Barbara Mujica's Sister Teresa

Barbara Mujica’s 2007 novel Sister Teresa, details the lives of Sister Teresa of Ávila as well as her companion Angelica del Sagrado Corazón growing up in Spain and being nuns during the Spanish Inquisition. Throughout her life Sister Teresa (also known as Teresa de Ahumada); is often looked down upon by society due to her Jewish ancestry. The only thing that keeps herself and the rest of her family from being under total persecution is the fact that her father, Don Alonso, bought a patent of nobility which allowed him to work as a tax collector and surmount a substantial amount of wealth. On the other hand, her companion and longtime friend Pancracia (later to be named Angelica) comes from a relatively poor family of seamstresses who survive
off of the little money that they make from creating garments. Eventually their two paths would cross and they would become prominent people, specifically Sister Teresa, because of her devoutness to Christianity and her devotion to spreading the Lord’s word to others. Sister Teresa is first introduced to us during her younger years when she is vibrant, beautiful, and somewhat rebellious. The big scandal at the time is that she and her cousin Don Javier have been spotted being romantic towards each other which causes rumors to spread throughout the town. She is also looked down upon because she is not a “pure Christian” and her bloodline includes Jewish ancestry (which is very bad during the time). In order to protect the family name that he has tried so hard to build, her father decides to put Teresa in a convent. Begrudgingly, she decides to go, but she decides to take Pancracia with her, so she can be her helper. At first, Teresa finds it incredibly difficult to adjust to life at Nuestra Señora de la Gracia, but her wealth definitely affords her the best things while at the convent. However at the beginning, Teresa was still not happy, but she also reveals that this is her only feasible option; since she did not want to be married. Teresa tells Pancracia that she did not want to get married because she did not want to become pregnant and then die during childbirth like her mother. Throughout her entire stay at the convent, Teresa is accompanied by Pancracia and the two build a strong bond. Unfortunately Teresa falls ill and is taken back home to Ávila, this also means that Pancracia must return home as well.
When Teresa arrives home, everything is okay, but when Pancracia returns her living conditions take a dive and her mother and aunt are living in poverty and find it hard to support the family. Eventually when her conditions improve, Teresa goes back to the convent, but she is without Pancracia for a while because her mother feels as though it is best that she stay behind and marry. Eventually the duo meet back up at the convent. Upon her return, Teresa takes her studies more serious and decides that she wants to live her life for Christ and become a nun. Upon the event that her first marriage arrangement was cancelled, Pancracia decides to become a nun too.
Over time Teresa becomes more and more religious and starts to develop a more intimate relationship with God; all while dealing with a fluctuating health status.
Teresa also notices that she sees visions and has convulsions and eventually is able to perform miracles. After multiple uphill battles concerning her health, family, confessors, and her methods of practicing her faith; Teresa decides to open convents throughout the area that are ran by traditional standards. However, some men and high nobles find issue with this and label Teresa as the devil. This doesn’t stop Teresa from doing what she feels she is called to do, and she dies while getting ready to go on a mission to establish another convent.
Publisher’s Weekly described the novel as “...light and entertaining” and they also said that even though the piece was unconventional due to its description of Teresa as both “a human saint-in-the-making” and “self-loathing”. On the other hand, they also said that Angelica’s role as Teresa’s maid/best friend creates a unique and earthy dynamic in the
plot.
Personally although the novel was based around Spain in the 1500s I found the novel to be captivating and overall somewhat interesting.
Mujica developed her characters in such a way that they are historically accurate for the time, but they can also appeal to a broad audience of today. Like Publisher’s Weekly, I find the relationship between Teresa and Angelica to not only to be a nice character foil, but I also think that it frustrates the reader because of how dependent on each other they are. I think it would have been nice to see how things would have panned out is either one of them got married and moved away from Ávila, or if Sister Teresa was never put in the convent. I also did not particularly enjoy the fact that every time the two got into an argument, they would always make up relatively quick and be best friends again. I also think that the way that Mujica formatted the plot in such a way so that it was able to flow in a diary entry style was a nice touch, and it added to her character development. Overall, Barbara Mujica’s novel was an interesting and modern twist on a story that might come off as dull and boring if it was described in a more traditional
way.