Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea
Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea (1602–1685) was a Spanish writer and poet born in Zaragoza on 19 April 1602 and died in Casbas (Huesca) around 1685.
Career
Born into a family of noble lineage, Bolea (one of whose descendants would become the Count of Aranda), was the daughter of Martin Abarca de Bolea y Castro, a humanist, and Ana de Mur. After being baptized in the Zaragozan Parish of San Felipe,[1] she lived from three years of age in the Real Monastery of Santa Maria de la villa in Casbas, from which she was unable to leave and where she developed a deep religious and humanistic background.
Within the enclosures of the monastery Bolea was enriched with many different readings to the point where she was able to learn classical Latin. She was professed as religious on 4 June 1624. In 1655 she was mistress of novices and came to hold the office of abbess in 1672. She corresponded with leading scholars and writers within the Aragonese literary circles, she particularly enjoyed the patronage of Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa, as well as the Count of Salinas, Juan Francisco Andrés de Uztarroz and most likely, with Gracián, who praised her and collected her poems in his Agudeza y arte de ingenio.
Works
- Obra en aragonés de Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea ((English): Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea's work in Aragonese), in Publicazións d´o Consello d´a Fabla Aragonesa, Huesca, 1980.
- Catorce vidas de Santas de la Orden del Císter ((English): Fourteen Holy lives within the Cistercian Order), Zaragoza, Herederos de Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca, 1655.
- Historia del aparecimiento y milagros de Nuestra Señora de Gloria, venerada en el Real Monasterio Cisterciense de Casbas ((English): History of the appearance and miracles of Our Lady of Glory, venerated in the Royal Cistercian Monastery of Casbas) (manuscript).
- Vida de la Gloriosa Santa Susana, Virgen y Mártir, Princesa de Hungría y Patrona de la villa de Maella, en el Reino de Aragón, lugar del Marqués de Torres, Zaragoza, Herederos de Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca ((English): Life of the Glorious Santa Susana, Virgin and Martyr, Princess of Hungary, Patroness of the town of Maella, in the Kingdom of Aragon, in the Marquis de Torres, Zaragoza, Heirs of Pedro Lanaja y Lamarca), 1671.
- Vida de San Félix Cantalicio ((English): Life of St Felix Cantalicio) (manuscript).
- Vigilia y Octavario de San Juan Bautista, Zaragoza, Pascual Bueno ((English): Vigil and Octavario of St. John the Baptist, Zaragoza, Pascual Bueno), 1679.
References
- ↑ Campo Guiral, María Angeles: Devoción y fiesta en la pluma barroca de Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea: estudio de la vigilia y octavario de San Juan Bautista ((English): Devotion and feast in the Baroque writings of Ana Francisca Abarca de Bolea: study into the vigil and octave of San Juan Bautista), Huesca, Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses, 2007