IT CAN NOT BE FULLY EXPLAINED, BUT IT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED AWAY!
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By Bill McCarthy Maria of Agreda is like no woman in the history of the world. Of course, we can say that about anyone and everyone. All human creatures are totally unique. “There will never be another YOU.” In the case of Maria of Agreda, that is an understatement. She didn’t just break the mold, she shattered it into thousands of small particles. Her story is both highly exhilarating and thought provoking. The biography of a woman from the Golden Age of Spain (The Mystical Lady in Blue), so
rich in literature, so steeped in romance, with all the treasures of patriotic and religious fervor, heightened realism, and the explosive power of the call into the “New World”, should be taken seriously. Spanish Colonial adventure into the Western Hemisphere was on everyone’s radar in 16th and 17th century Spain, and this was certainly the world into which Maria was born. It was a part of the air she breathed from the moment she could take her first breath. This biography by Marilyn Fedewa, of “Sor Maria,” is extremely well written, and exhaustively researched.
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June 2019
More importantly, the story is absolutely astounding. Skeptics may write it off as a “fairy tale” but that would betray the empirical evidence, documentation, and the profound historical impact this extraordinary woman had on the Southwest United States…..all without ever leaving her convent in Northeastern Spain. Known widely as Maria of Agreda, (Born April 2, 1602; Died May 24, 1665), she was recently announced as “one of the nine most influential women in the history of Spain.” Maria was an Abbess, spiritual writer, confident, and advisor to King Philip IV of Spain, with over 600 letters between the two. She also profoundly inspired by many Franciscan Missionaries to the New World over hundreds of years. Saint Junipero Serra, who established many of the famous California missions, just to name one. There is a “justice in things” where the scales cry out to be balanced. Maria of Agreda played an essential role in the history of North America, the United States, and she is virtually unknown. That is an injustice. Now that I have studied a fair amount about Maria, (for her own sake, I doubt she would care one way or another. She was far too humble and self-effacing to seek notoriety. In fact, she shunned it), we cannot properly and honestly assert that we know our own history – especially those of us who live in the Southwest United States. The important point is that we should care. We should know who we are in our identity as the great melting pot, the paths we have walked, our life and experiences. We should know our own story, and Maria
is an important part of that it. A people and a civilization that does not know its history is like an old man who has lived a rich and full life but tragically has fallen into amnesia or Alzheimer’s. We should know Maria of Agreda, not only because of her enormous contribution in the Spanish coming to the New World, but also because her story is so vibrantly charged and compelling. One may not like her, one may take offense for everything she is, and was, and represents, but that does not mean she is unworthy of our study and scrutiny. On the contrary, by any measurement of objectivity, for any American who would consider themselves well informed or moderately educated, Maria of Agreda was a force that left a marked footprint, especially in the Southwest and Western United States. All of this is well documented in the Mystical Lady in Blue. A second reason for consideration is timing. There have been a couple of recent
