Brianda de Acuña Vela (

religious name A religious name is a type of given name bestowed for a religious purposes, and which is generally used in such contexts. Christianity Catholic Church Baptismal name In baptism, Catholic Church, Catholics are given a Christian name, which should ...

, Teresa de Jesús;

Valverde, La Rioja Valverde is a village in the municipality of Cervera del Río Alhama, in the province and autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , ...

, 17 August 1576 – 22 March 1630) was a Spanish nun and writer. At the , where she took the religious name "Teresa de Jesús", she served as prioress and the mistress of

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

Biography

Brianda de Acuña Vela was born in the town of Valverde, about a from Logroño, on 17 August 1576. She was the daughter of and María Vela de Acuña, . She lived in

Aranda de Duero Aranda de Duero is a city and municipality, capital of the Ribera del Duero comarca, in the south of the province of Burgos, in Castile and León, Spain. It has a population of roughly 33,000 people and lies on the River Duero. The closest in ...

and Castrillo, travelling between the two on horseback. When her father was named

Viceroy of Navarre This is a list of Spanish Viceroys of Navarre from 1512 to 1840, when the function was abolished. *1512 : Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Arellano, marqués de Comares *1515 : Fadrique de Acuña, Conde de Buendía *1516 : Antonio Manrique de Lar ...

, Brianda stayed behind and lived with the Countess of Miranda, with whom she was related. Her religious faith grew, until, at the age of 26, Acuña entered the Convent of Santa Teresa in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

, a cloistered convent for

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

nuns, where she took the name of "Teresa de Jesús". The access ceremony, celebrated on 10 January 1602, was attended by the king and queen, Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain. The admission took place on 2 April 1603. In the convent, she was mistress of novices and also prioress. She distinguished herself for following a

penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part i ...

life. Acuña wrote her own

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, some of whose chapters were published in a book about her written by Miguel Batista de Lanuza in the year 1657, entitled , printed in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

by Jusepe Lanaga y Lamarca. Its pages include an account of her time in the convent: In that same book, De Lanuza also makes a physical description of Acuña:Bautista (1657), p. 206 Pedro de Villafranca engraved Acuña's portrait on a sheet. She died on 22 March 1630.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brianda de Acuna 1576 births 1630 deaths 17th-century Roman Catholic nuns 17th-century Spanish nuns 17th-century Spanish writers 17th-century Spanish women writers Spanish autobiographers Women autobiographers