Abstract

The cause for the beatification of Mother Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, O.I.C., has experienced high and low points in the course of its history. The author analyses the various phases in the history of the process, in which a determining role has been played by the doctrinal judgment upon her principal work, the Mistica Ciudad de Dios, a work of Marian spirituality, which contributed in a significant way to the defence of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The present halt to the process of beatification is due to a letter written by the Secretary of State to the Postulator of the cause, of February, 1999, in which the book in question is recognised as being devoid of errors, but at the same time as contrasting with what is offered to us both by Sacred Scripture and by the Second Vatican Council. Hence the refusal to grant the nihil obstat for the continuation of the cause of beatification. The author analyses the letter and subsequent developments, in particular, the efforts of the Spanish episcopal conference to reactivate the cause.