Conclusion

Personal writing such as letters tells us how individuals experienced historical developments. The letters discussed in this book provide insight into the psyches of particular persons involved in the Carmelite expansion, notably María de San José, Ana de Jesús, and Ana de San Bartolomé. Not all the convents founded by María and the two Anas survive. São Alberto was closed in the nineteenth century, after the Portuguese civil war. Influenced by the Enlightenment, Emperor Joseph II closed the Belgian convents. The Antwerp community went to Lanherne in Cornwall. The Brussels nuns migrated to Paris, arriving just before the French Revolution abolished religious communities. Yet, many convents were reestablished in Europe, and others were founded in the Americas.