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For the purposes of the new edition, every poem has been assigned a unique short title. The original short titles, taken eclectically from a number of sources, are retained as alternative short titles.
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For epigraphs and layout information click on the appropriate manuscript location.
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CSM Number : 55
Short name: The Nun who Left the Convent Alternative: Runaway Nun
Incipit: Atant’ é Santa Maria/ de toda bondade bõa
Refrain: Atant’ é Santa Maria/de toda bondade bõa/ que mui d’ anvidos s’ assanna/ e mui de grado perdõa.
Summary of narrative
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Setting: Spain, mention of Lisbon Protagonist(s): a nun

A nun faithfully said the hours before a statue of the Virgin.

However, the devil tempted her to run away to Lisbon with an abbot.

When she became pregnant, the abbot left her and she returned to her convent. She discovered that she had not been missed in her absence.

As the time came for her to deliver her child, she continued to pray to the Virgin. She asked Mary to save her from disgrace, and the Virgin made an angel take the child from her to be raised elsewhere. The woman grew old and grey, but did not forget her child.

One day, when the nuns were chanting vespers, a handsome young man entered the church. He joined them and sang the Salve Regina. The nun realised it was her son. He also recognised her.

When they had been informed of the miracle, the nuns, who numbered more than one hundred, praised the Virgin.

Metrical data
Stanza: 15' 15' 15' 15' Refrain: 15' 15'
No. of Stanzas: 15
Rhyme scheme: AA | bbba Zejel: Yes
MS locations:
T55, E55, To86
Poncelet reference
None
Keywords
abbess, apparition, bread, canonical hours, childbirth, children, convent, elope, image (of Virgin Mary), millet, nun, pregnancy, priest , Salve Regina (singing of), vespers
Discography
Click HERE for a list of recordings of this poem
BITAGAP ID
3772
Bibliography
Cantigas de Santa Maria do rei don Alfonso
Alfonso X , o Sábio
Alfonso X, el Sabio, y la Cantiga XCIV
Blume Sánchez, Jaime
De la monia que sse foi de moesteiro
Blume, Jaime
Una cantiga célebre del Rey Sabio. Fuentes y desarrollo de la leyenda de Sor Beatriz, principalmente en la literatura española
Cotarelo y Valledor, Armando
La Légende de la Sacristine. Étude de littérature comparée.
Guiette, Robert
Itinéraire espagnol du conte médiéval (VIIIs-XVs)
Marsan, Rameline E.
La pecadora penitente en el teatro español: Sus fuentes y evolución
Sánchez Castañer y Mena, Francisco
The Virgin as Midwife: Verbalization and Visualization in Alfonso X’s Cantigas de Santa Maria
Scarborough, Connie, L.
Las Cantigas del Rey Sabio
Valera, Juan