Brides of Christ

Asunción Lavrin is the author of several books and numerous articles and book chapters on colonial and twentieth-century Latin American women. Her work has received a number of national awards. She is currently Professor of History at Arizona State University.

"In Brides of Christ Asuncion Lavrin reconstructs daily life in the convent through a comprehensive documentation of the individual experience of women religious in Colonial Mexico. . . Meticulously documented with archival sources and the culmination of decades of research, Brides of Christ is an invaluable contribution to gender studies and to the wider field of colonial Mexican history."—Kristine Isben, Catholic Historical Review "The culmination of a half century of research, this masterful book is well worth the wait . . . Lavrin's book is a model of meticulous scholarship. She uses an extraordinary variety of primary sources, largely from Mexico City and Puebla. She has read widely in Latin American and European history and deftly situates her findings within debates in the larger literature."—Silvia Marina Arrom, American Historical Review "A superlative work of mature scholarship that builds in subtle ways on [Lavrin's] earlier work ... but it is nonetheless fundamentally new . . . The greatest strengths of this book—its clarity, its archival richness, its strong sense of purpose, its clear and powerful arguments, its empathy . . . It is also worth noting that the book is gracefully written in a stately, careful, almost dispassionate prose which is quite appropriate for a book with passion aplenty on the part of the nuns themselves."—Margaret Chowning, Hispanic American Historical Review "Brides of Christ is a very thorough and well researched addition. Nuns' writings and the history of convents are woven together very effectively."—Andrea E. Knox, Historians of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland "Brides of Christ contains a wonderful array of primary sources and extremely rich data. Lavrin's scholarship and research is exemplary, and her in-depth portrayal of colonial convent culture in Mexico is a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on the female religious in Latin America." —Nancy E. van Deusen, Western Washington University "This superbly crafted book . . . adeptly re-creates the intricate world that made up the cloister. Not only is Lavrin's Brides of Christ monumental in historical value, but it is a testament to a lifetime of research on colonial Mexican nuns."—Colonial Latin American Historical Review

• Contents Acknowledgments000 Introduction000 1The Path to the Convent000 2The Novice Becomes a Nun.000 3The Spiritual Meanings of Religious Life000 4Government, Hierarchies and Ceremonials000 5Daily Life in the Convent.000 6Body, Soul and Death000 7Sexuality: A Challenge to Chastity000 8Indian Brides of Christ000 9The Struggle over Vida Comun000 10Writing in the Cloisters000 Epilogue000 AppendixConvents of New Spain: Foundation Date and Religious Affiliation 000 Notes000 Bibliography000 Printed Primary Sources000 Index000