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3. And seeing that he was such a saintly man, and feeling as if I might already be in the presence of God, I revealed myself to the bishop and told him, “Senõr, all of this that I have told you . . . in truth, it is not so. The truth is this: that I am a woman. . . .”

In Chapter 20, after Catalina has been relentlessly pursued by the law, she is rescued by a bishop who both keeps her out of prison and saves her life. For the first time in her many decades of living as a man, Catalina confesses the truth of her biological gender. Her choice of confidant is especially significant. Despite Catalina’s official rejection of the church, she still gravitates toward the church in times of trouble. This is partially due to the church’s ability to protect her, but it also indicates her desire to seek absolution from the church for her sins. At the moment when she thinks she is near either death or arrest, she confesses her sins to a bishop and tells him the truth about her sex. Catalina was raised in the church, and her relationship with it is much like that of a child to a parent. Catalina rebels against many of the church’s rules and laws, but when she reaches a point of desperation, she seeks acknowledgement of and forgiveness for her greatest secret.

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