The Mysterious Sofía

One Woman's Mission to Save Catholicism in Twentieth-Century Mexico

Stephen J. C. Andes, Stephen J C Andes

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781496214669
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496218186
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

Who was the "Mysterious Sofía, " whose letter in November 1934 was sent from Washington DC to Mexico City and intercepted by the Mexican Secret Service? In The Mysterious Sofía Stephen J. C. Andes usesthe remarkable story of Sofía del Valle to tellthe history of Catholicism's global shift from north to south and the importance of women to Catholic survival and change over the course of the twentieth century. As a devout Catholic single woman, neither nun nor mother, del Valle resisted religious persecution in an era of Mexican revolutionary upheaval, became a labor activist in a time of class conflict, founded an educational movement, toured the United States as a public lecturer, and raised money for Catholic ministries—all in an age dominated by economic depression, gender prejudice, and racial discrimination. The rise of the Global South marked a new power dynamic within the Church as Latin America moved from the margins of activism to the vanguard. Del Valle's life and the stories of those she met along the way illustrate the sharedpious practices, gender norms, and organizational networks that linked activists across national borders. Told through the eyes ofa little-known laywoman from Mexico, Andes shows how women journeyed from the pews into the heart of the modern world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Nota Bene, Dear Reader
• Prologue
• Part 1
• 1. Days of the Dead
• 2. The Sophie Letters
• 3. Miss del Valle
• 4. The Mastermind
• Interlude
• Part 2
• 5. Little Flowers
• 6. Sofía’s Belle Époque
• 7. Vocation
• 8. Respectable Telephone Operator
• 9. Preparing the Future
• Interlude
• Part 3
• 10. The Catacombs
• 11. The Voyage
• 12. The Test
• 13. Gasparri’s Parrots
• 14. A Long, Hot Roman Summer
• 15. The Return
• 16. The Peace
• Interlude
• Part 4
• 17. Out of the Shadows
• 18. The New Woman
• 19. Resistance
• 20. Les femmes internationales
• 21. Terrible Beasts
• 22. Winter in the City of Light
• 23. Doubt
• 24. Lourdes
• 25. The Road to Warsaw
• 26. Borders
• 27. Bridges
• Interlude
• Part 5
• 28. Miss del Valle Goes to Washington
• 29. The Plan
• 30. The Deception of Miss Duffy
• 31. Consider the Lobster
• 32. Golden Hour of the Little Flower
• 33. On the Road
• 34. La patria Calls
• Postlude
• Matins
• Postscript
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About Stephen J. C. Andes
• Series List