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1574. Carta de Francisca de Ávila (o de los Apóstoles), beata, para su hermana Isabel Bautista (o de San Jerónimo), beata.

Author(s)	Francisca de Ávila
Addressee(s)	Isabel Bautista
In English	Letter from Francisca de Ávila (also known as 'Francisca de los Apóstoles'), a lay sister, to her sister Isabel Bautista (also known as Isabel de San Jerónimo), a lay sister. The author expresses her sister Isabel Bautista her pity for the absence of correspondence from the addressee. She also describes her sister the visions she has, the voices she hears and the emotions she feels. Between 1574 and 1578, Francisca de Ávila (also known as 'Francisca de los Apóstoles') was accused of being a deceiver and a deceived. She was eventually condemned and considered a heretic, an apostate, a blasphemous and an excommunicated, who pretended to have revelations, ecstasies and to witness apparitions. She claimed to experience visions of God, levitations and ecstasies, not accepting that what she related was defined as inventions or as 'feminine things', and she affirmed her innocence, as other 'alumbrados'. Her sister, Isabel Bautista, was a very important figure in this process, because she also was arrested and condemned for having claimed to have had mystical experiences, who had once provoked her a complete paralysis, and sometimes had led her to be seen walking daydreamingly in the streets of Toledo. She had been helped by exorcisms made by Miguel Ruiz, a priest of the Misericordia Hospital, who afterwards became her confessor. The two sisters affirmed to have had mystical experiences similar to those experienced by Catherine of Siena. Between 1555 and 1563, they had both lived in the lay sisters' convent of Santa María la Blanca, in the parish of Santo Tomé. Afterwards, they had earned a living teaching needlework. In 1573, Isabel Bautista went to Rome to request the licences she needed to found a monastic rule. The letters she wrote from Rome show that she was very disheartened because she did not manage to obtain the licences, but her sister encouraged her telling her that she saw in her visions that everything would have gone well. When Isabel Bautista came back from Rome, without having obtained the licences, they opened a convent, which was open only for some months in 1575, after which Isabel Bautista was arrested and imprisoned by the Inquisition. The two sisters publicly declared to be 'alumbradas' in various occasions, which led to their imprisonment, together with Miguel Ruiz, in 1575. If there is no translation for the letter itself, you may copy the text (while using the view 'Standardization') and paste it to an automatic translator of your choice.

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[1]	domnigo 18 de julio 1574 años
[2]	muy deseada hermana
[3]	de mi coraçon no puedo significar por nnigun vocablo la pena q todos emos tenido por no saber de ella tanto
[4]	tienpo a yo e querido hacer esto todas las veces q el señor don pedro a escrito y no me a de
[5]	jado el señor miguel rruiz diciendo q ansi convenia y viendo yo aora q avia cartas
[6]	de quince de julio en toledo del señor don pedro y q no avia de ella mencion de nniguna
[7]	mia diome notable pena y mas al s miguel rruiz tanta q no se hallo para podella es
[8]	crevir y yo comulgando suplique a nro señor me enseñase si era servido la escrivie
[9]	se senti con claridad la escriviese lo q aora dire con su favor y es q no me espanto q ella
[10]	no aya escrito porq no es tienpo de nnigun rrecreo sino de continua penitencia porq
[11]	en lo q yo le escrevi en la carta postrera de lo q me paso en el sagrario vi qdar una nube
[12]	entre el padre eterno y el mundo la cual estorvava las misericordias q a su mg pediamos
[13]	y sinificavanme q aquella nube eran los pecados con q todo el mundo tenia ofendido aque
[14]	lla gran mg q yo veia detras de aquella nube muy escura y veya al arzobispo bar
[15]	tolome q se ofrecia a toda aqlla satisfacion q alli pedian por los pecados de todo el
[16]	mundo y como el hijo de dios salia por su fiador y qdome desde entonces gran deseo de pa
[17]	decer muchos trabajos por la sastifacion de tan grandes ofensas como via q ofendian aquella
[18]	gran mg y ordeno nro señor q nos hiciesemos de un espiritu maria de san jeronimo y ma
[19]	dalena de san franco y catalina de san franco para hacer muchas rromerias y entre ellas no a ce
[20]	sado el yr al sagrario cosa maravillosa q sin decilles yo nada espirava nro señor en sus
[21]	coraçones q hiciesemos grandes rrogativas por la sede apostolica por el estado eclesi
[22]	astico y por el estado rreal y por el estado comun andando en estas rrogativas veya so
[23]	nar dentro de mi anima una boz de la justicia de dios q me tengo en tan grande fatiga
[24]	q vine a desfallecer en cama por muchos dias lo mismo estuvo el s miguel rruiz quiso mi
[25]	señor q nos aliviamos casi juntos porq su mal fue mayor q el mio levantada de la
[26]	cama qdeme con la misma fatiga porq mi deseo no vey cunplido q era dever satisfa
[27]	cer al padre eterno andando en este tan gran trabajo consolome su mg en alguna
[28]	manera porq enbio su san a mandar q se sacase el sanctisimo sacramento en
[29]	todas las yglesias y visto q es por las mismas cosas q a nosotras nos fue enseñado q hiçie
[30]	semos a tenido algun contento mi coraçon y ansi e procurado de allarme en todas
[31]	las q e podido por rreçebir algun rrefrigerio en ver sasfaçer en algo a quien tanto
[32]	se le deve

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