Journey of Five Capuchin Nuns

Sarah E. Owens is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She has conducted extensive archival research in Spain and Mexico. Her articles have appeared in Colonial Latin American Historical Review, Studia Mystica and Hispanic Journal.

• Acknowledgments viiEditor’s Introduction 1Maps of Spain and South America 48Journey of Five Capuchin Nuns 51I: Some of the things that preceded the foundation license 52II: The appointment of the nuns 59III: How we left the cloister 68IV: Our departure from Toledo 75V: How we arrived in the city of Andujar 84VI: All that took place until we arrived in Cadiz 89VII: Things that happened before we were taken prisoners 95VIII: Difficulties we had disembarking 103IX: How the king sent us a visitor 111X: From Lisbon to Yelbes 121XI: From Yelbes to Badajoz 130XII: All that happened before we returned to the Port of Santa María 139XIII: Our arrival in Buenos Aires and events there 148XIV: From the chácara to Mendoza and beyond 157XV: From Santiago to Callao 166XVI: Departure from Callao and arrival in Lima 175XVII: All that took place until the day of the foundation 185Glossary 194Bibliography 198Index 206

"Sarah Owens’ Journey of Five Capuchin Nuns sheds light on the lives of religious women called upon by the Church to found convents in the Americas. The text is at once a diary and a travel narrative of the women’s Atlantic crossing. Owens’ capable translation brings this fascinating text to life for twenty-first century readers, inviting us to consider the fears, hopes, and dreams of a group of eighteenth-century Spanish nuns chosen to found a Capuchin convent in Lima, Peru."