Anne Jacobson Schutte. Aspiring Saints: Pretense of Holiness, Inquisition, and Gender in the Republic of Venice, 1618-1750.

Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. xvi + 338 pp. + 5 b/w pls. index, illus, map. bibl. $48. ISBN: 0-8018-6548-4.

This book is the result of the author's thorough, years-long research on the phenomenon of the pretense of holiness (affettata santita) in the early modern age and on its development, throughout the seventeenth century, into a crime falling under the competence of the Roman Inquisition. The survey is based on twelve legal cases of the Venetian area (1618-1750), whose protagonists "came to the attention of the ecclesiastical authorities because they were reporting visions, revelations, and special privileges from heaven" (x). The author concentrates on the ways in which the judges' theoretical assumptions and procedural strategies led to the conceptual construction of the pretense of holiness. After having outlined the activities of the Venetian Inquisition during the seventeenth century (chap. 2), Schutte focuses on the two spheres in which the reflection on the pretense of holiness defined itself in the late sixteenth and during the seventeenth century: the theological-doctrinal and the juridical (chaps. 3-4). Traditionally, the pretense of holiness pertained to the science of the discretio spirituum, engaged with the difficult task of determining the divine, diabolical, or simply human origin of visions and revelations. At the end of the sixteenth century, it made its way into the courtrooms of the Roman Inquisition. From the 1630s, aspiring saints were in general treated with caution and moderation, and were usually prescribed the "medicine of the soul"--spiritual guidance by wise and prudent confessors--rather than condemned to severe sanctions, as the overall rather mild punishments inflicted in the Venetian cases seem to confirm.

In the subsequent sections of the book, the genesis of the discourse on the pretense of holiness is analyzed in respect to two "control groups," representing opposite extremes of sanctity in the early modern period: the "true" saints, recognized by the official hierarchies, and those accused of witchcraft and sorcery, treated by the Inquisition in much the same way as alleged, suspect saints (chaps. 5-6). While the pretense of holiness was repressed, a new definition of "true" sanctity, based on the recognition of heroic virtues, established itself and came to replace the mystic-charismatic model on which aspiring saints fashioned their own experience of visions, revelations, ecstasy, and direct relationship with the divine. Comparing these cases to Venetian examples of recognized holiness, Schutte points out how the success of "accomplished" saints depended not just on their adherence to the heroic model, but also, apparently, on their high social origins, their monastic status, and their having founded lasting religious institutions.

One of the tasks of the judges concerned with cases of suspect "holiness," as well as with those of witchcraft or sorcery, was to establish the roots of the "error." In their quest for the original causes, inquisitors often relied on exorcists, "healers of the soul," whose role was nevertheless limited in comparison to that of the judges themselves (chap. 7). Of particular interest are the pages (chap. 8) devoted by Schutte to medical culture and specifically to the study of the typical behavioral pat terns of aspiring saints: abstention from food, ecstasy, and visions. The theoretical and practical work of physicians developed in parallel to that of the inquisitors, but it was largely ignored by the latter, who chose to remain within the rigid limits set by theology and canon law. Schutte's analysis of the confrontation/"dialogue" between inquisitors and the accused focuses primarily on their behavior and practices, and emphasizes the self-fashioning modalities of the latter: the body, seen as a privileged space to construct and negotiate "sanctity"; physical objects described in their symbolic and ritual function (chap. 9). Time and space of the action and trials--both in the public and private spheres (chap. 10)--are amply discussed. Finally, the Venetian cases are reconsidered in the light of gender categories and relationships between the sexes. The traditional hierarchies in male-female relationships, as well as the family bonds, tended to be subverted or substituted, while female networks and maternage seemed to prevail.

To what extent did the "aspiring" saints consciously promote their public image as holy people? And how greatly did the social and cultural background of their judges inevitably lead to a negative opinion of "pretense"? The author stresses that the only legitimate answers to these questions a historian may provide concern the dominant culture and values of early modern Catholic societies. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many Italians were willing to accept an ideal of religious perfection based on a special relationship with God. This model inspired some to actively pursue--more or less genuinely--a "career" of holiness. On the other hand, the punishment of simulators religionis causa was equally a priority, based on deep-rooted assumptions concerning the differences among social classes and between male and female natures, and on a long theological tradition of discretio spirituum and on by now established procedures to validate "true holiness." The voices of the many witnesses who appeared in the Venetian trials attest that in Italian society "the defence of orthodox piety and the marginalization of those who sought holiness in alternative ways had become everyone's business" (228).

The greatest merit of this masterfully-structured and elegantly-written book consists in its efforts to explore the discourse concerning the pretense of holiness and the judges' mental and cultural categories. On the other hand, the reconstruction of the stories and ideas of the men and women under investigation seems to adhere sometimes too closely to the judicial sources, to the latter's stereotypical phrases and strong ideological connotations. Schutte, for instance, seems to undervaluate the role of mystical culture in the experience of the aspiring Venetian saints. Their spirituality is certainly not to be confused with the "high" mysticism of theological treatises, but ought to be seen as a model of perfection diffused by saints' lives, which constituted their favorite source of inspiration, a way to holiness proposed at that time by many spiritual directors and in many devotional texts, which enjoyed an extraordinary success.

In this respect, it may be possible to better put in context the problem of "quierism," which according to Schutte is largely unrelated to the long history of the pretense of holiness, because it was a "bookish" and late-seventeenth-century heresy. This assumption seems to be too close to the doctrinal labels, which the inquisitors themselves coined in the late 1680s. In our opinion the theological condemnation of "quietism"--the mystical heresy par excellence--has to be connected to the longterm repression of practices and behaviors of persons--the aspiring saints-who had tried to bring back to life an already obsolete mystical model of "holiness."

ADELISA MALENA

Scuola Normale Superiore

Pisa