Dona Clara de Eraza - 17th century nun and Mexican bandit

Regina O'Melveny, The Book of Madness and Cures: A Novel (2012)

If I could have the muse of my choice, she would be Dona Clara de Eraza, the Spanish nun of the seventeenth century who gave up the habit to become a Mexican bandit and swordswoman. She was especially good with railway robbery. The silver that Spain was wrenching from the mountains of northwestern Mexico, she put in her pocket and spent freely in the cantinas.

She dressed as a man, was finally arrested in Peru, and deported to Spain for a trial. The Pope pardoned her, and the Cardinal gave her several thousand pesos as an allowance. She traveled back to Mexico and up to Xochimilco where I first met her on a train. I was a passenger. She was robbing the train and invited me to join her. I said, "What is there in it for me?"

She answered, "Freedom, absolute freedom to write what you are called upon the write. You will have to learn swordsmanship, how to ride a horse, jump trains, and let silver run like water between your fingers, keep late hours, drink well, without falling asleep, pray in the cantina, and dance in the cathedral.