“When reading certain books, she had his own deception and got confused...” Sister Elena de la Cruz and her inquisitorial trial in 1568

Abstract

In 1568, Sister Elena de la Cruz, a nun from the convent of La Concepción, in Mexico City, was denounced before the Episcopal Inquisition for words against the faith, since before some of her companions she said that there were only seven mortal sins and that neither the Pope nor the Council of Trent could institute
others; furthermore, he doubted that the archbishop could grant indulgences. Upon initiating the process against her, she was questioned about the books she read, to which she replied that she had reviewed texts
by Fray Luis de Granada and other authors. The friar, with a clear Erasmian influence, was widely read both in Spain and in New Spain. Although some of his works were censored by the Inquisition in 1559, some time later they were approved for reading, although some people continued to consider them suspicious. The article analyzes the possible texts that the nun could read and that influenced her thinking. It is also studied how Sister Elena made a personal interpretation of the books and, together with what she learned from one of her confessors, caused her opinions to become dangerous and, therefore, punished.