Resumen:
A detailed study of the academic impact of the book The Abbess of Las Huelgas. This is the only book written by St. Josemaria that is unrelated to his books on spirituality. The article examines the extraordinary civil and ecclesiastical powers that were exercised by the abbesses of this monastery in Burgos (12th-19th centuries). The article explains how a woman, the abbess of Las Huelgas, came to have this ecclesiastical jurisdiction ( quasi episcopal vere nullius) as well as the grounds which gave legitimacy to her actions.