8vo. [8], 509 pp. Contemporary limp vellum, spine lettered in ink, soiled and somewhat stained, endpapers renewed. Foxing present throughout, normal due to paper quality, E3 defective, else generally a very nice copy.

Historical context:

The Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) became a celebrated poet before running afoul of the church leadership. In one controversy, she dared to critique a sermon by the Jesuit priest António Vieyra, one of the most published Jesuit authors in the Portuguese and Spanish languages, in her unauthorized Carta Atenagorica (Puebla, 1690), specifically, Sor Juana was addressing Vieyra’s Sermao do Mandato. Sor Juana viewed Vieira’s sermon as a bold presumption, in which he claimed to surpass three Doctors of the Church (St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. John Chrysostom) in his theological exposition. The poet systematically analyzed Vieira’s propositions, exposing their methodological and doctrinal inconsistencies and logical deficiencies.

In reality, Sor Juana was not interested in the publication of her Carta, and in fact we have another instance of unauthorized publication:

“Especialmente aguda fue su crítica del sermón (o sermones) que versaba sobre las finezas de Cristo; uno de los asistentes -probablemente Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz- le pidió que pusiera por escrito su argumentación. La monja jerónima así lo hizo, titulándola Crisis sobre un sermón.

“El texto llega a manos del obispo, quien decide sacarlo a la luz con el nombre de Carta Atenagórica, y el 25 de noviembre de 1690. Además de cambiarle el título y publicarlo sin la autorización de su autora, Fernández de Santa Cruz adopta el disfraz de Sor Filotea de la Cruz para escribir a su vez una carta que precederá a la edición de la Carta Atenagórica.” (Brescia, Pablo A. J. “El ‘Crimen’ y El Castigo: La Carta Atenagórica, de Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz.” Caravelle (1988-), no. 70 (1998): 73–96.)

Even though there is no proof that Vieyra actually read the Carta (by then he was an old) man, a controversy arose. This work collects Vieyra's sermon, its defense, and the oration read at Vieyra's funeral.

Thus arose the book attributed to Soror Margarida Ignácia, a Augustinian Nun at the Convent of Santa Mónica in Lisbon, “Apologia a favor do R. P. António Vieyra,” published in Lisbon in 1727, containing Vieyra's sermon, its defense by the ‘Nun’, and the oration read at Vieyra's funeral. The main reason for writing it was the surprise at the harshness with which the poetess criticized Vieira according to the writer.

The translator, Presbyter Íñigo de Rosende, addresses Sor Juana’s capacity in the Prologue to the Reader: “Reconozco que la Madre Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz fue dotada de singular ingenio, viveza, y discreción mas en la convinacion de los talentos, voy prefiriendo al Padre Vieyra a la Madre Juana. No dudando, que algunos siguieron lo contrario, viendo, que la dicha señora entra a compararse con Debora, y a disculparse con Judith mas en esta batalla, aunque calumnia de sobervia a nuestra Nacion en las proposiciones de Vieyra, tambien hallo, que es mucho menos nuestra sobervia, que su vanidad”.

Palau, 364442; Backer-Sommervogel, 8:661; Medina, J.T. Bib. hispano-americana, 2809.