From Penitence to Charity

Pious Women and the Catholic Reformation in Paris

Nonfiction, History, France, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Denominations, Catholic, Catholicism
Cover of the book From Penitence to Charity by Barbara B. Diefendorf, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Barbara B. Diefendorf ISBN: 9780190282608
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: July 15, 2004
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Barbara B. Diefendorf
ISBN: 9780190282608
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: July 15, 2004
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

From Penitence to Charity radically revises our understanding of women's place in the institutional and spiritual revival known as the Catholic Reformation. Focusing on Paris, where fifty new religious congregations for women were established in as many years, it examines women's active role as founders and patrons of religious communities, as spiritual leaders within these communities, and as organizers of innovative forms of charitable assistance to the poor. Rejecting the too common view that the Catholic Reformation was a male-dominated movement whose principal impact on women was to control and confine them, the book shows how pious women played an instrumental role, working alongside--and sometimes in advance of--male reformers. At the same time, it establishes a new understanding of the chronology and character of France's Catholic Reformation by locating the movement's origins in a penitential spirituality rooted in the agonies of religious war. It argues that a powerful desire to appease the wrath of God through acts of heroic asceticism born of the wars did not subside with peace but, rather, found new outlets in the creation of austere, contemplative convents. Admiration for saintly ascetics prompted new vocations, and convents multiplied, as pious laywomen rushed to fund houses where, enjoying the special rights accorded founders, they might enter the cloister and participate in convent life. Penitential enthusiasm inevitably waned, while new social and economic tensions encouraged women to direct their piety toward different ends. By the 1630s, charitable service was supplanting penitential asceticism as the dominant spiritual mode. Capitalizing on the Council of Trent's call to catechize an ignorant laity, pious women founded innovative new congregations to aid less favored members of their sex and established lay confraternities to serve society's outcasts and the poor. Their efforts to provide war relief during the Fronde in particular deserve recognition.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From Penitence to Charity radically revises our understanding of women's place in the institutional and spiritual revival known as the Catholic Reformation. Focusing on Paris, where fifty new religious congregations for women were established in as many years, it examines women's active role as founders and patrons of religious communities, as spiritual leaders within these communities, and as organizers of innovative forms of charitable assistance to the poor. Rejecting the too common view that the Catholic Reformation was a male-dominated movement whose principal impact on women was to control and confine them, the book shows how pious women played an instrumental role, working alongside--and sometimes in advance of--male reformers. At the same time, it establishes a new understanding of the chronology and character of France's Catholic Reformation by locating the movement's origins in a penitential spirituality rooted in the agonies of religious war. It argues that a powerful desire to appease the wrath of God through acts of heroic asceticism born of the wars did not subside with peace but, rather, found new outlets in the creation of austere, contemplative convents. Admiration for saintly ascetics prompted new vocations, and convents multiplied, as pious laywomen rushed to fund houses where, enjoying the special rights accorded founders, they might enter the cloister and participate in convent life. Penitential enthusiasm inevitably waned, while new social and economic tensions encouraged women to direct their piety toward different ends. By the 1630s, charitable service was supplanting penitential asceticism as the dominant spiritual mode. Capitalizing on the Council of Trent's call to catechize an ignorant laity, pious women founded innovative new congregations to aid less favored members of their sex and established lay confraternities to serve society's outcasts and the poor. Their efforts to provide war relief during the Fronde in particular deserve recognition.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book God of Justice by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Why Occupy a Square? by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Lament by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book All Talked Out by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book The Transformation of American Religion by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book The Mighty Experiment by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Mothers of Massive Resistance by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book By the Spear by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Faith with Benefits by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Documenting American Violence by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Making the Social World by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book Cognitive Foundations of Musical Pitch by Barbara B. Diefendorf
Cover of the book A Pearl in Peril by Barbara B. Diefendorf
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy