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Daughters of Rome: All One in Christ Jesus!

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Brenda M. Bolton*
Affiliation:
Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

Extract

Jacques De Vitry (c. 160-1240) was a most perceptive and sympathetic observer of all that the religious life meant to women at the beginning of the thirteenth century. He thus took care to address some of his preaching to particular groups of these women. In his Sermones vulgares, probably set down at some time after 1228, he put forward messages appropriate to each of these groups. He was uniquely qualified to do so.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1990

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References

1 For a complete bibliography and an excellent summary of the career and writings of this popular preacher see J. F. Hinnebusch, The Historia occidentalis of Jacques de Vitry = Spicilegium Friburgense, 17 (Fribourg, 1972), pp. x-xiii, 3-15. Also B. Z. Kedar, Crusade and Mission: European Approaches towards the Muslims (Princeton, 1984), pp. 116-31.

2 Paris, BN, MS latin 17509, fos 140v-7r. A partial edition is given by J. B. Pitra, Analecta novissima spicilegii Solesmensis. Altera continuatio, 2 (Tusculana-Paris, 1888), and for those sermons specifically directed to women, see J. Greven, ‘Der Ursprung des Beginenwesens’, HJ, 35 (1914). pp. 26-58, 291-318.

3 Hinnebusch, Historia Occidentalis, p. 4, n. 6.

4 R. B. C. Huygens, Lettres de Jacques de Vitry (1160/70-1240), évêque de Saint-Jean d’Acre (Leiden, 1960), pp. 72-3. He received episcopal consecration from Honorius lll in july 1216 at Perugia. Huygens, ‘Les passages des lettres de Jacques de Vitry rélatifs à Saint François d’Assise et à ses premiers disciples’, in Homages à Leon Herrmann = Collection Latomus, 44 (Brussels, 1960), pp. 446-53. C. Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, 1 (Regensburg, 1913), p. 6.

5 Hinnebusch, Historia occidentalis, p. 7. Bishop Hugh Pierrepont (3 March 1200-12 April 1229) must have been extremely old; Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica, p. 301.

6 Ibid., p. 6 mentioned between 29 June 1229-23 June 1239; Potthast, 1, 8441.

7 Confusion has been caused by two bishops of the same name, Nicholas de Romanis, 5 May 1205-14 September 1219, and his successor, Nicholas de Claromonte, O.Cist., 15 December 1220-9 May 1226; Eubel, Hierarchia Calholica, p. 5. W. Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg von 1191 bis 1216: die Kardinale unter Coelestin III und Innocenz III (Vienna, 1984), pp. 147-50; P. Pressutti, Regesta Honorii Papae III, 1 (Rome, 1888), p. 358.

8 Angelussalutis et pacis, PL 216, cols 881-4; C. R. Cheney and W. H. Semple, eds., Selected Letters of Pope Innocent III concerning England (London and Edinburgh, 1953), pp. 149-54.

9 A. Mercati, ‘La prima relazione del Cardinale Niccolo de Romanis sulla sua legazione in Inghilterra”, in H. W. C. Davis, ed., Essays on History presented to R. L. Poole (Oxford, 1927), pp. 274-89; Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici, ed. V.J. Koudelka, MOFPH, 25 (1966), pp. 90-8.

10 H. Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen im Mitlelalter, 2nd edn (Darmstadt, 1970), pp. 208-19; E. W. McDonnell, The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture with Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene (Rutgers, 1984) and for an important critique of this and other relevant works, J. Ziegler, ‘The curtis beguinages in the Southern Low Countries and art patronage: interpretations and historiography’, Bulletin de l’Institut Historique Belge de Rome, 57 (1987), pp. 31-70, esp. n. 5 and pp. 48-54. For Jacques de Vitry’s role, B. M. Bolton, ‘Mulieres Sanctae’, SCH, 10 (1973), pp. 77-96; ibid,‘Vitae Matrum: a further aspect of the Frauenfrage’, in D.Baker, ed., Medieval Women, SCH.S, 1(1978), pp. 253-73, and ‘Some thirteenth-century women in the Low Countries’, Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis, 61 (1981), pp. 7-29.

11 Galatians 3.28.

12 Thomas de Cantimpré, Vita B. Mariae Oigniacensis, Supplementum, Acta SS, June 4, pp. 675-6.

13 Huygens, Lettres de Jacques de Vitry, p. 72.

14 Song of Songs 3.5 for a text applicable to all groups of women.

15 Song of Songs 2.1.

16 Greven, ‘Der Ursprung’, pp. 43-9.

17 Book of Wisdom 4.1.

18 Greven, ‘Der Ursprung’, p. 48.

19 Ibid., pp. 46-7.

20 Jacques de Vitry, Vita B. Maria Oigniacensis, pp. 636-66.

21 Ibid., p. 637.4, ‘nova nomina contra eos fingebant, sicut Judaei Christum Samaritanum et Christianos Galilaeos appellabant’.

22 Greven, ‘Der Ursprung’, pp. 44-5.

23 R. Guarnieri, ‘Pinzochere’, Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, ed. G. Pelliccia and G. Rocca, 6 (Rome, 1980), cols 1721-50.

24 Huygens, Lettres de Jacques de Vitry, p. 74.

25 Vita B. Maria Oigniacensis, p. 637.4; Greven, ‘Der Ursprung’, pp. 47-8. ‘Invenientur in fide stabiles et in opere efficaces’.

26 Constantino da Orvieto, Legenda S. Dominici, ed. H. C. Scheeben, MOFPH, 16 (1935), p. 350.

27 Acta Capitulorum Generalium: ordinis praedicatorum, 1, 1220-1303, ed., A. Fruhwirth and B. M. Reichert (Rome, 1898), pp. 13-18; Guarnieri, ‘Pinzochere’, col. 1723.

28 Ibid., col. 1723.

29 Ziegler, ‘The curtis béguinages’, pp. 52-9;J. Pennington, ‘Semi-religious women in fifteenth-century Rome’, Mededelingen van het Nederlands Institutut te Rome, 48, ns 12 (1987), pp. 115-45.

30 B. Hamilton, ‘The House of Theophylact and the promotion of the religious life among women in tenth-century Rome’, in Monastic Reform, Catharism and the Crusades 900-1300 (London, 1979), pp. 35-68. For important comparative literature on a later period, R. Guarnieri, ‘Beghinismo d’Oltralpe e bizochismo Italiana tra il secolo xv e il secolo xv’, in R. Pazelli and M. Senci, eds, La beata Angelina da Montegiove e il movimento del terz’ordine regolare Francescano femminile, Atti del Convegno di Studi Francescani, Foligno 1983 (Rome, 1984), pp. 1-15; A.Blok, ‘Notes on the concept of virginity in Mediterranean societies’, in E. Schulte van Kessel, ed., Women and Men in Spiritual Culture XIV-XVII Centuries: A Meeting of North and South (The Hague, 1986), pp. 27-33.

31 Hamilton, Monastic Reform, p. 43; P. Caraffa, Monasticon Itatiae, 1: Roma e Lazio (Cesena, 1981), p. 90.

32 L. Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis, ed. C. Vogel, 2nd edn (Paris, 1955-7), 2, p. 24; Monasticon Italiae, 1, p. 46; G. Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries (Vatican City, 1957), pp. 379-407.

33 Liber Pontificalis, 2, p. 25; Monasticon Italiae, 1, p. 64; E. Carusi, Cartario di S. Maria in Campo Marzio (986-1199), Miscellanea della Societá Romana di Storia Patria (Rome, 1948); Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries, pp. 207-9.

34 Liber Pontificalis, 2, p. 25; Monasticon Italiae, 1, pp. 68-9; V.J. Koudelka, ‘Le“ Monasterium Tempuli” et la fondation dominicaine de S. Sisto’, AFP, 31 (1961), pp. 5-81. See also Hamilton, Monastic Reform, pp. 195-217; Ferrari, Early Roman Monasteries, pp. 225-7.

35 Ibid., pp. 379-407; Hamilton, Monastic Reform, esp. pp. 46-9, 195-217.

36 A. Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici” der Schwester Cäecilia’, Miscellanea Pio Paschini = Lateranum, ns, 2 vols, 1 (Rome, 1948), pp. 293-326; S. Tugwell, ed., Early Dominicans: Selected Writings (London, 1982), pp. 391-3.

37 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, pp. 323-4; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 48-51,55-6. Cf. S. Tugwell,’St Dominic’s letter to the nuns in Madrid’, AFP, 56 (1986), pp. 5-13 and’Dominican profession in the thirteenth century’, AFP, 53 (1983), pp. 5-52 esp. p. 43 for the formula used at Prouille.

38 S. Andrea in Biberatica, S. Agnese, S. Ciriaco, S. Maria in Campo Marzo, S. Maria in Tempuli, S. Bibiana, and S. Maria in Maxima: Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 46-8.

39 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, pp. 323-4; V.J. Koudelka, ‘Notes pour servir à l’histoire de S. Dominique’, AFP, 35 (1965), pp. 5-20.

40 Cf. Pennington, ‘Semi-religious women’, p. 117 for the later period: ‘The women wandered along the streets and across the squares, stopping at shops’.

41 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, pp. 323-4; ‘quod tam nobile monasterium destruere vellent et se in manu ignoti illius ribaldi ultro vellent committere’.

42 Ibid., p. 324; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”, pp. 56-8.

43 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, p. 324.

44 Ibid., pp. 293-305; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”, pp. 38-40.

45 PL 215, col: 475; M. Maccarrone, Studi su Innocenzo III (Padua, 1972), pp. 272-8; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli” ‘, pp. 46-8.

46 Maccarrone, Studi, p. 275.

47 B. M.Bolton, ‘Via ascetica: a papal quandary‘, SCH, 22(1985), pp. 161-91.

48 K. Hampe, ‘Eine Schilderung des Sommeraufenthaltes der Römischen Kurie unter Innocenz’ III in Subiaco 1202’, Historische Vierteljahrsschrift, 8(1905), pp. 509-35; Bolton, ‘Via ascetica’, pp. 177-9.

49 U. Berlière, ‘Innocent III et la réorganisation des monastères benedictins’, RB, 20-2(1920), pp. 22-42, 145-59; Maccarrone, Studi, pp. 226-46.

50 Maccarrone, studi, pp. 274-5.

51 Gesta Innocentii PP III, PL 214, cols cxcix-cc.

52 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Bead Dominici”’, p. 322.

53 Ibid., p. 323.

54 J. M. Powell, ‘Pastor Bonus: some evidence of Honorius Ill’s use of the sermons of Innocent III’, Speculum, 52 (1977), pp. 522-37.

55 Maccarrone, ‘ll progetto di un “universale cenohium” per le monache di Roma’, Studi, pp. 272-8; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 38-46; Chroniques du monastère de San Sisto, ed. J.J. Berthier (Levanto, 1919-20), 1: San Sisto 1220-1575

56 Chronica Romanorum pontificium et Imperatorum ac de Rebus in Apulia Gestis (781-1228) auctore ignoto monacho Cistcrciensi, ed. A. Gaudenzi, Società Napoletana di Sancta Patria, 1: Cronache (Naples, 1888), p. 34. Cf. Martin Polonus, Liber Pontificala, 2, pp. 34-5.

57 Koudelka, “Le “Monasterium Tempuli”, pp. 40-3, and esp. pp. 69-72 for Benedetto da Montefiascone.

58 PL 215, cols 921-2;Potthast, 1,1192;Maccarrone, Studi, pp. 284-90.

59 M.-H. Vicaire, ‘Vie Commune et apostolat missionaire: Innocent III et la mission de Livonie’, Mélanges M.-D. Chenu (Paris, 1967), pp. 451-66; Maccarrone, Studi, pp. 262-72, and esp. pp. 334-7 for the text of the letter of 19 April 1201; M. Maccarrone, ‘I papi e gli inizi della cristianizzione della Livonia’, Gli inizi del cristianesimo in Livonia-Lettonia (Vatican City, 1989), pp. 31-80.

60 Maccarrone, Studi, p. 274, n. 3;Bolton, ‘Via ascetica’, p. 163.

61 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”, p. 69; H. Geetman, ‘Richerche sopra la prima fase di S. Sisto Vecchio in Roma’, Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archaeologia, Rendiconti, 41 (1968-9), pp. 219-28.

62 Gesta, PL 214, col. ccxxvii.

63 Mercati, ‘La prima relazione’, pp. 287-8.

64 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 43-6, particularly that period from December 1219 to Lent 1221.

65 Cesta, PL 214, col. ccxxvii;Monasticon Italiae, i, p. 39; Koudelka,’Notes pour servir’, pp. 16-20.

66 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 5-38, esp. pp. 32-4. On 3 September 1202, the community comprised Margarita, Eugenia, Cecilia (not Sister Cecilia), Agatha, Scholasrica, and Agnes. On 26 November 1219, the names given are Eugenia, Constantia, Dominila, Maximilla, and Cecilia (presumably our Sister Cecilia).

67 Liber Pontificalis, 2, p. 24; Hamilton, Monastic Reform, pp. 197-201.

68 Liber Pontificalis, 2, pp. 100, 104, 106-7; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 12-13.

69 F. Martinelli, Imago B. Mariae Virginis quae apud venerandus SS Sixti et Dominici moniales asservata, vindicata (Rome, 1642), pp. 3-8; L. Boyle, ‘Dominican Lectionaries and Leo of Ostia’s Translatio Sancii Clementis’, AFP, 28 (1958), pp. 381-94; C. Bertelli, ‘L’immagine del Monasterium Tempuli. dopo il restauro’, AFP, 31 (1961), pp. 82-111; Hamilton, Monastic Reform, pp. 197-9; C. Bertelli, ‘Icone di Roma’, Stil und Uberlieferung in der Kunst des Abendalandes (Berlin, 1967), 1, pp. 100-6.

70 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 55–7; Walz, ‘Die “Miracula beati Dominici”’, pp. 323-5; E. Kitzinger, ‘A virgin’s face: antiquarianism in twelfth-century art’, Art Bulletin, 62 (1980), pp. 6-19 for other Roman processions with images of the Virgin.

71 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 13-19.

72 The Book of Si Gilbert, ed. R. Foreville and G. Keir, OMT (1987), pp. 245-53.

73 Ibid., p. 251.

74 Ibid., p. 171.

75 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 48-50.

76 R. Lejeune, ‘L’Évêque de Toulouse, Folquet de Marseille et la principauté de Liège’, Mélanges Felix Rousseau (Brussels, 1958), pp. 433-48; B. Bolton, ‘Fulk of Toulouse: the escape that failed’, SCH 12 (1975). PP. 83-93.

77 Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici. pp. 59, 90-3; Bernardus Guidonis: De Fundatiotte et prioribus conventuum provincatorum Tolosanae et provinciae ordinis praedicatorum, ed. P. A. Armagier, MOFPH, 24 (1961), pp. 7-9: V. J. Koudelka, ‘Notes sur le cartulaire de S. Dominique’, AFP, 28(1958), pp. 92-114.

78 Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici, pp. 92,94-5; CPL, 1, p. 57; C.R. Cheney, Innocent III and England, Pup, 9(1976), p. 238.

79 Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici, pp. 112-13; Pressutti, 2283;CPL, p. 69.

80 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, p. 52.

81 Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici, pp. 117-18; Potthast, 6184; Pressutti, 2303; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 52-3.

82 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, pp. 319-25; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, PP. 54-9.

83 Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg, pp. 126-33; Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, pp. 253-71.

84 Roman nuns were enclosed by a bull of 26 October 1232: Ziegler, ‘The curtis beguinages’, pp. 55-6 and n. 47; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’ pp. 66-7.

85 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici“’, p. 308; Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica, 1, p. 38.

86 Maleczek, Papst und Kardinalskolleg, pp. 179-83; Koudclka, ‘Notes pour servir’, pp. 5-16; PL 215, col. 184, and Cheney, Selected Letters, p. 62, for his special commendation to King john in 1203.

87 1213-27. Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica, p. 39.

88 Walz,‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, pp. 307-9; Koudelka,‘Notes pour servir’, pp. 11-12, and ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 56-7.

89 Le ‘Liber Censuum’de l’Église Romaine, ed. P. Fabre and L. Duchesne, 1, (Paris, 1910), p. 294; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, p. 57.

90 ‘Pater, da michi manducare’: Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici“’, p. 309.

91 Monumenta Diplomatica S. Dominici, pp. 153-4; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 65-6. For the sale of the farm of one of the convent’s vineyards to Cencio on 22 December 1215, ibid., p. 21.

92 Ibid., p. 54.

93 Ibid., pp. 57-9

94 Ibid., pp. 53-9.

95 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Bead Dominici”’, p. 324: ‘Promittens se cum omnibus intratura si ymago beate virginis cum eis in ecclesia Sancii Syxri permaneret’.

96 Ibid., pp. 323-5.

97 Ibid., p. 325; Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 59-60.

98 Walz, ‘Die “Miracula Beati Dominici”’, p. 325: ‘Humeris suis ad ecclesiam Sancti Syxti deportavit’.

99 Koudelka, ‘Le “Monasterium Tempuli”’, pp. 60-1,70-1, who believes that there were perhaps eight sisters from Prouille.

100 Early Dominicans, pp. 397-8: the Chronicle of Si Agnes, Bologna, records that Master Jordan wanted four sisters to be fetched from San Sisto. One of these was Sister Cecilia ‘who is alive to this day and who was present when St Dominic raised Cardinal Stephen’s relative from the dead at San Sisto’. Cf. Grundmann, Religiöse Bewegungen, p. 216, ‘ut eas docerent ordinam et modum religionis’.