Summary Of Catalina De Erauso

Before discussing the system of justice. Here is a little back ground of the protagonist Catalina de Erauso. She was born in San Sebastian, Spain in the year 1585 and at four years old was placed in a convent by her parents. At the age of fifteen she was about to take her vows as a nun but instead escapes the convent and changed her appearance from female to male. She then goes by the name Francisco Loyola, after her encounter with her father who does not recognize her as a man she decides to leave Spain and go to the New World in 1603. During her time in the New World she encounters many brawls where she kills her opponents, gets put in jail, gets banished from cities, all this happens while her secret is never revealed until one day she confesses …show more content…
However, that does not happen because the sheriff gets ahold of her but that is only because no one was there to protect her (i.e. bishop, friar, priest). Catalina always seeks the church for protection and it does happen because there are times where she stays in the church and the law does not go in and take her out. During her time at the city of La Paz she killed a man in board daylight and got arrested and was sentenced to death. She spent two days confessing and on the third day there was mass in the jail and she shouted “I call on the church! I call on the church!” When the head bishop heard her shout and went to her and took her out of jail and placed her in church. In addition, the governor had the church surrounded by soldiers. After a month the soldiers were called off and Catalina left the city. Once more in the city that Catalina is in, she finds herself in a deeper situation a matter of life or death. In the midst of the brawl the bishop steps out of his palace and offers Catalina protection asking her to disarm herself. She refuses due to the circumstances and she knocks a man off his feet. “The bishop’s secretary put himself at my side with his sword and shield, while the other men in his retinue cried out, condemning the disrespect to His Eminence, and with that the struggle eased a little. His Holiness held me fast by the arm, relieved me of my weapons and, placing himself at my side, he took me with him into his house.” This just proves how powerful the church is from the state and how the state cannot intervene with the Catholic church. It is as if the Church and everyone in the Church is the word of God and no one can go against God. In addition, she tells the bishop the truth about herself and hoe she is actually a woman and has committed so many crimes but that she is still a