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83 3 Patriotic Bodies and Corporeal Rhetorics Sor María Josefa de la Santísima Trinidad’s Historia de la Fundación del Monasterio de Trinitarias Descalzas de Lima (1783) I n an article entitled “Discurso histórico sobre la fundación del exemplar Monasterio de Trinitarias Descalzas de esta Ciudad de Lima” (Historical discourse on the establishment of the exemplary monastery of Discalced Trinitarians of this city of Lima), published in the Mercurio peruano on October 23, 1791, by the Sociedad Académica de Amantes de Lima (Academic Society of the Lovers of Lima), the editors called attention to the relevance of this “illustrious and ven­ erable monument,” which made Lima’s citizens feel fortunate to consider it as part of their cultural patrimony (Mercurio peruano 3.84 [1791], 137) (see Figure 34). The editors took it upon themselves, as guardians of the country, to disseminate to Lima’s natives the history of such a memorable institution in order to validate its importance as a national monument and to preserve its history for future generations . According to the editors, because “heroic actions are barely known by those who live at the time in which they take place, it is necessary that a spirit of social responsibility make them public, so their glory can survive into posterity” (“las acciones heroycas apenas son conocidas por los que existen en la epoca fortunada en que se practican: es preciso que el espiritu social las dé á la luz pública, para llevar hasta la posteridad mas retirada su memoria”) (137–38). For them, the distinguished monastery of Trinitarias Descalzas of Lima occupied such an important place in Peruvian history that only the act of writing could preserve it for future generations.1 This was not the first time that a native of Lima had called upon the importance of preserving the memory of such an institution. Eight years before, a member of the monastery itself had already proclaimed the importance of disseminating the history of the institution as a national and religious patrimony. This Peruvian nun was Sor María Josefa de la Santísima Trinidad, who in 1783 decided to write the Historia de la fundación del Monasterio de Trinitarias Descalzas 84 Deviant and Useful Citizens de Lima (History of the Foundation of the Monastery of Discalced Trinitarians of Lima). Sor María Josefa and her history constituted a prime example of the intrinsic connections between religiosity and social concerns that were so prevalent in the colonial world. It is well known that since the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World, religion had become an instrument of political expansion, social control, and identity construction.2 Literary critics and cultural historians have emphasized the political and social significance of the women’s monasteries in colonial Spanish America and their vital role in economic activities and social services. Their social function and political significance were achieved thanks to the work of many religious women who as founders, directors, or practitioners established a close connection between the outside, secular world and the inside, spiritual world of the monastery . As Electa Arenal and Stacey Schlau have indicated, “women’s monasteries were educational, economic, political, and social institutions as well as religious ones” (339). In the monasteries, women worked as administrators, musicians, accountants, playwrights, actresses, entertainers, salespeople, and managers of real state. They also participated in traditional roles performed by secular women, such as cooking, baking, sewing, and cleaning. Their lives inside the monastery space were connected in many instances to the outside world. Their help was greatly needed to tend to the poor and sick and to deal with the effects of natural disasters, as well as to bail out influential colonial citizens who required emergency loans. Having a daughter in the monastery was a sign of prestige for parents, as well as an easy opportunity to obtain loans if or when the need arose. In Spanish America, monasteries also became “repositories for daughters of the nobility and wealthy urban classes, prisons for the ‘dishonored’ or ‘disobedient,’ and sanctuaries for the studious, who had little access to higher education” (Arenal and Schlau, 3). More significantly, these institutions became one of the biggest employers within the viceroyalties, hiring gardeners, surgeons, lawyers, painters, and servants, while also contributing to the economy of the country as active and reliable consumers. Many times nuns also had to depend on the outside world in order to keep their institutions alive. Dowries and contributions became two of the most...

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