Mariana de Manzanedo Herrera

Desirous of leading a more rigorous contemplative life faithful to the origins of the Augustinian rule, Mariana de San José committed herself to the path of reform. In collaboration with the Augustinian father Agustín Antolínez, she founded the female branch of the Augustinian Reform, giving birth to the Order of the Monjas Agustinas Recoletas (the Augustinian Recollects). The first reformed monastery opened its doors in Éibar on May 8, 1603. On May 23, 1604, Mariana made her profession there according to the new Recollect way of life. She quickly spread the reform by successively founding several monasteries: Medina del Campo (1604), Valladolid (1606), and Palencia (1610). In 1611, she was called to Madrid to assume the office of prioress of the convent of Santa Isabel. In 1612, she moved temporarily with four nuns to the Casa del Tesoro, while awaiting the completion of the Royal Monastery of the Incarnation (Real Monasterio de la Encarnación) in Madrid. This major project, actively supported by King Philip III and Queen Margaret of Austria, was inaugurated on July 2, 1616. Mariana became its first prioress and personally supervised the construction and the organization of community life. She drafted the Constitutions of the order, published in 1616, approved by Pope Paul V on July 13, 1619, and subsequently confirmed for all the monasteries by Pope Urban VIII. In 1627, she also published a spiritual guide entitled Ejercicios espirituales y repartimiento de todas las horas. Under her leadership, other foundations were established, notably in Carmona (1629) and Pamplona (1634).

Mariana de San José distinguished herself through a life of intense prayer, marked by profound mystical experiences and rigorous asceticism. She established herself as one of the great figures of Spanish mysticism during the Golden Age, maintaining close spiritual ties with the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. On March 30, 1638, she fell gravely ill, afflicted with epidemic typhus. She passed away at the Monastery of the Incarnation in Madrid on the night of April 15, 1638, at the age of 69. Her death stirred deep emotion in Madrid, where she already enjoyed an immense reputation for holiness. In June 1644, during the exhumation of her remains, her body was discovered perfectly incorrupt, a state officially certified by three physicians. Her body still rests intact in the church of the Monastery of the Incarnation.

Immediately after her passing, her successor as prioress, Aldonza del Santísimo Sacramento, collected the testimonies of the nuns who had lived alongside her in order to document her life and heroic virtues. The diocesan process for her beatification was officially opened in Madrid on April 27, 1993. After a meticulous examination of her writings and her life, the Positio was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The commissions of theologians (on February 14, 2017) and then of cardinals and bishops (on November 21, 2017) unanimously validated the heroic nature of her virtues. On December 19, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the promulgation of the decree recognizing her heroic virtues, thereby conferring upon her the title of Venerable.

The spirituality of Mariana de San José is based on Augustinian interiority, the search for union with God in the silence and solitude of the cloister, combined with a demanding fraternal life. Her mystical and autobiographical writings, rediscovered and published in their Obras completas in 2014, testify to a remarkable theological depth and a fine knowledge of the human soul. The legacy of the Venerable Mariana endures through the monasteries of Augustinian Recollects who continue to observe her Constitutions in Spain and throughout the world (notably in Mexico, Brazil, and the Philippines), perpetuating her charism of contemplative prayer and community life.