Lady in Blue's Lore, The Lady in Blue - Javier Sierra

Native American lore of the Southwest, suggests that the first written recipe for chili, the world famous mexican food, was done by the Spanish nun Mary of Agreda. She brought the idea of this meal from her bilocations to New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia by Dave DeWitt (William Morrow: NY, 1999) states that “chili con carne fanatics tell strange tales about the possible origin of chili. The story of the "lady in blue" tells of Sister Mary of Agreda, a Spanish nun in the early 1600s who never left her convent in Spain but nonetheless had out-of-body experiences during which her spirit would be transported across the Atlantic to preach Christianity to the Indians. After one of the return trips, her spirit wrote down the first recipe for chili con carne, which the Indians gage her: chile peppers, venison, onions, and tomatoes.”
You can even check an on-line recipe of Mary of Agreda’s chili here

The official “State Flower” of Texas since 1901 is the bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis). Another Native American Lady in Blue’s legend is behind this icon. According to a local tradition, during Sister Mary's last visit to the Jumano Indian, after encouraging them to look for the missionaries, she was elevated in the air until she disappeared. The next day blue flowers (bluebonnets) were found on her paths. They had the impression that they had appeared where she had trailed her cloak on the ground. Click here for more info about this plant: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Near Santa Rita, in New Mexico, there is a curious pinnacle formed by natural rock, used as a landmark over the years by Indians, pioneers, wagontrains and travelers. This rock reminds to a praying woman. The locals called it The Kneeling Nun, and although its legend seems to be connected with a particular 17th century love story between a spanish soldier and a nun called Teresa, it is impossible not to see in “The Kneeling Nun” another reminiscence of the Lady in Blue. If you need more information of “The Kneeling Nun”, you can click here

The script of Mel Gibson’s debated film “The Passion of the Christ” was written from the four Gospels of the New Testament and the information provided by two european nuns: Anne Catherine of Emmerich (1774-1824) and María Jesús de Ágreda (1602-1665), also known as “The Lady in Blue”. In her book Mystical City of God, published in 1670, Mary of Agreda described vividly the last hours of Christ from the perspective of his mother.