Spirituality and women's monastic life in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Portugal.

In 1739 the Jesuit father Hippolyto Moreyra preached a sermon in the convent of Santa Martha in Lisbon, at the profession ceremony of sister Joaquina Egidia Benta da Natividade, who belonged to a Portuguese noble family. Moreyra's speech is centrally concerned with the pain and pleasure that the sister was to experience from that moment onwards. His words summarize well those aspects of Christian spirituality and women's monastic life that are discussed in this article. In his sermon and in the other sources analysed here the religious choice is associated, on the one hand, with penance and limitations--'obediencia mais prompta; [...] pobreza mais estreita; [...] clauzura mais apertada; [...] humildade mais profunda [...]' (1)--and, on the other, with the glory and happiness of, through these, becoming like Christ and the saints. Life in a convent also provided the opportunity for other achievements. These, as well as its rigours, are explored below. (2)

The sources studied here are writings by or referring to female religious figures who lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly the book entitled Jardim do Ceo, of Maria Benta do Ceo, which gives an account of the lives of cloistered women in the convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao in Braga, from 1629 to 1764.3 Most of the chapters in this book contain the biographies of nuns, twenty in total (one of them belonging to the Capuchin monastery of Vila de Chaves), with each chapter dedicated to one nun. There is also the biography of a servant who did not take vows, an initial section on the foundation of the order and the convent, and final addenda (advice on praying in the chancel; a discussion on Mary's Immaculate Conception; and a copy of the papal bull that created the order). Among the texts written by women in Portugal during the period dealt with here, including different kinds of devotional literature and chronicles of convents, the Jardim do Ceo has a singular format.

An attempt to establish models that could have inspired the author to compose her work points to different possibilities. The first are chronicles of religious orders that include a catalogue of members deserving mention for their virtues, such as those of the masculine Franciscan province of Santa Maria da Arrabida, of Antonio da Piedade (who wrote the first volume) and Joseph de Jesus Maria (who wrote its sequel). (4) These deal with various monasteries belonging to the province, including missions overseas. In the first book, reports on the lives of noteworthy members are intermingled with those on the foundation of houses, relations with the court, elections and other issues, that receive equal or superior emphasis as compared to the biographies. The form of the second, however, is quite similar to that of the Jardim do Ceo, despite the fact that, unlike the latter, it is structured according to the days of the year in which the friars died. A history of the order of Saint Clare includes reports that are much briefer than those of the Jardim do Ceo about nuns with a reputation of sanctity in two convents in the Italian city of Norcia, indicating that this maybe was a common practice among Franciscans. (5) The exemplary lives of religious and lay figures, a literary genre that was very popular since the Middle Ages, may also have served as a model for Maria Benta do Ceo, but these are generally concerned with one person only, instead of a series of virtuous examples.

The Jardim do Ceo is also similar to the 'books of sisters', describing the lives of virtuous women in a monastery or sister-house in the Low Countries, a form of religious literature linked with the Devotio moderna. (6)

Women, the Book and the Godly (Selected proceedings of the St. Hilda's Conference, 1993, vol. 1), ed. by Lesley Smith and Jane H. M. Taylor (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995), pp. 27-40. See also Dictionnaire de Spiritualite, 16 vols (Paris: Beauchesne, 1937-1994), III (1957), pp. 714-15.

As with the books of sisters, the text examined here was written by someone who belonged to the community whose history it reports, appears to have been aimed primarily at an audience which did not extend beyond its boundaries, and is concerned with the lives of women who were part of it, 'para com o seu exemplo incitar as mais a imitallas'. (7) That the Jardim do Ceo was mainly addressed to the nuns at the Braga's Convento da Conceicao is also indicated by the fact that it includes the already mentioned advice on praying in the chancel, in order that it could be done 'com a devida pontualidade, e perfeicao, e o demonio nao tenha que escrever negligencias nossas, nem faltas de attencao nos Officios Divinos [...]' (p. 171). Other passages, however, suggest that the author had a broader public in mind. She states, at the end of the book: 'parece-nos bem suspender a penna, e sujeitar humildemente nao so a correcao da santa Madre Igreja quanto havemos dito, senao tambem a todo o Varao douto, que desapaixonado o ler [...]' (p. 189). Also, the Inquisition officer who authorised the book's publication mentions the nuns from other monasteries who could benefit from the examples of virtue included in the work. There are other differences between the characteristics of the Jardim do Ceo and those mentioned by Wybren Scheepsma regarding the books of sisters in the Low Countries. The latter are generally anonymous and each has come down to us in one manuscript only, owned by the convent referred to in the book. Moreover, they were written from the mid-fifteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, whereas the former is dated 1766.

Seeking to treat the books of sisters as a literary genre, Scheepsma tries to establish characteristics of their narrative. This can be divided into three parts, which occur in each of the biographies. The first explores the period preceding the entry into the house, focusing on the conversion. The second discusses the sister's life in the convent and her virtues. The third concerns the sister's death, dealt with in detail to give evidence of her ability to persevere in virtue until her life was extinguished. (8) The lives in the Jardim do Ceo have many elements in common with this structure. An initial part examines events that happened before the sister's entry into religion, placing emphasis on the signs of vocation and, in certain cases, giving an account of the family profile. The fact that the parents' names and relevant dates are frequently mentioned, even for nuns who had lived in the monastery more than a century before the book was published, indicates that its author, in all probability, consulted written entrance records. The second and third parts of the biographies are structured in a similar way to those in the books of sisters, being respectively concerned with the sister's virtues and actions in the convent, and circumstances related to her death. But many chapters in the Jardim do Ceo include a final part reporting phenomena that occurred after the sister's death, for instance, the non-deterioration of her body and miracles performed, as will be examined below.

Like a number of other devotional texts written by women in Portugal in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially in the latter, Maria Benta do Ceo's book had a good quality edition and obtained the approval and patronage of members of the Catholic clergy, expressed in the dedications, presentations and publishing licences. (9) The book is dedicated to the Virgin Mary 'em sua purissima Conceicao' and to the Archbishop of Braga, D. Gaspar, King Joao V's son, declaring to the prelate: 'colloquey o incomparavel nome de V. A. para que sahindo a luz publica com adorno tao sublime, possa fazer no conceito commum aquelle efeito, que pertendo [sic], e podia desmerecer a debilidade de espirito, com que foy escrito'. Analysing the role of the paratextual editorial apparatus in the work of another Portuguese religious woman, sister Tomasia Caetana de Santa Maria (1719-?), Isabel Morujao notes the importance of the dedications to leading civil and ecclesiastical figures, as well as the author's social rank, to make its publication and circulation possible. (10)

In many of the books written by religious women at the time, the authors use the 'modesty formula', an expression of Grace Jantzen to designate the way in which visionary women in the Middle Ages 'simultaneously affirm their humility and unworthiness, and claim the authority which had been given them directly by God in the visions which had been granted to them'. (11) The women whose writings are examined in this article declared themselves unworthy of having their works published but nonetheless dared to do so. (12) For this to happen, they even engaged in relationships with influential patrons.

With respect to this, Maria Benta do Ceo's work is not an exception. But it is important to consider also the merits of the book that probably contributed to its publication. Different passages of it indicate that the author consulted, apparently in a careful way, written records in the convent's archives. Examples are the records of each nun, including date and age of entry, the parents' names, events that took place during her residence and the date of death, as noted previously. Documents concerning the foundation of the monastery, properties and donations, and the papal bull that created the order are quoted as well. The argument is generally well structured and objective. In a discussion of Mary's Immaculate Conception, the theme of chapter XXX, Maria Benta do Ceo makes reference to theologians such as Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274), Duns Scotus (c.1265-1308), Gregory The Great (c.540-604), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), among others, as well as excerpts of the Revelations of Saint Bridgit (1303-1373) and papal bulls (pp. 179-89). It is not possible to determine whether she had contact with these thinkers through their original texts or, most likely, by means of compilations and other writings. Some of the ideas in her discussion are consistent with those developed by the Cistercian reformer Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most influential commentators who wrote about the Virgin Mary. This is the case of the idea of Mary as the 'neck' of the mystical body of Christ. People were advised to direct their prayers through the 'neck', as it would be only through it that the requested favours would be granted to the petitioner. On the other hand, the text in the Jardim do Ceo, following the Franciscan theological trend, supports a notion in relation to which Bernard himself and the Dominican Thomas Aquinas were uneasy, namely, that Mary had been conceived without sin in her mother's womb. This was an issue with regard to which the world took sides, creating disagreement between Dominicans, on the one hand, and Franciscans and Jesuits, on the other, and between the learned theologians and the mass of the Christian people, (13) a debate that Maria Benta do Ceo acknowledged. A passage of the Jardim do Ceo, in which the author states that she had commissioned portraits of the founders of the monastery in pious scenes, suggests that she was at the time the abbess (p. 34), a position requiring a more solid education.

Since the Middle Ages, literacy had been one of the ways through which women acquired authority and a certain religious autonomy in the Christian world. From the sixteenth century onwards, the possibilities for them to occupy less subordinate positions in society were in great measure linked to a literate education in a convent or at the court. Even if the intellectual role played by convents was not as important as it had been in medieval times, with the consolidation of the universities as centres of learning par excellence, formal education in monasteries continued to be relevant as far as women were concerned. The training was without doubt more limited than it had been in the past, or if compared to that delivered at the universities in the period, especially with respect to the themes and texts studied, but some Latin and the vernaculars continued to be taught. (14) Inside convents, protected from the economic and social pressures of the world at large, freed from marriage commitments and from the negative representation of their sexuality, women could dedicate themselves to writing religious texts, translating writings from Latin to the vernaculars, and exchanging correspondence with influential people. (15) In two biographies in the Jardim do Ceo, of Custodia Maria do Sacramento and Maria Josefa de Jesus, the entry into the convent appears explicitly as an opportunity for acquiring literacy (pp. 40 and 94). A passage from the advice on praying in the chancel suggests that all professed nuns in the Convento da Conceicao in Braga should know Latin (p. 174). (16) Monastery residents, particularly professed nuns, had the best opportunities to leave written records of their thoughts and experiences. These institutions were used to women writing, and thus tended to preserve texts written by their members, unlike lay families, dignitaries or other kinds of people to whom women wrote letters. (17) Catholic thought, however, was not institutionally open to contributions by women. The Council of Trent (1545-1563), which reestablished the foundations of Roman Catholic tradition, determined for the female religious a stricter cloister and obedience to the apostle Paul's commandment that they should remain silent. They were not allowed to have a thorough education in biblical and patristic texts. Broadly, in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe, although there were examples of women who imposed their authority in the masculine Catholic milieu, the time when the mystics could claim that authority directly emanated from God was long past. Such restrictions, nevertheless, existed in parallel with an increasing need for women to have a more active role in public education and care of the poor, domains that were gradually occupied by them. Both catholic and protestant women, professed or not, played important roles in the post-Trent religious ferment. (18) Some of the best-known new devotions, such as those to Saint Joseph, to the Holy Child and to the Sacred Heart, were promoted by nuns. (19)

Despite an increase in the functions of the church bureaucracy in order to implement the Catholic reformation, which included a more comprehensive control of religious practice in general, and especially that of women, it is well known that this process took specific forms and happened at different paces in particular regions in Europe. Historical contexts and the wishes of the individuals involved were of great importance in local developments. (20) Factors like these can help to explain the flourishing of a female conventual literature in Portugal, in the 1600s and 1700s, as well as the existence of heretical groups who practised, and indeed cultivated, mystical excesses. (21)

Morujao attributes the emergence of a considerable number of printed books written by female religious in Portugal at the time to the intensification of the secular interaction between female convents and the court. According to her, the monastic origin of these writings conferred great credibility on them in princely social circles. Besides its religious contents, this literature included laudatory and circumstance poetry. (22) However, information on Portuguese writers in Barbosa Machado's Biblioteca Lusitana suggests that devotional literature was the domain of knowledge in which women concentrated their scholarly activities. Machado refers to twenty-five areas of knowledge not directly associated with religion. Among them, in the period this article is concerned with, one can find a few examples of non-devotional poetry and literature, rhetoric, history, one treatise on remedies and another on architecture and arithmetic, written by women. The remaining female writings are dedicated to the discussion of religious themes. (23)

Sixty religious women are mentioned in the Jardim do Ceo, two thirds of them only briefly, through a name or a fact related to them. All were considered in an attempt at a quantitative analysis of the group. Thus a sample that does not include only the most outstanding figures in the house was created, although it was not possible to obtain the convent's record books or other kinds of documents. When the Convento da Conceicao started to receive cloistered women, in 1629, their number was twenty-four, plus six converts, but shortly afterwards the vacancies for converts were transformed into vacancies for nuns, resulting in thirty in total, later increased to forty (p. 24). A rough estimate based upon these numbers indicates that approximately 150 nuns inhabited the convent until 1764, the final date of the period which the Jardim do Ceo refers to. The sixty nuns mentioned in the book would thus represent around 40% of the total.

There are indications of the family's social and economic status for fourteen sisters. The available data shows that at least 18% of the total of sixty were of noble origin linked to the court, and 3.3% belonged to families associated with the local administration. The existence, in the convent, of a group belonging to the kingdom's economic elites is expressed in passages such as the one in the biography of Dona Jeronyma Francisca de Christo, reporting losses she had had due to a fire in the monastery, in 1761. The text says that she, 'sendo das mais ricas, que havia no Convento', had never complained about the possessions she had lost (p. 161). Other instances are the reference to Custodia Maria do Sacramento's parents as 'abundantes dos bens do mundo' (p. 39), and a note on the dowries paid by the sisters qualified as 'padroeiras' (p. 27). Only one among those who had their lives registered, a servant who did not take vows, is described as having originated from a poor background. She was, nonetheless, for her virtues, despite being 'muito perseguida do demonio', considered worthy of a chapter in the Jardim do Ceo (pp. 168-71).

Other sources are consistent with the idea of a high frequency of women belonging to the elites in Portuguese monastic houses during that period. Francisco de Santa Maria's Anno Historico, Diario Portuguez deals with memorable episodes that took place in Portugal, and figures associated with them. It mentions twenty-six religious women, most of them nuns, who lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and who were outstanding for their piety, literary merits, longevity or extraordinary phenomena. Approximately 50% of this total are said to belong to influential families. (24) One has to consider, on the other hand, that these tended to have more social visibility, and thus were preferentially quoted in chronicles of the time.

In his study on the Real Mosteiro de Nossa Senhora da Conceicao in Beja, Alfredo Saramago points to the presence there of women originating from the most privileged families in the kingdom. Entry to the monastery depended on name, wealth and influence, and much of its prestige was due to the abbesses' successful policy of exchanging favours with renowned people. (25) Based on a series of documents and studies on Portuguese convents during the modern period, Leila Algranti makes reference to monastic houses that predominantly congregated noble women, or that reserved places for them. (26) With respect to France in the 1600s, Elizabeth Rapley notes the growing attraction of the religious life for women in aristocratic circles. (27)

The significant increase in the conventual population in seventeenth-century Portugal is linked by Saramago to the period of Spanish rule from 1580 to 1640. During this period, many noble families would have either moved to Madrid or settled in Portuguese rural areas, and their unmarried daughters would have entered the nearest monasteries. (28) The Jardim do Ceo gives the place of origin of twenty-two nuns, all from the North of Portugal, most of them from Braga, but also including some from Oporto, Barcelos, Miranda and Chaves. A substantial increase in the entry of women into monastic houses also occurred in seventeenth-century France. Various factors are cited by Rapley to explain the phenomenon, among them the revival of old orders and congregations, the emergence of new social pressures such as those related to marriage, and the desire to retire from the world. The most important reason was, according to the author, the growing enthusiasm for missionary work. (29) In her study on Renaissance Europe as a whole, Margaret King mentions women who sought the cloister motivated by a true religious vocation, and who as a result protected themselves from social and economic threats that threatened their lay sisters. (30)

In all the biographies in the Jardim do Ceo that make reference to the reasons why that particular person had chosen the religious life (sixteen in total) the alleged central motivation is the same, namely, a proclivity for virtue and sanctity. Regarding several of these, such a justification is combined with that of a literary bent. Certain passages suggest the influence of the lives of saints such as Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), Saint Dominic (c.1170-1221) and Saint John the Evangelist. Narratives on the life and work of Saint Teresa, perhaps her own writings, seem to have been particularly inspiring in the context at issue here. (31) Robert Ricard, based on the analysis of Fr. Manoel Guilherme's piety manual entitled Escada Mystica de Jacob para Subir ao Ceo da Perfeicao, published for the first time in 1721, remarks upon the great influence of the Spanish school, especially of Saint Teresa, in Portuguese spirituality at the time. This would have almost entirely overshadowed the North-European ascendancy of the previous period. (32) Another great mystic who is mentioned as an inspiration for the female religious referred to in the Anno Historico and the Agiologio Lusitano is Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). (33)

If a true vocation was the reason why many women became nuns, it is also appropriate to consider that certain stories were associated with family and marriage patterns and circumstances. Jose Vicente Serrao observes that, in the Portugal of the ancien regime, women married earlier in the South (Algarve, Alentejo, Ribatejo and Beira Baixa). The incidence of marriage was higher in the South. In the North, especially in Minho, Beira Alta and Tras-os-Montes, a considerable part of each generation remained unmarried. (34) In this historical context, and according to the medieval precept that was still in force determining aut maritus aut murus, the fate of women who did not form a lay family of their own was to enter a convent, or at least to become a beata, a laysister who lived outside a monastery and was a member of a third order. (35) Also regarding the link between the entry of women into monastic houses and family circumstances developments in Portugal are consistent with what occurred in other parts of Europe. To send their daughters to a convent appears to have represented an alternative for the elites to preserve their patrimony, since this way they could avoid the high dowries required for marriages with individuals of equal status. Aristocratic and bourgeois families sometimes preferred to direct their daughters to monasteries to marry them, with fewer expenses, to someone from a lower social position. (36) Alcoforado notes, with respect to early modern Portugal, that not having a dowry or a husband continued to be the main reason for women to choose a religious life. He argues that this applies to monastic houses other than the Mosteiro da Conceicao in Elvas. (37) The Anno Historico, Diario Portuguez cites the cases of two women of aristocratic origin who decided to enter a convent after becoming widowed. Both had daughters who were nuns in the same order and house, which suggests that this replaced the old lay family nucleus. (38) This also appears to be the case with Maria Josefa de Jesus' family, in the Convento da Conceicao in Braga. After her mother's death, Maria Josefa entered there as a novice at the age of ten, accompanied by her younger sister, joining another sister and two aunts, the three of them professed (p. 94). Following the death of Jeronyma Francisca de Christo's parents, her brothers, 'vendo que ella tinha inclinacao ao estado religioso', sent her to the Convento da Conceicao, where her sister and two aunts had already professed (pp. 158-59). Cases of women belonging to the same family who lived together in the same monastic house were very common indeed. (39)

An examination of the path followed by the nuns and the history of the Convento da Conceicao itself indicates a considerable mobility and a certain indefiniteness, in the period, as to its regulations. One third of the female religious mentioned in the Jardim do Ceo changed at least once from one order or convent to another, during their lives. Some left by designation of the archbishop to found new monastic houses, going back years later. (40) Regarding the rules, since the foundation of the convent the nuns were allowed not to follow certain items of the constitution adopted from the 'Discalced Nuns' of the Mosteiro da Conceicao in Toledo, the first of the order, founded in the late fifteenth century. It is not possible to establish clearly the characteristics of the rule adopted in Braga. The available information indicates that it included perpetual enclosure, silence in the chancel, and the use of a veil covering the face during Holy Communion and the acts of the community. The dispensations relate to the type of fabric that the habit was made of (with linen being permitted there), the use of shoes and the existence of private servants, one for each sister, besides the eight who would perform domestic duties for the convent as whole. The premises, described as a 'magnifico, e sumptuoso edificio', as well as other aspects of the patrimony of the house (twenty-six houses and lands, yearly donations and interests) (pp. 24, 27 and 33), together with the already mentioned fact that certain nuns kept personal belongings, do not seem compatible with the emphasis on simplicity characteristic of the Franciscan regulations of the Capuchin branch. (41) A survey of the Poor Clares' distribution in different parts of the world points out the existence, in Braga, of a monastery observing the Second Rule, the foundation date of which coincides with that of the Convento da Conceicao, which leads one to suppose that it is the same convent. (42) In 1764 the archbishop D. Gaspar gave the convent new rules, mirroring those of the Capuchins of the First Order. The new constitutions forbade the use of more than ten servants in the monastery as a whole, and prohibited the nuns from keeping private servants. The habit was changed to one made of a coarse woollen fabric. (43) The regulations concerning external contacts also became stricter, prescribing that the sisters were only allowed to meet visitors with their faces covered with a veil and accompanied by another nun (pp. 25-29). The prohibition suggests that such practices took place regularly, despite being forbidden in the previous constitutions.

A comparison of the Jardim do Ceo with the chronicles of the Franciscan province of Santa Maria da Arrabida, of Antonio da Piedade and Joseph de Jesus Maria, illustrates well the differences between female and male Franciscan monastic houses with regard to the contacts with the world outside. There is frequent reference, in the biographies of friars belonging to the province of Santa Maria da Arrabida, to episodes that happened outside the monasteries' walls, with the fathers being designated to study in another centre, work in missions abroad, and so on. Many, when ill, were treated in the Hospital Real de Lisboa. Also deserving notice is the mention of the fleshly temptations experienced by some of the friars, partly due to meetings outside the convent, (44) an issue that is thoroughly absent from Maria Benta do Ceo's book.

Aspects of the reform made by the archbishop in the Convento da Conceicao had been adopted individually, half a century earlier, by one of the nuns, Maria Josefa de Jesus, and her followers. Maria Josefa who, as remarked previously, lived there from the age of ten, is said to have been very ill for fourteen years after profession, according to Maria Benta do Ceo, 'de molestias com que o Senhor a quiz purificar'. In 1715 she decided to put her particular reform into practice, by dressing and behaving in accordance with Capuchin rule. Besides changing habit, she permanently covered her face with a veil and remained in silence, which was only broken when she spoke to confessors and to her brothers. She treated herself harshly, by means of 'hum cilicio de ferro, que lhe tomava o corpo, e bracos [...] e frequentemente tomava disciplinas de sangue'. She performed the heaviest duties together with the servants, slept on wooden boards and only ate what was given to her as alms. These changes were authorised by the prelate and the abbess, and five other sisters, whose biographies are also included in the Jardim do Ceo, adopted her reform. The new habit, as well as the excesses of poverty and humility ('beijava os pes as Religiosas, e mossas [...]') provoked negative reactions in the community, with some sisters attributing her behaviour to melancholy or to hypocrisy (pp. 94-111). Her story illustrates, better than any other, the monastery's flexibility with regard to its rules.

Such flexibility was not exclusive to that community. In 1717, Fr. Francisco da Annunciacao (d. 1720) published a book questioning the adoption, by certain Poor Clares in different Portuguese monasteries, of a habit made of a coarser fabric than that of their fellow sisters in the same convent, with the prelate's licence. He addresses, in the text, the archbishop D. Rodrigo de Moura Tellez. Annunciacao discusses the subject in relation to a number of basic principles of monastic life, such as obedience to the same rule by all members of a particular religious order, including being dressed alike. He nonetheless concludes that, if the nuns had not been orientated by a Church authority to act in a different way, their use of simpler and coarser fabrics would not be a sin, but a virtuous action. He proposes that the prelate would also not be sinning by permitting such practices. (45) The book was submitted to censorship from a great number of Church thinkers, whose opinions are reproduced in the final appendix and who endorse Annunciacao's views.

Other episodes which Maria Josefa de Jesus was involved in at the Convento da Conceicao in Braga express common practices of the period, particularly in female monastic houses, but which occurred also in male Capuchin monasteries, (46) as well as in convents of other religious orders. Her biography makes reference to her continued trance states. Among them was 'hum tremor grande na cabeca, em forma que lhe ficava o rosto virado para o hombro; o que mais frequentemente lhe succedia na musica, e no Officio Divino', and outbursts of tears. Her primary inspiration was Saint Teresa of Avila, with whose writings she was familiar and whom she took as a 'especial Directora, Advogada e Mestra'. She also practised Ignatius of Loyola's spiritual exercises, and at times her spiritual inebriation was aroused by the reading of a book by the Franciscan preacher Antonio das Chagas (1631-1682). Following Saint Teresa's advice that 'se deviao declarar aos Confessores os successos para evitar os enganos do demonio', Maria Josefa constantly sent for spiritual counselling. If some advisors disapproved of her practices, others confirmed the virtuous character of her special gifts, even if they thought the ecstasies deserved careful consideration. In 1727 she was nominated by the archbishop as founder, vicaress and mistress of the female Capuchins in the new convent of Nossa Senhora da Conceicao at the district of Penha, in Braga, where she was conducted in procession with some pomp. (47) Two and a half years later, troubled by severe illness, she went back to the old monastery where she died in 1736, at the age of sixty-five, having spent fifty-five years living in cloisters. The Jardim do Ceo also refers to extraordinary phenomena after her death. Her body was said to have remained supple, 'como se estivera viva'. Images of the Lord she possessed were said to have cured ill people before and after her death. A declaration by Father Francisco Jorge Ramalho, who had been her confessor for twenty-six years, confirming that these facts were true is reproduced at the end of Maria Josefa's biography.

A story having much in common with that of Maria Josefa de Jesus is that concerning Roza Maria de Sao Jeronymo. Like the former, Roza entered the convent when she was still a child, at the age of twelve, (48) joining three aunts who had professed there. She took the vows when she was sixteen. Like Josefa, she spent most of her life ill. She was also one of Josefa's followers, adopting the new habit and rules. Among the expressions of her outstanding virtue, guided and attested to by her spiritual director, were mortifications and penance--the harsh discipline of the hair shirt; sharp stones inside her sandals; a crown of thorns on her head, a rope around her neck and tied hands, when she went through the stages of the Passion of Christ. The outbursts of tears she used to display during the Divine Office 'excitava(m) as outras Religiosas a semelhantes effeitos'. As had occurred with the fellow sister who was her religious model, after Roza's death the contact with an object belonging to her, the hair shirt she used for self-mortification, apparently cured sick people (pp. 120-33).

Certain excesses of piety were also practised by Custodia Maria do Sacramento, later on called Maria da Trindade Peccadora. Besides other mortifications, she wore a hair shirt that provoked 'grossos tormentos sobre a carne'. A few days before she died, only six years after having entered the convent, she was found 'na cella debrucos, com a cabeca debaixo de huma cadeira, e os bracos em cruz'. But the most extraordinary facts associated with her, according to Maria Benta do Ceo, occurred after her death. Custodia's body retained the appearance of being alive, and her blood remained liquid. Three days later her body still had not shown signs of deterioration and had a pleasant smell, the well-known sign of sanctity. Soon she began to bring about miracles, through contact with relics made of her blood, pieces of her habit and other personal belongings. These included the cure of different illnesses and even making it rain at the community's request. Signs of her sanctity that were supposed to have appeared when she was still alive (a ray of light that supposedly was seen above her cell) were then remembered by the other nuns. The Jardim do Ceo registers in some detail fifty-one miracles of Custodia, in part certified by members of the clergy. Her deeds and the state of her body after death were also certified by her confessor, a notary, a physician and surgeons, the authorities of different institutions whose word could endorse the facts (pp. 39-78).

The gathering of information on Custodia's miracles, the request for endorsement by the authorities, as well as the fact that the abbess and other sisters divulged her deeds as soon as she died suggest the convent's interest in having its own saint. To achieve this, however, would have depended upon judgements beyond the monastery's scope. Right at the beginning of her book, Maria Benta do Ceo, following a formulation encountered in other Portuguese printed books of the eighteenth century, (49) expresses her recognition of this and of the necessary concern with which one should treat matters of this nature. She declares the 'profunda submissao [...] que devem ter os Escritores aos Decretos dos Summos Pontifices [...] acerca dos milagres, revelacoens, profecias, e pessoas, que florescerao em santidade, e que nao estao approvadas, nem canonizadas pela Igreja Catholica Romana'.

A reading of the Jardim do Ceo indicates the familiarity that men and women of the period had with extraordinary phenomena. One fourth of the total of female religious mentioned in the book would have manifested such phenomena after death, including miracles, the non-deterioration and suppleness of the body, non-coagulation of the blood and the like. One in ten would have manifested them while still alive, especially ecstasies and the gift of tears. Besides the ones already mentioned, there is, for instance, the way in which Luiza Maria da Conceicao 'ficava como elevada, e suspensa, com o semblante tao mudado' when she contemplated Christ's Passion, which she used to do 'a mayor parte do dia' (pp. 114-15). About one of the nuns, Jeronyma de S. Bento, it is said that a mark of the slap that Christ received from a guard in the house of Annas (50) appeared on her face (pp. 87-88). Various of these nuns had spiritual directors, who performed this task together with that of confessor, some of them referred to as highly qualified in theology, who generally supported the extraordinary experiences of their spiritual daughters.

The period considered here saw the diffusion of the measures emanating from the Council of Trent, in which the bishops were to play an important role in the control of ideas and acts contrary to orthodoxy. The supreme institutional resource for repression was the Inquisition. (51) One notices a general preoccupation with the deficient training of confessors. However, the cases referred to in the Jardim do Ceo cannot be simply attributed to a bad education or deviation on the part of certain spiritual directors. The text was submitted to the appraisal of different hierarchical levels, was known by the archbishop and obtained permission from the Holy Office to be published. It is probable that the ecclesiastical powers actually shared the belief that those facts were true and considered them as expressions of sanctity, if of a more ordinary kind, which would not arouse concerns associated with the practice of heresy or, at the other extreme, with a need for official recognition and canonisation.

Evidence that serves to reinforce such an interpretation is found in the Espelho de Perfeytas Religiosas, of Fr. Joseph de Jesus Maria, a graduate in moral theology and a member of the Inquisition. The book, published in 1743, contains an annotated presentation of the Poor Clares' rule promulgated by Pope Urban IV in 1263, called, as noted previously, the Second Rule of the order. It contains in its final section the 'Explicacao de alguns termos mais communs da Theologia Mistica'. Among the terms for which the friar presents a brief definition are 'extazi', 'quando a alma se vay pouco, e pouco alienando, e sahindo dos seus sentidos'; 'rapto', 'quando derrepente se arebata a alma em Deos, alhea dos seus sentidos'; 'arrobamento', 'quando o impeto do espirito he tao grande, que faz levantar o corpo da terra'; 'revelacao', 'hum conhecimento sobre natural, que Deos communica a algumas creaturas de couzas particulares, que sem luz sobre natural senao podem alcancar'; 'vizao corporea', 'quando se ve com os olhos corporaes alguma couza, que sem particular luz, e virtude Divina senao pode ver'; 'vizao imaginaria', 'quando com a imaginacao se vem algumas couzas, que com forcas naturaes senao podem alcancar'; e 'vizao intellectual', 'hum conhecimento secreto, e alto, que o entendimento alcanca de algum mysterio de Deos, que elle descobre a alma com mais luz, que a sobre natural ordinaria, que lhe communica, e de todas as vizoens he a mais segura'. The author's definition of 'uniao divina' is also linked to a transformation of the soul by means of an extraordinary process. (52)

It is important to attempt to understand, even if briefly, the mystical manifestations at issue here. These can be analysed from the point of view of their goals and the path to reach them. In his study on the significance of two presentations, by Teresa of Avila, of the unio mystica (in the Libro de la Vida [1565], and later in the Castillo Interior [1577]), Hans Akerberg proposes the use of a classification by Nathan Soderblom, differentiating what he calls 'mysticism of the infinite' from the 'mysticism of personal life'. The first category characterises the mystical elevation when the experience of union with the supra-human eliminates all perception of elements from the world of the senses, taking place 'beyond what the normal waking consciousness is able to register and what man after the experience is able objectively to express'. It is something that changes the human being's entire life, placing him/her beyond suffering and other ordinary conditions. Differently from this, in the mysticism of personal life the encounter with the supra-human is based upon a religious maturity, resulting in a contact with the divinity within the framework of normal consciousness and of life's circumstances, and in which the dialogue between the mystic and God never ceases. Loosely, what the psychology of religion usually regards as mysticism is Soderblom's mysticism of the infinite. (53) Both authors admit the existence of intermediate states in a continuum between the two categories. Akerberg argues that Saint Teresa's presentation of the unio mystica, situated from the beginning at a point on this continuum close to a pure mysticism of personal life, has changed, becoming even closer to the latter, under the influence of the teachings of John of the Cross. An implication of the distinction above is the concepts of 'spontaneity' and 'practice', the first conveying the ideas of rapture, self-surrender and existence beyond, whereas the latter involves various forms of methodical religious training. (54)

The criterion of maturity of religious feeling emerges from this discussion as a relevant element for the characterisation of ecstatic states. These, in their most finished form, would be states in which consciousness, discipline and practice prevail over spontaneity and self-abandonment. Such maturity seems to be absent or weak in the cases examined here, in which the ecstasies are predominantly related to rapture and self-surrender, thus being a mysticism of the infinite, in Soderblom's classification.

From a different point of view, one could consider such manifestations simply as expressions of the inner conflicts characteristic of religious vocations, celibacy and enclosure in convents. In this sense, if compared to 'true' mystical experiences, they would be 'false', similarly to those of the women put on trial by the Inquisition for faking ecstasies, visions and revelations. Nevertheless, as Julio Caro Baroja argues, a distinction between 'false' and 'true' mystics is more difficult to make than had appeared in the past, not only as regards spiritual movements among the anonymous lower strata, but also with respect to great figures. (55) A series of studies indicates that ecstatic phenomena occur most frequently in complex hierarchical cultures and, among these, in those with most rigid social rules. Such phenomena would thus represent a space for a certain freedom for individuals submitted to strict moral and religious control. It is important, moreover, to take into consideration that extraordinary behaviour represented an alternative source of authority inside and sometimes even outside the monastery. Studies on ecstasy and possession postulate the existence of a link between these states and the acquisition of prestigious roles for people who occupied subordinate positions in certain social and institutional contexts. (56)

Another question that emerges from Maria Benta do Ceo's narrative is that of the coexistence between the mystical path and an ascetic tendency. Jose Sebastiao da Silva Dias observes the great relevance of asceticism in the religious ethos of the Catholic Reformation. This is expressed in austerity, penance and in the central role of the devotion to Christ's Passion in Christian piety at the time. Dias remarks that the orientation of devotion to the field of ascetics is opposed to both fifteenth-century external and formalist piety, and the almost idealistic mysticism that infiltrated sixteenth-century spirituality. This author notes, moreover, that since 1553, when they were first published in Portugal, Ignatius of Loyola's teachings in the Spiritual Exercises played an important part in the reorientation of Portuguese devout circles, including female Franciscan convents, from the mystical path towards asceticism, a process that preceded the influence of Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross. (57) In order to understand the coexistence between the two tendencies in the domain studied, it is important to consider that Franciscan piety generally combined both, which was viewed with suspicion by the supporters of a positive humanist ascetics, contrary to mystical elevation and to an overvaluation of external practices. (58) Such a combination occurred also among other religious orders and groups. In the eighteenth century the Jacobeus, who originated from different congregations, were at the same time ascetics and mystics. (59)

The ascetic trend is expressed, in the biographies from the Jardim do Ceo, in the reference to Saint Ignatius's Exercises and to the frequent practice of mortifications and penance by the sisters. This is one of the main signs of virtue referred to (for 40% of the nuns). Mention of severe discipline, hair shirts and items of clothing made of rough fabrics, sleeping on wooden boards, fasting and abstinence is common. Here one can also observe the extremes such as those of Isabel Maria da Conceicao, who twice cut her chest with a knife, 'para escrever com o sangue do coracao huma protestacao a seu Divino Esposo', with her wound remaining open for her entire life (pp. 162-63); those of Maria Josefa de Jesus, who used to cover her skin with stinging nettles and lie on the floor by the chancel's door, so that the other nuns would step on her (p. 107); and those of the sisters whose repeated mortifications caused them severe illnesses (pp. 31 and 137). The practice of mortification before entering the convent is even considered as evidence of a monastic vocation. This is the case, for instance, with Filippa Maria de Santo Ignacio, who did this when she was a child, to the point of having several wounds 'como a mais observante Religiosa' (pp. 166-68). The ascetic commitment to give spiritual intensity to religious life is also disclosed in the mention of continuous praying, spiritual exercises and the frequency of sacraments, characteristics pointed out in relation to 40% of the sisters in the Convento da Conceicao in Braga. The author of the Jardim do Ceo indicates that she was aware that this was the 'caminho seguro das virtudes, sem visao extraordinaria'. Not even in this passage, however, does she fail to admit the possibility of the occurrence of revelations and visions, but says that the nun she is referring to 'tudo attribuia a sonhos' (p. 151).

Other virtues frequently mentioned are more directly linked to the monastic vows and the remaining obligations prescribed in the First Rule of Saint Clare and in the regulations derived from it. The interrelated concepts of humility/obedience/mildness/patience appear in relation to 35% of the sisters, even if that was a universe in which approximately 30% occupied prestigious posts and others exerted authority based on their extraordinary behaviour. Silence and isolation from the outside world are pointed to as virtues of one third of the sisters. Charity and renunciation of riches are characteristics of 28.3% of them. Other qualities worth mentioning are modesty (20%), the performance of domestic duties (16.7%) and the care of the sick (8.3%). (60)

But the qualities directly associated with the monastic vows were merely the basic requirements for entering and remaining in the convent. At the beginning of the Second Rule of Saint Clare, as presented by Fr. Joseph de Jesus Maria, it is stated that 'Todas as que deixada a vaidade do mundo, quizerem entrar, e perseverar na nossa Religiam, he necessario, e convemlhe guardar esta ley de vida, e disciplina, vivendo em obediencia, sem proprio, e em Castidade, tambem em perpetua clausura'. (61) The path to perfection implied that nuns should go beyond that, with day-to-day meditation on the stages of the Passion of Christ, and the practice of mortifications and penance. For the perfect nun, suffering in the world should represent the eve of an eternity of glory. (62)

Federal University of Bahia

(1) Sermao da Profissao da Madre Soror Joaquina Egidia Benta da Natividade [...] pregado [...] pello R. P. M. Hippolyto Moreira ... (Lisbon: Officina de Antonio Isidoro da Fonseca, 1740), pp. 5 and 11.

(2) This article was written while I was a research fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, whose hospitality I am indebted to. I have received financial support from CAPES, and previously from CNPq, of the Ministry for Education of Brazil. I wish to thank also Luiz Mott, Evergton Sales Souza and Gabriela dos Reis Sampaio, who have supplied me with references and have kindly commented on a Portuguese version of it; and Moreno Laborda Pacheco, for his assistance in the research.

(3) The Conceptionists, founded in Toledo in 1489, had different rules throughout their existence (Cistercian in the beginning, of Saint Clare later, and another not clearly specified after that, starting from the early sixteenth century). Their constitutions were predominantly Franciscan, with different degrees of strictness. Maria Benta do Ceo, Jardim do Ceo, Plantado no Convento de Nossa Senhora da Conceicao da Cidade de Braga ... (Lisbon: Officina de Manoel Coelho Amado, 1766), pp. 6-14; St. Clare and Her Order (London: Mills & Boon, 1912), p. 300.

(4) Antonio da Piedade, Espelho de Penitentes, e Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida da Regular, e Mais Estreita Observancia da Ordem do Serafico Patriarca S. Francisco, no Instituto Capucho, Tomo I (Lisbon: Joseph Antonio da Sylva Impressor da Academia Real, 1728); Joseph de Jesus Maria, Espelho de Penitentes, e Chronica de Santa Maria da Arabida Em Que Se Manifestam as Vidas de Muntos [sic] Santos Varoens de Abalizadas Virtudes, e Outros que Pella Verdade da Fe Sacrificarao as Vidas Destribuidas por Todos os Dias do Anno (Lisbon: Officina de Joseph Antonio da Sylva, Impressor da Academia Real, 1737).

(5) St. Clare and Her Order, pp. 277-79.

(6) The Devotio moderna can be briefly characterized as a religious reforming movement that emerged in certain Flemish circles, from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth century, aiming at restoring the spiritual purity and austerity of the beginnings of Christianity. Its religious practices differed from those of the great Benedictines or mendicant orders, giving great emphasis to meditation and prayer. The movement included groups of brethren, on the one hand, and their female counterparts, on the other, living communally, sometimes without having taken vows, dedicated to the spiritual care in the world. On the Devotio moderna, and the books of sisters in particular, see Wybren Scheepsma, '"For Hereby I Hope to Rouse Some to Piety": Books of Sisters from Convents and Sister-houses Associated with the Devotio Moderna in the Low Countries', in (7) Jardim do Ceo, Dedication to D. Gaspar, Archbishop of Braga, n/p. Further references to this book are given after quotations in the text.

(8) Scheepsma, '"For Hereby I Hope to Rouse Some to Piety"....', p. 36.

(9) The following can be quoted as instances: Maria de Mesquita Pimentel, Memorial da Infancia de Christo, e Triumpho do Divino Amor, Primeira parte (Lisbon: Iorge Rodrigues, 1639); Cecilia do Espirito Santo, Colloquios com Christo Crucificado de Hum Peccador Arrependido (Lisbon: Officina de Miguel Manescal, 1688); Maria Madalena do Sepulcro, Ramalhete de Flores Espirituaes, Colhidas do Jardim Serafico, da Doutrina de Varios Padres Capuchinhos, para Uso das Amadas Novicas, & Professas da Primeira Regra de Nossa Madre Santa Clara ... (Lisbon: Bernardo da Costa, 1700); Leonarda Gil da Gama (pseud.), Astro Brilhante em Novo Mundo, Fragrante Flor do Paraiso Plantada no Jardim da America: Historia Panegyrica e Vida Prodigiosa de Sta. Rosa de Sta. Maria ... (Lisbon: Officina de Pedro Ferreira, 1733); Violante do Ceu, Parnaso Lusitano de Divinos e Humanos Versos (Lisbon: Officina de Miguel Rodrigues, 1733); Maria do Ceu, Obras Varias e Admiraveis (Lisbon: Officina de Manoel Fernandes da Costa, 1735).

(10) Isabel Morujao, 'Entre o Convento e a Corte: Algumas Reflexoes em Torno da Obra Poetica de Soror Tomasia Caetana de Santa Maria', Revista da Faculdade de Letras--Linguas e Literaturas, Anexo V (1993), 123-41 (pp. 126-27).

(11) Grace Jantzen. '"Cry Out and Write": Mysticism and the Struggle for Authority', in Women, the Book and the Godly, pp. 67-76 (p. 68). See also Jantzen, Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 168-84.

(12) An exception is Cecilia do Espirito Santo's Colloquios com Christo Crucificado..., quoted above, in which the author says, in her dedication to Frei Jeronimo de Jesus, '[...] posto que a obra eh piquena na quantidade, he na qualidade grande'.

(13) See Mary T. Malone, Women and Christianity, 3 vols. (Dublin: The Columba Press, 2000-03), II (2001), pp. 254-63; The Encyclopedia of Christianity, ed. by Erwin Fahlbusch et al., 5 vols (Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Leiden / Boston / Kohl: Brill, 2001), II, p. 343.

(14) An analysis of these aspects regarding convents in England is found in Lina Eckenstein, Woman under Monasticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896), pp. 354ff.

(15) Margaret L. King, A Mulher no Renascimento (Lisbon: Editorial Presenca, 1994), pp. 103ff.

(16) Leila Mezan Algranti points out the diversity of reading practices that might take place in convents. Some nuns might be able only to accompany the collective reading in the choir; or, given the repetitive nature of the reading of devotional texts, they might recite them by memory, 'recognizing' the text rather than reading it strictly speaking. 'Conventos e Recolhimentos em Portugal e na America Portuguesa: Espacos de Leitura e de Escrita Feminina', in Livros de Devocao, Atos de Censura: Ensaios de Historia do Livro e da Leitura na America Portuguesa (Sao Paulo, Editora Hucitec; FAPESP, 2004), pp. 23-74 (pp. 55-56).

(17) Merry Wiesner-Hanks, 'Introduction', in Convents Confront the Reformation: Catholic and Protestant Nuns in Germany, ed. by Wiesner-Hanks (Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1998), p. 12.

(18) A general account of this process is found in Malone, Women and Christianity, II (2001) and III (2003). Alcuin Blamires discusses the access of women to biblical studies in the Middle Ages in 'The Limits of Bible Study for Medieval Women', in Women, the Book and the Godly,

pp. 1-12.

(19) Elizabeth Rapley, Devotes: Women & Church in Seventeenth-Century France (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990), p. 194.

(20) See Craig Harline, The Burdens of Sister Margaret: Inside a 17th-Century Convent (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000), esp. pp. x-xi.

(21) This is the case of those accused, by the Holy Office, of committing the crime of molinosismo. Generally they were confessors or spiritual directors, and nuns and lay religious under their orientation who had been involved in a series of sexual and mystical practices, especially inside convents, but also outside them. They were accused of following the doctrine of the Aragonese theologian Miguel de Molinos (1628-1696), and were maybe inspired by his confession and defence of corporeal experiences during his trial by the Inquisition. The proceedings against molinosismo suggest that it was a kind of heretical deviation, with different stages of initiation and involvement, resulting in various altered states of consciousness. Among these there were special favours from God, such as the gift of tears and mystical encounters with Him. Ligia Bellini, 'Extremos de Virtude: Relacoes de Genero, Religiosidade e Sexualidade em Portugal no Antigo Regime', in Fazendo Genero na Historiografia Baiana, org. by Cecilia M. B. Sardenberg, Iole M. Vanin e Lina M. B. Aras (Salvador: Nucleo de Estudos Interdisciplinares sobre a Mulher; Pos-Graduacao em Historia--UFBa, 2001), pp. 13-26.

(22) 'Entre o Convento e a Corte...', passim.

(23) Diogo Barbosa Machado, Biblioteca Lusitana Historica, Critica e Cronologica, 2nd ed., 4 vols. (Lisbon: Academia Real da Historia Portuguesa, 1930-1935).

(24) Francisco de Santa Maria, Anno Historico, Diario Portuguez, Noticia Abreviada De Pessoas Grandes, e Cousas Notaveis de Portugal ... (Lisbon: Officina de Domingos Gonsalves, 1744), vols. II and III.

(25) Alfredo Saramago, Convento de Soror Mariana Alcoforado, Real Mosteiro de Nossa Senhora da Conceicao (Sintra: Colares Editora, 1994).

(26) 'Conventos e Recolhimentos...', pp. 43-47.

(27) Devotes, pp. 13ff.

(28) Convento de Soror Mariana Alcoforado, pp. 87-91.

(29) Devotes, pp. 19-22.

(30) A Mulher no Renascimento, pp. 103-13.

(31) A similar hypothesis was put forward by Leila Mezan Algranti with respect to Madre Jacinta de Sao Jose, considered the founder of the female sector of the Order of Carmel in Brazil. 'Jacinta de Sao Jose: A Biblioteca de Uma Mistica na America Portuguesa', in Livros de Devocao..., pp. 75-92, pp. 82-83. See also Anno Historico, Diario Portuguez..., vol. II, p. 140.

(32) Robert Ricard, Etudes sur L'Histoire Morale et Religieuse du Portugal (Paris: Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian / CCP, 1970), pp. 389-90.

(33) Anno Historico, Diario Portuguez..., vol. II, p. 146; Jorge Cardoso, Agiologio Lvsitano dos Sanctos e Varoens Illvstres em Virtvde do Reino de Portvgal ... (Lisbon: Officina de Antonio Craesbeeck de Mello,1652-1744), vol. III (1666), p. 393.

(34) Jose Vicente Serrao, 'O Quadro Humano', in Historia de Portugal, dir. by Jose Mattoso, 8 vols (Lisbon: Editorial Estampa, 1993-94), IV, O Antigo Regime (1620-1807), pp. 49- 69, pp. 58-60.

(35) In early modern Europe, beatas were women, generally originating from families that did not have economic means to pay a dowry to a convent, who nonetheless dedicated themselves to a religious life. They usually adopted the habit and rule of a monastic order, but continued to live at home or in communities with other pious women. R. Po-Chia Hsia, The world of catholic renewal, 1540-1770 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 145-46.

(36) A Mulher no Renascimento, pp. 91-103.

(37) Convento de Soror Mariana Alcoforado, p. 82.

(38) Vol. II, p. 149; vol. III, pp. 157-58.

(39) Apart from the ones just mentioned, see Jardim do Ceo, pp. 26, 79, 84, 87, 119, 121, 136, 156 and 168. See also Luis Gonsalves Pinheyro, Sermam, que Pregou ... na Profissam das Madres ... Francisca Caetana, e Margarida Ignacia, Irmaas do Author, no Convento das Religiosas de Santa Monica da Cidade de Lisboa Oriental ... (Lisbon: Officina da Musica, 1724); and Algranti, 'Conventos e Recolhimentos ...', p. 43.

(40) To them is dedicated chapter IV of the Jardim do Ceo, pp. 31-32.

(41) The Capuchins were created in Italy in 1525, as a third branch of the Franciscan order that already included Observants and Conventuals, differing from each other as regards the ideal of poverty. Their proposal was to restore the original simplicity determined by St. Francis (1181/82-1226). A female version of the new branch was founded in 1538, also initially in Italy. Jose Sebastiao da Silva Dias refers to the presence of Capuchins or reformed Franciscans in Portugal, attempting to recover the poverty, humility, penances and mystical elevation characteristic of the beginnings of Franciscanism, since the first years of the sixteenth century. Jose Sebastiao da Silva Dias, Correntes do Sentimento Religioso em Portugal (Seculos XVI a XVIII), 2 vols (Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra, 1960), pp. 145ff. Encyclopedia of Monasticism, 2 vols, ed. by William M. Johnston (Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), I, pp. 239-40 and 503; The Encyclopedia of Christianity, II, pp. 343-44.

(42) Marie-Colette Roussey. 'Atlas du Deuxieme Ordre; Etapes de L'Expansion de L'Ordre', in Sainte Claire D'Assise et sa Posterite--Actes du Colloque International Organise a L'occasion du VIIIe Centenaire de la Naissance de Sainte Claire (Paris: Comite du VIIIe Centenaire de Sainte Claire, 1995), pp. 445-98 (p. 459). The designation First Rule of Saint Clare refers to the rule written by her and approved by Pope Innocent IV in 1253, although the order had been governed by previous regulations since 1211. The rule promulgated by Pope Urban IV in 1263 is known as the Second Rule. The First Rule is the one that best expresses the initial Franciscan principles, emphasising the renunciation of personal material goods and the limitation of the convent's goods to those strictly necessary for survival. An analysis of the different branches and reforms of the order, as well as aspects of its constitutions, is found in Mario Sensi, 'Clarisses: Entre Spirituels et Observants', in Sainte Claire D'Assise et sa Posterite, pp. 101-18. See also Rene-Charles Dhont, Clare among Her Sisters (Youngstown, Ohio: Catholic Publishing Company, 1987), pp. 157-60.

(43) The First Rule of St. Clare, as well as the others that followed it, like the one promulgated by Pope Urban IV in 1263 and the one resulting from St. Colette's reform in the fifteenth century, determine that the nuns should dress with simple, poor quality fabrics. Francis and Clare: The complete works, translation and introduction by Regis J. Armstrong and Ignatius C. Brady (London: SPCK, 1982), pp. 210-25, p. 213; St. Clare and Her Order, pp. 52-114, pp. 57; 83-85; Joseph de Jesus Maria, Espelho de Perfeytas Religiosas, Exposicao da segunda Regra de S. Clara ... (Oporto: Officina de Manoel Pedroso Coimbra, 1743), pp. 5-7.

(44) Regarding the last aspect, see Joseph de Jesus Maria, Espelho de Penitentes, e Chronica de Santa Maria da Arabida..., pp. 107-08 and 181.

(45) Francisco da Annunciacao, Consulta Mystico-Moral Sobre o Habito de Certas Religiosas da Ordem de S. Clara Urbanas ... (Coimbra: No Real Collegio das Artes da Companhia de Jesus, 1717), esp. pp. 4 and 6.

(46) Correntes do sentimento religioso..., pp. 152-54.

(47) This date of foundation of a second female Franciscan monastery in Braga is referred to in the survey of the distribution of the Poor Clares' convents, mentioned earlier. 'Atlas du Deuxieme Ordre...', p. 459.

(48) The cases of Maria Josefa de Jesus, Roza Maria de Sao Jeronymo and another nun, Josefa Maria de Belem, who also entered the convent when she was twelve (p. 136), are extremes as regards age of entry into religious life, in the community at issue here. Among the thirteen sisters for whom this information is known, the average age of entry is twenty-two.

(49) See Piedade, Espelho de penitentes, e Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida...; and Jesus Maria, Espelho de Penitentes, e Chronica de Santa Maria da Arabida ...

(50) Cf. John, 18: 22-24.

(51) Antonio Camoes Gouveia, 'O Enquadramento Pos-Tridentino e as Vivencias do Religioso', in Historia de Portugal, IV, pp. 290-99.

(52) Espelho de Perfeytas Religiosas, pp. 250-52. ligia bellini 30

(53) See, for instance, Catholicisme Hier, Aujourd'Oui, Demain, dir. by G. Jacquert, 7 vols (Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ane, 1948-1969), V (1962), p. 1219.

(54) Hans Akerberg, 'The Unio Mystica of Teresa of Avila--Two Classical Presentations in the Light of Psychology', in Religious Ecstasy: Based on Papers read at the Symposium on Religious Ecstasy held at Abo, Finland, on the 26th--28th of August 1981, ed. by Nils G. Holm (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1982), pp. 275-306.

(55) Julio Caro Baroja, Las formas complejas de la vida religiosa: Religion, sociedad y carater en la Espana de los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid: Akal Editor, 1978), p. 19.

(56) Vincent Crapanzano and Vivian Garrison (eds.), Case Studies in Spirit Possession (New York and London: John Wiley & Sons, 1977), pp.xi-xii; I. M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession, 2nd edn (London and New York: Routledge, 1989).

(57) Correntes do sentimento religioso em Portugal, pp. 449-51; 651-52.

(58) Ibid, pp. 152-54 and 298. Piedade, Espelho de penitentes, e Chronica da Provincia de Santa Maria da Arrabida...; and Jesus Maria, Espelho de Penitentes, e Chronica de Santa Maria da Arabida..., passim.

(59) Evergton Sales Souza, Jansenisme et reforme de l'Eglise dans l'Empire portugais. 1640 a 1790 (Paris: Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, 2004), pp. 187-234.

(60) Certain passages from the Jardim do Ceo suggest that this latter practice must have been very necessary in the monastic routine. Referring to the convent of the Discalced Capuchins in Vila de Chaves, Maria Benta do Ceo remarks that in a particular year there were twenty-four ill sisters (p. 163).

(61) Espelho de Perfeytas Religiosas, p. 1.

(62) Ibid, pp. 231-34.