Spiritual Writings of Sister Margaret of the Mother of God (1635–1643)

Cordula van Wyhe is a Senior Lecturer at the History of Art Department, University of York, UK. She is the editor of Isabel Clara Eugenia: Female Sovereignty in the Courts of Madrid and Brussels (2012).Susan M. Smith is Elliott Professor of Modern Languages at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. She is the editor of Los coloquios del Alma: Cuatro dramas alegóricos de Sor Marcela de San Félix, hija de Lope de Vega (2006).

• Acknowledgments xiAbbreviations xiiiIntroduction 1Translations and Transformations: Sister Margaret of the Mother of God beyond the Brussels Carmel. An Essay by Paul Arblaster 47Translator’s Note 61Sister Margaret of the Mother of God (1587–1646)Autobiography of 1635 65Diary of 1636 133Diary of 1637 175Letter to Her Confessor (1643) 235Devotions 239Appendix A: Report of the Last Illness and Death of Our Sister Margaret of the Mother of God, Lay Nun in the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Brussels 251Appendix B: Testimonies to Sister Margaret’s Virtues 259Appendix C: Signs after Death from Sister Margaret 273Appendix D: Letters concerning Sister Margaret’s Writings 277Glossary 287Bibliography 293Index 311

Cordula van Wyhe’s edition and Susan Smith’s translation of Margaret of the Mother of God’s Spanish texts give voice to the unique life of a religious laywoman from the seventeenth-century Low Countries. Writing from the kitchen of her Discalced Carmelite convent in Brussels, Sister Margaret documents topics including her early life as the daughter of a Flemish military officer, her spiritual growth, and her battle with chronic illness. Translations and commentary of other texts written posthumously about Margaret are also provided. This superb edition offers a valuable contribution to the study of early modern women living within the Habsburg Empire and the far-reaching effects of a larger Teresian community in northern Europe Sarah E. Owens, Professor of Spanish, College of Charleston