Q: What to think about Mary of Agreda's Mystical City of God?

A: A complicated story, and at least as long as the Mystical City itself.  In short, there seems to be little doubt that the person of Maria Agreda is, and was, widely considered to be a saintly person.  Her cause was introduced for the first time shortly after her death in 1672, then promoted again a century later, but, to this day, has not come to fruition.  As to her Mystical City, it was written in obedience to her confessors (spiritual directors), burnt twice, recommenced three times, never of her own volition.  The book was condemned in 1681 by Innocent XI, but execution was suspended for Spain.  The Sorbonne or University of Paris did the same in 1696 by 102 votes of 152 after having had it examined by 132 doctors of theology.  In contrast, several Spanish universities such as Salamanca and Alcala gave their approval, as did the Spanish Inquisition after ten years of study.  In 1729, Benedict XIII maintained the condemnation.  The work was placed on the Index, but the decision was contested by its supporters, invoking faulty translations from the Spanish original.  Some of the reasons for the condemnation by the Sorbonne were: indecent (i.e. very physical) language; a tendency to give Mary adoration instead of veneration; her Immaculate Conception, and, thanks to this privilege, mediation of all graces.  Being of Franciscan obedience and culture, Maria Agreda was following Scotist and not Thomist theology.  Some of the theological ideas, namely the Immaculate Conception and the mediation of all graces became common opinion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the former even dogma.  The Index was abolished in 1966, although with the caveat to avoid readings harmful to faith and moral conduct.

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