The Mystery of San Angelo’s “Lady in Blue” (Apr 27, 2025)
by Scott Sosebee
I often call San Angelo one of Texas’ “most surprising cities.” I make such a statement because I think many visitors to the city come away astonished at what they find to see and do in the central-west Texas city on the Edwards Plateau. One of the most pleasant features about the Concho City—so named after the river that is the city’s central landmark—is a stretch of paved walkways alongside the banks of that river. One of the iconic sights you will see on that walk is a gorgeous piece of sculpture showing a young woman in a Catholic nun’s habit reaching for the hand of a Native American. The striking piece of art—and the accompanying marker—tells the remarkable story of the “ Lady in Blue” who appeared among the Jumanos in West Texas and instructed them in Christian doctrine. The fact that this lady was identified as Sr. Maria de Agreda, who lived thousands of miles away in a convent in Spain, makes the accounts of her ministry even more astounding and mysterious.
Born Maria Fernández Coronel in 1602 in Ágreda, Spain, to minor noble parents, Coronel joined the Order of the Immaculate Conception in 1619. She took the name Maria de Jesús and became quite known throughout Spain for her piety and devout prayer life, so much so that even King Philip IV carried out a fairly extensive amount of correspondence with her. But the most notable part of her life was that she was said to have the power of bi-location, the ability to appear in two places in time at once. For Sr. Maria de Ágreda reported that she had appeared among the Native peoples of present-day New Mexico and Texas. According to her accounts, she was somehow transported to be among these Native Americans in the frontera norteño of New Spain on at least five hundred different occasions. She appeared most frequently among the Jumanos, a tribe that occupied a large area of West Texas, Eastern and Southern New Mexico, and Northern Mexico. They were skilled hunters as well as operated along an extensive trade network that stretched as far south as the Yucatán and as far north as the upper Mississippi. It was her appearance among the Jumano that led to the convergence of two cultures near present-day San Angelo, and how she became the subject of the statue.
Twelve Jumanos, in 1629, undertook an arduous journey across the Chihuahuan Desert of far West Texas to arrive in Isleta, New Mexico. The appearance of Native peoples in a Spanish settlement was not common, but it was not rare. What was amazing was what they carried with them—a Christian cross covered in wildflowers—but even more so was the story they told when they arrived. This was, they explained, the sixth time they had tried to make the journey. They kept trying to travel the difficult trip because a “lady in blue” had told them that the Franciscan priests of the Spanish settlement were there, and they should ask them to come back with them to their homeland and give them Christian baptism and instruction.
Their story both flabbergasted and frightened the gathered Spaniards. Had these Indians of New Spain been in contact with French traders—Europeans who were expressly forbidden from entering Spanish territory? That was the only explanation they could think of. Through some sort of communication, the Jumanos told the Spaniards that they had never met a European man, but instead their knowledge of Christianity and where to travel came by way of a beautiful young woman who wore a brilliant blue cape. Intrigued, a Spanish party, mostly Franciscan friars, agreed to accompany the Jumanos back to their home, which was where the North and Middle Concho Rivers converged in what is almost the center of present-day San Angelo. The Franciscans reported baptizing over 2,000 Jumanos in three weeks’ time. They built a mission—likely a crude brush arbor structure—which is likely the first such effort at spreading Christianity in what would become Texas.
But who was this mysterious “Lady in Blue?” One of the missionaries of the expedition to the Concho, Fray Alonzo de Benevides, knew of the story of a young, cloistered nun in Ágreda. This nun, who wore the brilliant blue cape/habit of her order, was said to often enter into deep trances while in prayer. When he emerged from her stupors, she would tell of visiting the New World, where she would teach and minister among the Natives. Alonzo returned to Spain shortly after visiting the Jumanos, and he went to Ágreda to question the young nun. She perfectly described the countryside and the land—places that there was no way she could ever have visited—and she also told the priest that when she spoke to the Jumanos “God allowed them to understand.”
All who heard of Sr. Maria’s tales were shocked and were certain they were witnessing a miracle. The young woman certainly believed she had appeared in the New World without even leaving Spain. The Jumanos seemed certain they had seen the young nun—they even described her facial appearance almost precisely when questioned. Our modern world and understanding no doubt attribute such tales to myth and mysticism, but who is to say that something did not happen out in that barren part of what is now West Texas? The statue of the Lady in Blue and the Jumanos she instructed along the Concho River remind us that there just may be a whole lot about the past that we don’t know or fully understand.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.