Mary of Jesus of Ágreda (Spanish: María de Jesús), also known as the Abbess of Ágreda (2 April 1602 – 24 May 1665), was a Franciscan abbess and spiritual writer, known especially for her extensive correspondence with King Philip IV of Spain and reports of her bilocation between Spain and its colonies in New Spain. She was a noted mystic of her era. Mary of Jesus wrote fourteen books. A member of the Order of the Immaculate Conception, Mary inspired many Franciscan missionaries in the New World. In popular culture since the 17th century, she has been dubbed the Lady in Blue and the Blue Nun, after the color of her order's habit.
María de Ágreda's best known single work is the Mystical City of God (Spanish: Mistica Ciudad de Dios, Vida de la Virgen María), consisting of 8 books (6 volumes). This related her revelations about the terrestrial and heavenly life, received directly from (dictated by) the Blessed Virgin Mary. The books include information about the relationship of the 'Blessed Virgin' with the Triune God, as well as the doings and Mysteries performed by Jesus as God-Man in flesh and in Spirit. The narrative contains extensive details and covers the New Testament timeline. It also relates advice given by the Holy Mother on how to acquire true sanctity.
In addition to her fourteen published works, Mary of Jesus also served as the spiritual (and sometimes political) advisor to King Philip IV of Spain, at his request and for more than twenty-two years. Their surviving correspondence includes over 600 letters.
Less than ten years after her death, Mary of Jesus was declared Venerable by Pope Clement X, in honor of her "heroic life of virtue". Although the process of beatification was opened in 1673, it has not as yet been completed.
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Various misinterpretations of Mary's writings led to Mystical City of God the being placed on the Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum in August 1681, due to a faulty French translation published in 1678. The placement on the list of forbidden books proved temporary.
Lying below the blue recumbent statue today is the incorrupt body of the Venerable María de Jesús de Ágreda in the Church of the Conceptionists Convent in Ágreda, Spain.
The tradition of the apostle St James and the shrine of El Pilar, reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary, was given by Our Lady in an apparition to Sister Mary Agreda recorded in The Mystical City of God, and is credited with instigating the rebuilding of the fire-damaged Cathedral Basilica in Zaragosa in the Baroque style in 1681 by Charles II, King of Spain, completed and rededicated in 1686.
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