Jesuit Neo-Scholasticism and Criollo Consciousness in Sor Juana’s El mártir del sacramento, San Hermenegildo

Much of the limited scholarship dedicated to Sor Juana’s autos sacramentales tends to separate them from the loas that were meant to introduce them. Critics often exalt the loas for the sympathy that they express for indigenous beliefs, while neglecting the autos or viewing them as masterful imitations of Calderón’s style. This analysis breaks with this trend by demonstrating the thematic unity between the auto titled El mártir del sacramento, San Hermenigildo and the loa that precedes it. Reading the two works in the light of Jesuit Neo-Scholasticism and its influence on the development of criollo consciousness, the article argues that both loa and auto contribute to a subversive criollo discourse that questions Spain’s hegemony and carves a space for Sor Juana’s own intellectual activities.