Life and Death in a Venetian Convent: The Chronicle and Necrology of Corpus Domini, 1395-1436 (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe)

Book info: Life and Death in a Venetian Convent: The Chronicle and Necrology of Corpus Domini, 1395-1436 (The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe) (Hardcover, 142 pages) – University of Chicago Press, 2000. Language: English.

These works by Sister Bartolomea Riccoboni offer an intimate portrait of the women who inhabited the Venetian convent of Corpus Domini, where they shared a religious life bounded physically by the convent wall and organized temporally by the rhythms of work and worship. At the same time, they show how this cloistered community vibrated with news of the great ecclesiastical events of the day, such as the Great Western Schism and the Council of Constance.While the chronicle recounts the history of the nuns' collective life, the necrology provides highly individualized biographies of nearly fifty women who died in the convent between 1395 and 1436. We follow the fascinating stories that led these women, from adolescent girls to elderly widows, to join the convent; and we learn of their cultural backgrounds and intellectual accomplishments, their ascetic practices and mystical visions, their charity and devotion to each other and their fortitude in the face of illness and death.The personal and social meaning of religious devotion comes alive in these texts, the first of their kind to be translated into English. Editorial Reviews From Library Journal Adding to 11 translated works in "The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe" series, Bornstein (religious studies, Texas A&M) brings high scholarship to contemporary sources on women in the late Middle Ages. Riccoboni built her Dominican convent, Corpus Domini, in 1394 in Venice, aided by a wealthy patron and an eminent Dominican preacher, Giovanni Dominici. Writing 20 years after these events, she reveals the impact of multiple popes on her cloistered community during the Great Western Schism and the Council of Constance. Preceding Riccoboni's "Chronicle" is a fascinating contextual chapter by Bornstein of the convent's construction and surrounding political, ecclesiastical, and mundane events. Her "Necrology" describes the qualities, contributions, and deaths of 49 people, mostly nuns, creating a record of 15th-century Venice as seen by a devout woman in touch with her times. Recommended for scholarly collections.
-Anna M. Donnelly, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Daniel Bornstein is associate professor of history at Texas A&M University. Roberto Rusconi is professor of Church history at the University of L’Aquila.