The present article studies the case of the black donada Ursula de Jesus (Lima, 1604-1666), whose exceptional religiosity was described by a Franciscan friar and nun, both anonymous. She spent the greater part of her life inside the convent of Santa Clara, which she entered as the slave of a nun of the black veil. Later she obtained her liberty and, supported by certain nuns, entered as a donada. She went on to write a Spiritual Diary in which she described her everyday life in the convent and the vicissitudes of her spirituality. While we know of other Afro-descendants who were recognized for their piety, we know them only through the dominant discourse that shaped their individual experiences to make them fit the models of Western sanctity. In this case, it is the opposite: the Spiritual Diary allows us to hear the voice of an Afro-descended woman. Through an analysis of the Spiritual Diary, written between 1650 and 1661 and published in Lima in 2004, this article studies the identity that Ursula de Jesus constructs in her text, which reinterprets the reigning Catholic dogma and constructs a Black mystical spirituality. / El presente artículo estudia el caso de la donada negra Úrsula de Jesús (Lima, 1604-1666), cuya excepcional religiosidad ha sido retratada por un franciscano y una clarisa anónimos. Ella vivió la mayor parte de su vida al interior del monasterio de Santa Clara, al cual ingresó como esclava de una monja de velo negro. Posteriormente, consiguió su libertad y, apoyada por algunas monjas, profesó como donada y, además, escribió un Diario Espiritual en el que contó su vida cotidiana en el monasterio y las vicisitudes de su espiritualidad. Si bien se tiene conocimiento de otros afrodescendientes que fueron reconocidos por su piedad católica, solo los conocemos a través del discurso dominante que moldeó sus particulares experiencias espirituales para hacerlas calzar con los modelos de santidad occidentales. En este caso, sucede lo contrario: el Diario Espiritual nos permite oír la voz de una mujer afrodescendiente. Por ello, por medio del análisis de su Diario Espiritual, escrito entre 1650 y 1661, y publicado en Lima en el 2004, este artículo estudiará la identidad que construye Úrsula de Jesús en su texto, la cual reinterpreta el dogma católico imperante y construye una espiritualidad mística negra.

Throughout the colonial period of Mexican history, cloistered nuns wrote spiritual journals at the request of their confessors. These documents were read and scrutinized, not only by the confessors, but also by others in the hierarchy of their Orders. They are important sources of study for historians in that they provide a window into the religious culture of the times and the spiritual mentality of their authors. This thesis will examine one such record, discovered in a collection of volumes at the Historical Franciscan Archive of Michoacán in Celaya, Mexico. The diary covers eleven months of 1751 in the life of a Franciscan nun -- believed to be María de Jesús Felipa who kept such records over a period of more than twenty years. María de Jesús Felipa was a visionary who experienced occasional ecstatic states. Through her contacts with the spiritual world, she pursued her own salvation and that of those most specifically in her charge: members of her own community -- the convent of San Juan de la Penitencia in Mexico City -- and the souls in purgatory. These encounters propelled her into different frames of time and space -- moving her into the past and the future, and transporting her to bucolic and horrific locations. Her diary ascribes meaning to these encounters by tying them to her life and her relationships within the convent. Her diary of 1751 also indicates that this spiritual activity and the records she kept brought her to the attention of the Inquisition. The thesis argues that, because of its cohesiveness of thought and consistency of focus, the diary effectively casts its record keeper as author of her own life story. A close reading reveals the inner thoughts and perceptions of a distinct personality. Her first-person account also reflects the character of Christianity, the impact of post-Tridentine reforms and difficulties in the governance of convents in eighteenth-century New Spain. Although always arduous and often unpleasant, writing provided Sor Maria with an opportunity to establish her integrity, exercise control, and justify her thoughts and actions as she pursued her vocation. Writing under the supervision of a confessor, María de Jesús Felipa was her own person. In its organization and focus, her diary resolutely records a struggle for self-determination within the limits imposed by the monastic vows of obedience, chastity, poverty and enclosure.