Juana Inés de la Cruz 🔥
Juana’s legacy is so incredible that she’s the reason we named our company after her nickname, La Décima Musa (The Tenth Muse). And there’s even more to admire about her—she’s considered the first feminist of the Americas. How amazing is that? Juana stands as a national icon in Mexico, and her image has appeared on the 100 pesos bill (she was previously featured on the 200 pesos bill). Known as “The Phoenix of the Americas,” she has a prestigious literature prize named in her honor: The Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, which has been awarded annually since 1993 to a female author of a novel originally published in Spanish.
Born on November 12, 1648, in San Miguel Nepantla, Mexico, Juana de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana was revered as a prodigy in her lifetime and became one of the most widely published writers of the 17th century.
How did it all begin? When Juana was just three years old, she followed her sister to a girls’ school and immediately knew she wanted to learn. She begged her mother to let her attend school disguised as a boy, but her mother refused. (Seriously, mom?) Without access to formal education, Juana became a self-taught scholar. Her grandfather had a library, and she devoured every book she could find.
Sadly, when she was eight, her grandfather passed away, and Juana was sent to live with her maternal aunt in Mexico City. At that time, she composed her first poem, but her desire to study was still stifled by her family’s reluctance to let her attend university.
Juana had no choice but to continue her self-education. She studied Greek logic, learned Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs), and mastered Latin. By the time she was 13, she was already teaching Latin to younger children.
Her brilliance caught the attention of the court. The Viceroy of New Spain, the Marquis Sebastián de Toledo, tested her knowledge by assembling 40 scholars from different fields—philosophers, theologians, mathematicians, historians, poets, and more. Impressed by her intellect, the Marquis’ wife, Leonor María Carreto, invited Juana to serve as her handmaiden.
Despite her growing fame, Juana's intellect—and her beauty—drew the attention of men who wanted to marry her. However, in what she described as her “total disinclination to marriage,” Juana rejected the idea of giving up her freedom to study. Instead, she chose to become a nun, believing that a religious life would allow her to continue her intellectual pursuits unencumbered. In 1669, she entered the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, where she took the name Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Three months later, she transferred to the Convent of Saint Jerome, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
Sor Juana was an incredibly prolific writer. She wrote everything from carols and sonnets to dramas and religious lyrics. Drawing from a vast array of classical, biblical, philosophical, and mythological sources, her writing spanned a range of topics—from the serious to the playful, from the scholarly to the popular. It was truly extraordinary for a nun in the 17th century to produce such a wide variety of work.
When new viceroys arrived in Mexico—Thomas de la Cerda and María Luisa Manrique—they continued to treat Juana with the respect she had earned. In fact, Juana and María Luisa became close friends, and Juana often dedicated poems to her, calling her “Lisi.” However, when the viceroys left Mexico in 1688, Juana lost much of the protection and influence she had enjoyed.
Within the convent, Juana was able to communicate with scholars and teachers and continue her writing without fear of censure. But in 1690, a letter Juana had written critiquing a sermon by a Jesuit priest was published without her consent by the Bishop of Puebla, Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz. The bishop publicly criticized Juana for her intellectual boldness, claiming that her poems lacked serious religious content. In response, Sor Juana penned her famous Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz ("Reply to Sister Filotea of the Cross"), which is widely regarded as the first feminist manifesto. In this letter, she defended women’s right to education, championed intellectual freedom, and asserted her right to express disagreement.
Her powerful reply, however, only led to more criticism. Sor Juana was censored and stripped of her freedoms. She lost access to her vast library, which contained over 4,000 books—at the time, the largest library in the country. She was forbidden to publish and had to dispose of her scientific equipment.
In 1695, a plague struck the convent. After caring for her fellow nuns, Sor Juana fell ill and died on April 17, around the age of 44.
Works Cited:
Engel, Keri. “Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz, Self-Taught Scholar and Poet of New Spain.” Amazing Women in History, 24 Nov. 2020, amazingwomeninhistory.com/sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz-self-taught-scholar-poet-spain/.
“Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz.” Edited by Poets.org, Poets.org, Academy of American Poets, 21 Nov. 2020, 7:57, poets.org/poet/sor-juana-ines-de-la-cruz.
Wills, Mathew. “Sor Juana, Founding Mother of Mexican Literature,” JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2019, daily.jstor.org/sor-juana-founding-mother-of-mexican-literature/.