Vida de la Madre Ines de la Encarnacion is an autobiographical account authored in the seventeenth century by a Spanish beata, or lay holy woman, named Ines Lopez Melendez (1564-1634) who later became an Augustinian nun known as Ines de la Encarnacion. Her text is a representative example of the literary genre of women"s spiritual autobiography according to the model established by the Libro de su vida (Book of her Life) by Teresa of Avila. Madre Ines"s Vida recounts both the day-to-day earthly and spriritual experiences of this female mystic. Born in the mountain village of Genestosa (Leon) to cattle owners who became impoverished, Ines felt from her earliest childhood a strong vocation to the religious life and perceived visionary encounters with Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Orphaned by the age of nine, she had to resort to begging and to various jobs to support herself, including those of sheep herder, caregiver of a disabled child, and domestic servant of several wealthy ladies....