Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, formally known as Juana Ines Ramirez de Asbaje, is considered to be a poet, dramatist, scholar, and an outstanding writer of her Latin America colonial period.  She was born in San Miguel Nepantla, a small village by the volcano Popocatepetl, near Mexico City in 1648.  She grew up in her grandfather’s hacienda where she cultivated her intellectual appetite by reading books from his library.  With the help of her family she was sent to Mexico City to follow her passion and further her education. 

Her intellect and beauty attracted the court circles and in 1664 she was asked by Leonor Carreto to become her Lady in waiting.  But three years later in 1667 she entered the Carmelite convent in San Jose.  This order was much too difficult for her health thus, two years later she moved to join the Hieronimite order in St. Paula.  Never again did she leave the confines of that convent. 

Convent life allowed Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz to have her own private cell where she could read, write, and have ample time to study.  She also had the opportunity to teach music and drama to the girls in Santa Paula’s School and functioned as the convent’s archivist and accountant.  She was much involved in the convent and had various accomplishments but Sor Juana’s most notable achievements were her writings.

Even though she was confined in the grounds of the convent, her writings surpassed the four walls of her confinement.  Sor Juana wrote both religious and secular pieces of writing, which influenced the world of the 17th Century and still continues to exert a powerful message till this day.