Mary of Ágreda's Bilocation to the Americas

Mary of Ágreda (1602–1665), abbess of the Conceptionist convent in Ágreda, Spain, claimed to have been transported in spirit to the Americas on over 500 occasions between approximately 1620 and 1623, where she preached to the Jumano Indians of present-day Texas and New Mexico while her body remained in the convent.

The 1629 Investigation

In July 1629, a delegation of approximately fifty Jumano Indians arrived at the Franciscan mission near Albuquerque, requesting baptism and missionary teachers. When questioned, they said a 'Woman in Blue' had visited them many times and directed them to seek the Spanish priests. Fray Alonso de Benavides, the Franciscan custodian of New Mexico, returned to Spain in 1630 and composed a memorial for the Spanish court describing these events. In 1631, he traveled to Ágreda and interviewed Mary personally, questioning her about New Mexico geography, climate, and tribal customs. He concluded she demonstrated accurate knowledge that could not have come from available Spanish sources.

Evidentiary Strength and Limits

The Jumano testimony constitutes independent convergent evidence — a non-Christian source identifying a phenomenon that matches Mary's own private claims — and is the strongest element of the case. The limiting factors are: Benavides is the sole recorder of both the Jumano testimony and the verification interview; he had clear institutional incentives to authenticate the account; and Spanish trading contact with the Jumanos predated 1620, providing an alternative vector for partial Christian knowledge.

Church Status

Mary was given the title 'Venerable' and her cause for beatification has been open for centuries, but she has never been canonized. The Spanish Inquisition monitored her writings — possibly due to their political content (her correspondence with King Philip IV) rather than the bilocation claims specifically.