Blessed Ana de los Angeles Monteagudo

Ana Monteagudo Ponce de Leon, OP (26 July 1602 – 10 January 1686), also known as Ana (or Ann) of the Angels Monteagudo, was a Peruvian Catholic nun in the Dominican Order. Monteagudo studied under nuns in her childhood and decided to become one following a vision she had of Catherine of Siena showing her the Dominican habit. Her parents made the effort to dissuade her from this though she continued to pursue that path until she was inducted as a member of the Dominicans. She became noted for her holiness and held leadership positions due to her wisdom and the esteem that others had for her. Pope John Paul II beatified Monteagudo in 1985 upon his apostolic trip to Peru. Ana Monteagudo Ponce de Leon was born in mid-1602 in Peru as the fourth of eight children to the Spanish-born Sebastián Monteagudo de la Jara and the Peruvian Francisca Ponce de Leon. Her brother Francisco became a priest. Her other siblings were: Monteagudo was educated at the Santa Catalina de Siena convent in Arequipa, Peru since her parents entrusted her to the care of the nuns there in 1605 and returned home in 1616 before deciding to become a nun. Yet it was at this stage that her parents wanted to give her in marriage though while home a vision of Saint Catherine of Siena showing her a Dominican habit prompted her to leave home. The child Domingo led her to the convent before her parents discovered what she had done. The pair tried to dissuade her and offered her jewels though she refused each offer. Her father soon came to accept and support her decision though her furious mother never did and forbade her to ever return home. She became a postulant of the Dominican Nuns in 1616 despite the objections of her parents and became a full member of it later in 1618. Monteagudo served as the convent's sacristan from her profession until 1632 when she was made the novice mistress and held that post until 1645 when she was named as its prioress.