Sister María Justa De Jesús
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María Justa de Jesús (January 6, 1667 - 1723) was a Spanish
Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
and mystic who was tried as a witch during the Inquisition.


Early life

She was born in La Victoria de Acentejo on the north of the island of
Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...
in the Spanish Canary Islands. She trained as a Franciscan in the Saint Joseph Convent in
La Orotava La Orotava is a town and a municipality in the northern part of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands of Spain. The area of the municipality stretches from the north coast to the mountainous interior, and includes the summit of the Teide volcano, ...
. Her life was involved in mysticism and controversy.Los 4 místicos tinerfeños
(The 4 Tenerife mystics), https://diariodeavisos.elespanol.com/2017/03/galeria-misticos-tinerfenos/ (in Spanish)


Career

The
Holy Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
tried her as a
witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
. She was accused of practicing Molinist doctrines.Los conventos de La Orotava. Manuel Hernández González.
/ref> It was hinted that the relationship with her confessor was not appropriate for a religious person. Her biographer and confessor, Andrés de Abreu, burned the biography he had written about her.Alrededor de Fray de Abreu (1647-1725): Historiografía literaria y una obra inédita.
/ref> However, Dominican friar Jose Herrera said that among her virtues was to give sight to the blind, to make the deaf hear, the mute to speak, heal the lame, heal diseases and expel demons. Sr. Maria Justa healed the sick by transferring to her person the evils and diseases that afflicted them.
Shamanic Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
priests in other cultures used analogous techniques to cure convalescents. That similarity fed the suspicions of those who called her an "'' alumbrada''". During these healings, the nun suffered multiple ailments, covering her body in sores and elevating her body temperature, which brought her to the brink of death.


Death

Sister Maria Justa died in 1723. According to the chronicles of the time, her body showed signs of sanctity, such as flexibility, pleasant fragrances and fluidity of her blood. After her death, the Franciscan Order in the Canary Islands conducted a process of canonization that was later halted.


''Alumbrados''

Her case was ascribed to the phenomenon of the ''"
Alumbrados The (, ''Illuminated'') was a term used to loosely describe practitioners of a mystical form of Christianity in Spain during the 15th-16th centuries. Some were only mildly heterodox, but others held views that were clearly Christian heresy, heret ...
"'' that arose in small Castilian towns two centuries earlier. These were people who professed doctrines considered heretical by the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, believing that union with
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
came only through mystical experiences and private prayer, without the need for Church sacraments..


See also

* List of saints of the Canary Islands


References

{{Authority control 1667 births 1723 deaths 17th-century Christian mystics 18th-century Christian mystics People from Tenerife Franciscan nuns Franciscan mystics Franciscan spirituality 17th-century Spanish nuns Spanish Inquisition Stigmatics Burials in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 18th-century Spanish nuns Witch trials in Spain