Josefa de los Dolores Peña y Lillo Barbosa facts for kids

Sister (Spanish: Sor) Josefa de los Dolores Peña y Lillo Barbosa, OP (born March 12, 1739 – died August 29, 1823) was a Dominican nun and a writer from Chile's Colonial period. She taught herself to write. Her work is part of a tradition of religious writings by nuns in South American convents.

She mostly wrote letters, which is called the epistolary genre. She also wrote some poetry. She joined the convent in 1751, even though her parents didn't want her to. She started writing in 1763, likely because she chose to.

Today, her writings are very important. They help us understand the Spanish language spoken in Chile during the Colonial period. She also became quite influential in the early days of independent Chile. Government leaders often asked her for advice.

Her letters are some of the first writings by women in Chile. They show how women expressed themselves in the society of the 1700s. Other important early female writers include Ursula Suarez, Juana López, and Tadea de San Joaquín. Many other writings by nuns from that time might have been lost.

Her Life Story

We don't have a lot of information about Josefa de los Dolores's life. Most of what we know comes from the records of her monastery. Some details also come from religious stories about her and her own handwritten letters.

She was born on March 25, 1739. Her parents were Ignacia Barbosa and Alonso Peña y Lillo. They were from humble backgrounds. When she was seven, her parents sent her to a Dominican school for girls. It was called "Beaterio Dominico de Santa Rosa de Lima." Later, it became the "Monasterio de Dominicas de Santa Rosa de Lima de Santiago de Chile." She went there to study music.

On December 18, 1751, when she was 12, she decided to join the convent. She did this without her parents' permission. At 15, she promised to live a life of chastity. On October 15, 1756, she officially became a nun. She was guided by the Prioress (the head nun) Maria Antonia Wandin. This made her a full member of the religious community.

She lived in the monastery until she passed away in the early 1820s. Historian José Ignacio Eyzaguirre says she died on August 29, 1823. However, Raïssa Kordic, who edited her work, believes she died on August 27, 1822, at 83 years old.

Her Writings

Why Nuns Wrote

Nuns writing in convents was common in South America during the colonial period. They wrote to strengthen their faith. They also wrote because their religious leaders asked them to. But writing also let them share their thoughts and feelings about life in the convent. They wrote about both their daily lives and their spiritual journeys.

In Chile, nuns' writings became important during the colonial period and into the 1800s. These writings included spiritual letters, diaries, and autobiographies. Tadea de San Joaquín, Úrsula Suárez, and Josefa de los Dolores are well-known for their works. Their writings are some of the most famous of their kind in South America.

What Her Work Is Like

Sister Josefa's writings are mostly letters. She sent these letters to her confessor, Manuel José Álvarez López. He was a Jesuit priest. The convent had a strong connection with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). She likely wrote these letters between March 15, 1763, and March 7, 1769. Some letters don't have exact dates.

In 1923, historian José Toribio Medina first mentioned these letters. He wrote about them in his book History. Letters of women in Chile, 1630–1885 (Spanish: Historia. Cartas de mujeres en Chile, 1630–1885). But he didn't study them for their language. The letters were rediscovered and studied in the 2000s. This happened thanks to funding from the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research, CONICYT.

The Type of Writing

Her writings are considered part of the epistolary genre. This means they are a collection of letters. Her work is "the only one known so far in Chile, of significant size, that remains whole." The specific type of writing is a letter.

Many researchers believe letters were a way for nuns to confess and understand themselves better. For Sister Josefa de los Dolores, her letters help us learn about her thoughts and ideas. They also show her as one of the first literate women in Chile.

How Her Letters Were Found

The researcher Raïssa Kordic found the letters in the monastery's archives. She discovered over a hundred letters. They were "written in tiny italics, and developed in booklets of four to eight pages." It's possible that this isn't all of her written work.

The Jesuit priest Manuel Álvarez kept this correspondence. When the Jesuits were expelled from Chile, the letters went to the Bishop. Later, in 1861, the Prioress of the monastery asked for them back. Some parts of the letters were censored before they were returned to the monastery. In the early 2000s, a group from the University of Chile began to study and preserve them.

In 2008, a book was published with 65 of her letters. It was called "Epistolary of Sister Dolores Peña y Lillo (Chile, 1763–1769)" (Spanish: Epistolario de Sor Dolores Peña y Lillo (Chile, 1763–1769)). The book also included a detailed analysis of her work.

See also

In Spanish: Sor Josefa de los Dolores Peña y Lillo Barbosa para niños