V1 The Spiritual Diaries of Do??a Mar??a Vela Y Cueto: Libro de las Mercedes

Dr. Margaret A. Rees reproduces two Spanish works by Do??a Mar??a Vela y Cueto as follow-up to her earlier monograph, Do??a Mar??a Vela y Cueto, Cistercian Mystic of Spain s Golden Age (Edwin Mellen Press, 2004), in which she examined the life and spirituality of an intriguing, yet obscure Cistercian nun living in the Spanish Golden Age. The first volume of this work presents Do??a Mar??a s Libro de las Mercedes, a spiritual diary recording her own mystical experiences in the wake of the reforms of St. Teresa d Avila and St. John of the Cross. The second volume is an autobiographical work composed in obedience to her spiritual director, Vida, which reflects the nun s struggling and striving to stretch the boundaries of convent life as she pursued sainthood.