Lieutenant Nun is an autobiography written by Catalina de Erauso in 1626. Another name for the book is, Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World, which is a primary source since it is an autobiography, meaning the book is written and told by the author. The memoir takes place in Spain, and tells Catalina’s journey to escape her life in the convent and show the world how women can do anything men can do. Catalina changes gender roles in history, and the book tells her story.
The book’s structure is in many episodes, told in order but broken down by each event, which helps the reader understand each important incident. The book goes on to say how Catalina de Erauso is born and then her parents place her in a Dominican convent at the age of four. Here she stays and trains to become a nun, until she is 15. The reader can see how religion is taught to her at such a young age, which shows why she goes to the church for shelter and stays faithful to God. When she leaves the convent, this is the point where she begins her life as a male by dressing as one and escapes the convent. This allows her the freedom to do as she pleases, since she is unrecognizable as Catalina de Erauso. She has many jobs throughout her life as a male while continuously running into her family, who never recognize her. Being seen as a male allows Catalina to have many encounters with women, but she continuously sticks to her faith since her cover would be blown. By her sticking firm to her faith, the reader can see how important God is to her, no matter what she does. Her violent streak puts her in danger many times, and the church is where she always goes to seek shelter. She even ends up killing her own brother. The fact she lives through all of the violent acts, is remarkable, allowing her story to travel the world. Other violence causes her to break laws, allowing her receive the death sentence. A bishop saves her by taking her into his home, where she admits her gender. He does not believe her so they do a medical examination, which verifies her gender and virginity throughout her life. She lives her life widely known as the woman who recognizes as a man for majority of her life. When higher up’s meet her and hear about her loyalty to the faith by keeping her virginity, they allow her to continue to dress as a man. This is a major turning point in history since she gets no punishment for her actions. The turning point may spark thought in other people to break laws and seek help from the church.
The book thrives because of how fast and interesting the stories are to read. Catalina’s various situations, from violence to running into her family often, grab the reader’s attention. Catalina dressing as a male, allows her to accomplish so much more than if she did not leave the convent. This shows the importance of hard work and following your heart. The fact that she stays faithful to her religion is very inspiring. People acknowledge her loyalty and give her the freedom to dress as a man because of her truthfulness and virginity, which shows how important God is to her. Also, Catalina dressing as a male after everyone knows, allows her to still go to bars, gamble, and do things women could not, things she loved. A pitfall the book has is not explaining situations in depth. Catalina says what happened in certain situations but does not say details, or even every event in her life, such as who she went as when leaving the convent. The context of the book makes overlooking the small details easy, since her story is very captivating. Overall, the book is interesting and very motivating to women and religion.
The topic of transgender men or women today is not as controversial as back in the 17th century. Transgender men and women today still have struggles and is controversial to some people, but back when Catalina de Erauso was dressing as a male, it was a lot more controversial since no one had ever heard of this. Catalina dressing as a male in the 17th century shows that transvestites have existed for hundreds of years. The book contributes to the field of women’s history by introducing one of the first times a woman cross dresses as a man, and is successful without any punishment. Her dressing as a man also shows people that women can do anything men can do since when dressing as a man she fought in wars and did many things, just as a man would. Her persistence proves women’s strength to the world today. Catalina even says, “It just goes to show that persistence and hard work can perform miracles, and it happens regularly (38).”
In conclusion, Lieutenant Nun is a powerful and inspiring book. Catalina de Erauso is a role model to woman and an icon in history. Ultimately, she is an icon to everyone since she stayed very true to herself. Thankfully she survived her violent life to tell her many experiences of life as a male.