Female Religious Life

México. Este número se terminó de imprimir el día 18 de marzo del 2019, con un tiraje de 200 ejemplares, impresión digital en papel bond de 90g para los interiores y cartulina de 120g para los forros. Las opiniones expresadas en los Cuadernos del Seminario de Música en la Nueva España y el México Independiente son responsabilidad exclusiva de sus autores.

The author looks at the history, spirituality, and canonical issues of the Beguines who began to surface in the 13th century.  In significant ways they are the forerunners of congregations of simple vows which were not formalized until the 1900's.  Since they seem to be resurfacing at the current time, the author also explores what is possible for them regarding vows and communal forms.

В предлагаемой статье внимание авторов сосредоточено на
анализе женской религиозности в общинах евангельских христиан-баптистов в послевоенный период. Нас интересует вопрос, насколько гендерно детерминированным было распределение ролей/функций внутри
религиозных сообществ и как современники событий воспринимали и
описывали мужские и женские роли в евангельско-баптистских общинах послевоенного периода. Внимание авторов сосредоточено на феномене женского лидерства в городке Рассказово, одном из районных
центров Тамбовской области, где общиной ЕХБ руководили две женщины — Антонина Терехова и Анна Желтова. Совмещение традиционных
женских ролей (забота о детях и содержании дома) с организацией богослужебной жизни общины давалось этим женщинам нелегко из-за постоянного давления внешней среды, усилившегося в ходе разворачивания
т.н. хрущевской антирелигиозной кампании. Однако именно женское пасторство дало путевку в жизнь следующему поколению актива евангельских христиан-баптистов, составивших ядро или возглавивших в 1970-е
годы как зарегистрированную тамбовскую общину, так и незарегистрированную группу ЕХБ. Источниковая база статьи базируется на материалах устной истории, собранных авторами статьи, архивного фонда уполномоченного Совета по делам религий по Тамбовской области, архивного
фонда экспедиции А.И. Клибанова в Тамбовскую область и внутреннего
архива Российского союза ЕХБ

This essay explores the production of fine needlework by Italian Renaissance nuns and asks why it has been undervalued in the hierarchy of modern aesthetic categories. Two decades of revisionist scholarship have sought to dismantle the binary divide between art and craft by emphasizing the cultural values, aesthetic qualities, meanings and uses embodied in material objects. This essay advances the "material turn" in tandem with feminist perspectives that view textile artifacts as embodiments or extensions of their makers. By interrogating reigning assumptions about what counts as art and by analyzing the social praxis surrounding nuns' artistic production, I argue that nun textile artists made important interpretive choices when developing free-hand designs and translating embroidery cartoons into finished products, which in turn invite a reconsideration of current aesthetic hierarchies. A close, contextualized analysis of two exceptional embroidery pieces made by the nuns of Santa Verdiana in mid-fifteenth century Florence casts new light on the intentionality of nuns as artists and shows that these nuns used needlework as a communicative tool to construct alternative discourses about their subjectivity and spiritual worth.

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The book represents second collective monograph dedicated to the Friars Minor and Poor Clares double convent in medieval Český Krumlov. The monograph contains fourteen chapters in total dealing mainly with the Český Krumlov female religious communities – Poor Clare sisters and Franciscan tertiary nuns (beguines). Their court – the third cloister – was situated in immediate proximity to the double monastery. The main chapters of the book are dedicated to the visual culture and everyday life of Poor Clare nuns in the Český Krumlov convent as well as bring the results of latest research on monastic church sacristy, medieval murals discovered in the area of unpreserved western gallery as well as offer the new interpretation of the 15th century mural paintings situated in the house of tertiary nuns. Other chapters are dealing with Poor Clares communities in Poland and with double monasteries in Switzerland or focus on the book culture of Friars Minor in Middle Ages, the Český Krumlov monastic libraries and reflect the literature dedicated to medieval female religious communities.

Although deaconess life had its place in England from 1861, its growth in terms of numbers of deaconesses was not substantial. The role of the deaconess, though attractive to many religious women and men, was constrained by its perceived similarity to community-centred religious life (that of both Anglican and Roman Catholic nuns and sisters). Links with Kaiserswerth were important to the early beginning of many deaconess communities, but the need to distance the movement from ‘foreign’ elements echoed the cultural undercurrents which limited its growth and influence. Deaconess nursing was an important early means of ministerial outreach but its institutional form waned in some quarters by the end of the nineteenth century. The marginalisation of deaconess nursing, particularly in its institutional forms – the core concern of this article – was a result of the interplay between the religious mission of deaconesses and the developing sophistication of the medical marketplace.

Parmi la multitude des nouveaux ordres religieux nés dans le sillage du concile de Trente, les annonciades célestes (dites aussi Monache della Santissima Annunziata ou Monache Turchine) demeurent relativement peu connues, y compris des historiens du monachisme occidental. Fondées à Gênes en 1604 par Vittoria Fornari (1562-1617), ces chanoinesses régulières de Saint-Augustin sont pourtant particulièrement représentatives particulièrement représentatives des congrégations féminines apparues dans le contexte de la Réforme catholique. Strictement cloîtrées tout en étant implantées au cœur des villes, ces femmes doivent sans cesse relever le défi de concilier esprit de retraite et insertion dans le monde.

Cet article est le fruit des recherches menées dans le cadre de ma thèse de doctorat en histoire de l’art "Empreintes architecturales de femmes sur les routes de l’Europe: étude des couvents des annonciades célestes fondés avant 1800", dir. Philippe Bragard, Université catholique de Louvain, 2013. Sa publication est en cours de préparation auprès des Publications de l’Université de Saint-Étienne.

Resumo:
Apesar da existência de anteriores estudos, tanto em termos nacionais como regionais, e que demonstram a forte presença de escravos em Évora nos séculos XV e XVI, localizar a população escrava na documentação de instituições religiosas femininas da cidade e entender a sua condição de vida nessas comunidades não se revela fácil. Muitas das referências à sua existência são indiretas, ao fazerem parte de um dote ou doação (constando como bens a que se atribui um determinado valor), que podia ser testamentária, de partilhas e sentenças. São também de difícil perceção as tarefas desempenhadas no quotidiano de espaços claustrais, especialmente os femininos, sujeitos às exigências pós-tridentinas. Só com a apresentação de alguns casos, a juntar aos já conhecidos, poderemos sugerir algumas
considerações sobre esta matéria.
Palavras-chave:
População escrava; Comunidades religiosas femininas; Évora; Período moderno.
Abstract:
Despite the existence of previous studies, both national and regional, studies that demonstrate a strong presence of slaves in Évora in the 15th and 16th centuries, locating them in documents from the city’s female religious communities and understanding their living conditions in those communities is not an easy task. Many of the references to their existence are indirect and related to a dowry or donation (being mentioned as assets with an assigned value), which could be
associated with a will, a partition or a sentence.
It is also difficult to ascertain the tasks they performed in the everyday life of cloistered communities, particularly the female ones, subject to the post-Tridentine requirements. Only by presenting a series of cases, other than the ones that are already known, will we be
able to suggest considerations on this matter.
Keywords:
Slave population; Female religious communities; Évora; Modern period.

The Český Krumlov Poor Clares Monastery in the Middle Ages
and its Visual Culture

The Český Krumlov monastic foundation represents a unique case of a double monastery with added third or so called “small cloister” in architectonical and spiritual sense incorporating a neighbouring community of religious lay women – probably beguines or more likely Franciscan tertiaries. As none of the panel paintings or altarpieces held in the Český Krumlov Poor Clare monastery has survived, we can only speculate about the character of the paintings and altars held by both female religious communities. The first part of the article focuses on five artworks – panel paintings from about the mid 15th century and of South Bohemian origin: the Virgin Mary in Sun from the Vojtěch Lanna Collection (so called “Assumpta Lannova”, housed today
in the National Gallery in Prague); Madonna with baby Jesus (so called Lanna Madonna); a similar panel today deposited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (so called Madonna of Vienna); the altar fragment from Kugelweit with Visitation (and Noli me tangere scene on the reverse side of the panel), and, finally, a large so called Reininghaus Altar. All above mentioned paintings show remarkable iconography convenient to the late medieval female spirituality. The panel depicting the Virgin Mary in Sun in its painted frame shows a donor, an unknown Poor Clare sister adoring St. Clare.
The female donor demonstrates that the painting was originally used by the South Bohemian Poor Clare community – most likely in Český Krumlov as the double monastery here represents the only Poor Clare community in South Bohemia. The painting is also interesting from the point of the monastic religious practice, helping to understand the practical use of similar art objects within the enclosed female
community as it has two metal handles attached to the both sides of the frame plus two holes drilled underneath into the panel bottom. The painted panel was obviously not used for private devotion, as formerly assumed, but carried around, attached to some kind of structure (perhaps a holder or stretcher?) and manipulated within
the (para-)liturgal use, worshiped, and perhaps placed in the sisters’ western choir. Another two panels (both Maddonas) were produced by the same (Český Krumlov?) workshop and show similar iconographic themes typical for medieval female religious groups (virgo inter virgines, absence of male saints, hierarchy within the female holy virgins and saints, vita contemplativa and vita activa aspects etc.) together with strong presence of Mary Magdalene, who is depicted in a remarkable
way in the central panel of the Reininghaus Altar. The main panel of the large Reininghaus triptych shows a unique iconography of The Crucifixion. It depicts Mary Magdalene stained on her head by Christ’s blood and collecting in her hand the blood flowing from the body of Christ on the cross. Like Magdalene, there are also other holy women stained with Christ’s holy blood as a sign of their consanguineous (spiritual) relationship to Christ himself. The choice of blood-stained figures is not accidental as they are in fact the true “blood” relatives of Christ (Virgin Mary, Mary Salome, Mary of Cleopas), or those, marked by Christ’s blood as a sign of their spiritual awakening and penance. The main iconographic programme of the altar suggests the subject of Christ’s blood and spiritual (direct) communion following penance, modelled on Mary Magdalene as a symbol of monastic life (vita contemplativa), as well as the concept of “holy dynasty” particularly popular in female monasteries with prominent (aristocratic) members such in Český Krumlov. It is possible that the altar was commissioned and used by the South Bohemian female spiritual community, perhaps the Poor Clare Sisters in Český Krumlov or the neighbouring Franciscan tertiaries.

Resumen. En este artículo se ofrece una panorámica general de la expansión de comunidades religiosas femeninas en territorio extremeño desde la Edad Media al inicio del Concilio de Trento, donde se analizan los diferentes modelos de implantación, las cronologías de las fundaciones, la naturaleza de los fundadores, las órdenes o los modelos de religiosidad elegidos y su distribución espacial en función del tipo de jurisdicción, en un contexto de efervescencia urbana. La eclosión de comunidades religiosas femeninas en Extremadura tuvo sus propias especificidades debido, entre otras causas, a su situación fronteriza con el mundo islámico y a la variedad político-jurisdiccional en la que se configuró el territorio una vez cristianizado-señorío, realengo y órdenes militares-, pero también influyeron en gran medida razones políticas, económicas, sociales y las propiamente religiosas de un espacio donde germinó y tuvo gran repercusión el movimiento observante, cristalizado por san Pedro de Alcántara.

Nell'ambito di una riflessione sulle origini delle comunità religiose femminili non claustrali, forme femminili di vita religiosa associata quali i beghinaggi nordeuropei o i conservatori posttridentini non sono assimilabili ai collegi di terziarie in area italiana: qui l'esperienza di Caterina da Siena sembra costituire un punto di riferimento costante e alternativo anche rispetto ai bizzocaggi di matrice francescana. Dai trecenteschi collegi di terziarie ai monasteri aperti, via via decaduti dopo la florida stagione quattrocentesca, comunità religiose femminili desiderose di una sequela Christi vitalmente inserita nella Chiesa ravvisarono nella figura della Benincasa un riferimento autorevolmente suggestivo.

Wobec materialistycznych i hedonistycznych tendencji współczesnej epoki właśnie od osób zakonnych oczekuje się świadectwa całkowitego oddania się Bogu przez wyrzeczenie się spraw doczesnych na znak miłości do Stwórcy i wyboru dóbr przyszłych. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie ewangelicznej rady ubóstwa w duchowości Zgromadzenia Sióstr Zmartwychwstania Pańskiego i analiza tego zagadnienia w kontekście teologii życia konsekrowanego. Szczególnym sposobem zobowiązania do wypełniania rad ewangelicznych, wzorowanych na życiu i nauczaniu Jezusa Chrystusa, są śluby czystości, ubóstwa i posłuszeństwa, składane przez osoby konsekrowane. W artykule nacisk położony jest na ślub ubóstwa z wyróżnieniem dwóch jego wymiarów: materialnego i duchowego. Aspekt duchowy jest szczególnie istotny dla duchowości zmartwychwstańskiej, czego wyrazem jest radykalizm ewangeliczny, cechujący życie Matek Fundatorek.

In consideration of materialistic and hedonistic tendencies of the modern era religious people are expected to witness total dedication to God by renouncing temporal affairs as a sign of their love to the Creator and selection of the future goods. The aim of an article is to present the evangelical counsel of poverty in the spirituality of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection and a study of the issue in the theology context of consecrated life. A particular way of commitment to fulfill the evangelical counsels, modeled on Jesus Christ’s life and teaching, there are vows of chastity, poverty and obedience submitted by consecrated persons. The article underlines the vow of poverty and highlights both material and spiritual measure. The spiritual aspect is important mainly to the resurrection spirituality. It is expressed by evangelical radicalism, which features Mothers Founder’s life.

The essay presents a ‘memorial’ in vernacular, written in the 1440s to be used in the controversy between the monastery of S. Marta in Milan and the domus of S. Marco in Borgovico, near Como. The document, whose transcription is given at the end of the essay, was probably composed by Margherita Lambertenghi, who promoted the institutionalization of both monastries, and gives a precious and unusual point of view on the differentiated dynamics that supported the processes of institutionalization of forms of female religious life at the end of the
Middle Ages.

"More honorable than the Cherubim and far more glorious than the Seraphim" is a Byzantine Liturgical description of the Mother of God.
Religious strive for holiness.  So the best human example of holiness is the Theotokos.  This work looks at the God-bearer as the example of holiness for which religious strive.

In this article, I examine the specifics of a workspace in one of the Christian Orthodox organizations in Russia. The sisterhood which I analyze represents the interlacement of religious and economic discourses in the workplace. I discuss the "commodification" of piety which is seen as a professional competency in the labour relations among Orthodox Christians. It is true about the sisterhood, where being “inchurched” is one of the main filters for potential employees. I examine the “politics of labour” in the sisterhood through the analysis of its heterogeneous spatial composition and point at the differences between its spaces in their work tempo, prestige, and working conditions. Alongside economic goals, the sisterhood is aimed at missionary and educational work; however, commercial relations are often described using religious terminology. I discuss the conflict between religious and economic aims of work. Particular attention is given to the analysis of techniques that help to maintain discipline in the sisterhood. It is achieved through rational organization of labour, observability of the workplace, hierarchy in employer-employee relationships, and the disciplining of body and emotions. The analysis is based on the materials of participant observation and field materials collected during my four months as a staff member of the sisterhood.

В этой статье я рассматриваю особенности рабочего пространства в одной из православных организаций в России. Сестричество, которое я анализирую, представляет собой переплетение религиозных и экономических дискурсов в рабочем пространстве. Я поднимаю вопрос «коммодификации благочестия», которое используется как профессиональная компетенция в трудовых отношениях среди православных христиан. Это верно в применении к сестричеству, где «воцерковленность» является одним из основных фильтров для потенциальных сотрудников. Я разбираю «политику труда» в сестричестве через анализ гетерогенной пространственной композиции и отмечаю различия между рабочими пространствами, в частности, темп работы, престиж, условия труда. Помимо экономических целей, сестричество преследует миссионерские и образовательные задачи; тем не менее, рыночные отношения часто описываются с помощью религиозной терминологии. Я анализирую конфликт между религиозными и экономическими целями труда. Особое внимание уделяется анализу техник, которые помогают поддержать дисциплину в сестричестве. Это достигается через рациональную организацию труда, наблюдаемость трудового пространства, иерархию в отношениях руководитель-подчиненный и дисциплинирование тела и эмоций. Исследование основано на материалах включенного наблюдения и полевых данных, собранных за четыре месяца, проведенные мною в качестве сотрудницы сестричества.

L'intention première et l'horizon qui devraient fréquemment émerger en chaque personne, et particulièrement en chaque chrétien, sont ceux du désir de faire la volonté de Dieu. Il ne peut pas y avoir d'aspiration plus profonde et plus quotidienne quelle que soit sa mise en pratique. Il est important que cette aspiration, qui commence comme quelque chose de vague et de presque inconscient, devienne un acte libre, lucide, conscient et volontaire. L'action humaine est morale dans la mesure où elle est consciente et volontaire, c'est-à-dire libre.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Italian female congregations founded in the first decades of the century, in the north of the peninsula arrived in Uruguay. They were: the Figlie di Maria Santissima dell’Orto, the Figlie de Nostra Signora della Misericordia, the Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice and the Suore Terziarie Capuccine di Loano, currently Suore Capuccine di Madre Rubatto.
As hospitaller sisters and with the purpose of serving in the Hospital de Caridad of Montevideo, the Hermanas del Huerto -as they are known in the region- developed a double profile, namely helping and serving the sick, and promoting education.They became exclusively educators in the XXth century. In Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, the missionaries directed their actions to Italian immigrant groups as well as to the rising lower middle classes.
In the same way that the French congregations which arrived at the same time, these religious institutes fostered the definition of educational models for women of the Southern Cone of South America, unexistent until then.

English
The twelfth and thirteenth centuries witnessed a remarkable diversification of forms of the vita religiosa, and women were often at the forefront of these developments. Inspired by the gospel, and often open to the participation of the laity, many of the emerging modes of religious life combined the vita contemplativa and the vita activa, and their religious members occupied a liminal space between the cloister and the world. In many ways, these innovations can be seen as a response to the demands of a changing world. Already in the twelfth century, it became clear that traditional monasticism alone could not meet the needs of a shifting spiritual climate. Innovative experiments within the boundaries of traditional monasticism, such as the Paraclete community of Abelard (d. 1142) and Heloise (d. 1164) in the 1120s, were no longer an adequate response to a new female religiosity. Thanks to the research of Herbert Grundmann, and to the increasing importance of gender history as a subject of research, the topic of religious women, particularly in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, has attracted growing scholarly interest. As recent research has shown, many women, especially from the twelfth century onward, managed to organize themselves into smaller, less formal communities, and to position themselves outside the boundaries of ecclesiastical institutions. This article explores the institutional responses to spiritual developments in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, taking into account the variety and importance of new forms and ways of women’s religious life, and particularly papal concerns about the risks that life outside the cloister held for female religious.

Link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-medieval-monasticism-in-the-latin-west/female-religious-life-in-the-twelfth-and-thirteenth-centuries/D2EEC524F0BC199A6D5ACCD0810DD737

Português - Quando pensamos na clausura conventual, de imediato nos vêm à mente as histórias de mulheres que, por diversas razões, foram obrigadas por suas famílias a ingressar em casas monásticas. No caso das famílias nobres, havia a preocupação em não se fragmentar o patrimônio por meio do pagamento de grandes dotes, bem como o cuidado de não se celebrar um casamento que representasse uma desonra para a família pelo fato de os nubentes não serem da mesma «qualidade». Muitas vezes, compelir a filha a ingressar numa casa religiosa poderia representar uma saída honrosa e com menor custo financeiro para esses pais, embora custasse a «liberdade» dessas mulheres. Através do estudo da obra de Fr. Agostinho de Santa Maria, intitulada Historia da vida admiravel & das acções prodigiosas da veneravel Madre Soror Brizida de S. Antonio […], publicada em 1701, percebi que o contrário também era possível, isto é, o universo conventual poderia representar um espaço de autonomia feminina. O caso da Madre Brígida (Brizida) difere em muitos aspectos do quadro geral apresentado anteriormente. Ela, então chamada Leonor de Mendanha, era a única herdeira de uma família da alta nobreza; possuía um rico dote; teve vários pretendentes, atraídos por sua «fermosura» e virtude (ou, quem sabe, pelo seu gordo dote) e tinha uma mãe ávida por casá-la. No entanto, Leonor não compartilha dos anseios da sua mãe e acaba por dar um rumo diverso para sua vida. Com este artigo procurarei abordar as estratégias empregadas por aquela futura freira para fazer valer sua vontade, além de buscar compreender os elementos que compunham os modelos de santidade feminina do período, com especial atenção para um dos seus aspectos - as práticas ascéticas.

English - When we think about cloistering what immediately comes to mind are the histories of women who, for various reasons, were forced by their families to become nuns. For noble families, the dissolution of the family’s state by dowry was a major concern, as was the dishonor of a marriage with a groom of inferior social status. Most of the time, instigating a daughter to join a nunnery could be a dignified way to avoid these undesirable consequences, and one of lower cost to parents, even if it would cost these women’s «freedom». By the analysis of Fr. Agostinho de Santa Maria’s book, entitled Historia da vida admiravel & das acções prodigiosas da veneravel Madre Soror Brizida de S. Antonio […] published in 1701, I was able to notice that the opposite also was possible, that is to say, that the nunnery might also represent a place of female autonomy. Sister Brígida’s (Brizida) case differs in many aspects from the general scenario presented above. She, then called Leonor de Mendanha, was the only heir of a very noble family; she had a rich dowry and many wooers, attracted by her « fermosura » [beauty] and virtue (or maybe by her many possessions) and her mother was eager to marry her. However, Leonor did not share her mother’s feelings and decided to live her life in a very different manner. In this paper I’ll attempt to analyze the strategies used by this future nun to impose her will, and I’ll attempt understand the characterization of the models of female sanctity existent in this period, especially with regards to one of its aspects, that of ascetic practices.

This book is the first to explore the archaeology of female monasticism in medieval Ireland, primarily from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Nuns are known from history, but this book considers their archaeology and upstanding architecture through perspectives such as gender and landscape. It discusses the archaeological remains associated with female monasticism in Ireland as it is currently understood and offers insights into how these religious communities might have lived and interacted with their local communities.
It briefly includes female religious of the early medieval period, other female religious, such as anchorites, while providing a wider European monastic context. While some nunneries used what is considered a typical monastic layout—of a church and other buildings arranged around a central area—this research has found that in many cases a nunnery was a small church with attached accommodation, or a separate dwelling; particularly when nuns lived in towns.

Medieval women became nuns for various reasons and followed a daily routine called the divine office, with occasions, like saints’ feast days, celebrated in special ways. It is sometimes suggested that all nuns were locked away, but history and archaeology show that they had many connections with the world outside. Nunneries had to maintain these ties in order to function and stay relevant, so the local community and benefactors would continue to support the nunnery as their church, and for some, their place of burial.

• It is an archaeological approach to medieval female monasticism in Ireland

• It presents and discusses archaeological evidence excavated by the author

• It places the Irish archaeological evidence in a wider European ContextThis book is the first to explore the archaeology of female monasticism in medieval Ireland, primarily from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. Nuns are known from history, but this book considers their archaeology and upstanding architecture through perspectives such as gender and landscape. It discusses the archaeological remains associated with female monasticism in Ireland as it is currently understood and offers insights into how these religious communities might have lived and interacted with their local communities.
It briefly includes female religious of the early medieval period, other female religious, such as anchorites, while providing a wider European monastic context. While some nunneries used what is considered a typical monastic layout—of a church and other buildings arranged around a central area—this research has found that in many cases a nunnery was a small church with attached accommodation, or a separate dwelling; particularly when nuns lived in towns.

Medieval women became nuns for various reasons and followed a daily routine called the divine office, with occasions, like saints’ feast days, celebrated in special ways. It is sometimes suggested that all nuns were locked away, but history and archaeology show that they had many connections with the world outside. Nunneries had to maintain these ties in order to function and stay relevant, so the local community and benefactors would continue to support the nunnery as their church, and for some, their place of burial.

• It is an archaeological approach to medieval female monasticism in Ireland

• It presents and discusses archaeological evidence excavated by the author

• It places the Irish archaeological evidence in a wider European Context

Z roku na rok spada ilość powołań do życia konsekrowanego. Młodzi ludzie coraz rzadziej decydują się na wybór drogi rad ewangelicznych. Przyczyny tego zjawiska są przeróżne, a proponowane rozwiązania powyższego problemu nie zawsze skuteczne. Wobec tego warto podjąć próbę przypomnienia doniosłej roli życia zakonnego w Kościele w oparciu o nauczanie nieznanych powszechnie, aczkolwiek wybitnych postaci, których nigdy nie brakowało w szeregach rodzin zakonnych. Bez wątpienia można zaliczyć do nich s. Teresę Kalkstein ze Zgromadzenia Sióstr Zmartwychwstania Pańskiego. Wieloletnia przełożona generalna zmartwychwstanek wiele miejsca w swoich listach okólnych poświęca problematyce powołania zakonnego, począwszy od kwestii teoretycznych aż po praktyczne wskazówki dotyczące realizowania powołania w klasztornej codzienności. Jej korespondencja, mimo upływu czasu, nie traci na aktualności i wciąż jest pasjonująca lekturą duchową. Czytelnika zdumiewa głębia myśli autorki, a przy tym kunszt wypowiedzi.

The number of vocations for consecrated life is decreasing year by year. Young people decide to choose the path of evangelical counselling much less frequently. There are various causes of this phenomenon and the suggested solutions to the above problem are not always effective. Therefore, it is worth making an attempt to recall the crucial role of the religious life of the Church on the grounds of teaching about the generally unknown, though outstanding persons who have always been present in the monastic families. Undoubtedly, one of them is sister Teresa Kalkstein from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Resurrection. For many years, the superior general of the Resurrectionists devoted a lot of space in her circular letters to the problem of religious vocation, ranging from theoretical issues to practical advice on implementation of vocation in the monastic everyday life. In spite of the passage of time, the issues she raised are still relevant and the letters are fascinating spiritual reading. Their reader may be astounded by the Author's depth of thought as well as the artistic way of expression.

À partir du XVIe siècle, les ordres religieux féminins se multiplient, issus tantôt de réformes tantôt de créations nouvelles. Ces projets sont portés principalement par des femmes qui, à la lueur des recherches actuelles, ont fait preuve d’un véritable engagement dans les œuvres de la Réforme catholique et ce, malgré la stricte clôture réaffirmée par le concile de Trente (1563). Face à la prolifération des monastères au cœur des villes, les différentes congrégations ont cherché à se distinguer les unes des autres en revendiquant des caractères propres, tant le plan spirituel que matériel. L’architecture de leurs monastères, qui les dissimulent autant qu’ils affirment leur présence, est l’un des supports qu’elles ont investi pour nourrir leur identité et mieux se constituer en ordo.
Dans leur quête identitaire, certaines communautés ont cherché à s’inspirer des normes et des réalisations architecturales des frères mineurs. Parmi ces derniers, les capucins ont notamment retenu l’attention de plusieurs congrégations, à l’instar des clarisses capucines, établies en France à partir de 1606, des sœurs de la pénitence, religieuses du tiers-ordre fondées en Flandre en 1614, ou encore des bénédictines de Notre-Dame du Calvaire nées d’une réforme en 1617. Au travers des constitutions, des sources narratives riches et de documents iconographiques encore peu exploités, je vous invite à relire l’histoire de ces femmes par l’examen de leur cadre de vie, afin de comprendre comment elles ont relevé, comme tant d’autres, le défi de concilier esprit de retraite et insertion dans le monde.

La rama femenina del Hospital fue singular en el seno de la institución y logró una autonomía y una entidad diferenciadora que se manifestó y consolidó en la afirmación de ele-mentos identitarios. La identidad de las hospita-larias se concretó en la reivindicación y el des-pliegue de funciones y actividades singulares, en la existencia de mujeres carismáticas que encar-naron dicha identidad y en el reconocimiento de ciertos espacios. Las comunidades de monjas hospitalarias de la corona de Aragón en los siglos XII y XIII se caracterizaron por una dife-renciación entre ellas mayor que la que se dio entre las encomiendas masculinas, y a su vez tuvieron mayor individualización en el contexto institucional. Las hospitalarias expresaron su espiritualidad y lograron visibilidad y protago-nismo social, conforme a la creación o recrea-ción de la identidad hospitalaria. Dicha identidad femenina hospitalaria resultó de la combinación de aspectos concernientes a la identidad fami-liar, femenina, espiritual, religiosa, individual, política, y se acomodó a la “personalidad” de cada entidad conventual, e inclusive a la de algunas figuras con destacado liderazgo.
Abstract: Hospitaller women achieved both a distinct entity within the institution and also a remarkable autonomy, which manifested through a particular identity. The identity of Hospitaller women gave rise to claims for and deployment of unique functions and activities, the existence of charismatic women who em-bodied the aforementioned identity and the recognition of specific spaces. There was con-siderable diversity among communities of Hos-pitaller sisters in the twelfth and thirteenth-century Crown of Aragon, in contrast with the more uniform male preceptories. Also, they were more individualized in the institutional context. Hospitaller women expressed their spirituality and achieved social prominence and visibility thanks to the creation or recreation of Hospital identity. Female identity in the Order of Saint John was derived from a combination of issues concerning family, female, spiritual, reli-gious, personal and political identity, and it was shaped by the "personality" of each monastic institution, and adapted itself to some sisters who were outstanding in their leadership.

This article studies the Memoriale of the St. Agnes Monastery of the Franciscan Tertiary sisters in Perugia. In the Memoriale is the record of the admission, the clothing, the profession, and the death of members of this seventeenth century community of women religious. Althogh the forms used by successive scribes may seem monotonous and repetitive, those same spare, terse, phrases convey no little information that makes it possible to gain knowledge of the internal life of the monastery. The nuns came not only from the nobility but also from the lower orders; there was a distinction between choir nuns and lay sisters; they provided for themselvs both by their dowries and by income from the girls' boarding school attached to the monstery; their enclosed way of life proceeded regularly, and there were no serious problems, either disciplinary or economic; at the point of death, they received the sacraments appropriately; their demeanour was edifying. It is, however, obvious that the Memoriale is not a sufficient source for this monastery's history in the modern era; hence the need to have recourse to other documents, in order to shed light on other aspects of the nuns' life, such as, e.g., their cultural formation, the extent and the administration of their property, and their relations with the civil authorities.

Religious texts addressed to women during the fifteenth century tend to repeat some common content related to female behavior but also to their devotional practices or spirituality. These are texts of diverse nature and origin that anticipate some of the proposals that, from the cisnerianas reforms, occur in the Spain of the following century. In general, the analyzed texts intend to control both the times and the readings or the forms of devotion of the lay and religious women.

U arhivu Biskupskoga ordinarijata u Dubrovniku nalazi se fond Regularium et Monialium s dragocjenim podacima o dubrovačkim ženskim samostanima i redovnicama za razdoblje od 1651. do 1808. godine. U ovome radu prikazat će se kada je i kojim sredstvima podignut dominikanski samostan Sv. Katarine Sijenske u Dubrovniku na ruševinama nekadašnjega samostana Sv. Petra. Rad će se temeljiti na upisima trećega sveska arhivskoga fonda Regularium et monialium, koji se odnosi na samostan Sv. Katarine Sijenske i može se podijeliti na dva dijela -u prvome dijelu govori se o izgradnji i utemeljenju samostana, dok drugi dio donosi sedam kataloga popisa redovnica, sestara dvorkinja i samostanskih kapelana koji će biti predmetom analize nekoga drugog rada. Uz uporabu drugih relevantnih izvora i literature središte interesa stavit će se na proces utemeljenja samostana kao i na pitanje koji su novci izdvojeni za izgradnju i uzdržavanje samostana i njegovih redovnica.

John Tauler’s sermon cycle, Sermons and Conferences, represents an important, fourteenth-century voice about the nature and practice of religion in central Europe. Although he is most commonly associated with mysticism, Tauler’s sermon cycle provides some focused discussions about the penitent lives of his audience, which consisted mostly of a Strasbourg community of female religious for whom he was their confessor. Within his teaching on the proper performance of penance, Tauler highlights the efficacious role of individual contrition in obtaining absolution. This emphasis on contrition – an important medieval topic of discussion – has interesting implications for his own priestly role as the father-confessor who prescribes penance and pronounces absolution to female religious. This paper will examine the place of priestly power and contrition within Tauler’s preaching on penance to see how his witness of the practice fits into the characterizations that the sacrament was a tool of priestly power and social control, especially to an audience of Dominican nuns.