffins--were part of a medieval heritage. Table 1 provides a breakdown of the most common ways that the Devil appeared to seventeenth-century nuns in Puebla, including his actions, assaults, the location of the events and, finally, the defensive strategy used by the nun.

This article will focus specifically upon the animal forms that the Devil could take. These representations exemplified a particular stage in the images used in convents and they were a partial medieval heritage that was adapted in the Baroque period to concrete local situations in Mexican convents.24 The analysis and iconographic interpretation of animals within different cultures as well as within their art is a hugely complex topic. For our purpose it will suffice to point out that one single animal could have values that are in opposition. As Olivier Beigbeder notes, if "we examine bestiaries seriously it is obvious that the animals most frequently represented are most of all lions, snakes, and dragons, which ordinarily have a double meaning: they alternate between good and evil, harmful and benevolent."'25 For the sake of clarity, the animals will be placed within the context in which they appeared to the nuns.26

As part of the natural order, beast-like natures had certain symbolic elements that were related to pejorative or punitive aspects. Savage animals were generally used as their representations since they were the incarnation of fear,27 evil, or uncertainty. Within this model, animals performed a double function. On the one hand, they represented a direct assault on the bodily nature of the nun. On the other, they represented a moral confrontation with

24 Seventeenth-century visual representations of the Devil used in this article seem to be derived from the Old Testament. Bad demons are described in a language stemming from pagan religions that portrayed them as animals like hyenas, wild cats and owls and refers to their lairs. (Is 34, 14), G. Barbaglio and S. Dianich, Nuevo Diccionario de Teologia (Madrid: Ediciones Cristianidad, 1982), p. 965.

25 Olivier Beigbeder, LIxico de simbolos (Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro, 1989, vol. 15), p. 45. 26 In the analysis of architecture, "what is most important before all else..,. is the disposition of the

animals, whatever their nature." Beigdeber, p. 46. This principle can be applied equally well to the examples in this article.

27 From a psychoanalytical perspective, animals that appear in the zoological phobias of children substitute the father, just as in ancient times they were related to a totemic animal. Sigmund Freud, "Una neurosis demoniaca en el siglo XVII" in Psicoanalisis aplicado y tecnica psicoanalitica (Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1974), p. 71.

ROSALVA LORETO LOPEZ 189

TABLE 1 Location Defensive

Figure Action or Assault Strategy Man sin-knock down cell prayer Nude black death corridor holy water man

Satan sin sin mortifications Ghost confuse mental prayer Demon sicken body blessed cross Hermit noise brain holy water Boy assault strangle prayer Dog rip apart bite Scarabs torment brain holy relics Flies swarm abcess Worms chew wounds Bull immobilize stairs Cicadas deafen choir loft Horse avenge cell holy water Tigers avenge cell Lions avenge cell Serpents encircle head Sources: Miguel Godinez, "Escrito del Padre Miguel Godinez, var6n muy espiritual de la Compafifa acerca de la vida y virtudes de la Venerable M. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n cuyo padre espiritual fue." c 1630, Agustina de Santa Teresa, "Cuaderno primero sobre la vida de la Venerable Madre Maria de Jests." c 1630, Francisca de la Natividad, "Su vida de la Madre Francisca de la Natividad escrita sobre ella misma." c 1620.

the nun's human nature: as a result of the animal's assault, the nuns no longer stood straight, but adopted positions and gestures that brought into question their humanity through the adoption of conduct that was morpho- logically like that of an animal.

The nuns tried to fight the animal-like nature of their bodies suggested through the Devil's actions. The way in which the Devil entered into their imagination in animal form certainly reinforced the bodily attitudes and norms of behavior that were considered correct in terms of posture and ges- ture. The scenes that the nuns described inspired fear more because of their form than because of their content. They were associated with irrational thoughts that directly threatened the human sentiments of the nuns.

The documents provide multi-faceted semantic values to the animals represented. What was most fearful was not so much the animal itself as its action upon the victim's body. Domestic animals inspired sentiments that


differed from those of aggressive animals, the latter provoking powerful emotions that were beast-like and hostile. The multiple animal descriptions in the visions of the nuns embodied a discourse on evil's many faces. They were "one of the many figures that devils had" and the cause of "inter- minable torments."28 Thus the narratives of the nuns often portrayed these animals as a threat to the eternal order.

In the nuns' dreams or imagination, these animals were invertebrates, mammals, or reptiles. The invertebrates were associated with an accelerated motion-movements that were synonymous with ant-like agitation,29 swarming and chaotic. It was a projection of anguish about change and destruction which was associated with the departure of animals connected with devastating actions. The move of the Discalced Carmelites to Puebla provides a very clear example of this type of image. Among the reasons for leaving Veracruz, the nuns mentioned that in that port city "the climate is very hot and the earth very humid which, along with the heat, causes cor- ruption." They noted that their residence was afflicted with a "blight:"

of ants that of all kinds is the most bothersome and damaging, because they explore and upset the whole house, and those they call chichimecas cause a great burning and stinging sensation when they bite, that can be alleviated with coolness

.... [T]he ants became so numerous that it became impossible to keep the food needed for sustenance from one day to the next; the ants even ate some oranges that were in the patio: afflicted by this blight, we prayed for the protection of... Saint Joseph .. and with an admirable success, the ants all fled.. .30

The nuns imagined that, apart from the capacity to swarm, insects were able to enter a victim's body and inflict damage upon it. One description noted that a nun "felt swarms of beetles in her brain that tormented her head gravely. The demons definitely ... grabbed the fabric of her brain and man- aged to twist it, causing excruciating pain, and producing intense agony."31

28 Godinez (unfoliated). 29 One of the early manifestations of this phenomenon was the characterization of the anthill empha-

sizing the dynamic swarming action of the ants rather than their work. On the positive side the ants provide an example of hard work and foresight because they store provisions for the winter over the course of the summer. Serafin Ausejo, Diccionario de la Biblia (Barcelona: Editorial Herder, 1966), p. 872.

30 The miracle consisted in the departure of all ants except for one ant colony in the patio. These ants, known as arrieras, became a kind of pet for the nuns. They threw them bread and biscuit crumbs to feed them and the ants harmed no one. From that time, the nuns dedicated themselves to Saint Joseph. Joseph G6mez de la Parra, Fundacidn y Primer siglo, del muy religioso convento de Sr. S. Joseph de Religiosas Carmelitas Descalzas de la ciudad de Puebla de los Angeles en la Nueva Espatia, el primero que se fundd en la Amedrica Septentrional, 27 de Diziembre de 1604 (Puebla: Miguel de Ortega en el Portal de las Flores, 1731), p. 29-30.

31 Francisca de la Natividad, 1614, folio 5v.


The nuns' bodies thus became a kind of battleground for the prevention of a beast-like nature. As part of this struggle, diabolical beings were capa- ble of provoking anarchy from within the victims' bodies. It was the disor- derly movements of the afflicted that revealed, at first, the animal-like nature of their imagination, and suggested a pejorative attitude towards those organisms that were agitating inside the body. These descriptions allow for a drifting of the imagination towards animals, such as flies, that were associated with sin.32 Those individuals who were tormented by flies could demonstrate "their great and unbeatable patience." If God willed it, "not only were they tormented by great pains but even in the very wounds where demons caused most agony." The demons then became flies. They afflicted the nun so unbearably that "she called on God... asking for his mercy and grace to help her endure this torment, as it was so great and caused her to scream many times and fall unconscious . . . because of the sheer agony."33

The image of swarming that came to represent the Devil's actions pre- vented any kind of verbal or bodily communication that followed a logical and coherent pattern. In some of his victims the Devil's intervention became obvious to the religious community because they could no longer perform the daily activities that required the bodily control demanded by the rules. One such example was assistance in the choir. A victim described how "as I was praying the divine office ... it seemed that there were so many cicadas in my head and their noise deafened me so that I could not hear a word. Other times it seemed that beetles were swarming in my brain."34 In this case the animals symbolized internal chaos. While Hell was portrayed in iconography as a chaotic and disturbed place, in these passages bodily putrefaction also symbolized a clear and disturbing discordance with the sacred.

Swarming animals were associated with the body's material destruction in a concrete manner--in fact they "ate" it and caused putrefaction.35 The

32 Ancient demonology always used flies to symbolize demons. Artists usually depicted them next to the ear of a Christian who was in the process of being tempted by Satan-they were "lending an ear" as Saint Gregory said "of the carnal desires." There are two infernal entities--although they are really one and the same-Asmodeus and Beelzebub who were represented as flies. L. Charbonneau-Lassay, El bestiario de Cristo. El simbolismo animal en la antigiiedad y la edad media (Barcelona: Editorial Sophia Perennos, 1997, vol. II), p. 869. Flies are also emblematic of discomfort, anxiety, or disgust. They symbolize constant persecution; buzzing and hovering without ceasing. They multiply in decay and putrefaction and transmit the worst germs. Iguacen, 1992, p. 598.

33 Natividad, folio 3. 34 Textual citation from a note that Isabel gave to her confessor. Godinez (unfoliated). 35 Many times demons "caused [Isabel] to throw up bits of abscess and other times to vomit worms

that were gnawing her day and night." Natividad, folio 3v. In this passage the worm fits into the symbolism of the "voice of conscience" that repeats a reproach in order to bring about repentance. Charbon- neau-Lassay, p. 841.


forms in which animals presented themselves were not only imaginary. Per- sonal experience, through the mortification of the flesh, endowed them with attributes which were quite common in the narratives of the period and allowed them to be directly represented in such a way. Maria de San Jose, for example, wrote that when she first put on her spiked belt, it was so large that much of it was left over. She continued to cinch it tighter and tighter so that over time "the spikes bit into my flesh." She had numerous fleas living in the spiked belt "although this was more common for those who wore wool or linen and Holland cloth." As a result she suffered greatly; she could feel the insects "walk around like ants in the wounds around my waist. They were nearly eating me to my chest bones. I would wake up in puddles of pus that flowed from my wounds onto the floor where I slept."36

Among the larger animals, it was the horse that was most often represented. Horses were commonly associated with funeral corteges or with the underworld.37 Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, for instance, made just such a connection when she described death's omen as "demons in the form of naked black men on horseback." They rode through the cloister and, as they came parallel with the cross, they all fled; but some entered the sacristy where she was, grabbed her and attacked her with such cruelty that a short while later she died.38

The horse was particularly feared during this time because it represented movement, and also because in daily life horses were associated with the noise of constant trotting. Metaphorically, "demons traveled like carts" over the top of Isabel de la Encarnaci6n's cell, while "below it they opened the walls with picks and made such noise that they bothered all the sisters who thought they were thieves. They walked in circles like a pack of mares threshing."39

The bull represented a further set of natural symbols. Because of its bellow, people associated the bull with thunder or a furious hurricane. A passage from Marfa de Jes6s's narrative uses elements of the symbolism of both bulls and horses to represent evil under different guises. She combines different symbolic images, but a humanized "demon" in the form of naked black man provides the active voice of communication with her. She recounted that one day, at ten o'clock, after a flagellation exercise, she was

36 Cited by Kathleen Myers, Word from New Spain, p. 117. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n provides a similar description. Godinez (unfoliated).

37 In the Apocalypse, death's horse is remarkably similar to a lion and has the teeth of a dragon. The horses of exterminating angels have "lions' heads" and their power is located in their mouth and neck. They are also connected with evil and death. In the Apocalypse, death is mounted on an emaciated horse. Ausejo, p. 250-251.

38 Godinez (unfoliated). 39 Ibid.


in her cell when she saw three demons enter. One demon had taken the guise of a horse, another one of a bull, and the last of a large, naked black man. She was terrified. One of the demons began to call her. The demons dis- guised as the horse and the bull attacked her and the black man told them not to give up. The other two pointed out that "she had flesh from our enemy, and that it was the flesh of St Teresa of Avila," because one of Maria de Jes6s's relics was indeed from this holy woman.40

Animal symbolism was accompanied discursively with metaphorical messages that complemented the connection between animal actions, substances, and qualities. For example, in order to stop a procession that he "hated," the Devil "put the figure of a black bull in the street where it [the procession] would pass ... paralyzing Isabel in such a way that the nuns could not move her from that spot. The procession had to pass ahead, leaving her there, like a statue, until she was finally able to move."41 The image of Isabel, lying in the street, recalls the weight, the texture, and the temperature of death. The symbolism of both bulls42 and horses was associated with the anxiety caused by certain attributes of nature. The noise of thunder and hurricanes could be interpreted as a manifestation of God's anger and, at times, as a collective punishment. On one occasion, Isabel de la Encarnaci6n "saw the Devil... in the figure of a black bull..,. foaming at the mouth, and angrily going up the stairs towards the upper dormitory." The nun warned her prelate that "the Devil, in the guise of a black bull, was going upstairs..,. and a short while later the convent was subjected to a terrible storm."43

Because of actions such as clawing, as well as their sounds, groans, and sinister howls, dogs and felines represented the concentration of all the ter- rifying nightmares that animals could evoke. More aggressive animals were often portrayed in the form of dogs, lions, and tigers. There was a very clear association between the bite of these mammals and the fear of their attributes, which could be easily connected with the Devil's desire for vengeance and punishment. His goal was to destroy, to "tear apart" those who stood between good and evil-in this case, the nuns. The way the nuns could intervene to prevent the Devil's triumph is illustrated in an example recounted by

40 Agustina de Santa Teresa, "Cuaderno primero sobre la vida de la Venerable Madre Maria de Jests" circa 1630, folio 14-14v.

41 The procession in question was for the Virgin's Assumption. It was held every three years. Godinez (unfoliated).

42 In polytheistic cults the bull was a symbol of virility. In Antiquity, its sacredness was linked to fecundity. The association of harmful powers with the negative values of animal symbolism can be observed in the way that so many demons are seen as the freed spirits of animals, especially those feared by humans. See Ausejo, passim.

43 Godinez (unfoliated).


Francisca de la Natividad. A group of people, she tells us, went by day and by night to the house of a couple to play cards "to the great offense of God" who showed them to her "hugging each other at the gates of Hell." In response, Francisca asked the community to pray for them in order to save them from this danger. The nuns did so very earnestly. Through the prayers of Francisca and the other nuns, they were able to wrench these souls from the demons' grip. "The demons avenged themselves for this assault. As a result two demons in the form of tigers came and attacked Francisca and they tore at her with such fury that they ripped her to pieces taking out their vengeance on her because she saved these souls."44

Snakes represented fear of evil45 and the three nuns studied in this article constantly discussed their appearance. They could hide death's secret, fertil- ity, and the life cycle.46 The structure and shape of their body and its movements made them seem like animals that could enter into the nuns' intimacy. They could also attack the nuns' heads making them lose proper bodily control and position. Indeed, the Devil, under various animal guises, affected different parts of the nuns' bodies depending upon the shape he took. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, for example, recounted that she was once in the presence of three individuals, two of whom were demons. One took the form of a snake and "encircled her forehead making her bray." The other turned into a leach and "entered her eyes and sometimes her nose, moving about in her nostrils." Because of her terrible torments, she made a horrible sound and the other nuns had to take her to the furthest comrner of the convent where she could "bray, and shout, and throw her head around like those with rabies," while biting her own hands and furiously attacking her own body.47

Other beings taken from the medieval traditions such as mermaids, griffins, and dragons, also appeared in the nuns' accounts but less frequently. The devil tormented Isabel de la Encarnaci6n as God willed it, "so that His servant would act as an example of what happened to souls who suffer." Our Lord gave the demons plenty of latitude to persecute her under various guises. They appeared in the figure of a dog, a pig, a cat, a bull, a turtle, a cicada, a lion, a grasshopper, a black soldier, a naked man, and a beautiful

44 Natividad, fols. 10-1lv. 45 In ancient mythology, the snake was often a demonic image or a cosmic monster of chaos. In Gen-

esis 3 it is represented as a symbol of sexuality and human ambition. The Apocalypse identifies Satan as the snake in Genesis, cf. Barbaglio, p. 966.

46 Ausejo, pp. 1835-1839. 47 Natividad, fol. 25v. In a similar incident, demons attacked Isabel de la Encarnaci6n "first in the face

as a snake encircled her forehead and head tormenting her senses and making it hard for her to breathe... and the demon entered her ears and tormented her to such a degree that it was as if a dagger had been plunged into her brain, so that she could not move any limbs and was as if dead." Godinez (unfoliated).


mermaid from the sea.48 The animals that appeared in the nuns' narratives served as an incarnation of the struggle between good and evil; this was their most important role. Thanks to the spiritual strength of the nuns, their patience and virtue, and God's grace, lust was vanquished and an orderly daily life was reestablished in the convents.

THE DEVIL, BODIES, AND DEPORTMENT

One of the Devil's most persistent tricks was to oppose and frustrate the nuns' efforts to control their own bodies. As they tried to exert bodily disci- pline through a subordination of body language, the Devil upset this poise by continually unbalancing their movements. The struggle to control their own bodies was also reflected in the images used by members of the convent. Its importance lay in the fact that the feelings and the emotions of the individual and the group were expressed through the way they held their bodies.

In the narratives consulted, the nuns took particular pains to specify the body's dynamic and to create a selective vocabulary of bodily movements. The reader must then decipher these movements within a coded system. A straight body, for example, indicated "superiority" in contrast with a fallen, lowly, or inferior one. These contrasts entered into the judgements made by the nuns about themselves and about their sisters. Images of a fall or the loss of an erect position, for instance, could represent human anxiety; the act of falling often functioned as a metaphor for hell and perdition. For vertical bipeds such as humans, the feeling caused by a fall brought to mind a fear of their resemblance with animals. Thus, the Devil threw Isabel de la Encar- naci6n to the floor and "under the guise of a horrible ghost, from on top of her body, he grabbed her wrists and made her so cold that she got goose bumps."49

For the nuns, an erect body faithfully reflected their human nature, and the maintenance of a straight position was part of the training imparted in all cloisters.5? The loss of the proper bodily position did not necessarily mean that the nun had to lie on the floor. Rather, as soon as her vertical axis was deformed, the body took on a more animal-like quality. The following example shows how, metaphorically, the Devil acted upon one of the body's most

48 Godinez, (unfoliated). In this case the animals symbolize the deceit and seduction associated with the Devil. See Damiin Iguacen, Diccionario del patrimonio cultural de la Iglesia (Madrid, Ediciones, 1991), p. 897.

49 Godinez states that, since her childhood, she received a special assistance from God to fool the Devil and triumph over his "schemes" (unfoliated).

50 See Kendon Adam, Conducting Interactive Patterns of Behavior in Focussed Encounters (London, Cambridge University Press, 1990).


vulnerable points, the neck. In this case, the Devil's action made the nun's head rotate in such a way as to resemble a spool of thread:

The Devil places many obstacles in my way. When I pray the Divine Office or when I enter the choir loft, he makes my head burn so that I lose my balance and my head becomes so heavy that I have to lower it because I cannot hold it straight.... On other occasions he makes my head whip around with such speed that it seems to be a bobbin, and when people look at me, they think my head was disappearing and if they succeeded in holding my head still, I would lose consciousness.51

The sense of "falling" was directly related to the body's centers of equilibrium. The Devil's object was to upset any of the bodily postures that were accepted as correct.

Along with the head and the neck, the waist was considered one of the most important centers of a female body. Because it represented the central axis of vertical balance, a woman's waist played an important role in the maintenance of a proper erect position whether standing, seating, or kneel- ing. When the waist was out of line, bodily discomposure was the direct consequence. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n suffered greatly because of "the demons who tried to stop her from participating in the convent's devotions. When she was about to bow before the Blessed Sacrament, the Devil bent her body backwards with such speed and violence that an abscess inside her body broke."52

Feet, although appearing infrequently, represent the other extreme of the loss of equilibrium. Apart from being necessary for movement, feet supported the body. They could fail by causing uneven or disjointed steps, by not keeping the body erect, or by an unsteady rhythm. In causing such fail- ures, the Devil could intervene through actions, objects or animals. Agustina de Santa Teresa, for example, recounted that on the feast day of the Holy Innocents, after praying to prepare herself for communion, she tried to leave her dormitory but "in front of these holy martyrs" she felt the Devil's presence and fell down. Because of the pain she could not put on her shoes. Yet, despite the pain, with assistance, she took communion and offered it to the others, and "Our Lord demonstrated His benevolence."53

5' Godinez (unfoliated). 52 Godinez (unfoliated). 53 Santa Teresa, fol. 19. Another vengeful demon showed up in the Carmelite convent where "the

demons made Isabel feel the consequences of any good acts accomplished in the convent. There were demons that tormented the sisters, who walked among them, some in the form of dogs, others as cats. But the demons made all the nuns demented by tripping them and making them fall." Natividad, fols. 6v-7.


Apart from its connection with body parts, the symbolism of the body was linked to its functions-breathing, the circulation of the blood, diges- tion, etc.- and to the senses. The following example illustrates how this cor- relation was constructed. The Devil would place himself "under her soles and from beneath she would feel an infernal gasping. Then her feet would become inflamed, and the humors would become unbalanced. She became gravely ill until she was able to evacuate this influence."'54

Falling was associated with walking quickly and moving rapidly. Isabel de la Encarnaci6n, for instance, felt the very agitation of the underworld as it "beat her head and throat so rapidly, with such speed, and excessive harsh- ness . . . that the other nuns were not able to help her." The nuns watched how, "with such speed, her head went back and forth for so long and with such violence, that her brains seemed to rattle in her head like nuts." On one of these occasions, one of the sisters tried to stop her head's movement with her hand. The moment she touched Isabel's head, the nun fell unconscious. From then on, when this happened, the nuns did not touch Isabel "despite the extreme torments she suffered."55

Falling meant loss of an upright position. Vertigo was a particular threat to proper posture and, as such, behavior. Commonly associated with illness, it was a warning to sinners of women's fragility. On one occasion, for instance, Mother Maria de Jests was at the grille, talking to her mother and a letrado who fell in love with her and tried very hard to convince her to reciprocate. In the end, he accepted that all he could expect was merely to see her once in a while. One day, he was at the grille with his sister, "when Our Lord appeared to the holy Maria de Jests and she felt herself drop. She left the grille and never again spoke to the letrado."56

The snake, also a symbol of penetration and of the Devil, appeared within the cell's intimacy with a sinuous anarchic motion. When Isabel de la Encar- naci6n "felt these different kinds of torment, certain chosen nuns always rushed over to help her. They tried to hold her while she levitated, moving her body like a snake .... Some demons lifted her in the air so that it seemed that she would break through the cell's roof while others threw her against the walls."'57

54 Godinez (unfoliated). 55 Ibid. 56 Santa Teresa, folios 9-9V. 57 "It took many nuns, with all their strength, to prevent her from hitting the walls, so much so, that

when I was walking with the same nuns, she would throw us all to the ground, and jump. She hit her head against the wall so many times that it was pitiful. It took so much strength to hold her so that she would not hit herself any more." Natividad, folios 4-4v.


A fall represented all of nature's feared elements and the feeling of imbal- ance caused by losing contact with the earth. Circles, circular objects or circular body movements expressed time and instability. For example, one account stated that "this particular night, before sunrise, the demons began to torment her furiously. They lifted her body in the air as if it was a feather caught in an eddy. They turned her around so many times that it seemed that they wanted to rip apart her body from her soul."58 Other similar metaphors portrayed the body rolling like a sphere or a ball of wool.59

Clearly, the body was not only the place where the battle between good and evil took place but also an object of great tension upon which the nuns' imagination centered. In their imitation of Christ and their search for perfection, women blended metaphors and genders in their most profound experiences. In a way, it could be said that they could become Christ's body because, to a certain extent, they experienced Christ in their own bodies.

CONCLUSION

My contention has been that the particular events that occurred privately to some nuns in the convents of Puebla had a larger significance for seventeenth and eighteenth-century society as a whole. The publication and re- editing of the nuns' lengthy biographies during the eighteenth century, the many attempts to beatify some of these women, and the numerous contem- porary references to these women in the writings of Poblanos themselves confirms their cultural significance.

Resistance to the Devil and its symbolism has been a recurring image of these narratives. The evidence suggests that gender is of primary significance in the analysis of this phenomenon since the experiences described occurred particularly to women. The connection between bodily weakness and women was accepted as a historical constant and contrasted with the religious state of the virtuous nuns who always triumphed over the Devil. Gender was also implicated in the product of these struggles. The nuns' conduct became an idealized feminine model in which bodily behavior played an important role. The regulation of the body as well as the battle to main- tain these positions became associated with certain types of actions and values. Just as there were bodily gestures associated with evil, others were considered adequate for virtuous and religious women.

58 Godinez (unfoliated). 59 Some of the other torments included trying to choke her, dragging her along the ground, playing

with her as if she were a ball, making her bustle about, "finally they treated her like another Job, causing her more pain than she could ever explain in words." Godinez (unfoliated).


The conversion of a private, individual, and feminine event into a socially accepted cultural value (in a public and collective way) required a certain process. First, the apparitions, despite their inherent threatening nature, had to fulfil certain religious and cultural conditions for the community to con- sider them valid and believable. The Church had a whole set of procedures to accept or reject the inclusion of supernatural events within the framework of faith. The publication of the nuns' biographies suggests that the events described in them conformed to certain requirements that had been previously agreed upon. If they had not, then they would not have been made available to the public in the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New Spain. This suggests that, between the events that these nuns experienced and their transformation into a socially accepted archetype, there was a pre- vious process. At a first level, the community within the convent judged whether a supernatural event was valid and worthy of consideration. The Church, through its system of censorship and the authority of confessors and biographers, provided the next and most decisive stage for the acceptance and then the propagation of the event and its implications. It is in this way that we can explain how the very private and individual events that occurred to a particular group of women became transformed into the elements of a widely socially accepted model of feminine virtue.

Benemefrita Universidad Aut6noma de Puebla ROSALVA LORETO L6PEZ

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Issue Table of ContentsThe Americas, Vol. 59, No. 2, The Devil in Latin America (Oct., 2002), pp. i-vi+153-284Front Matter [pp.i-vi]Introduction [pp.153-159]The Devil and Deviance in Native Criminal Narratives from Early Mexico [pp.161-179]The Devil, Women, and the Body in Seventeenth-Century Puebla Convents [pp.181-199]Mira Lo Que Hace El Diablo: The Devil in Mexican Popular Culture, 1750-1856 [pp.201-219]The Devil and Modernity in Late Nineteenth-Century Buenos Aires [pp.221-233]Inter-American Notes [pp.235-241]Book Reviewsuntitled [pp.243-244]untitled [pp.244-246]untitled [pp.246-247]untitled [pp.248-249]untitled [pp.249-251]untitled [pp.251-252]untitled [pp.252-254]untitled [pp.254-256]untitled [pp.256-258]untitled [pp.258-259]untitled [pp.260-261]untitled [pp.261-263]untitled [pp.263-265]untitled [pp.265-267]untitled [pp.267-268]untitled [pp.268-269]untitled [pp.270-271]untitled [pp.271-272]untitled [pp.272-274]untitled [pp.274-276]untitled [pp.276-277]untitled [pp.277-279]untitled [pp.279-280]untitled [pp.280-282]untitled [pp.282-283]

Back Matter [pp.284-284]

the devil women and the body in seventeenth century puebla convents

Documents

century convents

century poblano nuns

religious identity

century puebla conventsauthors

lives of individual

private religious expressions

individual piety

colonial society