The first proof is offered in the story of 50 Jumano Indians appearing on their own at the San Antonio de la Isleta Mission near present-day Albuquerque, asking the Franciscan priests to teach them about Jesus. And according to legend, the Jumano Indians of the time confirmed that the Woman in Blue, as they called her, had come among them. She did this for about ten years, from the time she was 18, to 29. She said she first appeared to the Jumano tribes of present day Texas in the 1620s. Through meditation she could appear to God’s children in faraway lands and teach them about Jesus. Yet for her it was a glorious time: she said God had given her a divine gift. Her sisters worried about her frequent fasting, frail health, and life of extreme deprivation. Now a nun, she spent more time than ever alone in prayer. The habit of her order was a dark cobalt blue. In four years, this all came to pass.Īt 18, Maria took her vows and became Maria de Jesus – Mary of Jesus de Ágreda. Her father would join a local monastery, following in the footsteps of his sons who were already friars. She and her daughter would both become nuns. Before that could be arranged, though, Maria’s mother had a vision in which God instructed her to convert their mansion into a convent. When she was 12, her parents finally blessed her wish to join the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Tarazona. When she was ten, she already wanted to join a convent. Barely beyond her toddler years, Maria showed an unusual devotion to a life of prayer and piety. She was a lovely child born to Catholic parents of noble rank.
Our story begins in 1602 when Maria was born in the pueblito de Ágreda. She never in her life traveled beyond her tiny village in Spain, yet she stirred religious fervor from the Concho River to the headwaters of the Rio Grande. One of the most important figures in Texas’ religious history never set foot in Texas at all.
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