So Supernatural - MYSTICAL: The Lady in Blue

Episode Date: January 12, 2022

As a cloistered nun in the 17th century, Maria never left her convent in Spain. But through some miracle, she appeared repeatedly in the American Southwest to spread her religion. Believers said it was bilocation — the ability to be in two places at once. Others feared it was a hoax, or worse: the work of the devil.  

Have you ever wanted something so badly you could almost taste it? Like you're so consumed by an idea you can't let it go. You think about it, dream about it, maybe pray about it. As if you can actually manifest your dream into reality just by visualizing it hard enough. And I'm not just talking about the power of positive thinking. In the 17th century, there was a Spanish nun who wanted so badly to be a missionary, she finally had a vision of herself preaching the gospel in the new world. But this wasn't just her imagination, because a whole community in the American Southwest swears they saw her too.

This is Supernatural. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. This week, I'm talking about Maria of Jesus of Agreda, also known as the Lady in Blue. She was a 17th century nun who could levitate off the ground, hear messages from God, and even be in two places at once. And the Catholic Church found proof of her claims halfway across the world. I have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. It's the early 17th century in the beautiful village of Algreda, Spain. Maria is the eldest surviving daughter of two Spanish nobles, and she wants for nothing. She lives in a huge house, gets a good education, but above all, if I had to describe her upbringing in one word, it would be religious. Both her

parents are devout Catholics. Maria's mother, Catalina, spends three to four hours a day in intense prayer, which is pretty excessive even for an extremely religious person. And they expect the same level of devotion from Maria, even when she's just a little kid. Just so you get the picture of what I'm talking about, when Maria is four years old, her faith is apparently so advanced that a bishop notices it and confirms her. For Catholics, if you're baptized as a baby, you have to go through this second process called confirmation when you're older to prove that you actually understand the religion and you're choosing it for yourself, which typically isn't supposed to happen until a kid is like at least seven. Now, I don't know what kind of metric the bishop used to decide, well, this four-year-old seems to have it all

figured out, but the point is Maria is really precocious and Catalina takes this as a sign that God has special plans for her daughter, which kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Catalina converts a room in their house into a small chapel just for Maria. The little girl spends tons of time praying and studying the Bible, and when Maria is eight, she tells her parents she wants to become a nun, which they're obviously supportive of. By the time Maria is 12, she's already preparing to enter a convent and become a nun. But before she leaves, Catalina is deep in prayer when she apparently hears the voice of God. He has a slightly different idea. He commands Catalina to turn the whole family home into a convent, which she and Maria are both supposed to live in as nuns.

Understandably, dad is not too on board with this. Like, where is he supposed to go? This kind of upends their whole marriage and family life thing. It takes three years of contentious arguments, but eventually Maria's father gives in, or gives up. Either way, he moves out to join a monastery, and the ladies get to work turning their house into a nunnery. When the convent finally opens its doors, Maria is 17,

and she and her mother are some of the first women to take the veil. Following Catholic tradition, Maria changes her name, officially becoming Sister Mary of Jesus of Algarida. Now, if you think Maria was devout as a child, she really steps it up as a young adult, which is to be expected because this convent is for poor clairs of the Franciscan order, one of the strictest orders in the Catholic Church. Maria frequently goes on intense fasts. Apparently, they're so severe that at one point, priests have to negotiate with Maria to eat more. She also wears a 20-pound male garment, which is sort of like this heavy metal sweater beneath her clothes. And according to one biographer, she has a crucifix covered in spikes that she presses into her heart while she's praying. On top of that, Maria takes a

vow to live a cloistered life, which means unless there's like a huge emergency, Maria's not supposed to leave her convent ever. Sounds isolating, right? And look, I don't want to psychoanalyze someone who lived 400 years ago, but it seems like Maria isn't super happy. Her family life has been intense, to say the least, and the only place she has to turn for comfort is her religion. Maria has always been a bit shy, and even within the walls of her convent, she keeps to herself. She's not particularly close with the other nuns and spends most of her time behind closed doors praying alone. And she puts everything into these prayers. She meditates so intensely that she goes into these states of religious ecstasy, which is basically like a trance. Often these states involve visions or feelings of euphoria,

but Maria develops a pretty unique side effect. She can levitate. Yeah, you heard me correctly. When Maria is 18, she starts levitating while she prays. And here's the funny thing. For a while, Maria doesn't even realize what's happening. You know, her eyes are closed tight. She's focusing on God. But the other sisters definitely notice. They start watching her like a hawk, trying to understand what's going on. They even make a hole in Maria's bedroom door to keep an eye on her. And they can't find any evidence she's faking it. Like by all accounts, she doesn't even know what she's doing. So the sisters invite a couple outsiders to investigate, which is a big step. 17th century cloistered nuns aren't even

supposed to show their faces to strangers, but they've got a possible miracle on their hands, so they figure what else is there to do? Just like the nuns, these visitors see Maria in a trance, floating above the ground, but they can't rationalize what's happening either. But this is just the tip of the miraculous iceberg. In one of Maria's trances, she hears the voice of God. He tells her that he wants her to help convert Native Americans to Catholicism, which isn't really a possibility. Like there are plenty of Spanish missionaries in the Americas at this point, but Maria is cloistered. She never steps foot outside of her convent. Booking a trip to another continent is out of the question. But Maria takes the message to heart,

and she keeps praying for a way to fulfill God's command. And one day, God finally answers her prayers. During one of her meditative trances, Maria abruptly finds herself in the American Southwest. And I don't mean she's having a vision or a dream. As far as Maria is concerned, she is physically there. She can hear birds chirping above her. She can feel the cool breeze against her cheek. She can see groups of people in front of her. And she realizes that they can actually see her too. When Maria comes out of her trance, she's understandably confused. The experience is just so jarring, she has to tell someone about it. Now nuns are required to confess every sinful thought, action, and presumably supernatural experience to a priest. So Maria does just that, several times with multiple confessors.

But when they hear her story, they obviously assume she's imagining it. I mean, everyone swears that Maria never left the convent. She's never missed morning mass, choir practice, or community prayers. She definitely didn't sail to America and back without anyone noticing. But Maria keeps having these experiences over and over again. And each visit makes her more certain that whatever is happening is real. When her confessors ask for more information, it's hard for Maria to find the right words. But she knows she's not the only person with this power. And it turns out the word she's looking for is bilocation. This is basically the ability to be in two places at the same time.

Numerous saints could supposedly bilocate going all the way back to the Virgin Mary herself. And oftentimes, these saints used bilocation to spread their faith. So Maria decides to do the same. During one of her visions, she meets members of the Humano Nation, who live in modern-day New Mexico. Somehow, even though she doesn't know a lick of their language, she tells them about the gospel, like a higher power is translating for her. Maria teaches them about the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and of course, Jesus Christ. She also shows the Gumanos how to pray, and she stresses the need for them to get baptized.

She's such a regular, she becomes chummy with one of the Gumano chiefs. His name is Captain Tuerto, and he only has one eye. Captain Tuerto doesn't know Maria's name. Everyone just calls her the Lady in Blue because of the baby blue cape she wears over her white robes. Over the course of a decade, Maria travels to the New World at least 500 times, and she continues to tell her confessors about these experiences, which may have been a bad idea. All this talk of levitating and bilocating makes some waves, and soon some of the other nuns ask the church higher-ups to conduct an investigation.

They're afraid that the devil is at work in the Algarida convent. Coming up, the Spanish Inquisition comes knocking. Now, back to the story. In the spring of 1623, two priests travel to the convent in Algareda. They've heard rumors that Sister Maria can bilocate, and they're thinking that it may be the work of the devil. Now, this is nothing to joke about. This is the era of the Spanish Inquisition. If Maria is found to be lying, or worse, communicating with Satan, she could face execution. When the priests arrive, they grill the 21-year-old nun for hours, and it's hard for Maria to talk about her experiences. I mean, how can you even attempt to explain the unexplainable? But she's smart. She chooses every word very carefully and plays

up her humility. And the longer the priests question her, the more they believe her, or at least the more they want to believe her. Eventually, they take a break from the interrogation and send Maria away. Once she's out of the room, the priests decide to conduct one final test. They figure that if she's really a miracle worker, she'll be able to hear their calls, whether they're audible or not. So they try to psychically summon Maria back into the room with their thoughts. And the wildest part is the plan actually works. Maria somehow hears them thinking at her and she comes running right back into the room. Needless to say,

the priests are floored. This seems like proof that Maria has a heavenly gift. And at the end of the interrogation, they completely exonerate her. But they're still worried that all this supernatural business might cause a public scandal. So they tell Maria to ask God to make it stop. Maria is a super obedient nun, so she does as she's told. And before the year is up, she loses her ability to levitate. But no matter how hard she prays for God to knock it off, she keeps on materializing in the new world. Over the next several years, she bilocates to New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. All the while, she continues to teach the indigenous people about Catholicism. She urges them to seek out their local missionaries and get baptized. And even though

she's not supposed to be bilocating anymore, Maria continues to talk about her travels with her confessors. Too honest for her own good, right? One of the priests finds these stories wildly exciting, to the point where he can't help but spill the beans. He can't stop talking about it, and somehow the word eventually reaches the Archbishop of Mexico. The Archbishop doesn't know Maria, for all he knows the young nun is making everything up for clout, but he's intrigued enough to do a little investigating.

He reaches out to the head of the San Antonio Mission in Isleta, New Mexico, a guy named Father Alonso de Benavides. The archbishop wants Alonso to ask around and find out what the local indigenous communities know about Catholicism, particularly the groups the mission hasn't evangelized to yet. And as luck would have it, that very summer, a group of Homanos come to the Izleta mission. The missionaries have never evangelized to these guys before, but here they are, practically begging the priests to follow them back home and baptize their community. One of the priests is like, what?

It's not a short trip for the Hamano Nation to the mission. What could have possibly motivated them to come all this way asking to be baptized? And the chief, a man with one eye, explains that a woman dressed in blue told them to do so. His name, you guessed it, is Chief Tuerto, the same guy Maria claims to have spoken to. Of course, this doesn't really prove anything. Most nuns of St. Clair wear the traditional blue cape and white robes. But as far as Father Alonso knows,

there aren't any of those nuns in the area, and he should know. Before he jumps to any conclusions, he sends two priests to the Hamano nation. The trek is long and taxing, but when they arrive, the priests get a warm welcome. Apparently, the Lady in Blue told the Hamanos that the missionaries were on their way, and they had time to plan a whole celebration. They even hold a procession that follows the Catholic tradition, which they shouldn't know how to do unless someone taught them about it. The fathers get to work baptizing the Gumanos. And soon, people from the neighboring communities approach the priests with the same story to tell. A beautiful young nun in blue came to them, preaching about God and encouraging them to get baptized.

When the two priests finally returned to the mission, Father Alonzo is amazed by their accounts. So much so that he includes the stories in his official 1630 report, A Harvest of Reluctant Souls. This report is a big deal. Alonso details his experiences as a missionary, including descriptions of the local architecture, geography, and cultures. At the time, the New World is still new to most Europeans, so it's pretty riveting. Alonso even travels to Madrid to present his findings to the king. While he's in Spain, he gets permission to interview Maria, who at 28 years old is now the abbess of her convent. Needless to say, Alonso is thrilled to meet Maria and figure out if she's really who she says she is.

He stays for about two or three weeks, asking her question after question. She describes the southwest climate, the unique cultures and food. She even mentions the one-eyed chief. But then Maria's accounts get really personal. She tells Alonzo that she's seen him before. During one of her mystical trips, she watched him and another priest baptize members of the Pyrrho nation. Alonzo is blown away by this. In fact, he did baptize a group of Pyrrho people, but he didn't see Maria there. As far as he knows, none of the friars did either. But Maria explains that the missionaries didn't need to see her because they were already strong in faith. By the end of this meeting, Alonzo is confident that Maria's the real deal. Not only does she know a lot about the American Southwest,

she seems to know all of the major players doing missionary work there. There's no way she could have all that information if she hadn't been there one way or another. Alonzo even revises his initial report from the Americas and names Maria as the mythical lady in blue. Once again, the new edition of the book flies off the shelf. By the mid-1630s, Maria is famous, but not everyone in the church is so enthusiastic. All that attention is about to lead the Spanish Inquisition straight to her door. Coming up, Maria faces her most dangerous tribunal. Now, back to the story.

After his meeting with Sister Maria in Algareda, Father Alonso is convinced that she really bilocated to the American Southwest. But the church's top leadership? Not exactly sold. And in 1635, Maria is once again accused of witchcraft. This time, it's not just a couple of local priests asking questions. It's serious. The Inquisition appoints a whole commission to look into Maria. With her life back on the chopping block, Maria's extremely overwhelmed. She prays to God and the Virgin Mary for help, and apparently they answer. When the Inquisitors show up in Agreda, it turns out that one of them is a diehard Maria fan. To protect her, he steers the investigation away from all of the supernatural incidents.

Instead of trying to prove that she's the mystical lady in blue, he downplays all her supposed miracles. Like, it can't be witchcraft if nothing magical happened, right? When the main council reads the report, they can't come to any firm conclusions. They decide to drop the investigation. But there are plenty of church officials who aren't satisfied with that conclusion. Who knows if the case might be reopened someday. Luckily for Maria, all this attention is making her friends in high places. Eight years later in 1643, she gets a visit from King Felipe IV. She apparently makes quite an impression. After that visit, Maria basically

becomes the king's religious advisor. Over the next two decades, they exchange more than 600 letters full of spiritual and political advice. The king relies on Maria for just about everything. So much so, it makes a lot of very powerful men very uncomfortable. For someone who never leaves her cloister, Maria is becoming pretty influential. It's possible that some church higher-ups want to put Maria in her place, especially considering all the controversy she stirred up in the past. So in January of 1650, Maria faces yet another tribunal. This time, it's not about her supernatural abilities. 47-year-old Maria stands accused of conspiring against the king.

Long story short, a few years ago, Maria exchanged some letters with the Duke of Ihar, who has now been arrested for treason. Some people assume Maria is guilty by association. Obviously, this theory is ridiculous. Maria and King Felipe are basically BFFs. There's no reason to believe that Maria would want to conspire against him. The king knows this in his bones, and he immediately exonerates her. Even still, the Spanish inquisitors won't take his word for it. They send another delegation to the Agreda convent, and they mean business. They don't even give Maria a warning that they're coming. They just barge in and set up a courtroom right inside the convent library.

And they couldn't have arrived at a worse time. Maria is sick, like really sick. She has an intense fever and just received a leech treatment to draw her blood, which probably only made things worse. She can't even stand on her own, so she needs to be carried down to the library. When she gets there, there's no sympathy. She's ordered to get on her knees and answer an exhaustive string of questions. Now, this isn't Maria's first rodeo. She's been interrogated time and time again, so she knows exactly what to say. When the tribunal asks about her bilocation, she explains that she's lost that ability, just like she lost the power to levitate.

It's not clear exactly why it happened, but she admits that she prayed for the bilocations to stop, just as her superiors commanded. And finally, her prayers were answered. Maybe she'd already accomplished everything God wanted from her. After 11 grueling days of questioning, the interrogators have to admit, whatever's going on with Maria, she isn't a witch. In fact, they find her to be exceptionally charming, humble, and devout. The main examiner writes a glowing report that fully exonerates her. But even though the tribunal is sure that Maria is a woman of faith, they can't prove she's a supernatural mystic. To this day, no one can. But if Maria wasn't really teleporting across the

world, who is the lady in blue? There was obviously someone wandering around the Pueblo regions spreading the gospel, and there are no other real candidates whose names have come up. As we've seen, 17th century Franciscan nuns lived under a strict code of conduct. Even if there was a convent in the area, it's pretty unlikely that a nun would leave without permission. So the idea that the Lady in Blue was just some other totally unrelated nun doesn't hold much water. The other possibility, of course, is that the Lady in Blue never even existed. A few historians believe the Gumanos and the Catholic missionaries made up the whole story together. It would have been mutually beneficial.

The narrative helped legitimize Spain's missionary work, since it made it look like God had blessed their efforts, and for the Gumanos, cozying up to the missionaries would have been a smart political move. Spain might be more likely to support them in conflicts with neighboring nations. But even then, the bilocation wasn't Maria's only power. Multiple witnesses at the convent saw her levitate. Were they all lying too? It seems like a pretty big conspiracy with no obvious motivation.

Whatever you believe, it's clear that Maria wasn't your average 17th century nun. She was one of the youngest abbesses in Catholic history. She advised the king on how to rule. And I didn't even mention that she also wrote an eight-volume biography of the Virgin Mary, which became one of the most beloved, albeit controversial, religious book series ever. Given all that she accomplished, is it really so hard to believe she was touched by something supernatural? We may never know for sure. In the end, Maria's story is all a matter of faith. To be continued... week with another episode. To hear more stories hosted by me, check out Crime Junkie and all AudioChuck originals.