She was taught to read by the Virgin Mary. 1 U.S. copy.

[Maria Jacinta Enguidanos y Cuesta] / José Clemot y Lara. Vida, virtudes y favores celestiales de la v. sierva de Dios Maria Jacinta Enguidanos y Cuesta, natural de la Villa de Casasimarro, en el Obispado de Cuenca, Con algunas notas o disertaciones. Madrid: En la Imprenta de Joseph Herrera, 1789. 8vo [18.1 x 12.8 cm], [18] ff., 333 pp., [1] p. blank verso, [3] ff. Bound in contemporary vellum, title in manuscript on spine. Only very minor rubbing to spine and covers, endpapers toned. Internally with only minor edge wear and the occasional minor stain.

Rare (1 U.S. copy: Georgetown) first and only edition of the ‘Vida’ of Maria Jacinta Enguidanos y Cuesta (1752-86), an especially pious woman from the town of Casasimarro in Cuenca, Spain.

Her biographer, José Clemot y Lara, certifies in his prefatory ‘protesta’ that the book—in spite of being composed in the mode of classic hagiography—is not intended to drum up support for Maria’s beatification or canonization, and in this he seems to have succeeded, for she is little remembered today.

Maria Jacinta Enguidanos y Cuesta was notable for her exemplary behavior, and, although immediately following her death a few miraculous cures were reported (pp. 310-13), she largely lived a life of private devotion.

Notable is the claim that as a child Maria Jacinta Enguidanos y Cuesta had difficultly learning to read, but was miraculously tutored by the Virgin Mary, and promptly used her newfound skill to consult texts about St. Theresa to learn how to self-flagellate: “She longed to learn to read, and having failed after some effort, due to her clumsiness (as she humbly explained), she turned to the Blessed Virgin, begging her to be her teacher. It seems the Virgin wished to be her teacher and to undertake this task with her, for she immediately succeeded, and she showed her gratitude by taking advantage of and practicing what she read, however contrary it might be to her character. Such is the case with self-discipline: Upon reading (I know not in which book) that Saint Teresa had sometimes practiced it with nettles, she imitated her at the first opportunity by doing the same” (p. 6) (Deseaba aprender á leer, y no habiendolo conseguido despues de algunas diligencias, á causa de su rudeza, (segun ella se explicaba con humildad) acudió á la Santísima Virgen, suplicandola fuese su maestra, y parece quiso serlo, y hacer con ella este oficio; pues luego al punto lo logró, y ella manifestó su agradecimiento, aprovechandose y practicando lo bueno que leía, por mas contrario que fuese á la naturaleza. Asi lo es el disciplinarse; pero leyendo (no se en que libro) que Santa Teresa lo habia hecho algunas veces con hortigas; luego en la primera ocasion la imitó, haciendo lo mismo).

OCLC and KVK locate 1 U.S. copy (Georgetown).

*Palau 55642.