In the book "Galileo's daughter" (Fourth Estate, 1999) by Dava SOBEL, I
read:
"He [Galileo] insisted that the girls [his daughters] stay together despite
the frowning of the Florentine Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars
on the question of admitting two siblings into the same convent... No other
Italian city, Galileo learned, opposed the entry of natural sisters into the
same monastery, but he would not send the girls to another city. He
preferred to keep them close by, even if that meant seeking special
dispensation." - page 46.
Has anyone come across any reference to this kind of situation before ?
Was or was it not possible for natural siblings to enter a Religious house
together? Was any ruling on this part of Counter-reformation reforms ? Or
the Gregorian Reforms ?
In my looking at charters &c, I have sometimes come across "brothers
according to the flesh" in different monasteries but not both in the same
one.
Indeed, the only case I can think of are Agnes and Agatha, Abelard's two
nieces who were nuns at the Paraclete and there is no way of knowing if they
were sisters or cousins.
If any "anti sibling" rule existed, this has implications for using (for
instance)necrologies for genealogical purposes.
Brenda M. Cook.
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