Sisters in Spirit: The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio and Their Consorority in Early Sixteenth-Century Florence
Formal associations of pious women, or consororities, were rare in Italy before the second half of the sixteenth century. This article examines a previously unstudied consorority, called the Company of the Holy Miracle, founded in Florence in 1534 by a group of Benedictine nuns who revived an older,...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers, Inc.
2002
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| In: |
The sixteenth century journal
Year: 2002, Volume: 33, Issue: 3, Pages: 735-767 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Formal associations of pious women, or consororities, were rare in Italy before the second half of the sixteenth century. This article examines a previously unstudied consorority, called the Company of the Holy Miracle, founded in Florence in 1534 by a group of Benedictine nuns who revived an older, cult-based organization to enlarge their local influence. Composed solely of laywomen and nuns, the Miracolo Company opened up a public arena in which members could express their religiosity and govern themselves, using diverse corporate models. Shared administrative and devotional activities allowed the socially mixed membership to create fictive kinship ties and sustain cross-class sociability at a time when all-male brotherhoods were becoming more homogeneous and hierarchical. Founded in the transition from republic to principate, the group reflected both the greater localism of cult life and the growing clout of nunneries, which structured new forms of public life for Florentine women. |
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| ISSN: | 2326-0726 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The sixteenth century journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/4144022 |