Catalina erauso biography

Catalina de Erauso was a Basque noblewoman who, just before taking final vows to become a nun at age fifteen, escaped from the convent in San Sebastián where she had lived since the age of four.

Using the name Francisco de Loyola, Erauso lived successfully as a man for almost twenty years, for a brief period in Spain and later in the New World using the name Alonso Díaz Ramírez de Guzmán.

Antonio de Erauso, born as Catalina de Erauso (in Spanish) also went by Alonso Díaz and some other masculine names, later taking on the name Antonio de.

Antonio de Erauso, born as Catalina de Erauso (in Spanish) also went by Alonso Díaz and some other masculine names, later taking on the name Antonio de.

Spanish woman who fled a convent and, disguised as a man, rose to the rank of lieutenant in the Spanish colonial army in South America, then returned to Spain.

It's known that she was.

Antonio de Erauso, born as Catalina de Erauso, also went by Alonso Díaz and some other masculine names, later taking on the name Antonio de Erauso which he went by for the remainder of his life.

Catalina was born in or into a wealthy Basque family.

Although she was distinguished for her fearless deeds as a soldier fighting for the Spanish empire in Peru and Chile, Erauso's memoirs showcase her propensity for violence, gambling, and womanizing. However rebellious Erauso may seem, once she confessed her previous identity as Catalina, she quickly became the celebrity known as the "Lieutenant Nun" and was rewarded for her gender transgression in 1626 with a soldier's pension from the Spanish monarch Philip IV and dispensation from Pope Urban VIII to continue dressing in men's clothing.

In 1630 she returned to the