Catarina de San Juan

Catarina de San Juan (c. 1607 – 5 January 1688), known as the China Poblana, was an Asian-born woman who was enslaved and brought to New Spain via the Spanish East Indies and later became revered as a saint in Mexico. Her true origin is unclear, but according to legend her original name was Mirra and she belonged to a noble family from India. She was allegedly kidnapped by Portuguese pirates and sold in the Philippines as a slave, converting to Catholicism and adopting the Christian name Catarina de San Juan. She was then transported across the Pacific Ocean to Spanish Mexico, where she continued to work as a slave, married, and eventually became a beata – an ascetic woman or anchorite who adheres to personal religious vows without entering a convent – in Puebla de Zaragoza. Upon her death in 1688, Catarina de San Juan was buried in the sacristy of the Jesuit Templo de la Compañía de Jesús in Puebla, in what is popularly known as Tumba de la China Poblana.