Over time, the monastery grew and women of wealth and social standing entered the novitiate or as lay residents. Some of these new residents brought with them their servants and household goods, and lived within the walls of the monastery as they had lived before. While outwardly renouncing the world and embracing a life of poverty, they enjoyed their luxurious English carpets, silk curtains, porcelain plates, damask tablecloths, silver cutlery, and lace sheets. They employed musicians to come and play for their parties.

When Arequipa's frequent earthquakes damaged portions of the monastery, the nuns' relatives repaired the damage, and with one of the restorations, built individual cells for the nuns. Occupancy of the monastery had outgrown the common dormitories. During the two hundred years of the ViceRoyalty of Peru, the monastery continued to grow and flourish. Various parts of the complex display architectural styles of the time they were constructed or renovated.

By the mid 1800's, word that the monastery functioned more as a social club than a religious convent reached Pope Pius IX who sent Sister Josefa Cadena, a strict Dominican nun, to investigate. She arrived at the Monasterio Santa Catalina in 1871 and promptly began reforms. She sent the rich dowries back to the motherhouse in Europe, dis-employed the servants and slaves while giving them the chance to leave the monastery or stay on as nuns. She instituted internal reforms and life in the monastery became as other religious institutions.

In spite of this later reputation, the Monasterio was home to a remarkable woman, Sor Ana de Los Angeles Monteagudo (1595 - 1668), who first entered the walls as a three year old, spent most of her childhood there, refused marriage, and returned to enter the novitiate. She rose within the nun's community, was elected Mother Prioress and instituted a regime of austerity. She became known for her accurate predictions of death and disease. She is credited with healings, including the severely inflicted painter who painted the sole portrait of her. It is said that as soon as he completed the portrait, he was completely healed. In her later years, Sor Ana was blind and in ill-health and when she died in January of 1686, she was not embalmed because her body did not reek of death. She was buried under the floor of the Choir in the church.

When she was exhumed ten months later, her body had not deteriorated, but remained as fresh and flexible as the day she died. She is credited with healing others, even after death. The nuns wrote reports at the time of instances where the sick were healed after touching her possessions. Shortly after her death, petition to name her a saint was submitted to the Catholic church. In the way of the church, the process is slow. It wasn't until 1985 that Pope John Paul II visited this monastery for the beatification of Sor Ana.

With the wealth of the monastery no longer available, and the nuns apart from the world, the monastery remained much as it was in the 16th and 17th centuries. While the city of Arequipa modernized itself around the walled community, the nuns continued living as they had for centuries. It was only in the 1970's that civil codes required the nuns to install electricity and a water system. With no funds to comply, the nuns made the decision to open the majority of the monastery to public view. They retreated to a small complex, off-limits to visitors, and for the first time in centuries, the curious public entered the city within a city.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

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