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The opera María de Agreda by Joseph Weber
It turns out interesting to observe the attraction that Sister Mary from Agreda has exerted, not only when she was alive but also after her death, on all sort of characters and from different walks of life.

What attracted the notorious Italian adventurer from the 18th century, Giovanni Giacomo Casanova de Seingalt? It was in 1767 when Casanova came to Spain, expelled from Paris and the whole French kingdom. He spent his first night in Pamplona, the following one in Agreda. To tell the truth, according to his memoirs, his memories from the town and Sister Mary from Agreda were not very fortunate although quite disturbing spiritually.

The French historian and politician Luis de Rouvroy, duke of Saint-Simon, stopped in Agreda at the end of March 1722 on his way back to France. In his memoirs we also have reference to his visit. His impressions about the convent and Sister Mary were not very positive. We could wonder if the fact that he was French and aware of the problems of her book The Mystic City of God with the Sorbonne had some sort of relationship.

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Spanish politician and writer, went to Agreda on 29th May 1808. The chronicles tell us that he attended to mass in Saint Agustin - Our Lady of the Miracles church nowadays - and afterwards he went to the Franciscan convent of the Immaculate Conception. His impression is completely different from the two mentioned above.

Gregorio Maraņon, Spanish doctor and writer, and also another Spanish writer Ramon Perez de Ayala, visited the Franciscan convent of the Immaculate Conception in Agreda, in 1921. Both admired the objects that belonged to Sister Mary. Nevertheless, Maraņon reflected on his chronicles and considered not very fortuned the nun's political advice.

There is also a long tradition about the nun from Agreda in some states from the U.S.A, specially New Mexico and Texas. In the latter, there is a Native American tradition, which narrates Sister Mary's last visit to the Jumano Indian. After encouraging them to look for the missionaries, she was elevated in the air until she disappeared. The following day blue flowers that they have never seen before were found. They had the impression that they had appeared where she had trailed her cloak on the ground. That is the way they explain the origin of the state official flower, it is called the bluebonnet.

We could continue with an endless list of experiences around Sister Mary. To finish, it is worth mentioning the composer Joseph Weber, who basing on the Venerable´s biography by Samaniego wrote an opera in Spanish. It was first performed in 1986 and it has been done since then in several cities in New Mexico. Michele Larsson, using avant-garde techniques, composed music and choreography.

Bluebonnet

Father George J. Blatter, priest from the American dioceses of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was another person fascinated by Sister Mary. In 1900 he discovered The Mystic City of God in a German translation. It made such an impact on him that he learnt Spanish to translate it from the original into English. It took him ten years, twice as much as, according to the tradition; it took the Venerable to write it. In 1912, it was published, in Chicago, the English version of The Mystic City of God in four volumes.
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos