Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz was a renaissance woman from 17th century Mexico. Born an illegitimate daughter of a Spanish Captain and a Criolla mother, Juana went on to become a scholar, nun, theologian, and poet. At age 46 she died after tending to her sick sisters after the plague arrived in Mexico City in 1695.

On this episode of Prayer amid Pandemic, Joel Morales Cruz, the Histories of the Latin America Church and a contributor to Christian History’s issue on Latin American Christianity, shares how the world in which Juana inhabited was deeply shaped by epidemics, what made Sor Juana’s faith so strong, and what the church can learn from her today.

Nyei Sandu from Juba, South Sudan, offers this episode’s prayer.

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Music by Urban Nerd Beats, Prod. Riddiman, and Oliver Dúvel

Prayer amid Pandemic is produced by Morgan Lee, Mike Cosper, and Erik Petrik