Jerónima Nava y Saavedra

Jerónima Nava y Saavedra (25 April 166931 May 1727) was a writer and Catholic religious from New Kingdom of Granada (present-day Colombia).

Biography

She was born in the town of Tocaima, Bogotá Province, New Kingdom of Granada, 25 April 1669. After Nava's mother died when she was five years old, Nava moved to Santa Fe de Bogotá, where she later entered the Santa Clara Convent. She became a religious and spent the rest of her life in various positions such as caretaker, nurse, secretary and choir vicar.

Her confessor, the priest Juan de Olmos y Zapiaín, described her physically and intellectually as "a tall woman, with a lively and beautiful face and eyes and a sensitive intelligence and manly understanding."

The only known work by Nava is Autobiografía de una Monja Venerable, (Autobiography of a Venerable Nun), a set of 64 mystical visions written in the most mature period of her life thanks to the approval given by her confessor, Juan de Olmos y Zapiaín, who gave his support to continue this work. In the book, she put into verse her raptures, mystical anguish, and the tribulations that she suffered with her health.

She died in Santa Fe de Bogotá on 31 May 1727.

Works

Autobiografía de una Monja Venerable

References

1669 births

1727 deaths

17th-century Christian mystics

18th-century Christian mystics

People from Bogotá

18th-century Colombian people

Poor Clares

Autobiographers

Roman Catholic writers

17th-century Spanish clergy

18th-century Spanish clergy

17th-century Spanish women writers

18th-century Spanish women writers

Women autobiographers

Religious writers