Juana Ramírez de Asbaje was born on November 12, 1651 (or 1648) in San Miguel Nepantla in an estate located at the foot of the volcanoes. She was creole, probably of Basque origin. In an autobiographical document, the poet says that her love for the arts was born -as she puts it- “since the first light of reason crossed my mind”,/1 and that since she was three years old, following in her sister’s footsteps, she took classes and learned to read.

Her curiosity was always behind her incentive to read and study. When she was seven, she learned about the University of Mexico, and asked her mother to send her there to study, even willing to be dressed as a man if necessary. After her mother’s refusal to do so, she found comfort in devouring books from her grandfather’s library. She resolved to be persevering and disciplined, to such an extent that, when she was still a young girl, she decidedly refrained from eating cheese, given that she happened to hear that it “made people rude”/2, that is, it made people behave in foolish ways. She started studying grammar with such dedication that she would cut her hair while learning a specific lesson when it was growing out, and she would cut it again if she still did not master what she resolved to learn, given that, in her opinion, “there was no reason why her head should be dressed with hair if it was so empty on the inside, that embellishment seemed more appealing”./ According to Father Calleja, Sor Juana’s first biographer, at eight years of age, she composed a praise for the feast of the Holy Sacrament.

Following the death of her grandfather in 1655, she was sent to Mexico City to live with her maternal aunt, María Ramírez, who was married to Juan de Mata, a wealthy man who had certain influence at the court of Viceroy Antonio Sebastián de Toledo, Marquis de Mancera. The young woman was presented to the court, where she lived between the ages of 16 and 20, and where she was respected for her extraordinary intelligence, to such an extent that the viceroy, admired by her erudition, had her knowledge tested by 40 noted men scholars: theologians, philosophers, mathematicians, historians, and poets. After confirming the wisdom reflected in her answers, the impressed viceroy described the young woman in this way: “like a royal galleon defending herself against a few rowing boats, that charged at her, Juana Inés responded the questions and arguments, directed at her by each scholar”./4

Having expressed her total rejection to marriage, and being influenced by Father Antonio Núñez de Miranda, who was the viceroys’ confessor, Juana decided to practice religion. She made that decision because it seemed to be “the least unreasonable and the most decent she could choose”./5 Contrary to marriage, in convent life “she was not forced to abandon her studies, and the buzz of community did not prevent her from enjoying the calm silence of her books”/6. First, she entered the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites in August 1667 and was accompanied by viceroys. She left the convent shortly after, probably due to the rigidity of the rules.

Finally, she moved to the Convent of Santa Paula of the Hieronymite order, taking vows in February 1669.

In the solitude of her cell, she dedicated her time to study, which she considered as her rest “at all times when she was free from her duties... having no other teacher than her books”./7 Her love for the arts led her to study different subjects, “without having special preference for any one of them in particular, but rather for all of them in general”,/8 her ultimate goal being the study of Theology, and she considered that, to accomplish it, it was necessary to first “walk up the steps of sciences and human arts”/9 She studied Greek and Latin classics, as well as logics, rhetoric, physics, music, arithmetic, geometry, architecture, history and law.

She was known for her friendly nature, earning the affection of her sisters in faith. Although she could not fully escape sharing her life with others in the convent, she enforced a discipline of “not entering any cell if she was not forced to do it either out of obedience or mercy”/10 in order to avoid taking time from study, and she would dedicate a whole day for those purposes once in a while, in order for “others not to think of her as abrupt, withdrawn and ungrateful in response to the undeserved care shown by her dear sisters in faith”./11 She diligently fulfilled her duties and her work flourished within the convent walls. She was widely recognized as a writer, although she declared in her Reply to Sister Filotea de la Cruz, that she always wrote on request.

She is the author of plays such as “The Endeavors of a House” (1683) and “Love is but a Labyrinth” (1689); sacramental ordinances such as “The Divine Narcissus” (1689), and plenty of poetry. She wrote carols for the cathedrals of Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca. In 1680, upon arrival to New Spain of Tomás Antonio de la Cerda y Aragón, Count of Paredes and Marquis of la Laguna, Sor Juana designed the triumphal arch prepared by the cathedral of Mexico City to receive the governor. In the allegorical Neptune, she mentioned the virtues of the governor, associating him with the god Neptune, thus idealizing “the political ultimate aim of a catholic prince: wisdom, prudency, powerfulness and righteousness”./12 Part of her works were compiled and published in Madrid in 1689, under the title “The Castalida Upheaval”. Her most important poem “First, I Dream” was published in 1692.

Sor Juana enjoyed the respect and admiration of both viceroys and courtiers, writers and nuns. She assembled a magnificent library of four thousand books. In 1690, the Atenagórica Letter was published, in which she reviewed the sermon by Portuguese Jesuit Antonio Vieira, and years later in Madrid, an autobiographical work, the Reply to Sister Filotea de la Cruz was released.

By 1693, she stopped writing and dedicated more time to church services, a change in activities that has not been convincingly explained by her biographers.

In 1695, an epidemic hit the Saint Jerome convent strongly, in such a way that “out of ten nuns who got sick, only one would recover”./13 Sor Juana worked tirelessly taking care of her sick sisters, she herself got sick and passed away on April 17 that same year.

1/ “Apéndice 3. Respuesta de la poetisa a la muy ilustre sor Filotea”, en Sor Filotea y sor Juana. Cartas del obispo de Puebla a sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Alejandro Soriano Vallés (edición, introducción, estudio liminar y notas), Toluca, Fondo Editorial del Estado de México, Secretaría de Educación del Estado de México, 2014, p. 291.

2/ Ibídem, p. 292.

3/ Ibídem, p. 293.

4/ Nervo, Amado, Juana de Asbaje, Madrid, 1910, p. 30.

5/ “Apéndice 3. Respuesta de la poetisa a la muy ilustre sor Filotea”, op. cit., p. 293.

6/ Ibídem, pp. 293-294.

7/ Ibídem, p. 294.

8/ Ibídem, p. 297.

9/ Ibídem, p. 295.

10/ Ibídem, p.300.

11/ Ídem.

12/ Chiva Beltrán, Juan, El triunfo del virrey. Gloriras novohispanas: origen, apogeo y ocaso de la entrada virreinal, Castelló de la Plana, Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, 2012, p. 164.

13/ Nervo, op. cit., p. 166.

Sources:

Apéndice 3. Respuesta de la poetisa a la muy ilustre sor Filotea (Appendix 3. The poet’s reply to the very ilustrious sister Filotea) in Sor Filotea y Sor Juana. Cartas del obispo de Puebla a sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Alejandro Soriano Vallés (edited version, introduction, preliminary study and notes), Toluca, Fondo Editorial del Estado de México, Secretaría de Educación del Estado de México, 2014, pp. 283-330.

Chiva Beltrán, Juan, El triunfo del virrey. Glorias novohispanas: origen, apogeo y ocaso de la entrada virreinal, Castelló de la Plana, Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, 2012.

Montes Doncel, Rosa Eugenia, Pragmática de la lírica y escritura femenina. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Cáceres, Universidade da Coruña, 2008.

Nervo, Amado, Juana de Asbaje, Madrid, 1910.

Paz, Octavio, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o Las trampas de la fe, México, Planeta, 1993.