Women and The Church

This week’s class topic was about women and the Church in Colonial Latin America. We discussed prominent women figures to the Catholic Church, including the Virgin of Guadalupe, or the most important Mary in Latin America, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the most famous nun in Latin America. We also discussed the organization of the Catholic Church and it’s use as a financial institution. Another interesting topic was the differences between the white veil nuns and black veil nuns. I did not realize that even the nuns were subject to social and economic hierarchy. The black veil nuns did not take a vow of poverty and came from upper class families and spent most of their time studying and concentrating more on spiritual matters and less on physical. The white veil nuns were more like how we think of nuns today. They took a vow of poverty and bore the brunt of the labor. We also discussed the reasons why most females (especially those from prominent families) chose to become nuns instead of marrying and raising a family. The numbers of women who professed to convents were surprising; 77% of female from prominent families joined convents, while only 14% married. The reasons why these women chose this route were understandable. One major factor was education. The only way women could receive an education was through the Church. Another reason why a woman may choose this life was because of family and economic strategy. A daughter that chose to become a nun required a smaller dowry up front as opposed to one that got married. Lastly, a woman may rather live in autonomy without a man governing over her, so that she can devote her concentrations on God. It is also interesting, though not surprising, that women who did not join convents, beatas, were usually held suspect as immoral women.

These discussions about how women were involved in, and viewed by the Church were important, because during Colonial times in Latin America, the Church was mostly the center of the peoples’ lives, whether they liked it or not.