Francisca Josefa de la Concepción
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Francisca Josefa de la Concepción
Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...
(1671–1742) was a '' Spanish Neogranadine''
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
and mystic in the region of New Kingdom of Granada which later became Colombia. The first recorded woman writer of what now is Colombia, her devotional and autobiographical writings were published posthumously. Her work has been studied by Dario Achury Valenzuela, Constanza Toquica, Ángela Inés Robledo, , Elisa Mújica, José María Vergara y Vergara, and Daniel Alejandro Montes, among others, who recognize her as one of the most prominent writers of Neogranadine literature.


Origins

Francisca Josefa de Castillo y Guevara was born into a wealthy family on October 6, 1671, in
Tunja Tunja () is a city on the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, in the region known as the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, 130 km northeast of Bogotá. In 2018 it had a population of 172,548 inhabitants. It is the capital of Boyacá departmen ...
, which at the time was part of the New Kingdom of Granada. Her father, Francisco Ventura de CastiIlo y Toledo, an
hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le ...
colonist originally from Illescas in Spain, was initially appointed General lieutenant of the city and then Mayor. Her mother, María Guevara Niño y Rojas, was a native criolla of Tunja of Basque descent. Francisca Josefa had three siblings whose names were Catalina and Pedro Antonio Diego. Her other sister's name remains unknown. As a young woman she became a
Poor Clare The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
at the Royal Monastery of St. Clare, located in her town, where she spent the rest of her life within its walls. She was later appointed
abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...
of the community three times.


Religious life

At age 18, after facing family opposition, she entered the Convent of Santa Clara la Real, in Tunja; she spent two years as a laywoman and two as a novice. On September 24, 1694, at age 23, became a nun. Around this time, Francisca Josefa bought her own cell, which had a grandstand overlooking the chapel and, on the other side, overlooked an orchard with fruit trees. This cell has now become a tourist destination for those who visit the convent. Her initial life in the convent was difficult, due to the envy generated by Francisca's outstanding intelligence (despite scarce academic resources, she managed to learn
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and read the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
). In 1691 she began her novitiate and three years later she professed the vows of a nun, under the name of Francisca Josefa de la Concepción. Throughout her life she was influenced by the priests who officiated as her confessors, who encouraged her to write about the mystical feelings she experienced. She carried out all kinds of tasks within her religious community, such as sacristana, midwife, nurse, novice mistress, listener, secretary and on four occasions she was elected abbess (1715, 1718, 1729 and 1738). She also learned to play the organ.


Selected works

* * *


See also

* María Josefa Acevedo Sánchez * Juan de Castellanos Sánchez


References


Further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Francisca Josefa de la Concepcion 1671 births 1742 deaths People from Tunja Colombian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Poor Clare abbesses Franciscan mystics Franciscan writers Colombian autobiographers Colombian women writers 17th-century Roman Catholics 17th-century Colombian people 17th-century Christian mystics 18th-century Roman Catholics 18th-century women writers Spanish-language writers 18th-century Colombian people 18th-century Christian mystics Women autobiographers