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On Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:58:09 -0500 (EST) John Mundy wrote: > From: John Mundy <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:58:09 -0500 (EST) > Subject: Holy Innocents/Mary Magdalene > To: medieval-religion <[log in to unmask]> > > > Heimbucher would tell, I'd guess, about Mary Magdalene. I have the > impression that houses connected with her name - a thirteenth century > order? - are said to have been initially for so-called "fallen" women but > that they ended up occupied by those who had not been of that condition. In *Canon Law and Cloistered Women* Elizabeth Makowski found that commentators on the laws pertaining to nunneries often debated the question of what should be done about virgins who pretended to be penitent prostitutes in order to get into such institutions - which seems to confirm your impression, although I do wonder whether there were many women going to such lengths. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%