Madre María Rosa
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January 14, 1660
María Rosa | |
|---|---|
| Born | Josefa de Léon y Ayala January 14, 1660 |
| Died | August 14, 1716 (aged 56) |
| Other names | Madre María Rosa |
| Occupation | Mother abbess |
| Known for | Documenting own travel, founding first Capuchin convent in Lima, Peru |
| Notable work | Account of the Journey or Journey of Five Capuchin Nuns |
Maria Rosa was a Capuchin nun from Madrid, Spain. She left Spain in 1712 with four other founding nuns to Lima, Peru to establish a new Capuchin convent. She was an example of the early modern women who were a part of the expansion of the Atlantic world. Her documentation of her journey is the oldest known travel document written by a woman. It was very atypical for a woman to be literate much less travel to the New World.[1] During the Council of Trent, nuns were strictly enclosed within the walls of their convents. The only exception to this being for the founding of new convents. Her account of her journey is a valuable insight to a pious woman's interpretation of the world outside of the cloistered walls of a covenant and proof that a woman, particularly one tied down by a strict Catholic council, had a burning spirit of mission with “equal flame” to those of so many men in Catholic Europe.
Not much is known about María. She was born in Madrid on January 14, 1660. Her parents were Joseph de Leon y Ayala and Estefania Muñoz. Her given name was Josepha de Leon y Ayala but changed it to Maria Rosa when she became a nun. This was a customary practice.[2] She entered the Capuchin covenant at the age of seventeen in 1677. She was appointed first mother abbess of the new convent to be founded in Lima. Because of this, she left Spain never to return again in 1712 with four other founding nuns. She documented her whole journey almost day by day to leave her account for both her original convent back in Madrid and the new one in Lima. One month before her death, she stepped down from her position and her co-founder, María Gertrudis was elected abbess. She died August 14, 1716 at the age of fifty-six.
