The outstanding poet of New Spain, and one of the greatest in the Spanish language, was Sor (Sister) Juana Inez de la Cruz. Her lyric poetry earned her the title: " Tenth muse". She was born in the hacienda of San Miguel Nepantla, Mexico, in 1651. Her family was poor. She was raised by her maternal grandfather Pedro Ramirez, in the hacienda of Panoayan. Her name was Juana de Asbaje y Ramirez before taking religious vows.
At three she was enrolled in a school in Amecameca. By age eight, her brilliance was such that she had surpassed whatever teaching was available. Her greatest desire was to enroll in the University of Mexico. To prove her learning and ability to pass the entrance examinations, she wrote a treatise for the Festival of Corpus.
Upon the strength of this treatise she was brought to Mexico City and Padre Martin de Olivar undertook her further education. Naturally beautiful and talented she soon became famous in the Court of the Viceroy and became Lady-in-waiting to the Marquesa of Mancera, Lady Leonor Maria Carreto. The Viceroy being curious, gathered together numerous brilliant men of letters (science and arts) all professors of the University to test her. Before them in the presence of the Viceroy, Ines answered every question with grace, fluency and exactness. She was beyond University teachings.
Although courted and admired, she took religious orders in a monastery. She left a written statement that it was her desire "to live alone, to have no obligatory responsibility which impeded her studies or involved her in Court society." She wished only the silence of her books. On August 14, 1667, she entered the convent of Santa Teresa la Antigua. Within six months she found she could not endure the rigors of life in a nunnery. She left for a less rigid institution, the convent of San Jeronimo, where she lived the remainder of her life. She died while nursing her fellow sisters at the time of the great 1695 epidemic.
In her short life of 44 years, she accumulated 4000 books, an outstanding number for 17th Century New Spain. Among her treasures were a collection of valuable maps and musical instruments. She wrote constantly, both poetry and prose. With firmness she declared that Mexican women must participate in the culture of Mexico, maintain the right to decent treatment and lamented the unequal position of women.
Her works were lyric, dramas, sacred and allegorical for festivals. There are sixty romances, numerous treatments of love, morality, history and mythology. She composed choral compositions to be sung in church on holy days. Among her dramatic plays (some profane, irreligious and ironic) are "Los Empenos de la Casa" ("Troubles in the House") a cape and dagger story, and "Amor es un Laberinto" ("Love is a Labyrinth") a dramatic poem. Her articles were legion, covering nearly every subject matter. Her love poems and stories are believed to be the most delicate and sensitive ever written by a woman, yet she leaves finger prints of classic culture, Aristotelian philosophy and mythology. She praised the Mexican Indian and the Nahuatl language.
She was the New World's first great woman. Her works still live and are revered. The Mexican government perpetuates her memory in many ways: the preservation of her birthplace in Nepantla: Passages of her poetry are inscribed on tile around the walls of her restored family home now resting in the middle of a park with pools, fountains. A marble bust stands on a pedastal in the garden. The convent of San Jeronimo (Mexico City) has been converted into a cultural center, its beautiful arches and corridors a monument to colonial architecture as well as to a brilliant woman. Margarita Lopez Portillo, sister of the former president, undertook this restoration. Last but not least, her portrait is on the 1000 peso bill.
