Austria, who was Charles' youngest sister. Regent of Spain Shortly after Sebastian's birth, Joanna was called back to Madrid by her brother Philip to act as regent during his absence in England from 1554. She filled this role with intelligence and efficiency. Joanna never remarried and never returned to Portugal. She never saw her son Sebastian again, although she sent him letters and had portraits of him painted at various ages so she could see what he looked like. In 1557, Joanna founded the Convent of Our Lady of Consolation (Nuestra Señora de la Consolación) for the nuns of the order of Poor Clares, also known as Discalced Clarisses (in Spanish, ) because they did not wear covered shoes, and only walked either barefoot or in sandals, now known as the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales, or convent of the royal barefoot females, partly due to her affiliation and that the convent continued to attract aristocratic women as nuns. This convent is now a national monument and holds an art collection. It was founded in the royal palace where Joanna was born and where Charles V had lived when in Madrid. Joanna repeatedly intervened in favor of the new order of the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola. In 1555, she is reputed to have been admitted surreptitiously to the male-only Jesuit order under the name of a pseudonym, Mateo Sánchez. She corresponded with both Ignatius and Francis Borgia. Arms Ancestry References 16th-century House of Habsburg 16th-century Portuguese people 16th-century Spanish people 16th-century Portuguese women 16th-century Spanish women 16th-century women rulers 16th-century viceregal rulers Regents of Spain Spanish infantas Austrian princesses 1535 births 1573 deaths Princesses of Portugal Portuguese infantas Sánchez, Mateo Spanish people of Austrian descent Daughters of emperors Children of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Daughters of kings