medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks for this. See below for additional comments.
> >Does this throw any light on the fact that in the early years of the
> >Paraclete, Heloise ...[snip] is referred to as "Deaconness" and not as
"Abbess" ?
>
> It may. But if so, he was being anachronistic since the consecration of
> women to the office of deaconess had long been forbidden by the 12th c.
(It
> was only marginally acceptable in the sixth, when St. Medard did it). As
> you no doubt know, Abelard was unwilling to give abbatial status to women
> in pointed contrast to Fontevrault where the subordination of the monks to
> the abbess was a major aspect of the community charism.
> >
> >Not that the future abbesses of the P. were expected to be elected from
the
> >"deo sacrata" = nuns consecrated to God = virgins. On the contrary, I
seem
> >to recall that the Institutes of the Paraclete lay down that the elected
> >jobs in the abbey (abbess, cellerer, wardrober, portress, infirmarian &c
> had
> >to be drawn from the "moniales", that is the nuns who were widows or the
> >equivalent. The only exception was the precentor whose duties kept her
> >within the cloister. The thinking seems to have been that the virgins had
> to
> >be kept unspotted from the world while the nuns who had responsibilities
> >that might bring them into contact with men had to be those who had the
> >appropriate worldly experience.
> >
>
> This thinking is patterned on Fontevrault where the virgins were strictly
> cloistered while the "Penitents" (noble matrons for the most part) were
> assigned the active roles.
Noble ? matrons ??? I read somewhere that the Magdelenes at F. were most
likely to have been discarded clerical concubines who had lost their
livlihood, home, status and lovers when the Gregorian reforms tightened
their grip. NB Robert d'A. was himslef the child of clerical concubinage so
he might reasonably have been sympathetic to the plight of these women.
On the other hand, there is sound psychological sense in this if celibacy
was mandatory. A formerly married woman was less likely to give out
*unconscious* seductive signals while at the same time being more likely to
spot a pass being made in the early stages and less likely to be
disconcerted by it.
Christopher is right in saying
> that general parlance assigned the title "moniales" to all consecrated
women
> but there was this abortive move in the early twelfth century to make a
> distinction between the pure, unsullied virgins and the more weather
beaten
> widows (or women separated from their husbands
Christopher is (as usual!) right to nit-pick. The word in the Necrology of
the Paraclete is "monacha" not "monial". I have just rechecked, but can
anyone tell me what EXACTLY is the difference between MONACA and MONIALIS
and also, for that matter, between CONVERSA and REDDITA to designate a lay
sister. Is it a matter of date and fashion or is it also a subtle
distinction between one type of woman and another ?
Brenda M.C.
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