Catalina De Erauzo

Catalina de Erauzo was an incredible human being. She defied the status quo and chose to live as a man to define her own path in life. Living as a man, she rejected the standard behaviors that she was expected to follow as a woman. Catalina was a rebel. She defied her church, her family, society and anyone she did not agree with. Catalina was violent and aggressive and killed many times in andoutside war. Catalina was also a virgin, and it was this virtue the one that saved her and allowed her to embrace her lifestyle and to shine as an example of a person who chose to be different. Erauzo was a woman, but she was unalike the majority of woman of her time. She was defiant, fierce and according to what she shared in her biography, she did not embrace her sexuality. The words that followwill explore these ideas further by providing evidence from the literature that support these important characteristics of the Lieutenant Nun.

Catalina had a defined personality and strong will that gave birth to a rebellious nature. The first evidence of this trait is displayed when she tells us about her “quarrel with one of the sisters”[1] in the convent. She does not provide thedetails of why they engaged in the quarrel but she did state that the sister was “a big, robust woman, [and she] was but a girl.”[2] This illustrates that Catalina was not intimidated by the fact that she was fighting an older and bigger woman. It is a testament to her strong character and rebellious nature because typically, we are taught to respect our elders and to be humble towards them. The factthat Catalina had a physical clash with an older sister reveals her rebelliousness.

It is implied in the book that the above stated incident motivated Catalina to leave the convent. Her escape from the convent fully depicts her as a rebel. On one Saint Joseph’s Eve, Catalina stole the keys to the convent and escaped with a “pair of scissors and a needle and a thread”.[3] That night sherenounced to the life her parents had chosen for her and to life as a nun. In doing so, she rebelled against her parent’s will of her becoming a novitiate and changed the course of her life.

The objects Catalina stole reveal that she is an intelligent woman who has a plan. After her escape, Catalina “holed up for three days, planning and re-planning and cutting [herself] a suit ofclothes”.[4] It is here that she creates a new identity for herself; she becomes a transvestite. Dressing herself as a man is a method of escape and of protecting her identity but it is also an act of rebelliousness. During this time, women were bound by strict gendered dress codes and could not even dream of wearing pants. Catalina’s choice of disguise was not only effective in concealing the truth of who shewas, but it was her ultimate way of rebelling against society.

Erauso was a violent individual who was not afraid of defending herself in a culture that fostered aggression between people. Early in her travels she had to stand up to a man that threatened her. While working in the Village of Sana she was approached by a man by the name of Reyes who told her that she should “bestdisappear, or he’d be forced to cut [her] face wide open”.[5] On this occasion, Catalina proves that she would not be intimidated by a bully, and she closed up the shop, “grabbed up a knife, and went looking for a barber to grind the blade to a toothed edge”[6]. She “gave him a slash worth ten inches”[7] in the face before killing him. These were primitive times where men protected their territory withviolence and Catalina, who had grown up in a very protected and pious environment, had a surprising ability to defend herself violently if needed.

Another example of Catalina’s aggression takes place during her time in Charcas. There, she “went to play cards at the house of don Antonio Calderon, the bishop’s nephew”[8]. On this occasion, the merchant she was playing with became bitter...