I've been following your discussions on medieval religion with great
interest for a couple of weeks now and I feel the time has come for me
to introduce myself. So here goes.....
My name is Isobel Burke and I'm a post-grad student in the Italian
Department in University College, Dublin. At the moment I'm preparing a
thesis on Santa Caterina (yes, another Catherine) di Bologna (1413-1463)
She was novice mistress at the Clarisse (Poor Clares) Corpus Domini
convent in Ferrara until 1456 at which point she became abbess at the
sister convent in Bologna. During her life whe wrote a number of works
on spiritual development for the novices in her charge. I would love to
hear from anyone with similar interests.
I would also be delighted if anyone could help me out with the following
queries:
Caterina's major works are entitled *The Seven Spiritual Arms* (a kind
of self-help guide for novices detailing the seven weapons necessary for
spiritual battle) and *The Twelve Gardens* (the twelve steps to
spiritual perfection). Where can I find some information on the
significance of the numbers 7 and 12 in medieval religious literature?
(I was shocked, stunned and not a little amazed - 8-O - to find that UCD
doesn't seem to have the New Catholic Encyclopedia).
Also, Caterina, in common with many female mystic writers refers to
herself with the derogatory expression 'una cagnola lattrante' - a
barking puppy. Is this a commonly-used expression? I haven't come
across it elsewhere as yet although I know I've read that there was a
medieval belief that a person possessed by the Devil would bark like a
dog.
Anyway, I'm very happy to be a part of your list and looking forward to
more interesting discussions in the future.:-)
Isobel
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