Catalina de Jesús Herrera

Catalina de Jesús Herrera (religious name, Sor Catalina Luisa de Jesús, María y José; Guayaquil, August 22, 1717Quito, September 29, 1795) was an 18th-century Ecuadorian nun and writer. She belonged to the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena in Quito. Herrera is categorized as venerable within the Catholic Church due to the multiple miracles and prophecies attributed to her. Her autobiography titled Secretos entre el alma y Dios (Secrets between the soul and God), rewritten in 1760, was published in 1895 in the collection Antología de Proseistas in honor of the centenary of her death. Her mystical poetry was represented in the Real Audiencia of Quito.

Early life and education Catalina de Jesús María Herrera Campusano was born in Guayaquil on August 22, 1717. Her parents were Juan Delfín Herrera Campusano and María Navarro Navarrete y Castro. Catalina' mother taught her to read and write at the age of seven, and also gave her a religious education. Catalina tells the anecdote about her mother when, at the age of four, after witnessing the birth of a child, Catalina began to reflect on the origin of life, the origin of man and woman. When she asked her mother, she received an answer that was a complete catechesis, starting from God, Creator of all things. Her godfather was Sergeant major Francisco Gantriper. The death of her father in 1728 led to a spiritual change and she acquired the habit of confessing and taking communion every fifteen days. She was devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary and entered the third Dominican Order of the convent of San Pablo Apóstol in Guayaquil with the help of Fray Carlos García de Bustamante. Her writings were compiled in 30 booklets made by hand and published in six volumes in 1895, on the centenary of her death. They were published as part of the Biblioteca Ecuatoriana Mínima; seven fragments were reproduced, from the fourth part and the sixty-fourth chapter.