The Mysterious Power of Maria de Agreda

According to legend, in the 1620s, a Spanish nun by the name of Maria de Agreda claimed she would enter a trance while praying and bilocate (a psychic or metaphysical state where a person or object appears in two places at once) to New Spain where she would minister to the native people she encountered. It is said, that from completely unrelated sources, the Jumano tribe of Native Americans living in what is now San Angelo in West Texas were reporting supernatural visits from a woman dressed in a blue cape and head covering that accurately described the habit of the Abbess.

Sister Maria, who had never been to the New World, was able to describe quite accurately the plants and animals found in the area as well as how the Jumanos dressed.

Records indicate that Friar Alonso de Benavides, a Franciscan in New Mexico, first reported her appearances to the Spanish court in 1630. Later, he was able to interview Maria de Agreda himself at her convent in Spain and corroborate much of her testimony.

When Maria de Agreda died, she was declared Venerable by Pope Clement X and a process of beatification was begun in 1673, though it has not yet been completed. Claims of corporeal incorruptibility were bolstered when after various examinations of her body over the years it was determined to have undergone little deterioration. To this day, her remains can be seen on display in the Church of the Conceptionists Convent in Agreda, Spain. In 2002, after the 400th anniversary of her birth, many Catholic organizations began petitioning for her beatification process to resume, in hopes of Maria de Agreda becoming a saint.