Life and Death in a Venetian Convent: The Chronicle and Necrology of Corpus Domini, 1395-1436

The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe: The Chicago Series

by Bartolomea Riccoboni, Daniel Bornstein (Translator)

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Italy, Theology, Read For School, Grad School

115 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Bartolomea Riccoboni (ca 1369-1440) was a Dominican nun in the convent of Corpus Domini in Venice.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Adelais · Rating 4 out of 5]

Черниця у венеційському монастирі написала його хроніку і некрологи сестрам, не забуваючи про повсякденні обов'язки, і вийшло класно. Багато дрібних деталек про сестер, побожність, яка іноді переходить у аскезу та відверте самобичування (довелося єпископу втручатися), подробиці місцевих інтриг. Захопливе читання - хоча не пам'ятаю вже, чи тут вона записала, чи вже після я десь відчитала, як її монахині посварилися з церквою за мощі святої Люсії, стирили їх собі додому і ховали у комірчині під сходами. Здається, так і не віддали, треба собі нагадати цю історію.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

God I love medieval nuns, and yes, I was telling all my friends about that time the sisters of Corpus Domini stole a saint’s body and hid it under the stairs during a property dispute with some other nuns. Likewise, their various visions and attributions of miracles are really fun and fascinating, and Riccoboni’s description of the western schism is incredibly interesting. I mostly work on northern Italian history, but I lovelovelove the German sisterbooks, so this was a great meeting of my two historical loves. Highly recommend if you want a small, bright window on the life of a particular group of women in late medieval Venice.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extraordinary voice comes through in this history and necrology (essentially obituaries) by Sr. Bartolomea, a nun living in the Corpus Domini convent of Venice. Her chronicles of the founding of the convent and the trials of the years of the three popes offer a unique perspective on history, and her brief accounts of the lives and deaths of her sisters and others provide vivid portraits of holy life. The editor's introduction is good. The series introduction is feminist twaddle and should be skipped by those not in need of an ipecac.

[Tim Mcmahon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual text from sister Riccoboni is great. the translator and editors however try to make it fit their preconceived gender narrative that all women in the Middle Ages were victims. the text does not support that though. Read the chronicle and skip the intro chapters, you will get a great insight her on everyday life and wider events such as the Western Schism.

[University of Chicago Magazine]

Daniel Bornstein, AM'77, PhD'85
Editor and translator

From our pages (Oct/00): "Bornstein translates Sister Bartolomea Riccoboni's accounts of worship and work inside the convent, and gives in-depth portraits of nearly 50 women who joined the community of nuns."