Done de San Domenego. Moniales et pénitentes dominicaines dans la Venise observante de la première moitié du XVe siècle

Venice was one of the most active Observant centres, which formed part of an extensive reform movement that led the religious orders to question both their mode of life and their role within the church. From the end of the 14th century the Dominicans installed a group of reformed communities (brothers, nuns, penitents) in Venice, which enabled them to extend their influence, and notably to spread the cult of Catherine of Siena. The nuns of Corpus Christi and the community of penitents in particular saw to the diffusion of Observant ideas through the participation of the women. A study of the wills allows an examination of the networks of friendship and loyalty that developed around these communities : whereas the penitents, who resided in the real world, seem to have been in contact with all social groups, inside the exclusively female networks, the cloistered nuns received a more restricted audience comprising members of the patrician families, both men and women.