Mother Juana de la Cruz, 1481–1534: Visionary Sermons ed. by Jessica A. Boon (review)

This edited volume of selections from the visionary sermons of Juana de la Cruz (1481-1534) is an exciting addition to the scholarship on women, gender, and religion in early modern Europe.

Juana de la Cruz is a complex figure for scholars of female spirituality. We know her best through the collection of her "sermons"—meditations on biblical themes and events that she delivered in a semi-conscious state, first to her sisters at the third-order Franciscan convent in Cubas where she was the abbess, and later to more public gatherings that would have included secular attendees. She claimed that she delivered these sermons in Jesus' voice. Her narrations often included elaborations on established biblical narratives and provided new interpretations. These meditations were interspersed with her accounts of heavenly celebrations or festivals that she observed during her raptures. The sermons were collected and exist in two manuscript editions and one modern published edition under the name El libro de conorte. (The Book of Consolation.) The editors and translators have selected six of her seventy-two sermons for presentation in this volume. Those chosen are "representative of Juan's combination of biblical narrative and allegorical pageantry" (p. 7).

Very significantly, the publication of this work shifts scholarly attention both geographically and chronologically. As the editors note, scholarship on female visionaries has tended to focus on England, the Low Countries, and Italy. And yet Juana de la Cruz deserves a place alongside her more celebrated sisters like Margery Kempe, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Catherine of Siena. For scholars of female mystics and visionaries in Spain, focusing on Juana de la Cruz also moves the discussion to the period before Teresa of Avila began shaping Tridentine spirituality.

In that vein, the introduction prepared by Jessica Boon is outstanding. Her synthesis and explication of work on religion and gender in pre-Teresian Spain is an excellent resource. She ably guides the reader through the terrain of Spanish mysticism, spirituality, and theology in the first half of the sixteenth century. This allows her, for example, to make important observations about the distinctiveness of Marian devotion in Spain during this period. Although Jesus was the narrator of Juana's experiences, Boon rightly argues for the prominence of the Virgin Mary in Juana's experiences and how this shaped her claim to authority and legitimacy.

Finally, the introduction also provides a thoughtful consideration of the concept of authorship. Juana did not write these experiences—one of the nuns at the convent did. And she did not, like other female mystics, record her experiences at the behest of a male spiritual director. Boon also weighs the issue of the reception of the text in her discussions of the text's "composition history" (p. 18). One of the manuscripts is heavily annotated and even blacked out in parts. This provides fascinating insight into the reception of her experiences. Notably, where relevant, the introductions provided for the individual sermons in this edition include commentary on this censorship.

The translations are accessible and read comfortably. The introductions to each sermon provide useful explanatory material. The sermons themselves are well-annotated, making them accessible to modern readers. This would be an excellent book for use in courses in history, Spanish language, religious studies, or gender studies. In all, this volume is an important addition to our understanding of female spirituality in a formative religious period.