Ángela María de la Concepción

Ángela María de la Concepción (Cantalapiedra, March 1, 1649 - El Toboso, April 19, 1690) was a Spanish Trinitarian nun, mystical writer, and reformer. She was the founder of the and of the .

Early life Ángela María was born in the Salamanca town of Cantalapiedra on March 1, 1649, the daughter of Alonso Tabares and María Martínez Santo. At thirteen years of age, after a general confession, she made a vow of virginity and to become a religious. She fulfilled this when she turned 21, entering the Convento de Las Descalzas Reales in Valladolid, but had to withdraw due to an unspecified disease. During her novitiate, she endeavored to fulfill the requirements demanded by the religious order: progress in humility, in the spirit of prayer, in obedience, and in mortification.

Ángela María was characterized by writing works of a religious and mystical nature, among which, in addition to the Constituciones (Constitutions), her Autobiografía (Autobiography) and Riego espiritual para las nuevas plantas, stand out, as well as numerous letters and some spiritual treatises, among these, the Tratado de las virtudes (Treatise on Virtues) and the Tratado de la oración mental (Treatise on mental prayer), which she left unfinished. All of her works are filled with the reforming nature of her time, influenced by the writings of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Simón de Rojas, and Juan García López-Rico.

Selected works