Catalina de erauso biography sample

The Monja Alferez, or Nun-Lieutenant. More famous women have lived than this, but a more extraordinary one has never been recorded.

Her career was one of singular adventure, of wild passions, of unsparing cruelty, of heroic bravery; the few virtues which palliate her vices and savage conduct are such as are found to vindicate the dormant element in the breasts of brigands and pirates.

Catalina de erauso biography sample

And it is not the least singular circumstance connected with such a history, that it has been written down, detailed, and powerfully described by the heroine herself, in a style wonderfully vigorous, clear, and in pure and classic Spanish.

She was born in the city of Sebastian, in 1585, daughter of Don Miguel de Erauso. At that period, when families were numerous, it was the custom to dispose of the girls by putting them into the church. Such was the destiny of Donna Catalina.

At the age of four years she was sent to her aunt, prioress o