Author: Mir Sagaar
Juana Ramírez de Asbaje faced a panel of prestigious theologians, jurists, and mathematicians as she was invited by the Viceroy of New Spain to test her knowledge. Despite the difficult questions posed, Juana successfully answered each challenge, impressing the observers who likened the scene to a “royal galleon fending off a few canoes.”
Born in the middle of the 17th century, Juana lived in Mexico, which was then a Spanish colony characterized by a complex and stratified class system. Although her maternal grandparents belonged to Mexico’s most respected class as they were born in Spain, Juana herself was born out of wedlock. Her father, a Spanish military captain, left her mother, Doña Isabel, to raise Juana and her sisters alone.
Fortunately, Juana’s family enjoyed a comfortable existence due to her grandfather’s moderate means. Despite her mother’s illiteracy and the prevailing misogyny of the time, Doña Isabel managed one of her father’s two estates successfully, setting a strong example for her daughters. This precedent likely inspired Juana’s lifelong self-confidence.
At the age of three, Juana secretly followed her older sister to school. When she discovered that higher education was only open to men, she pleaded with her mother to allow her to attend in disguise. Unfortunately, her request was denied. Nonetheless, Juana found solace in her grandfather’s private library, where she delved into philosophical debates, Latin, and Nahuatl, the Aztec language, during her early adolescence.
Juana’s sharp intellect attracted the attention of the royal court in Mexico City, and at sixteen, she became the viceroy and his wife’s maid of honor. Her plays and poems alternately dazzled and enraged the court, with her provocative poem “Foolish Men” famously criticizing sexist double standards and condemning the practice of blaming women for immorality.
Despite the controversy surrounding her work, Juana received adoration and numerous proposals. However, she was more interested in the patriarchal society of the time, finding her place within the Church. While the Church was still under the zealous influence of the Spanish Inquisition, it provided an opportunity for Juana to maintain her freedom and dignity even while unmarried.
At the age of 20, she entered the Hieronymite Convent of Santa Paula and took on the name Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. For years, Sor Juana was highly regarded within the Church, writing dramas, comedies, treatises on philosophy and mathematics, as well as religious music and poetry. She accumulated a vast library and received visits from numerous prominent scholars. In addition to her intellectual pursuits, she protected her niece and sisters from exploitation by men while serving as the convent’s treasurer and archivist.
However, Sor Juana’s outspokenness eventually led to conflict with her benefactors. In 1690, a bishop published Sor Juana’s private critique of a respected sermon, prompting him to admonish her to devote herself to prayer rather than engage in debates. In response, Sor Juana argued that God would not have given women intellect if He did not intend for them to use it. The exchange caught the attention of the conservative Archbishop of Mexico.
Gradually, Sor Juana lost her prestige, and she was forced to sell her books and cease writing. Furious at this censorship, yet unwilling to leave the Church, she reluctantly renewed her vows, signing them “I, the worst of all,” in her own blood as a final act of defiance. Deprived of scholarly pursuits, Sor Juana devoted herself to charity work until her death in 1695 from an illness she contracted while caring for her sister.
Today, Sor Juana is recognized as the first feminist in the Americas. Her life and works have been the subject of numerous documentaries, novels, and operas, and she even appears on Mexico’s 200-Peso banknote. As Nobel laureate Octavio Paz aptly stated, “It isn’t enough to say that Sor Juana’s work is a product of history; we must add that history is also a product of her work.”
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