The chapter deals sheds light on some of the ways in which the Birgttine prophetic model continued to be a relevant issue in Counter-Reformation Italy.It focuses on the controversial prophet Paola Antonia Negri (1508–1555) who lived in a period of intense trouble for Northern Italian cities and the Catholic Church, and authored more than one hundred spiritual letters. She was the leader of the Angelics, the female branch of the Barnabites, but exerted an absolute authority over the whole order. Following the start of the Council of Trent in 1545, her ideas and behavior started to provoke hostile reactions from Church institutions and local authorities, until she was banned from the Barnabites. In 1576, 21 years after her death, 70 of her spiritual letters were published together with her vita penned by Giovan Battista Fontana De Conti, who explicitly links Negri’s experience with those of Birgitta of Sweden and Catherine of Siena. Amid the Counter-Reformation, Birgitta’s name re-emerged to legitimate the charisma of a much-debated godly woman who might have been confined to the silence of history.
Cappuccilli, E. (2023). The Semantics of Obedience. Birgittine Influences on Paola Antonia Negri’s Letters. Boston : Brill [10.1163/9789004540040_009].
The Semantics of Obedience. Birgittine Influences on Paola Antonia Negri’s Letters
Cappuccilli, Eleonora
2023
Abstract
The chapter deals sheds light on some of the ways in which the Birgttine prophetic model continued to be a relevant issue in Counter-Reformation Italy.It focuses on the controversial prophet Paola Antonia Negri (1508–1555) who lived in a period of intense trouble for Northern Italian cities and the Catholic Church, and authored more than one hundred spiritual letters. She was the leader of the Angelics, the female branch of the Barnabites, but exerted an absolute authority over the whole order. Following the start of the Council of Trent in 1545, her ideas and behavior started to provoke hostile reactions from Church institutions and local authorities, until she was banned from the Barnabites. In 1576, 21 years after her death, 70 of her spiritual letters were published together with her vita penned by Giovan Battista Fontana De Conti, who explicitly links Negri’s experience with those of Birgitta of Sweden and Catherine of Siena. Amid the Counter-Reformation, Birgitta’s name re-emerged to legitimate the charisma of a much-debated godly woman who might have been confined to the silence of history.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
