I typed the last word.

After years of research and writing, Santa María: Priestly Mother of Mercy is complete—now it just has to get past the series editors. The book explores the Marian spirituality of El Conhorte, the 72-sermon collection of Sister Juana de la Cruz, a Franciscan mystic and abbess in early sixteenth-century Spain. Her sermons, preached across the liturgical year and often delivered in ecstasy, offer a theology of mercy and inclusivity marked by pastoral tenderness and theological depth.

At its center is a striking vision: Santa María as sacerdote grande, the great priestly mother of mercy. I argue that Juana’s Marian theology is distinctly Franciscan, pastorally rich, and remarkably ahead of its time.

This project feels especially timely, as Juana was beatified by Pope Francis in November 2024, and her five-hundred-year-old voice is only now being rediscovered. The book is forthcoming with Fordham University Press in the series Disruptive Cartographers: Doing Theology Latinamente.

Deo gratias.