“A Perfect Jesuit in Petticoats”: The Curious Figure of the Female Jesuit
This article investigates one of the most curious figures in the anti-Jesuit arsenal, the female Jesuit, or Jesuitess. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, opponents of the Jesuits in a range of nations warned that the bedrock institutions of society were vulnerable to infiltration by th...
| Published in: | Journal of Jesuit studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Journal of Jesuit studies
Year: 2015, Volume: 2, Issue: 4, Pages: 624-640 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KCA Monasticism; religious orders KDB Roman Catholic Church NBE Anthropology |
| Further subjects: | B
Society of Jesus
Jesuits
Female Jesuit
Jesuitess
anticlericalism
anti-Catholicism
masculinity
femininity
convent
Jules Michelet
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| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article investigates one of the most curious figures in the anti-Jesuit arsenal, the female Jesuit, or Jesuitess. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, opponents of the Jesuits in a range of nations warned that the bedrock institutions of society were vulnerable to infiltration by this figure who in their mind combined Jesuit cunning with feminine charm. This made the female Jesuit, in words that were repeated in exposés of the Society, even more dangerous than the male Jesuit. Perhaps paradoxically, the female Jesuit tells us a great deal about the imagined nature of Jesuit masculinity. The existence of such a creature could seem plausible because Jesuitism itself appeared to be shrouded in an ambiguous masculinity. As an imagined space where gender confusion rather than clarity was thought to reign, the Society of Jesus naturally spawned a figure like the female Jesuit. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-1332 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of Jesuit studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22141332-00204005 |