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Ana de San Bartolomé's life and writings reveal much about the situation of religious women in early modern Spain, yet her voice is also unique, the product of specific social circumstances, individual psychology, and religious fervor. Ana's participation in Saint Teresa of Avila's religious reform of the late sixteenth century became the center of her life and provided an opportunity for self-expression in words and actions normally denied women of her background. Semiliterate when she entered the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila in 1570, Ana became one of the most prolific writers of the order, although many of her works remained unpublished until well after her death. These works include more than 600 letters, a spiritual autobiography, detailed accounts of the Teresian reform, lectures for younger nuns, and many devotional texts. As companion and nurse to Teresa of Avila, Ana participated in the advance of the Carmelite reform throughout Spain and later was influential in its establishment in France and the Low Countries.

This chapter presents English translations of Ana de San Bartolomé's autobiography, which offers a glimpse into the nature of monastic life during late-sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century Spain. In her autobiography, Ana describes memories of her childhood, her struggles for the religious vocation, her early relationship with the Carmelites, her becoming a Carmelite, the first steps in her Carmelite life, her love of God and love of others, her time as a companion and nurse to Saint Teresa of Avila, her time at the Discalced Carmelite Convent of Saint Joseph of Avila, her visions and revelations, and her travel to France and Flanders.

There are two principal sources for the English translations of Ana de San Bartolomé's autobiography. One is the monumental anthology of her Obras completas, edited by Father Julián Urkiza. In this work, Father Urkiza has transcribed Ana's works in their original form, electing not to modernize or correct the original texts except in footnotes. The translations of the “Foundation at Burgos,” “Prayer in Abandonment,” and “Spiritual Lecture” are all based on the transcriptions in the Urkiza anthology. Autobiography, the version edited by Father Fortunato Antolín, has also been used. This was actually the first modern version of the text, published in 1969. In addition to the two principal sources, an English translation of the Autobiografía by an anonymous member of the Carmelites in St. Louis from an also anonymous French translation of the Spanish original has also been consulted for this book.