Model, Mirror and Memorial Imitation of The Passion and The Annihilation of The Imagination in Porète Et Di Foligno

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TH E UNIVERSITY O F CHICAGO
MODEL, MIRROR AND MEMORIAL:
IMITATION OF THE PASSION AND TH E ANNIHILATION O F THE
IMAGINATION IN ANGELA DA FO LIGN O ’S LIBER AND M ARGUERITE
PORETE'S MIROUER D E S SIM PLES AM ES
VOLUME ONE
A DISSERTATION SUBM ITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF TH E DIVINITY SCHOOL
IN CANDIDACY FOR TH E DEGREE OF
DOCTOR O F PHILOSOPHY
BY
ROBIN ANNE O ’SULLIVAN
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
AUGUST 2002

UMI Number 3060249
Copyright 2002 by
O'Sullivan, Robin Anne
All rights reserved.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME ONE
LIST O F FIGURES........................................................................................................................... iii

A CK N O W LED G EM EN TS.............................................................................................................. v
Chapter
I. CHAPTER ONE: IN TRO DU CTIO N ................................................................. 1
II. CHAPTER TW O: ‘NUDUS NUDUM CHRISTUM SEQUI” :

THE W O M EN ’S RELIGIOUS M OV EM EN T AND THE
PURSUIT OF TH E APOSTOLIC LIFE........................................................... 19
III. CHAPTER THREE: TH E SCHOOL O F LOVE: M EDITATION,

M EM ORY AND THE TRAINING OF TH E RELIGIOUS S E L F 88
IV. CHAPTER FOUR: ANGELA OF FOLIGNO AND THE

POVERTY O F TH E IM A G IN A TIO N ........................................................... 148
VOLUM E TWO
Chapter
V. CHAPTER FIVE: THE IMAGE OF TH E SOUL IN FLIGHT:
M ARGUERITE PORETE’S MIROUER D ES SIM PLES A M E S ..............220
VI. CHAPTER SDC: C O N C L U SIO N ...................................................................280
APPENDIX: F IG U R E S ............................................................................................................... 284
BIBLIO G RA PH Y ...........................................................................................................................305
ii

LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1. St. Francis with the Stigm ata.............................................................................................284
2. Joseph and the Virgin Asking the Neighbors About the Child, and Joseph
and the Virgin Asking Others About the Child........................................................... 285
3. The Christ Child Found By Parents, and The Virgin and Child Em bracing 286
4. M aestro di San Francesco, large painted cross, ca. 1272........................................... 287
5. The Stripping of Christ....................................................................................................... 288
6. P ieta....................................................................................................................................... 289
7. None Crucifixion.................................................................................................................290
8. Ascent of the C ro s s ............................................................................................................ 2 9 1
9. A Nun Experiences the Three Stages of Mystical Experience.................................. 292
10. M aestro di San Francesco, double-sided painted cross, ca. 1272 ............................. 293
11. A n n a christi devotional booklet, ca. 1330-1340..........................................................294
12. A n n a christi devotional booklet, ca. 1330-1340..........................................................295
13. Psalter and Hours of Bonne o f L uxem bourg.................................................................296
14. “ Seer” and Deus A bscondilus...........................................................................................297
15. Palma contemplationis.......................................................................................................298
16. Liberal Arts...........................................................................................................................299
iii

17. Christ Embracing the Sponsa in the Garden, Christ and the Sponsa
Entering the Garden, the Sponsa as Caritas, and the M an o f S orrow s..................300
18. Christ Crucified By the V irtues.......................................................................................301
19. Mulier amicta so le............................................................................................................. 302
20. Giunta Pisano, crucifix, ca. 1 2 3 6 ...................................................................................303
21. Berlinghiero, triptych. The M adonna and Child with Saints, ca. 1200-1240 ..... 304
iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My fascination with the m ystics began while I was an undergraduate at NYU
when I happened into a class taught by a visiting professor, Ewert Cousins, on a subject I
knew nothing about: Medieval C hristian M ysticism . At once puzzled and intrigued by
this literature. I, unwittingly, began this project then by resolving to understand these
texts and the people that wrote them. Since that first encounter with the mystics, my
interests have changed and evolved. N evertheless, at its core, this project remains true in
its interdisciplinary approach to that encouraged in me by the Medieval and Renaissance
Studies Program (M .A.R.S.) at NYU and my First mysticism teachers Ewert Cousins,
Penny Johnson, and James Carse.
There have been a number o f people and institutions that have made this
dissertation possible. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee: Bernard
M cGinn, Rachel Fulton, Kathryn T anner and Paul Lachance. Each of these scholars
contributed in different ways and at different times. Bernard McGinn has been a model
o f scholarly erudition and integrity. As an advisor, his support, and, at times, his critical
eye, has made me grow as a scholar and has enabled me to write a better dissertation.
Rachel Fulton has been a constant source of wisdom, knowledge, and practical advice.
Her unswerving faith in the im portance o f what I had to say, and, indeed, in the
im portance and vitality of medieval studies, sustained me through some o f the “rough”
patches in the research and writing process. Kathryn Tanner always managed to ask the
im portant questions and to challenge me to answ er them even when my energy flagged.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n p rohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

Finally. Paul Lachance was ever ready w ith news from Foligno, Angela bibliography,
and a hot meal.
In terms of institutions. I would like to thank the University o f Chicago for their
generous financial support in the forms o f the Overseas Dissertation Research Fellowship
and the Lilly Fellowship. These two grants made the completion o f this dissertation
possible. The Center for Gender Studies provided me with the precious space in which to
transform the notes from my research abroad into a chapter. Also, I would like to thank
the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago for enabling me to study Italian in Florence.
Claudio Leonardl. Francesco Santi. and the library staff at the Societa per lo Studio del
M edioevo Latino/Fondazione Ezio Franceschini provided me with a “home base” while
in Florence. Finally, I’d like to thank the M edieval Studies Workshop at the University
o f Chicago for providing a vibrant intellectual hub on campus.
Chicago has been a wonderful experience for me not only because o f the
academic training, but because o f the very good friends and colleagues that I have made
there. In particular. I’d like to thank C ecily Hilsdale, Cindy Klestinec, Scott Johnson,
M eredith Ray. Matt Shoaf and Stephanie W hitlock for their help with everything from
bibliography to administrative glitches and hassles. Their assistance has enabled me to
Finish this dissertation from afar (San Francisco, California and London, England).
Gordon Rudy graciously took time out o f a hectic schedule to help translate som e
passages from Hadewijch. Amy Hollyw ood provided much needed encouragem ent and
criticism at the Final stages o f the editing process.
I dedicate this dissertation to Lars, who has been a boundless source o f optim ism
and energy, always managing to make me smile when I’ve been at my gloom iest and to
make me remember what an adventure life can be. Cleo provided support o f the feline
variety. And last, but not least. I’d like to thank my parents without whose continuous
faith and encouragement this would never have been possible.
vi

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Angela of Foligno's Liber (Book) and M arguerite Porete’s Mirouercles sim ples
antes (M irror o f Simple Souls) are two of the most articulate, daring and powerful texts to
emerge from the w om en’s religious movement of the thirteenth century. Each o f these
texts, in their own distinctive way. attest to the coming of age o f a new mystical tradition
at the close of the thirteenth century, and signal in no uncertain term s the dynamic,
creative, and complex role o f women in the formulation and transm ission of this
tradition.1 Broadly speaking. A ngela's Book and M arguerite’s M irror are important
because they represent the mature, full-length theological writings o f Italian and northern
French beguines -- women living religious lives outside the auspices o f formal monastic
structures, writing and teaching without the official mandate to do so.2 In consequence of
‘Bernard McGinn has shown that a "new mysticism" emerged in western Europe between 1200-
1350. This tradition distinguished itself from those that preceeded it in: 1.) the new way in which
medieval women and men understood and evaluated the relationship between world and cloister; 2.) the
new relationship between men and women in the pursuit o f mystical experience; and 3.J the "new forms o f
language and modes o f representation o f mystical consciousness." See Flowering o f Mysticism: Men an d
Women in the New Mysticism — 200-1350. vol. 2 o f The Presence o f God: A H istory o f Western M ysticism
(N ew York: Crossroad. 199S). 12-30. especially page 12.
'McGinn describes Angela o f Foligno and Marguerite Porete as two o f the "four female
evangelists" o f the thirteenth century, including them alongside Mechthild o f Magdeburg and Hadewijch o f
Antwerp. By calling these women "evangelists." McGinn signals not only their theological importance
within the tradition, but underscores they way in which they construct the authority to make the theological
claims that they do. He explains: "In order to authenticate their teaching about the path to God each o f
these women had to 'invent' a form o f divine authorization o f literally evangelical weight, that is, they had
to claim that their message came directly from God in a manner analogous to the Bible itself." See
McGinn. Flowering. 142.
1

much recent research, it comes as no surprise to learn that medieval women found ways
to circumnavigate clerical prohibitions against public intellectual activity, no r the women
could be theologically learn ed / But. w hat is interesting and distinctive about these two
texts is the way in which they teach an epistem ology of mystical know ledge grounded in
the ways in which women learned to think and speak about God and self in devotional
practices - the most central of w hich was the practice of meditation. A lthough neither
text elaborates this epistemology in the sam e way nor evaluates the use o f practices to the
same degree, this shared background allow s them to formulate a mystical theology
related to yet distinct from m onastic and scholastic precedents.
It is now normative to recognize the importance of women’s contributions within
the Christian mystical tradition, and much excellent research has occupied itself with
noting its relationship to and distinctiveness from the tradition elaborated in previous
centuries.4 Similarly, many studies have highlighted the influence o f the courtly love
tradition and the Song o f Songs upon beguine th o u g h t/ Less w ell-understood, however,
’On women as teachers, preachers, writers and prophets see Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Pamela J.
Walker, eds.. Women Preachers and P roph ets through Two Millennia o f Christianity (Berkeley:
University o f California Press. 1998); Joan Ferrante. To the G lory o f Her Sex: Women's R oles in the
Com position o f M edieval Texts (Bloom ington. Ind.: University of Indiana Press, 1997); Karen Scott. "St.
Catherine o f Siena. 'Apostola.'" Church H istory 61 (1992): 34-46; idem. “Urban Spaces. W om en's
Networks, and the Lay Apostolate in the Siena o f Catherine Benincasa." Creative Women in M edieval and
Early Modern Italy: .4 Religious and A rtistic Renaissance, eds. E. Ann Matter and John C oakley
(Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press. 1994). 105-19: Katherine Gill. "Women and the
Production o f Religious Literature in the Vernacular. 1300-1500.” ibid.. 64-104.
4There is a growing literature on the subject and it has become more common for colleges and
universities either to offer courses on m edieval women writers (including women mystics) or to include
women mystics in theology and intellectual/cultural history courses. The work o f Bernard McGinn has
done much to secure a place for the study o f m ysticism , generally, and women’s m ysticism in particular in
university curricula by arguing that m ysticism must be understood as a mode o f high m edieval theology
alongside the monastic and scholastic traditions. He has also demonstrated w om en's central role in the
formation o f a vernacular mystical tradition. See his series The Presence o f God: A H istory o f Western
M ysticism , consisting o f the following three volumes: The Foundations o f M ysticism: O rigin s to the Fifth
Century, vol. 1 (New York. 1995): The G row th o f Mysticism: The Growth o f Mysticism, vol. 2 (N ew York.
1996): and Flowering.
5Barbara Newman calls this form o f m ysticism “la mystique courtoise." This style o f m ysticism
was new to the beguines since it fused them es o f fin am our with elements o f the monastic tradition o f
mystical interpretation o f the Song o f Songs. S ee Newm an. '"La mystique courtoise: ’ Thirteenth-Century

are the form and function o f w om en's mystical writings, their place within a larger logic
o f practice in women’s communities, and their role in ushering in the transformations in
medieval religion, society, and culture at the close of the thirteenth and dawn o f the
fourteenth centuries.6 A comparison of M arguerite Porete’s M irror and Angela of
Foligno’s Book can help us nuance our understanding o f these issues.
This lacuna in our comprehension of the form and function o f women’s mystical
writings results from historiographic trends. Since H erbert G rundm ann’s monumental
study of the w om en's religious movement in 1935, medieval social, intellectual, and
cultural historians have turned to women’s mystical w ritings as an important primary
resources for researching the relationship amongst religion, gender and culture in the
medieval world, and tracing the relationship between religious movements and socio-
cultural change.' Prior to this point, w om en’s mystical w ritings, if read and studied at all,
were chiefly the province o f confessional scholars. Yet despite the historical credibility
Beguines and the Art o f Love." in Front Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in M edieval Religion and
Literature (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania. 1995). 137-67. Other authors who have discussed
Minnemystik. or bridal mysticism, with respect to the beguines are: McGinn. Flowering. 166-174;
Elizabeth Wainwnght-deKadt. "Courtly Literature and Mysticism: Som e Aspects o f their Interaction."
Acta Germanica 12 ( I9S0): 41-60: Joris Reynaert. "Hadewijch: m ystic poetry and courtly love,"
M edieval Dutch Literature in its European Context, ed. Erik Kooper (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 1994). 20S-25; and Kurt Ruh. "Beginenmystik: Hadewijch. M echthild von Magdeburg, Marguerite
Porete." in Kleine Schrifien: Band II. Scholastik und Mystik tin Spdtm ittelalter. 237-49 (Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter. 1984).
6Stephanie Paulsell’s dissertation is one o f the few focussed studies o f a woman’s mystical text
that argues for the importance o f writing as a spiritual practice related to lectio divina. See Stephanie
Paulsell. '"Scriptio divina Writing and the Experience o f God in the Works o f Marguerite d’Oingt"
(Ph.D. diss.. University o f Chicago. 1993). The institutional structure and role o f education in wom en's
religious communities has been explored in the following volumes: Juliette Dor. Lesley Johnson and
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, eds.. New Trends in Feminine Spirituality: The H oly Women o f Liege and the
Their Impact (Turnholt: Brepols. 1999); Diane Watt. ed.. Medieval Women in their Communities (Toronto:
University o f Toronto Press. 1997). Ursula Peters has argued for the centrality o f textual production in
w om en's religious communities in Religiose Erfahrung als itu ra n sch es Faktum: Zur Vorgeschichte und
G enese frauenm ystisclter Te.xte des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts (Tubingen: Niem eyer. 1988).
' Herbert Grundmann. R eligiose Bewegungen im M ittelalter (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche

Buchgesellschaft, 1977). Idem. Religious M ovements in the M iddle A ges, trans. Steven Rowan (Notre
Dame. Ind.: University o f Notre Dame Press. 1995).

4
that Grundmann im parted to the subject of women’s religious history, the women’s
religious movement and women’s mysticism received little focussed attention, certainly
in American academic circles, until the late 1980s.
Within the last fifteen years, since the publication of Caroline B ynum ’s now
classic Holy Feast, H oly Fast: The Religious Significance o f Food to M edieval Women,
it has become fashionable to read and study medieval w om en’s m ysticism .8 Historians,
literary critics, philosophers - to name only a few - have mined these texts for what they
can tell us about the medieval w om en’s sense of self and the ways in w hich this
subjectivity was formed, expressed, and manipulated by whom and for whom in and
through external devotional practices.9 They also have also combed through them for
8CaroIine Bynum. Holy Feast, H oly Fast: The Religious Significance o f F o o d to Medieval Women
(Berkeley: University o f California Press. 1987).
’’There is a vast amount o f literature on this subject. Necessarily, this list is representative rather
than exhaustive. Tiziana Arcangeli. “Re-Reading a Mis-Known and Mis-read M ystic: Angela da Foligno.”
Annali d ’ltalianistica: Women Mystic W riters 13 (1995): 41-77; Anne Clark Bartlett, ed. Vox Mystica:
Essays on M edieval M ysticism in Honor o f Professor Valerie Lagorio (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. 1995); Sarah Beckwith. "Passionate Regulation: Enclosure. Ascesis and the Feminist Imaginary,"
South Atlantic Quarterly 93 (1994): 803-824; Frances Beer, Women and M ystical Experience in the
M iddle A ges (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press. 1992); Rudolph Bell, Holy Anorexia (Chicago: University o f
Chicago Press, 1985); Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Timea Szell, eds.. Images o f Sainthood in
M edieval Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991); Daniel Bomstein, "Violenza al corpo di
una santa; Fra agiografta e pomografia— A proposito di Douceline di Digne," Q uaderni Medievali 39
(1995): 31-46; idem, 'T he Uses o f the Body: The Church and the Cult o f Santa Margherita da Cortona,"
Church H istory 62 (1993): 163-77; Mariateresa Fumagalli Beonio-Brocchieri. 'T h e Feminine Mind in
Medieval Mysticism," in Creative Women in M edieval and Early Modern Italy: A R eligious and Artistic
Renaissance, eds.. E. Ann Matter and John Coakley (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press,
1994). 19-33; Jane Chance, ed. Gender and Text in the Later M iddle Ages (G ainesville. Fla.: University
Press o f Florida, 1996); Fisher and Hailey, eds.. Seeking the Woman in Late M edieval an d Renaissance
Writing (Knoxville, TN: University o f Tennessee Press. 1989); Grace Jantzen, P ow er, G ender and
Christian Mysticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); Gerda Lemer, The Creation o f
Feminist Consciousness: From the M iddle A ges to Eighteen-Seventy (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1993); Karma Lochrie, ‘T h e Language o f Transgression: Body, Flesh and Word in Mystical Discourse,”
in Speaking Two Languages, ed. Allen Franzen (Albany: State University o f N ew York Press, 1991);
idem, M argery Kempe and Translations o f the Flesh (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press,
1991); Linda Lomperis and Sarah Stanbury. eds.. Feminist A pproaches to the B ody in M edieval Literature
(Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press, 1993); Mary Walsh Meany, "A ngela o f Foligno:
Destructuring and Restructuring o f Identity,” Divine Representations: Postm odernism and Spirituality, ed.
Ann Astell (New York: Paulist Press, 1996). 47-62; Giles Milhaven, “A Medieval Lesson on Bodily
Knowing: Women’s Experience and M en’s Thought,” Journal o f the American A cadem y o f Religion LVII
(2): 341-372; Julia B. Miller, "Eroticized Violence in Medieval W om en’s Mystical Literature: A Call for
A Feminist Critique," Journal o f Feminist Studies in Religion (1999): 25-49; Luisa Muraro, Lingua

clues regarding the socio-psychological reality of medieval women, em ploying a
methodology that traces the use o f m etaphors and topoi in order to discern their thoughts,
feelings and desires. Studies that have employed this socio-psychological approach to
w om en’s visionary and mystical literature have sought to understand the ways in which
mystical experience provided women with a forum for self-expression and a venue in
which to question the gender stereotypes and realign the pow er dynam ics of medieval
society.10 A related branch o f this scholarship has viewed w om en’s use o f practices with
a more skeptical eye, perusing the sources to determine the ways in which these practices
imbued medieval women with a sense o f self grounded in gender stereotypes constructed
for and by men.11 The excitem ent generated by Bynum’s research com bined with the
materna, scienza divina (Naples: D'Aria. 1995); Barbara Newman, "Hildegard o f Bingen: Visions and
Validation." Cliurclt H istory 5 4 (1 9 8 8): 163-175; idem. From Virile Woman to Wonuinchrisr: Studies in
M edieval Religion and Literature (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press. 1995); Elizabeth A.
Petroff, Body and Soul: Essays on M edieval Women and Mysticism (N ew York: Oxford University Press.
1994); Mary Ann Sagnella, "Carnal Metaphors and Mystical Discourse in Angela da F oligno’s Liber. "
Annali d'ltalianistica: Women M ystic W riters 13 (1995): 80-89; Lesley Smith and Jane H.M. Taylor, eds..
Women, the Book, and the Godly: P roceedings o f the St. Hilda's Conference 1993 (Rochester, N Y : D.S.
Brewer, 1995); Mary A. Suydam and Joanna E. Ziegler, eds. Performance and Transformation: New
Approaches to Late M edieval Spirituality (N ew York: St. Martin's Press, 1999); Daria Valentini. "In
Search o f the Subject: Angela o f Foligno and Her Mediator," RLA; Romance Languages Annual. 6
(1994): 371-375; Ulrike Wiethaus. ed. M aps o f Flesh and Light: The Religious Experience o f M edieval
Women M ystics (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1993); idem. “Sexuality, Gender, and the Body in
Late Medieval Women's Spirituality: Cases From Germany and the Netherlands,” Journal o f Feminist
Studies in Religion 7 (1991): 35-52; Christiana Whitehead, Writing Religious Women: Female Spiritual
and Textual Practices in Late M edieval England (Toronto: University o f Toronto Press, 2000).
l0This approach is implicit in many o f the studies listed above. Caroline Bynum ’s work addresses
this topic extensively and has, to a large degree, set the parameters for the ways in which we approach these
issues. See my bibliography for a com prehensive listing of relevant sources. Other scholars and studies
that approach these problems include: Christina Mazzoni, “On the (Un)Representability o f W oman’s
Pleasure: Angela o f Foligno and Jacques Lacan," in Gender and Text. ed. Jane Chance (Gainesville, Fla:
University Press o f Florida. 1996). 239-62; Catherine Muller, M arguerite Porete et M arguerite d 'O in gt de
Tautre cote du miroir (New York: Peter Lang, 1998); Jay Ruud. "Images o f the S elf and S elf Image in
Julian o f Norwich." Studia M ystica New S eries 16, 1 (1995): 82-105; Michael Sargent.‘T h e Annihilation
o f Marguerite Porete.” Viator 28 (1997): 253-279; and Rosalynn Voaden, “All Girls Together:
Community, Gender and Vision at Helfta," in M edieval Women in th eir Communities, ed. Diane Watt
(Toronto: University o f Toronto Press, 1997). 72-91.
1‘Some studies that adopt this approach, albeit to different ends, include: Bell. H oly Anorexia;
Sarah Beckwith, “A Very Material Mysticism: The Medieval Mysticism o f Margery Kempe," G ender and
Text in the Middle Ages, chapter 7; Amy H ollyw ood, “Suffering Transformed,” M eister Eckhart an d the
Beguine Mystics: Hadewijch o f Brabant, M ecluhild o f Magdeburg; an d M arguerite P orete, ed. Bernard
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

6
contemporary interest in feminist theory/theology to inspire a vast am ount o f studies
investigating the somatic, affective, and performative aspects o f w om en’s m ysticism .12
W hether explicitly stated o r not, much o f this work is often m otivated by the desire to
define and determine w hat constitutes a w om en’s spirituality/m ysticism and delineate
what distinguishes it from that elaborated by male thinkers o f the p erio d .13 Finally, in the
mid-1980s the study o f C hristian spirituality and praxis em erged as a com plim entary field
alongside the study o f m ysticism .14
Angela of Foligno’s Book and M arguerite Porete’s M irror figure prom inently in
these discussions o f w om en’s mysticism, spirituality, and Christian practice for three
reasons. First, because we possess few lengthy mystical treatises w ritten by women from
McGinn (New York: Continuum, 1994), 114-146; Miller, “Eroticized Violence," 2 5 -4 9 . Recently,
scholars have begun to rethink the hagiographic portrayal o f women’s religiosity. S ee Catherine Mooney,
ed.. Gendered Voices: M edieval Saints and Tlieir Interpretors (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania
Press. 1999).
,:This is characteristic o f much o f the scholarship o f the late 1980s and much o f the 1990s. See
footnote 9. Also, Jane Chance, ed. Gender and Text, especially Part III: Speaking the Body; Giles
Milhaven. Hadewijch and H er Sisters: Other Wavs o f Knowing and Loving (Albany: State University o f
New York Press. 1993); and Suydam and Ziegler, eds.. Performance and Transform ation.
l3Bernard McGinn has discussed some o f the problems with such an endeavor in Flowering. 15-
16. 15-30. Some works that attempt to formulate theoretical paradigms o f this sort are: Bynum, “M en’s
Use o f Female Symbols." D ebating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings, eds. Lester K. Little and
Barbara H. Rosenwein (Malden. MA: Blackwell, 1998), 277-289; and Kathleen E. Garay, “A Naked Intent
Unto God: Ungendered Discourse in Some Late Medieval Mystical Texts,” M ystics Q uarterly 23. 2
(1997): 36-51. Amy Hollywood and Michael Sells, in different ways, have sought to show how mystics
like Marguerite Porete and Meister Exkhart seek to destabilize essentialistic conceptions o f God, the self,
and gender. See Hollywood, Soul as Virgin Wife: M echthild o f M agdeburg, M arguerite Porete an d
M eister Eckhart (Notre Dame. Ind.: Notre Dame University Press, 1995); idem. “Suffering
Transformed," 114-146; Michael Sells, Mystical Languages o f Unsaying (Chicago: University o f Chicago
Press. 1994); idem. ‘T he Pseudo-W oman and the Meister: “Unsaying" and Essentialism," in M eister
Eckhart and the Begttine M ystics: Hadewijch o f Brabant. Mechthild o f Magdeburg', a n d M arguerite
Porete. ed. Bernard McGinn (N ew York: Continuum. 1994), chapter 6.
l4This is to some degree an outgrowth o f the interest in popular culture and popular piety. Richard
Kieckhefer has done much work on this subject. See Kieckhefer, “Major Currents in Late M edieval
Devotion.” Christian Spirituality H: High M iddle A ges an d Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt (N ew York:
Crossroad, 1987). 75-108; idem. Unquiet Souls: Fourteentli-Century Saints and Their Religious Milieu
(Chicago: University o f Chicago Press. 1984).

7
the period.13 Second, because each text is representative o f two o f the main centers o f
beguine religiosity, in northern France/Flanders and central Italy, in the late thirteenth
century. The third reason pertains to where they “weigh in” with respect to B ynum ’s
thesis, or, perhaps more accurately that version of this thesis in com m on currency since
the publication of Holy Feast, Holy Fast. Currently, it is taken for granted that in
contrast to men. medieval women religious were more affective, somatic, and dependent
upon external ascetic practices and devotions centering upon the crucified Christ.
W omen gravitated towards the use o f such practices as a result o f their socially
constructed sense of self, a self-understanding that led them naturally to identify with the
carnal or fleshly, and to idealize suffering and service. As a result, they tended to
identify with the suffering Christ, gravitate to ascetic practices, external works, and
express themselves through somatic, erotic visions and experiences in order to construct
and maintain a special relationship with Christ. Medieval women religious manifested
this sacred authority to others via a language o f bodily metaphors and m iracles that
represented them to others as not only sharing C hrist’s suffering but acting as co-
redeemers with him, effectively establishing their authority as interm ediaries, prophets
and teachers in their own com m unities.16
Within this general understanding of the socio-cultural underpinnings for
w om en’s mystical expression, A ngela o f Foligno and Marguerite Porete occupy opposite
ends o f the spectrum. Angela conform s to the standard model: her book is affective,
replete with practices and works, and tells the biography of a woman religious who falls
so passionately in love with the suffering Christ (and he with her) that she becom es one
15Angela o f Foligno is generally held to be the author o f her book despite the fact that it was
written by an amanuensis. For a discussion o f the Book, authorship and the historiography see chapter 4.
,6This latter point has been further developed by scholars working on sanctity in the wake o f
Bynum's research.

8
with him through unio m ystica, and is able to establish her authority as a mystic, prophet
and teacher upon these grounds. In contrast. Marguerite Porete’s M irror is esoteric,
allegorical, and radically devoid o f the hallmarks of women’s mystical experience as
sketched above.17 Her book is characterized typically as a self-conscious rejection of
religiosity of her contem poraries whose vita religiosa oscillated between the active and
contemplative modes by focusing upon mimetic suffering and service while
communicating with G od and the world via a language o f “wonders and wounds.” 18
Despite the fact that M arguerite was condem ned for engaging in public evangelical
activity (preaching and teaching), an activity that in itself belies an externally, world
directed, pastoral sensibility, it is taken for granted that M arguerite and her book espouse
a radical quietism. Sometimes this rejection o f the world and works, practices, suffering
and service is valorized, som etim es it is rationalized, and sometimes it has been
dem onized, but it is always dom inant in the minds of those who read and interpret her
text. Consequently, the M irror is more often than not and read and interpreted by
scholars as a theological/philosophical manifesto without a practical purpose or function
beyond representing in some w ay M arguerite’s own experience.19 If Angela is the
l7In fact, until recently it was even thought to lack a narrative, or indeed a mystical intinerary!
Amy Hollywood was the first to argue for the development o f the treatise’s main character “Soul" during
the course o f the text. See H ollyw ood. Soul a s Virgin Wife. 89-91 and 113-119. Catherine Muller and
Catherine Randall, respectively, have suggested alternative narratives for the book that reveal its
preoccupation with the representation o f contemplation and the contemplative realm. See Muller,
M arguerite Porete et M arguerite d'O ingr, and Randall. “Person, Place, Perception: A Proposal for the
Reading o f Porete's M irouer des dines sim ples et aneanties," Journal o f M edieval and Renaissance Studies
25:2 (Spring, 1995): 229-44.
18l borrow the phrase “wonders and wounds” from Hollywood, Soul as Virgin Wife, 3.
l9For example, while it is com m on for scholars to note the fact that the M irror teaches certain
doctrines, less remarked upon is: a.) how the themes treated in the text and they way they are expressed
work together to do so; and b.) what the form and function o f the text can tell us about a developing
intellectual tradition in beguine com m unities. Michela Pereira has observed that unlike many o f her
contemporaries. Marguerite Porete extended her teachings outside o f her immediate circle. She argues that
although studies often characterize her text as passive, Porete’s mysticism em phasizes just action in a
fashion similar to Eckhart. Thus, Marguerite Porete must be seen not only in the context o f women’s
experience but o f a time when philosophy jettisoned the quest for wisdom in favor o f the pursuit o f

9
textbook example o f the Italian woman religious, then M arguerite is th e rebel, m artyr and
heretic. I will show that these texts have many more similarities than previously
supposed.
My purpose here is not to debate the usefulness o f B ynum ’s th esis— although I
would signal my agreement with scholars who advocate that it should b e exam ined
critically and applied judiciously.20 N or is it my intent to devalue the m an y studies that
have sought to discern to socio-psychological development and reality o f medieval
women in mystical literature. Such studies have raised enorm ously im portant questions
and given us great insight into the role and function of religion within th e lives o f
medieval people. Similarly, I do not wish to find with fault scholars w h o have labored to
find and articulate a place in the academ y for study women’s spirituality and the practice
o f Christianity. But I would like to point out that in consequence o f the predom inance of
these scholarly preoccupations, com bined with the unwaivering devotion o f most
scholars to Bynum's thesis (or the version th at’s been adopted in m edieval and religious
studies), the practical/pastoral/educational function of women’s m ystical writings (i.e.
writings written by women authors or an am anuensis in their name) have been
overlooked in favor of (auto)biographical readings that have confined w o m en ’s mystical
writings to the realm o f the private, personal, and confessional. As a resu lt, most scholars
approach these texts as quasi-utopian spaces where women worked out th e ir frustrations
"scientific” knowledge. See Michela Pereira. “Margherita Porete nello specchio degli studi recenti,"
M ediaevistik: Internationale Zeitsclirift fiir interdisziplinare Mittelalterforschung 11 (1998): 71-96.
^ S ee McGinn, Flowering. 15-16. Amy H ollyw ood’s work suggests that a stronger distinction
must be made between wom en's authored texts and the hagiographies that form the bulk o f the data for
Bynum ’s studies of women’s religiosity. H ollyw ood argues that thirteenth century w om en religious shared
similar religious ideals with their male contemporaries. B y comparing women authored treatises with
male-authored hagiographies, Hollywood suggests that the distinctions Bynum has m ade between male
and female spirituality occur only in the hagiographic literature. See H ollyw ood, Soul a s Virgin Wife. 26-
56; also. idem. ’’Inside Out: Beatrice o f Nazareth and Her Hagiographer," 78-97. Kathleen Biddick has
critiques Bynum ’s work extensively in "Genders. Bodies and Borders: Technologies o f the V isible,”
Speculum 68 (1993): 389-418.

10
with their society and culture. Similarly, it is often assumed that w om en’s w ritings are
diaries of lived experience, faithfully com posed to document that experience for future
generations. But to only view these texts in this way is to neglect to observe the extent to
which these texts are rigorously com posed to function within a larger tradition o f beguine
religiosity— a religiosity dominated not only by the sacraments and rituals o f the Church
(such as the Eucharist), but grounded in the principles of meditation. There is no
question that the personal and the experiential play a strong role in the com position o f
mystical treatises. However, I w ould like to suggest that to convey the personal and
experiential was not the primary function o f these texts, and to overlook this fact is to
miss a critical part of their meaning, to misunderstand their function within the context of
thirteenth religiosity, and to underestimate w om en’s mysticism as an intellectual, social
and religious phenomenon. In confining our readings of these texts to the
(auto)biographical, we overlook the way these texts teach by working with strategies of
visualization and identification associated with the practice o f meditation, and in so doing
we miss out on what exactly made beguine religio-intellectual culture distinctive from
and a powerful challenge to that which preceeded it. While these strategies of
visualization and identification had their roots in monastic praxis, the way in which these
strategies were deployed by women mystics in order to read and think about devotional
literature, images, and the interface between the self and God were very new indeed.
They would have monumental repercussions upon the Christian tradition.
So why compare the writings of a thirteenth-century Umbrian mystic with a
contemporary o f northern French origin? O f anyone, Romana Guamieri has done the
most to champion the case for such a study by delineating some o f the im portant
theological similarities between each book, and introducing some of the key socio-
cultural parallels between the beguines in France, Brabant, Alsace, and the Rhineland,
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n proh ib ited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

II
and their equivalents, the bizzoche, cellae and reclusae, in central Italy.21 For the Italian
scholar, the most significant doctrinal rapprochement between each text lies in the
description o f the soul’s complete transformation by divine love into divine love.22
Significantly, this similarity is also, according to Guamieri, the site o f their alterity. The
great difference between M arguerite Porete’s doctrine of transformation and that
delineated by other great women writers of the pan-European, beguine movement lies
precisely in the fact that for all these women mystical ecstasy constitutes an all-too-brief
moment. In contrast. Marguerite asserts that transformation, indeed sinlessness, is an
attainable and sustainable state.2j Given the importance of this doctrinally significant
difference, the discovery of this critical parallel between the beloved Umbrian beata, and
the notorious French purveyor of the doctrines and ideals of the heresy of the Free Spirit,
could seem little more than a surface commonality. Despite the fact that Angela of
Foligno proved herself a vocal opponent to the doctrines of the Free Spirits, her thought
was very much a part of her time -- related to that of other women religious affiliated in
various ways with the beguine movement such as Beatrice of Nazareth, Hadewijch of
Antwerp. Mechthild of Magdeburg, and, yes. M arguerite Porete. Guamieri suggests that
this has to do with the "common cultural background” of these women, a background
‘‘Romana Guamieri. “Angela, mistica europea," in Angela da Foligno Terzaria Francescana, ed.
Enrico Menesto (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi sull'M edioevo Latino, 1992). 39-82; idem, II
movimento del Libero Spirito: Testi e Documenti. Archivo Italiano p er la storia della pieta 4 (1965); idem.
"Preface." in Angela o f Foligno: Com plete Works, trans. Paul Lachance (New York: Paulist Press. 1993).
5-11; idem, “Santa Angela? Angela. Ubertino e lo spiritualismo francescano. Prime ipotesi sulla
Peroratio." Angele de Foligno: Le D ossier, eds. Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun (Rome: Ecole
Franâis de Rome. 1999). 203-265.
“ Guamieri. “Angela, mistica europea," 40. Peter Dronke compares the role o f love in
Marguerite's M irror and Angela’s book in Dronke. M edieval Women Writers o f the M iddle Ages: A
C ritical Study o f Texts from Perperua to M arguerite Porete (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1984). 202-228. He reads the role o f love in each woman’s mystical experience as evidence o f the new role
accorded to love in the thirteenth century.
^ Ibid-.SI.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

12
that, as she has observed in her preface to the 1993 English translation o f Angela of
Foligno's Complete Works, “in good part remains to be explored.”24
This study investigates the common cultural background of beguines in the north
and the south as not only the key for understanding the presence of certain theological
similarities in iVIarguerite’s M irror and Angela of Foligno’s Book, but as a way to isolate
the function of these texts for their respective communities o f readers. It also seeks to
understand the place of these books in the contest over religious poverty and the imitation
o f Christ and the apostles in the late thirteenth century. This approach enables us to view
w om en’s mystical writing as som ething more than autobiography, diary-keeping or
private spiritual musings; to see it as part of a religio-cultural tradition developed as a
result of the distinctive educational needs and spiritual ideals o f sem ireligious women’s
communities, and therefore reflective o f both the freedoms enjoyed by and constraints
placed upon this movement in its struggle to practice religious poverty and evangelical
activity. Too often w om en’s mystical writings have been viewed as the result of a
rapturous, infused brilliance or womanly intuition grounded in an essentialistic
understanding of w om en’s spirituality. Oftentimes, they are discussed as literary
outpourings, the result either o f an excess of experience or frustration. The emphasis
upon experience in medieval w om en's spirituality has been contrasted with the erudition
o f the scholastic masters in such a way that has obscured the extent to w hich this
“experiential” approach to theology was also learned science akin to m onastic lectio
divina and a mode of biblical exegesis - albeit one studied outside the renow ned
intellectual centers of the medieval world, without social or ecclesiastical approval, and
cultivated primarily through devotional praxis in private, informal settings. Rather than
studying scripture, women religious learned to create, study and consider meditative
:4Idem. “Preface." 10.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of th e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

13
visualizations, their experiences o f G od as cultivated in meditative prayer, and to discern
the effects of love upon the soul. The reading o f experience - that o f the self and that of
others as exem plified in devotional literature - provided the stuff of lectio divina,
creating a mode of exegesis distinctive to beguine culture on both sides o f the Alps.
In contrast to many exam inations of M arguerite Porete’s M irror and A ngela of
Foligno's Book, I do not primarily trace the influence o f particular thinkers, doctrines,
and theological ideas in the thought o f each o f these mystics. For exam ple, in the pages
that follow, there will be no analysis o f the role o f love and poverty, the doctrines o f
annihilation and transformation, o r the influence o f Victorine thinkers or Cistercian
spirituality upon each treatise -- even though such themes could yield fruitful results.
Instead, I examine beguine practice o f meditation as an articulate moral, theological, and
rhetorical tradition informing the form and content o f these books. Thus, it may be
helpful to think of this dissertation as divided into two parts. In the first, chapters one
and two, I discuss the religio-cultural background for these texts and their authors; in the
second, chapters three and four. I provide a reading of the Book and M irror in light o f the
material discussed in the first part. It is the central contention of this dissertation that
these treatises were written to teach and guide others in the art of contemplation as
developed and practiced in semireligious w om en’s com minutes. Angela o f F oligno’s
book was written to extend this experiential tradition to Franciscan “Spirituals”
committed to religious poverty and contemplative experience. Marguerite Porete’s
audience was primarily undisciplined beguines, and perhaps also some beghards and
others dedicated to religious poverty and evangelical activity in imitation o f C hrist and
the apostles. Her book builds upon the moral, theological, and rhetorical tradition
familiar to more regularized beguines and critiques the complacency o f the spirituality of
the beguinage to teach others to reach fulfillment in their contemplative praxis. T hus,
these books not only provide im portant information about w om en’s education and

14
spiritual direction, but also docum ent the transmission of ideas outside o f formally
defined institutional settings across gender boundaries. They also testify to the rise of
vernacular theological inquiry, show its challenge to scholastic theology, and highlight its
appeal for different audiences.25
Each o f these writings are stylistically very different. A ngela o f F oligno’s Liber
reads as a spiritual autobiography in an affective tradition, heavily influenced by
Franciscan spirituality, whereas M arguerite Porete's book self-consciously distances
itself from the tradition o f visions and raptures, “wonders and w ounds,” the somatic
discourse that characterizes so m uch of w om en’s spirituality to create an esoteric
manifesto addressed to an elite group o f religious. As I have already m entioned, the most
significant difference between these two texts lies in their formulation o f the extent to
which it is possible for the soul to be divinized, transformed, and transfigured into God.
M arguerite Porete’s M irror maintains that absolute transformation, the full transcendence
of the imagination and the loss of all forms of “wanting, knowing, and having,” allows
the soul to possess a union of identity with the G odhead.26 In term s of the possibility of
sinlessness and perfection, there is a definite connection between A ngela's book and
"certain paradoxical expressions o f mystical quietism or the "Free Spirit,” such as
Porete's goodbye to the virtues, that depart from the Francis’ spirituality.”2' These do.
Ôn the categories o f "monastic, scholastic and vernacular theology" see Bernard McGinn,
"Meister Eckhart and the Beguines in the Context o f Vernacular Theology." M eister Eckhart a n d the
Beguine Mystics, 4-14. Also, idem. Flowering. 19-30.
26Amy Hollywood has an interesting discussion o f these themes o f wanting, knowing and having
nothing in Mechthild o f Magdeburg. Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart. See Soul A j Virgin Wife.
especially the conclusion. 175ff.
27"Con certe espressioni paradossali della mistica quietistica o del iib ero spirito'. quali I’addio
alle virtu della Porete. l'indiamento. con risonanze che sconfinano dalla spiritualita di san Francesco;" C.
Cargnoni. "La poverta nella spiritualita di Angela di Foligno." Vita e spiritualita della B eata Angela da
Foligno (Perugia: Serafica Provincia di San Fancesco. 19S7). 351. Romana Guarnieri discusses these
observations in "Santa Angela?," 237.

15
indeed, go beyond most Franciscan formulations to assert that it is possible for the soul to
attain true poverty (also form ulated as a “wanting, knowing and having nothing” ), to
move beyond and annihilate the powers of the human soul in order to imagine and
identify with the Trinity, “in and with darkness” (in et cum tenebra). Such a description
used to signify the soul’s lack o f its own powers, its lack of independent identity, and its
restoration to its divine image within the abyss, the no-thing-ness o f the Trinity, is a
statement of annihilation and poverty as radical as any asserted in the Mirror. Thus, the
differences between these texts seem to me to be one of degree, som ething that might be
a function of rhetorical differences stem ming from their divergent em ploym ent of
apophatic and cataphatic ways to God. more than a basic difference in the kind o f
mysticism that is set forth. The M irror radically undercuts all im ages and the assertion
that anything can be said, thought, or taught about divine love, dram atically driving home
this point by denying the “unencum bered” status of the author and the authority o f the
book at the end of the treatise. In contrast, Angela’s M em orial at nearly every point
along the way reaffirms the value of images as stepping stones leading the soul to true,
unmediated knowledge o f the divine. But the use of images in A ngela’s book is actually
close to that found in the R othschild Canticles where, as Amy H ollyw ood has eloquently
noted, "visual images are used apophatically to clarify the interplay o f im agination,
vision and apophasis.”:s U nm ediated experience of the divine is radically apophatic, but
accessed and understood via a stream of images, thoughts and feelings, one supplanting
another until the soul reaches the limits of its imagination. The soul in contemplation
learns to divest itself o f these im ages by pushing beyond them.
My major interest is not to evaluate which o f these texts form ulates the most
daring expression of unio m ystica. W ithin each of these texts, we can detect a collection
■sHolIywood. “Soul as Virgin W ife.” 19.

16
o f themes and preoccupations that make them more sim ilar than dissim ilar in their aims,
if not their means. Broadly speaking, these texts seek to teach the attainment o f true
spiritual poverty in imitation o f Christ. The annihilation o f the hum an imagination, as
well as the faculties o f the soul that enables it to love, see and know God in meditation,
is, in each of these books, construed as a kenotic act in im itation o f Christ - a radical self-
em ptying of “wanting, knowing and having.” The “goal” o f each o f these practices is to
understand "nakedly,” "in” and "w ith” nothing - to borrow m etaphors for this radical
poverty o f the faculties o f the soul described in the M irror and B ook respectively. Each
text uses an authoritative, "true” narrative, both historical and allegorical, to provide a
reflective image o f the effects of contem plation and divine love on the soul. These
narratives are meant to show the audience how the soul learns to transcend its own
powers, to divest itself of images and restore the divine im age by discovering the
difference between human love/human knowledge and the love/light that emerges from
the Godhead. It is the recognition of this difference, experienced as the utter humility of
the soul in its failed attempts to love, know and see God as God, that effects
transformation by annihilating the last vestiges of the soul’s faculties. This allows the
soul to love God with divine love and know God in poverty. Thus, each book teaches
the process of entbilciung - literally the so u l’s self-conscious untraining, represented in
each text as an iconoclastic razing o f its ways o f apprehending and approaching God.
The books do. however, differ in their approach. Angela’s Book achieves this goal
through cataphasis, and M arguerite’s via apophasis rather than in their assertion o f the
type o f union possible and indeed the role o f the soul. But, despite this disjuncture, their
core teachings are strikingly sim ilar even if their means are not.
This dissertation is divided into four chapters, plus an introduction and
conclusion. Chapter one, ““Nudus nudum Christum sequi” : The W om en’s Religious
M ovem ent and the Pursuit o f Poverty and Evangelical A ctivity,” presents the religio-

17
cultural background for M arguerite’s M irror and Angela of Foligno’s Book. It provides
the groundwork for answering key questions, such as by whom these books were written,
for whom, and why. In this chapter, I exam ine the history of the w om en’s religious
movement in northern and southern Europe, paying special attention to the Southern Low
Countries (modem day Belgium including la fla n d re Gallicante or French Flanders) and
central Italy. I focus upon the em ergence o f beguines from the religious poverty
movement, tracing how the institutionalization o f these women im pacted upon their
religious life and expression. Chapter two, ‘T h e School of Love: Meditation, M emory
and the Training of the Religious Self,” exam ines the shared religio-cultural education of
beguines in northern and southern Europe. Barred from formal academic training and the
study o f scripture, women religious, like other layfolk, were expected to learn about the
life o f Christ, the gospels, and other theological and doctrinal concepts pertinent to the
salvation o f the soul through “gospel harm onies” and meditations penned by Franciscan
and Dominican friars, as well as devotional art commissioned by these orders. Although
meditation has often been treated as a penitential prayer practice, in this chapter I show
its relationship to the art of memory and monastic lectio divina to demonstrate how this
praxis provided the foundation for the distinctive mode of theological inquiry found in
each o f these texts. In chapter three, “Are you the one who sustained it? (Tu es ille qui
sustinuisti earn?): Angela of Foligno and the Poverty o f the Im agination,” I turn to an
exam ination o f Angela o f Foligno’s Book. I show how the book functions as a
contemplative manual, teaching by way o f exam ple, to instruct an audience of Spirituals
and others committed to religious poverty in the tradition of oratio supem aturalis
(contemplative prayer) as developed in w om en’s religious communities. In chapter four,
“The image o f the Soul in Flight: M arguerite Porete’s Mirouer des sim ples ames” I
discuss the M irror as a reflective image, a sim ulacra o f the soul’s peregrinations in
theoria. I analyze how the book teaches its audience to attain a mystical reading of

IS
C hrist’s Passion and learn the difference between human and divine love, knowledge and
wisdom, activity and contem plation, the human imagination, and the light of the
Godhead.

CHAPTER TWO
“NUDUS NUDUM CHRISTUM SEQUI”: THE WOMEN’S RELIGIOUS
MOVEMENT AND THE PURSUIT OF THE APOSTOLIC LIFE
In the thirteenth century, large numbers o f women flocked to the new forms of
life associated with the religious poverty movement. During the course o f the century,
the ecclesiastical and secular authorities would allow w om en’s semireligious
communities to flourish while at the same time effecting changes to their life, culture and
spirituality. The institutionalization and regulation of the w om en’s religious movement
created tensions between certain groups of beguines and tertiaries and the Church over
the vita apostolica and the imitation o f Christ poor, simple, and humble. In northern and
southern Europe, these com munities of women turned to the practice o f contemplation as
a way to fulfill their commitment to poverty, evangelical activity, and the imitation of
Christ. Angela of Foligno's Book and Marguerite Porete’s M irror provide evidence of
this burgeoning tradition, but before we can turn to an exam ination o f the texts
themselves it will be helpful to look at the religio-cultural context out o f which they
arose.

20
I. The Women’s Religious Movement and the vita apostolica
In the late eleventh and twelfth centuries, Europe was in a period of transition.
Im proved farming techniques and a more tem perate climate had increased the population
o f the Latin west. Crusading, colonization and exploration fostered increased traffic in
goods and ideas between Europe and her neighbors. These socio-economic
developm ents had profound consequences upon Europe’s econom y, ushering in its
transition from a rural economy rooted in agriculture to a profit econom y based upon
trade, and commerce. Within the thriving urban centers, a new class began to em erge—
one that did not find a place within the old institutions and ideas o f the old feudal order.
T his grow ing segment of the population possessed wealth and an unprecedented measure
o f literacy in the nascent vernacular languages and in a rudim entary Latin. During this
sam e period, lay people became more involved in Christianity than ever before. Lay
women in particular were drawn to the burgeoning number o f sects dedicated to vita
apostolica, the imitation o f Christ and the apostles in voluntary poverty, penitence, and
itinerant evangelism .1These movements form ed part of a larger “evangelical awakening”
characterized by a “rediscovery of the G ospel.” 2 For these groups poverty was more than
moral asceticism and the partnership of goods, but the “proper institutional condition of
the kingdom o f God in this world.’0
'Herbert Grundmann calls these sects the “religious poverty m ovem ent” and divides them into
heretical and non-heretical groups. His study still remains the definitive work on this subject. See Herbert
Grundmann.
"M.-D. Chenu, Nature, Man and Society in the Twelfth Century (Chicago: University o f Chicago
Press. 1968). 203; 225-6.
3Ibid„ 242.

21
Neither the idea o f religious reform nor the vita apostolica were new themes
within in medieval Christianity. The new sects devoted to the vita apostolica
distinguished themselves from previous monastic and church reforms in four key ways.
First, it was initiated primarily by the laity, a segment o f medieval society outside of the
religious estate. Second, each o f these new sects understood poverty to be the central to
the apostolic life. They redefined the concept of poverty from asceticism expressed
through the possession of goods in common to a stark renunciation o f all forms of
property - not only of goods but more radically of rank, institutions, and custom s.4
Third, rather than withdrawing from society in keeping with the older, monastic model,
these lay groups em phasized evangelical activity, remaining in the cities to tend to the
sick and poor and engage in preaching. Finally, these groups often possessed a critical
stance towards the older forms o f monastic life and the clergy, in word and deed charging
these older institutions and forms o f religious life with an incorrect interpretation of the
meaning of the gospels. The W aldensians in southern France, northern Italy, the
Rhineland and southern Germany, the Humilitati (Humble Ones) in Lom bardy, and the
Cathars (or Albigensians) in south-western France, the Rhineland and northern Italy, all
claimed inspiration for their mode of religious life from the gospels, and drew the
majority of their followers from the newly established urban patriciate within Europe’s
commercial and industrial centers.5
Over time, the Church would divide the religious poverty m ovem ent into two
categories - heterodox and orthodox - sanctioning some, like the D om inicans and
Franciscans, while condem ning others. The Humilitati and Cathars were am ong the First
anathematized as schismatics by Lucius III (1181-5). Several decades later, Innocent III
4Ibid., 235.
sLester Little, Religious P overty a n d the Profit Economy in M edieval Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press. 1978), 113-145.

(1198-1216) would convene the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 in order to reach some
resolutions concerning the proliferation o f lay sects dedicated to the vita apostolica and
to find a solution to the problem o f heresy within the Church. T his council proposed a
reform of the clergy as a way o f assuaging the threat to the hegem ony o f the Church
posed by these groups. It condem ned the Waldensians and C athars for their doctrinal
errors, usurpation o f the office o f preaching, and for holding secret assem blies, while at
the same time laying out new directives concerning the office o f the priesthood.6 Bishops
were to be held accountable for appointing preachers in their diocese, the clergy were to
present an exemplary model to the laity by living chastely, and the laity were bound to
report once a year to the parish priest to confess and receive the Eucharist. To put an end
to the proliferation o f new religious movements seeking Church sanction, the council
forbade the founding o f new religious orders, decreeing that those who w ished to found a
new monastery o r receive recognition for their way o f life m ust accept an already
approved rule. As Caroline Bynum has observed, the condem nation o f groups like the
Waldensians and Humilitati as “heretical” reflects ecclesiastical politics rather than a
stark devotional or ideological contrast between these groups w ho did obtain papal
approval for their vita religiosa.1
With awe and apprehension, contemporary chroniclers rem arked upon the
numbers of women drawn to these new religious sects devoted to religious poverty.
W omen figured prominently among the followers o f the itinerant preachers Norbert of
Xanten (d. 1134) and Robert of Arbrissel (d. 1116-1117). They also responded with
alacrity to the penitential message offered by Albigenisans, W aldensians, and Humilitati.
6H.J. Schroeder. D isciplinary D ecrees o f the G eneral Councils: Text, Translation an d

Commentary (St. Louis: H.B. Herder. 1937), 236-296. See especially canon 3 directed against heresy.
’Caroline Walker Bynum, "Religious Women in the late Middle A g es,” in Christian Spirituality
11: High Middle A ges and Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt in collaboration with John M eyendorf and Bernard
McGinn (New York: Crossroad, 1987), 121-39.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p ro d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

23
By the early thirteenth century chronicles, saints lives, wills and other sources attest to
the widespread presence of semireligious w om en in the com m ercial centers o f northern
Europe -- northern France, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland. A few decades later,
sim ilar groups emerged in southern Europe, especially in Provence and Italy. These
women were distinctive from nuns since they were technically laywomen —they neither
took vows to formalize their religious profession nor shared an institutional affiliation
with a traditional monastic order. They possessed no rule, claim ed no founder, and
exercised their spirituality within the world rather than the cloister. Their w ay o f life
com bined elements of traditional m onasticism , such as a life dedicated to prayer and
chastity, with the new ideals of the vita apostolica: the im itation o f the prim itive church
poor, simple and humble (secundum fo n n a m prim itivae ecclesiae); a passionate zeal for
the souls o f others (zelus et salus anim arum ); and a com m itm ent to voluntary poverty
m itigated only by work (labor manuum s u a ru m )8 These women were called by a variety
o f names in Latin: “women religious” (m ulieres religiosae), “continent virgins” (virgines
continentes), or “little poor women” (pauperculae). Regional nam es evolved to refer to
this distinctive form of religious life. Initially, at least, they carried a certain stigm a:
But when a young girl has intended to preserve her virginity and her
relatives present to her a husband with wealth, she shall trample and spit
upon [him],..The wise men o f Egypt, that is the w ise of this century,
namely the secular prelates and other malicious men, they want to kill and
take away from her good intention saying: She w ishes to be a Beguine as
they are called in Flanders and Brabant, or a Papelard, as they are called in
France, or a Humilitata as they are called in Lom bardy, or a Bizzoche as it
is called in Italy or Coquenunne as it is said in Theotonia. And so, by
deriding them and bringing them ill-repute they tread upon them taking
away from their holy intention.9
sEmest W. McDonnell, The Beguines and B eghards with Special Em phasis on the Belgian Scene
(N ew Brunswick. NJ: Rutgers University Press. 1954), 141. fn. 2.
’"Quando autem puella virginitatem suam custodire proposuit et parentes offerunt ei maritum cum
diviciis, conculcet et respuat....Sapientes autem Egypti, id est sapientes huius seculi, prelati scilicet
seculares et alii maliciosi homines, volunt esse Beguina - sic enim nominatur in Flandria et Brabancia - ,
vel Papelarda - s ic enim appellantur in Francia--, vel Humiliata— sicut dicitur in Lumbardia —, vel Bizoke -
secundum quod dicitur in Ytalia —, vel Coquennunne - ut dicitur in Theotonia; et ita deridendo eas et quasi

24
W ith little success, historians have sought to find a single cause for the w om en’s
religious movement. A preponderance o f studies have focused on one group, that o f the
“beguines,” drawing parallels between these communities in northern Europe and those
found in Italy.10 Originally, historians believed that the w om en’s religious movement
developed as a protest o f the urban poor against the newfound wealth o f European
society.11 However, Herbert G rundm ann reacted against this, arguing that the majority of
beguines came from the newly affluent m erchant classes and the aristocracy.12 Another
explanation offered by scholars characterized it as a grassroots, religious, social and
econom ic “institution” that developed as the result of an increased num ber o f women
who could not find a place in a more traditional monastic order. Yet, as John Freed has
shown, women in thirteenth-century G erm any did not enter sem ireligious com m unities
by default, but rather actively chose them over traditional monastic houses.13 Another
hypothesis, suggests that these women form ed a surplus of marriageable w om en in the
w ake o f local feuds, wars, crusades that elim inated the number o f eligible m e n .14
infamando nituntur eas retrahere a sancto proposito"; J. Greven, “Der Ursprung des Beginenw esens. Eine
Auseinandersetzung mit Godfroid Kurth." H istorisches Jahrbuch, X X XV (1914): 44-45.
10Some studies that do this to varying degrees are: Grundmann; Guamieri, “A ngela, mistica
europea"; and idem, "Beguines Beyond the Alps and Italian Bizzoche between the 14th and 15th Centuries,"
G reyfriars Review 5 (1991): 93-104; Alcantara Mens, L'Ombrie italienne et I ’om brie brabanconne: deux
courants religieaxparalleles d'iiispirarion commune (Paris: Etudes Franciscaines, 1967); Roberto
Rusconi, 'T he Spread o f W om en's Franciscanism in the Thirteenth Century,” G reyfriars R eview 12 (1988):
35-75; Mario Sensi, Storie d i bizzoche tra Umbria e le M arche (Rome: Edizioni di storia e Ietteratura,
1995).
"See for example. E. Troeltsch. The Social Teaching o f Christian Churches, trans. O live Wyon,
introduction by H. Richard Niebuhr (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1960). Norman Cohen also
describes the heresy o f the free spirit as a popular movement. Norman Cohen, The P ursuit o f the
Millennium (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1957).
i:Grundmann.69-88.
l3John B. Freed. "Urban Developm ent and the “Cura Monialium" in Thirteenth-Century
Germany." Viator 3(1973): 311-327.
"Grundmann. 69-88.

However, the plausibility o f this theory has been weakened by research that suggests that
a sizeable surplus o f marriageable women had always existed in European society, but
only became more visible during the transition from an agrarian to an urban so ciety .15
Finally, historians have proposed two economic explanations for the movement. First,
scholars have suggested that the social displacem ent caused by the movement o f rural
women into the towns to seek em ploym ent provided the conditions for the grow ing
numbers of women attracted to the new forms o f the vita apostolica.I6 A second theory
argues that beguine communities in the north provided women with a way to
circumnavigate the stranglehold o f the craft gilds to obtain economic opportunity.17
While modem historians may have reached little consensus regarding the origins
o f the women’s religious movement, medieval people linked it to larger spiritual
developments. Jacques de Vitry, a fervent advocate of the holy women (m ulieres
sanctae) in the diocese of Liege, described them as a veritable socio-cultural
phenom enon:18
For we see many who, scorning the riches o f their parents and rejecting
the noble and w ealthy husbands offered them, live in profound poverty,
having nothing but what they can acquire by spinning and w orking with
their hands, content with shabby clothes and modest food.19
l5PeneIope Galloway, "'Discreet and Devout M aidens’: W omen’s Involvement in Beguine

Communities in Northern France, 1200-1500." in M edieval Women in their Communities, ed. D iane Watt
(Toronto/Buffalo: University o f Toronto Press, 1997). 95.
l6Walter Simons, "The Beguine Movement in the Southern Low Countries: A Reassessment,"
Bulletin de I'lnstitut Historique Beige de Rome 59 (1989): 68-78.
n Galloway. 95; G. Espinas and H. Pirenne. eds., Recueil de documents rela tif a I'histoire drapiere
en Flandre, 4 vols. (Brussels: Palais des Academies, 1906-24).
18 The negative connotations associated with the name “beguine” most likely prompted Jacques de
Vitry to refer to these women as m ulieres sanctae or holy women in his own works. This choice is
significant, highlighting Jacques de Vitry’s apologetic agenda.
l9‘‘Multas enim vidimus, que divicias parentum contempnentes et maritos nobiles ac potentes sibi
oblatos repuentes in magna et leta paupertate viventes nichil aliud habebant, nisi quod nendo et manibus
propriis laborando acquirere valebant, vilibus indumentis et cibo modico contente”; Jacques de Vitry,
Secundus sermo a d virgines, in Greven, “Der Ursprung," 46-47.

26
According to the prelate, these women rejected the status and wealth o f their families to
em brace poverty, chastity and service as a form of renovatio or spiritual renew al.20 The
women religious in Liege, France and Germany, as well as the Hum ilitatae in Lombardy,
and the Sorores Minores in Umbria all formed part of a spiritual revival dedicated to the
imitation of Christ and the primitive Church (primitive ecclesie)21
Like Fulk of Neuilly (the Archbishop o f Toulouse) and Cardinal Hugolino (later
Gregory IX), Jacques de Vitry was influenced by the contemporary trend o f vernacular
preaching and the concern for the cura anim arwn.22 In Marie d ’O ignies and the
beguines, the prelate saw the means to unite a church rent by corruption and sectarianism.
2j A pragmatist, he understood that to harness the spiritual pow er of these w om en for the
Church he had to secure papal approval for their way of life. Before being appointed
Bishop of Acre, Jacques de Vitry busied him self as a vocal apologist for these women,
devoting his time and energy to the task o f securing ecclesiastical approval and social
approbation for their way of life. O ur only source text for the papal sanction com es from
one o f Jacques de Vitry’s letters. The w ording of the approval is significant, and
provides the key for understanding the conflicts that would ensue between the beguines
and the ecclesiastical authorities during the course of the thirteenth century.24 As
numerous scholars have em phasized, the m ulieres religiosae were given perm ission to
"°Bolton. “Mulieres Sanctae, " in Sanctity and Secularity: The Church and The W orld, ed. Derek
Baker (N ew York: Barnes and Noble. 1973), 85.
21Jacques de Vitry, Lettres de Jacques d e Vitry: Edition Critique, ed. R.B.C. Huygens (Leiden:
E.J. Brill. 1960). 1.76-135.
“ McGinn. Flowering, 34.
^M cDonnell, 35.
24“Obtinui preterea ab ipso, et litteras cum executoribus et protectoribus impetravi, ut liceret

mulieribus religiosis non solum in episcopatu Leodiensi, sed tarn in regno quam in imperio in eadem domo
simul manere et sese invicem mutuis exhortationibus ad bonum invitare”; Lettres de Jacques d e Vitrv, 1.76-
81.

27
form their own communities w ithout subm itting themselves to a specific rule or joining a
traditional monastic order. H owever, the approval was specifically given to women
living in semi-cloistered, com m unal houses whose evangelical activity w as restricted to
“mutual exhortation'Xmi/m/s exhortationibus). Following the verbal approval o f the
beguine way o f life, the ecclesiastical and secular authorities would take m easures to re-
direct them into an institution m ore in keeping with their ideals than those o f the religious
poverty movement. Jacques de V itry him self had underscored the beguine mode of life
as a convenient semireligious status for women who were desiring a religious life but
unable to find a place in a m onastic foundation.25 These com munities were intended to
help keep spiritually inclined women religious away from the growing num ber of
heterodox sects developing out of the religious poverty movement.
II. The Beguines
A. Papal Approval and Institutionalization: The Case of the Southern Low
Countries
Papal approval of the m ulieres religiosae enabled the growth and developm ent of
their communities with an am biguous and somewhat unspoken set o f lim itations placed
upon them. Ecclesiastical and secular sanction of the beguine way o f life subtlely
transform ed the vita religiosa of the beguines from unregulated, loosely affiliated
"^Jacques de Vitry Secundus serm o a d virgines 46-47.

28
networks o f women religious infused with the ideals o f the vita apostolica to more
regulated communities organized more like traditional convents.
Traditionally historians have distinguished four stages in the institutional
development o f the beguines.26 However, recent research has shown that these quasi-
cloistered and semi-regulated beguine com m unities emerged as early as the second
quarter of the thirteenth century alongside more independent and autonom ous forms of
beguine life.27 Some women lived as lay penitents in their own homes (beguinae
singulariter in saeculao manentes, or m ulieres religiosae in domibus propriis viventes).
Others lived in small, isolated houses or “convents” with other women who shared
sim ilar spiritual goals and ideals.28 A minority o f them lived as mendicants in faithful
observance o f the vita apostolica.
Prior to papal approval—and even after—beguines had no official status in the
medieval Church or society. M ulieres religiosae often affiliated them selves w ith a
monastery by performing voluntary services for it or by donating their property to the
com munity as a gift. Often small communities o f beguines could be found near the town
hospital, leprosarium, or religious com munity. For contemporaries, the beguines were a
hybrid: not simply ordinary laypeople and not quite religious. Reflecting this idea they
:5The first beguines lived alone or with their parents in "the world” (in saeculo). In the second
stage o f their development, small communities o f these women formed religious associations under the
guidance o f the local clergy. In the third stage, com m unities o f beguines gathered around a hospital or
infirmary, forming a distinct district or quarter populated by mulieres religiosae who were segregated
geographically from the city at large. In the final phase o f their history, beguines lived in separate parishes
called curtis beguinages. Historians have generally accepted the position that the curtes developed as a
result o f ecclesiastical suspicion o f beguines and their condemnation in the early fourteenth century.
M cDonnell. 4-6. Romana Guamieri argues that this model also applies to the bizzoche or pinzochere in
central Italy. See Guamieri, "Beguines beyond the Alps," 93-104. The four stages were first developed by
L.M.J. Philippen. De Begijnhoven. oorsprong. geschiednis, inrichting (Antwerp: n.p., 1918). 40-126.
:7Simons. 85-92.
^Here I follow Simons in defining a convent as a house in which several beguines live together in
community under the guidance o f a chosen mistress. See ibid.. 67.

29
called it a status (status beguinaram) rather than an ordo or religio.29 U nlike nuns who
were cloistered from the world and bound by irrevocable vows to a particular religious
order, beguines often distinguished themselves from ordinary townswom en only by their
practices, dress, and manner o f life rather than any vow, institution o r edifice. They did
not follow a particular religious leader or claim a founder for their vita religiosa, but
traced their mandate to evangelical c o u n se l/0
From 1230 onward ecclesiastical and secular authorities worked in tandem to
impose a more uniform institutional structure upon beguine com m unities. W ith his bull
Gloriam virginalem (1233). Pope G regory IX encouraged the establishm ent beguinages
(more regulated communities o f beguines) in the southern Low Countries. The counts
and countesses of Flanders and Hainault both encouraged the growth o f the beguine
m ovem ent and influenced its institutional development by donating the land and revenues
for the foundation of curtis beguinages. As an institution, the beguinage was firmly tied
to the local Chuich and secular authorities. A specially appointed chaplain served as the
spiritual director or “confessor” for these communities. Every beguinage possessed its
own set o f regulations, or rule, established by diocesan clerics and prelates in conjunction
with the founder of the beguinage. The majority of the extant beguine rules were drawn
up between 1234-1300. Joanna Ziegler has described what made the beguinage different
from a traditional convent and attractive to prelates and rulers alike:
Beguinages...were not absolute cloisters, but forms o f encloisterment.

Women passed in and out o f the beguinage to visit family and do business.
What made the institution o f the beguinage so acceptable to its
ecclesiastical supporters was that it substituted, in the place o f permanent
: ,McDonnelI. 123-124.
30Sources mention the distinctive habit o f beguines, but it is difficult to discern what they might
have looked like. Many descriptions are negative, regulating what beguines were not to wear such as
brightly colored clothing, rich fabrics or clothes with ornamentation. Others merely mention their modest
clothes as similar to those worn by townswom en. One etymology for the name “beguine" traces its roots to
the Old French word “le Begue" or Beges" meaning “one dressed in grey.” See Ibid., 128.

30
vows and com plete claustration, a set o f rules that all Beguines were
required to follow. These rules guaranteed that women desiring to become
beguines adopt modes o f action, appearance, and spiritual practice deem ed
appropriate by the supervising clergy and secular authorities as well. The
rules, and a governmental structure to maintain them in the office o f the
Head Mistress, should be counted first among the reasons why the church
condones a mode o f religious life that in other contexts was deem ed
su sp e ct/1
Jeanne (1205-1244) and M arguerite (1244-1278), sisters and successive
countesses o f Flanders and Hainault, were particularly active in promoting the beguinage
over the isolated co n v en t/2 Jeanne donated land for “women religious wishing to live
chastely and under discipline” (m ulieres religiosae caste et sub discipiina vivere
volentes) in G h e n t/J With continued donations o f land and money from the dukes and
duchesses o f Brabant, curtes sprang up throughout Flanders and la Flandre gallicante
during the years 1230-1270.
Publically, the rational given for prom oting enclosed beguine com m unities over
more independent forms o f beguine life was the need to protect the chastity o f women in
the beguinage and to provide them with an environm ent conducive to meditation and
contem plation/4 In her charter for the beguinage at Lille (1279) M arguerite o f Flanders
stated that the purpose o f the com m unity was to am aser beghines, to gather them into one
place to provide them with an a setting more conducive to the pursuit o f the religious
lif e /5 Historians have suggested that the econom ic self-sufficiency ensured by the
31Joanna E. Ziegler. “Reality as Imitation: The Role o f Religious Imagery Among the Beguines o f
the Low Countries," in Maps o f Flesh and Light, ed. Ulrike Wiethaus (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University
Press. 1993). 115.
3‘GalIoway notes that they founded all but two o f the beguinages in Flanders and Hainault. See
Galloway. 96.
33This community was located near the Cistercian nunnery o f Port-Saint Marie or Biloke. Like
other beguinages, this community was placed near the city gate (extra portam G andavi versus
Herckerghem). See McDonnell, 205.
MSimons. 89.
35Ibid.. 90.

31
beguinage provided the motivating factor behind the adoption and expansion o f this form
of institutionalization during the course o f the thirteenth century. Yet, I am persuaded
by Joanna Ziegler and W alter Simons in view ing the spread of the beguinage as
generated by the desire o f local ecclesiastical an d secular authorities to shape and redirect
the beguine movement into an institution that w ould be ecclesiologically and socially
valuable to them. Jacques de V itry’s m otivations for promoting the m ulieres sanctae, the
active involvement o f Dominican friars in the foundation of beguinages and the cura
monialium. and indeed the known influence o f D om inican advisors upon the charitable
activities o f the countesses of Flanders and H ainault support the argument that all parties
involved in the foundation of these com m unities favored them as a way to keep control
over the growing religious m ovem ent/6
From nearly the beginning o f the m ovem ent, the secular and ecclesiastical
authorities appear to have made a distinction m ade between women living in a
disciplined religious com munity (beguinae clausae), and those who lived in small,
independent convents (beguinae singulariter) w ithout a formalized disciplinary
procedure or a ecclesiatically supervised program o f spiritual guidance. They sim ilarly
discriminated against those who lived as recluses or m endicants/' But it w asn’t until the
second quarter of the thirteenth century that the ecclesiastical and secular authorities
adopted more overt tactics to discourage female experimentation with different form s of
religious life, and to place limitations on w om en’s spiritual, indeed, theological
restlessness. This happened gradually, and the m easures employed varied from region to
36In the Southern Low Countries, the Dominican order served as the spiritual directors at the
Flemish-Hainault court and for the burgeoning number o f beguinages expanding throughout the region.
Ibid.. S7. Also. G.G. Meersseman. "Les Freres Precheurs et Ie mouvement devot en Flandre au XHIe
siecle." Archivum Frairum Praedictorum 18 (1948): 69-130; idem. “Jeanne de Constantinople et Ie Freres
Precheurs." Archivum Fratrum Praedictorum 19 (1949): 122-68.
37Beguinae clausae is a term coined by Philippen. culled from contemporary documents referring
to beguines living in uno loco, sub una clausura. See S im ons. 91.

region -- indeed diocese to diocese. For exam ple, in the southern Low Countries single
beguines were excluded from the privilegia beguinalia. This exclusion o f the beguinae
singalariter from tax exemption and other religious privileges was an attempt upon the
part o f the secular and ecclesiastical authorities to force mendicant beguines and
independent convents to join a local beguinage. M endicant beguines and those in less
regulated convents faced social and ecclesiastical pressure to join the beguinage. Some
of these communities preferred to adopt the regulations o f the Cistercian O rd e r/8 In
Liege and Cambrai, episcopal recognition o f beguine status was contingent upon
participation within a disciplined community. In 1246, Robert de Thourote in no
uncertain terms articulated the growing distinction between beguines outside the
beguinage and those within it. He decreed that beguines outside o f a disciplined
com munity could no longer claim this status, and he called for the imposition o f
regulation and discipline upon these small com m unities'’9 In keeping with these
directives. Jacques Pantaleon (later Urban IV), canon of the chapter o f St. Lam bert, wrote
a rule to be read and observed in all beguine com m unities in the diocese o f Liege.
B. Beguines and the Beguinage
During the course o f the thirteenth century, ecclesiastical and secular authorities
in the southern Low Countries sought to control the beguine movement through the
foundation of beguinages, the creation and im position o f rules, and the
institutionalization and annexation of individual beguine convents into larger beguinages
or other religious houses. But what was the relation o f the religious culture of
3SMcGinn has noted that beguine spirituality appears to have flourished within Cistercian houses.
McGinn. Flowering, 160.
3,McDonnell. 127.

33
independent mulieres religiosae with that of beguines within the beguinage? A
com parison will show how the ecclesiastical and secular authorities reshaped the form
and function of beguine religious life by the process of more rigid control, and altered its
spirituality in such a way that it created a division within the movement. This division is
an im portant part of the context for late thirteenth century debates over orthodox beguine
religious expression.
1. Beguine Life Outside the Beguinage
The early m ulieres religiosae formed small lay penitential societies dedicated to
humility, simplicity, penance, prayer and study, and work. Early on, beguines established
a reputation for asceticism and an affective, christocentric spirituality characterized by
mystical experience. The more fam ous o f these women attracted circles o f disciples,
creating what were essentially inform ally organized religious com m unities, such as those
at Oignies, Nivelles and Liege. Less illustrious communities followed a sim ilar
developmental pattern. W omen m ore experienced in the beguine way o f life undertook
the religious instruction and spiritual direction o f others. In one o f his serm ons, Jacques
de Vitry briefly describes their educational program:
Under the discipline o f one who excels the others in integrity and
foresight, they are instructed in manners and letters, in vigils and prayers,
in fasts and various torments, in manual work and poverty, in self-
effacement and hum ility.40
These communities had little formal organization or disciplinary structure. W omen with
sim ilar spiritual interests simply gathered around an informally appointed m agistra who
40"...Et sub disciplina unius. que aliis honestate et prudentia preminet. tam moribus quam litteris
instruuntur. in vigiliis et orationibus. in ieiuniis et variis afflictionibus. in labore manuum et paupertate. in
abiectione et humilitate”; Jacques de Vitry Secundus serrno ad virgines 47.

could help teach them the skills necessary to progress in the religious life. These skills
consisted in such things as: basic literacy for reading the psalter and o ther devotional
books: the “virtues” : meditation: penitential practices: and handicrafts necessary for
econom ic survival. These women could com e and go as they pleased, conducting
business and their personal affairs in “the world” on a day-to-day basis. T hey were also
free to leave the com munity if it no longer proved conducive to their religious
aspirations. In her poems, Hadewijch o f Antwerp (probably first half o f the thirteenth
century) uses the m etaphor o f the “ knight errant” as a m etaphor for the w om an religious
on her search for true knowledge o f m inne, or divine love.
Good examples o f the style and content of beguine religious instruction and
spiritual direction outside of the beguinage can be found in Hadewijch's letters. In letter
25, she admonishes three beguines, Sara, Emma, and M argriet, to continue to deepen
their relationship with Love even though she, their m agistra, is no longer able to keep a
watchful eye on them:
And you, Emma, and yourself— who can obtain more from me than any
other person now living can, except Sara— are equally dear to me. But
both of you turn too little to Love, who has so fearfully subdued me in the
commotion of unappeased love. My heart, soul, and sense have not a
m om ent’s rest, day or night: the flame bum s constantly in the very
marrow of my soul....Tell Margriet to be on her guard against hautiness,
and to be sensible, and to attend to God each day; and that she apply
herself to the attainm ent o f perfection and prepare herself to live with us,
where we shall one day be together.41
41Hadewijch. The Com plete Works, trans. Columba Hart (N ew York: Paulist Press. 1980), 106;
"Ende ghi die meer van mi gheleisten m oghet dan yeman die nu leuet sonder sare, Em m e ende ghi, die sijt
mi al eens. Oec keerdi v beide te luttel ter Minnen die mi soe vreseleke omuaen heuet in beroeringhen van
onghecoster Minnen. Mine herte. noch mine ziele. Noch mine sinne en rusten dach N och nacht Noch vre/;
de vlamme berrent alien vren int march miere zielen. Segghet Margrieten datsi haer hoede van dicheiden.
Ende datse vroede ende ane gode va elcs daghes. Ende datse hare trecke ter volmaectheit waert Ende
ghereide hare met ons te wonenne daer wi versamenen selen”; Hadewijch: Brieven. 2 vols.. ed. Jozef van
Mierlo (Antwerp: Standaard-Boekhandel, 1947), 11:25.16-28.215-216.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of th e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n p rohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

35
She shows great familiarity with their individual tem peram ents and proclivities, the
purpose, goal and challenges o f beguine spiritual practices, and the day-to-day
organization o f life in a small community. In other extant letters, Hadewijch gives
instruction in a wide range o f topics such as “virtues the measure o f love,” “to serve
nobly,” “the role of reason,” “loving God with his own love,” and “living in the rhythm
of the Trinity.” In these letters, she instructs other beguines in the cultivation o f
attentiveness to the effects o f love upon the soul, rather than the proper performance of
actual practices that she probably assumes her correspondents know how to do. The
explicit goal of this advice is spiritual advancem ent in pursuit o f a very specific goal:
knowledge of God experienced as a m erger o f one’s love with G od’s in unio mystica.
Beguine communities were a “school of love”. T he women in these communities
dedicated themselves to the study o f love, G od’s love and their own, as a way of
purifying the “eyes of the heart,” the soul’s capacity for knowing G od through love.
Hadewijch, Mechthild of M agdeburg, and Marguerite Porete, the major beguine authors
of the thirteenth century, all describe the mystic return to absolute union with the One
through the power of love (eros), or “ loving intellect”.42 This overarching emphasis on
the interior life stands in stark contrast to the hagiographies o f beguine women composed
by Thom as of Cantimpre. Jacques de Vitry and others. These vitae highlight the external
conduct of the mulieres religiosae for the purpose of providing a set of rules regulating
the public religious self.4j In contrast, H adewijch’s m ode o f teaching combines
“experience,” an intimate, quasi-autobiographical know ledge o f the effects of meditation,
contemplation, and other practices upon the soul, with an ability to breakdown and
J:Bemard McGinn. “Love. Knowledge and Unio M ystica in the Western Christian Tradition." in
M ystical Union in Judaism, Christianity an d Islam: An Ecumenical D ialogue, eds. Moshe Idel and
Bernard McGinn (NY: Continuum. 1996), 61 and 71.
43Amy Hollywood compares the differences between Beatrice o f Nazareth’s writings and the
descriptions o f her experiences penned by her hagiographer in “Inside Out,” 78-97.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m is s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n pro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

36
analyze the various stages within the interior life o f the beguine. A lthough we know that
male, clerical spiritual directors were active in the cura monialium, H adew ijch’s letters
attest to networks utilized by women religious in order to obtain spiritual direction and
guidance from other women who were pursuing a sim ilar set o f spiritual goals. This is not
to say that these women did not often choose friars o r male clerics as their spiritual
directors, but rather that they sought out and cultivated these relationships with men out
of spiritual friendship.'14 For beguines in the early stages of their history, and those living
outside of a beguinage in the second quarter of the thirteenth century, this period
represented an unprecedented time o f religious experimentation. W om en could seek
guidance from a range of spiritual directors, lay women and men, as well as monks, nuns
and friars. However, even in this early period there were limitations placed upon beguine
religious life and culture. Some male clerics began to see dangers in the beguine
emphasis on minne. In her "list o f the perfect,” Hadewijch mentions a woman religious
who was executed by Robert le Petit “because of the righteous minne."*5
Beguine life outside the beguinage combined the traditional m onastic vita
contemplativa with the labor manuum, or handicrafts such as weaving, spinning, carding
and sewing. These women also performed charitable activities such as the education of
children, the care o f the sick, and almsgiving to the poor. The m ajority o f these tiny
communities probably gleaned econom ic survival from the property and resources that
members brought w ith them into the community. The labor manuum had a practical
function - it allowed beguine communities to exist and function w ithout the Financial
■‘‘‘Bernard McGinn characterizes the relationship between men and w om en in the "new mysticism”
o f the thirteenth century as one of mutual influence. See McGinn. Flowering, 17. Joan Ferrante discusses
the role o f women as spiritual directors in religious communities, focusing upon their use o f the epistolary
genre. See Ferrante. To the Glory o f her Sex. especially 39-67.
4577ie Life o f Beatrice o f Nazareth, trans. and annotated by Roger de Ganck (Kalamazoo, MI:
Cistercian Publications. 1991). xxix: H adewijch: Brieven, 1:189, 1.193.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n pro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

37
support o f a traditional monastic order. Each com m unity developed independent from
the financial structure of the Church and, indeed, each other. R obert Grosseteste praised
the beguines for this independence, quipping that they had surpassed the Franciscans in
their practice o f poverty by living free o f benefices while at the sam e tim e supporting
their com m unities without begging.46 Although itinerant mendicancy in imitation of the
poverty and evangelical activity o f Christ and the apostles was an ideal, women were
discouraged from this practice by clerical and secular authorities alike. Despite this fact,
some beguines did in fact choose this life-style. However fantastic a tale, the Life o f
Christina o f St. Trond recounts the evangelical activities of an itinerant beguine in
Flanders whose inability to suffer harm and pain proclaimed the m iracle o f the
resurrection and the need for penance and purgation.47
2. The Beguinage
In contrast to independent beguine com munities which were dedicated to training
an elite group o f religious specialists, the beguinage, generally speaking, was a much
larger, more diverse institution filled with women from different backgrounds and
stations, with different motivations for living in a semireligious com m unity. Not every
woman in the beguinage was a religious specialist, nor sought to becom e one. In each
beguinage, there were women who took temporary vows to the com m unity and the
ecclesiastical authorities, and others who resided temporarily within the house as
students, visitors, or boarders. As Joanna Ziegler has argued, the life and culture of the
46"Beguine sunt perfectissime et sanctissime religionis, quia vivunt propriis laboribus et non
onerant exaccionibus mundum”; Thomas o f Eccleston. L iber d e Adventu Fratruni M inorum in Angliam,
Monumena G ennaniae Historica, Scriptores XXVIII (Hanover: n.p.. 1888), 568.
47McGinn. Flowering, 161.

38
beguinage was adapted to such a diverse context. The beguinage dem ocratized beguine
piety making it accessible to w ider variety o f women through an easily im itable,
regimented program o f prayer, conduct, and work enforced by a hierarchical system of
governance, and supervised by a prelate or cleric appointed to the com m unity.48 The
organization, governance, rules, and spirituality o f the beguinage encouraged the
cultivation of a public self that emulated saintly women and cloistered nuns.49 According
to Ziegler, beguine '‘rules are formulae o f appearance; in the Beguine w orld view
material appearance equaled inner virtue.”50
One chronicler’s description of the organization and daily life at the grand
beguinage at Ghent gives an idea of the extent o f this regulation and its sim ilarities to life
in a traditional nunnery;
In the convent one is called the mistress o f work whose business it is to

superintend labor and workers so that all is done faithfully according to
divine will. In working they have a certain rule that rising early they meet
a church, each in her own place, so that the absence o f anyone can be
detected. W hen they have heard the mass and each has said her prayers,
they return to their own houses and work in silence all day so that they
never cease from prayer....Late in the evening after vespers, when they
have leisure for prayer and meditation, they go again to church and then
retire...51
48Joanna Ziegler. “Reality as Imitation.” 119-20.
49Idem. Sculpture o f C om passion: The Pieta an d the Beguines in the Southern L o w Countries c.
1300-C.I600 (Brussels and Rome: Institut Historique Beige de Rome— Belgisch Historical Institut te
Rome. 1986). 100-102.
50lbid„ 100.
5l"Et in quolibet conventu est una, que vocatur magistra operum, que operibus et operantibus
habet intendere. ut omnia secundum Deum fideliter pergantur...In operando vero talem ritum tenent et
consuetudinem. quod summo mane surgentes ad ecclesiam conveniunt, quelibet in locum suum quod habet
sibi specialiter deputatum, ut per hoc cuiusquam absentia possit facilius deprehendi. et. ibi audita missa ac
fusis orationibus, ad domos suas redeunt per totam diem cum silentio operantes, in quo toti patrie fore
perutiles dinoscuntur, et tamen sic operantes ab oratione non cessant...In sero vero post vesperas ecclesias
ingrediuntur vacantes orationibus et meditationibus quousque, facto signo. ad quietem revertantur...” ; J.
Bethune. Cartulaire du Beguinage de Ste Elisabeth a G and, biz. 73-76, nr 106 in Paul Fredericq, Corpus
documentorum inquisitionis liaereticae pravitatis neerlandicae, 5 vols. (Ghent/Hague, n.p., 1889), I, 176-7.
Translation by McDonnell, 149.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m is s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

39
Each beguinage appointed itself a mistress who governed the com m unity with the aid o f a
counsel of specialized mistresses. In addition to the grand mistress, there was also a
mistress who supervised the work in the com m unity. This system ensured that all the
women in the community, despite the lack of full enclosure and formal professions,
followed the rules and regulation. It guaranteed that the women in the beguinage
practiced a uniform religious tradition. M editation and prayer in these communities
centered upon the training o f the imagination through strategies o f imitation and
identification - subjects I will discuss in greater detail in chapter three. In the beguinage,
images of Mary, especially the pieta, and meditations focusing on M ary (and other saints)
provided women with a model o f conduct and an intermediary through whose eyes and
with whose emotions they could imagine the life o f Christ, and most importantly, his
Passion.32
Local families sent their daughters to be educated by beguines with the
understanding that such an education would prepare girls for both secular and religious
life:
And with all this they are so circum spect in their manners and so learned
in household matters, that great and honorable people send their daughters
to them to be brought up, hoping that to whatever state o f life they are
afterwards called, whether of religion or o f marriage, they will be found
better prepared than others...53
s;!See Ziegler on the pieta in “Reality as Imitation.” 125.
S3“Et inter hec omnia ita sunt in moribus com posite ac rebus domesticis erudite, quod magne et
honeste filias suas eis consueverint tradere nutriendas, sperantes quod ad quemcunque statum forent post
modum vocate sive religionis sive matrimonii invenirentur ceteris aptiores...”; Bethune, Cartulaire, in
Corpus, I, 177. Translation by M cDonnell, 149.

40
Children in the beguinage learned to read and write in addition to gaining skills in
household management and handicrafts.54 M ost importantly, they were schooled in the
conduct and deportm ent befitting a good Christian laywoman. The vita o f Beatrice o f
Nazareth (1200-1268) describes how. as a child, her father sent her to the Beguines in
Zoutleeuw “that she might m ake more progress in virtue” (ut liberius a d virtutis
prouectum conscenderet, in oppido cui lewis vocabulum est illam devoto beghinam m
collegio sociavit).55 Sim ilarly, Ida o f N ivelles’ (1199-1231) Life also m entions her early
education at the hands o f the beguines.
The rule o f Fins A m ans written in Picardy in the thirteenth century describes the
beguinage as an ediface supported by four pillars: chastity, poverty, humility, and love.56
It details the appropriate times for daily prayer, as well as the devotional exercises
conducive to the installation o f these virtues.57 Other rules controlled access to the
sacraments by detailing how m any times a year beguines were allow ed to receive
communion, and ensured the m aintenance o f orthodoxy in these com m unities by
specifying how often and to w hom the women were to confess. The beguine rule for
Liege (1246) prescribed the appropriate forms o f speech and activities for holy days and
54The author o f the M enagier de P aris ( 14lh century) employed a beguine to instruct his wife in
household management. Fiona Bow ie.ed.. Beguine Spirituality: M ystical Writings o f M echthild o f
Magdeburg, Beatrice o f Nazareth a n d Hadewijch o f Brabant (New York: Crossroad. 1990). 26.
55The hagiographer makes a distinction between this training and schooling in the liberal arts
(liberalium artium). The vita notes that her education in letters was interrupted when her mother died. The
beguines possessed a distinctive form o f education, one which specialized in the training o f the self. The
vita explains that Beatrice’s father ch ose this community because o f its reputation for holiness. He
expected that the m agistra and the other mulieres religiose would "form his daughter in good manners,
teaching her with examples and adorning her with virtues”-- "et tarn magistre . mulieri religiose scilicet et
devote, quam ceteris consororibus sub eius regimine domino famulantibus. bonis informandam moribus.,
erudiendam exemplis et virtutibus adomandam. hanc pius pater attentius commendavit”; The Life o f
Beatrice o f Nazareth. 25. for Latin. 20.10-15.
56Karl Christ. "La regie des fins amans. Eine Beginenregal aus dem Ende des XIII Jarhunderts.”
Philologische Studien: Festschrift f u r K. Voretzsch. (Halle: Max Niemeyer. 1927), 197-199. 161-232.
57Ibid.. 2 0 0 .269ff.

41
Sunday. For example, it recom m ended silence rather than ecstasy as the m ost appropriate
way to receive God while attending M ass.58
Despite the fact that beguine saint’s lives, chronicles and other sources tend to
em phasize their poverty, a vow of voluntary poverty was not required o f women upon
entering the beguinage. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Although there were a fair
num ber o f poor women in the beguinage, for many money and possessions were a
prerequisite. For example, women who wished to join the com m unity often had to build
their own house and bring household goods and utensils.39 The grand m istress o f a
com m unity visited individual houses and convents within a com m unity annually to
assure that beguines lived neither too luxuriously nor too simply.
This comparison o f the life of beguines in the beguinage and those in smaller,
unregulated communities highlights some o f the ways in which the life and culture o f the
m ulieres religiosae changed during the course of the thirteenth century. Ecclesiastical
sanction and the support o f the secular authorities transform ed the beguine movem ent by
dem ocratizing their spirituality and imposing uniform rules regulating governance,
conduct, dress, speech, w ork and prayer, while also m onitoring the Financial stability of
the members of the com munity. And although beguines were still allow ed to direct and
guide each other, these activities were supervised by clerics and spiritual directors.
W hile beguines were allowed to teach, these activities were redirected into more socially
appropriate channels such as the schooling o f young girls in conduct, deportm ent, the
household arts and basic letters. More focused spiritual direction was supervised by
confessors and clerics appointed to the community. W hile the beguinage was still a
“school o f love,” it was one kept within respectable boundaries.
58Ziegler, "Reality as Imitation," 116.
59Bow ie, 24.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n pro h ib ited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

42
C. “Good” Beguines and “Bad” Beguines
By the mid-thirteenth century there was a clear distinction between “good”
beguines, namely those residing in regulated com munities, and “bad” or suspect beguines
who maintained an unregulated and unsupervised existence. Although some critics
condem ned the status as a whole for its subversive tendencies, the bulk o f their
accusations seem to target the real or perceived offences and activities of undisciplined
beguines and mendicant poor ladies. William of St. A m our (d. 1272), a secular m aster at
the University o f Paris, was one o f their most vocal critics. He condem ned these women
for their lack of regulation, enclosure, and formal ecclesiastical sanction -- a pernicious
combination that made them a breeding ground for moral turpitude and anticlericalism.
He argued that beguines were highly suspect in their conduct and com portm ent. As a
prime example o f their moral laxity he pointed to their practice o f begging. W ith disgust
he declared that although the majority of beguines were young, able-bodied w om en, they
did not work, but lived off alms provided by others under the pretext of living a life
dedicated to prayer {qui onmes, cum sint validi ad operandum, parum aut nihil volunt
operari, sed vivere volunt de elemosinis in otio corporali sub praetextu orandi).60 He
com plained that the women in these groups were too young live to chastely w ithout
living in enclosure o r taking oaths. He also charged them with flouting proscribed
ecclesiastical directives by favoring the Dominicans for their pastoral care rather than
their parish priests. According to William St. Amour, the relationship between the
beguines and friars were unhealthy, overly intimate, and ultim ately unsanctioned.61 For
E d m o n d Faral. “Les ‘Responsiones’ de Guillaume de Saint Amour," Archives d'h istorie

doctrinale et litteraire du Moyen A ge (1950-51). responsio 8.
6lGrundmann, 141-142.

43
all these reasons, he recom m ended that the beguines be stripped o f their quasi-religious
status, forbidden from wearing their distinctive habits or cutting their hair, and
excommunicated.62
For Gilbert o f Toum ai beguines were problematic because o f their intellectual
activities. In a report to the second council o f Lyons (1274), the Franciscan wrote:
There are am ong us women called beguines some o f whom blossom forth
in subtleties and rejoice in novelties. They have interpreted in ordinary
French idiom the mysteries o f scripture that are accessible to experts in
divine writing. They read them in common, irreverently, boldly, in
conventicles, convents, and on squares. I have seen, read, and possessed
the French bible a copy o f which has been displayed by the booksellers at
Paris to record the heresies and errors, doubts and untow ard interpretations
contained therein.63
Although G ilbert’s remarks appear to attack the beguine status as a whole, it is
clear from his remarks that he takes issue with the activities o f women religious living
outside a disciplined community. His outrage clearly stems from their translation of
scripture, production o f com m entaries and engagement in theological discussion without
ecclesiastical sanction or supervision. He criticizes their engagement in public
disputation, teaching and preaching as out-of-status. The beguines he describe provide a
classic example o f what Brian Stock has called a “textual com munity,” o r a loosely
formed network o f individuals “ whose social activities are centered around texts, o r more
precisely around a literate interpretor o f them.”64 According to Stock “w hat was essential
6:FaraI. res. 9.10.12. 21-23.
63"Sunt apud nos mulieres. quae Beghinae vocantur, et quaedam earum subtilitatibus vigent et
novitatibus gaudent. Habent interpretata scripturarum mysteria et in communi idiomate gallicata, quae
tamen in sacra Scriptura exercitatis vix sunt per via. Legunt ea communiter, irreverenter, audacter, in
conventiculis. in ergastulis, in plateis. Vidi ego, legi et habui bibliam gallicatam, cuius exemplar Parisiis
publice ponitur a stationariis ad scribendum haereses et errores, dubietates et inconcinnas interpretationes”;
Gilbert o f Toumai Collecrio de scandalis ecclesiae . ed. P.A. Stroick, Archivum Franciscanum Historicum
24 (1931): 61.
w Brian Stock, The Im plications o f Literacy: Written Language and M odels o f Interpretation in
the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Princeton. NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 522.

44
to a textual community was not a written version o f a text, although that w as sometimes
present, but an individual, who, having mastered it, then utilized it for reform ing a
group’s thought and action.”63 G ilbert’s remarks testify to the centrality o f texts and their
interpretation within these loosely organized networks of beguines, beghards and others
devoted to the cause of religious poverty in the Low Countries, Rhineland and la fla n d re
gallicante. The illiterate and semi-literate could participate in these com m unities since
the “text” of a group was ordinarily m em orized and internalized by its members, allowing
all to participate in the intellectual and devotional life of the com munity.66
If statutes and regulations provide any indication of actual practices, then we must
conclude that for some beguines, poverty, and preaching were central to their
understanding o f what it meant to imitate and follow Christ, and that they actively chose
this way o f life despite threats of persecution. Statutes and decrees forbid such activity
and specified procedures for assimilating into enclosed communities the semireligious
who had participated in this way o f life. In G erm any, secular and ecclesiastical
authorities attempted to regulate begging as early as 1259.67 Beguinages in Alsace took
in women mendicants in order to stop them from begging.68 In 1299 the royal
confirm ation o f the customs of the beguinage at Lille reaffirmed its mission to “prevent
the beguines from wandering about town.”69 In 1332 Reinhold von A chenheim and his
wife made their house into a permanent residence for twelve poor women who they took
in under the condition that they refrain from begging or noisy work.70
65Ibid.. 90.
“ Ibid., 91.
6'M cDonnell. 250.
68Ibid.. 146.
69“Ut beguinis ville nostre Insulensis vagandi occasio subtrahatur,” Simons, 90, n. 92.
70M cDonnell. 146.

45
The statutes, decrees, council and inquisitorial records suggest that beguines
outside disciplined com m unities sought out and cultivated spiritual friendships with
others dedicated to the im itation o f the primitive Church through teaching, preaching, and
evangelical poverty. Frederick II adopted measures to repress these heretical groups
within the German Empire as early as 1220. Chronicles mention the discovery and
persecution of three schools o f lay religious at T rier in 1231.71 German and French
translations of the bible and other devotional literature circulated in the cities o f northern
France and the Rhineland. In 1233 the Council o f M ainz developed statutes attem pting
to thrust discipline upon uncloistered women religious (muliercule...voventes
continentiam. virgines, deo virginitatem suam offerentes). In particular, they decreed that
they must work to support themselves, rather than live o ff alms. They were also required
to submit themselves to the authority o f their parish priests and follow their spiritual
counsel.77 A synod in Fritzlar in 1244 formulated sim ilar legislation to control the
wantoness of young, undisciplined beguines. In 1259, another synod in Fritzlar forbid
beghards and beguines from roam ing the streets shouting, “Bread, for G od’s sake, give us
bread” (Brod durch Gott) and preaching in clandestine.73 In 1277, the deacons and
priests of Trier addressed the problem o f conversi and beghards preaching in com petition
with the ordained clergy, and announced a diocese-wide resolution to warn parishoners
about the doctrinal errors and heresies proclaimed by these groups.74
71Ibid.. 505.
'“ ‘Item sacro approbante con cilio prohibemus statuendo, ne muliercule. que voventes
continentiam quodammodo mutaverunt, nec tamen professioni alicujus certe regule se astrinxerunt. per
vicos a modo decurrant, sed in domibus suis vivant de proprio. si hoc habent, si vero sunt pauperes. victum
et alia necessaria laboribus manuum suarum vel alii seviendo conquirant. Hoc idem de virginibus. deo
virginitatem suam offerentibus. ducimus statuendum. Subdite sint et hujusmodi femine suis plebanis, et
eorum consilio regantur"; J.D. Mansi. Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissinia collectio. XXIII
(Florence and Venice. I759ff), 1089: M cDonnell, n. 21, 507.
^M cDonnell. 509.
74Ibid.. 507-508.

From this evidence it is clear how institutionalization and regulation transform ed
beguine religious life and culture, creating an ill-defined division between those beguines
within disciplined communities and those outside of them. The spiritual life o f the
beguinage, through its practices and regulations, sought to channel beguine spirituality
away from absolute poverty and m ysticism and into a more accessible form o f
spirituality. This program was largely successful. As one scholar has pointed out,
“rapture and revelation were not a routine part o f life for most beguines living in their
beguinages."75 Similarly, hagiographic literature actively worked to channel beguine zeal
to follow Christ into standard asceticsim and serve to the institutional Church. I suggest
that these transformations of beguine spirituality, in tandem with larger restrictions
placed upon the pursuit o f the vita apostolica at the end of the thirteenth century, led
those wishing to follow “naked the naked Christ” (Nudus nudum Christi sequi) into
unregulated, loosely defined, “textual” communities.
D. Marguerite Porete
Marguerite Porete provides the most famous example o f an extra-clausal beguine,
or a beguine living outside a formal beguine house. We know very little about her life
apart from the scant details found in her book, the inquistorial records pertaining to her
heresy trial, and her legend in some post-hum ous chronicles.
By all accounts she was a native of the city of Valenciennes in the province o f
Hainault.76 Although there was a beguinage in the city o f Valenciennes during her
75Ziegler. “Reality as Imitation," 121.
76Edmund Colledge, J.C. Marler and Judith Grant. “Introductory Interpretive Essay.” in M argaret
Porette: The M irror o f Simple Souls, trans. Edmund Colledge. J.C.Marler and Judith Grant (Notre Dame,
Ind.: University o f Notre Dame Press. 1999), xxxviii. A lso see Guamieri, “II movimento del Libero
Spirito." 408-409.

47
lifetime, it seems fairly certain that M arguerite did not participate in a formally organized
beguine community.77 She herself seems careful to distance herself from these
communities in her book. and. as som e scholars have pointed out, she self-consciously
eschews many o f the “beguine” themes and practices that “would define her personal or
group identity” with the beguines.78 For these two reasons, some scholars reject
M arguerite’s affiliation with the beguine movement altogether, em phasizing her “free-
lance," indeed, renegade status.79 Yet, as I think I have demonstrated in this chapter,
then, as now, it was not so easy to determine who was a beguine and who was not.
Largely, claims to this status were dependent upon participation in a beguine community.
As we have seen, many women and men avoided joining these com m unities because they
did not suit their religious convictions. This did not mean, however, that they were not
part o f the larger movement.
În 1239 Bishop Guy o f Colmieu helped to establish the beguine community in the town. In 1244
Countess Margaret o f Flanders and Hainault extended the charter for the beguines o f Valenciennes. See
Edumund Colledge. et al.. "Introductory Essay." xlviii. Also. Aubert Miraeus (Le Mire). Opera
diplom atica el Itistorica Belgica. 2nd ed.. vol. 2 (Louvain/Brussels, n.p., 1856), 855-856. During
Marguerite's lifetime. Valenciennes was prosperous and every religious order had founded a house in the
city.
78Kent Emery. Jr.. "Foreword.” in M argaret Porette: The M irror o f Sim ple Souls, trans. Edmund
C olledge. J.C. Marler and Judith Grant (Notre Dame, Ind.: University o f Notre Dame Press, 1999). xi.
Edmund Colledge and his colleagues such as Kent Emery Jr.. etc. appear to be the group most vested in
arguing against Marguerite’s status as a beguine. Interestingly, they are also the m ost interested in working
out the apparent orthodoxy/heresy o f her book. See their latest English translation o f the work, particularly
the introduction. For a good sampling o f CoIIedge's views see his ‘T h e Latin ‘Mirror o f Simple Souls’:
Margaret Porete’s ‘ultimate acolade"?." in Langland, the M ystics and the M ediaeval English Religious
Tradition: Essays in Honor ofS.S. H assey (Cambridge: University o f Cambridge Press. 1990), 177-183;
idem. "Liberty o f Spirit: ‘The Mirror o f Sim ple Souls’.” Theology o f Renewal 2 (1968): 100-117. Fora
more moderate assessment o f Porete’s doctrinal positions see Jean Orcibal. "’Le Miroir des simples am es’
et la ‘secte’ du Libre Esprit.” Revue de I ’hisroire des religions 175 (1969): 35-60. Luisa Muraro has an
interesting discussion o f the ongoing trial against Marguerite conducted against her in modem scholarship.
See Lingua matema scienza divina: Scritti sulla filosofia mistica d i M argherita P orete (Naples:
M .D ’Auria Editore. 1995). Eleanor McLaughlin has attempted to move away from the orthodox/heterodox
conundrum to argue that the "heretics" shared a commun spirit with other mystics o f the time. She suggest
that the M irror is both orthodox and “Free Spirit." See Eleanor McLaughlin, ‘T h e Heresy o f the Free
Spirit and Late Medieval Mysticism, " M edievalia et Humanistica n.s. 4 (1973): 37-54.
79ColIedge and his colleagues suggest that this appellation applied to Marguerite prejudicially.
See “Introductory Essay." xlvii.

48
To her inquisitors and posthum ous chroniclers. Marguerite Porete was a beguine
who had fallen into the error o f heresy. For later generations o f chroniclers she was also
renowned as a teacher and preacher— albeit a heretical one. The authors o f Les grandes
chroniques de France describe her a “beguine clergesse" who transgressed the
boundaries of her status and sex by appropriating clerical privilege. They provide a
veritable laundry list o f her crimes such as the interpretation and translation o f scripture,
the dissemination of a book am ongst the laity, and the transmission o f doctrines contrary
80
to the C hurch’s teachings concerning the Eucharist. Guillaume de Nangis called her a
pseudom ulier who had authored a w ork o f speculative theology that promoted the
antinomian belief that “the soul annihilated in the love of the Creator ought to, without
O I
remorse, give to nature whatever it desires.” Jean Gerson was fam iliar with M arguerite
who he knew by the name of M ary o f V alenciennes {quae M aria de Valenciennes
dicebatur).82 According to the C hancellor o f the University o f Paris, her book was a
work o f “incredible subtlety” {quodam libello incredibili pene subtilitate) that provided
evidence o f an established method and tradition o f beguine theological inquiry

83
characterized by a preoccupation w ith the nature o f divine love and the vita apostolica.
^ “...Une beguine clergesse. qui estoit Marguerite Poree, qui avait trespassee et transcendee
l'escripture devine et es articles de la foy avoit erre, et du sacrement de 1’autel avoit dit paroles contraires et
prejudiciables. Et pour ce des maitres expers en theologie avoit este condampnee”; J. Viard. Les gran des
chroniques de France, vol. 8 (Paris: Societe de l’Histoire de France, 1934), 273; as quoted in Paul
Verdeyen, “Le proces d ’inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard Cressonessart (1309-1310),“ Revue
d 'liistoire ecclesiastique 81 (1986). 91.
81” ...Quod anima adnichilata in amore Conditoris sine remorsu conscientiae debet et potest dare
naturae quicquid appetit"; Guigniaut et D e W ally. R ecueil d es histoiens des Gaules et de la France, XX I
(Paris. 1885). 279-281, as quoted in Verdeyen. “Le proces." 90. Another specifies that she disseminated
her book among “many simple people, beghards and others" (pluribus aliis personas simplicibus.
Beghardis et aliis). Fredericq, Corpus, I. 157.
s:Jean Gerson. Tractatus de distinctione verarum visionum a falsis, Quintum signum, O pera
omnia, ed. M. Lud. Ellies du Pin (Antwerp: Sumptibus Societatis. 1706), 1:55.
s3“Amplius hanc ob causam inter caeteras videntur errasse Begardi et Begardae, ob indiscretam
dilectionem nomine devotionis palliatam. Argumentum hujus rei est in quodam libello incredibili pene
subtilitate ab unafoemina composito, quae Maria de Valenciennes dicebatur; haec agit de praerogativa et

49
In his discussion of the treatise. Gerson notes that M arguerite’s book did not concern
itself with the standard mystical pilgrimage to God or the fulfillm ent o f divine teachings.
Instead, it had a far more lofty purpose altogether; it presum ed to describe the states of
divine love that could be achieved by the soul and to speculate concerning divine
fruition.84 In attempting to address these themes, M arguerite had fallen into grave error,
and Gerson uses her as an exam ple of the trouble into w hich these unregulated women
could fall if allowed to continue their mode of prophetically inspired theological inquiry.
Inquisitorial records located at the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris detail
M arguerite's trial and condemnation. They too call her a beguine. Based upon these
records, most scholars agree that she probably wrote the first version o f her book in the
1290s. Sometime between 1296 and 1306 Bishop Guy II o f Cambrai condemned the
book. It was burned publicly in Valenciennes, and, at that time, bishop Guy warned
Marguerite that she would be brought before the secular authorities “if she attempted
again to propagate by word o r by writing such things as w ere contained in the book.”85
Scholars generally believe that following this first condem nation. Marguerite sent her
work to three theologians to obtain certificates o f the book’s orthodoxy: a Franciscan
Friar John of Quaregnon, a Cistercian named Dom Franco o f Villiers, and the parisian
master Godfrey of Fontaines.86 Godfrey o f Fontaines had approved the contents of the
eminentia dilectionis divinae. ad quam si quis devenerit. sit secundam earn ab omni lege praeceptorum
solutus. adducens pro se illud ab Apostolo sumptum"; ibid.
^ “Etenim si praedicta Maria non de viatoribus utique ligatis ad praeceptorum divinorum

impletionem; sed de statu beatorum dilectionem quam describebat applicasset, vix altius quicquam de
divina fruitione. quoad aliqua. dici potuerat; sed fallebat earn sua tumiditas animi tantae passioni dilectionis
immixta"; ibid.
85“Et per litteram predicti episcopi fuit ordinatum quod, si talia sicut ea que continebantur in libro,
de cetera attemptaret verbo vel scripto, earn condempnabat et relinquebat iustitiandam iustitie secuiari” ;
Verdeyen. "Le proces." 78.
S6In my examination o f Marguerite Porete's book. I have used the French and Latin critical
editions prepared by Romana Guamieri and Paul Verdeyen. See Guamieri and Vedeyen, eds.. M arguerite
Porete: Le M irouer des Sim ples am es; M argaretae Porete Speculum sim plicium animarum (Tumholt:

50
book prior to the bishop’s condem nation, but he had done so with some reservations. In
the master's opinion, the book could have a negative effect upon weaker souls since they
were unlikely to be able to attain to the level o f discernment dem anded by the book. The
Approbatio states that M aster Godfrey recom m ended that few should see the book
because “they could set aside the life to which they were called in aspiring to the one at
which they will never arrive. And so, in this they could be deceived, because...the book
is made from a spirit so strong and ardent that few or none are found to be like it.’’87
Despite these qualifications, the m aster recognized it as an important and powerful book,
giving it his highest recommendation: “ All other practices are inferior to this...they are
human practices; this alone is divine practice and nothing other than this.’’88
The book's approval by three reputable theologians most likely gave M arguerite
the authority she felt she needed to continue to circulate her book despite the bishop’s
condemnation of it.89 The text circulated widely in the Old French as evidenced by its
translation into many other languages. T his suggests that Marguerite had recourse to
Brepols. 1986). Hereafter. I will refer to the French text as M irouer and the Latin as Speculum. Unless
otherwise noted, all translations from this text are my own. As a guide for these translations, I have drawn
upon those o f Ellen Babinsky and Edmund C olledge. J.C.Marler and Judith Grant. See Ellen Babinsky.
trans.. The M irror o f Simple Souls (New York: Paulist Press, 1993); and M argaret Porette.
For the reference to this point in the text see Speculum 140.9-36. The approbatio is not found in
all manuscripts o f the Mirror. The critical edition reprints it in the Middle English and Latin. I have cited
the Latin edition. Edmund Colledge and his colleagues view the approbatio with suspicion since we have
"only her word for it that Godfrey wrote ever so much as she claims." See “Introductory Essay." xl. Kurt
Ruh provides a more enthusiastic evaluation o f this text in Kurt Ruh. M eister Eckhart: Theologie,
Prediger, Mvstiker (Munich, n.p.. 1985). 104.
87“...Possent dimittere vitam suam ad quam sunt vocati, aspirando ad istam ad quam forte
numquam pervenirent; et sic per noc decipi possent. Quia...liber iste factus est ab uno spiritu ita forti et
fervido. quod pauci aut nulli sim iles inveniretur"; Speculum 140.27-31.
88"Quia omnes alii usus isto inferiores...sunt usus humani; hie vero solus est usus divinus et nullus
alius nisi iste"; ibid.34-36.
89Paul Verdeyen discusses the approval at length and suspects that because o f it. the inquisitor in
Paris had to bring together a large committee in order to get the approval overturned, once and for all. as it
were. See Verdeyen. “Le proces." 52-53.

51
both scribes and funds.90 The m anuscript tradition bears out the theory that M arguerite
used the certificates as a preface to later copies of her book.91 The trial records suggest
that Marguerite recom menced her preaching and teaching activities first in Cam brai. only
gradually moving farther afield. No doubt her success prompted her to present her book
to John of Castro Villani. Bishop o f Chalons who promptly handed her over to Phillippe
o f Marigny the inquistor o f Lorraine. In 1308 Marguerite was arrested in Paris for
continuing to circulate her condem ned M irror and was commanded to appear before the
Dominican Inquistor o f Paris. W illiam Humbert. When she refused to appear on her own
volition, she was brought before the inquisitor, and asked to take the oath necessary to
commence examination. M arguerite refused to take this oath or to make any statem ent
whatsoever. She maintained silence throughout her imprisonment.and trial. O n April 11,
1309, a panel of twenty-one theologians convened to inspect a list o f fifteen articles
extracted from her book. The masters judged the work as heretical based upon the
antinomian implications o f its teachings and its subversive attitude towards the church
and its sacramental system.92 M arguerite languished in prison for another year until her
formal trial and condem nation as a heretic on May 31, 1310. The inquisitor o f Paris
him self presided over M arguerite’s trial and offered her absolution if she recanted the
teachings in her book. M arguerite maintained her silence and in so doing assured her
condemnation. On M ay 31, 1310 she was handed over to the secular arm for punishm ent,
and on June 1, 1310. she was burned at the stake in the Place du Greve.
^Colledge. et al.. “Introductory Essay." xl.
91Ibid.. xii. Colledge. et al. point out that the approbatio only appears in the translations o f the
text which were probably made from Marguerite's edition o f the book made after the bishop’s
condemnation. See ibid.. xl-xlii.
9:!In their decree they cite the only the first and fifteeth articles. See Verdeyen, “Le proces," 51.

52
Historians have reached little agreem ent regarding the m otivations for either
M arguerite’s persecution or the inquisitor o f P aris’ special interest in her case. Some
have suggested that her trial and condem nation provided a way for Phillip the Fair to
represent him self as a champion o f orthodoxy and to reach an accord w ith the papacy in
the wake of the Templar affair.93 However. I think it more likely that M arguerite’s
persecution represents a manifestation o f the concern o f the ecclesiastical authorities, as
well as the friars, with the growing autonom y o f theological inquiry am ongst the laity,
generally, and the beguines in particular.94 Following M arguerite’s condem nation and
execution, things would grow progressively worse for the beguines, beghards, and other
unregulated religious movements. From the ecclesiastical legislation it is clear that the
real target of repression were beguines outside of the beguinage - especially those
engaging in preaching, teaching, and theological inquiry.
So was Marguerite a beguine? I think so, yes. But who was her audience?
Scholars have been understandably wary to speculate about the audience fo r M arguerite’s
book, confining themselves to discussions o f her elitism and the theology o f the “simple
souls” whose life she addresses in her book.95 The lack of evidence for reconstructing
her life, and the problems surrounding her conviction and execution for heresy have
further complicated matters. Logically, the first place scholars have looked to find this
com m unity is amongst the “Free Spirits” and other heretics like G uiard de Cressonessart.
93Robert Lemer. The Heresy o f the Free Spirit (Berkeley: University o f California Press. 1972).
68-84; Verdeyen. "Le proces." 76-77 and 84-86; McGinn. Flowering. 245-246.
’"‘Robert Lemer is o f this opinion as well. He has argued that the Dominicans and Franciscans
were often (although not always) hostile to beguines and beghards precisely because o f the similarity
between these movements and the fact that charges o f heresy and illicit conduct brought against the latter
threatened the status of the friars. He has also argued that the ecclesiastical authorities were particularly
opposed to female mendicancy. See Lemer, H eresy o f the Free Spirit, 45.
95Joanne Maguire Robinson has discussed how courtly concepts o f nobility inform the elitist bent
o f the M irror in Nobility a n d Annihilation in M arguerite P orete’s M irror o f Simple Souls (Albany: State
University o f New York Press. 2001).

53
But, as Robert Lem er has shown, there was neither a coherent “heresy o f the Free Spirit,”
nor an organized community of “Free Spirits” in the late thirteenth century. Although
M arguerite Porete may have been imprisoned with Guiard de Cressonessart, their cases
were separate as their ideals.96
As I will demonstrate in chapter five M arguerite Porete was well trained in the
type o f m editation practiced in beguine communities. Her book uses, critiques, and
attempts to advance beguine spirituality as practiced within the beguinage. Like other
beguine authors, Hadewijch and Mechthild, Marguerite's treatise is dedicated to the study
of love and the training of the eyes o f the heart through meditation and contem plation in
preparation for the loving intellects return to G od in unio m y stic a l1 Indeed, close
exam ination o f the text, combined with M arguerite’s “biography” and what we know
about beguine activity outside the beguinage, suggests that the intended audience for her
book were extra-clausal beguines. The women (and some men) women who were the
intended audience for the M irror may well have been similar to the beguines mentioned
by Gilbert o f Toum ai in his report to the second council of Lyon. Like the w om en (and
some men mentioned in his report), these beguines and beghards would meet in
inform ally organized groups to study and discuss a “text” and debate a set o f ideas about
the differences between divine and human love, the imitation o f Christ and the apostles,
and the possibility o f the attainment o f divine love and knowledge through
contem plation. Although this cannot be proved with any certainty, we may well
%Lerner, H eresy o f the Free Spirit, especially 228-243. On Marguerite Porete and Guiard de
Cressonessart see Lerner. “An ‘Angel o f Phildelphia' in the Reign o f Phillip the Fair: The C ase o f Guiard
de Cressonessart." in O rder and Innovation in the M iddle Ages: Essays in Honor o f Joseph R. S trayer
(Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1976). 343-364,529-540.
97Bernard McGinn and Romana Guamieri, respectively, place her in the company o f other beguine
mystics because o f the rapprochement between her thought and that o f other beguine authors. See McGinn,
Flowering, 199-265; Guamieri, “Angela, mistica europea," especially 58-82. A lso see Emilie zum Brunn
and Georgette Epiney-Burgard. eds.. Women M ystics in M edieval Europe, trans. Sheila Hughs (N ew York:
Paragon House, 1989); Newman. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist, 137-67.

54
hypothesize that the audience for M arguerite’s M irror was a loosely organized “textual
community,” an informal school o f beguines, beghards, and others dedicated to religious
poverty. Brian Stock has observed:
From reading, dialogue, and the absorption o f texts, therefore, it is a short

step to “textual communities,” that is to groups o f people w hose social
activities are centered around texts, or, more precisely, around a literate
interpretor o f them. The text in question need not be written dow n nor the
majority o f the auditors actually literate. The interpres may relate it
verbally, as did the medieval preacher...the g ro up ’s members m ust
associate voluntarily; their interaction must take place around an agreed
meaning for a text. Above all, they must make the hermeneutic leap from
what the text says to what they think it means; the common understanding
provides the foundation for changing thought and behavior.98
Marguerite Porete, as the author o f a book, may well have stood at the center o f such a
community as the “literate interpreter” o f the ideals and practices of some beguines (and
beghards) in networks outside the beguinage.
E. Marguerite’s Mirror, the Heresy of the Free Spirit, and the Condemnation of the
Beguines
The council o f Vienne in 1311-1312 appears to have used some o f the condem ned
articles from M arguerite’s M irror as the key source for docum enting the beliefs o f the
Heresy of the Free Spirit - the heresy associated with the fervent advocates o f religious
poverty among the beguines, beghards, Franciscan tertiaries, and some Franciscans in
northern France, the Rhineland, Provence and Umbria. Although represented by
inquisitors as a cohesive and coherent heresy, this movement w as neither form ally
organized nor a sect descended from ancient heretical movements, but rather an
98Stock, 522. Kent Emery, Jr. has made a similar suggestion. See "Forward,” M argaret Porette,
ix.

55
outgrowth of the twin cults o f poverty and m en d ican cy ." The charges o f antinom ianism
levied against Free Spirits are sim ilar to those prom olgated amongst all heretics in the
medieval world. The real "heresy” appears to have consisted in the belief in autotheism ,
the possibility o f total identification with God on earth, and the rejection of the
sacramental system of the church.100 As the decree Cum de quibusdam mulieribiis
promulgated by Pope Clement V in the wake o f V ienne makes clear, heretical opinions
and activity were particularly associated with w om en religious living outside a beguinage
or a disciplined community. This decree forbid w om en from pursuing a religious life
without formal profession or submission to an established rule upon the following
grounds:
There are certain women, com m only called beguines whom, although they
promise no one obedience and neither renounce property nor live in
accordance with an approved rule, and consequently can in no way be
considered regulars, nevertheless w ear a so-called beguine habit, and cling
to certain religious to who they are draw n by special preference. It has
been repeatedly and reliably reported to us that some of them, as if
possessed with madness, dispute and preach about the Highest Trinity and
divine essence and in respect to the articles o f faith and the sacraments o f
the Church spread opinions that are contradictory to the Catholic faith.
They deceive many simple persons in these things and lead them into
various errors; they also do and com m it under the veil of holiness much
else which endangers their souls.101
"Lemer. H eresy o f the Free S pirit. 35-60.
100Ibid.. 227.
l0'"Quum de quibusdam mulieribus. Beguinabus vulgariter nuncupatis, (quae, quum nulli

promittant obedientiam. nec propriis renuncient, neque profiteantur aliquam regulam approbatam,
religiosae nequaquam exsistunt. quanquam habitum, qui Beguinarum dicitur, deferant. et adhaereant
religiosis aliquibus, ad quos specialiter trahitur affectio earundem.) nobis fide digna relatione insinuatum
exstiterit. quod earum aliquae. quasi perductae in mentis insaniam. de summa Trinitate ac divina essentia
disputent et praedicent. ac circa fidei articulos et ecclesiastica sacramenta opiniones catholicae fidei
contrarias introducant, et. muhos super his decipientes sim plices, eos in errores diversos inducant, aliaque
quam plura periculum animarum parientia sub quodam velam ine sanctitatis faciant et committant...”; E.
Friedberg. Corpus iuris canonici, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Bernard Tauchnitz. 1879-81), II, 1169. Translation by
M cDonnell, 524.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n p ro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

56
The decree addresses all beguines in general, but clearly targets beguines outside
the beguinage. It condem ns their lack of regulation and their engagem ent in theological
and doctrinal debate. It also alludes to their preaching and teaching activities. As a
follow-up to this decree, the papacy issued a second piece o f legislation. A d nostram qui
desideranter, which w as much more specific, unam biguously associating the beguines
and beghards with eight errors typical of the heresy o f the Free S pirit.102
As scholars have pointed out, these decrees were w idely misunderstood to apply
to all beguines without distinction by the ecclesiastical authorities in both northern and
southern Europe.103 Although cum de quibusdam m ulieribus formally dissolved the
beguine status, it had included a “saving clause” for w om en o f sincere faith and piety
who chose to live in enclosure and subject to clerical direction. The ecclesiastical and
secular authorities applied this clause indiscriminately. By 1317 authorities throughout
northern Europe used the decree to justify their dissolution o f beguinages, and the
harassment of com m unities o f tertiaries and other lay penitents. In Strasbourg, the
conflict between the secular clergy and friars over the appropriate application of the
edicts of Vienne reflects a struggle for power over the laity. The secular clergy charged
the friars with m isinterpreting the Clementine decrees, and the friars defended
lo:These eight errors consisted in: 1) A person can attain to such a degree o f perfection in current
life as to be incapable o f sinning and no longer progress in grace, to becom e more perfect than Christ
(p o sset aliquis Christo p erfectior inveniri); 2) After attaining such perfection, a person has no need to fast
or pray because the the senses are so perfectly ordered by the soul and reason that the body may be granted
absolute liberty; 3) Those who live in this freedom o f the spirit are no longer subject to any obedience or
law and that they are free from ecclesiastical regulations; 4) A person is able to achieve in the present life
eternal blessedness; 5) Every rational being is blessed by nature and therefore the soul has no need o f the
divine light to behold God or enjoy him; 6) The perfect soul no longer has need o f the virtues since these
are only necessary for the imperfect; 7) Sexual activity is not a sin if nature demands it; 8) Special
veneration o f the host during the divine service is unnecessary since it detracts from the more perfect work
o f pure contemplation (si a p u ritate et altitudine suae contem plationis tantuin descenderent...). Henrici
Denzinger. Enchiridion sym bolorum definitionum et declarationum d e rebus fid e i et mo rum (Freiburg:
Herder. 1991). 891-899. '
l03For example, see M cD onnell's discussion,, 521-538.

com munities of women who made a strong show o f submitting themselves to their
authority.104 Eventually, John XXII would issue the bull Sancta romana atque
universalis ecclesia that condem ned com m unities o f lay religious in Sicily, Provence,
Narbonne, and Toulouse who lived under the rule o f the third order o f St. Francis. With
this bull he issued a clause that preserved the beguine way o f life for those w om en, often
called “beguines,” who lived with relatives, or in their own houses and led an exem plary
life, attending church regularly and subm itting themselves to the authority o f the local
clergy.103 Although John preserved the way o f life o f some “good” beguines, he stopped
short o f recognizing them as an order, recom mending the close supervision o f their
communities. Papal attempts to enforce inquisitors and the ecclesiastical authorities to
distinguish between “orthodox” and “heterodox” beguines was largely unsuccessful in
large part due to the ambiguity of the legislation and its inherent malleability.
Consequently, the treatm ent of beguines in the north varied from diocese to diocese, and
depended, in large part, upon the tenor o f the relationship between these women and the
local ecclesiastical authorities, as w ell as that o f the secular clergy and the friars.
I04lbid., 532-3.
I05lbid., 536. In an important study o f the conciliar legislation Jacqueline Tarrant show that the
council mentioned the beguines only briefly. Their partial condemnation was the result o f postconciliar
revision supplemented by John XXII in his bull Recta ratio. See Jacqueline Tarrant, ‘T h e Clementine
Decrees on the Beguines: Conciliar and Papal Versions,” Archivum Historiae Pontificae 12 (1974): 300-
307.

58
III. The Women’s Religious Movement in Thirteenth-Century Italy
As in the northern Europe, women in Italy comprised a visible and vibrant part of
the lay penitential movement dedicated to the vita apostolica and the imitation of the
poor, humble Christ.106 Largely as a result o f Innocent Hi’s approval o f Francis’
fledgeling community, the Franciscans would em erge from this context as the most
influential and long-lasting o f these penitential “societies”.107 W hat immediately strikes
any researcher investigating the history o f the w om en’s religious movem ent in Italy is the
extent to which its history is intim ately tied to that o f the Franciscan order and various
forms o f “women’s Franciscanism” {francescanesimo fem m inile).m Although the
Dominicans also participated in the pastoral care o f women penitents, the Franciscan
m essage held particular appeal for Italian women religious in central Italy.109 No doubt
the similarities between the spirituality o f the Franciscans and other penitential groups
contributed to their success in Italy and elsewhere. The Second O rder o f St. Clare and
the Third Order o f St. Francis provided two preferred institutional outlets for women
seeking to pursue an ecclesiastically sanctioned form of the new religious life .110 During
l06For a study o f the parallels between these two movements see Mens. L'O m brie italienne et
VO m brie brabanqonne.
107G. Meersseman discusses Francis from within the context o f these societies and the history o f
lay religiosity in the church. See Meersseman, D ossier de I'ordre de la penitence au X llle siecle (Fribourg:
Editions universitaires Fribourg, 1961). 1-38.
l0SRusconi, “Spread o f W om en’s Franciscanism,” 35-75.
l<wAnna Benvenuti Papi discusses the different religious affiliations o f these women. See Anna
Benvenuti Papi. “Frati Mendicanti e pinzochere in Toscana," in Temi e problem i nella mistica femm inile
trecentesca (Todi: Convengi del Centro di Studi sulla Spiritualita Medievale, 1983), 109-135.
ll0Benjamin de Troyer has suggested that the rapprochement between the ideals o f the early
beguines and the Franciscans contributed to the latter group’s success in the Lowlands between the years
1219-1250. In the northern context, the Franciscan devotion to the humanity o f Christ as well as their a.)
rejection o f traditional monasticism in favor o f a life that combines activity with contemplation, b.)

the course o f the thirteenth century, the papal curia would adopt measures to regulate and
institutionalize the women’s religious m ovem ent by bringing it more in line with
traditional m onasticism .111
A survey of both the primary and secondary sources pertaining to the history o f
the bizzoche (beguines) in northern and central Italy can prove confusing because the
distinction between a rerzaria, a woman living according to the rule o f the Franciscan
Third O rder o f Penance, and a bizzoca, an unregulated penitent within the Franciscan
orbit, som etim es appears to be little more than a m atter o f formal institutional affliation
rather than m anner of life. Further confusion arises from the historiography. As Roberto
Rusconi has observed, historians have tended “to assimilate en masse to the O rder o f St.
Clare (or at least to the influence o f Franciscan ideal and institutions) w om en’s groups
whose origins are very complex and often totally unconnected to the Franciscan
m ovem ent or the Orders of Friars M inor.” 112 Such a tendency, Rusconi suggests, has
obscured the interrelations between forms o f w om en’s Franciscanism, such as the Poor
Ladies o f San Damiano, the O rder of St. C lare, and the Franciscan Third O rder of
Penance, as well as the bizzoche in northern and central Italy. Several other factors
com plicate research upon the origins of the various branches o f the w om en’s religious
m ovem ent, and, indeed, the project of easily distinguishing the history o f one group from
another: First, the lack of early sources docum enting the women’s m ovem ent in any
evangelical fervor for spreading their spirituality, and c.) emphasis upon divine love had sim ilarities with
the spirituality o f the beguines. According to De Troyer, the success of the Franciscans in the Lowlands
can be attributed to the fact that they provided an ecclesiastically accepted form o f beguine and beghard
spirituality. He concludes by noting that follow ing the accusations levied against the beghards at the
second Council o f Lyons in 1274. beghards were m ost likely to adopt the rule o f the Franciscan third order
than any other. See Benjamin de Troeyer, "Beguines et Tertiaries." in Ifra ti penitenti d i San Francesco
nella societa d el due e trecento, ed. Mariano D ’Alatri (Rome: Istituto Storico dei Cappuccini, 1977), 136-
137.
1“ Rusconi, "Spread o f W omen's Franciscanism." 35-75.
112Ibid.. 39.

60
detail prior to the advent o f Franciscanism : second, the fragmented and variagated quality
of penitential life in northern and central Italy: third, the success o f papal attem pts from
G regory IX through John XXII to institutionalize women penitents within the m ainstream
o f w om en's Franciscanism or other m onastic orders. Finally, the condem nation o f
beguines and tertiaries as advocates o f the heresy of the Free Spirit and the Franciscan
Spirituals prompted many sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Franciscan historians to
create the "pious forgeries” tracing the origins of many communities back to Francis and
Clare rather than the w om en's religious movement.1lj
Within central Italy, w om en religious pursued three general forms of religious
life: a cenobitic life of moderate enclosure: the eremitical life characterized by solitary
oblates, recluses, and hermits who either lived within the city or ju st outside its w alls: and
a penitential life pursued by w om en in their own hom es.114 The different names ascribed
to these women, such as oblate, offerte, devote, donate, rendute, converse, commisse,
penitenti, continteni, vestite, m antellate, dimesse, rimesse, umiliate, corrigiate,
cordellate, and terziarie, reflect the range o f women penitents throughout northern and
central Italy, and attest to the evolution o f their vita religiosa over tim e.115 As in
northern Europe, the lives of m any Italian women religious are characterized by
restlessness and a spirit of experim entation with different form o f religious life. M uch of
this was the result o f clerical directive and the ecclesiastical desire to find an appropriate
institutional place for women religious when possible. For example, following F rancis’
guidance, Clare of Assisi participated in the life of several religious com m unities before
,1?Ibid.
114Sensi. “Anchoresses and Penitents," 57.
1l5Romana Guarnieri. “Pinzochere,"D izionario degli Istituti d i Perfezione 6 (Rome: Edizioni

Paoline. 1974-). 1723.

61
setting up her own at San D am iano.116 Similarly, Angela of Foligno’s M em orial
describes the life of a bizzoca as characterized by a certain freedom. “A ngela,” or Christ’s
faithful one {fidelis christi) as she is called in her book, gradually changes her status,
m oving from married lay woman to penitent {bizzoca), and from an unaffiliated penitent
to a tertiary of the Franciscan T hird O rder o f Penance. Although this gradual
com m itm ent to the religious life m ay be unremarkable, what is significant is the fact that
she chooses the Franciscans for h er spiritual direction out o f her devotion to Francis and
his message, rather than because they have been appointed to her care. Like their sisters
in the north, Italian women religious cultivated relationships and forged networks with
other women seeking to participate in a sim ilar vita religiosa. Sim ilarly, individual
women and small communities o f female penitents sought out clerics, m ost notably friars,
who would encourage their spirituality and gain support for their fledgling communities.
As in the southern Low Countries, northern France and the Rhineland, scholars
have suggested that the lack o f available places in traditional monastic houses account for
the large numbers o f women religious and their diverse forms o f religious life in early
thirteenth century Italy.117 H owever, it seems more likely that women in Italy freely
chose to adopt the new vita religiosa over other forms of monastic life because it more
clearly realized their spiritual aspirations. The history of Clare and her order merit
discussion, because it can help us understand some of the key features o f the w om en’s
m ovem ent in Italy, illustrate the nature and tenor of the struggle fought by these groups to
forge an outlet for their religiosity, and finally help us to see better the connections
am ongst evangelical poverty, contem plation and the vita apostolica in w om en’s
1I6Mario Sensi, "Anchoresses and Penitents in Thirteenth-andFourteenth-Century Umbria,” in

Women an d Religion in M edieval and Renaissance Italy, eds. Daniel Bom stein and Roberto Rusconi
(Chicago: University o f Chicago Press. 1996), 58.
ll7Grundmann. 139-152; Rusconi. “Spread o f Women's Franciscanism,” 40; Sensi, "Anchoresses

and Penitents,” 57-58; Guamieri. "Beguines Beyond the Alps.” 95.

62
com munities. Andre Vauchez has observed that the women associated with
Franciscanism tend to emphasize service to the poor as central to their vocations, and
dem onstrate a shift from service to asceticism and contem plation.118 In the next section,
I will suggest that this contemplative em phasis developed as a response to
institutionalization, providing women with a socially acceptable mode o f evangelical
activity as well as a way to practice radical poverty.
A. Clare and the “Institutionalization” of the Women’s Religious
Movement119
Although Clare had probably heard Francis preach as early as 1210, it w asn’t until
1212 that she vowed to take up the penitential state and follow the exam ple and doctrine
o f Francis.120 In a dramatic act. Francis, a m ere deacon, tonsured Clare, giving some
measure o f approval to her vocation. D espite this fact, he considered it unsuitable for her
to reside with him self and the other friars at the Portiuncula, and he was unw illing to
found an order for women or com mit to their pastoral care. Thus, Francis first placed
"8A. Vauchez. Les laics au moyen age: p ra ctiq u es et experiences religieuses (Paris: Les Editions
du Cerf. 1987), 189-202. Paul Lachance mentions this point in his introduction to Angela o f F oligno’s
complete work’s. See P. Lachance. “Introduction," in A ngela o f Foligno: C om plete W orks (N ew York:
Paulist Press. 1993), 39.
,l9There is an extensive literature on Clare o f A ssisi. Some important works include: Giancarlo
Andenna and Benedetto Vetere, Chiara e la diffusione d elle Clarisse nel secolo XIII (L ecce, Congedo,
1998); M. Bartoli, Cliiara: una donna tra silenzio e m em oria (Milan: Sao Paolo, 2001); Margaret Carney,
The First Franciscan Woman: Clare o f A ssisi and H er Form o f Life (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Herald Press,
1993); Ingrid Peterson, Clare o f Assisi: A B iographical Study (Quincy, IL: Franciscan Herald Press,
1993); idem, Clare o f Assisi: A M edieval and M o d em Woman. Clarefest Selected P apers (St.
Bonaventure. NY: Franciscan Institute, 1996). English translation o f Clare’s writing can be found in
Francis a n d Clare: Complete Works. trans. Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius Brady (N ew York: Paulist
Press. 1982).
l20’’Pater coeIestis...cor meum dignatus est illustrare, ut exemplo et doctrina beatissim i patris nostri
Francisci poenitentiam facerem”; Meersseman, D o ssier, 5.

63
Clare with the Benedictines at the m onastery of San Paolo in Basia, and later m oved her
to a cell in the monastery o f San Angelo di Panzo.121 Eventually, Clare settled at San
Damiano, where her com m unity grew to embrace the women who flocked to jo in them --
new members sent by Francis and those attracted by their style o f life. Like the beguines
in the north, the majority o f the women who joined Clare were from the urban aristocracy
and the merchant class.122 A t the trial for her canonization, Ugolino di Pietro G irardone
hailed Clare as the founder o f the recluse movement in central Italy, but in reality the
anchoritic and recluse m ovem ents predated the Franciscanism .12-5 The large num bers of
women religious who em erged in northern and central Italy in the wake o f the evangelical
activities of Francis and his follow ers suggests that the Franciscans served as a catalyst
for a religious movement already in place.124
Clare’s rule and testam ent as well as the documents from her canonization process
describe her community as com bining traditional monasticism with the sem i-religious life
o f the bizzocaggio, or com m unal life practiced by other women penitents in their own
homes. 125 In a letter, Jacques de V itry describes the life o f the sorores m inores (as he
called the Poor Ladies o f San Dam iano) as distinguished from the fra tres m inores only by
the stability of their com m unities. These women appear quite sim ilar to other
121Roberto Rusconi has argued that Francis’ hostility to the cura monialium reflected a desire to
keep the Friors Minor and w om en’s Franciscanism free from institutionalization. See Rusconi, “ Spread o f
W om en's Franciscanism." 47-50.
‘“ Sensi."Anchoresses and Penitents." 59; Jacques Guy Bougerol. "II reclutamento sociale delle
Clarisse di Assisi.” Les ordres m endiants et la ville en Italie centrale. v. 1220-1350, M elanges de I'Ecole
fra n ca is de Rome. Moyen dge-tem ps m o d e m es 89 (1977): 629-32.
1-3Mario Sensi. Storie d i bizzoch e, ch. 7.
I24Clara Gennaro, "Clare. A gnes, and their Earliest Followers: From the Poor Ladies o f San
Damiano to the Poor Clares.” in Women a n d Religion in M edieval and Renaissance Italy, eds. Daniel
Bornstein and Roberto Rusconi (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1996), 39.
l25Sensi, “Anchoresses and Penitents.” 58-59.

com munities of women penitents in central Italy who, according to the Bishop o f Acre,
live “in various hospices near the towns...will accept nothing, and live entirely by the
labors o f their hands.” 126 Like the mulieres religiosae, the early franciscan women and
other groups of women penitents sustained their communities from money made by
spinning and making altar linen, but C lare’s unrelenting emphasis upon poverty
distinguished her groups from the others.
Like the early Franciscans, Clare and her companions engaged in a way o f life
that bridged the traditional m onastic division between the active and contem plative lives.
Sim ilar to the beguines in the north, the “Poor Ladies” spent their days engaged in prayer,
labor manuum. and evangelical activities such as mutual exhortation and the guidance
and conversion of others through exem plary behavior. Their spirituality centered upon
the articulation of a simple, nonintellectual prayer achieved through the interiorization of
the gospels in meditation and sym pathy with creation.127 Clare’s Testament makes
explicit how the engagement in contem plative prayer was meant to function as a mode of
public apostolic activity in im itation o f Christ which stood in contrast to earlier models of
monastic seclusion:
For the Lord H im self not only has set us as an exam ple and m irror for
others, but also for our [own] sisters whom the Lord has called to our way
of life, so that they in turn will be a mirror and exam ple to those living in
the world. Since, therefore, the Lord has called us to such great things,
that those who are to be models and mirrors for others may behold
themselves in us, we are truly bound to bless and praise the Lord and to be
strengthened constantly in Him to do good. Therefore, if we have lived
according to the form given us, we shall, by very little effort, leave others
a noble exam ple and gain the prize of eternal happiness.128
l26‘*Mulieres vero iuxta civitates in diversis hospitiis simul commorantur; nichil accipiunt, sed de
Iabore manuum <suarum> vivunt"; L ettres de Jacques de Vitry, 1.120-122.
i:7Genaro. "Clare. Agnes, and their Earliest Followers." 40.
128Clare o f Assisi. Testament, in Francis and Clare. 227-8. “Ipse enim Dominus non solum nos
posuit et formam aliis in exemplum et speculum , sed etiam sororibus nostris quas ad vocationem nostram
Dominus advocabit. ut et ipsae sint conversantibus in mundo in speculum et exemplum. Cum igitur nos
vocaverit Dominus ad tarn magna. ut in nobis se valeant speculari quae aliis in speculum sunt et exemplum.

65
Through contemplation, Clare and her sisters could provide and model and example for
all: to become a “mirror” of the possibility of human perfection and a testament to G od’s
activity in the world. Their evangelical activities also took the more concrete form of
spiritual direction. For example, Clare and her “Poor Ladies” quickly became mentors to
other com m unities of women penitents with similar spiritual ideals and values.129 They
engaged in the assistance and guidance of these com m unities with an evangelical fervor
sim ilar to that o f Francis and his com panions.lj0 Santa M aria di Vallegloria at Spello
provides an exam ple of one community of women penitents which at first looked to Clare
and her com m unity for guidance before joining the o rd er.ljl C lare’s letters to Agnes o f
Prague provide another example further afield. As one scholar has written:
Far from remaining closed within the narrow horizons of San

Damiano...Clare’s companions left San D am iano in a constant stream— as
the canonization proceedings themselves attest at various points— to give
“form” to convents not only in nearby T uscany and Umbria, but also in all
of northern Italy and...in Bohemia, G erm any, France, and Spain.132
Although praised and supported by the curia, Clare and her sisters' evangelizing
activities, as well as her insistence on poverty discom fited the papacy. Gregory IX in
tenemur multum benedicere Deum et laudare et ad benefaciendum in Dom ino confortari amplius.
Quapropter si secundam formam praedictam vixerimus exemplum nobile aliis relinquemus et aetemae
beatitudinis bravium Iabore brevissimo acquiremus"; Testamentum. in Fontes Franciscani, eds. Enrico
Menesto and Stefano Brufani (Assisi: Edizioni Portiuncoia. 1995). 18-23, 2313.
,:9Gennaro. "Clare. Agnes, and their Earliest Followers,” 41.
130Ibid.. 42.
t3lZ. Lazzeri. "L'antico monastero di Vallegloria vicino a S p ello,” La Verna 9 and 10 (1911-12
and 1912-1913): M. Sensi, "Incarcerate e penitenti a Foligno nella prima meta del Trecento.” in Ifra ti
penitenti di San Francesco nella Societa del due e trecento, ed. Mariano D ’Alatri (Rome: Istituto Storico
dei Cappuccini. 1977). 305.
l3:Gennaro, "Clare. Agnes, and Their Earliest Followers,” 42.

66
1241, Innocent IV in 1250, and A lexander in 1257 and 1261 all enlisted the ecclesiastical
authorities to control the Poor Ladies and their activities.Ij3
This was characteristic o f a larger trend. Cardinal U golino Conti di Segni, papal
legate in Tuscany and Lom bardy between 1217-1219 and later Pope G regory IX from
1227-1241. was among the first to take steps to impose a unified form o f life upon all
unregulated women’s religious com m unities -- including C lare’s foundation at San
Damiano. His actions would effectively transform women religious in northern and
central Italy from recluses, anchoresses, and penitents into n u n s.lj4 C lare’s community
was in existence for a num ber o f years before it requested a form o f life (fonna vitae)
from Francis. Despite their reliance upon this rule and the collection o f observantiae S.
Damiani (based upon Francis’ letters o f direction), the com m unity was still considered an
unregulated group o f female penitents as a result o f the Fourth Lateran C ouncil’s ban on
the formation of new orders. Due to this canonical legislation, C lare’s com m unity faced
a difficult choice: whether to take up an already existing rule, or find some way to
circumnavigate the conciliar decree. The urban aristocracy and nobles approached
Cardinal Ugolino with gifts o f land for the foundation of chapels and oratories for Clare
and her community, as well as other groups o f women religious.135 Ugolino, who, like
Jacques de Vitry, recognized the im portance o f retaining these com m unities o f women
penitents within the numbers o f the orthodox, appealed to the papacy on their behalf.
With Ugolino’s intervention, Honorius III agreed to grant a dispensation to the new
mendicant movement o f women, the daughters and widows o f nobles and the urban
patriciate, who lived as recluses within society “possessing nothing under the sun except
l33Ibid.. 51.
l34Sensi. "Anchoresses and Penitents," 58 -6 2 .
l35These groups had social and political reasons for wishing to preserve these communities.

67
for the houses themselves.” lj6 The pope ordered convents with property to pay an annual
fee to the bishop, but left the governance and direction of these com m unities to the
discretion of the cardinal legate.Ij7 With approval for these com m unities secured,
Cardinal Ugolino drafted a rule that institutionalized the w om en’s religious movement.
He substituted the idea o ffiiga mundi, or flight from the world, while rem aining active
within and visible to society, with the concept o f reclusio perpetua, or enclosure and
separation from the larger lay community in perpetual reclusion.138 The legate entrusted
the spiritual care of these communities to chaplains. Comm unities who adopted the
cardinal’s rule had to ensure that they had a sufficient endow m ent to provide for their
maintenance. In return for their acceptance o f the rule and enclosure, the nuns were
granted exemption from ecclesiastical censures signaled by the privilege Prudentibus
virginibus. Within a few years time, nearly all the new com m unities o f w om en religious
had adopted Ugolino’s constitutions.
Reluctantly, Clare and her “Poor Ladies” (dominae pauperae) at San Damiano
adopted U golino’s rule. The Privilegiiun Paupertatis that Clare had secured from
Innocent III freed San Damiano from the curial pressure to accept endow m ents and
property. Nevertheless, U golino's rule, adapted from the rule of St. B enedict and the
Constitutions of St. Peter Damian, reflected a decisive departure from the fo rm u la vitae
given to the community by Francis. For the remainder of her life, Clare w ould engage in
a struggle with the papacy to secure dispensations that would allow her com m unity to
live according to the Franciscan ideal. O ne o f the most significant changes to the life of
the “Poor Ladies” effected by Ugolino’s rule (and the version revised by Innocent IV in
136”Domicilia...in quibus vivant nil possidentes sub caelo, exceptis dom icilis ipsius," as quoted by
Sensi. "Anchoresses and Penitents." 59. n. 22. 73.
137Ibid.. 59.
,3sIbid.

68
1247) lay in its emphasis upon enclosure rather than poverty. C lare’s own form ula vita,
written in 1252 and accepted by the papacy shortly before her death in 1253, attem pted to
address this change to her vita religiosa by speaking o f “w ithdraw al” rather than
“confinement,” and underscoring her com m unity’s continued and unwavering
com mitment to p o v e r t y . A s Bernard M cGinn has observed, Clare understood a vast
difference between reclusion and enclosure. Reclusion was necessary to cultivate and
perfect the virtues of humility, poverty and mutual charity, but such a withdrawal from
society was ultimately a public act endowed w ith evangelical import. In the
contemplation of Christ, the “mirror o f eternity” (speculum etem itatis), Clare and her
community became “co-workers" with God, laboring with divinity to “support the weak
members o f His ineffable Body.” 140
Clare fought bitterly to preserve the original spirit o f her community, and watched
as other communities had their ideals diluted and transformed. She served as a guide
and mentor to Agnes o f Hungary, the daughter o f the king o f Bohemia, who had refused
the hand o f Frederick II in order to join the Poor Ladies in Prague. Although praised by
Gregory IX for her very public acceptance o f the new religiosity, Agnes, like Clare,
would engage in a struggle with the papacy to secure dispensations to preserve the
integrity of the damianite ideal. These struggles with the papacy provide an im portant
context for understanding the content of C lare’s letters to A gnes, and offer an invaluable
portrait of Clare as a spiritual director while attesting to the pow er of women’s networks
forged in the face of ecclesiastical challenges. They also give us evidence for
lj,Jean-Francois Godet. “Clare et la vie au feminin: Sym boles de la femme dans ses ecrits,”
Laurentianum 31 (1990): 148-75.
I40*ipsius Dei te iudico adiutricem et ineffabilis corporis eius cadencium membrorum

sublevatricem"; Chiara d'A ssisi. Lettere ad Agnese e La visione dello specchio, eds. Giovanni Pozzi and
Beatrice Rima (Milan: Adelphi Edizioni, 1999) 3.8; Clare o f Assisi, “T hird Letter to Blessed A gnes o f
Prague." Francis and Clare. 200; McGinn. Flowering. 69. Hereafter, I will refer to Clare’s works simply
by the title and edition.

69
understanding how the women in these communities reconciled the adjustm ents made to
their vita religiosa by adopting and developing a contemplative program that reflected
these ideals.
Sometime between 1235 and 1236 Clare wrote to Agnes o f Prague w ho was
engaged in a struggle with the papacy to secure the privilege o f poverty. In 1235, Pope
Gregory IX had refused A gnes’ request for a dispensation and instead had issued a bull
giving the Hospital of St. Francis to the sisters o f Prague. Agnes, dism ayed by the
rejection of her petition and unw illing to accept an endowment from the papacy, sought
advice from Clare. In her second letter to the abbess of the Poor Ladies o f Bohemia,
Clare recommended a course o f conscientious and respectful disobedience:
If anyone would tell you something...or suggest something which would

hinder your perfection or seem contrary to your divine vocation, even
though you m ust respect him, do not follow his counsel. But as a poor
virgin, embrace the poor Christ.141
In this same letter Clare exhorts Agnes to maintain her to channel her zeal into program
o f mental prayer trained upon the suffering Christ. From its context within the letter, it
appears that Clare offers this practice as a way to show Agnes and her com m unity how to
uphold the practice of poverty through contemplation in the face o f papal insistence upon
the ownership of property. She writes:
Look upon Him W ho became contemptible for you, and follow Him,
making yourself contemptible in the world for Him. Your Spouse, though
more beautiful than the children o f men became, for your salvation, the
lowest o f men, despised, struck, scourged untold times throughout His
whole body, and then died amid the sufferings o f the Cross. O most noble
Queen, gaze upon [Him] consider [Him], contemplate [Him], as you
desire to imitate [Him]. 2
l4l“Sccond Letter to the Blessed Agnes of Prague," 197; “Si quis vero aliud tibi dixerit. aliud tibi
suggesserit quod perfectionem tuam impediat, quod vocacioni divine contrarium videatur, etsi debeas
venerari. noli tamen eius consilium imitari...sed pauperem Christum virgo pauper amplectere"; Lettere,
2.17-18.
14"‘Second Letter." 197; "Vide contemptibilem pro te factum et sequere, facta pro ipso
contemptibilis in hoc mundo—Sponsum tuum pre filis hominum speciosum, pro salute tua factum virorum

70
In lieu o f the privilege of poverty, Clare provides Agnes with a m editation praxis that will
enable her to persevere in the “pursuit o f that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord
has called you". The program begins with two forms o f visual m editation (iniuere-
considera), moving to contemplation (contemplare), and from contem plation to imitation
(desiderans imitari)}*3 In a way sim ilar to what we will see in M arguerite Porete’s
M irror and Angela of Foligno’s M em orial, sight enables the soul to love and know first
Christ, and through Christ, God in the “figure o f the divine substance” (in figura divina
substantie).144 The soul’s ability to visualize corresponds to its level o f perfection, and
through this progressive strategy of visualization, the soul learns to im itate, to become
what it sees.
Two subsequent letters to Agnes detail more explicitly how contemplation of
Christ allows the soul to achieve perfect interior poverty in imitation o f C hrist.145 For
Clare, the study o f the image of Christ reflected in his human life reveals the virtues o f
Franciscan life: poverty, humility and Divine W isdom .146 M editation and contemplation
allow the soul to see his poverty as a kenotic self-em ptying m anifested in his lack of
possessions and status, as well as his sufferings and death. The im age o f Christ on the
cross teaches the soul, by way of exam ple, the self-emptying necessary to achieve
vilisimum, despectum, percussum et toto corpore multipliciter flagellatum. inter ipsas crucis angustias
morientem, regina prenobilis. intuere. considera, contemplare desiderans imitari”; Leuere, 2.19-20.
MjMcGinn discusses this text in Flowering. 69.
144Letters. 3.13. Timothy Johnson has studied the role o f vision in Clare o f A ssisi. On visual
contemplation in Clare o f Assisi’s writings see Timothy Johnson. “Contemplation as Visual Perception in
Clare o f A ssisi's Epistolary Writings." G reyfriars Review 8:2 (1994): 201-217.
u5PauI Lachance. "Mystical and Social Transformation According to the Franciscan Way,” in
M vsticism and Social Transformation, ed. Janet K. Ruffing (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,
2001). 61.
IJ6McGinn. Flowering, 68.

71
“transformation.” In letter three she advises Agnes to engage in meditation upon the
image o f Christ who is the “m irror o f eternity”;
Place your mind before the m irror of eternity!

Place your soul in the brilliance o f glory!
Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance!
And transform your whole being into the image o f the Godhead itself
through contem plation!147
Christ acts as a reflective image in which to view God and the self:
Inasmuch as this vision is the splendor o f eternal glory, the brilliance of

eternal light and the m irror without blemish, look upon that m irror each
day, O queen and spouse o f Jesus Christ, and continually study your face
within it...Indeed, blessed poverty, holy humility, and ineffable charity are
reflected in that mirror, as, with the grace o f God, you can contem plate
them throughout the entire m irror.14
D evoted contemplation of the “m irror,” Christ, trains the eye o f the soul to see the moral
significance of historical events, recognize the virtues o f Christ, and to gradually move
beyond the historical “level” to see the “ineffable charity” behind Christ’s actions:
Look at the param eters o f this mirror, that is, the poverty o f Him Who was
placed in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. 0 marvelous
humility, O astonishing poverty!...Then, at the surface of the mirror, dwell
on the holy humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labors and burdens
which He endured for the redemption of all mankind. Then, at the depths
of this same mirror, contem plate the ineffable charity which led Him to
suffer on the wood o f the Cross and die upon it the most shameful kind of
death.149
I47"Third Letter to the Blessed A gnes o f Prague." 200; “Pone mentem tuam in speculo etemitatis.
pone animam tuam in splendore glorie....pone cor tuum in figura divine substantie. et transforma te ipsam
totam per contemplacionem in ymagine divinitatis ipsius...ut et ipsa sencias quod senciunt amici gustando
absconditam dulcedinem quam ipse Deus ab inicio suis amatoribus reservavit"; Leuere, 3.12-13.
,48"Fourth Letter to the Blessed A gnes o f Prague.” 204; "Qui, cum sit splendor glorie et candor
lucis eterne. est speculum sine macula...Hoc speculum cottidie intuere, o regina et sponsa Ihesu Christi, et
in eo faciem tuam iugiter speculare...In hoc autem speculo refulget beata paupertas. sancta humilitas et
ineffabilis caritas. sicut per totum speculum poteris cum Dei gracia contemplari"; Lettere, 4.14, 18.
l49"Fourth Letter to the Blessed A gnes o f Prague," 205; “Attende, inquam, principium huius
speculi paupertatam positi siquidem in presepio et in panniculis involutL.O miranda humilitas. o stupenda
paupertas....In medio autem speculi considera humilitaem sanctam, beatam paupertatem, labores inumeros
ac penalitates quas sustinuit pro redemptione humani generis...In fine vero eiusdem speculi contemplare

72
Continual contemplation o f the Christ-m irror draws the soul into not only greater visions
o f wisdom but also into experiences o f it. These practices, over time, transform the soul
into the “im age of the Godhead” (in ym agine divinitatis ipsius). For Clare, this
transformation provides the mandate for her order’s public ministry. By performing the
contem plative work necessary to obtain transformation and by being transformed by
Christ, Agnes and her community could fulfill their evangelical imperative -- despite
enclosure—to become mirrors and models of sanctity.150 Sim ilarly, they could fulfill
their com m itm ent to poverty by training the eyes to see it in its various guises in the
Passion. In so doing, they themselves could imitate the kenotic image o f the crucified
Christ. Thus, contemplative praxis enabled Agnes and her com m unity not only to remain
faithful to their ideals while persevering in their struggle with the curia to secure the
“privilege to live without privilege,” but arguably to achieve the internal poverty attained
by Francis.
B. Bizzoche, Terzarie and Angela of Foligno’s Memorial
Although papal attempts to regulate the w om en’s religious movement in the
second quarter of the thirteenth century were largely successful, around mid-century
bizzoche began to re-emerge in northern and central Italy.151 In Umbria, the region of
central Italy native to Francis, Clare and Angela of Foligno, the municipal archives
record the existence of solitary female recluses, unaffiliated with a particular community
ineffabilem caritatem qua pati voluit in cruicis stipite et in eodem mori om ni mortis genere turpiori”;
Lettere. 4.19-23.
l50McGinn has a good discussion o f this theme in Clare. See M cGinn, Flowering, 68-69.
151Mario Sensi has called this a “revival.” Sensi, “Anchoresses and Penitents," 64-67.

73
or order. In wills and testaments from the period, male and female bizzochi appear as the
recipients of bequests and charity in Umbria. Bizzochi could elide parochial control
because o f the degree to which they blended in with the ordinary laity. T hese
semireligious lived alone or at home. Som e shared a house with one or tw o com panions,
while others preferred to live in a cell. A ngela o f Foligno’s Book describes the life and
spirituality of these religious at the end o f the thirteenth century.
Concrete biographical details about A ngela o f Foligno’s life are difficult to
excavate from the text of her book.152 Although the historical existence o f an Angela o f
Foligno seems certain, the book’s value as a historical document providing
(auto)biographical details about Angela o f F oligno’s life and its place in the Franciscan
controversy in the thirteenth century are subjects o f heated debate.15'5 The standard
version o f A ngela's biography is culled largely from her Book and other pieces o f
I
information about her life promulgated by h er cult. It consists chiefly o f a chronology
l5:See Jacques Dalarun. “Angele de Foligno a-t-elle existe?." Alla signoria: M elanges offerts a
Noelle de la Blancliardiere (Rome: Ecole Francais de Rome, 1995); Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun.
eds. A ngele de Foligno: Le d ossier (Paris: Ecole Francais de Rome, 1999). I will discuss this in problem
in greater detail in chapter four.
l55Guamieri discusses the facts o f her life and cult based upon the codicological evidence in
“Santa Angela?." 210-215. Jacques Dalarun has investigated the evidence pertaining to a historical
personage named Angela o f Foligno. In 1995. he concluded that Angela was more o f a literary figure
rather than a historical personage. See Dalarun. "A ngele de Foligno a-t-elle existe?,*' 7 5 ,9 4 -9 7 . Since
1995. Dalarun has qualified his view s, stating that he never intended for his essay to deny the existence o f
her historical person. In a 1999 conference presentation, he has stated that “the biological profile is a
reconstruction based upon fragile foundations." but that, despite this fact, “the historical existence o f a
woman named Angela who lived in Foligno and w ho died in 1309 seems virtually certain." Regardless o f
Dalarun’s intentions, his essay sparked some important questions and has created som ething o f a sensation
in the field o f Angela studies, especially in French and Italian circles. Most notably, his research inspired a
roundtable in 1995. recently published as Le dossier. See Dalarun, “Angela da Foligno. From the Text to
the Woman and From the Woman to the Text.” (unpublished paper presented at the 34th International
Congress on Medieval Studies. Kalamazoo, MI. 1999), 1.5; idem, Le dossier. M y reading o f A ngela's
book treats her as a literary character conveying a set o f teachings and values founded in b izzoca
experience and culture. This approach does not intend to argue that Angela o f Foligno w as merely a
literary fiction, but rather that the fid elis christi (as A ngela is called in her M em orial) is a literary version o f
the self, quite like A nselm ’s character in his dialogues. For more on this perspective, see chapter four.
l54For her biography see Ludiger Thier and A bele Calufetti, eds. II libro della b ea ta Angela da
Foligno (Grottaferatta: C ollegio S. Bonaventura ad Claras Aquas, 1985). 25-39. For an English biography
see Lachance. "Introduction," 15-23. Romana Guamieri has studied Angela’s cult for what it can tell us

74
that runs as follows. Angela was probably bom around the year 1248 to a relatively
prosperous family in Foligno (or its environs). She m arried and had children before she
converted to Christ in the year 1285. She entered the Franciscan third order in 1291. In
1292 she began com posing the M emorial with the aid o f a Franciscan friar named
“Brother A.” This friar remained with her as a copyist and spiritual director until 1296.
It is generally believed that “Brother A.” revised his w ork between the years 1299-1300.
In 1298 a version of the text received approval from Cardinal James of Colonna and eight
Franciscans. From 1296 until the time o f her death in 1309, Angela acted as a spiritual
director to circle of unnamed disciples.
Although A ngela’s book is characterized by anonym ity, obscuring the name o f its
heroine and all other figures within its narrative, it describes in general the life and
spirituality o f a bizzoca in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, who, under the
spiritual direction of the Franciscans, becomes a tertiary in the Franciscan Third O rder o f
Penance.155 Angela, who is referred to only by the nam e o f “C hrist’s faithful one”
(fidelis christi) throughout the book, first takes up a religious life as a married penitent
living at home with her husband and family. Upon their deaths, she later resides in her
house with a female companion named M asazuola.156 Her commitment religious life is
about the connection between the book and the spiritual faction o f the Franciscan order in the thirteenth
century. See Romana Guamieri, "Santa Angela?." 203-265.
,550 n the anominity and atemporality in the text see Dalarun, “From the Text to the Woman and
the Woman to the Text,” 6.
I55ln my examination o f Angela’s Book, I have used the 1985 critical edition. I discuss the edition
and the controversies surrounding it at length in chapter four. S ee Thier and Calufetti, eds. II libro della
beata Angela da Foligno. Hereafter, I will refer to Angela’s com plete works as the "Liber, ” and the critical
edition as “II Libro." I will refer to book I, as the “M em oriale” and book II as the "Instructiones." As a
guide for my Latin translations o f the text, I have relied upon Paul Lachance’s English translation o f
A ngela’s complete works. See Angela o f Foligno: Com plete W orks, trans. Paul Lachance (N ew York,
1993). Hereafter cited as "Complete Works” when I refer to the English translation in its entirety.
For a representative reference to Angela’s companion see M em oriale 1.85-95. Masazuola appears
in the M em oriale relatively frequently. Codices initialize her name as M., Ma., Mas. Only the fifteenth
century Trivulziana manuscript gives her full names as M asazuola. The editors o f the critical edition adopt
this as her name. Another tradition with no codicological or paleographic evidence gives the companions

75
gradual, and her “vows” informal prom ises made to G od.157 Following a vision o f the
“blessed Francis,” the new convert confesses to the first Franciscan she meets, a friar
preaching in the cathedral o f St. Felician. The first part o f her M emorial describes the
ways in which “Angela” attempts to extricate herself from secular life and commitments
as she becomes more and more drawn to her interior life. “Angela” engages in general
activities typical of a bizzoca such as helping the sick, living with a com panion, and
distributing her possessions to the poor. Like other women religious, she prays before
images o f the Passion, goes on pilgrimages, experiences visions, and she participates
devotional spectacles. Although her relationship with her companion is never developed
in detail, “Angela” and “ M asazuola” clearly not only help each other negotiate the
spiritual path they have chosen, but share the secrets o f their devotions. In short, they
teach and guide each other along the spiritual path they have chosen. They are not
isolated from others; in fact, quite the contrary. They appear to be in contact with friars
and other lay religious with similar goals and ideals.
During his lifetime, Francis had instituted a penitential program for laypeople
who converted to the Franciscan m essage but could not become a religious because of
social and familial obligations.158 Between the years 1215-1230 the order of penitence,
name as Pasquilina. See Lachance. “Introduction." 23. and n. 20; Thier and Calufetti, “Introduzione,” 30-
31. and n. 33-37.
157She makes a promises o f chastity in step 8. poverty in step 12, and love in step 20 (and the
conmittant first supplementary step).
,580 n the origins o f the Franciscan Third Order see Raffaele Pazzelli, St. Francis and the Third
O rder: The Franciscan and Pre-Franciscan Penitential M ovement (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press.
1989); Ida Magli. Gli uomini della penitenza: Lineamenti antropologici del m edioevo italiano (Bologna:
Cappelli. 1967); I la id nella "societas Christiana " d ei seco li XI e X ll (Milan: n.p., 1968); O. Schmucki.
ed., L'O rdine della Penitenza di sail Francesco d ‘A ssisi nel sec. XII (Rome: Istituto Storico dei
Cappuchini. 1973); Mariano D ’AIatri, ed.. II m ovimento francescano della penitenza nella societa
m ediovale (Rome: Istituto Storico dei Cappuchini. 1980); Francescanesitne e vita religiosa d ei la id
n e l’lOO (Assisi: Universitadegli Studi di Perugia. 1981); R. Pazzelli and L. Temperini, eds.. Prime
m anifestazioni d i vita communitaria m aschile e fem m inile nel movimento francescano della Penitenza
(Rome: Comissione Storica Intemazionale TOR. 1982).

76
like the Franciscans, had great success, particularly in central Italy. The formal
institutional relationship between groups o f penitents following Francis’fo rm u la vita and
the Franciscan O rder is the subject o f little scholarly consensus, largely because Francis
had not intended to start a formal ‘T h ird Order.” The friars expressed much reluctance to
accept these laypeople as their spiritual charges. However, in 1289 Nicholas IV issued
the bull Supra montem which created an institutional affiliation for what originally had
been an informal relationship between individual communities o f Franciscans and groups
of penitents in central Italy.
The Third O rder of St. Francis had become a haven and refuge for various forms
of lay religiosity long before the papal decree. In Foligno, a com munity o f penitents in
Foligno formed around the church o f San Francesco in 1270. There is little information
about this community, but we can imagine that it must have been organized like
communities in other cities. The O rder o f Penance was a religious association dedicated
to providing the laity with a penitential program Firmly stabilized within the C hurch.159
Like beguines within the beguinage, tertiaries were required to attend mass, fast
regularly, go to confession and receive communion three times a year. They recited the
canonical hours and participated in community meetings under the guidance o f an
appointed spiritual director. T heir evangelical activity was circum scribed to the
assistance of others who were sick and dying, as well as the exhortation and recruitm ent
of others. Like the rules for beguinages, the rule for penitents normalized lay religious
life and focused on creating an attainable, orthodox model o f perfection through the
performance of ritual activities and the regulation o f behavior.160 Tertiary life did not
159G. Casagrande. "11 terz’ordine e la beata Angela. La poverta nell’ordine della non-poverta," in
Angela da Foligno Terzaria Francescano. ed. Enrico Menesto (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi su ll' Alto
Medioevo. 1992), 24.
I60lbid.. 25.

77
encourage penitents to seek out mystical union or to become contem platives. Rather, it to
provided a way of life geared to the attainment of the behaviors, attitudes and practices
necessary for a socially acceptable sanctity and salvation within the church.161
As Giovanna Casagrande has observed, “Angela” does not appear to observe the
rule of the Third Order. First, h er book places a greater em phasis upon poverty than
recommended by the rule for penitents. Second, it focuses upon the effects o f prayer upon
the soul and the honing o f love’s abilities to see, experience, know and im itate the
crucified Christ.162 Instead, A ngela o f Foligno’s book relates a set o f practices for
attaining poverty through a m editative and contemplative program trained upon the
suffering Christ. Interestingly, like C lare’s letters to Agnes o f Prague, these practices
developed during the debate o v er poverty within the Franciscan o rd er and the increasing
regulation of women’s religiosity.
Like others o f her time, “ A ngela” desires to “follow naked the naked Christ”
(Nudus nudum Christum sequi) .I6j Meditation upon the Passion o f C hrist inflames her
desire to follow Christ more fully in humility, poverty, and contem pt. In imitation of
Christ, “Angela” strips herself naked in front of the cross, literally re-enacting St.
I6tlbid.. 30-31.
l6‘Casagrande. "II terz'ordine e la beata Angela,"31. Casagrande contrasts A ngela's emphasis on

poverty with that o f her contemporary Clare o f Montefalco. For Clare and her bizzoch e community,
poverty was neithercentral to their religious life or spirituality. See G. Casagrande, “M ovimenti religiosi
umbri e Chiara da Montefalco." in C hiara da Montefalco e il suo tem po, eds. C laudio Leonardi and Enrico
Menesto (Perugia/Florence: Regione d ell’Umbria— ‘La Nuova Italia' Editrice. 1985), 64-65.
l63Mario Sensi briefly discusses the ideal o f nudity and radical poverty in Angela and other
religious in contemporary Umbria. S ee Mario Sensi, "Foligno all’incrocio delle strade.” in Angele de
Foligno: Le dossier, eds. Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun (Paris: Ecole Francais de Rome 1999), 281.
On nudity generally see R. Gregoire. “L'adage ascetique “Nudus nudum Christum sequi," in Studi in onore
d i O. Bertolini, vol. I (Pisa. n.p.. 1972). 395-409; J. Chatillon. “Nudus nudum sequere” N ote sur les
origines et la signification du theme de la nudite spirituelle dans les ecrits de saint Bonaventure.”
Bonaventure 1274-1974. 5 vols. (Grottaferrata/Rome: Collegio S. Bonaventura. 1974), 4:719-772.

78
Jerom e’s dictum .16* She describes the need to rid herself of possessions in order to
“‘perform sufficient penance” and “com e to the cross” :
When it did not seem to me that I could perform sufficient penance with
possessions, I resolved to give up absolutely everything so that. I could do
penance and come to the cross as God had inspired me to d o .163
She also discusses briefly her reluctance to em bark upon such a path, w orrying that it
might be too “dangerous” (periculum) and “sham eful” (verecundia). She fears that such
a life might lead to her own death from “hunger, cold and nakedness” (et quod oportebat
m e m o rifa m e etfrigore et nuditate).166 “A ngela’s” desire to practice poverty m eets with
hostility from friars and others.167 But, with the encouragement o f other lay religious,
some friars, and God, “Angela” eventually finds the courage to sell her possessions in
order to redistribute the money to the poor as alm s.168 The book provides the sketchy
details o f these events suggesting that the prim ary focus of the narrative isn’t on her
external behavior or actions, but how they pave the way for her pursuit o f internal
poverty. Essentially, the text has little to say about the rule of penitents or tertiary life.
Instead, the bulk o f the narrative provides a sim ulacra o f the effects of continuous
contem plation upon the soul. In doing so, it teaches a set of practices that show the
audience how to achieve spiritual poverty through contemplation. These practices are
l64"Sed in ista cognitione crucis dabatur mihi tantus ignis quod, stando iuxta crucem, expoliavi me
omnia vestimenta mea et totam me obtuli ei” ; M em oriale 1.67-69.
l65“Duodecim o. cum non videretur mihi quod possem cum rebus saeculi facere sufficientem
paenitentiam. deliberavi relinquere omnia omnino ut possem facere paenitentiam et venire ad crucem, sicut
mihi a D eo fuerat inspiratum"; ibid. 1.12 0 -123. Note the use o f the phrase fa cere paenitentiam (to do
penance). Clare used the same phrase in the vow she made to Francis.
166Ibid.. 1.127-128.
I67lbid.. 1.129; 1.173-180.
l68She mentions a certain “Pietrucio." She refers to Pietro Crisci (d. 1323), another Foligno native
who converted and redistributed all his belongings to the poor. See Sensi, “Foligno a ll’incrocio delle
strade." 280-281. Memoriale, 1.260.

79
based upon the model of Francis, showing the audience how the training o f the affections,
the cognitive faculties o f the heart, in meditation and contemplation enables the mystics
return to union with the G odhead and can make the soul “feel C hrist,” achieve true
obedience to Francis’ rule, and make the soul “truly poor.” 169
C. Angela of Foligno and the Spirituals
Anonymous religious, both male and female, as well as w arring factions of friars
and powerful clerics lurk in A ngela’s book. Their presence at the m argins of the
narrative have prompted scholarly speculation, without providing m uch conclusive
evidence as to the identities o f these Figures, their relation to a historical Angela, and their
role in the composition o f the book.170 In the thirteenth century, U m bria called itself
home to many religious movem ents, some orthodox, such as the flagellants and penitents,
and others heretical, such as the Spirituals and the Free Spirits.171 A s M ario Sensi has
l69In the first supplementary step o f her Memorial, "Angela” explains to “Brother A.” that she
petitioned St. Francis for three gifts. First, that she might be able to feel or experience Christ. Second, that
she might be able to follow well Francis’ rule. And third, that she might becom e truly poor. “Et inter alia
rogaverat beatum Franciscum quod ipse rogaret Deum pro ea ut ipsa sentiret de Christo, et quod gratiam
sibi acquireret beatus Franciscu a D eo, qua ipsa servaret bene regulam beati Francisci quam noviter
promiserat, et maxime pro hoc scilicet”; M em oriale 111.17-20.
l70There are many studies that have developed the rapprochments between Angela and
contemporary spiritual figures and movements. Some include: Paul Lachance, “Introduction,” 15-117;
idem. The Spiritual Journey o f the B lessed Angela o f Foligno According to the M em orial o f Frater A.
(Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum. 1984), 14-78; Mario Sensi. “Comunita di penitenti
francesani nella Valle Spoletana, dai primi grupi spontanei al tentativo di centralizzazione.” Analecta TOR
153-35 (1982): 481-505; idem. "Foligno a ll’incrocio delle strade,” 267-292; idem, “II movimento
francescano della penitenza a Foligno," in M ovimento francescano della penitenza nella societa
m edioevale. ed. Mariano D ’Alatri (Rome: Istituto Storico dei Cappuchini, 1980), 399-445. For studies of
Angela, her thought and her book in her social, political and cultural context more broadly: Barone and
Dalarun.eds.. Le dossier, P. Clement Schmitt, ed.. Vita e spiritualita della beata A ngela da Foligno
(Perugia:Serafica Provincia di San Francisco, 1987); Enrico Menesto, ed., A ngela d a Foligno Terzaria
Francescano (Spoleto: Centro di Studi sull'AIto Medioevo, 1992).
171 For the women’s religious movement in Umbria generally see Roberto Rusconi. ed., II
movimento religioso fem m inile in U m bria nei secoli XI11-XIV (Florence:Nuova Italia, 1984). For general
studies in English see Daniel Bom stein and Roberto Rusconi, eds.. Women an d R eligion in M edieval and
Renaissance Italy, trans. Margery J. Schneider (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1996). On the “Free

80
observed, the historical A ngela o f Foligno, like Clare o f M ontefalco and other Italian
beguines, would have alm ost certainly been exposed to all these currents, orthodox and
heterodox.172 Angela’s Instructions (the second work in her Book) vocally disavow any
affiliation with the beliefs and practices o f the Free Spirits, but the precise relation of the
book to the Franciscan “Spirituals” has been less easy to determ ine.173
In the latter half o f the thirteenth century, the Franciscan O rd er was divided into
two factions: the Coventuals and the Spirituals.174 These groups held conflicting
opinions regarding the mission and ideals o f the order. The C onventuals or “community”
recognized the order’s expansion, as manifested in building projects, the collection of
goods and property, and increased facilities enabling friars to handle and receive money
and retain personal possessions, as a sign o f the order’s natural developm ent into an
institution better prepared to serve the church and the w orld.175 In contrast, the Spirituals
understood this “progress” as a dissolution of the Franciscan ideal. Consequently, they
Spirits" see Guamieri. "II m ovimento del libero spirito,” 351-499; idem. ‘Freres du libre esprit.”
D ictionnaire de Spiritualite A scetique e t M ystique, vol. 5 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1964), cols. 1241-68; Livario
Oliger, D e secta spiritus libertatis in U m bria saec. XIVdisquisitio et docum enta (Rome: Edizioni di Storia
e Letteratura. 1943). On the presence o f the Spirituals in Foligno and Umbria se e Lydia Von Auw, “Les
"spirituels” de Foligno dans trois lettres en langue italienne du Ms. 0 1 .” in 11B. Tom asuccio da Foligno
Terziario Francescano ed i movimento relig io sip o p o la ri Umbri nel Tercento, ed. R afaele Pazzelli (Rome:
Edizioni Commissione Storia Intemazionale, TOR. 1979): 49-68; Stanislao da Cam pagnola. “ Gli Spirituali
Umbri." in Chi erano g li Spirituali (A ssisi: Societa Intemazionale di Studi Francescani, 1975). 73-105.
l72Sensi, “Foligno all'incrocio d elle strade.” 285.
1'’Clare of Montefalco and Jacopone da Todi also engaged in the refutation o f the tenents o f this
group. For a comparison o f all three religious, see S. Nessi. "Chiara da M ontefalco, A ngela da Foligno e
Iacopone da Todi." S. Chiara da M ontefalco, 3-51. See 11 Libro, Instructiones, II. As Paul Lachance has
observed, despite "Angela’s" opposition to the Free Spirit sect. her spirituality has sim ilarities with some of
their beliefs. See Lachance. "Introduction." 98-99.
l74There is a vast literature on this subject. For an introduction see D avid Burr, O livi and
Franciscan Poverty (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1989); D ecim a L. D ouie, The Nature
an d Effect o f the Heresy o f the F raticelli (Manchester: n.p., 1932); Malcom Lambert, Franciscan Poverty
(London: S.P.C.K.. 1961); and John Moorman, A History o f the Franciscan O rder: From its Origins to
the Year 1517 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968); and Lydia von Auw, Angelo C laren o e t les spirituels
italiens (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1979).
l75Moorman. 184-187, and 188-196.

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dedicated themselves to the restoration o f what they understood as the true spirit of the
order - absolute poverty, humility and sim plicity without prestige, property or
possessions. They pointed to the Rule and Testam ent of Francis and oral tradition as the
mandate for their way o f life. The use o f the name spirituales began around 1240. The
term com es from the theology o f history proposed by Joachim o f Fiore. The Calabrian
abbot wrote about the com ing o f a third status or age when the Holy Spirit w ould inform
a perfect, contemplative church. A ccording to Joachim, the spirituals (viri spirituales)
would com e to preach against the Antichrist to lead the church into the third age. The
Spiritual Franciscans, who understood their order as the apex o f Christian religious life,
hailed Francis’ stigmata as proof if his angelic status, and extolled their m essage of
apostolic poverty as the defining characteristic o f the third ag e.176
D uring the General Council o f Lyon in 1274 some friars in the M arche heard a
rum or that Gregory X intended to order the friars minor to hold property like the more
traditional monastic orders. Under the leadership o f Angelo Clareno, Peter o f Monticulo,
and Thom as o f Tolentino, some friars protested this decree as an aggregious affront to
Franciscan ideals. The friars were sum m oned before the Provincial C hapter and asked to
retract the statements made during their protest. When they did not, three o f them,
Thomas o f Tolentino, Peter of M acerata, and a friar simply called Traym undus were
stripped o f their habits and shut up within hermitages. This action far from quieted the
movement within the Franciscan order, and by 1289 there were three groups o f Spirituals
in the M arche of Ancona, Provence and Tuscany.
The resurgence o f the mulieres religiosae in the valley o f Spoleto coincides
roughly with the heightening of tensions between the various factions in the Franciscan
Order. It is known that Angelo o f Clareno was in contact with a group o f “frati” in
176Bemard McGinn has a good summary o f the spirituals and Joachimite beliefs. S ee McGinn,
Flowering. 72-74.

82
F oligno.177 Some of these friars may well correspond to the anonymous friars in the
Book, although positive identifications are difficult to make. Recently, Romana Guamieri
has argued convincingly that Angela o f Foligno’s Book was prom oted by the Spirituals in
Angelo of Clareno's circle as a “w eapon” in their battle against the com m unity.178 Study
o f the Peroratio, an anonymous epilogue appended to Angela o f Foligno’s Book, reveals
the B ook's commendation to friends, disciples, and potential disciples who would
recognize “Angela" as the prophet announcing the beginning o f the “kingdom o f the
spiritual contemplatives.” 179 In this text, “Angela,” referred to as a “woman of secular
status” (mulierem saecularis status), is recommended to this clandestine network of
disciples and potential spiritual “sons” (filii met) as a mother and teacher who can provide
a model for how to achieve radical spiritual poverty through contem plation, or what the
book calls “supernatural” (supem aturalis) prayer.180 The foundation for her authority
IQ I
lies in her wisdom, prophetically infused rather than acquired through academic study.
“A ngela’s" “unschooled” wisdom is juxtaposed with that of the “blind men and their
worldly speculations.” 182
Thus, the Peroratio establishes “A ngela’s” credentials as a doctrix o f a new
“science of the cross of Christ” (scientia cm cis Christi) - a discipline that teaches
l77Von Auw. “Les spirituels de Foligno dans trois lettres en langue italienne du MS. 01." 404-407.
17SGuamieri. "Santa Angela?." 239. This nuances Dalarun's hypothesis that the book was created
by the Spirituals as a vehicle for disseminating their beliefs. See Dalarun. "Angele de Foligno." 94-97.
179This follows the Joachimite schema o f history. See Guamieri. “Santa Angela?.” 257.
Guamieri discusses the Peroratio and the ideals o f the various Spiritual factions in ibid.. 237-260.
l80This is based upon references in the Instructions, in addition to the praxis described in the entire
book. A lso. Peroratio vel Epilogus 4.
18lIb id .l-l 1.38-41.
18“ 'Contra literatos. idiotam"; ibid.15-16: "Viris caecis erat camali expositione sepultum” ; ibid.
18-19.

83
wisdom through the contemplation o f Christ and his m other.18j Consequently, the
purpose of the B ook is to offer:
The wisdom o f the way of the cross and its riches, namely the poverty,
suffering and contem pt, and the true obedience o f the good Jesus and his
m ost sweet m other.18
Through “A ngela.” who the epilogue calls “a mirror w ithout blem ish o f G od’s majesty”
(speculum sine m acula Dei maiestatis), others can learn to ascend “ to the peaks o f gospel
perfection” (apicem perfectionis evangelicae)}^ And they, in turn, can
Teach it to men and women and all creatures through the language of
effacious deeds. So that you may be proud in being called to such a
school, know, dear ones, that she herself is the teacher in the discipline o f
G od and the one chosen for this w ork.186
Some scholars have suggested that “Angela” and her book was produced at the
impetus of the Spirituals a charism atic vehicle for their teachings.187 A ngela’s Book may
well have been prom oted by the Spirituals, but I do not think it was necessarily a product
of the movement p e r se. There are three reasons why I think the book charts the
appropriation, indeed discovery, o f women’s practices by the Spirituals, rather than the
other way around. First, it has far too much in keeping with the themes and
preoccupations that characterize the writings o f beguine authors to be a mere product of
spiritual propaganda (although I do not think that this negates the possibility that it was
IS3Ibid. 18.
184"Magni consilii viam divitiarum sapientiae crucis Christi addiscite, quae est paupertas, dolor et
despectus (et vera oboedientia) boni Jesu et dulcissimae suae Matris”; ibid. 21-22.
185Ibid.26. 7.
l85“Quam viros et muiieres et omnem creaturam linqua efficacium operum doceatis. Et ut

gloriemini in vocatione tanti discipulatus. scitote. carissimi. quod ipsa est doctrix disciplinae Dei et electrix
operum illius": ibid.23-25.
l87DaIarun. “A ngele de Foligno a-t-elle existe?,” 94-97.

84
used as such).188 Second, the contem plative practices found in the Book, and their
underlying assumptions regarding the w ay to imitate C hrist and the apostles are similar to
those found in Clare’s letters to Agnes. The book teaches that contemplation of the
crucified Christ enables the soul to attain a kenotic self-em ptying according to his model,
and that contemplation itself is a powerful mode o f apostolic activity in fulfillment o f the
model o f both Christ and Francis. The anonymous author o f the Peroratio makes clear
that it is through A ngela’s model that it is possible to becom e a perfect mirror of G od’s
activity in the world. According to “A ngela's” exam ple, contemplation o f the cross
perfects the soul, m aking it know and experience Christ, become truly poor, and allowing
it to imitate Christ’s evangelical activity by reflecting this perfection back to the w orld.189
“A ngela’s” practice and its effects upon her soul are docum ented in the Book, providing a
contemplative manual for the audience. Although the P eroratio would posit a connection
between this type o f contemplation and the dawn o f the Joachim ite third age, the
M em orial does not seem overly preoccupied with the achievem ent of a perfect,
contemplative church. Instead, it seems keen on show ing the attainment o f perfect
contemplation and how this not only imitates, but fulfills the work of Francis.
And finally, the most significant way in which the book reflects bizzoca practice
lies in its depiction, developm ent and explanation of the techniques o f em pathy and
identification associated with w om en’s meditation in the thirteenth century. In Angela of
Foligno’s Book, the “w ay o f the cross,” as attained through the contemplation of the
images (verbal and visual), feelings and memories o f C hrist and his mother, is presented
l88Bemard McGinn includes Angela o f Foligno amongst the “Four Female Evangelists” o f
thirteenth-century mysticism. This designation show s their centrality not only within the “new mysticism”
o f the thirteenth century, but also alludes to their claim s to a quasi-biblical authority for their writings. See
McGinn. Flowering. 141-142 and 199. As the essays in Le d o ssier demonstrate, many different
communities over time used and adapted Angela's book to suit their spiritual needs.
189 Through her contemplative work. “Angela" has learned to imitate Christ by emptying herself
and becoming truly poor. As a result, she, like Francis, is an um blem ished mirror reflecting divine activity.

85
as a coherent set of teachings - a viable, coherent contem plative program. The book
teaches its audience to marshal these feelings, im ages and memories gleaned in
meditation as an experiential hermeneutic, showing them how to move through them and
beyond them as form of cataphatic entbildung. Based upon these points, I think that the
roots of the teachings and practices presented w ithin A ngela’s book lie within the
w om en's religious movement. But what does this tell us about the Book? For whom was
it written and why? The Liber documents the re-appropriation and re-presentation o f
these practices for a new audience, namely that o f the Spiritual Franciscans. Spiritual
friars saw in women religious like Angela the w ay to attain radical spiritual poverty, a
form of internal poverty, in their opinion more faithful to Francis, and indeed the model
of Christ, than that offered by the community.
A final exam ple will clarify this further. In his Tree o f the Crucified Life o f
Christ, Ubertino da Casale credits three women w ith his spiritual re-education: Angela of
Foligno, Margaret of Citta di Castello (1287-1320) and C ecilia of Florence. Ubertino
explains that he sought out M argaret's theological expertise while writing his work. He
attributes his progress in contemplation to Cecilia w ho “frequently taught me the whole
path of higher contemplation concerning the life o f Jesus and the hidden things of my
heart and much else about the infant Jesus.” 190 A nd finally, he credits his spiritual
renewal to Angela o f Foligno. Following her counsel, he explains, “from then on I was
not the person I had been (ut iam ex tunc non fu era m ille q u ifiii)" m Although historians
have attempted to ascertain U bertino’s role in either the composition or approval o f
Angela of Foligno’s book, thus far there has been little conclusive evidence pointing to
l90”Nam prefata virgo que nunc simul cum prefato Petro regnat in celis totum processum
superioris conntemplationis de vita Iesu et arcana cordis mei et alia multa de paruuli Iesu sepissime me
instruxit..."; Ubertino da Casale. A rbor vitae crucifixae iesu, ed. Charles T. Davis (Torino: Bottega
D'Erasmo. 1961), prol. 1 (4b).
191Ibid.. prol. 1 (5a).

86
the Tuscan spiritual leader's involvement with Angela apart from these remarks.
Similarly, philological and theological comparisons of A ngela’s book and U bertino’s
Tree have yielded little evidence of ideological influence.192 In fact, Rom ana Guamieri
has hypothesized that the vehement hostility towards scholastic learning com bined with
the em phasis upon the Joachimite third age has more in com m on w ith A ngelo Clareno’s
M irror o f Perfection (Specchio di Perfezione) than any o f U bertino’s w ritings.19j
Yet, his remarks are significant. Not only do they testify to w hat Bernard
M cGinn has observed as the “forms o f conversation and mutual instruction between men
and women that were so important for late medieval mysticism ,” but they concretely
point to the influence of w om en’s practices upon the Spirituals. This influence was not
m anifested in terms of the way they wrote theology (which was w ritten to persuade a
scholastically trained audience), but most likely terms o f their approach and practice.194
His remarks also underscore the extent to which bizzoche, tertaries and others understood
them selves as engaging in a debate with the curia over the correct w ay to live the vita
apostolica and to “naked follow the naked Christ.” A ngela’s teachings, in their
insistence upon poverty and provision of a set of practices allow ing the fulfillment of this
com m itm ent while living in a world inherently at odds with these goals, would have held
appeal for Spirituals like Angelo and Ubertino because it provided them with a scientia
rooted in contemplation; a tradition in existence since the time o f C lare but which had
com e-of-age by the end of the thirteenth century. This type of contem plation, firmly
rooted in w om en’s religious practice, was sympathetic to their cause, but not o f it per se.
1,:See Alfonso Marini. "Ubertino e Angela: 1’Arbor vitae e il Liber.” A n gele de Foligno: Le
dossier, eds. Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun (Paris: Ecole Francais de R om e, 1999), 319-344.
Guamieri. "Santa Angela?.” 256-257.
193Ibid.. 243.
lfl4McGinn. Flowering, 123.

87
IV. Conclusion
The institutionalization and regulation o f the w om en’s religious movement in thirteenth
century caused serious problems for beguines, tertiaries and others dedicated to religious
poverty. As the ecclesiastical and secular authorities sought to transform their religious
life and culture, the beguines and others began to look for other ways to live out their
religious ideals. I have suggested that a tradition o f contemplation dedicated to the
pursuit of wisdom and the attainment o f radical spiritual poverty developed with certain
beguine and tertiary communities in order to help these women fulfill their desire to
“naked follow the naked Christ.” M arguerite P orete’s Mirror and Angela o f Foligno’s
Book each provide evidence for a set o f contem plative practices evolved out of beguine
religious life and culture that were geared towards attaining and fulfilling the
com m itm ent to radical spiritual poverty and evangelical activity practiced by Christ and
the apostles.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n p ro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

CHAPTER THREE
THE SCHOOL OF LOVE: MEDITATION, MEMORY AND THE TRAINING OF
THE RELIGIOUS SELF
In chapter two, I have suggested that the lim itations placed upon w om en’s
religious communities in northern and southern Europe, specifically those barring them
from following Christ in poverty and evangelical activity, laid the foundations for the
development o f a contem plative tradition dedicated to the imitation o f the Christ as
expressed in the annihilation o f the imagination. This religio-cultural context provides
the background essential to understanding some o f the theological and ideological
parallels between the M irror and Book. But, in o rd er to understand more fully w hat these
treatises teach, how they teach it and why, it is necessary to turn to a discussion o f
meditation, since, in the practice o f meditation, w om en religious acquired a moral,
rhetorical and theological training specific to their gender and status. Thus, m editation
not only provides the foundation for understanding the teachings presented in w om en’s
mystical writings, but also an im portant key unlocking their form and function. Through
meditation women religious learned how to think and speak about God and acquired a
religious self imbued with a specific set o f goals an d ideals.
In the thirteenth century, w om en’s know ledge o f the gospels was prim arily based
upon “extracts o f scripture and substitute scripture” written by Franciscan and D om inican
friars who, during the course o f the century, rapidly became the primary producers o f a
88
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e c o p y rig h t o w n e r . F u r th e r re p ro d u c tio n p ro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

89
devotional literature in the vernacular.1 These “extracts” appeared in liturgical books
and moral primers, psalters and books o f hours. M editation literature and gospel
harm onies comprise the most important and ill-understood of these new devotional
genres associated with the w om en's religious m ovem ent o f the thirteenth century.
In recent years, many studies have observed the centrality o f meditation to the
religiosity of ordinary laywomen. beguines, tertiaries and other semireligious in northern
and southern Europe in the late Middle Ages. But w hat was this practice exactly? M ost
scholars have correctly emphasized m editation’s penitential function.2 Bonaventure, who
wrote extensively about meditation and contem plation, explained that meditation on the
life o f C hrist and upon the “labor, suffering and love o f Jesus crucified” (laborem et
dolorem amoremque cmcifLxi Iesu) inspired com passion, compunction and moral
conform ity to C h rist/ For the Franciscan, it was a practice that not only inculcated
belief, but encouraged the development o f an internalized set of dispositions organizing
the religious' thought and conduct in such a w ay as to allow her to become a “true
w orshipper of God and disciple of Christ” ( Verus D ei cultor Christique discipulus).4 The
use o f verbal and visual images were essential to this practice since they could “enkindle
'Blamires. 'T he Limits o f Bible Study for Medieval Women." in Women, the Book, a n d the
G odly: Selected Proceedings from the Saint H ild a ’s Conference, 1993. vol. 1. eds. Lesley Smith and Jane
H.M Taylor (Rochester. NY: D.S. Brewer. 1995). 3.
“Denise Despres has discussed the penitential aspects o f Franciscan meditation in G hostly Sights:
Visual M editation in Late-Medieval Literature (Norman. Oklahoma: University o f Oklahoma Press. 1989).
She also touches upon the links between memory and meditation in "Memory and Image: The
Dissemination o f a Franciscan Meditative Text,” in M ystics Q uarterly 16 (1990): 133-42. Richard
Kieckhefer includes meditation as a penitental prayer practice in his survey of late medieval devotional
themes. See Kieckhefer. “Major Currents in Late M edieval Devotion.” 75-108.
JBonaventure, Tree o f Life, trans. Ewert C ousins (N ew York: Paulist Press, 1978). p. 120;
Bonaventure. Lignum vitae. Opera Omnia, ed. R.P.A. Lauer (Quaracchi: CoIIegio S. Bonaventura. 1858),
8:2. p. 68.
4See the entire prologue. Bonaventure. Tree o f Life, pp. 119-122; idem. Lignum vitae, 8:2, pp. 68-
69.

90
...affection...shape understanding...and imprint the memory” {...accendatur affectus,
fo n n eru r cogitatus, imprimatur m em oria).5 In short, images enabled the religious to
construct a “memory,” a florilegia essential for thinking and speaking about God, and the
cultivation and exercise o f the m em ory, make possible the reformation o f the soul (the
memory, understanding and will) into the image of the crucified Christ. Thus, the
penitential function of meditation was linked inextricably to rhetoric, exegesis, and the art
of memory.
Scholars have studied the relationship amongst meditation, memory work, and
rhetoric in monastic thinkers.6 H owever, in focusing upon the penitential and
catechetical aspects of meditation, most studies have overlooked the transm ission o f these
ideas about memory and rhetoric into w om en’s semireligious communities in the
thirteenth century. In so doing, they have neglected to note the similarities between
w om en’s meditation and monastic lectio divina. When Franciscan and Dominican friars
penned meditations and primers for the women religious in their care, they drew upon the
monastic rhetorical tradition and classical memory training techniques. M editations upon
the life o f Christ and gospel harm onies form ed an important “substitute scripture” for
women, providing them with a source-text for theological understanding and a
background in exegesis and m em ory training. It also gave them a particular
understanding o f the role of meditation in the contemplative life and a set o f strategies
and techniques for seeking contem plative advancement. In this chapter, I will examine
5Bonaventure, Tree o f Life. p. 199; idem. Lignum vitae 8:1. p. 68.
6 Several studies treat memory and meditation as a rhetorical practice see Frances Yates, The Art
o f M emory (Chicago: University o f C hicago Press. 1974); Mary Carruthers. The Book o f Memory: A Study
o f M em ory in M edieval Culture (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990); idem. The Craft o f
Thought: Meditation. Rhetoric and the M aking o f Images, 400-1200 (New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1990). Jean Leclercq treats its role within the lectio divina tradition in monasticism in The Love o f
Learning and the D esire fo r God: A Srudy o f M onastic Culture, trans. Catherine Misrahi (N ew York:
Fordham University Press, 1982).

the practice o f meditation in w om en’s religious communities in northern and southern
Europe through an examination o f pseudo-Bonaventure’s M editations on the Life o f
Christ, the Rothschild Canticles and other materials useful for understanding w om en’s
meditation in the thirteenth century. I w ill note the ways in which m editation trained
women to identify with Christ in ways appropriate to their status, while at the same time
providing them with the tools, training, and dispositions for more advanced
contem plation and theological speculation. Meditation on the life and Passion o f Christ,
and the strategies of visualization and identification operative in such praxis, provide the
point o f departure for the contem plative teachings elaborated in A ngela o f F oligno’s
Book and Marguerite Porete’s M irror.
I. Meditation and the Monastic Life
In recent years, there has been m uch scholarly interest in the subject o f meditation
and the role o f memory in medieval rhetoric.7 In the Middle Ages, m editation, as the
activity o f memory (m em oria), em braced a w ider range o f cognitive and rhetorical
processes than it does for us today. M editation was associated with m em ory-training, a
process as essential to the assim ilation o f knowledge as to the formation o f character
(charakter) in the Greek sense o f the term . It was also an active agent in the process of
exegesis and biblical interpretation. Finally, as I have mentioned above, m editation was a
7 For two studies that explore the im plications o f Franciscan meditation for devotional literature
see Despres, Ghostly Sights',and John V. Flem ing. An Introduction to the Franciscan Literature o f the
M iddle A ges (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1977). Hans Belting addresses the subject o f meditation
in The Image a n d Its Public in the M iddle A ges: Form a n d Function o f Early P aintings o f the Passion,
trans. M. Bartusis and R. Meyer (N ew R ochelle. NY:Aristide D. Caratzas, 1981). M cGinn looks at its
relationship to mysticism in The Growth o f M ysticism , 132-138.

92
penitential prayer practice that allow ed the religious to explore and reform the
relationship between G od and self. T his section will provide a general overview o f
monastic meditation in the Latin W est with an eye towards understanding the
interrelationship amongst all these functions and their implications for the form ation o f a
religious habitus, an internalized set o f dispositions that make up subjectivity, acquired
and appropriated through bodily practices.8 Pierre Bordieu has argued that the habitus is
“history turned into nature,” the locus where ideologies inform subjective identity.9 This,
I think is helpful for understanding the role o f meditatio in the construction and
expression of a religious identity. In meditation, the medieval religious learned to
reconstruct the self in accordance with a culturally prescribed set o f moral, rhetorical and
theological ideals, internalizing them as constitutive o f the religious self.
A. Monastic Meditatio and the Practice of Sacred Reading
The verb meditari and its derivative noun meditatio come from the Hebrew root haga
which means to murmur in a low voice, and also refers to the guttural cry o f an anim al.10
M editatio also is the Latin translation o f m elete, the Greek word used to indicate the
repetition o f a text in order to com m it it to memory. In the Hebrew Bible, meditation
appears in the prophets and wisdom literature, as well as in allegorical readings o f
8See Marcel Mauss. "Body Techniques," in Sociology and Psychology: Essays, trans. Ben
Brewster (London: Routledge, 1979). 97-135. Amy Hollywood has an interesting discussion o f Talal
Asad. Marcel Mauss, and Sarah Beckwith’s understandings o f the ways in which practice inculcates belief
and constructs the self in “Inside Out." A lso see Sarah Beckwith, "Passionate Regulation: Enclosure,
A scesis and the Feminist Imaginary," South A tlantic Q uarterly 93 (1994): 803-824.
9Pierre Bourdieu. Outline o f a Theory o f Practice, trans. Richard N ice (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. 1977), 78.
l0EmmanueI von Severus and Aime Solignac, "Meditation,” D ictionnaire de spiritu alite ascetique
et mystique doctrine et histoire, 16 vols., eds. Marcel Viller et al. (Paris: Beauchesne, 1980). 10:907.

93
Leviticus 11:13 and D euteronom y 14:6.n In Isaiah, meditation is the articulation of
justice that issues from the heart, whereas in the psalms, meditation is associated with
prayer and the discernm ent o f character and intention.12 In the Gospels, m editation is
ascribed to Mary when m entioned twice with reference to her heart’s recollection o f the
miraculous words and deeds o f Jesus.lj> In 1 Tim 4, Paul com pares Jesus’ doctrine to
nourishing food that must be digested by the disciple in order to accurately and
effectively convey the im port of his message.
In the Latin Church Fathers, meditation appears as an active, sensual mode o f
reading and pondering sacred text for the purpose of accumulating wisdom and reforming
the self. No doubt this connection has as much to do with biblical resonances as ancient
reading practices. For exam ple, Augustine, who was well-trained in the rhetorical skills
of Classical Antiquity, w ould have been familiar with meditation as the interiorization of
a literary text. Medieval thinkers like their forebears em ployed the verb m m inare to
signify meditation.14 But within this patristic context, M editatio/nim inalio took on a
particularly eucharistic connotation through its association with the m ensa v e r b id
However, it is in early Latin monasticism that meditation became central to
Christian religious life and culture and the monastic vocation. O f alltheearly western
monastic thinkers, Benedict most clearly articulated a place for prayer and study within
1'McGinn. Growth o f M ysticism , 135.
i:Isaiah 33.18. and the Psalm s, especially 4. 7. 15. 19. 2 4 ,3 7 . 3 0 .4 9 . 71. 77. For a more in depth
discussion o f these aspects see von Severus and Solignac, 907.
13 Luke 2:19. 51. For a discussion see ibid.. 908.
14As early as the third century B.C., pagan authors sometimes employed the word rum inare or
rumino to metaphorically signify meditation. For example. Quintiilian compares the meditation to the
chewing o f food. See M. Fabius Quintiilian. Instituto oratoria, 2 vols., ed. M. Winterbottom (Oxford:
Oxford University Press. 1970). XI. 2 .4 1 : Carruthers. Book o f M emory, n. 32. 327.
l5See von Severus and Solignac. 909.

94
the life of the monk. In his Rule, Benedict assigns portions o f the monastic day to lectio
divina, or the prayerful, pensive, and petitionary reading o f scripture o r select sacred
texts.16 The Rule generally posits a close association between meditatio and lectio
suggesting their similarity in function during this early period. However, in some
contexts he uses the verb meditari to describe the attentive study of the psalms or o f a
lesson.17 For Benedict, prayerful reading was not a private, passive enterprise, but rather
an active, individual expression o f the opus dei. W hile this exercise had some practical
functions, it was specifically designed to foster a personal, spiritual consciousness o f the
workings of liturgical prayer within the mystic body of the Church.18
By the time o f Gregory the Great, lectio divina had become an essential part of
the m onk's vocation - namely, the search for God in the solitude and silence o f
continuous prayer and study.19 M editation was an im portant spiritual, mnemonic, and
rhetorical technique that permitted the m onk to understand and experience G od through
the prayerful study and interpretation o f the bible. The goal o f sacred reading was to
enable the monk to perfect himself to such a degree that he could ascend to the
contemplation o f God through the mysteries o f scripture. As part of the process o f lectio
divina, the practice o f meditation served as a corollary to the act of reading (lectio) and
provided the groundwork necessary to advance to prayer and contemplation
(ioratio/contemplatio).20 But, as Jean Leclercq has pointed out, meditation also described
16Benedict. Abbot o f Monte Cassino, RB I9S0: the Rule o f St. Benedict in Latin and English with
Notes, ed. Timothy Fry (Collegeville. MN: Liturgical Press. 1980). 4 8 .1 ,4 ,5 , 10, 13, 14,22-23.
17von Severus and Solignac, 910.
l8McGinn. G rowth o f Mysticism, 132.
l,Leclercq. Love o f Learning. 13.
:oThis schema for monastic lectio divina follow s McGinn. Growth o f Mysticism, 132- 146.

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a particular disposition, a way o f “thinking o f a thing with the intent to do it.”21 The
cognitive, indeed physiological im plications o f which he explains in the following:
For ancients to m editate is to read a text and to learn it “by heart” in the
fullest sense o f this expression that is, with one’s w hole being, with the
body, since the m outh pronounced it, with the m em ory w hich fixes it, with
intelligence that understands its meaning, and with the will which desires
to put it into p ractice."
Thus, meditation was more than ju st a com ponent of sacred reading, but almost
synonymous with the entire orientation of monastic prayer and study.2j Lectio divina
consisted in more than the training o f the mind and soul, but the entire person. Monastic
reading and its psychology influenced not only monastic and scholastic exegesis, but the
larger medieval psychology o f reading.24 Its techniques and ideals w ould move out of the
monasteries and into the classroom , and from the classroom into the hom e with the book
of hours and other devotional literature for lay consumption.
But what was this practice exactly? And what was it supposed to accomplish? At
its most basic level m editatio, w as the repetition of a text to com m it it to memory. There
is no question that this practice had, on the one hand, a purely pragm atic level: biblical
texts needed to be memorized so that monks could perform their liturgical duties.
M editative reading or reading for the purpose o f memorizing was a learned skill
associated with time-honored techniques drawn from the classical tradition. Medieval
scholars thought that material was best com m itted to memory at night. Texts could be
more readily committed to m em ory if they were divided up into discreet sections
"'Leclercq. Love o f Learning. 16-17.
“ Ibid.. 17.
“ Ibid.
:4LecIercq has noted that m onastic and scholastic lectio differed from each other in terms o f its
orientation and the questions which the reader put to the text and himself. Monastic lectio was oriented to
m editatio and oratio whereas scholastic lectio was the preparation for quaestio and disputatio. Ibid., 72.

96
(divisio). Heightened emotional states such as agitation, guilt, anger, desire and even
jo y facilitated the production of memories. Inwardly focused attention helped to insure
that the feelings provoked would help the texts and ideas to becom e entrenched in the
memory in such a w ay that they could be easily retrieved.25 The key to memory work lay
in the construction o f a "mem ory phantasm” consisting in a likeness (simulacrum) and a
sensual-emotional response which, together, encoded a topic o r text within the memory.26
M onastic readers read actively, and w hat they read became ingrained in their memory
through a repetitive, mnemonic strategy that relied upon their “experience” of the words
as intrinsic to reading com prehension.27 Although monastic authors upheld the ideal of
imageless contemplation, they generally agreed that mental im ages, external images, or
indeed vivid narrative was useful for memorial production. These mental and external
images not only facilitated the memorization of facts and content, but enabled thought.28
As Carruthers has observed, “M editational praxis provides the backgrounds, place and
habits o f one’s thinking mind...not significant as ideas them selves, but are the forms upon
which, out of other memories, ideas are constructed.”29
The physicality o f the act of reading combined with the notion that it was a
communal, dialogic event shaped the “experience” o f the text at its most fundamental
level. In monastic reading, the reader used eyes, lips, ears in the pronouncing or
murmuring of biblical texts. “Acoustical reading,” or the m onastic practice of reading
^Carruthers, Book o f Memory, chapter 5. Jody Enders focuses on the role o f violent images as
critical to medieval memorial work, see The M edieval Theatre o f Cruelty: Rhetoric, Memory and Violence
(Ithaca. NY: Cornell University Press. 1999).
:6Carruthers. Book o f Memory, 169.
‘7Leclercq, Love o f Learning, 17.
:8Carruthers. Craft o f Thought, 82.
:9Ibid.. 82.

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aloud in a slow, deliberate fashion allow ed the reader to enjoy the cadences,
resonances, and reverberations o f the words he or she pronounced, as much as the
stylistic and reflective pauses in between those w o rd s/0 We might well im agine that if in
a room with other readers, the monk might note consciously or unconsciously the
murmured words and phrases that would have formed the backdrop o f their own
meditations - thus em phasizing the com m unal and communicative nature o f this practice.
Within this context reading had much in common with the chanting o f the office as well
as the practice of d ic ta tio n /1 Some monastic authors used metaphors that suggest that
they understood reading not only as auditory, but as a dialogue between the reader in the
present and the author in the p a s t/2 John o f Salisbury, following Isidore o f Seville,
praised reading’s ability to connect students in the present with thinkers long departed
from the world. In his M etalogicon. he described written letters as the visual signs of
spoken words; signs that allow the reader to hear the voices o f those no longer present
through the “windows of the eyes” (per oculonun fenestras).33 M ary Carruthers has
suggested that the murmur o f reading out loud served to enhance the dialogic nature of
the reading process.34
In his Love o f Learning a n d the Desire fo r God, Jean Leclercq described
monastic culture as “aural.” and their mnemonic technique as a type o f muscular
30Leclercq. Love o f Learning. 72-73.
31McGinn. Growth o f Mysticism. 132.
32For a survey o f this theme in monastic literature see Josef Balogh, '“ V oces Paginarum’ Beitrage
zur Geschichte des lauten Lesens und Schreibens,” Philologus 82 (1927): 8 4 -1 0 9 ,2 0 2 -2 4 0 .
JJ"Litterae autem. id est figurae primo vocum indices sunt, deinde rerum, quas animae per
oculorum fenestras opponunt, et frequenter absentium dicta sine voce Ioquuntur”; John o f Salisbury,
Metalogicon. Patrologia cursus completus. Series latina, 221 vols.. ed. J.P. Migne (Paris: J.P. Migne, 1844-
64). 199:1.13. 840C. Hereafter M igne's series will be referred to as PL
^Carruthers. Book o f Memory. 169.

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memory, a literal incorporation o f the text into oneself through muscular - intellectual
attention. This type o f reading, he explains, “is w hat inscribes...the sacred text in the body
and in the soul.'05 Yet the physical act o f reading comprised only a prelim inary level of
textual experience. It was em otional as well. Through meditation, the religious culled
sensual-intellectual glosses on scripture and absorbed a text in such a way that it could
form an intrinsic part o f the self. As Bernard o f Clairvaux put it:
Food tastes sweet in the m outh, a psalm in the heart. But the faithful and
wise soul will not neglect to tear at the psalm with the teeth of its
understanding. If you sw allow it whole without chewing it the palate will
miss the delicious flavor which is sweeter than honey from the honey-
comb...the honey in the wax is the devotion in the words. Otherwise the
letter kills (2 C or 3:6), if you eat it without the condiment o f the spiritual
meaning.56
For Bernard, scripture, like food, contains vital nutrients necessary for life. Sim ilar to the
w ay in which the person must eat properly to obtain the maximum amount of nutrients
from her or his food, the m editator m ust m asticate and ruminate, dwelling with attentive,
intellectual/emotional energy upon scriptural texts in order to absorb their deeper, more
beneficial levels of meaning.57 In the thirteenth century, Thomas o f Celano would
describe Francis of Assisi as the m odel practioner o f meditative reading:
W henever he read sacred books, what he put into his mind once, he
indelibly wrote in his heart. He had a memory for books, because having
heard something the first tim e he grasped it not in vain, but chewed on it
35Leclercq, Love o f Learning, 90.
36Bemard o f Clairvaux. Song o f Songs, trans. G. R. Evans (NY : Paulist Press. 1987), Sermon 7.
IV.5. "Cibus in ore. psalmus in corde sapit. Tantum ilium terere non negligat fidelis et prudens anima
quibusdam dentibus intelligentiae suae, ne si forte integrum glutiat. et non mansum, frustretur palatum
sapore desiderabili. et dulcori super mel et favum ...m el in cera, devotio in Iittera est. Alioque littera
occidit. si absque spiritus condimento glutieris”; Bernard o f Clairvaux. Sermons su r le cantique, 3 vols..
Sources chretiennes. nos. 4 1 4 .4 3 1 .4 5 2 . eds. J. Leclercq. H. Rochais. and Ch. H. Talbot (Paris: Les
Editions du Cerf. 1996). 414:1.7.4. p. 5. lines 3-7. 9-10.
’7Mary Carruthers. Book o f M em ory. 174.

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with the continued devotion of his love (affectus). This, he said, was the
fruitful method for teaching and re a d in g ../8
For Thom as of Celano. Francis’ prodigious memory and his ability to meditate and
ruminate with the steadfast attentiveness of his “ love” (affectus) are the dispositions that
enable him to learn about the mysteries o f God, and subsequently be lead to “perfect
knowledge” (perfectam scientiam ) / 9
The Second Life ( Vita secunda) develops m editation’s role as the foundation o f an
inherently ethical and penitential Franciscan epistem ology that stands in contrast to the
“knowledge o f the masters” :
For his genius, free from all stain, penetrated the hidden things of
mysteries, and where the knowledge of the m asters is something external,
the love o f one who loves enters within the thing itself.40
Francis’ “love” (affectus), what Mary Carruthers describes as the emotion-memory,
becomes purified (ab om ni labe p u m m ) through m editation/rum ination.41 Continual
exercise o f the emotion-memory, the training of the heart’s knowledge in and through
meditation, eventually allows him to “enter within” (intrare) divine mysteries rather than
study them as something external to himself. For Celano, the Francis’ practice is founded
upon the Gregorian dictum that love itself is knowledge, the more one loves, the more
one knows.
jS"Legebat quandoque in sacris libris. et quod animo seme! iniecerat, indelebiliter scribebat in
corde. Memoriam pro libris habebat. quia non frustra semel capiebat auditus quod continua devotione
ruminabat affectus. Hunc discendi legendique modum fructuosum dicebat...”; Thomas de Celano, Vita
secunda, Fontes franciscani. eds. Enrico Menesto and Stefano Brufani et al., (Assisi: Edizioni Portiuncola.
1995). LXVIII. 102. p. 537. Mary Carruthers has cited this passage and translates affectus as emotion-
memory. See Book o f Memory, 174.
■’"Quamvis homo iste beatus nullis fuerit scientiae studiis innutritus. tamen quae de sursum est a
D eo sapientiam discens..."; Vita secunda. LXVIII.102. p. 536; "Mysteria sunt Dei. quae Franciscus
assequitur. et ad perfectam scientiam etiam ignorans adducitur”; III.7, p. 449.
^ “Penetrabat enim ab omni labe purum ingenium mysteriorum abscondita. et ubi magistralis
scientia foris est. affectus introibat amantis"; Ibid.. LXVIII.102. p. 537.
■“ Carruthers discusses Francis as a meditator in Book o f M em ory, 174.

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As early as the seventh century, G regory the G reat had described biblical study
as a self-reflexive, ethical praxis. In the M oralia on Job, Gregory explains the ethical
purpose o f reading: “We ought to transform what we read into our very selves, so that
when our mind is stirred by what it hears, our life may concur by practicing what has
been heard.”42 Again in the M oralia, G regory echoes Augustine when he explains that
the reading is an important part of the process o f self-knowledge since scripture “presents
a kind o f mirror to the eyes of the mind, that our inner face may be seen in it. There truly
we learn our own ugliness, there our ow n beauty.”4:> Rather than remaining static and
lifeless, the words of the bible contained an infinite num ber of puzzles and mysteries that
could be accessed through prayer and study. The presence of the Holy Spirit in both the
reader and the text ensured that “divine words grow' along with the reader” (divina
eloquia cum legente crescunt), fostering what Bernard McGinn has called a “creative
m utuality between text and reader.”44
In her study of the art o f memory, M ary Carruthers has demonstrated that by
means o f reading, people from late A ntiquity through the fourteenth century studied texts
and authorities sacred or otherwise in order to “dom esticate” (dom esticare) or familiarize
themselves with them. The “dom estication” o f a text produced a memorial copy, readily
available for consultation, citation, and exegesis through the concordances o f memory.45
M em ories of a text or subjects found in texts were experienced as one’s own first through
4"‘In nobismetipsis namque debemus transformare quod Iegimus; ut cum per auditum se animus
excitat. ad operandum quod audierit vita concurrat"; M oralia in Job PL 75:1.33,542C.
43“Scriptura sacra mentis oculis quasi quoddam speculum opponitur, ut interna nostra facies in
ipsa videatur. Ibi etenim foeda. ibi pulchra nostra cognoscimus"; Moralia in Job PL 75:11.1,553D .
u Homelies sur Ezechiel Sources chretiennes. trans. Charles Morel (Paris: Editions du Cerf), 327:
1.7.8. p. 244, lines 11-12. See discussion in McGinn, Growth o f Mysticism, 133. and the discussion in
Benedetto Calati. "La ‘lectio divina’ nella tradizione monastica benedittina,” Benedictina 28 (1981): 411-
29.
45Carruthers. Book o f M emory, 164.

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the mechanics o f memory. In his Didascalicon, Hugh o f St. V ictor defined
meditation’s place in the learning process. For Hugh, it played an active role in the
acquisition o f a text as part o f one’s repertoire, and its engagem ent as something that one
“knew” that could be brought to bear upon other things that one knew or wanted to know.
As the activity o f memory, meditation was the culmination and indeed the “point” o f
reading and “study.” As opposed to lectio which was system atic and progressive,
meditatio was an inherently creative, investigative tool:
M editation is sustained thought along planned lines: it prudently

investigates the cause and the source, the m anner and the utility o f each
thing. M editation takes its start from reading, but is bound by none o f
reading’s rules or precepts. For it delights to range along open ground,
where it fixes its free gaze upon the contemplation o f truth, draw ing
together no these, now those causes o f things, o r now penetrating into
profundities, leaving nothing doubtful, nothing obscure. The start o f
learning, thus, lies in reading, but its consumm ation lies in m editation.46
But, for medieval intellectuals and religious alike, a memory was only ethically
“complete,” in the sense o f being fully digested and made one’s own, through public
articulation before a "recollecting audience.”47 In the public dom ain, medieval subjects
like Heloise quoting Cornelia before taking the veil or Bernard o f Clairvaux speaking as
the Bride in the Song o f Songs, could render a moment “m em orable” through the
performance o f a memorized text before an audience who would complete that ethical
46Hugh o f St. Victor. The Didascalicon o f Hugh o f St. Victor, trans. Jerome Taylor (N ew York:
Columbia University Press. 1961) III. ch. 10, pp. 92-93; "Meditatio est cogitatio frequens cum con silio.
quae causam et originem. modum et utilitatem uniuscuiusque rei prudenter investigat. Meditatio
principium sumit a lectione. nullis tamen stringitur regulis aut praeceptis Iectionis. Delectatur enim
quodam aperto decurrere spatio. ubi liberam contempiandae veritati aciem affigat. et nunc has. nunc illas
rerum causas perstringere. nunc autem profunda quaeque penetrare, nihil anceps, nihil obsurum relinquere.
Principium ergo doctrinae est in lectione. consummatio in meditatione..."; idem. Didascalicon d e studio
legendi. ed. Charles Buttimer (W ashington. D.C.: Catholic University Press o f America. 1939), III.X.13-
21.
47Carruthers notes that a recollecting subject, a remembered text and a remembering audience
constitute the proper context for a complete "ethical situation.” See Book o f M emory, 182.

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experience by means o f their own memories o f it.48 Carruthers observes that, for
medieval people, an action could be made memorable (and thereby ethically com plete)
by means of the fact that the “recollecting subject” had “invented” a memory for a
particular occasion “investing it, the occasion, and her own action with “com m on’ ethical
value, and giving her audience something to think about.”49
Carruthers locates medieval subjectivity in the memory which she describes as
rhetorical construct sim ilar to a “florilegial entry, an indefinitely expandable grouping of
“dicta et facta” on a common theme o r subject.” 50 Reading provided the lector with his
or her own florilegium , or compendium of texts treating various topics, which could be
readily accessed and combined in ingenuous ways in order to address a particular topic,
situation or experience.31 Like a seal to wax, to use a common mystical metaphor found
in medieval thinkers as diverse as Hugh of St. Victor and M arguerite Porete, meditative
reading inscribed the lector with the templates of public memory o r social sapientia.
Thus, meditative reading provided more than just a filter through w hich people saw and
comprehended the world. Rather, it played an essential role in the formation of medieval
subjectivity - a habitus constructed in and through rhetoric. M ary Carruthers
summarizes meditative reading as a cultural phenomenon: "W e read rhetorically,
memory makes our reading into our own ethical equipment, and we express that character
in situations that are also rhetorical in nature, in the expressive gestures and performances
48Ibid.. 181.
J,Ibid.. 182.
50Ibid.. 181.
5lMary Carruthers gives a particularly nice example o f this point in her discussion o f H eloise's
quotation o f Cornelia's lament just before taking her vows as a nun. She portrays H eloise as the
quintessential medieval “subject who remembers.” By this she means that H eloise, through reading, has
internalized this experience to such a degree that she feels perfectly justified in understanding it as a w ay to
comprehend and experience her own situation. See ibid.. 179.

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which we construct from our remembered experience, and w hich, in turn are intended
to impress and give value to others’ memories o f a particular occasion.”52
B. Meditation as Prayer Genre
In the late eleventh century, meditation began to receive increased attention as a
distinctive religious practice. This expressed itself in the developm ent of the meditation
as a literary genre. These prayers or "m editations” took on a m ore personal component,
one which reflected the inherently ethical nature o f monastic reading, but was also
influenced by the confessio tradition popularized by Augustine in his Confessions and
Soliloquies. The "m editation” acted as a penitential exercise, a structured way in which
to "re-read” one’s personal history from the point o f view o f m oral reform and contrition.
The act of “rereading” memories of one’s own life, produced, in effect, a rhetorical re-
presentation of the self and one’s personal history. Through this exercise, medieval
penitents learned to “schematize temporal life into a true, eternal pattern of conversion.”53
This genre first appeared in monastic circles. Authors like Anselm of Canterbury
and Jean o f Fecam p penned highly affective prayers that sought to discover, understand,
and articulate the relationship between the late eleventh-century believer and salvation
history. These prayers addressed to Christ, M ary and other saints inspired the strong
emotional states necessary to inspire com punction and facilitate memory work. For
example, among Anselm ’s meditations there is one for stirring up fear and another to
provoke remorse for lost virginity. These prayers and meditations were explicitly
penitential in nature, designed to inspire contrition and moral reform in the meditator.
5:Ibid.. 182.
53Despres. G hostly Sights. 25.

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But this penitential purpose was inextricably linked to m editation’s rhetorical aspects
since a “meditation” was meant to provoke reflection and, ultimately, the com position of
a memorized text of conversion.
Anselm's prayers and m editations held particular im portance for royal lay
women, as well as monastic friends and colleagues. The meditations and prayers he
com posed would, through these channels, exert wide influence over the spirituality of
religious and laity alike. In 1081, Adelaide, the youngest daughter o f W illiam the
Conqueror living in seclusion not far from Bee, requested a selection o f psalm s to aid her
in her devotions. From Anselm she received six prayers and one meditation for her
personal use, along with a letter o f direction and a psalter containing flo rileg ia .54 In
1104, Anselm sent to M athilda o f Tuscany an entire book o f prayers and m editations.53
Even without A nselm ’s personal intervention, affective spiritual com positions, such as
his prayers and meditations, often found their way into psalters for lay, aristocratic, and
generally female consumption. Diemuth o f Traunkirchen’s copy of A nselm ’s prayers
and meditations (dated circa 1160) was bound with a psalter. As Jeffrey H am burger has
shown, women’s psalters were often lavishly illustrated, regardless o f w hether they were
com posed for a nun or laywom an.56 These books, as well as other devotional manuals,
trained women religious to construct mental images (or memories) through strategies of
visualization while engaged in prayer. For example, Goscelin, a Benedictine monk, wrote
a treatise entitled the Liber confortatoriiis (ca. 1082-83) for an English anchoress named
Eve. In this book, he recom mends that she meditate upon C hrist’s sufferings during the
MBenedicta Ward, “Introduction.” in The Prayers and M editations o f Saint Anselm with the
Proslogion (NY: Penguin Books. 1973). 36.
55Ibid.. 277.
56Jeffrey Hamburger, The Visual and the Visionary: Art and Female Spirituality in Late Medieval
G erm any (New York: Zone Books. 1998), 149-195, especially 184-190.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

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liturgical h o u rs.57 As Jeffrey Hamburger has observed: ‘T h e salient features o f these
meditations are their increasingly systematic organization, often integrating serial
narration with exercises structured around the canonical hours, and the unapologetic
invitation to visualization, features that invite absorption and em pathy on the part of the
reader."58
A nselm ’s “Meditation on Human Redem ption” (De redemptione humana)
provides a good example o f this type of m editation.59 In this short prayer, Anselm uses
the first person to convey a dramatic and highly personal exposition of the theology of
the C ur Deus Homo. However, instead o f focusing on the intellectual, rational arguments
for why the believer should accept the necessity and justice o f the incarnation and
redemption, he exhorts the meditator to “consider” (considera) with affectus and intentus
the events o f redemption history, and to apply them to her-or him self.60 This strategy
functions as a mode o f visualization - the rhetorical creation o f a set o f memory images
o f the self and God set within the larger narrative o f redem ption history. The arousal o f
sympathetic emotions was critical to this process, as exem plified in the following
quotation:
Consider, O my soul, and hear, all that is within me, how much my whole
being owes to him! Lord, because you have m ade me, I owe you the
whole of my love; because you have redeem ed me, I owe you the whole o f
myself; because you have prom ised so much, I ow e you all my being.
Moreover, I owe you as much more love than m yself as you are greater
than I, for whom you gave yourself and to whom you promised yourself. I
pray you. Lord, make me taste by love w hat I taste by knowledge; let me
57See A. Wilmart. "Eve et Goscelin,” Revue Benedictine L (1938): especially 72.
58Hamburger. Visual and the Visionary. 184.
59Anselm L iber Meditationum et Orationurn PL 158:762-769. A. Wilmart has reattributed this

particular meditation to a twelfth-century follower o f Anselm . See A. Wilmart, Auteurs Spirituels et textes
devots du Moyen a ge latin. etudes d'histoire litteraire (Paris: Bloud et Gay. 1932), 195.
MCogitare and considerare are synonyms for the act o f meditation as a mode o f reflection that
"implies an affinity with the practical or even moral order.” Leclercq, Love o f Learning, 16.

106
know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my
whole self, but I have no more, and by m yself I cannot render the whole o f
it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of love. I am wholly
yours by creation; make me yours, too, in love.61
In this passage, Anselm describes love as an epistem ology ( ‘make me taste by love what I
taste by knowledge: let me know by love what I know by understanding’) that allows the
meditator to know God through experience. M editations such as this one allow the
meditator to experience divine love, and indeed participate in redemption history, through
the creation of visualizations that show the nature o f human love (mem ory), its ways of
knowing (understanding), and how its activity (will) is different than G o d ’s own. These
“m em ories” composed in meditation essentially create a series of “memory phantasms”
consisting in an image (a similitude or likeness) and an emotional-sensual response. The
progressive recognition of dissimilarity between the thing thought about (G od’s being,
G od's actions, God’s promises, etc.), and what human nature is and can comprehend
‘draw s’ the soul to God by showing the soul its inability to love or know God without
G od’s assistance. This recognition of the powerlessness of the soul’s faculties, the utter
humility of the soul, reach a crescendo for Anselm in the soul’s plea for assistance and
access to the contemplative heights: “Lord, my heart is before you. I try but by myself I
can do nothing; do what I cannot. Admit me into the inner room of your love. I ask, I
seek, I knock.”62 Thus, the stimulation of emotions o f pity, compassion, sorrow, guilt.
61Anselm. "Meditation on Human Redemption.” in The P rayers and M editations o f Saint Anselm
with the Proslogion, trans. Benedicta Ward (NY: Penguin Books. 1973). lines 244-255. "Considera, anima
mea. intendite. omnia initia a mea. quantum illi debeat substantia mea tota. Certe. Dom ine. quia me fecisti,
debeo amori tuo meipsum totum; quia me redemisti. debeo meipsum totum; quia tantum promittis, debeo
meipsum totum. imo tantum debeo amori tuo plusquam meipsum. quantum tu es major me. pro quo dedisti
teipsum. et cui promittis teipsum. Fac. precor. Domine, me gustare per amorem quod gusto per
cognitionem; sentiam per affectum quod sentio per intellectum; plus debeo quam meipsum totum; sed nec
plus habeo. nec hoc ipsum possum per me reddere totum. Trahe me. Domine, in amorem tuum, vel hoc
ipsum totum. Totum. quod sum tuum est conditione; fac totum tuum dilectione”; Anselm PL 158:768-769.
62Anselm. “Meditation on Human Redemption.” 259; “E cce. Domine, coram te est cor meum;
conatur sed per se non potest; fac tu quod ipsum non potest. Admitte me intra cubiculum amoris tui, peto.
quaero. pulso"; Anselm PL 158:769.

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gratitude and admiration in meditation functioned as critical to the w ay in which the
soul learned how to think about God and self, and to reform external conduct through the
construction of a memorial narrative concerning the self within redem ption history.
M editative prayer, as a moral exercise served as the necessary precursor to
contemplation, a point exem plified in A nselm ’s prayers and reiterated in later thinkers
such as Bonaventure. who wrote extensively about the theory and practice o f meditation,
as well as contemplation and the transitus into contemplative life.6-3
II. Meditation on the Life and Passion of Christ
The emergence o f m editation as a distinctive prayer genre coincides with the
general devotion to Christ and M ary that took hold in the Christian W est during the late
tenth and eleventh centuries.64 This tradition of private prayer and the em pathetic
experience of the Divine through the cultivation of strong emotions evolved into an
affective mystical theology with Bernard o f Clairvaux (d. 1153) and the school o f
CIteaux.65 In the thirteenth century, the Franciscans played a key role in the translation
6jSee James Marrow. Passion Iconography in Northern European A rt o f the Late M iddle Ages and
Early Renaissance: .4 Study o f the Transformation o f Sacred M etaphor into D escriptive Image (Kortrijk:
Van Ghemmert Publishing. 1979), 10. also n. 29. Elizabeth Salter discusses the affective, moral and
contemplative goals o f meditation in N icholas L ove's “M yrrour o f the Blessed L yf o fJ esu Christ, ”
Analecta Carthusiana 10 (Salzburg: Institut fur Englische Sprache und Literatur. 1974), 134. She also
provides an excellent discussion o f the different types o f gospel harmonies and their relationship to each
other.
64Marrow has an excellent exposition o f this in his introduction. See Marrow, Passion
Iconography. 1-32.
65Ibid.. 25. Also. J. Leclercq. F. Vandenbroucke and L. Boyer, eds.. The Spirituality o f the Middle
Ages, trans. The Benedictines o f Home Eden Abbey, Carlisle (London: Seabury Press. 1968).

108
o f this spirituality into a systematic program o f devotional piety. Through preaching,
spiritual direction and the composition of devotional manuals, prayers, images
(andachtsbilder) and other materials, the Franciscans were able to appeal to different
audiences with disparate social and intellectual backgrounds.66 As Marrow has observed:
The activity o f this order in disseminating their teachings among different

social and intellectual levels o f the populace, including the relatively
uneducated, contributes to the emergence o f devotional treatments o f the
passion in which the compassionate aims o f m editation, stimulated by
methodical reflection upon the concrete details o f C hrist’s life and
passion, tend to supersede the more abstract moral and contemplative
ones.67
Like others. Marrow suggests that Franciscan spirituality, generally, and meditation in
particular, was in large part responsible for the late medieval em phasis upon the concrete,
everyday details o f Christ’s life and the Fixation on the more gruesom e and grisly details
of his Passion at the expense of the more abstract moral and contem plative ideals of
Christianity that dominate monastic and scholastic theology. In the estimation of one
historical theologian, “late medieval devotion to the passion o f C hrist is one of the most
problem atic phenomena in the history of Christian spirituality...For attraction to the
suffering and death of Christ became so intense in some cases that Christians lost sight of
the other aspects o f Christian mysteries and o f their organic interrelatedness.”68
G enerally speaking, most scholars have viewed Franciscan m editation as popular
theology catering to the needs o f women and the laity. This type o f meditation is often
treated as com pletely unrelated to the sophisticated, theologically speculative exegesis
^Marrow. Passion Iconography, 25; Daniel Lesnick discusses this aspect o f Franciscan preaching
in Preaching in M edieval Florence: The Social W orld o f Franciscan and D om inican Spirituality (Athens:
University o f Georgia Press. 1989), 134-171.
67Marrow. Passion Iconography. 25.
68Ewert Cousins, ‘T he Humanity and the Passion o f Christ,” in Christian Spirituality 11: High
M iddle A ges a n d Reformation, ed. Jill Raitt, et al. (N ew York: Crossroad, 1989). 387.

109
proffered in the schoolroom, or the contem plation oriented biblical reading and study
encouraged in the monastery. More often than not, scholars have viewed Franciscan
meditation merely as a penitential exercise, albeit one that used iconographic and verbal
narrative to teach Christian doctrine and to dissem inate the Franciscan message o f
penance and conversion. Art historians have argued that Franciscan meditations such as
the M editations on the Life o f Christ enlarged and expanded the narrative repetoire of
gospel narrative beyond the stark biblical accounts, by retelling C hrist’s life in a
“novellike form that invited the reader’s em pathy and offered not only information on
details but also stimuli to sympathetic and affective participation.”69 O ther studies have
sought to determine the influence o f biblical exegesis upon the genre.70 But few, if any,
have ventured to study it as a distinctive form of training and mode of exegesis in its own
right— an outgrowth of the monastic tradition o f lectio divina, but tailored to the
distinctive needs and status of a new set o f religious.
At the beginning of this chapter I spoke of gospel harmonies as a form of
“substitute scripture” for women. In this section. I will look one particular Franciscan
gospel harmony, the Meditations on the L ife o f Christ to show how it taught women a
69Hans Belting, ‘T he New Role o f Narrative in Public Painting of the Trecento: H istoria and
Allegory." in P ictoral Narrative in Antiquity an d the M iddle A ges . eds. H. Kessler and M.S. Simpson
(Hanover. N.H.: Dartmouth University Press, 1985). 151. Hans Belting discusses this in greater detail in
Im age an d Its Public.
70Som e studies have explored the links between meditation and exegesis. Ewert Cousins has
studied on how Bonaventurian meditation (as exem plified in the Lignum vitae) taught the meditator to
transcend “superficial sentimentalism” and to "realize its ultimate religious possibility" by allowing the
meditator to penetrate "to that deeper level o f m ystical awareness where it experiences God him self as he is
manifested in the events." Cousins argues that these levels correspond to the senses o f scripture. See
C ousins. ‘T h e Humanity and the Passion o f Christ.” 388. Kurt Ruh has shown how images and narratives
found in passion narratives (such as the passion tract o f Heinrich o f St. Gall) are the result o f figural or
allegorical exegesis o f Old Testament imagery in accounts o f Christ’s suffering. Similarly, F.P. Pickering
has noted the process by means o f which Old Testament imagery was metaphorically transformed and
elaborated through narrative transmission. See Kurt Ruh, “Zur Theologische des mittelalterlichen
Passionstracktats, ” Theologische Zeitschrift VI (1950): 17-39; F.P. Pickering, "Das gotische Christusbild.
Zu den Quellen mittelalterlichen Passionsdarstellungen,” Euphorion XLVII (1953): 16-37. Also, see
Marrow, Passion Iconography, especially 1-32.

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form o f lectio divina rooted in the model o f Francis, but tailored to their status.
M editation upon the life and Passion o f C hrist not only provided women with a memorial
text o f the gospel, readily available to them through the concordances o f m em ory, but it
provided them with a religious habitus - constructed in and through the process o f
m editation.
A. Thirteenth-Century Meditation Manuals
In the thirteenth-century Latin books o f meditations circulated under the names
of authoritative spiritual authors such as A ugustine, Bede, Anselm, Bernard o f Clairvaux
and Bonaventure. The Liber de passione C hristi et doloribus et planetibus m atris ejus,
the M editatio in passionem et resurrectionem D om ini o f Pseudo-Bernard, the D ialogus
beatae M ariae et Anselmi de passione D om ini o f pseudo-Anselm, and the De m editatione
passionis christi p er septem diei horas libellis o f pseudo-Bede provided detailed,
“historical” treatments of Christ’s Passion.71 Franciscan communities formed the
intended audiences for these pseudonymous works, especially Pseudo-Anselm, Pseudo-
Bede, and Pseudo-Bonaventure.72 These accounts are “historical” only in these sense
that they present the events o f redemption history in a vivid and oftentim es anecdotal
narrative style. More curious to m odem readers is the extent to which they underscore
the subjective experience, in particular the em otional reactions, o f key figures in gospel
narrative. Athough these works are all anonym ous, scholars recently have attributed
7lFor Pseudo-Bernard see Liber d e passione Christi, PL 182:1133-1142; idem, M editatio in

passionem et resurrectionem domini. PLlS4:741-768. For Pseudo-Anselm see PL 159:271-299. For
Pseudo-Bede see PL 94:561-8.
7'Anne Derbes. Picturing the Passion in Late M edieval Italy: Narrative Painting, Franciscan
Ideologies, and the Levant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), n. 68. 194. The content and
style o f these meditations would reach a broader, lay audience through sermons, translations, and visual
programs.

Ill
Franciscan authorship to all but Pseudo-B ernard./J Like Pseudo-Bernard’s Book o f
the Passion o f Christ and the Sorrows and Lamentations o f His M other (Liber de
passione Christi et doloribus et planctibus m atris ejus), Pseudo-Anselm’s The D ialogue
o f the Blessed Mary and Anselm about the Passion o f the Lord (D ialogus beatae M ariae
et Anselm i de passione Domini) uses the technique of reportage to provide a narrative of
C hrist’s arrest, trial, crucifixion, and deposition in the tomb as told by M ary to St.
Anselm. At the very beginning o f the treatise, we, the audience, are told that A nselm
with tears and prayers (lacrymis et orationibus) implored the virgin to reveal to him the
passion of her son. In a vision, the virgin appeared to him and granted his request.74 In
this tract, Anselm asks Mary not only to provide a narrative of these events, but to reveal
her own memories o f them. She serves as an intermediary for understanding C hrist’s
experience. For example, Anselm asks her w hat her son was thinking, what he knew , and
for what he prayed. He also asks her what C hrist did during specific moments of the
Passion and who accompanied him. Over and over again he asks her if she was present
for particular events (Die, pissim a domina, fu is ti nunc cum illo). what she did (quid
fecisiti, dulcissima, cum audires), and what her emotional reaction was (Flevisti tunc.
73The authorship and dates o f all these texts are uncertain. Pseudo-Anselm is usually dated circa
1240. For the date and a persuasive argument for the text’s Franciscan authorship see A. Neff. ‘T h e
'D ialogus Beatae Mariae et Anselmi de Passione D om in i’: Toward an Attribution," M iscellanea
Francescana 86(1986): 105-8. Pseudo-Bede is often considered a Cistercian text. See W. Baier.
Unterscliungen zu den Passionsbetrachtungen in d e r “ Vita Christi" des Ludolf von Sachsen (Salzburg:
E.O.S. Verlag. 1977). 2, 275. J. Marrow, D. Lesnick. and A. Derbes have argued for a Franciscan
provenance for the work. Marrow dates the work to the thirteenth century and cites it as one o f the sources
for Pseudo-Bonaventure’s M editationes vitae Christi. See James Marrow, "Circumdederunt me can es
m ulti; Christ's Tormentors in Northern European Art o f the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance," A n
Bulletin 59 (1977): 197. In Passion Iconography, he discusses the text the most important passion tract
pre-dating the Meditationes. See Marrow, Passion Iconography, 12. D. Lesnick suggests that the text was
composed sometime during the second half o f the thirteenth century. See Preaching in M edieval F lorence.
269. Finally. Anne Derbes corroborates Marrow’s hypothesis, citing similarities between “mid-century
Passion images and the descriptions in Pseudo-Bede.” See Anne Derbes, Picturing the Passion, 21-22, 193-
194. n. 65.
74Anselm PL 159:271.

112
domina?).15 Her answers not only teach the meditator about the “facts,” the events of
the passion, but more specifically about doctrine of compassion.76 T he relationship
between the mother and son w as supposed to encourage in the reader an em otional
response necessary to build a dynam ic, dialogic relationship between the
“reader/meditator” and the object o f her o r his meditations. As I have noted in my
discussion of lectio divina, this relationship was considered essential not only to the
process of conversion and com punction, but also the construction o f m em ories.
B. The Meditations on the Life o f Christ
O f all these books of m editations, Pseudo-Bonaventure’s M editations on the Life
o f Christ (Meditationes vitae Christi) was the most popular and influential. W ritten in an
Italianized Latin sometime in the early fourteenth century, it circulated in hundreds of
editions in Latin and the vernaculars during the later Middle Ages.77 The tex t’s author, a
75Ibid.. cols. 2 7 4 .2 7 6 . 274.
76For example, the first question Anselm asks Mary is: "What was the beginning o f the passion of
your son?" (Die milii. charissima dom ina. quale fa it initium passionis filii tui). Ibid., 271.
^Like the other pseudonymous books o f meditations, the composition and date o f this book has
formed the subject o f debate. However, its Franciscan provenance remain unquestionable. F.L. Pickering
suggests that the text was composed around 1274. See F.L. Pickering, Literature a n d A rt in the Middle
Ages. (Coral Gables, Fla.: University o f Miami Press, 1970). E.S. Varanelli has hypothesized that it was
written circa 1260 because o f the correspondence between images used in the narrative and relief cycles on
Nicola Pisano's Pisa and Siena pulpits. See E.S. Varanelli, “Le M editationes Vitae N ostri D om ini Jesu
Christi nell'arte del duecento italiano." A rte M edievale 6 (1992): 137-48. Sarah M cNam er has argued for
the book’s composition circa 1336-1360 on philological grounds. See S. McNamer, "Further Evidence for
the Date o f the pseudo-Bonaventurian M editationes vitae Christi.’’ Franciscan Studies 50 (1990): 235-261.
In her most recent critical edition. M . Stallings-Taney has dated the text’s com position to 1346-64. See
John o f Caulibus. M editaciones vite C h risti olim S. Bonaventuro attributae. Corpus Christianorum
Continuo Medievalis 153, ed. Mary Stallings-Taney (Tumholt: Brepols, 1997). xi. Hereafter cited as
MVC. Another edition o f this tract can be found in Bonaventure. Opera omnia, ed. A.C. Peltier
(Quaracchi: Collegio S. Bonaventura. 1858). 12:509-630. For English edition o f MS Ital. 115,
Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris see Isa Ragusa and Rosalie B. Green, eds.. M editations on the Life o f Christ:
An Illustrated Manuscript o f the Fourteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961).
Hereafter cited simply as M editations. John Fleming discusses this text within the larger context o f an
evolving Franciscan literary tradition in An Introduction to Franciscan Literature. 2 26ff., 242ff.

113
Franciscan friar active in Tuscany by the nam e o f John o f Caulibus, wrote the book as
a set of meditations for a Poor Clare under his spiritual direction. As he explains, he
began the book as a memory aid for himself, but he soon began to com pose a book in
earnest, as a set of meditations for his charge:
And since I had jotted down other meditations, being aw are that there was
something amiss and out-of-order, I decided to begin from the beginning
and write them down, not only for my memory, but also for your
advantage for directing you in an orderly fashion; and so, fortunately, that
forgetfulness of mine is o f benefit to you.78
Recognition o f the fact that women religious formed the target audience fo r this work
helps to explain the M editations’ striking emphasis on the female characters in the life of
Christ.79 Mary and the other women in the book all lead a life sim ilar to that o f a Poor
Clare. For example, M ary’s daily activities correspond to that of the ideal religious, as
does her disposition. Like them, she spends her day divided between prayer and work,
and her spiritual goal consists in perfecting the ‘works and love o f G od’ ( in D ei opere et
am ore).80 As he explains:
7S“Cumque sic aliquas notassem conspiciens esse quiddam imperfectum et exordinatum. cogitavi a
principio inchoare et eas non solum ad meam memoriam sed eciam ad tuam utilitatem ordinate ad te
dirigendas describere et sic forte tibi prodest ilia oblivio”; MVC LXI. 101-5. M. Stallings-Taney has taken
issue with D. Lesnick's argument that the text was originally given as a set o f sermons and therefore
reflects the types o f sermons preached by Franciscans to the laity. I agree with Stallings-Taney that the
book's composition as meditation material for a Poor Clare is undisputable. This passage is not found in all
versions o f the MVC. but only the four early Latin manuscripts. The Peltier edition, based upon a version
from 1588/96. does not include this important passage regarding the book’s form and function. See M.
Stallings-Taney, ‘T h e Pseudo-Bonaventure M editaciones vite Christi: O pus Integrum,” Franciscan
Studies 55 (1998): on this important passage see p. 259; on her refutation o f Lesnick see pp. 269-276; for
her translation and citation o f the passage quoted above see p. 270.
7°The secondary literature on the meditations generally tends to blur this fact, em phasizing a more
general lay audience for the book. Although this is true for the later Middle Ages, it does not seem to be
the case for the early fourteenth century. As M. Stallings-Taney has noted, the fourteenth century
manuscripts o f the M editations retain the original feminine endings. Som e o f the later manuscripts and
editions “change the text to a masculine addressee, reflecting o f course the widespread use o f the M V C by
the male clergy.” See Stallings-Taney. “Opus Integrum,” 274.
Â/VC 111.75-76.

The Blessed Virgin established this rule, that in the morning she prayed
until the third hour, from the third to the ninth hour she was busy spinning,
and from the ninth she again prayed...she improved so constantly in the
love and works of G od that she became first in the vigils, the best
informed in the law o f G od, the most humble in humility, the best read in
the verses o f David, the m ost gracious in charity, the purest in purity, the
most perfect in all virtues. She was constant and steadfast, im proving
always.81
In another passage, he draws more explicit parallels between the life-style and
circumstances of Mary and that of the Poor Clare when he reminds her that: “O ur Lady
worked at spinning and sewing for pay. She also performed other household tasks, which
are many, as you know better than I.”82 By providing sympathetic characters with whom
the woman could easily identify, narrative lines that she could imagine from her own life
and world, and by fostering a developm ent o f the mimetic impulse through the
imagination, friars, such as the author o f the M editations, instructed women religious to
construct bonds of com passion between them selves and characters in the gospei
narratives such as Mary and the saints. Through them, the woman religious could leam
to think and speak about Christ through the construction of memories. In the friar’s own
words, this practice would build a “strong foundation” from which she could ascend to a
“higher degree of contemplation" (S ed et tanquam fnndamentum efficax a d m ajores
contemplationis sublimat g ra d u s)P Thus, in this “ little book,” John o f Caulibus teaches
his audience a mimetic mode o f lectio divina and a form of exegesis that is active and
31 "... Hanc sibi regulam beata Virgo statuerat, ut a mane usque ad horam terciam oracionibus
insisteret. A tercia usque ad nonam textrino opere se occuparet. A nona vero iterum ab oracione non
recedebat, quousque dum illi angelus appareret. de cuius manu escam accipere solebat. Et melius ac melius
in Dei opere et amore proficiebat. Fiebat autem ut in vigiliis inveniretur prior, in sapiencia Iegis Dei
erudicior. in humilitate humilior. in carminibus Davidicis elegancior, in caritate graciosior, in puritate
purior, in omni virtute perfeccior. Erat enim constans et immobilis. et cum quotidie melius ac melius
transisset..."; ibid. III.70-80.
3"*Domina vero coilo et acu precio Iaborabat. Faciebat et alia domus obsequia que multa sunt, ut
tu melius nosti"; Stallings-Taney, “Opus Integrum,” 273. Also. MVC XV. 163-165.
83Ibid. III.75-76.

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ethical. The critical distinction between this practice and classical monastic lectio
divina lies in the fact that rather than recommending that she m editate and ruminate upon
the passages o f scripture, John o f Caulibus recommends that his charge create a
memorized text of a set of highly imaginative stories, and to develop an affective
relationship between herself and the characters in these narratives. Instead of inculcating
a religious habitus characterized by "love o f learning and desire for God” in and through
biblical exegesis, the Poor Clare is encouraged to love and desire C hrist in and through
the systematic study of her visualizations and the development of a passionate
relationship between the self and God.
To underscore the pow er and legitimacy o f this exercise, friar John appeals to the
model of Cecilia. Clare, and. o f course, Francis. He begins his treatise by commending to
the Poor Clare the model of the third-century Roman saint C ecilia who, he explains:
Always carried the Gospel o f Christ hidden in her bosom , which I think
means that she had chosen the most pious facts o f the life o f Jesus, as
shown in the G ospel, on which to meditate day and night with pure and
undivided heart and single-minded and fervent intent. And when she had
finished the text she began again with sweet and pleasant enjoyment to
ponder on these things, cultivating them in the secret o f her heart with
prudent consideration. I wish to encourage you to do likewise because,
above all the studies of spiritual exercise, I believe that this one is the most
necessary and the most fruitful and the one that may lead to the highest
level....Through frequent and continued m editation on His life the soul
attains so much familiarity, confidence and love that it will disdain and
disregard other things and be exercised and trained as to what to do and
what to avoid.84
M“Inter alia virtutum et laudum preconia de sanctissima virgine C ecilia legitur quod Evangelium
Christi absconditum semper portabat in pectore. Quod sic intelligi debere videtur quod ipsa de vita Domini
Iesu in Evangelio tradita quaedam devociora sibi preelegerat. In quibus meditabatur die ac nocte, corde
puro et integro. attencione precipua et ferventi; et completa circulacione reincipiens iterum, dulci ac suavi
gustu ruminans ea. in arcano pectoris sui prudenti consilio coliocabat. Sim ile tibi suadeo faciendum. Super
omnia namque spirituals exercicii studia hoc magis necessanum magisque proficuum credo, et quod ad
celisorem gradum producere possit...E.x frequenti enim et assueta m editacione vite ipsius adducitur anima
in quandam familiaritatem, confidenciam et amorem ipsius, ita quod alia vilipendit et contemnit. Insuper
fortificatur et instruitur quid facere quidve fugere debeat”: MVC Prologus. 4-14. 18-21.

116
Thus, Cecila becomes the model o f the woman religious, accom plished in the art of
meditation and reform ed through its exercise. Her model w ould surely have appealed not
only to Poor Clares, but other semireligious in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth
centuries, particularly since her vita portrays her as an early m odel o f lay religiosity.
Over and above Cecilia, however, the author attributes the perfection o f Francis
and Clare to their “devoted meditation o f the life of Christ” (ex devota m editacione vite
ipsius)}3 The model o f Francis supercedes even “the Blessed V irgin Clara, your mother
and leader” (Beata virgine Clara matre ac dulcissima tua), as Jo h n o f Caulibus
explains.86 But, to understand how Francis functions as a model for this practice and its
significance, we need to refer again to the hagiographic portrait painted by Thom as of
Celano. In section one. I briefly noted that in his Second Life o f Francis Celano describes
the saint as a master m editator who developed not only a prodigious m em ory but also a
powerful experiential hermeneutic through meditation. For C elano, Francis’ cultivation
of his memory was inextricable from the process of purification and transform ation. In
the practice of m editation, Francis was able to purify his love to such a degree that he was
able to ascend to higher forms of contemplation which, in turn, enabled him to attain to
greater degrees o f purification.87 By the fourteenth century, this process (itself
synonmyous with the promise o f Franciscan spirituality) was succinctly summarized in
the image of Francis receiving the stigm ata while engaged in contem plative prayer
[Figure 1], In Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. Ital., 115, one o f the oldest and most
copiously illustrated versions of the M editations, this image occurs at the beginning of
85Ibid. 46.
86Ibid. 41.
87RecaIl how Celano describes Francis’ ability to enter into ‘the thing its e lf (introibat), penetrating
the "hidden things o f mysteries,” to the point o f achieving "perfect know ledge.” In chapter three, we will
note the elaborate use o f this technique as a hermeneutic o f empathy arising ou t o f meditation in Angela o f
Foligno’s Book.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p ro d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

117
the book (folio 2v.) following a discussion that underscores Francis’ reception o f the
stigm ata as proof o f his acquisition of an “abundance o f virtue” (virtutum copiam) and
“illuminated knowledge of the Scriptures” (luculentam intelligenciam Scripturam) in and
through meditation:
The heart is enkindled and animated from frequent meditation to imitate

and follow the virtues o f [Christ]. Then she is illuminated by divine virtue
in such a way that she both clothes herself with virtue and discerns false
things from true: so much so that there have been many illiterate and
simple people who have com e to know the great and puzzling things of
God this way. Do you believe that the Blessed Francis would have
attained such an abundance of virtue and such an illum inated knowledge
of the Scriptures and such a sharp-sighted notice of the deceptions o f the
enemy and the vices, if not by familiar conversation and meditation o f his
Lord Jesus? His mind and body was influenced so ardently that he
became almost one with him. For he tried to follow him as com pletely as
possible in all virtues, and when he was finally complete and perfect, by
the impression o f the sacred stigmata, he was transformed com pletely into
him. Thus, you see to w hat a high level meditation on the life of Christ
can lead, and that a strong foundation lifts you to a higher degree of
contemplation, since therefore is discovered an unction that purifies and
elevates the soul little by little, teaching it concerning all things...88
In contrast to medieval teachers like Hugh or Richard o f St. Victor, who provided strict
definitions for meditation and contem plation for their students, John o f Caulibus freely
moves back and forth between use of these terms. This is because he considers
meditation on the life of Christ (or “meditation on the hum anity”) to be a lower grade of
contemplation and the very foundation of the contemplative life.89 W ithout the
S8“Ad cuius virtutes imitandas et adipiscendas ex frequenti meditacione cor accenditur et animatur.
Deinde divina iliuminatur virtute, ita quod et virtutem induit et a veris falsa discemit: adeo ut plures fuerint
illiterati et simplices. qui magna et probanda Dei propterea cognoverunt. Unde credis quod beatus
Franciscus ad tantum virtutum copiam et ad tantam luculentam intelligenciam Scripturarum, ad
perspicacem eciam noticiam fallaciarum hostis et viciorum pervenerit, nisi ex familiari conversacione et
meditacione Domini sui Iesu? Propterea sic ardentur afficebatur ad ipsam, ut quasi sua similitudo fuerit.
Nam in cunctis virtutibus quam perfeccius poterat innitebatur eundem. et tandem ipso compellente et
perficiente Iesu per impressionem sacrorum stigmatum. fuit in eum totaliter transformatus. Vides ergo ad
quam excelsum gradum meditacio vite Christi perducit. Sed et tanquam fundamentum efficax ad maiores
contemplacionis sublimat gradus: quia ibidem invenitur unccio que paulatim purificans et elevans animam
docet de omnibus"; MVC Prologus.59-76.
89Ibid. L and LI.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of th e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

“purification” that takes place in meditation, the soul could not progress in either the
virtues o r its knowledge o f God. This stage prepares it for the unction o f grace. This is a
gradual process that “step-by-step...raises the soul instructed by all those things” (quia
ibidem invenitur unccio que paulatim purificans et elevans animam, docet de omnibus...)
- namely those “things” it has learned in meditation.
For the friar, meditation upon the life of Christ is a mode o f lectio divina, and the
imaginative process w hich animates it functions as a fruitful biblical hermeneutic. The
friar tells the Poor Clare that she “m ust not believe that all things said and done by Him
and on which we may meditate are known to us in writing” since “the evangelist left out
many things.”90 It is w ith these assumptions that the friar has given him self over to what
I’d like to call “restrained-fancy,” giving reign to his own imaginative synthesis, but
trusting that it is guided by a virtuous exegetical eye. He explains:
For the sake of greater impressiveness I shall tell them to you as they
occurred o r as they might have occurred according to the devout belief o f
the imagination and the varying interpretation of the m ind. It is possible
to m editate, explain, and understand the Holy Scripture in as many ways
as we consider necessary, in such a manner as not to contradict the truth o f
life and justice and not to oppose morality.91
Such directives when com bined with the imaginative, participatory, and mimetic
elements of this type o f meditation, provide a strategy that teaches w om en religious not
only how to meditate but how to interpret the message o f “scripture” by m eans of
glossing its narrative from within their own idiomatic experience. The friar asks the
l*)“Non autem credas quod omnia que ipsum dixisse vel fecisse meditari possim us scripta sint” ;
MVC Prologus. 90-92; "Evangelista multa om isit” ; ibid. XV.64. A lso. "Et cum hac modificacione que tibi
affirmo per auctoritatem sacre scripture vel doctorum sacrorum non probantur. ut eciam in principio tibi
dixi”; ibid. 20-22.
9'“Ego vero ad maiorem impressionem ea sic ac si ita fuissent tibi narrabo prout contingere vel
contigisse pie credi possunt. secundum quasdam imaginarias representaciones quas animus diversimode
percipit. Nam circa divinam Scripturam meditari exponere et intelligere multifarie. prout expedire
credimus possumus: dummodo non sit contra veritatem vite. iusticie aut doctrine, id est non sit contra
fidem vel bonos mores"; ibid. Prologus.92-98.

119
religious to make these stories her own in a very literal way. She is to experience
these events as a participant within the narrative, taking M ary and other predominantly
female characters for her cues regarding how she should behave and indeed feel about the
events in which she participates. For example, during the nativity, the friar urges the nun
to rush forward to greet Joseph and Mary as the shepherd had done seconds before. He
suggests that she petition the mother to let her rock the C hrist child in her arms, and
finally, he advises that she reverently kiss the feet of the child she holds tenderly in her
em brace.92 Through mimetic actions imagined and enacted in the m ind’s eye, the friar
encourages the nun to insert herself into the narrative of C h rist’s life by participating in
these events themselves. Through the development o f em otional bonds with the
characters in the life o f Christ, and indeed Christ himself, the nun not only draws
parallels between C hrist’s life narrative and her own, but creates her own memories o f
these events, appropriating them as her own. Similar to the dynamic, dialogic and
reflexive relationship between self and scripture described by Gregory the Great, m im etic
and imaginative meditation upon the life of Christ was designed to foster a “creative
mutuality” between the meditator and the meditation.9"*
The friar’s mnemonic techniques are similar to those found in monastic lectio, but
the text is different. Rather than committing scripture to memory, the John o f Caulibus
exhorts the woman religious to “carry the deeds o f Christ” in her heart, a symbol o f her
memory.94 He recommends that she use his little book o f meditations to form the basis o f
92Ibid. VII. 133-144.
,3See my discussion o f Gregory the Great in section I.A. A lso see McGinn, G rowth, 133.
94Ibid. XVIII. 133. On the role o f the heart in medieval w om en’s spirituality see Jeffrey
Hamburger. Nuns as Artists (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1997). The phrase is: “Evangelium
Christi absconditum semper portabat in pectore." The friar uses this phrase to describe Cecilia. See M V C
PrologusA-6.

120
a weekly program of meditations (like that o f Cecilia, as he m entions in the
prologue).95 She is to meditate upon them “often and diligently” and to “commit to
memory the things said in it.”96 He exhorts the nun to m editate continually with intent
and fervor upon the most “pious facts o f the life of Jesus” (quaedam devociora) that he
has prepared for her.97 He reminds her that the purpose o f the meditations is to become a
“familiar” o f the Gospels.98 She must “place his [Christ] deeds and words before (your)
mind’s eye and converse with him and become familiar w ith him .”99 At key junctures he
recommends that she “examine the things said in this serm on attentively” and to “search
them and diligently” and “to ruminate, meditating on them , reposing in their sweetness.”
100 According to the principles of m em ory training taught in both the schools and
monasteries, the friar recommends that she put aside time to com m it these stories and
scenes to memory during a quiet hour, preferably late in the d ay .101 He cautions that, in
her exercise of meditation, she should give her rem em brances o f the scenes described and
her perceptions of them free reign so that they will becom e more fully her own.
Rumination upon scenes from the life o f C hrist with particular attention to the virtues
encoded in Christ, Mary, and the disciples, will, he explains, “kindle” a reciprocal
95Ibid. CVIII.20-30.
%Ibid. XXI. XXI. 152.
97Here I follow M editations. Prologue, 1. A lso. ibid. P rologu s.7.
98Ibid. 19-20.
""Sufficit enim quod rem per eum gestam vel dictam ante m entis oculos ponas, et quod cum eo
converseris et familiarisei fias": ibid. X V III.13-15.
loo“Si ergo que in hoc sermone dicta sunt attente discusseris e t meditando ruminaveris diligenter in
eorum dulcedine requiesceris. merito inardescere poteris ad tantum dignacionem , benignitatem,
providenciam. diligenciam et caritatem...”; ibid. LXX III.207-211.
l0lSee, for example, ibid. CVIII.I4-19. These instructions are throughout the text.

121
response in the m editator.102 He advises the Poor Clare to divide up the m aterial so
that her meditations should not overwhelm her and cause her attention to flag .103 In his
guidelines, he recom mends that she meditate upon these stories a little bit each day,
suggesting that the reasons for this are practical, relating to good m em ory-enhancing
techniques. Specifically, such practices will aid her in her effort to com m it the stories
(and his glosses on them) to memory, and ensure that they become part o f the fabric o f
her very being.104 Through this technique, the friar teaches the Poor Clare to appropriate
the events o f C hrist’s life as the template through which she sees and interacts with
others. By means o f this method, the religious was “trained” to view herself and others
from within the frameworks o f redemption history.
Although John o f Caulibus stresses the im portance of the entire cycle o f
meditations, he does admit that certain parts are more powerful than others. Those who
aspire to a higher mode o f vision/cognition must focus on the Passion, m editating upon
these events continuously with good technique:
He who wishes to glory in the Cross and the Passion must dwell with continued
meditation o f the m ysteries and events that occurred. If they were considered
with com plete regard o f mind, they would, I think, lead the m editator to a [new]
state. To him who searches for it from the bottom of the heart and with the
marrow o f his being, many unhoped-for steps would take place by which he
would receive new compassion, new love, new solace, and then a new condition
of sweetness that w ould seem to him a prom ise o f glory. I, as an ignorant
stammerer, believe that in attaining this state it is therefore necessary to be
directed by the whole light of the mind, by the eyes of the watchful heart, having
left all the other extraneous cares that man keeps for him self for all those things
that occur around this Passion and Crucifixion o f the Lord, by desire, wisdom,
and perseverance, not with slothful eyes or with omission o r with tedium of the
soul.^05
lo:Ibid. CVIII.3 -3 1.
103Ibid.
104Ibid. CVIII.20-27.
105“Qui ergo in passione Domini et cruce gloriari desiderat sedula meditacione debet in ipsa
persistere, cuius misteria et que circa earn facta sunt, si toto forent perspecta mentis intuitu in novum, ut
puto, statum meditatem adducerent. Nam ex profundo corde totis viscerum medullis earn perscrutanti.

122
M editation on the Passion not only gives the m editator access to inner workings o f
redemption history, but also reforms and transforms the meditator based upon the quality
and quantity o f her sensual-emotive attentiveness. She m ust turn inward from
“extraneous cares” and with "com plete regard o f the m ind” watch the Cross and the
Passion with “desire, wisdom and perseverance.”
The friar presents the virtues as the exegetical apparatus o f the nun. He exhorts
the Poor Clare that she must “much more diligently concentrate the whole spirit and all
the virtues" upon the Passion since “ here is shown more especially his charity that should
kindle our hearts."106 Progress in the virtues not only enables the soul to follow Christ
and “take fire and become animated by frequent m editation”(Ad cuius virtutes im itandas
et adipiscendas exfrequenti m editacione cor accenditur et animatur), but also allows the
religious to progress in wisdom by helping them to distinguish “false things from true”
(ita quod et virtutem induit et a veris fa lsa d iscem it).107 The friar also explains that the
exercise o f compassion honed in the attentive study o f the Passion prove important and
I QO
beneficial for those seeking contem plative ascent. M editation on C hrist’s life teaches
and fosters the virtues necessary to penetrate deeper levels o f wisdom, the “hidden things
multi passus occurrerent insperati ex quibus novam com passionem . novum amorem. novas consolcaiones,
et per consequens novum quendam statum dulcedinis susciperet. que sibi presagia et participia glorie
viderentur. Ad hunc autem statum consequendum. crederem tanquam ignarus et balbuciens. quod illuc
totam mentis aciem vigilantibus oculis cordis omissisque aliis curis extraneis. dirigi oporteret: et quod quis
se presentem exhiberet omnibus et singulis que circa ipsam Dominicam passionem et crucifixionem
contigerunt. affectuose, diligenter. morose et perseveranter. non coniuientibus vel comedentibus oculis nec
per saltus vel animi tedio"; ibid. LXXIV.3-19.
l06‘T e igitur ortor, ut si vigilanter attendisti premissa que de ipsius vita dicta sunt, hie multo
vigilancius totum apponas animum. totam virtutem: quia hie maxime apparet ilia eius caritas que corda
nostra deberet totaliter concremare"; ibid. LXXIV. 19-22.
I07lbid. Prologus.61-62.
108Ibid. LXXIV.27-54. He introduces the subject o f com passion and describes how the specific
torments undergone by Christ should elicit compassion.

123
o f mysteries” encoded in the Passion. The virtues that lead the m editator to discern
the proper level o f meaning in her vision/visualization, and help her to avoid the pitfalls
o f incorrect interpretations (and false fantasies) so that she may gain access to
increasingly deeper modes o f revelation. Because o f the inherently ethical nature of this
type o f meditation, access to these progressively more profound layers o f meaning would,
in turn, impress themselves into the meditator.
John o f Caulibus makes extensive use of Bernard o f C lairvaux’s Serm ons on the
Song o f Songs throughout the M editations. As Mary Stallings-Taney has observed, John
o f Caulibus is careful to cite his sources for his audience. This, she suggests, provides
further proof of the author’s interest in teaching and directing the nun in his care.109 In
chapters 45-58 which form a little treatise on the active and contem plative lives. Friar
John pulls citations from Bernard o f C lairvaux’s Sermons on the Song o f Songs in order
to teach the nun about the forms o f life that make up the vita religiosa (nam ely the active
and contemplative lives).110 T his section o f the text is im portant since it instructs the nun
regarding how she should understand “meditation” to fit into the larger project of the
religious life. It also provides a description o f the exercise and activity o f these stages
and relates them stages to meditation. In keeping with his contem poraries, the friar
divides the religious life into tw o parts: the active and the contem plative. The active, he
explains, is split into two parts by the contemplative life. The reason for this has to do
with the acquisition o f wisdom and the ethical reformation o f self that occurs during
contemplation. Thus, in the first part o f the active life one is concerned with oneself, but
in the second one principally “converts his exercise to the use o f his neighbor, though this
is to his own greater merit, that is, when by ruling and teaching and helping others to the
l<wStallings-Taney. "Opus Integrum," 259-260.
noMcGinn. Flowering. 119.

124
salvation their souls, as is the case with prelates and teachers.” 111 This outw ardly
m anifested ethical action is the com pletion and fulfillment of the religious life: “Thirdly,
by means o f the above two exercises o f virtue [i.e. the first part o f the active life, study
and prayer, and the contemplative life, solitude and inward attention], he becomes
fervent, full of, and illuminated by virtues and true wisdom— he is concerned with the
salvation of others.” 112 This second part o f the active life does not receive full treatment
by the friar presumably since public preaching and teaching were considered out of status
for women religious. He explains:
By these things it is dem onstrated that there are tw o parts o f active life,
that between them there is the contemplative...But o f the third member,
that is, the second part o f the active, how one m ust attend to the winning
of souls and the benefit o f neighbor, I do not propose to treat, since your
status does not require this. It is sufficient for you to place your whole
effort in this, that corrected in your vices and filled by virtues for the first
part of the active, you may attend to your God in the contem plative.113
Thus, we see how women were encouraged to perfect themselves in meditation, but
without the opportunity to fulfill the ethical purpose o f this activity through the
conversion of this exercise “for the use o f neighbor” (exercicium confert in utilitatem
proxim i) in ruling, pastoral care, preaching and teaching.114
m ,'Secunda pars est quando quis principaliter suum exercicium confert in utilitatem proximi,
quamvis ad suum et maius meritum; ut alios regendo, docendo, et adiuuando in animarum salutem, ut
faciunt prelati, predicatores. doctores et huiusmodi”; MVC XLV.38-42.
ll2‘T ercio per dicta duo exercicia, viritutibus et vera sapiencia imbutus, et illuminatus et feruidus
effectus. ad aliorum salutem intendat; ibid. XLV .48-50.
113"Patet igitur ex predictis quomodo due sunt partes active vite, et quom odo inter eas est
contemp!ativa...Sed de tercio membro. id est de secunda parte active, qualiter ad lucrum animarum et ad
utilitatem proximi sit exeundum non intendo tractare, quia tuus status hoc non requirit. Sufficit tibi et in
hoc totum studium tuum ponere. ut viciis emendata ac virtutibus imbuta per primam partem active Deo tuo,
vacare possis per contemplacionem;” ibid. 118-120,121-127.
" 4Ibid. XLV.38-42.

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The friar describes contem plation o f the humanity of Christ as the lowest form
of contemplation. The types o f m editations put forth in his treatise should be called
■‘meditation on the humanity,” but because John o f Caulibus wants to relate them to the
larger contemplative agenda of the religious life, he classifies “meditation on the
“hum anity” as a mode of contem plation. He explains his reasons and schem a in the
following passage:
These things are sufficient on the contemplation of humanity, for you have
it in this whole book. But you must know that it is not necessary for the
active life to proceed this contemplation, for it contains corporal matters,
that is, the works o f Christ according to humanity, as is proposed more
easily, not to the m ost perfect, but to the vulgar, to look at, for in it, as in
the active, we purge ourselves o f vices and fill ourselves with virtues, and
thus this converges with the active. Therefore when it is said that the
active should precede the contemplative, it is true in its other, higher
manifestations. That is, o f the celestial court and the majesty o f God,
which are reserved only to the most perfect. For this reason, perhaps one
should call this m ore directlv and properly “meditation on hum anity”
rather than contem plation.11
Only the perfect ascend and attend to these higher forms of contemplation: that o f the
celestial court and the majesty o f God. Q uoting freely from Bernard o f C lairvaux’s
sermon 52, John of Caulibus describes the contemplative life as enclosure in Christ, the
em brace o f the soul in the arms o f G od, the death o f the soul to the corporal, and its
divestm ent of “similitudes.” With the words o f Bernard of Clairvaux, the friar describes
the trajectory of the contemplative soul in pursuit o f pure vision, true wisdom: “M y soul
dying, if one may say so, the death o f the angels, so that it passes beyond the m em ory o f
present things, of things beneath it and corporal things, divests itself not only o f desires
ll5"Et hec de contemplacione humanitatis dicta sufficiant, quia tunc hunc librum de ipsa habes.
Scire tamen debes quod hanc contemplacionem non oportet quod precedat vita activa tamen, quia de rebus
corporalibius est. scilicet de actibus Christi secundum humanitatem. Unde tanquam facilior non
perfeccioribus sed eciam rudibus proponitus intuenda: turn quia in ea sicut in activa et uiciis purgamur et
virtutibus imbuimur, unde hec cum activa concurrit. Quod ergo diciturquod activa debet precedere
contemplativam. verum est aliis aublimioribus suis generibus. scilicet celestis curie et maiestatis Dei, que
tantum perfectis reservantur. Et ideo ista de humanitate Christi reccius forte et proprius meditacio quam
contemplacio nominari debet’’; ibid. LI.54-65.

126
but o f similitudes and has pure conversation with those sim ilar to it in purity. Such a
rapture, I think, only or m ostly is called contemplation.” 116 The contem plative life
combines both repose and restlessness. Its repose results from its inw ard focus and
detachment from active, external cares -- its “sleep” from the world-- w hile its restless
striving stems from its relentless attempts to move beyond its apprehensive faculties to
know God as God and establish a pure conversation without sim ilitudes. He writes:
“You have made progress; you have separated yourself, but you have not yet gone far
enough, unless you act so that you can with purity o f mind pass well beyond the fantasies
o f corporal likeness com ing in from every side. Up to here you cannot perm it yourself
repose.” 117
C. The Text as Devotional Object
As I have discussed above, art historians have turned to the M editations on the
Life o f Christ to help explain new pictoral cycles and narrative conventions developed in
Franciscan circles during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The text is highly
evocative, prompting its audience to create mental images o f the stories and concepts it
relates. Like other devotional manuals produced for female audiences, many o f the
manuscripts o f the M editations on the Life o f Christ possess illustrations that help to
shape the audience’s response to the text in significant ways. Daniel Lesnick has
suggested that the copious use o f images in manuscript versions o f the M editations on the
,l6“Verum haec hominum est. Sed anima mea moriatur morte etiam, si dici potest, angelorum, ut
praesentium memoria excedens, rerum se inferiorum corporearumque non modo cupiditatibus, sed et
similitudinibus exuat. sitque ei pura cum illis conversatio, cum quibus est est puritatis similitudo. Talis, ut
opinor, excessus. aut tantum, aut maxime, contemplatio dicitur”; ibid. X L V .45-5I.
117 “Profecisti, separasti te, sed nondum elongasti, nisi et irrventia undique phantasmata
corporearum similitudinum transuolare mentis puritate praevaleas. Hucusque noli tibi promittere
requiem"; Ibid. XLIX.59-62.

127
Life o f Christ functions as an attempt to “contribute to the concreteness and palpability
of the text; they reinforce the importance o f experience in the exercise of piety.” This
process also encourages “non-mediated experience and the greatest possible involvement
with text and image.” 118 Although Lesnick overstates his case in characterizing the use o f
images as the epitome of the difference between Franciscan and Dominican pastoral
styles, he has noted something important regarding the use o f images in these
meditational texts. First, illustrations represent an attem pt to foster a sense of im mediacy
and presence between the viewer/reader/meditator and sacred narrative. Second, in
partnership with the exercise o f meditation, the images seek channel, shape, and evoke
experiences of key elements of the narrative.
Ms. Ital. L15 is a fourteenth-century vernacular Italian version of the M editations
housed in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It is remarkable for the large num ber of
full images it possesses.119 Overall, it boasts 193 com pleted, color-washed pen drawings
illustrating various scenes from the life of Christ, Mary, as well as providing portraits of
the friar-author, Saint Cecila, Francis and C lare.120 These illustrations are striking
because they create a “picture book” effect. The drawings oftentim es dominate the folio
ll8Lesnick. Preaching in M edieval Florence, 145.
n ,Ragusa and Green’s English translation o f the M editations is an edition and study o f this
manuscript. They explain their decision to publish and edition and translation o f this particular manuscript
for the follow ing reasons: “Among the numerous copies. Ms. Ital. 115, hitherto unpublished, is outstanding
because it belongs to the "grosse text” and because o f the number and quality o f its illustrations. Although
the M editations circulated in hundreds o f manuscripts - over two hundred still exist— that undoubtedly
influenced pictoral art, fewer than twenty manuscripts with pictures have com e down to us. Ms. ital. 115 is
the earliest and most fully illustrated o f these...," see Ragusa and Green, M editations, xxiii, see n. 5 for a
listing o f the illustrated manuscripts known at the time o f publication (1961). Among the most extensively
illustrated are: Ital. 115. Bibliotheque Nationale. Paris; Royal 20.B.IV , British Museum, London; and
Corpus Christi College 410, Corpus Christi C ollege. Oxford. John V. Fleming uses this manuscript for the
basis o f his discussion o f the Meditations. See Fleming, An Introduction to Franciscan Literature, 226-229
and 242-250.
120 Completed illustrations are finished with color washes (providing for a rustic style). However,
the manuscript as a whole was never finished. There are a remaining 104 spaces left blank that had been
clearly designated for illustration.

I2S
to the extent that the eye is drawn to the images before they scan the text. For
exam ple, numerous folios contain half or full page illustrations, som etim es bracketed by
text [Figures 2 and 3]. These illustrations are not separated from the text by a frame or a
border, thus encouraging an interactive relationship between text and im age. Moreover,
its rustic, color wash and pen and ink style, despite the grace o f the figures and structures
and scenes depicted, convey a sense o f informality. This, it has in keeping with later
vernacular books clearly intended for a lay, and female audiences.121 In the Meditations,
the figures are full o f movement: they walk arms outstretched, they em brace, they
gesture in conversation, the women spin. These illustrations reinforce visually, the more
homey injunctions in the text - especially, those where the friar actively instructs the
woman to engage in dialogue with the characters and participate in their day- to- day life
[Figures 2 and 3]. The illustrations convey the verbally elusive lessons o f experience
through a visual invitation to im itation and participation.
All manuscripts of the M editations were not illustrated in the same fashion.
Corpus Christi College 410, a Latin m anuscript of the M editations produced in Italy
during the mid-fourteenth century, provides another example o f the use o f images in this
text.1-2 This manuscript boasts one hundred and fifty-four pictures in a more formal,
elaborate style than that o f Ms. Ital. 115. The images provide the focal point of the
m editation in the sense that through a visual narrative they summarize the iconic points of
the chapter, and provide the point o f departure from which the mind could roam freely
during the act of meditation. For exam ple, nearly every chapter contains at least one
1_1For example, this style is reminiscent o f that found in a fifteenth century edition o f the D esert o f
Religion - a devotional compendium associated with Richard RoIIe in his capacity as a spiritual director o f
women. See Hamburger. The Visual and the Visionary, 277-232.
‘“ Stallings-Taney lists this text as amongst the oldest, com plete extant copies. See Stallings-
Taney. “Opus Integrum," 257. Denise Despres has discussed this edition o f the M editations in “Memory
and Image." 133-141.

129
illumination. The action in each illustration takes place against a patterned
background sim ilar to that found on contem porary painted crosses in T uscany and
Umbria [Figure 4], As on the painted crosses, this background serves to isolate the action
temporally, giving it an iconic quality to em phasize the timelessness and sacrality o f the
image presented.
The Passion sequences are the m ost heavily illustrated portions of the
m anuscript.I2j The juxtaposition between situating detail (i.e. landscape, etc...) and
atemporality, a realistically detailed text and a formalistic image bracketed from the
narrative text by a clearly delineated tripartite frame o f gold, white, and red. Gestures
and colors coax the meditator to identify with Mary, presenting her sorrow as a way o f
experiencing the Passion. For example, in the miniature on folio L35r. [Figure 5], note
how M ary’s head tilts towards her son as he is stripped to ascend the cross. She wrings
her hands in sorrow as his flesh em erges from his cloak, riddled with wounds freshly re-
opened from the soldier’s violence. The visual image portrays the scene from his
m other’s eyes, highlighting her em otional response, and the written text corroborates this
point o f view. It stresses her empathy w ith her son by describing her shame to see her
son bleeding and nude, exposed for all to see. In the beguine context o f the southern and
northern Low Countries and northern France, M ary’s identification with her so n ’s
emotional and physical suffering often was portrayed in plastic and painted
representations of the Virgin pierced by the sword (or indeed many) o f com passion
[Figures 6 and 7 ].124
l23The number o f blank spaces left for im ages in Ms. Ital 115 suggests that the artist had proposed
a similar visual program for this manuscript as w ell.
124Ziegler. Sculpture o f Compassion, inventory no. 40; Judith Oliver, G othic M anuscript
Illumination in the Diocese o f Liege (c. 1250- c. 1330) (Louvain: Uitgeverij, 1988), 432.

130
On the next folio, there is another illumination dom inates the page [Figure 8].
This one depicts Christ ascending the cross while his m other ties a loincloth around him
to cover his nakedness. The text accompanying this im age delineates and describes the
spiritual qualities encoded in C hrist’s symbolic action (the ascent of the cross). For
example, the text explains how Jesu s’s ascent o f the ladder onto the cross demonstrates
humility, obedience, and most importantly, the w illingness with which he underwent the
radical humiliation, pain, and abasem ent of the crucifixion. These points are underscored
by the following details in the visual image. Christ is naked, ascending the
mountain/ladder while extending his arm up to one o f his torturers. This image is both
active and mobile. Christ makes no move to clothe him self, nor struggles to get out o f
harm ’s way. Rather, M ary hastily ties a loincloth around his waist - a motion signifying
her empathy with her son’s shame and humiliation— while his focus is elsewhere
(upw ard).125 In this section, the visual image would provide a mnemonic trigger cueing
the meditator’s mental recitation o f the virtues associated with this image, as well as a
catalyst for free memorial association.
We should not underestimate how the inclusion o f im ages in a devotional text, the
quality and quantity o f images in a manuscript, and even the physical production of a
manuscript could shape in significant ways the experience o f a text. In late thirteenth-
century Germany, Flanders and northern France, nuns and beguines engaged not only in
the illumination and copying o f manuscripts, but also their em bellishm ent as a part o f
their lectio divina.126 In her study o f beguine m anuscripts and nonnenbiicher in late
1I5The nakedness o f Christ is a symbol o f his radical humiliation and poverty. For an excellent
discussion o f images o f the stripping o f Christ and their role in Franciscan ideology see Anne Derbes,
Picturing the Passion.
i:6Judith Oliver. “Worship o f the Word: Some Gothic Nonnenbiicher in their Devotional
Context.” in Women and the Book: Assessing the Visual E vidence, eds. Jane H.M. Taylor and Lesley
Smith (London: British Library, 1997), 106-122.

131
medieval Germany, Judith O liver has noted that women religious often redecorated
their manuscripts by gilding particular words or supplying decorative borders as a
meditational exercise.127 O liver’s research suggests that late medieval nuns often
engaged in embroidery as a way of rubrishing specifics words to aid m editation. Traces
o f this practice of meditational rubrishing o r needlecraft appears in the visions o f women
mystics such as Gertrude the Great, M echthild o f Hackenbom, and M arguerite d ’Oignt,
dem onstrating the power of these devotional practice to shape religious experience.128
III. Identification and the Image
Traditionally, images have held a negative or ancillary place in scholarly
discussions of the development o f medieval theology, spirituality, and m ysticism o f the
medieval Christian West. In large measure, this is due to the fact that the im age and the
religious imagination have often been relegated to the realm o f “popular” religion as the
catechesis of the illiterate masses of the late Middle Ages, a thought-system and culture
far removed from the ideals o f medieval theology and monastic contem plation.129
Similar to the way in which Augustine and Jerom e have dom inated discussions regarding
sexuality and virginity in the medieval period, Gregory the G reat and B ernard o f
Clairvaux have determined scholarly notions o f the medieval use o f the im age. For
lI7Ibid.. 111.
128Ibid.. 114-115.
u9Johan Huizinga exem plifies this attitude in his chapter “Religious Thought Crystallizing into
Images” in The Autumn o f the M iddle Ages, trans. R.J. Payton and U. Mammitzsch (Chicago: University o f
Chicago Press, 1996). especially 189-190. Hamburger also discusses Huizinga in The Visual an d the
Visionary, 113.

132
example, much has been made o f a letter w ritten by Gregory that discusses the use of
narrative images in the instruction of the illiterate.Ij0 Since G regory’s guidelines
regarding the use o f the image had an influence throughout the M iddle Ages, modem
scholars have often appealed to him as an apologist for the use o f cult images in the
w est.1’ 1 Similarly, scholars have upheld Bernard o f Clairvaux as the prime exam ple of
monastic suspicion o f images. In his A pologia, Bernard draws a distinction between the
monastic and the popular use o f the devotional image. He explains that images are
appropriate in monastic circles only as affective stimuli, but for laypeople, incapable of
achieving the high level of abstract thought necessary for im ageless devotion, the use of
images is not only appropriate but necessary.lj2 As Jeffrey H am burger has observed,
“Gregory’s language, together with that o f St. Bernard, has defined the debate over the
place of the image in the late M iddle Ages, still overwhelmingly characterized as a period
of vulgarization in which the religious culture o f a Latinate elite was transform ed as it
was translated into vernacular idiom s.” 1'5'’
Given the interest in rethinking popular culture over the past fifteen years, it
should come as no surprise that the role o f the image in medieval thought and culture has
i30Gregory the Great. Registrum epistularum. Libri VIII-XIV. Appendix, Corpus Christianorum
Series latina. ed. D. Norberg (Tumholt: Brepols. 1982), 140A: 11.10. pp. 873-76. C. Chazelle discusses
this letter from Gregory to Serenus o f Marseilles in "Memory. Instruction. Worship: ‘G regory's’ Influence
on Early Medieval Doctrines o f the Artistic Image." in G regory the Great: A Symposium, ed. John
Cavadini (Notre Dame: University o f Notre Dame Press. 1996), 181-215, esp. 184-187; also, idem.
“Pictures, Books, and the Illiterate: Pope Gregory's Letters to Serenus o f Marseilles." W ord & Image 6
(1990): 138-153. For an excellent discussion o f Gregory, his attitude towards the image and its influence
upon attitudes towards the image in the Middle A ges see Hamburger. The Visual an d the Visionary, 133ff.
13,Ibid.. 113.
b:Ibid.. 113; A lso. Bernard o f Clairvaux. S. B em ardi Opera, vol. 8. Tractatus et opuscula, eds. J.
Leclercq and H.M. Rochais (Rome: Editions Cistercienses, 1963), pp. 63-108.
l33Hamburger. The Visual a n d the Visionary, 1 13. Michael Camille rethinks this problem in
“Seeing and Reading: Som e Visual Implications o f M edieval Literacy and Illiteracy." Art H istory 8
(1985): 26-49.

133
formed the subject o f investigation. The research o f Mary Carruthers has helped
revise our understanding of the medieval attitude towards the im age by dem onstrating the
widespread reliance of monastic authors (and “educational” theorists) upon verbal and
mental images and the imagination for the retention, access, and implementation o f
m em ory.,j4 For example, Aquinas believed that it was impossible for the human soul to
think without phantasms, yet, at the same time, he extolled intellectual vision, when
given by God, as the highest and m ost pure form o f sight. The stirring up of strong
emotions was vital for the process o f accessing memories for com position, and im ages, as
the products o f the imagination and the senses (indeed all the faculties of the human
soul), were critical to this endeavor.Ij5 Within this context, artistic images as well as
highly vivid narratives could serve as memory phantasms, serving as more than a ju st a
stimulus to devotion, but as a m em ory cue or trigger for setting into motion
meditative/contemplative thought trained upon a particular sacred event or topic.1-56
M oreover, as Michael Camille has observed, the visual images in texts such as m arginalia
or historiated initials, often bearing no clear relation to the passage at hand or overt
correspondence to an alphabetical letter, did not “need to be clearly recognizable, since
they were not a uniform system o f quickly scanned units but were savoured as part o f the
slow and deliberate repetitions in a daily digested diet” of m editative reading.1-57
According to Camille, by the twelfth century, words and images were viewed with equal
suspicion with respect to their ability to convey the living, oral nature of the word o f God
to the reader/viewer. As “secondary representations, external to, but always referring
ljJCarruthers. Craft o f Thought.
lj5Carruihers. M emory, 3. n. 3.
l36See Carruthers. The Craft o f Thought.
l37Camille. "Seeing and Reading." 29.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

134
back to, the spontaneous springs o f speech” both struggled to convey to
readers/viewers the “present and direct voice” o f sacred texts.1-58
Although friars like John o f Caulibus m ight cite Bernard o f Clairvaux to warn
female meditators against allow ing “the phantoms o f corporal im ages” to shape and
obscure the intellectual vision o f contemplation, they, paradoxically, included such
injunctions in meditational prim ers themselves filled with visual images and narrative
techniques that schooled them in ways to use the imagination as a way to know and think
about God. In the twelfth century, representational images were used to instruct male
novices and nuns with the expectation that monks would eventually outgrow their need
for images as an aid to their devotions. In contrast, women, because o f their association
with bodily weaknesses and the flesh were considered unable to access the rational,
intellectual, and nonim aginative modes o f vision prized in theological treatises.
Believed to be “bound to a m ode o f bodily apprehension” 139 and barred from the training
that would give them more than a rudimentary Latin literacy, w om en form ed the
audience for psalters and other devotional texts that used the interaction between text and
image as a way to convey m eaning.140 Dominican friars such as Henry Suso lauded the
use of devotional images as a “ vehicle of religious instruction and initiation.” 141 In the
fifteenth century one Augustinian friar described the power o f images in psychological
terms. Meditation upon im ages o f torture and suffering, he explained, could play an
unparalleled role in shaping the emotional bonds between the self and God, precisely
because such images were arresting in every sense o f the term; they forced rather than
l38Ibid.. 32.
b ,Hamburger. The Visual a n d the Visionary, 184-188.
l40CamilIe. "Seeing and Reading." 40-41.
ulJeffrey Hamburger, Rothschild Canticles: Art a n d M ysticism in Flanders an d the Rhineland

circa 1300 {N ew Haven: Yale University Press, 1990). 161.

invited the viewer to feel compassion. Thus, im ages provided an im portant mode o f
access to greater mysteries and higher forms o f identification.142
The fact that clerics proved an im portant source for the production and
dissemination of devotional books that used verbal and visual images as a way to teach
women religious to know and think about G od, w hile at the same time introducing to
them the ideal of imageless meditation, suggests that there was an im portant spiritual
lesson embedded in this apparent contradiction between the use o f images and their
negation.14'’ This paradoxical tension between that which can be im agined and that which
is beyond imagination, the need to use images, be they verbal or visual, and the
internalized imperative to press beyond them, introduces, if not mimes, apophasis. As we
have seen, the practice of meditation itself encourages the setting up of and movement
through dialectical comparisons. The process o f im agining and re-im agining is, in fact,
what propels the soul to God-- in and through “im ages” . By the late fourteenth century
this process was captured not only in verbal narratives such as that found in M irror or the
M em orial, but in devotional books such as the Rothschild Canticles} u
In the past twenty years or so, there has been an increased interest in meditation in
a num ber o f different disciplines: in particular literature, art history, religion. M ost of
this scholarly inquiry has focused upon what the meditations can tell us about the shaping
of the visionary imagination and how late m edieval women (and lay people more
generally) were taught to think about Christ and Mary. Also of interest have been the
u :Michael Camille discusses this in “Mimetic Identification and Passion Devotion in the Later
Middle Ages: A Double-sided Panel by Meister Franke," in The Broken Body: Passion D evotion in Late-
M edieval Culture, A.A. MacDonald. H.N.B. Ridderbos. and R.M. Schlusemann (Groningen: Egbert
Forsten, 1998) 197; Pavel Kalina. “Cordium penetrativa: An essay on Iconoclasm and Image Worship
around the Year 1400." Umeni/Art 43 (1995): 247.
u3Jeffrey Hamburger notes this seeming contradiction, the marriage between the affective and
apophatic. as well. See Hamburger. Rothschild Canticles, 161.
144Here I am following Hollywood on apophasis. See Hollywood, The Soul A s Virgin Wife, 22.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n proh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

136
study o f sources for lay religiosity and how meditation can help us understand
Franciscan mysticism and the psychology o f the affective spirituality of the late Middle
Ages. Yet rarely have books o f Meditations been set within the larger schem a o f the
contemplative agenda, or indeed, discussed as a vital part o f religious education of
women and the laity beyond mere catechesis. For example, while it is well noted that
texts like the M editations on the Life o f Christ sought to teach the gospels through
narrative and imaginative im agery, it is rarely pointed out how this praxis shaped
contemplative response to this narrative through the use o f interm ediary figures. The
M editations on the Life o f C hrist sought to train women religious to build a relationship
with the gospels in the same way that they were instructed to “build” a m em orial copy of
the friar’s “text” that could be “glossed” through progressively deeper contem plative
experience. As the author o f the meditations pointed out in chapters 45-58 o f his treatise,
meditation/contemplation o f the humanity o f Christ was but one phase in the larger
contemplative project. M onastic authors sought the ideal o f imageless contem plation, yet
they recognized that this goal could be obtained only gradually, by m editating upon
progressively abstract images (generally mental and not visual) over time. This point
made abundantly clear by the technique of meditation presented in the M editations on the
Life o f Christ and reinforced most emphatically in the andachtsbilder of the time.
M editation was to be exercised continually, the reading o f the human, historical level of
this story was to be superceded and gradually replaced with deeper levels o f m eaning -
the fruit of prolonged meditative/contemplative experiences. In short, com passion was to
be replaced by empathy and external perception was to be replaced with internal vision.
A tract written for a French nun around 1310 makes this point explicit through the use of
images [Figure 9]. The nun is depicted engaged in meditative prayer, a technique taught
to her by her Dominican spiritual director (upper left quadrant). She meditates upon
Christ and M ary (upper right quadrant) and this eventually gives w ay to contem plative

137
“conversations” between the nun and Christ (lower left quadrant), and eventually the
nun and the Trinity (lower right quadrant). The nun for whom this text was produced
was. most likely, expected to identify with the nun in the image.
Movement through com passion by means of intermediary figures and im aginative
sequences is even more concisely articulated in several thirteenth-century Umbrian
painted crosses. On the monumental crucifix attributed to the M aestro di San Francesco
in Perugia (discussed above) [Figure 4], the presence of intermediary figures channels the
emotional energy of the event signaling to the viewer how she should experience the
narrative before her. For example, on the front of the particular cross, a tiny Francis
gestures ecstatically towards the wounds in Christ’s feet - as if to touch them. In yet
another painted cross (from Perugia) o f much smaller dimensions and painted on both
sides [Figure 10], the pattered background of the bottom-most horizontal panel represents
the temporal sphere. On one side, a tiny Francis holds his cheek against the dripping
wounds o f Christ’s feet. The blood flows past Francis, down the rocky terrain signifying
Golgotha, to collect at the base of the “m ountain” that rests upon a skull. On the second
side o f this same crucifix, only Mary and John remain, Francis is gone from the lower
register but the patterned background remains. The blood drips from C hrist’s feet to the
lower portion of the cross. Against the blue background, rem iniscent o f the heavens or a
timeless vacuum, the blood collects, held in the physical space o f the crucifixion only by
the dimensions of the cross. This second side, while also possessing the intermediary
figures of John and Mary, represents a more immediate experience for the viewer
meditator [Figure 10]. On this side, Francis and the mountain are gone, leaving Christ
hanging in isolation, separated from M ary and John by the gold-leaf o f the lateral panels.
Through visual rhetoric, the viewer is invited to imagine her o r his self in the place o f
Francis, standing at the foot of the cross.

138
Building upon the w ork o f Erwin Panofsky, art historical research o v er the
past thirty years or so has sought to uncover the function o f andachtsbilder by attem pting
to locate such works in the historical context in which the im age was used and/or
produced. In particular, the w ork of scholars such as Jeffrey H am burger and M ichael
Cam ille has sought to understand the relationship between devotional art and their
audiences, revealing the com plex interplay between audience expectations and the way in
which a devotional image (or series of images) m ight be “read,” interpreted, and
experienced by that same audience. This research has much to offer the scholar o f
religion, the history of Christianity, and m ysticism since it dem onstrates how objects as
diverse as psalters, sculpture, crucifixes, frescos, and paintings could shape in im portant
ways the relationship between the believer and God. This research argues convincingly
that images could and did convey ideas about religious experience in ways that texts
could not. Religious images were far more than mere catechism s for the illiterate.
In his research on the function of the imago pietatis im age in late m edieval
Europe, H.N.B. Ridderbos has observed that the iconic elements o f this image in its
Italian setting allowed artists to produce images that could visually convey the
theological ideas of antithesis and hyperbole, the antithetical concepts of the Christian
faith. Double-sided painted crosses so prevalent in thirteenth century central Italy,
because o f their iconic prototype were designed to foster an active mode o f theological
inquiry in the viewer.145 As double images they were meant to invite com parison
between the elements on both sides, or indeed the elements on the lateral panels with
those in the center, as well as those on the top and bottom. In reading such crosses, the
eye is continuously drawn across the dead Christ in the center in trying to read how the
l45I.e. as a visual com position pairing the dead Christ as the central image with either G od as
Pantocrator in the upper register, or scenes from Christ’s life and Passion running alongside Christ on the
Cross.

139
images on the extremities fit into the central “narrative.” Ridderbos explains that the
image presented itself as a riddle, paradoxically without one answer. Thus, such images
could be approached again and again. The delivery o f the theological image depended
entirely on the activity o f the viewer, and dem anded high level o f rhetorical and
theological sophistication not necessarily culled from texts.146
As Michael Camille has argued, images have the power to provoke sensual,
emotional, psychological responses with an im mediacy that is quite different than that
inspired through the act o f reading.147 The reading process - the conversion o f letters
into words, the placement o f those words into sentences, and the translation o f sentences
into a thought or idea -- could prove a frustrating impediment to those readers with lower
levels o f literacy in either Latin or the vernacular. For the illiterate and sem i-literate, the
letters and words possessed the same status as signifiers of and impediment to the secrets
o f a text. “Angela” in her M emorial equivocates words and images. For her, both
constitute secondary, external representations o f divinity. In chapter one o f the
M em orial, “Angela” expresses the desire to pass beyond the medium o f external
representations - words and images - in order to “enter within” (m ettere intus or intrare)
148
her meditations, to know through experience.
I46H.N.B. Ridderbos, ‘T h e Man o f Sorrows Pictoral Images and Metaphorical Statements," in The
Broken Body: Passion Devotion in Late-M edieval Culture, eds. A.A. MacDonald, H.N.B. Ridderbos, and
R.M. Schlusemann (Groningen: Egbert Forsten. 1998), 159. Michael Camille discusses the high-level o f
literacy necessary for the "reading" o f many im ages in "Seeing and Reading," 26-49.
u7Camille. "Mimetic Identification,” 197-202. In Gothic Art, Glorious Visions, Camille

discusses the various visual conventions adopted during this time to express the nexus between human and
divine. He argues that the gothic use o f framing techniques, light and the incorporation o f multiple
viewpoints into a work o f art are all predicated upon the gothic fascination not only with vision and
visuality, but the conveyance o f religious experience. Gothic art, he argues, must be read differently than
images produced both before and after. See Camille. G othic Art, Glorious Visions (N Y , 1996). For the
“power o f images" to evoke and provoke in general see David Freedberg, The P ow er o f Images: Studies in
the H istory and Theory o f Response (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1989).
USI will discuss this in greater detail in chapter four.

140
As contradictory as it may seem , “A ngela’s” desire to know the Passion of
Christ through direct experience reflects a certain class of devotional im ages o f the time.
In the early p an of the fourteenth century, devotional booklets of illustrated aphorism s, as
well as psalters illustrating the wound o f Christ and other instruments o f the Passion
(arma Christi) in isolation from the actual body o f Christ began to make an appearance
[Figures 11, 12. and 13]. The paradoxical com bination of heightened realism within a
radically decontextualized setting (no historical markers or intermediary figures) would
have served as a powerful and im m ediate mnemonic trigger for meditation upon the
Passion.
Nowhere is the medieval belief in the pow er and immediacy o f visual im ages to
evoke contemplative experience more evident than in the The Rothschild Canticles. This
small hand-held devotional book depicts a series o f mystical meditations produced by or
under the supervision o f a Dominican friar in Flanders or the Rhineland for a woman
religious in his care around the turn o f the fourteenth century.149 This m anuscript is
remarkable in its originality, i.e.. its lack o f iconographic prototypes, as well as its
allegorical and anagogical use o f im ages as “sim ulcra” of contemplative experience, and
its “narrative” sequencing which is structured to suggest the contemplative ascent to the
150
visio dei.
• - . -
This text commences where the M editations on the Life o f Christ leave off,
presupposing a familiarity with the techniques and goals of meditation upon the humanity
of Christ - namely, meditative “reading” as a mnenomic technique and an exegetical
u0Jeffrey Hamburger has published a study o f this manuscript with a facsim ilie. S ee Hamburger.
The Rothschild Canticles. Hereafter cited as RC. Hamburger presents the hypothesis that the R C was not
only made for a women, but perhaps made (at least in part) by a woman o f aristocratic descent attached
either to a convent or foundation o f canonesses. According to Hamburger, its style is within the tradition o f
illustrated devotional handbooks written for the guidance o f women. See Ibid., 157-161.
150Ibid.. 2-7.

141
strategy with ethical, indeed, transform ative implications. In his study o f the
manuscript. Hamburger has noted that the im ages deployed presuppose the nun’s
familiarity with contemporary exem pla and devotional images, the liturgy and scripture
(especially the Song o f Songs and the psalm s), and abstract theological concepts. He
points out that the text functions as a florilegium on contemplation rather than a
m editational primer per se.151 Unlike the M editations on the Life o f Christ which are
riddled with instructions for their use, the R othschild Canticles doesn’t teach its audience
how to use these images, but presupposes that they would already know. T he texts and
guiding figures (“seers” ) orchestrate the trajectory o f not only the text, but o f
contem plative experience, ushering the nun into progressively deeper encounters with
Divine Wisdom. They do not, however, instruct her regarding how she m ust im plem ent
what she sees in the manuscript for m axim um spiritual profit. As H am burger explains in
his com m entary to the edition to the text, the Rothschild Canticles are not a handbook,
they do not expound dogma or propose a devotional method. The verbal and visual
images serve as “vehicles of mystical devotion, they transport the reader, structuring
experience rather than instructing through the provision of an exem plary m odel.” 152
There are no intermediary figures in the book. Similarly, there are no “historical”
narratives depicting scenes from the Life o f C hrist or the Passion. Rather, the nun is
expected to already have achieved an advanced status as an exegete, no longer interested
in the historia of scripture’s events and their moral lessons, but rather focused upon
accessing the deeper levels o f sacred narrative through contemplative m editation. The
Rothschild Canticles describes union with C hrist as the mystical marriage between
W isdom and the soul. Hamburger explains that: ‘T h e identification o f C hrist with
l5,Ibid.. 2
,5:tbid.

142
W isdom linked meditation to the study o f the Arts; a spiritual reading o f Scripture
guided by the study o f the traditional curriculum conformed the soul both to Sapientia
and Christ as Wisdom incarnate.” 153 Hamburger identifies six sequences o f miniatures
that mimic the mystical ascent o f the soul to the vision of God. He notes that although
the artist dares to depict the Trinity, s/he stops short o f a rendering o f the Godhead. The
Rothschild Canticles ends with an apophatic crescendo in a dialogue between pseudo-
Bernard of Clairvaux and G od accom panied an illumination representing the Trinity as
three concentric circles with a firey sun at its core. Although the veils are pulled back to
the sides, the accompanying text dem ands that this image be read not only as a lack of
mystical fulfillment, but a final denial o f experience upon existential grounds.154 The
human cannot fully com e to G od because to do so would annihilate both what it means to
be human and what it means to be G od [Figure 14].
The soul’s ascent up and through these stages are signified from the very
beginning of the manuscript by the depiction of the liberal arts in conjunction with a
l53Ibid., 43.
15-1 ..r~
Ego sum qui sum.
deum nemo vidit
unquam./Sicut exaltatum est celum
super terram. ita e.xaltate sunt vie mee
ab viis vestris
et cogitationes
mee a cogita
tionibus vestris./
Domine. due me
in desertum tue
deitatis et te
nebrositatem
tui luminis
et due me ubi tu non es./M ea nox
obscurum non habet, sed lux glorie mee omnia in
lucessit/Bemardus oravit: domine, due me ubi es. dixit ei: bamarde, non facio
quoniam si ducerem te ubi sum. annichi
lareris michi et tibi” ;
F. 105 V The Trinity (F.106R ). Ibid.. 208.

143
symbolic crucifixion illustrating a popular allegory called the Palma contemplationis
[Figure 15 and 16].155 On folios I8r.-I9v„ there is an interesting tw ist on the image of
C hrist crucified by the virtues; one that conflates motifs o f the ascent o f the cross with the
flagellation [Figure 17]. This illumination suggests a particular reading especially when
com pared with conventional depictions o f C hrist crucified by the virtues [Figure 18]. In
the this image, the Sponsa holding her lance represents the woman religious both desiring
to access to access the mystical levels o f m eaning underlying the events o f C hrist’s
Passion, and petitioning Christ for this experience, lance in hand. On 18v [Figure 17] in
the upper register Christ embraces the Sponsa the garden where she is transform ed into
Caritas. On 18v. in the lower register, the Sponsa unaccompanied by the virtues is
depicted thrusting a lance at C hrist’s side. On the folio facing this text 19r. [Figure 17],
C hrist is depicted nude walking from the post o f his flagellation to the cross, pointing to
the wound in his side. The text on folio 17v. the text paraphrases Revelation 3:20;
“ Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any [will come] to me, I w ill com e in to him,
and sup with him, and he with me”; and then quotes chapter 4, verse 9 o f the Song o f
Songs: ‘T h o u hast wounded my heart, m y sister, my spouse.” 156 T ext and image
l55Ibid. 35.
156 “Osculetur me osculo

ors sui. meliora
sunt ubera tua su
per uinum/recti diligit
te./
Leva eius sub ca
pite meo dextra
illius amplexabitur me./
Sto ad ostium et pulso; si quis appe
ruerit michi introibo et senabo cum illo et
ille mecum/Vulnerasti cor meum.
soror mea, sponsa mea, in uno oculorum
tuorum et in uno crine colle tui./Dem on
antiquum serpentem/pater om nipotens ha
mo decepit quando ad mortem illius unigenitum filium incarnatum misercordia
in quo et caro passibilis videri posset et divinitas inpassibilis videri non posset” ;
F. I7V Song o f Songs (FF. 18R -19V ), Ibid., 175.

144
suggest the reciprocal relationship between the Sponsa and Christ: her longing for
greater wisdom, metaphorically represented as the erotic longing that transforms the soul
into Caritas, summons Christ’s beckoning presence— the presence o f the Beloved in the
garden of the text. Because o f her ardor, he not only m akes him self available to her. but
invites her to penetrate his corpus and to enter into not only his side and heart, but also
the sacred mysteries of the Passion hidden inside. M etaphor and visual image serve to
reinforce the links between meditation and imitation, exegesis and unio mystica as the
way not only to see, but also to experience redemption history first-hand. Accounts of
mystical entry into the side wound of Christ appear in num erous thirteenth- and
fourteenth-century women mystics such as Angela of Foligno, Catherine of Siena and
Gertrude the Great.
In the remaining of what Jeffrey Hamburger calls the “Song o f Songs” miniatures
(f. I8r.-f. 26v.), Christ leads the soul into different scenarios signifying the deepening of
the amorous relationship between the Bride and Bridegroom conceived of as the soul’s
acquisition of Wisdom through love of Christ and im itation o f Mary. In the Marian
miniatures (f. 47v.-64r.) the figure o f the sponsa disappears, and M ary is presented to the
nun as the exemplary bearer o f wisdom. These miniatures close in a splendid image of
M ary encompassing a flaming sun in her breast [Figure 19]. This image of Mary as the
M ulier amicta sole (Apoc. 12) is suggested by Angela o f Foligno in her Memorial in an
account told by her companion to her amanuensis when she is described as having star-
like rays of light illuminating from her breast while in ecstasy .157 In the Memorial, this
vision relates “Angela’s” reception of the gift of em pathetic knowledge (Mary’s wisdom)
m etaphorically represented as the firey Trinity glowing in her heart.
151M emoriale III. 171-178.

The imagistic sequencing in the Rothschild Canticles follows a break-neck
pace suggesting the m om entum o f apophatic revelation guided by the im passioned
exegetical eye. This follows the M editations description o f the highest state o f
contemplation as the relentless pursuit o f the mystic to know God as G od is without
similitudes. This description is translated into mnemonic devices visually rendered as
revelations of headless or bodiless figures floating in the heavens, firey creatures
enshrouded with veils surrounded by angels, and abstract geom etric patterns in triads
accompanied by excerpts o f speculative Trinitarian theology from A ugustine’s De
Trinitate. Each vision is supplanted by another even more abstract. T he view er is
bombarded with images that lead her into greater revelations of the Trinity which get
progressively more and more abstract finally ending with an ultimate assertion o f the
radical ineffability o f God.
IV. Conclusions
I have broadly treated the subject o f meditation moving from a discussion of the
use and function o f this practice in monastic culture to its adaptation for w om en religious
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. I have suggested that the roots o f the highly
visual and imaginative type o f m editation practiced by women religious in northern and
southern Europe lie in lectio divina, monastic sacred reading. M editation played a central
role not only in monastic education, but also in the formation and expression o f a
religious identity in and through the reading and interpretation o f scripture. F or women
religious, nuns as well as beguines, tertiaries and other pious laywomen, m editation not
only provided them with a w ay o f thinking and speaking about God, but also formed a

146
religious self, or habitus, an embodied set o f dispositions structuring thought and
conduct, determining the desires and goals of the religious life, and governing their
public expression.
Although Anselm, John of Fecamp and Goscelin introduced an affective,
penitential form of meditation to aristocratic women in the eleventh century, it wasn’t
until the thirteenth century that meditation evolved into a distinctive practice related to
lectio divina, but adapted to the needs o f a new religious culture - that o f the women’s
religious movement. Because women were often only literate in the vernacular,
prohibited from the study o f scripture, barred from public evangelical activities, and
generally considered unable to access theological or spiritual concepts without the use of
visual or narrative aids. Franciscan and Dominican friars taught women to cultivate and
use the religious im agination developed in meditation as a way to know, see and love
God. More than simply a penitential practice, Franciscan m editation, as typified by the
M editations on the Life o f Christ, offered a form o f moral, rhetorical and theological
education tailored to the status of women religious. Specifically, meditation taught
women to construct, elaborate and perform exegesis upon highly structured sets of
memorized visualizations. The development and cultivation o f bonds o f compassion and
em pathy, a technique that blurred the boundaries between the m editator and the
m editation, became an im portant strategy enabling women not only to create a
memorialized “text” o f scripture, but to personalize and appropriate these narratives as
their own memories. As in monastic culture, it was expected that this praxis would
“reform” the meditator, inculcating a progressively expanding knowledge base, purifying
the eyes o f the heart, and imbuing the religious with a thirst to know, see and experience
more with the promise that “practice makes perfect” -- she m ight to move from
m editation on the hum anity to contemplation o f divine m ysteries based upon the model
o f Francis, Clare and St. Cecilia. Since women were prohibited from engaging in the

147
second part of the active life, namely the perfection o f wisdom in the salvation o f
souls through pastoral care, preaching and teaching, spiritually advanced women
religious focused their energies upon becom ing master-meditators, perfecting the art of
contemplation in order to follow and im itate Christ. As we have seen in chapter two, for
women like Clare of Assisi, in the face o f ecclesiastical and social opposition the pursuit
o f contemplative perfection became synonym ous with the pursuit o f holy poverty and
provided the grounds for evangelical activity. Through perfection, women could become
“m irrors" o f divine activity, reflecting back to the world divine teachings attained in and
through contemplation.
As I have suggested in this chapter, there w asn’t simply one form of meditation.
Devotional books such as the Rothschild Canticles, produced within a Dominican sphere
o f influence, confirm that religious wom en were encouraged to develop a florilegia of
spiritual writings pertaining to the religious life and the search for G od in contemplation.
W om en were not only familiar with biblical m etaphor and the tenets o f the ascent from
study to contemplation, but adept at w orking with narrative and visual images that could
help them structure such an experience. D evotional images (andachtsbilder), far from
being merely the catechesis o f the illiterate, presupposed a familiarity with visual rhetoric
and often required a high degree of m oral, theological and rhetorical sophistication.

CHAPTER FOUR: ANGELA OF FOLIGNO AND THE POVERTY OF THE
IMAGINATION
In this chapter, I turn to an exam ination o f A ngela of Foligno’s Book {Liber)}
As recent studies have shown, the Liber is an elusive, fragmented and somewhat porous
work. Attempts to impose a generic designation o r indeed to assign a unilateral level o f
meaning upon the text leave any critic open to accusations of reductionism .2
Nevertheless, an investigation of the text in its m aior redaction suggests the text’s
function as a “contemplative m anual.'0 The M em orial provides a simulacra of
1As I have mentioned in chapter one. I use quotation marks around Angela's name in order to
demark the distinction between the historical Angela/the A ngela o f historiography and the fid elis C hristi, or
"Angela." who is one o f three main characters (the other two are God and Brother A.) in the M emorial.
For similar reasons. I will put quotes around references to the scribe as "Brother A."
^The recent essays in Angele de Foligno: Le d o ssier em phasize this point in various ways. Attilio
Bartoli Langeli has demonstrated that the book was most likely composed retroactively from scribal
fragments, effectively undermining the theory o f an authentic author’s text. Other essays in the volum e
discuss how the book was widely adapted to suit different reading publics. Thus, there are. broadly
speaking, three different manuscript traditions. The first (com m only referred to as the minor redaction)
provides a hagiographic portrait o f Angela o f Foligno. It excises the more speculative aspects o f A ngela's
teachings and experiences to reduce the M emorial to an ascetic/moral program "that takes as central the
meditation and amorous contemplation o f the humanity o f Christ poor, passionate and crucified as the true
and only model to imitate." As Emore Paoli has observed, the m inor redactions omit the speculative
aspects o f the maior redaction (this “major" redaction forms the second main version o f the text). These
"speculative" portions o f the text are those that push beyond Bonaventure and the Areopagite to delineate a
form o f imageless contemplation in the depths o f the soul along the lines o f Meister Eckhart. The third
manuscript tradition can be found in various attruncated forms in miscellaneous codicies. On the
differences between the minor and m aior redactions see Emore Paoli. "Le due redazioni del Liber: II
perche di una riscrittura." in Angele de Foligno: Le D ossier, eds. Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun
(Rome: Ecole Franâis de Rome. 1999). 5 6 ,5 8 -6 3 . On the the versions o f Angela’s manuscript in
miscellaneous manuscripts see Paolo Mariani. "Liber e contesto: codici miscellanei a confronto,” ibid.. 71-
144. I will discuss the manuscript tradition in greater detail in section I o f this chapter. Finally, on the
book’s production see Langeli. “I codice di A ssisi, ovvero il Liber sororis Lelle,” in ibid., 7-27.
3Here I use this terminology to designate a treatise that provides an advanced set o f teachings
regarding the training o f the religious imagination for the purpose o f providing a practical function: to
148

149
“A ngela’s” experiences making her an exemplar and intermediary for the audience in
order to show them how to see and love God without similitudes. Through “A ngela,”
they are taught to become, like Francis, “truly poor inside and out” (ipse enim fiiit pauper
et interius et exterius).4 to see G od “in an ineffable vision,” to love the divine “with an
ineffable love,” and finally to surpass even the eyes o f the heart5.
As many students of the text have noted, the book asserts and maintains the
importance of external, daily practice not merely as a precursor to but alongside
contemplative experience.6 W hile the book’s erotic and somatic features have occupied
the attention of scholars over the last decade, its delineation o f an epistem ology o f
mystical knowledge rooted in the w ays in which women learned to think and speak about
God in meditation has received little attention.7 In this chapter, I will focus on the ways
guide the audience to the attainment o f not only a vision o f God. but unio mystica. described as the mystic
return to absolute union with the One through the power o f love (eros), or the “loving intellect.” Thus, it is
not only an intellectual endeavor, but an experiential one as well -- driven by love and desire, the heart’s
ways o f knowing, and cultivated in and through an attentiveness to the effects o f love upon the soul. In
chapter one. I discuss the attentiveness to the effects o f love upon the soul as a particularly beguine
occupation but I also think that it captures the central preoccupations o f the M emorial. However, in
contrast to northern beguine authors, "A ngela’s” book neither em ploys the language o f courtly love nor
draws upon the images and metaphors o f the Song o f Songs. Rather. “Angela,” like other Italian women,
draws upon the iconography o f paintings and the metaphors o f sermons. For this theme in beguine authors
see McGinn. Love. Knowledge and Unio M ystica." especially 61. A lso see chapter one. On the use o f the
"world o f images” in the thought o f Italian women religious see Chiara Frugoni, "Female Mystics, V isions,
and Iconography.” in Women and Religion in M edieval an d Renaissance Italy, eds. Daniel Bomstein and
Roberto Rusconi, trans. Margery J. Schneider (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1996), 130-163.
*In stru ctions III.362.
5“ Et quia ipse perfectissime vidit Deum secundum ineffabilem visionem. ita ineffabiliter amavit’
Instructiones III.373-374.
^ h e Instructions emphasize the external, behavioral dimensions o f A ngela’s teachings, asserting

the necessary equilibrium between external practices (such as poverty and service) and the attainment o f
internal poverty in interior practice. This insistence upon the external, bodily, and behavioral aspects can
also be traced in the M emorial. Paul Lachance has championed this avenue o f research into the text,
interested as he is in the practical implications and applications o f her teachings. This chapter will not
address these aspects o f her book in great detail as they are outside the scope o f this study. For more on
this subject, please see Paul Lachance. “Introduction.” especially 85-108.
7I have discussed this in chapter three. In an interesting essay, Jeffrey Hamburger has observed
that most scholars are so preoccupied with mystical union that they tend to gloss over the degree to which
many mystical treatises are a prolonged meditation on speculation and the epistem ology o f mystical
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n er. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

150
in which Angela of Foligno’s Liber develops, extends, and surpasses these practices. I
will show how the M em orial, in particular, teaches its audience to marshal the feelings,
images, and memories gleaned in m editation as an experiential hermeneutic, showing
them how to move through them as a form of cataphatic entbildung. The Memorial
presents “Angela o f Foligno." known throughout the text simply as the fid e lis Christi
(C hrist’s faithful one), as the archetypal bizzoca who, based upon the model o f Francis,
learns to see, know, and experience G od in absolute poverty through the contemplation of
the crucified Christ.8 In its “major” redaction, the Book describes the contemplative
practices of women religious, bizzoche, and tertiaries, com m itted to following the poor,
suffering, humble Christ, offering them to a wider audience o f Spirituals and others
com m itted to religious poverty.
This chapter contains three sections. The first provides a description o f the Book,
giving an overview o f Angela scholarship and presenting m y arguments for reading the
text as a contemplative manual (a sub-genre of devotional literature), rather than a
spiritual autobiography. Such a reading o f the text will highlight the book’s original use
and function for a “textual com munity,” such as that o f the Spiritual Franciscans. The
second, shows how the text is rhetorically construed to lead its audience to “compose”
their own book of experience. In the last section, I will show how the M em orial uses a
knowledge. See Jeffrey Hamburger. “Speculations on Speculation: V ision and Perception in the Theory
and Practice o f Mystical Devotion." Deutsche M ystik im abendlandischen Zusammenhang. Neue
erschlossene Texte. neue methodische Ansatze, neue theoretische K onzepte. eds. Walter Haug and Wolfram
Schneider-Lastin (Tubingen: Niemeyer. 2000), 353-354.
8A s C. Cargnoni has observed: “La poverta e un esperienza e dono di contemplati nella vita di
Cristo, per questo la poverta e un'esperienza e dono di contemplazione, un gnosi sopranaturale. una
conosenza divina. una illuminazione. una visione diventu il segreto del discemimento spirituale e fa
scoprire gli inganni dell’amor proprio in quanto e conoscenza di D io e di se. In questo senso e radice di
ogni bene e madre d'ogni virtu, croppiata inscindibilmente all’umilta del cuore. che pure e detta sorgente
d'ogni virtu e rappresenta 1’aspetto interiore e spirituale della poverta"; “La poverta nella spiritualita della
beata Angela da Foligno,” 341-54. especially 341.

151
vivid narrative to teach by way of exam ple and show its audience the process of
contemplation and its effects upon the soul.
I. Reading the Liber
A. Angela and her Book
Ludger Thier and Abele C alufetti’s critical edition of A ngela’s Book (Liber)
contains two books: the M emorial (M em oriale), an autobiographical narrative of
A ngela’s encounters with the “G od-M an” ; and the Instructions (Instnictiones), a
collection of heterogeneous docum ents comprising letters, revelations, and teachings
attributed to the Umbrian mystic in her role as magistra. Angela dictated her experiences
in her native Umbrian dialect to an anonymous Franciscan friar nam ed B rother A. who
copied these remarks into a notebook which he then compiled, translated, and redacted
into the Latin text of the M em orial.9 The text, written in dialogue form , chronicles
A ngela’s affective spiritual journey, beginning with conversion and penance, moving
through growing identity with the “God-M an,” and following her into the divine abyss.
’The title o f this book com es from chapter two, entitled "Expiicationes Fratris S criptoris' by the
editors o f the critical edition. See four lines down: "Post narrationem istam quae hie incipit, ilia scriptura
quae sequitur immediate, quamvis in ordine conveniat scribi in illo passu qui superius X X est notatus,
tamen est principium et primum quod ego frater scripsi de scriptura divinorum verborum; et minus plene et
negligenter incoepi scribere, quasi pro quodam mihi memoriali, in una carta parvuncula quia parum debere
scribere me putabam; et illi fideli Christi revelatum fuit et dictam, post parvum tempus postquam ego illam
coegeram ad dicendum. quod ego non unam cartam parvunculam sed quatemum magnum acciperem ad
scribendum. sed quia ego non credidi bene, scripsi in duabus vel tribus cartulis quas in libello meo potui
vacuas reperire; postea vero coactus feci quatemum de bambicino. Et ideo. antequam ulterius procedatur,
credidi me debere referre quomodo ego ad istorum notitiam deveni, et qua de causa ista scribere sum
coactus omnino. Deo compeilente me ex parte sua”; Memoriale 11.82-93. See also Their and Calufetti.
“Introduzione," n. 14.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n pro h ib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

152
The history o f the book’s composition functions as a curious subplot, em erging through
narrative references and stylistic peculiarities such as abrupt shifts in voice (from the first
to the third person), awkward scribal interjections, reported dialogue, and a clum sy Latin
style heavily influenced by the vernacular.10 Like other medieval w om en w riters who
com posed their books with the aid o f an am anuensis, scholars recognize A ngela as the
“author” o f this book despite her collaboration with her scribe. B rother A. This same
scribe is conventionally held to be the author o f the first twelve Instructions, with the
rem aining forty-four attributed to disciples.11 Unlike M arguerite P orete’s M irror,
A ngela’s Book has no official title that appears throughout the extant m anuscripts. As a
result, A ngela’s complete works have circulated under numerous titles in m odem (as well
as pre-m odem ) translations in French, Italian, and English.12 The titles given to the text
often reflect the editor or translator’s interpretation o f the central theological message of
the text, and the book’s religio-historical value.lj The critical edition provides a good
10Some important investigations o f the language and rhetoric o f the o f the L iber include: Mauro
Donnini, “Appunti sulla lingua e lo stile del 'Liber' della beata Angela da Foligno," in Angela da Foligno
terzaria francescana. ed. Enrico Menesto (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Stuid sull’AIto M edioevo, 1992).
181-213; Pascale Bourgain. "Angele de Foligno— le latin du Liber,” in Angele de Foligno: Le dossier, eds.
Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun (Rome: Ecole Franqais de Rome. 1999), 145-167; and Bruno Clement.
“Les moindres parcelles de la verite (la rhetorique du Liber)." in ibid., 164-184.
"See Thier and Calufetti. "Introduzione," 42
'■The earlier editions are as follows: Paul Doncoeur, Le livre de la Bienheureuse Angele de
Foligno (Paris: Editions de la Revue d'Ascetique et de Mystique, 1925); M J. Ferre. Le livre de
Fexperience des vraisfideles (Paris: Editions E. Droz. 1927); M. Faloci Pulignani, L'autobiografia e gli
scritti della beata Angela da Foligno (Citta di Castello: Editrice "II Solco.” 1932).
i3A select survey o f some twentieth century titles run as follows. Pulignani calls the book
L'Autobiografta e gli scritti della Beata Angela da F oligno; Ferre’s French translation gives the title as Le
livre de I 'experience des vrais fid eles p a r Sainte A n gele de Foligno; Doncoeur’s Latin edition is Le livre de
la bienheureuse Angele de Foligno. Some other titles include: Salvatore Aliquo, trans.. L ’esperienza di
D io am ore (Rome: Citta Nuova Editrice. 1973); P. Valugini, L ’esperienza m istica della Beata Angela da
Foligno nel racconto di Frate A m aldo (Milan: Biblioteca Francescane Provinciale. 1964). More recently,
Giovanni Pozzi has entitled his Italian translation II libro d e ll’esperienza (Milano: Adelphi. 1992). For an
exhaustive list o f titles, medieval and otherwise see Sergio Andreoli and Francesco Santi, eds., Fonti e
bibliografia p e r lo studio di Angela da Foligno e il suo culto (Florence, forthcoming 2003).

153
exam ple o f this. While many editions have favored using the first line from the
M em orial as the title for the A ngel's entire Book, Thier and Calufetti, the editors of the
critical edition, have chosen to call it “ // L ib r o " .14 This title, they explain, encapsulates
the diverse formats of the book while alluding to one o f Angela’s central theological
images - Jesus Christ on the cross as the “Book o f Life” (Liber Vitae).15
The first book, the M em orial, has nine chapters that take the reader through a
series of twenty-six stages that describe “ A ngela’s” spiritual journey through the
crucified “God-Man” and into the divine abyss.16 Chapter one, or “A ngela’s” “way o f
penance” (via paenitentiae), provides an overview o f the early stages o f “A ngela’s”
journey (steps one through nineteen), ending at the beginning o f step twenty. In chapter
two, the scribe (frater scriptor. or “B rother A.” ) interrupts this chronology to describe
how he became involved in the production o f “A ngela’s” book. At this point he also
provides the reader/audience with an overview o f chapters three through nine, a
chronology of the text’s composition, and a summary o f his activities as a redactor. From
this narrative we learn that he began w riting the M emorial only after “A ngela” had
com pleted her first twenty stages, com posing chapter one subsequent to chapter three (or
the “first supplementary step” ).17 In his editorial remarks, the scribe laments that although
he has tried to capture the fullness o f “ A ngela’s” statements in the book, he fears he may
l4The editors explain this in the follow ing quotation: "11 titolo generale {II libro della beata
Angela da Foligno) e motivato dal suo carattere espressivo e compressivo di tutti gli scritti angelani, non
senza un'allusione anche a quello che la Folignate chiama il proprio "Liber vitae” o “Cristo-umanato-
passionato." See Thier and Calufetti introduzione.” 116. Following the convention established by the
editors o f the critical edition. I shall refer to the text generally as the Liber.
15Instructiones III. 1.
l6Ibid., 116.
l7Scholars place this around the year 1292. The editors o f the critical edition added the term
"supplementary” to these steps in order to distinguish these stages from the first nineteen described in
chapter one. See McGinn. Flowering, 143.

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have lost some of their nuance because o f delays and glitches in the transcription,
translation, and redaction process, in addition to his ow n intellectual limitations.18 After
this break in the narrative, his chronicle o f “A ngela’s” spiritual journey resumes in
chapter three, (the “first supplem entary step” ) and continues on through chapter nine (the
“seventh supplementary step”).
B. Angela Scholarship
Controversy and debate surround both the figure o f the historical Angela her
book. There are several reasons for th is.19 First, there are no contemporary sources
available for reconstructing a history o f A ngela’s life apart from what can be gleaned
from A ngela’s book. In fact, there is no contem porary evidence to support the actual
existence of a historical Angela of Foligno apart from her book and a brief reference to
her found in Ubertino da C asale’s A rbor vitae christi.20 Second, there are two main
versions of her book and no consensus regarding which represents an authentic authorial
text. Third, the text’s style and narrative lend itself easily to a “polysem ia” o f readings.21
The fact that the text o f the book is attributed to A ngela but does not contain her name or
that o f her scribe poses an interesting problem for historians. Additionally, the text’s
inherent atemporality has opened it up to a wide range o f interpretations, historical and
otherwise. Angela scholarship has reflected the im pact o f these factors in various ways,
18 Memoriale II.6-17.
19The cultic veneration o f Angela from the Middle A ges until today in her native Foligno and
Umbria has had a significant impact on her scholarship
:oUbertino da Casale A rbor Vitae Crucifixae Jesu 5a. For an extensive investigation into the
historical Angela see Dalarun, "Angele de Foligno a-t-elle existe?.” 59-97.
: iIdem. “From the Text to the Woman and From the W oman to the Text,” 6; and Dalarun,
"Introduction." in Angele de Foligno: Le dossier, eds. Giulia Barone and Jacques Dalarun (Rome: Ecole
Franâis de Rome. 1999), 5-6.

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most notably in its em phasis upon the compilation of the m ost definitive edition, creation
of an authentic translation o f her text,22 and the excavation o f the historical Angela and
her thought from an enigmatic book located in a diverse set o f m anuscripts.23 The
contemporary movement behind her canonization (A ngela is only a beata and the focus
o f local veneration in her native Foligno) has had a considerable im pact upon scholarship
about her person and b o o k .24
In the early 1980s, scholars eagerly awaited Thier and C alufetti’s critical edition
of Angela’s Liber, hoping it would either uncover or provide an Ur-text for future
scholarly research. W hile earlier editions by Doncoeur (1925), Ferre (1927), and
Pulignani (1932) had based themselves either upon the A ssisi o r the Subiaco
manuscript,23 Thier and Calufetti surveyed all tw enty-eight o f the known manuscripts to
“ In Italian alone there are have been three translations in the past twenty years by Aliquo.
Andreoli. and Pozzi. In English, there have been several translations during the twentieth century
published by Steegman. Lachance, and. most recently. Mazzoni. In French, since the translation by Hello,
there have been versions by Ferre. Doncoeur and Godet. Angela has also been translated into German.
Spanish. Flemish. Russian and Polish. For a more complete Angela bibliography see Santi and Andreoli.
Fonte e bibliografia. Tiziana Arcangeli notes the polemical proliferation o f Angela translations and
editions, observing the tendency for editors and translators o f A ngela’s text to dism iss earlier readings and
versions as corrupt, incorrect or misguided. See Arcangeli. 41-77.
15 At this point, we know o f thirty manuscripts containing versions o f A ngela's book in Latin and
the vernacular. There are two major traditions (family one and two respectively), as well as some more
abridged versions bound with saints' lives and other devotional works, as. for exam ple, MS Laud 46 which
contains an excerpt from Marguerite Porete’s Mirouer. See Thier and Calufetti, “Introduzione," 51-73;
Paolo Mariani. 71-143. Mariani’s survey refutes Thier and Calufetti’s interpretation o f the manuscript
evidence and contains two newly discovered codices not included in Thier and Calufetti’s catalogue. These
are: Laud 46. Bodleian Library, Oxford, and MS 31.2, Patristic M iscellany, Newberry Library, Chicago.
“'There is a vast amount o f literature dedicated to Angela’s life and theology. Much o f this serves
to further her cult and to secure her claims to canonization.
^The codex located at the monastery o f St. Scholastica o f Subiaco (circa 1496) is generally
considered the most complete edition o f Angela’s book while MS 342 in the Biblioteca Communale in
Assisi the oldest o f the extant manuscripts. Scholars previously dated this work circa 1314 and 1381. More
recently. Langeli has argued that MS 342 was copied into book form from scribal fragments sometime
between 1306-1309. Based upon the codicological and paleographic evidence, he suggests that the book
received its title (this manuscript is entitled Liber sororis Lellae de Fulgineo d e Tertio Ordine Sancti
Francisci. with Liber Lelle written on the cover) from Giovanni loli. or som eone working under him,
during the library reorganization at Sacro Convengo between the years 1377-1381. See Langeli, 7-27. This
theory reconciles the paleographic discrepancies between the title’s later hand and that o f the manuscript
itself.

156
com pile a definitive critical edition. They divided these m anuscripts into seven families.
Families one and two contain the manuscripts comprising the tw o main versions o f the
book: namely, those exhibiting a condensed version of the M em orial and Instructions,
and those containing a fuller, more speculative version o f both texts, respectively.
According to Thier and C alufetti, the manuscripts in family one, produced in the region
o f Brabant/Liege, represent the versions of the text copied from Brother A .’s original
notebooks (quadem i). The m anuscripts in family two, although older than those in
family one and produced geographically closer to “home” (namely, in various Italian
cities), descend from B rother A .’s second and more complete redaction o f his w ork.26
Although Thier and C alufetti’s edition has made the Book more accessible to a w ider
public and has promoted interest in Angela of Foligno,27 the editors’ research m ethod,
their “two-redaction theory,” and the impact of this theory upon the organization o f the
critical edition has received heated criticism from scholars. This criticism centers in
particular upon the way the two-redaction theory reads the m anuscript history based upon
the Memorial's narrative, considering the shorter set of m anuscripts (the second family,
or family "B”), produced at a rem ove from Italy, to be the original version o f the text.
According to this theory, the Italian manuscripts, although contem porary to A ngela’s life
:6Thier and Calufetti have argued for a “two-redaction theory" o f the text. Essentially, this theory
interprets the manuscript evidence based upon Brother A.'s comments regarding the com position and
redaction of the M emorial. See Thier and Calufetti. "Introduzione.” 108-117. Jacques Dalarun’s 1995
essay exposed some o f the problems inherent in this methodology, as did Enrico M enesto in “Problemi
critico-testuali nel 'Liber della beata Angela.” in Angela da Foligno Terziaria Francescana, ed. Enrico
Menesto (Spoleto: Centro Italiano di Studi su ll’Alto Medioevo, 1992). 161-179.
27Around the publication o f the critical edition there were two important conferences dedicated to
Angela research in 1985 and 1991. respectively. Papers from these conferences were published in the
following volumes: Clement Schmitt, ed.. Vita e spiritualita della beata Angela da Foligno (Perugia:
Seraftca Provincia di San Francesco, 1987); Enrico Menesto, ed., Angela da Foligno terzaria francescana
(Spoleto: Centro di Studi suII’A lto M edioevo, 1992).
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r re p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

157
and times, comprise a more heavily “ redacted” version of the text at a greater remove
from her lived “experience” or authorial intent.28
In the wake of the much-criticized critical edition,29 research has focused upon
com paring the archival, paleographic, and codicological evidence against the biography
and “two-redaction theory” presented in the Their-Calufetti edition.30 In an influential
essay published in the early 1990s, one scholar challenged the existence of a historical
Angela based upon the dearth o f any archival o r textual evidence that could prove her as
anything but a literary fiction.31 Since the publication o f this essay, many o f the critical
edition’s assumptions regarding Angela and her book have come under close scrutiny.
Scholarship produced in the wake of this article has made important contributions to the
■^Menesto. “Problemi.” 161-179. Other criticism center upon the ways in which the editors'
interpretations o f the manuscript evidence impact upon the title, organization, and division o f the books in
the critical edition. For example, in his more recent Italian translation o f Angela’s corpus. Giovanni Pozzi
rejects Thier and Calufetti's division o f the works, preferring to follow earlier editors such as Faloci
Pulignani who read Instruction XXXVI (which recounts A ngela's death) as a separate piece to divide the
works into three parts. See Pozzi. ed.. II libro d e ll’esperienza. More recently, Emore Paoli has refuted
Thier and Calufetti's two-redaction theory based upon a comparison o f the manuscripts in family one with
those in two. By comparing the differences between these manuscripts. Paoli shows that Thier and
Calufetti's "minor' redaction (family one) cannot possibly descend from Amaldo's original quaderni (if in
fact there were such a thing). Rather, he shows how these later manuscripts are a redaction o f the "maior"
(family two), undertaken within the milieu o f the devotio m odem a in order to re-present the text as
illustrative o f the spiritual ideals o f this movement. S ee Paoli. 29-70.
29Despite these critiques, most scholars still use Thier and Calufetti’s edition for their research.
The edition is useful in that it delineates via typeface the text that belongs to the minor redaction from those
that are found in the maior.
30See the essays in Barone and Dalarun.
’'in a controversial essay entitled "Angele de Folgino a-t-elle existe?." Jacques Dalarun argued
that Angela o f Foligno was a "literary' fiction" created by the spiritual Franciscans as a charasmatic vehicle
for disseminating their beliefs. A painstaking analysis o f the paleographic and codicological evidence
revealed that the attribution o f the Liber to an Angela o f Foligno and a Brother Amaldus (or Brother A.)
was based upon legend rather than fact. In the Assisi cod ex, “Angela" is referred to most commonly as
"Christ’s faithful one” {fidelis christi). once by the letter “L," and finally under the spiritual name o f
Am ata. The attribution o f the book to “Angela o f Foligno” is made only in 1381 by Giovanni Ioli in his
inventory o f the Sacro Convengo when he lists the book as “L iber sororis lelle de fulgino. ” “Brother A..”
her confessor-scribe is a mysery as well. He appears in the text only under the name o f “brother scribe” or
"unworthy scribe" i f rater scrip to r or indignus scriptor). The name / rater A., occurs in the manuscripts o f
family A. but the name "Amaldus” dates to the fifteenth century. See Dalarun, “Angele de Foligno a-t-elle
existe?.’’ 59-97.

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study of Angela and her text by providing a date for the production o f the Assisi
manuscript (now believed to be the oldest) and sorting out the relationship between the
major manuscripts fam ilie s/2 M ost notably, this research has dem onstrated that the
divergences between the m anuscript families trace not only scribal variations and the
differences among traditions in various regions, but also testify to the book’s function for
different audiences/J This new research suggests that for medieval audiences there was
no such thing as an Ur-text o f A ngela’s Book, but rather different versions adapted to suit
the needs of various readers and reading publics over time.
Another branch o f Angela scholarship, generated by w om en’s history and
feminist theory rather than paleographic or codicological concerns, has m ined the
M emorial for what it can tell us about the role and function o f religion in the lives of
medieval w om en/4 For some, the book provides an authentic representation o f female
religious experience/5 For feminist scholars, theologians and literary critics, the style
and narrative of the book have provided a unique document, ideal for investigating the
relationship among writing, desire and subjectivity, and exploring feminine spirituality.
The majority of these studies have tried in various ways to disentangle A ngela’s voice
from that of the scribe’s in order to discern her authorial intent and determ ine his
3:See Langeli. 7-27. On the relationship between the two major manuscript families see Paoli, 29-
70.
33Paoli; Mariani. "Liber e contesto," 71-93.
j4Some studies that have included Angela and her book in their studies o f women and religion
include Bynum. Holy Feast, H oly Fast; and B ell. Holy Anorexia. Bernard McGinn also includes Angela in
his study o f women and the “new mysticism" in Flowering.
j5Romana Guarnieri’s remarks provide an example o f this treatment o f Angela and her text: “It
was not the doctrines Angela presented that struck me. even if the are undeniably rich and beautiful...What
struck me then and continues to move me every time I open the Book is the scorching intensity and the
extremely daring concreteness and totally feminine way in which Angela narrates her experience o f being
madly in love with God. striving to be chaste and yet passionately and sensually fully alive;” “Preface,” in
Com plete Works, 7.

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influence upon her th o u g h t/6 The challenges inherent in such a task have, both directly
and indirectly, raised im portant questions regarding the genre o f the M em orial and the
role and function of the text.
C. Autobiography and “the fiction that the fiction is not a fiction”37
The genre o f A ngela’s book has posed a problem for historians, theologians and
literary critics who have sought to read this text, as they do many other w om en’s mystical
writings, as autobiography. W hile one can come up with very general portrait o f the
historical Angela from reading her B ook, there are many gaps in this narrative.
M oreover, close inspection o f the text proves the scribe firmly em bedded in A ngela’s
story. Scholars have called the M em orial a “true spiritual diary,”38 or a “visionary
autobiography” as a way to describe its twin themes of mystical reportage and literary
36Catherine M ooney has attempted to sort out Brother A .’s role in the com postion o f Angela’s text
in an attempt to evaluate the ways in which he may have altered her experience. See Catherine Mooney,
'T h e Authorial Role o f Brother A. in the Composition o f Angela o f Foligno’s R evelations,” in Creative
Women in M edieval and Early Modern Italy: A Religions and Artistic Renaissance, eds. E. Ann Matter and
John Coakley (Philadelphia: University o f Pennsylvania Press, 1994): 34-63. Various projects have
explored Angela’s writings from a fem inist perspective, using theory (psychoanalytic and literary critical)
to sort out Angela's voice from Brother A .’s, and to extract her sprituality and authorial intention from the
patriarchical discourse o f the text. See: Archangeli. 41-77; Mazzoni, “On the (Un)Representability o f
W oman’s Pleasure,” 239-262; Meany. 47-79; Sagnella, 79-89. On the role o f abjection, cultural
programming and discourse about the body see Lochrie, ‘T h e Language o f Transgression,” 129-39.
Cristina Mazzoni has compiled an excellent annotated bibliography in Cristina M azzoni, ed., Angela o f
F o lign o’s M emorial, trans. John Cirignano (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1999).
37Franz Bauml, “Varieties and Consequences o f Medieval Literacy and Illiteracy,” Speculum
(1980): 262.
38For a sampling o f authors who have called the text a “spiritual autobiography” see Giovanni
Pozzi and Claudio Leonardi.eds.. S crittrici m istiche italiane (Genoa: Marietti, 1988), 135; Abele Calufetti,
“La B. Angela da Foligno e 1’Eucaristia: V isioni, esperienze, insegnamenti,” in Vita e spiritualita della
Beata Angela da Foligno, 333; Carole Slade, “Alterity in Union: the Mystical Experience o f Angela o f
Foligno and Margery Kempe,” Religion an d Literature 23 (1991): 114. Antonio Blausucci has called the
text a “true spiritual diary.” See Blausucci, “L ’itinerario mistico della B. Angela da Foligno,” in Vita e
spiritualita della beata Angela da Foligno, ed. Clement Schmitt (Perugia: Serafica Provincia di San
Francesco, 1987); 199-227.

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self-realization/9 Others, em phasizing the book’s claim to chronicle visionary
experience have called it a “book o f revelations,” and a mystical “record,” “treatise” or
“account.”40 Some studies have ventured to note the text’s relationship to hagiography,
but these remain by far in the minority.41 The problem with all these generic designations
lie in the fact that they are a bit misleading. They neither account for the text’s enigmatic
features nor seem to suggest how they shape audience response to the text in important
ways.
As recent research into the m anuscript evidence suggests, medieval and
renaissance audiences read the M em orial with a different set o f expectations than we do
today. First of all, they read it for its moral and theological value rather than its literal,
historical content.42 Ar.d they, unlike us, were trained to recognize the cues embedded in
the text (style, narrative and language) that support this type o f reading. There is no
reason to doubt the existence of a historical Angela, but the book’s primary meaning is
theological.4j Medieval audiences read the M emorial to teach them about the role of the
imagination and prayer in the vision o f God, about the training o f the religious self in
39Chance, xiv.
40Petroff, Medieval Women's Visionary Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, L986); Paul
Lachance, “Introduction," 47. In her preface to the English translation o f Angela o f Foligno’s Complete
Works, Romana Guarnieri provides a good exam ple o f this (auto)biographical way o f reading the text. She
writes that the book is "precisely recorded, though in a bare, oral narrative, exact to the point o f
scrupulosity (at least if the numerous affirmations in the text in this regard are given the credit they seem to
deserve), o f a mystical text in the pure state, very rich in the extraordinary variety o f its visionary
phenomena, som e recalled, others recorded as they were taking place. A candid, authentic narrative,
without any afterthoughts, without false trappings o f learning on the part o f either the narrator or the
recorder”; "Preface," 6. Although Guarnieri herself has modified her position, this way o f reading and
interpreting the text remains normative. For G uamieri’s current position see “Santa Angela,” 203-65.
41Mooney. "Authorial Role;” Aviad Kleinberg, Prophets in their Own Countries: Living Saints
a n d the Making o f Sainthood in the Later M iddle Ages (Chicago: University o f Chicago Press, 1992).
42DaIarun. "From the Woman to the Text and the Text to the Woman,” 5.
43Ibid., 5.

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different modes o f prayer, and about the fundamentals o f the religious life— depending
upon the version of the text they had to hand.44 The “historical” narrative presented in
the Memorial teaches by w ay of example, providing a vivid narrative to convey its
teachings to the reader. In this sense, the Memorial is very Franciscan. Like the
Meditations on the Life o f Christ, it was meant to guide prayer, as well as teach ethics,
theology and rhetoric, while providing a text to foster the im agination.
Although the M em orial is an “autobiography” o f sorts, it is not an autobiography
in our modem sense o f the term .45 True, the narrative recounts the spiritual life o f a
woman religious affiliated with the Franciscan Third O rder and it details her struggle to
compose a faithful representation of her experiences with the aid o f an amanuensis, but it
does so while m aintaining a certain atemporality and anonym ity.46 These qualities are
some of what give the book its “plasticity,” making it accessible to a wide variety of
interpretations and audiences.47 These same features are what made the text prime
material for prayerful reading by encouraging the engagement o f the imagination through
strategies of identification. Although scholars have studied the usage of rhetorical
strategies associated with the ars dictandi48 in the Memorial, no one has looked at the
role of historical narrative in the text. In the next section, I will suggest that the
Memorial's extensive references to its own composition, com bined with “Angela” and
“Brother A ’s” preoccupation with the authentic representation o f experience, serve to
^For the function o f different versions o f the Book and its use within different religious
communities see Paoli, 29-70: and Mariani, 71-93.
45Thomas Heffeman has observed the difference between medieval and modern expectations for
and uses o f biography. S ee Thomas Heffeman, Sacred Biography: Saints an d Their Biographers in the
M iddle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1988).
J6Dalarun. "From the Text to the Woman and From the Woman to the Text,” 6.
47Ibid.
48Donnini. 184-198; Guarnieri, “Santa Angela?,” 208.

162
generate the illusion of historical narrative. These themes in the text help create “the
fiction that the fiction is not a fiction.”49 Medieval authors, particularly vernacular
authors, often used this rhetorical strategy to create an aura o f realism that would allow
their audience to visualize and identify more fully with the narrative told.50 In the
M em orial, historical narrative provides the reader with an im agistic narrative to meditate,
allowing the reader to imagine and identify with “A ngela’s” experiences, on the one
hand, while simultaneously encouraging them fostering th e ir own. The rhetorical style
com plim ents the book’s teachings which focus upon strategies o f identification and the
use of the imagination, the eyes o f the heart, as a way “to en ter into C hrist” (mittere intas
in Christum), to know and experience Christ without interm ediaries.51 In this context,
historical narrative allows the audience to immerse them selves within the experiences
recounted in the book to learn about contemplation not only “by w ay o f example,” but
through “experience.”
II. Composing Experience in the Memorial
In section one, we have seen that scholars have studied references to composition
in the M em orial for what they tell us about the historical A ngela and the production of
her book, and we have discussed the problems inherent in such an analysis. In the
rem ainder o f this chapter, I will propose a reading o f A ngela o f F oligno’s Book that treats
'l9Bauml, “Varieties and Consequences." 262.
50Ibid.. 261-262.
51M emorial 1.137; VI.191.

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“Angela” and “Brother A.” as protagonists rather than historical figures p e r se. In this
section, I will explore how themes of translation, composition, and the book’s
preoccupation with the authentic representation o f experience act as tropes to prom pt the
reader to a prayerful, m editative reading of the text. The M em orial argues against any
human translation of divine experience into language (verbal o r visual) while
paradoxically using a narrative that recounts “A ngela” and “B rother A .’s” attempts to
“translate” contemplative experience into a w ritten text as a w ay to lead the reader
beyond the events depicted to gam er their spiritual meaning. I shall focus on three levels
of “translation” found in the Memorial: first, from Divine truth into “Angela’s”
experience; second, from “A ngela’s” spiritual language of sensory revelation into an oral
narrative for “ Brother A .’s” comprehension; and third, from vernacular speech into a
Latin text.
Throughout the M em orial “Angela” is preoccupied by a search for certainty, for
perfect “translations” o f her progressively deepening revelations into a medium that she
can understand unequivocally.32 In “Angela’s” case, this m edium o f absolute
comprehension is that o f “experience” —an unm ediated form o f sentience generated by
God in the soul.53 Often she calls these experiences “consolations” (consolationes) and
they act as authoritative translations of the w isdom she has perceived through her
spiritual senses in the depths o f her soul.54
5:Ibid. IV. 130-132, 239-249..266-270. Angela often experiences doubt with respect to the
authenticity o f her experience, her comprehension o f what Christ shows or tells her, and her faithful
reporting o f her experiences to Brother A. See Ibid. 111.65; 180-205, especially 203-204; IV .204-224.
53Angela mentions all the spiritual senses, but describes perfect cognition as sentience. She uses
the verb sentire to designate sense experience as a mode o f knowing without any doubt or uncertainty. For
example, see Ibid. III. 100.
’"'Some examples o f her use in this context can be found in Ibid. 1.192, 214; 279; 111.91, 100; V.29.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e c o p y rig h t o w n e r . F u r th e r re p ro d u c tio n p roh ibited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

“A ngela's" ability to discern the spiritual significance behind events, rituals, texts
and images comes about gradually through the training o f the mind (sym bolized by the
heart and the affections) in meditation. D espite this training, however, unmediated,
certain, experiential knowledge o f an event, ritual, text or image is a mode of
contem plation and, as such, a gift to the soul from God. In keeping with its didactic
style, the M emorial teaches this point by m eans o f a narrative scene that allows the
audience to hear from “Angela” herself how she learned the difference between an
interpretation produced by her own mind, and that given to her by God. In her report to
“Brother A.," “ Angela” recounts the following episode. O ne day, she was enclosed in a
cell meditating on a word from the gospel (m editarer in uno verbo Evangelii).55 Excited
and agitated by the profit she was obtaining from her meditations, she explains that she
“thirsted to see that word at least in writing” (sitirem videre illud verbum saltern
tantummodo scriptum).56 Although her m issal lay at her side, she restrained herself from
studying it further. Still desiring to gaze upon the word, she describes falling into a
slumber. In her sleep, she was led into a vision where she was told that “the
understanding of the gospel is something so delightful that if one grasped it properly one
would com pletely forget everything in this w orld.”57 W hen the unnamed speaker asked
her if she would like to have this experience, she tells “Brother A.” that she assented
eagerly and was led into an experience that cut her off from the world o f external
55Ibid. 1.221. Paul Lachance translates "in verbo Evangelii' ’ as a gospel saying. I have chosen a
more clum sy translation to preserve the practical aspect o f the passage. Medieval beguines often
highlighted with paint (or embroidery) particular words in their missals as part o f lectio divina. Angela’s
reference to meditation on a word may refer to a related practice, namely the contemplation o f particular
words or phrases. See Oliver, “Worship o f the Word.” 114-115.
56Ibid. 1.225.
57“... Quod adhuc intellectus Evangelii erat res tantum delectabilissima quod si quis illud
intelligeret. oblivisceretur non solum omnium mundanorum, sed oblivisceretur omnino sui ipsius”; ibid.,
232-235.

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sentience and signification to allow her to perceive the meaning o f the text without
intermediaries. She describes her reception of this grace in the following words: “[I
was] filled with such certitude, such light, and such ardent love o f G od that I went on to
affirm with the utm ost certainty, that nothing of these delights o f G od is being preached.
Preachers cannot preach it; they do not understand w hat they preach.”58
The ensuing narrative underscores the im portance o f this event by recounting
episodes that exem plify the degree to which '‘A ngela’s” relationship with revelation and
the world have been altered by her brief experience o f contem plation. To on-lookers, she
appears to forget to care for her body and to reject all humanly rendered externally
communicated translations o f sacred events such as the words o f preachers or images of
the Passion.59 She can neither listen to anyone speak o f God nor see representations of
the Passion -- to do so triggers episodes that signify the disjuncture between the
im m ediacy and fullness of her revelation and her inability to describe or articulate it via
any readily apprehensible communicative medium:
This fire of the love o f God in my heart became so intense that if I heard
anyone speak about God I would scream . Even if som eone had stood over
me with an axe ready to kill me, this w ould not have stopped my
scream ing...people said I was possessed by the devil because I had no
58*‘Et tunc tanta certitudo remansit mihi et tantum lumen et ardor amoris Dei quod affirmabam
certissime. quod nihil praedicatur de delectatione Dei. et illi qui praedicant non possunt illam praedicare et
ea quae praedicant non intelligunt"; Ibid. 243-246. There are several features o f this revelation worth
noting. First, the way in which it uses tropes such as the dream vision and the seclusion o f the soul in
slumber to signify “supernatural prayer” (oratio supem aturalis) or contemplation, in contrast to the hunger,
restlessness, and agitation typical o f the activity o f the mind in the search for know ledge in meditation.
Audiences trained in lectio divina would have not only recognized these tropes from devotional literature,
but would have identified with “Angela” based upon their own familiarity with the practice o f meditative
reading. In this scene. “Angela" is portrayed to the audience as a model o f moral conduct. In her own
voice, she describes to us how she has made contemplative experience possible by restraining the activity
o f her mind and allowing God to work in her soul.
59Memoriale 1.248-255. Michael Camille discusses the equivalency between words and images
for medieval people in "Seeing and Reading." He explains that the literate and semi-literate alike viewed
words and images with suspicion with respect to their ability to convey the vibrant reality of God. For a
discussion o f this with respect to the art o f memory and meditation see chapter two. Also Camille, “Seeing
and Reading,” 29.

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control over my inordinate behavior...And, whenever I saw the Passion o f
Christ depicted, I could hardly bear it, and I would come down with a
fever and fall sick. M y companion, as a result, hid paintings o f the
Passion or did her best to keep them o u t o f my sight.60
Contemplation provides “Angela” with sentient experiences, tailor-made translations o f
wisdom. Those who witness “A ngela’s” behavior m isinterpret the rationale for her
actions. Her conduct is, in fact, incomprehensible to others until she meets “Brother A.”
Thus, we might say the wisdom guiding A ngela’s conduct is “untranslatable”
until she encounters “Brother A.” in Assisi and she begins to compose the M em orial with
his aid. We learn from the narrative that Angela’s book starts as an inquiry into the
source o f her rapture in the portals o f the Church o f St. Francis (chapter three). That
“A ngela” acquires someone to act as a translator at the close o f her encounter with the
Holy Spirit hardly seems a coincidence, particularly if we remember that the Holy Spirit
is that person o f Trinity who bestows charismatic gifts o f speech and articulation. Nor
does it seem to be any coincidence that the chapter w hich contains this episode acts as a
bridge between her external “path o f penance”(chapter one), and her interior spiritual
journey depicted in the seven supplem entary steps (chapters three through nine). At the
friar's request, “Angela” tells him about her revelations on her pilgrimages to Assisi and
Rome. She reveals to him the m eaning o f her shouts and cries in the Church o f St.
Francis:
“I began to shout and cry out without any shame: ‘Love still unknown,
why do you leave m e? I could not nor did I scream out any other words
than these: Love still unknown, why? why? w hy?’...these screams were
so choked up in my throat that the w ords were unintelligible. Nonetheless
“ "...Veni ad tantum maiorem ignem , quod si audiebam loqui de Deo stridebam; et si aliquis
stetisset cum securi super me ad interficiendum me, non potuissem abstinuisse...personae dicebant mihi
quod eram indaemoniata...Et quando videbam Passionem Christi pictam, vix poteram sustinere, sed
capiebat me febria et infirmabar, unde socia mea abscondebat a m e picturas Passionis et studebat
abscondere”; Memoriale 1.256-267.

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what remained with me was a certitude that God, w ithout any doubt, had
been speaking to m e.”61
Follow ing the Assisi episode, “A ngela” is no longer obscured by incomprehensibility, but
rather is actively engaged in the process of translating her experiences into an oral
narrative that “Brother A.” can First transcribe, and then translate into written text. This
encounter with “Brother A.,” and their ensuing collaboration, m akes it possible for the
audience to see and hear what would otherwise be inaccessible to them .
Interestingly enough, we receive an alternative account o f the Assisi episode from
the scribe himself in chapter 2 where it is em bedded between a lengthy narrative detailing
the organization o f the M emorial and remarks describing the com position process and the
difficulties inherent in the writing o f the book. To modem readers, with the expectation
that this book is solely by and about “Angela,” this interruption o f the narrative seems
clum sy and intrusive. Scholars have used these passages (as well as others) to
reconstruct the redaction history o f the text, but the inclusion o f “B rother A .’s” testimony
at this crucial juncture in the book serves an im portant rhetorical function. It highlights
his role for the reader and introduces him as a central character in the narrative that
follows. As Catherine Mooney has observed, “Brother A.” is quite “chatty” and very
present to the reader62 -- we hear him through editorial comments, see him in dialogue
with A ngela when he asks her questions, and “sense” his presence when the text shifts
from the First to the third person.6^ “Brother A.” sets up a com plicity with the audience
6l"Et tunc post discessum coepi stridere alta voce vel vociferari, et sine aliqua verecundia
stridebam et clamabam dicendo hoc verbum scilicet: Amor non cognitus, et quare scilicet me dimittis?
Sed non poteram vel non dicebam plus nisi quod clamabam sine verecundia praedictum verbum scilicet:
Amor non cognitus. et quare et quare et quare? Tamcn praedictum verbum ita intercludebatur a voce quod
non intelligebatur verbum. Et tunc me reliquit cum certitudine et sine dubio quod ipse firmiter fuerat
Deus”; ibid. III.I09-115.
62Mooney, “Authorial Role o f Brother A.,” 34-63.
63In his study o f the M emoriale, Jacques Dalarun suggests that these candid interruptions on the
part o f the scribe are self-conscious rhetorical strategies on the part o f the text’s com poser. Through them.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m i s s io n of t h e co p y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p ro d u c tio n proh ib ited w ith o u t p e rm is s io n .

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through direct address, not only playing the role of the learned cleric (akin to the role of
“Reason” in Marguerite Porete’s M irror), but also anticipating what the audience wants
to know and eliciting further inform ation from her. He frequently interrupts her
monologues to ask her questions we would want to know, such as what she saw when she
saw the All-Good.64 Often, he serves as a foil to her untutored wisdom,65 as when he
pompously and inappropriately asks her whether Augustine is correct in thinking that all
the saints stand (rather than sit) in heaven while she is in the midst of describing the
Trinity!66 Of course, we could simply read these intrusions as evidence o f “Brother A .’s”
role as a spiritual director with an interest in keeping “ A ngela” orthodox (or, more
maliciously, trying to discern w hether or not she is), but something else seem s to be at
work. “Brother A.” plays a pivotal role not only in the com position o f the book, but as a
character in the “plot.” Most significantly, he acts as a m ediator between the audience
and “Angela.” He translates and renders comprehensible her experience for us. He
provides a point of entry into the text. And finally, in his inability to see, understand, or
express the profundity o f her experiences, he helps us, the audience, leam through
juxtaposition. He is everything she is not, and the relationship between the two
characters together forms a dialectical comparison for the audience to meditate.
From his own words, we leam that the M emorial was not initiated by “Angela”
but by “ Brother A.” him self to investigate her behavior in the Church. He explains to us,
he tacitly points the incredulous and skeptical believer towards the narrator/scribe as the point o f entry into
the text. Dalarun. "Angele de Foligno a-t-elle existe," 75.
^"Et cum ego frater hie quaererem ab ea et dicerem ‘quid vidisti’..."; M em oriale III. 104-105.
55Jacques Dalarun discusses Angela as a figure o f docta ignorantia. See Dalarun, “Angele de
Foligno a-t-elle existe?." 80.
^ “Quadam vice, ego frater scriptor quaesivi ab ea de una questione quam facit beatus Augustinus
sicut ego legeram in uno libro, ubi discipuli quaerunt a beato Augustino quomodo sancti stant vel stabunt in
caelo..."; Memoriale IX. 19-21.

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the audience, that when he encountered “A ngela” in Assisi there was a large crow d of
spectators surrounding her. W hen she stopped screaming and approached him, he
rebuked her sharply insisting that she explain to him immediately why she had made a
spectacle of herself. During the course o f the treatise the Friar’s role shifts from that of
the skeptical, learned friar to that of the anxious scribe and faithful disciple. O n the one
hand, he is visibly concerned about the integrity of his translation. On the other, he is
com pletely incapable o f impartiality, or o f producing an authentic rendering despite the
purest o f intentions.
Throughout the text the scribe tells the reader a d nauseum how much he struggles
to capture in words even a fragment of the fullness of “A ngela’s" experiences.67 This
parallels “A ngela's” inability to sustain verbal descriptions o f her deepest experiences
before she falls back on apophatic discourse as way to evoke the indescribable experience
of God (inenarrabile sentimentum Dei).68 “Brother A.” compares him self to a “sieve” or
“sifter” (cribnim vel setaccia) that can only retain the coarsest grains o f flour.69 The
M emorial is flooded with a veritable barrage o f “Brother A .’s” editorial com m ents,
disclaimers, and out-right apologies. He claim s that he only wrote when sitting next to
her and made her repeat herself so that he would hear her as accurately as possible. With
regret, he tells his readers that sometimes, in his haste, he had no time to correct his work,
or to transpose the text from the third person narrative in which he wrote to the first
person in which “Angela” spoke.70 He frets, debating how this may have altered his
representation, and yet he never “redacts” these glitches out o f the text. Som etim es he
67Ibid. II.6-16. 80-93. 115-173; IV.204-224;
6SIbid. VI. 194.
69Ibid. 11.132-134.
70Ibid. 138-142; IV. 197-199.

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even admits to om itting visions that he felt were uninteresting, irrelevant, or
incomprehensible. In short, he blatantly admits that the text reflects many o f his own
shortcomings and little o f the fidelis christi's actual experience. H is protestations are so
frequent and self-effacing that one can’t help wondering if this isn ’t a rhetorical strategy
to heighten the reader’s faith in the divine nature o f “A ngela’s” experiences, emphasizing
their mysterious and “experiential” quality. His remarks prom pt the audience to
contemplate the narrative, i.e., to puzzle out the spiritual significance behind the “letter”
o f the story.71
“Angela” herself seems to reiterate even m ore vehem ently the disjuncture
between his written narrative and her spiritual, sensual experience. “B rother A.”
describes this in the following text:
One day after I had written as best I could what I had been able to grasp of
her discourse, I read to her what I had written in ord er to have her dictate
more to me, and she told me with am azem ent that she did not recognize it.
On another occasion when I was rereading to her w hat I had written so
that she could see if I had correctly recorded w hat she had said, she
answered that my words were dry and without any savor, and this also
amazed her. And another time she remarked to m e: ‘Y our words recall to
me what I told you, but they are very obscure. T h e words you read to me
do not convey the meaning I intend to convey, and as a result your writing
is obscure.’ And another time she said: ‘You have written what is bland,
inferior, and amounts to nothing: but concerning w hat is precious in what
my soul feels you have written nothing. '
71Again, see Carruthers on tropes designed to trigger recollection and the discernment o f secrets.
Carruthers. "Craft o f Thought." 167.
^ ‘Et hie potest aliqualiter patere quod ego non poteram capere de verbis divinis nisi magis grossa,
quia aliquando. dum ego scribebam recte sicut a suo ore capere poteram. relegenti sibi ilia quae scripseram
ut ipsa alia diceret ad scribendum. dixit mihi admirando quod non recognoscebat ilia. Et alia vice quando
ego relegebam ei ut ipsa videret si ego bene scripseram, et ipsa respondit. quod ego sicce et sine omni
sapore loquebar; et admirabatur de hoc. Et alia vice exposuit ita dicens: Per ista verba recordor illorum
quae dixit tibi. sed est obscurissima scriptura. quia haec verba quae legis mihi non explicant ilia quae
portant. ideo est obscura scriptura. Item alia vice dixit ita: Illud quod deterius est et quod nihil est
scripsisti. sed de pretioso quod sentit anima nihil scripsisti”; M em oriale 11.143-151.

171
From this passage, we can see how clearly our two human protagonists are described as
speaking very different “ languages” - in the literal and Figurative sense o f the term.
Evoking a food metaphor, “Angela” tells the scribe that his words are “dry” and “bland”
and that they lack "savor” -- the sensory qualities o f the divine language that
communicates revelation to her.7j W here the Holy Spirit’s words may be bitter o r sweet,
the scribe’s are merely and empty shell, at best, o r obscure, at worst.
The scribe implies and the text suggests that much of the M emorial was
com posed as a result of his interrogation o f “A ngela”. From the kinds of questions he
asks and the types of clarifications he seeks we can see that they are working w'ith two
different “languages” that do not entirely lend themselves to a one-on-one
correspondence. “Angela” struggles to articulate her direct experience of the divine
mysteries revealed to her, and often falls short o f a comprehensive description - in
“Brother A.’s” terms, or even her own. The scribe always seeks a doctrinal answ er or a
description that can be mapped onto one, while Angela remains suspicious of spoken or
written words - even when they come from G od - as an authentic medium to express
spiritual truth. For example, in one o f her revelations, Christ explains to A ngela in words
how the exact love she feels is the sam e love that God feels for all creation. She
expresses doubt concerning her understanding o f these words and the veracity o f their
divine source, and asks for a fuller, m ore commensurate experience so that she can feel
certainty. When Brother A. asks Angela to repeat herself in order to verify C hrist’s exact
words she angrily retorts: “Even if these were not his exact words my soul understood
nonetheless, what he was saying and even much more. I felt it was so. When I, brother
scribe, interrupted to ask her: ‘How do you know this is truly so ?’ She replied, ‘Because
73See also ibid. IV.257-260.

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I have experienced how the soul feels it to be so .” ’74 It would be easy to blam e the scribe
for all the textual inaccuracies that “Angela” bem oans. However, some fault may rest
w ith “ Angela” herself, who seems reluctant and som etim es incapable of rendering her
experience in a verbal form. As we can see from this passage, there is a laxity in
“A ngela’s” translation of her wordless experiences into a narrative for “B rother A”. On
the one hand, she is concerned with the authenticity o f the book. On the other, she
doesn’t seem conscious of the words she utters with reference to her experiences - they
appear external and disconnected, remote from the actual “text” o f her experience. In the
end we could question her reliability as a narrator, and we might ask if there could be any
authentic translation o f spiritual experience by any party other than God. And that, I
think, is exactly the point.
An exam ination of themes of translation and composition in the M em orial shows
a tension between the "text” of the book and that o f “ A ngela’s” experience. Both our
human protagonists (indeed co-authors) have som ething in common - neither can
“translate” into words the experience o f the divine. The best each can do is to gesture
toward the lack o f fullness in the text as an absence that can only be filled by the
audience's own “experience” of the book’s teachings
This is significant for understanding the function o f the M emorial. In the
Epilogue, G od assures Angela that the M em orial and all contained within it com e from
G od -- despite the human contributions that have becom e a part o f the text through the
translation and composition process. “Brother A .” tells us how they (both he and
“A ngela”) know the book to be both authentic and true.
After I, brother scribe, had written alm ost everything which can be found
in this little book, I asked and requested Christ's faithful one to beseech
74“Et si non dicebat verbis haec omnia, anima tamen comprehendebat quod ita diceret, et multo
maiora. Et sentiebam ita esse. Et cum ego frater scriptor quaererem ‘quomodo’ ipsa respondit: Quia
probaveram qualiter anima ita sentiebat esse"; M em oriale IV .48-54.

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God and pray that if I had written anything false o r superfluous he would,
in his mercy, reveal it and show it to her, so that we w ould both know the
truth from God himself. C hrist’s faithful one responded by saying:
Before you made this request, I myself often asked G od to make known to
me if in w hat I said or w hat you wrote there was any w ord of untruth or
anything superfluous...God answered me that everything I had said and
you had written was com pletely true. She told me that I had tempered
what G od had told her, for there was much that he had told her which I
could have put in writing but did not. G od, she said, even told me:
“Everything which has been written is in conform ity with my will and
comes from me, that is, issues forth from m e.”75
Like an Italo-Byzantine icon. “Angela” and “Brother A .’s” book m ediates between the
soul and God, providing the audience with a stylized narrative that guides the reader by
means o f tropes and rhetorical strategies towards a m editative reading o f the text that
would teach the reader to progress in love, and to “enter into” the passion o f Christ.76
However, we should be careful to note that this “experience” of the text was meant to be
neither static nor co n finin g.77 Rather, readers of the M em orial were m eant to delve
75“Ego frater postquam scripseram quasi omnia quae scripta sunt in isto libello, quaesivi et rogavi
praedictam Christi fidelem ut ipsa requireret a D eo vel rogaret Deum quod, si aliquid falsum vel
superfluum scripseram ego in ipso, ipse Deus pro sua misericordia revelaret et indicaret ei. ut ab ipso Deo
sciremus veritatem de ipsis. Et ipsa praedicta fidelis Christi respondit mihi ita dicens: Antequam tu diceres
mihi istud. ego pluries rogavi Deum ut ipse faceret me scire si in illis quae dici et quae tu scripsisti esset
aliquod verbum mendacii vel superfluum...Et respondit mihi quod totam quod eg o dixi et quod tu scripsisti
totum erat verum. et non erat ibi aliquid falsum ver superfluum.Et dixit quod ego temperate dixeram, quia
multa ipse dixit mihi quae ego potui dicere ad scribendum. et non dixi. Et etiam dixit mihi ipse Deus ita
dicens: Totum illud quod scriptum est. totum scriptum est secundum voluntatem meam at a me venit, idest
a me processit"; ibid. IX .495-508.
76ItaIo-Byzantine style icons were com m on in thirteenth century Italy. The audience for this text
would have been familar with the rhetoric o f icons. See Belting. Image and its Public. Here. Robert
N elson's definition o f the icon can help us understand more fully this point. According to Nelson, ‘the
icon is a mediator, a way for the believer to comprehend God and his teachings, and the medium through
which God and the believer interact." See Robert Nelson. ‘T h e Discourse o f Icons. Then and Now," A n
H istory 12 (1989): 149. C elano's Vita secunda contrasts Francis’ meditative mem ory work with that o f the
masters. For Celano. Francis was able to “penetrate the hidden things o f mysteries”
(penetrabat...mysteriorum abscondita) because o f his prodigious memory and his ability to meditate and
ruminate upon whatever he’d learned or read with the “continued devotion o f his love” (quod continua
devotione ruminabat affectus). This praxis allowed him to “enter within” the object o f his meditations,
namely Christ. See my discussion in chapter two. Also, Celano Vita secunda LX VIII.102, pp. 536-537.
^Bernard Ridderbos discusses how the rhetoric o f icons com bines antithetical elem ents in order to
prompt the viewer’s repeated contemplation o f an im ages’ meaning. Similarly, the M em oriale combines
the antithetical elements o f truth with inaccuracy leaving it to the reader to return again and again to discern
the various spiritual levels o f the book. See Ridderbos. 159.

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behind the narrative/historical level o f the text, to return again and again to contemplate
its mysteries and secrets. Through this process, the reader was to com pose her or his own
“book o f experience.”78
III. The Liber as a Contemplative Manual
Prayer has always held an important place in the Franciscan vocation.79 Through
the regular practice of m editation, or mental prayer (oratio m entalis), the friar remained
“open” and receptive to the w ord of God. The particularly Franciscan alternation
between individual, interior prayer and evangelical activity was ideally designed to help
friars to acquire an ever-deepening sense o f mission and vocation.80 Yet despite the
centrality of prayer within Franciscan theology and spirituality, no formal legislation
concerning mental prayer survives from the First two hundred years o f Franciscan history.
As the Franciscan scholar Tim othy Johnson has observed: “It was taken for granted that
78See chapter two. section I.
790 f all Franciscan thinkers. Bonaventure did the most to provide a system atic theology o f prayer.
It is outside the scope o f this chapter to discuss this subject, however there are many excellent discussions
o f Bonaventure's theology and spirituality. A good place to start would be Ewert Cousins, “Francis of
Assisi and Bonaventure: M ysticism and Theological Interpretation,” in The O th er Side o f God: A Polarity
in W orld Religion, ed. Peter Berger (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press. 1981), 74-103, and idem,
“Introduction," in Bonaventure: The Soul's Journey Into God. The Tree o f Life. The Life o f St. Francis
(N ew York, 1978), 1-48. Also, Jacques Bougerol. “L’aspect original de T ltinerarium mentis in deum et
son influence sur la spiritualite de son temps," Antonianum 52 (1977): 309-25; and idem. Introduction to
the Works o f St. Bonaventure. trans. Jose da Vinck (Patterson, N.J.: St. A nthony’s Guild Press, 1978).
Bernard McGinn discusses Bonaventure’s theology o f prayer with reference to an emerging Franciscan
mystical theology in Flowering. 87-112. For a more detailed overview o f the role o f prayer and
contemplation in the history o f the Franciscan Order see "Contemplation," D S 2:1643-2193, also “Images
et Contemplation." DS 7:1486-1489. The latter article mentions Angela o f Foligno.
“ Timothy Johnson, “Contemplative Prayer and the Covenantal Constitutions," G reyfriars Review
6:3 (1992): 361-62.
R e p r o d u c e d with p e r m is s io n of t h e cop y rig h t o w n e r. F u r th e r r e p r o d u c tio n prohib ited w ith o u t p e r m is s io n .

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the friars were responsible enough to follow the example o f m ental prayer offered by
81
Francis.” Early Franciscan com munities left the responsibility o f mental prayer up to
the individual, recognizing the intimate connection between a penitential life, namely a
life dedicated to penance in the sense o f continuous “conversion” o r spiritual growth, and
the life o f prayer.82 Thus, although m any Franciscan authors com posed prayers and/or
wrote about prayer, there was no one formalized Franciscan theology o f prayer that
unified the order as a whole. Rather, there was a Franciscan style o f prayer interpreted by
different thinkers and inspired by the interpretation of Francis (and Franciscanism)
advanced by individuals, groups and factions within the Franciscan Order. Angela of
Foligno’s Book offers a Franciscan prayer program based rooted in the model o f Francis
as the ideal meditator, who, through continuous meditation, acquired a prodigious
memory, purified the eyes o f the heart (making them “free from all stain”), and learned to
use love to “penetrate...the hidden things of mysteries.”84* The M em orial does not teach
its audience how to pray, but rather to interpret and discern the effects o f mental prayer
on the soul. Rather than being overtly didactic, it uses narrative to provide a simulacra of
how the “ love of one who loves enters within the thing itself,”84 an d how this mode of
knowing, loving, and seeing can place the religious at a better vantage point than even
Sllbid.. 362. One chronicler wrote the following concerning Francis’ legacy: "Beatus Franciscus
in primordio Ordinis tam efficacia exempla posteris sola relinquerat, ut fratres ista cordi imprimerent et a
memoria eorum nunquam evanescerent. Ad exempla enim suae devotionis non solum fratres sacerdotes
antendebant. verum [etiam] laici ad fervorem spiritus anhelebant et orationibus insistendo spiritum
ardentissimi fervoris apud deum impetrabant;” E. Auweiller. O.F.M., “De vitis sanctorum Fratrum
Provinciae Saxoniae.” Archivum franciscum historicum XIX (1926): 186. See also Ignatius Brady,
"Mental Prayer and the Friars Minor.” Franciscan Studies 11 (1 9 5 1): 322.
82Timothy Johnson has argued that the early Franciscans understood penance in its biblical sense
as m etanoia or conversion. This sense is quite different from our understanding o f penance as a practice
that one performs in order to atone for sin. See Johnson, “Contemplative Prayer,” 363.
83See my discussion o f this passage in chapter two.
84“Penetrabat enim ab omni labe purum ingenium mysteriorum abscondita, et ubi magistralis
scientia foris est, affectus introibat amantis.” Celano Vita secunda LXVIII.102, p. 537.

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Francis who stood “at the foot o f the cross.”85 The book moves through Francis to teach
the attainm ent o f radical spiritual poverty in the cultivation o f the im agination and its
annihilation as developed in meditation upon the Passion.
A. “Angela” and Prayer
From an examination of the Instructions, it is possible to tease out a general
program o f prayer narrated in the M emorial. The Instructions is particularly suited to aid
us in this task, since the book synthesizes and set o f teachings that can help decode the
events and visions in the Memorial.
“Angela,” the magistra in the Instructions, is less concerned with prescribing a
praxis than providing guidelines for instructing an audience already well advanced in
meditation. She does, however, give som e instructions in the practice o f prayer. For
exam ple, she recommends the regular recitation o f the canonical hours at the appropriate
time with “the mind in a state of quiet and...with the body attentive and in a recollected
state.”86 She also describes three types o f prayer: corporeal (corporalis), mental
(m entalis), and supernatural (supem aturalis). Through the continual practice of prayer,
the religious progresses from one level to another. Once attained, these m odes of prayer
work together harmoniously, helping the contemplative gain access to deeper and more
85“Et iste dictus gradus est maior quam stare ad pedem crucis, sicut stetit beatus Franciscus”;
M em oriale VII. 172-173.
86“Et vult ista sapientia ordinatissima orationes horarum ad horam illi orationi congruam sibi
reddi— nisi omnino fuerint tanta corporali infirmitate gravati quod omnino non possint, vel nisi ex tanta
orationis mentalis vel supematuralis superveniente laetitia quod carnis lingua omnino absorbeatur ab ilia -
et etiam iuxta possibilitatem cum quiete mentali et, ut expedit, solitudine corporali”; Instructiones III.233-
239.

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profound layers of the divine plan encoded in C hrist’s sufferings.87 Each type o f prayer,
she explains, serves a particular function:
Corporeal prayer takes place with the sound of words and bodily movements such
as genuflections. I never abandon this type of prayer. F or sometimes w hen I
w ant to devote m yself to m ental prayer, I am impeded by my laziness or my
sleepiness. So I turn to corporeal prayer, which leads to mental prayer. It should
be done with attention. F or instance, when you say the O ur Father, you should
weigh carefully what you are saying. Do not run through it, trying to com plete a
certain number o f them, like little ladies doing piecework.8
M ental prayer and supernatural prayer differ from bodily prayer in that they are
internalized modes o f prayer in w hich the religious is completely cut off from external
modes o f signification such as those shaped and represented by spoken words or im ages
seen through the physical eye. “ M ental prayer” is a form of inwardly directed meditation
where the meditator is cut off from external activity while engaged in thoughts about God
and self. “Supernatural prayer” is the elevation o f the soul to a vision o f God, a
89
perceptual experience not attainable through the intellectual faculties of the soul alone.
“A ngela” explains that in this state G od elevates the soul “beyond its natural capacities”
(quasi supra suam naturam) to understand more o f God than “would seem naturally
possible” (comprehendit Deo plus quam p e r suam naturam videat posse com prehendi).90
These three “ schools” of prayer train the soul to visualize the self and God. Through
87Ibid. part 1.
88"Corporalis est quae fit cum son o verborum et exercitio corporali, ut genuflexionibus. Et hanc
nunquam dimitto. Quia enim quandoque volebam me exercere in mentali, et aliquando decipiebar a pigritia
et a som no et perdebam tempus. ideo me exerceo in corporali. Et haec corporalis mittit ad mentalem.
Debet enim fieri cum attentione, ut. cum d icis ‘Pater noster’, consideres quid est quod dicis. non quod
curras contendens complere certum numerum, sicut mulierculae quae aliqua opera faciunt ad pretium”;
ibid. XXVIII. 11-17.
89Ibid. 24-28.
MIbid. 26.

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progressive visualizations, the soul learns to love G od and to “desire to po ssess what
[she] love [s]" (et ex quo amat, desiderat habere quod amat).91
Like Marguerite Porete. “A ngela” describes the contem plative’s quest for
wisdom in terms o f the dynamics o f love. Glim pses o f the “Beloved” as seen through the
eyes o f the heart fuel the soul’s desire to see and know him more fully. These
progressively clearer “glimpses” achieved in prayer foster the soul’s love and allow it to
have brief experiences of the “Beloved” . “A ngela” calls experiences “transform ations”
and divides them into three types: the first occurs when the soul tries to im itate the
“ works o f the suffering God-man because G od’s will has been and is being manifested in
them ” : the second, allows the soul to feel G od’s presence and to express this with words
and thought; and the third, “occurs when the soul, by a most perfect union, is transformed
with God, and God within the soul; then it feels and tastes G od’s presence in such a
sublim e way that it is beyond words and conception.”92 These fleeting “tastes” of
w isdom serve as a goad to the heart’s knowledge, prompting the soul to “seek all the
ways by which it can be transformed into the will o f the Beloved”93 in order to attain full
“possession” (a mode of experiential comprehension) o f the divine plan to the extent that
it can be known in and through Christ.94 Thus, the prayerful study of the “ Beloved” is
91Ibid. 32.
92"Prima transformatio est quando anima conatur imitari opera istius Dei hominis passionati. quia
ipsis manifestatur et est manifestata voluntas Dei. Secunda transformatio est quando anima unitur Deo et
habet magna sentimenta et magnas de Deo dulcedines, sed tamen possunt exprimi verbis et cogitari. Tertia
transformatio et quando anima unione perfectissima est transformata intra Deum et Deus intra animam et
altissima de Deo sentit et qustat. in tantum quod nullo modo possunt exprimi verbis nec cogitari”; ibid.
11.34-41.
,3“In istis ergo tribus scholis cognoscit quis se et Deum; et ex quo cognoscit, amat; et ex quo amat.
desiderat habere quod amat. Et hoc est signum veri amoris, quod, qui amat, non sui partem sed totum se
transformat in amatum. Sed quia haec transformatio non est continua, non durat, capit anima studium
inquirendi om nes modo quibus possit transformari in voluntatem Amati ut iterum redeat in illam visionem,
et quaerit quae amavit ille quern amat. Et Deus Pater fecit nobis viam per Amatum, id est per Filium suum,
qui fecit eum Filium paupertatis, doloris et despectus et oboedientiae verae”; ibid. XXVIII.30-38.
94For example see ibid. III. part 1.

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really the study o f Christ, and apprehension is a mode of imitation and, ultimately,
redemption. She explains: “God the Father provided a way for us through the Beloved,
that is, through G od’s own Son, who he made the Son of poverty, suffering, contempt,
and true obedience”(£r Deus Paterfe c it nobis viam p er Amatum, id est p er Filium suum,
qui fe c it eum Filium paupertatis, doloris et despectus et obedientiae verae).95
“Angela” tells her audience that continual meditation on the “Book o f Life” {liber
vitae), “the life of the God-man Jesus C hrist, whose life consisted o f poverty, pain,
contempt, and true obedience” provides the means for the soul’s sanctification through
contemplative illumination.96 In Instruction XV, she provides a threefold progession in
prayer and describes its effects on the soul:
Continual prayer elevates, illum ines, and transforms the soul. Illumined by the
light perceived in prayer, the soul sees clearly the way o f Christ prepared and
trodden by the feet o f the Crucified; running along this way with an expanded
heart, it not only distances itself from the weighty cares o f the world but rises
above itself to taste divine sweetness. Then it is set ablaze by divine fire. Thus
illumined, elevated and set ablaze, it is transformed into the God-man. All this is
achieved by gazing on the cross in continual prayer.97
Scholars have questioned the authenticity o f this instruction, but for our purposes what is
interesting about it is the correlation it m akes between meditative prayer and lectio
95Ibid. XXVIII.38.
%“Et ora isto modo, scilicet legendo in Iibro vitae, id est in vita Dei et hominis Jesu Christi, quae
fuit paupertas, dolor et despectus et obodientia vera"; Ibid. III. 148-150. Paul Lachance, “Mystical
Experience and Social Transformation,” 72-73.
97“Nam oratio continua animam illuminat. elevat et transformat. Illuminata enim lumine in
oratione percoepto. clare videt viam Christi praeparatam et calcatam pedibus Crucifixi; per quam, dilatato
corde currendo, non solum elongatur a mundi sollicitudine ponderosa, verum etiam supra semetipsam ad
divinam degustandam dulcedinem elevatur et, sic elevata, divino infocatur incendio, ut sic illuminata,
elevata et infocata, in ipsum Deum hominem transformatur. Et hoc totum in crucis aspectu per orationem
continuam invenitur"; Instructiones XXVIII. 11 -17.

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divina. Constant practice in the meditative visualization o f C h rist’s suffering trains the
soul’s sight and purifies the h eart’s love since:
The more perfectly and purely we see, the more perfectly and purely we
love. As we see, so we love. Therefore, the m ore we see o f Jesus Christ,
God and man, the more we are transform ed into him by love. As I said o f
love that the m ore the soul sees, the more it loves, I say the sam e o f
suffering, that is, the more the soul sees of the unspeakable suffering o f
Jesus Christ, G od and man, the more the soul suffers and is transform ed
nn 99
into his suffering...
♦
Thus, imitation of Christ occurs not on the exterior plane of w ords, practices o r w orks,
but on the internal, affective, perceptual plane.
In Instruction II, A ngela provides the key for understanding the Book's function
as a guide to show religious how to “see” and “ love” clearly, to penetrate and appropriate
the deeper levels of meaning encoded in C hrist’s Passion. As “A ngela” explains, there
are many religious who can im itate Christ externally in terms o f performing good actions
and works, interpreting scripture and giving serm ons that exem plify their sanctity to
others. Many of these religious have good intentions, but are fundamentally deluded in
loving God for the “wrong reasons” - for what G od can give them , for the honor and
respect they earn for being holy, and for many other reasons:
There are others who believe they love G od, and they do love him, but their love
is infirm and imperfect. They love God, for instance, so that he will rem it their
sins, preserve them from hell, and grant them the glory o f Paradise...They love
98“Vere enim non est alia via filiis Dei reservata, qua Deum invenire valeant ac inventum etiam
retinere, nisi via et vita istius Dei et hominis passionati, quam consuevi dicere et adhuc assero e s se librum
vitae, cuius ad lectionem nisi per orationem continua. accedere nemo potest”; ibid. X V .7-11. T he editors
o f the critical edition have questioned the authenticity o f this particular instruction since it does not contain
her usual theme o f suffering. According to Thier and Calufetti, the author imitates Angela's style and
attempts to systematize her teachings in this text. See Instructiones XV, n. 1, 566.
" “Quanto perfectius et purius videmus, tanto perfectius et purius amamus. Sicut videm us, ita
amamus. Ergo quanto plus videmus de isto Deo et homine Jesu Christo, tanto plus transformamur in eum
per amorem; et secundem transformationem amoris, ita transformamur in dolorem quern videt anima in isto
D eo et homine Jesu Christo. Et sicut dixi de amore, quod quantum videt anima tantum amat, ita d ico de
dolore, videlicet quantum videt anima de isto ineffabili dolore Dei et hominis Jesu Christi, tantum dolet et
tantum transformatur in ipso”; ibid. III.395-402.

181
G od to receive consolation and sweetnesses from him . They love G od to be loved
by him. They even love their friends and relatives with a spiritual love because
they desire to be spiritual and good and they desire this for their own sake, to gain
honor and profit from it. Those w ho are literate love G od to receive from him the
meaning, knowledge, and understanding of the Scriptures. Those who are
illiterate desire to have the capacity to speak usefully and spiritually for the
benefit of others so that they m ay be more loved and more honored...They even
love poverty, hum ility, obedience, contempt, and other virtues because they wish
to excel in these over others and because they hope that no one can match them in
perfection.100
The problem with these religious lies in their ignorance: they do not see themselves
clearly and therefore cannot see or love G od clearly. Like M arguerite Porete’s princess
who unwittingly worships a portrait o f h er absent Beloved fashioned from an image
produced by her love/imagination. A ngela’s imperfect religious “make idols for
them selves” out of the works they do and the “divine light” they have received. To cast
this in Augustinian terms they love things w ith/rw orrather than uti, that is, they
“w orship” or love something human rather than something that reveals God.
In contrast, those with more perfect sight discern the spiritual significance
underneath actions, words, events and im ages. They recognize all human love as
defective and imperfect through the training of the interior eye, which allow s the soul to
see or visualize the difference between divinity and humanity, divine love and human
love. Through spiritual exercises that teach self-knowledge, these religious leam that
nothing “good” can originate from human action. This “vision” (and she does describe it
as a vision) paradoxically illuminates, transform s, and annihilates the soul by showing the
soul that there is no act of w ill, neither an action that a person can perform, nor a thought
100“Sunt et alii qui credunt amare Deum. et amant Deum sed amore infirmo et imperfecto. Amant
enim aliqui Deum ut parcat eis peccata et liberet eo s de inferno et det eis gloriam paradisi...Amat etaim
Deum ut habeant consolationes et dulcedines divinas. Amant Deum ut amentur a D eo. Amant etaim
am icos et parentes spiritualiter quia desiderant ut sint spirituales et boni. et hoc propter se ut inde habeant
utilitatem et honorem. Amant etiam ut Deus det eis sensum et scientiam et intellectum Scripturae illi qui
sunt litterati. et illi qui non sunt Iitterati desiderant scientiam loquendi uti liter et spiritualiter pro utilitate
aliorum, et hoc ut magis amentur et honorentur...Amant iterum habere paupertatem, humilitatem,
oboedientiam. despectum et alias virtutes ut excellant in his virtutibus alios, et desiderant ut nullus alius
possit approximare eorum perfectioni”; ibid. 11.154-156, 158-164, 166-169.
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182
the mind can think, that can "transform ” human love into divine love and allow the soul
to be united with the object of its affections. This recognition or insight:
D eposits an uncreated love in the soul. In this uncreated love the soul cannot act;
it is without works, but love itself acts. W hen the soul possesses this vision o f the
Uncreated, it can do nothing, because it is com pletely absorbed in this vision; it
can contribute nothing to uncreated love. It is to be noted, however, that when the
soul is given this vision, it has been actively working, in that with its whole being
it desired to be united with the Uncreated, and with its whole being sought how to
be better united with him. Indeed, it is the Uncreated him self who operates in the
soul and inspires it to withdraw from all created things to be better united with
him. It is the uncreated love, then, which is at work and the one producing the
works o f love. At the source o f this work is an illumination which sets ablaze a
new desire and a powerful love to which the soul both contributes and does not
contribute, for it is the uncreated love that does all the work. It is responsible for
all the good and none o f the evil that we do. True annihilation consists in
becom ing aware that we are truly not the authors of any good.101
This vision allows the soul to see and understand the nature o f its human love and actions
in com parison with G od’s. It prompts the soul to a life of penance in the biblical sense -
which is a life devoted to constant conversion in prayer.102
Thus. A ngela’s Book was written to teach an audience of Spirituals to attain
intellectual vision in and through Christ. The central focus o f the book is to teach them
to see and understand the model of Christ in its most perfect and powerful form - as a
model of poverty. C hrist’s image acts as a didactic mirror, providing the religious with a
10l"...Quae visio dimittit in anima unum amorem increatum in cui amori nihil potest operari— est
enim sine operibus— sed amor ipse operatur. Sed quando anima habet visionem Increati nihil potest
operari quia est totaliter absorpta ab ipsa visione, ita et amori increato nihil postest operari— sed
attendendum quod quando haec visio data fuit animae. anima operabatur et cum tota se desiderabat uniri
cum isto Increato et rimabatur cum tota se quomodo melius posset uniri; tunc ipse Increatus operatur
ipsemet in anima et inspirabat sibi quomodo recederet ab omni re creata ut posset sibi melius uniri - sed
amor operatur et operationes amoris ipse amor operatur. Principium huius operationis est illuminare et
etiam novum desiderium infocatum dare et unus aamor fortis novus. ad quern amorem novum anima
operatur et non operatur punctum. quia ipse amor increatus operatur; et ipse operatur omne bonum quod per
nos operatur. et nos operamur omne malum. Et ista est vera annihilatio, videre in veritate quod nos non
sumus operatores alicuius boni"; Instrnctiones 11.250-264.
lo:Ibid. 11.285-290.
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183
model o f prayer and a model o f conduct for the intellectual faculties represented by the
heart generally and the w ill in particular-- as she explains in the following quotation:
Put this m irror before your eyes and strive with all your might to
reproduce something o f this prayer, for it was for you that he prayed and
not for himself. He w as also teaching us how to pray when he said:
“Father, if it is possible, remove this chalice from me. Yet thy will be
done and not mine.” Notice how Christ always preferred the divine will to
his own. Follow his exam ple.103
Although she does explicitly refer to Christ as the “book o f the cross” in this passage, she
does so elsewhere. Instead, in this particular text she discusses the benefits culled from
meditation upon the crucified Christ. Just was Gregory the Great understood scripture to
be a mirror of self-knowledge and knowledge of God, “A ngela” teaches that Christ on the
cross (the memorial image triggered by a visual image rather than scripture) provides a
reflective image in which to view the self. Meditation upon the Passion leads to visions
o f human and divine love, the “uncreated” and its workings in the soul. These “visions”
or, more appropriately, “visualizations” teach the m editator not only about the soul’s
poverty - in its inability to know or possess God through any action on its own - and
about C hrist’s poverty. The Instructions recast the pursuit o f wisdom as a mode of
epistemological redemption. Only in the pursuit o f w isdom can the soul truly be
redeemed since:
It was on the path o f poverty that the first man fell, and on the same path
that the second man, Christ, God and man, raised us up. The worst
poverty is that o f ignorance. Adam fell because of his ignorance, and all
those who have fallen o r are falling do so through ignorance. This is why
it is fitting that the sons o f God should rise and be restored through the
opposite kind of poverty.104
103"Pone hoc speculum ante oculos tuos et stude cum toto te de ista oratione habere, quia ipse pro
te oravit. non pro seipso. Oravit etiam cum dixit: Pater, si fieri potest transeat a me calix iste, verumtamen
non mea voluntas sed tua fiat. Vide quia Christus divinam voluntatem semper praeposuit voluntati suae, et
fac tu secundum exemplar”; ibid. III.260-264.
l04“Per viam paupertatis cecidit homo primus, et per viam paupertatis relevavit nos homo
secundus, iste Deus et homo Christus. Peior paupcrtas quae sit est incognitio. Unde Adam cecidit per

184
Encoded in the example of Francis, ‘“Angela” explains, lies the path toward
epistemological redem ption based upon C hrist’s own actions:
...The soul seeing that poverty caused its fall, and seeing that Jesus, God
and man, raised it up by the opposite poverty; seeing that it incurred
eternal sufferings, and seeing that Jesus, G od and man, wanted to suffer
continually and alm ost infinitely to deliver it from these sufferings; seeing
that it had fallen into a state o f contempt and derision, aw ay from the
supreme and totally ineffable deity; and seeing that Jesus Christ, God and
man, wished to be despised, ill-treated, and to appear to all in such an
extreme state o f derision for the very purpose o f rem oving it from this
state of derision - the soul is transformed into the im m ense suffering of
Jesus, G od and man, which is totally unspeakable. All this was perfectly
realized in the person of our father, blessed Francis, on whom we should
fix our gaze so that we might follow his ex am p le.10
Through progressive visualizations the soul learns to see its ow n “poverty” in comparison
to Christ’s ow n.106 These progressive visualizations of self and Christ in relation allow
the soul to experience C hrist’s suffering and to transform the soul into an image of
Christ’s own poverty, and, in so doing redeem the self.
incognitionem. et omnes qui ceciderunt et cadunt vel casuri. omnes cadunt per istam incognitionem. Et
ideo oportet quod filii Dei releventur et resurgant per paupertatem contrariam”; ibid. 301-306.
l05"Videndo autem adhuc anima quod paupertate cecidit et iste D eus et homo Jesus paupertate earn
contraria relevavit. et videndo quod dolores incurrerat sempitemos et iste D eus et homo Jesus dolere voluit
continue quasi infinito dolore ut earn ab his doloribus liberaret, et etaim videndo anima quod in
despectionem venerat illius summae et omnino ineffabilis deitatis et idem Deus et homo Jeus despici et
iniuriari et ita despectissimus omnibus voluit apparere ut earn ab his despectibus relevaret. transformatur
anima in tanto dolore istius Dei et hom inis Jesu quod omnino et ineffabile totum. Et haec omnia perfecte
fuerunt in beato patre nosto Francisco, ad quem respicere debemus ut sequamur ilium”; ibid. 441-451.
106As we shall see, the fifth supplementary step describes this process, and, indeed, moves beyond
it.

185
B. The Way of Penance10'
The Memorial is a good example of what Ewert C ousins has called “mysticism
of the historical event”: the process whereby someone “recalls a significant event in the
past, enters into its drama and draws from it spiritual energy, eventually moving beyond
the event to union with G od.” 108 In the treatise, the audience w itnesses the replay of
“A ngela's” contemplative experiences, and, by means o f the historical narrative, sees her
moving through the four levels o f “scripture” (or in this case m editative visualizations of
different aspects of the Passion which acts as a form o f scripture), using strategies of
em pathy and identification to progress from the historical to th e allegorical, moral, and
anagogic levels of this event.109 But rather than imitate A ngela, the audience are meant
to use her text as a guide for their own experiences in prayer, as a manual to teach them
about how to move beyond human sight and human love to transform ation and a visio
intellectualis.
Like the Rothschild Canticles, the M emorial is structured as a sim ulacra of a
woman religious’experiences in prayer.110 “A ngela’s” revelations to “Brother A.” are
107The first twenty steps of the Memorial are typically called the “ via paenitentia" or "way of
penance.” Each "passus" or "step” traces “Angela’s" embarcation upon her exterior path o f poverty and
service while at the same time depicting the evolution o f her interior life. In the follow ing section, I will
focus on this developing interiority to show how it elaborates an ep istem ology o f mystical knowledge
firmly grounded in meditation practice. As we shall see. the book teaches its audience how to marshal the
feelings, images and memories gleaned in meditation as an experiential herm eneutic, showing them how to
move through them and beyond them as a form o f cataphatic enrbildung. For my discussion o f exterior
practices in the Memorial see chapter 2.
l0SEwert Cousins. “Francis o f Assisi: Christian M ysticism at the Crossroads,” in Mysticism and
Religious Traditions, ed. Steven T. Katz (New York: Oxford University Press. 1983), 166.
109Cousins discusses this technique briefly in ‘T h e Humanity and Passion o f Christ.” 386-389.
1l0With the key difference that “Angela” is provided as an exem plary model. As Jeffrey
Hamburger has pointed out. the Rothschild Canticles are striking because they don’t use intermediary
figures. See RC. especially chapter 7.

186
recounted and arranged as a vivid series of tableaux briefly describing her as engaged in
performing practices that would have been typical o f a bizzoca and fam iliar to the
audience.111 But. rather than providing an exteralized narrative that recounts “Angela’s”
experiences while engaged in activities, the book instead chronicles the effects these
experiences have upon her soul. In particular, the book focuses upon how meditative
prayer and its gradual transformation into deeper forms o f contem plative prayer impact
upon the way she loves and identifies with Christ - detailing in narrative form what she
learns from such experiences and the ways in which she does so .112 Thus, although
“A ngela” certainly engaged in meditation upon painted crucifixes [Figure 20] or indeed
possessed a portable altar in her cell [Figure 21], there are no externalized descriptions of
these objects, or indeed of her use o f them .1lj Rather, the narrative alludes to their use,
and focuses upon describing the effect such practices have upon her ability to love, see,
and identify with Christ. It, in short, chronicles her progress in love, courtesy o f her
collaboration with “ Brother A.” 114
As I have already mentioned, “Brother A.” freely admits to having organized the
material into seven “steps” (passus) or “revelations” (revelationes) reflective of
“A ngela’s” spiritual progress.115 The first step contains revelations of teachings
" ‘Fleming, 248-249.
112 This point that becomes particularly explicit in the supplementary steps (chapters three through
seven) that chronicle "Angela's" inward spiritual journey.
ll3The lives o f many women m ystics describe the use o f images as an aid to prayer. See, for
example, the Life o f Beatrice o f Nazareth. Chiara Frugoni discusses the impact o f Umbrian painted in
Frugoni. 130-36.
"'‘This bears striking parallels to the distinction between the hagiographer’s portrait o f Beatrice o f
Nazareth’s experience and that described by her hagiographer. See H ollywood, "Inside/Out," 78-97.
nsMemoriale II.11-17. Indeed, in these early steps the verbs em ployed in the Latin text reflect
this process o f progressive interiorization. I would like to thank Paul Lachance for pointing out this as a
subject worthy o f further study.

187
concerning the Eucharist and the Trinity given to her by God. The second “contains the
revelation o f the divine unction and signs, and the vision o f G od as he is in paradise”
(Secundus passus est revelatio divinae unctionis et consignationis et visionis D ei usque in
paradisum). The third contains the revelation o f more advanced divine teachings, “some
understood through the ears o f the body and others intelligible only to the m ind’s taste”
(p e r documenta auribus corporis perceptibilia et per docum enta solo gustu m entis
intelligenda). The fourth recounts Angela’s visions that teach her about hum ility and
then restore her. The fifth, is series of visions o f the Passion that teach A ngela about
“divine union and love” (divinae unitionis et amoris). The sixth, describes her “state of
agony and veritable martyrdom” (sextus passus est martyrizatio m ultiplicis et
intollerabilis passionis et m artyrii) that “occurs simultaneously with the...seventh step”
(et currit cum septimo qui sequitur omnibus mirabilior). The seventh step “contains a
revelation o f which one can only say that it surpasses anything conceivable or
imaginable. Neither the steps on divine intimacy, divine unctions, teachings, certitude,
union and love...can compare with it...” 116
Chapter one (steps 1-20) details “A ngela’s” progress as a penitent prior to
meeting “Brother A.” In this chapter, “Angela” is portrayed as the prototypical tertiary
engaged in prayer practices designed to train the mind to visualize G od and self. In his
Trattato delle perfezione, the fourteenth-century Franciscan writer, Ugo Panziera,
delineates a similar process which he calls the acquisition o f mental virtue (m entale
virtu), a necessary precursor to meditation and contem plation.117 As Panziera explains,
ll6“...Septimus passus est revelatio, quam tantum dicere possumus: non ccogitari posse> vel non
esse quodcumque cogitari potest. Quia nec passus divinae familiaritatis nec passus divinae unctionis nec
eruditionis nec certificationis nec unitionis et amoris....sunt aliquid in comparatione eius"; ibid. 24, 38-39,
5 4 .6 4 -6 5 .6 8 -7 1 .
"7Ugo Panziera. Trattato della Perfezione, in M istici del duecento e del trecento, ed. Arrigo
Levasti (Rome: Rizzoli. 1935). 274. I would like to thank Armando Maggi for alerting me to this important
source. Ugo Panziera (d. 1330) was associated with the Friars in Tuscany. He wrote a number o f treatises
against the beghards and fraticelli.

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