One of the most fascinating tales connected to Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is that of María de Jesus de Ágreda. Born in 1602, Sor María de Ágreda is said to have experienced bilocation starting in 1620. While in a trance at her convent in Ágreda, Spain, she claimed to be spiritually present in New Mexico and other areas of what is now the American Southwest and Mexico. During her time in New Mexico, Sor María reported visiting the Jumano Indians, urging them to go to the Spanish missions and request that a missionary accompany them back to their pueblos and villages. By 1626, stories from New Mexico indicated that Native Americans were arriving at missions because a "Lady in Blue" had instructed them to seek out the priests there.
One of the places she was said to have visited was the pueblo of Las Humanas, now known as Gran Quivira. She was also reported to have frequently "visited" a group of refugee Jumanos near the mission of Cuarac (Quarai). When more missionaries arrived in 1629, Gran Quivira became a visita, which is a satellite mission without a resident priest, of the Abó Mission. Meanwhile, Fray Alonso de Benavides, the Custodian of New Mexico, returned to Spain with a report about the Blue Nun. While in Spain, he met with King Felipe IV and used his report to secure more funding for New Mexico. Benavides then spent three weeks with Sor María in Ágreda, confirming that she was indeed the "Lady in Blue." An expanded report was presented to Pope Urban VIII in 1634.
The following year, the Spanish Inquisition investigated Sor María and found no evidence to discredit her claims or writings. In 1643, King Felipe IV visited her, and they began corresponding. After her death in 1665, the process for her beatification started in 1673 by Pope Clemente X, who declared Sor María "Venerable," but her canonization process is still ongoing. In 2002, the celebration of her 400th birthday sparked more interest in María de Ágreda's story, leading the Manzano Mountain Arts Council to create a public mural in Mountainair that showcases Sor María de Ágreda.
