Illes i Imperis 19, 2017, 7-33 DOI: 10.2436/20.8050.02.18 MARTYRDOMS FAR AND NEAR: THE JESUIT GLOBAL IMAGINARY IN THE LIFE OF QUITO’S LOCAL «SAINT», MARIANA DE JESÚS (1618-45) Ronald J. Morgan Abilene Christian University (Texas)
[email protected] The first complete hagiographic life of Mariana de Paredes y Flores (d.1645), a work popu- larly known as La Azucena de Quito («Lily of Quito»), has rightly been interpreted in terms of the local significance of both the saint and the discourse surrounding her life and piety. And yet a close reading of Jacinto Morán de Butrón’s late seventeenth-century hagiog- raphy suggests that a uniquely Jesuit outlook —fostered by narratives of missionary travails, encounters with the pagan «other», and personal martyrdom, and deepened by the imagina- tive contemplative language of the Spiritual Exercises— informed the spiritual self-under- standing of this urban laywoman who probably never traveled more than a few miles from her birthplace. This evidence points to how Early Modern Roman Catholic identities reflect- ed both local relationships and global imaginations. Keywords: Mariana de Paredes y Flores, Lily of Quito, Azucena de Quito, Alonso de Rojas, S.J., Jacinto Morán de Butrón, S.J., Ecuador, St. Ignatius Loyola, Jesuits, global imaginary, proceso apostólico, 1597 Japan martyrs, Los Mainas. MARTIRIOS DISTANTES Y CERCANOS: EL IMAGINARIO GLOBAL JESUÍTA EN LA VIDA DE LA SANTA QUITEÑA, MARIANA DE JESÚS (1618-45) La primera vida hagiográfica completa de Mariana de Paredes y Flores (d. 1645), popular- mente conocida como La Azucena de Quito, ha sido correctamente interpretada para el sig- nificado local tanto de la santa como del discurso que rodea su vida y piedad.