Islands of Women in a Sea of Change: Havana's Female Religious Communities in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World 1

Changes in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World transformed Cuba from a peripheral backwater to an economic and social centre and, by extension, transformed female monasticism on the island. Imperial warfare, enlightened reform and revolution presented Cubans with new opportunities and new challenges. New opportunities in the economic realm were accompanied by new challenges with regard to questions of class and race. These same economic opportunities and social challenges confronted Havana's female monastics: the Observant Franciscans, or Poor Clares, of Santa Clara del Santsimo Sacramento, the Recollect Dominicans of Santa Catalina de Sena, and the Discalced Carmelites of Santa Teresa de Jess. Havana's female cloisters, Santa Clara, Santa Catalina, and Santa Teresa, all predate the upturn in Cuba's economic fortunes, but they were all late in terms of New World foundations. They were repositories for the daughters of socio-economic elites, as well as spiritual havens for those with authentic religious vocations.