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Lives of Spirit: English Carmelite Self-Writing of The Early Modern Period (Early Modern Englishwoman: a Facsimile Library of Essential Works) PDF

310 Pages·2007·0.85 MB·English
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LIVES OF SPIRIT In proud and loving memory of my parents: Herbert William John Hallett (1907–2004) Dorothy Lucy Cecilia Hallett (née Maiden) (1922–1998) Lives of Spirit English Carmelite Self-Writing of the Early Modern Period NICKY HALLETT University of Kent, UK © Nicky Hallett 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Nicky Hallett has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405 Hampshire GU11 3HR USA England Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Lives of spirit : an edition of English Carmelite auto/biographies of the early modern period. – (The early modern Englishwoman, 1500-1750. Contemporary editions) 1. Carmelites – Biography – Early works to 1800 2. Nuns – Belgium – Antwerp – Biography – Early works to 1800 3. English – Belgium – Antwerp – Biography – Early works to 1800 I. Hallett, Nicky 271.9’71’0092242 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lives of spirit : an edition of English Carmelite auto/biographies of the early modern period / Nicky Hallett. p. cm. — (The early modern Englishwoman, 1500-1750. Contemporary editions) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7546-0675-8 (alk. paper) 1. Discalced Carmelite nuns—Biography. 2. Carmelites—Biography. 3. Monastic and religious life of women. 4. Monasticism and religious orders for women—Biography. 5. Church history—17th century. 6. Church history—18th century. I. Hallett, Nicky. BX4308.Z7L58 2007 271’.971023210492—dc22 2006036044 ISBN-13: 9-780-7546-0675-8 Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall. Contents General Editors’ Preface viii Acknowledgements ix General Introduction 1 Editorial Note 30 Sources and Abbreviations 33 1 The Inspiration to Compose: Burial in Oblivion and the Miraculous Discovery of an Incorrupt Body 35 2 Anne of the Ascension, First Prioress at Antwerp 39 3 Teresa of Jesus Maria, Sister of Anne of the Ascension: Her Career and Remarkable Death 57 4 Margaret of St Francis: The Holy Simplicity of a Lay Sister at Antwerp and Lierre 61 5 Anne of St Bartholomew: Her Sight of the Infant Jesus Handing out Sugar-plums, and the Remarkable Discovery of Her Uncorrupted Body 63 6 Catherine of the Blessed Sacrament: The Vocation of a ‘Poor Imperfect Religious’ who Relished Patched Clothing 67 7 Anne of St Teresa: Her Career at Various Convents, Her Terror about an Apparition and Her Instructions for the Enclosure of a Convent 73 8 Agnes of St Albert: Her Overwhelming Sense of Vocation that Led Her to Break into the Convent 79 9 Clare of the Annunciation and Delphina of St Joseph: Two Religious Linked by Marvellous Events 83 10 Anne of St Maria and Tecla of St Paul: Childhood Friends in Religion, One a Favourite of the King 85 11 Anne of the Angels: Her Grand Entrance and Clothing 87 12 Paula of St Joseph and Alexia of St Winefrid, Two of Anne Somerset’s Entourage: A Sudden Death whilst Whitewashing and the Life of a Little Mouse 89 13 Anne of St Bartholomew and Mary Teresa of Jesus: Their Entries at an Advanced Age 93 vi Lives of Spirit 14 Francisca of the Blessed Sacrament: Her Near Abduction as a Child and Her Later Seduction by Witchcraft 95 15 Mary Frances of St Teresa: The Instigator of the Antwerp Lives, a Treasure of the Community, Drawn to Her Vocation by Reading 97 16 Teresa Joseph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Her Father, Like a Jealous Lover, Resists her Teresian Vocation 101 17 Clare Joseph of Jesus Maria: Her Dreams and Spiritual Favours; and Her Appearance to Another Religious in a Vision 105 18 Mary Margaret of the Angels: Her Conversion from Protestantism by Reading Books of Controversy; and Her Death from Gangrene 107 19 Winifred of St Teresa: Her Miraculous Recovery as a Child; Her Life and Death as a Lay Sister 109 20 Anne Maria Joseph of St Xaveria: The Widowed Sister of Catherine Burton 13 21 Mary Joseph of St Teresa: The Life and Death of the First Compiler, who Knew Her Vocation at a Country Dance and who Left Loving Instructions for her Sisters 115 22 Teresa de Jesus and Ann Joseph of the Ascension: Two Lives of Mutual Care 19 23 Mary Magdalen of St Joseph: Her Dramatic Journey from Maryland, Her Teresian Vocation, and Her Cure from Rheumatism 123 24 Mary Xaveria of the Angels: Her Mental Affl iction in which She Fancied Herself to be a Priest and Excommunicated the Bells 127 25 Mary of St Barbara: The Life of an Oblate from the Coffee-house 129 26 Angela Maria of St Joseph: Her Early Life in which She Almost Dies of Malnutrition; and Her Seduction to Become a Carmelite after which She Once Drank her Own Urine in an Act of Misplaced Obedience 131 27 Mary Margaret of the Angels: Her Journey from Maryland in which She Almost Falls in Love with a Young Gentleman; Her Burial as the Convent is Threatened by Imperial Edict 133 28 Mary Xaveria of the Angels: Her Illness, Miraculous Cure and Her Spiritual Favours Before and After Death 135 29 Mary Margaret of the Angels: The Discovery of her Incorrupt Body and the Writing of her Life 163 Contents vi 30 Margaret of St Teresa, the First Prioress at Lierre: Her Early Sense of Vocation and Progress towards a Religious Life; Her Skill in Resolving Confl icts; Her Devotion to Anne of the Ascension and her Death in which She is No Longer Wrinkled or Crooked 171 31 The Lives of the Mostyn Family 179 32 The Lives of the Bedingfi eld Family 197 33 Mary Gertrude of the Annunciation: An Impediment in Her Head, Her Early Vocation and Subsequent Affl ictions 211 34 Mary Magdalen of Jesus and Agnes Maria of St Joseph: Their Double Deaths and Burial 215 35 Mary Terease of Jesus: Her Vision of Her Mother, All in White, on Her Way to Heaven 221 36 Anne Teresa of Jesus: A Colonel’s Daughter, Scrupulous in Saving Time when She Met with her Brother; Mortifi ed in Sleepiness, and a Lover of Poverty after whose Death from Leprosy Singing was Heard 225 37 Marie Teresa of St Albert: A Lay Sister of Extraordinary Strength, a Lover of Solitude who Sat in the Trees 229 38 Teresa Maria of Jesus, Mary of St Joseph and Elizabeth Ursula of the Visitation: Three Religious of Extraordinary Humility – Who Ate Scraps, were Sparing in their Use of Candle and Pen, and who did Servants’ Work 231 39 Anne Therese of the Presentation, Anna Maria of St Joseph and Joseph Teresa of the Purifi cation: Three Lay Sisters who Learned the English Manner of Cooking 233 40 Mary Rose of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: her dramatic journey from Maryland and Her Death, after which She Continued to Sweat 237 Appendices 1 The Constitutions and Rule of St Albert 241 2 How the Prioress is to Exercise the Religious in Mortifi cations 261 3A A Letter to Anne of the Ascension, Warning her of Indiscretion and Promising New Novices 263 3B Anne of the Ascension’s Letter to Catherine of the Blessed Sacrament 265 3C Anne of the Ascension: ‘A Scappuler of our Most Deare and Rd Mother … for Sister Catharine of the Bd Sacrament’ 267 Bibliography 269 Index 281 The Early Modern Englishwoman 1500–1750: Contemporary Editions General Editors’ Preface Foregrounding women and gender has created a genuine revolution in the way we construct the early-modern period, and the aim of ‘Contemporary Editions’ (like its sister series, ‘The Early-Modern Englishwoman, 1500–1750: A Facsimile Library of Essential Works’) is to encourage and perpetuate this revolution by making available the texts that in so many ways have generated it. ‘Contemporary Editions’ shares with the facsimile series a desire to recover neglected or unknown texts as well as to make more readily available texts that the feminist rereading of the period has now brought to light. Apart from the inherent differences in editorial methodology between the two series, the format of the new series permits a fuller response to the wide range of writings of and about women. ‘Contemporary Editions’ is designed to provide distinguished editions, in both modernized and old-spelling format, of writings not only by but also for and about early-modern women. Volumes include long, interpretive essays and range widely in format from anthologies to single texts. We hope that this series will capture the energy of the many scholars who are engaged in the reinterpretation of the early modern period, and that ‘Contemporary Editions’ will in time become, like its sister project, ‘a library of essential works’ for the study of early modern women and gender. Acknowledgements I wish to express affectionate gratitude to the Carmelite communities at Lanherne (now joined with St Helens) and Darlington for permission to produce editions of these manuscripts and for allowing me generous access to their archives. In particular I would like to thank their Prioresses – Reverend Mother Margaret Mary, of Lanherne; Reverend Mother Teresa, of St Helen’s; the late Sister Margaret, of Darlington, and her successor, Sister Frances Thérèse. The warmth of their welcome and support has made this a journey of pleasure. Mother Margaret Mary’s enthusiasm for this project was based on the words of her seventeenth-century predecessor, Mary Frances Birkbeck, the Prioress at Antwerp who wrote of her incentive ‘to collect … the many remarkable things which [otherwise] by … neglect will ever be buryed in oblivion’. It has been an inspiration to uncover these ‘remarkable things’, and to work now with her successors. In addition, I wish to thank the University of Kent for allowing me Study Leave to pursue this work, and the AHRB for funding Research Leave to advance it more quickly. Special tribute should go to Peter Brown, Andrew Butcher, Lyn Innes, Jan Montefi ore, and other staff and students of the School of English and the Centre for Medieval and Tudor Studies for their continuing inspiration. I should also like to thank Johan Bergström-Allen of the Carmelite Projects offi ce in York, and Father Antony Lester, Prior Provincial of the British Province of Carmelites for inviting me to take part in the Cum Nulla symposium and celebration in York in May 2003 and for their discussion of my work. Caroline Bowden and Elizabeth Clarke, through their invitations to speak at conferences on women religious at St Mary’s College, London, and the Perdita symposium at St Hilda’s, Oxford, both in 2002, gave me the opportunity to air ideas at an early stage; and Liz Stanley’s invitation to a colloquium at the University of Manchester in 2003 enabled me to present work on testimony and witness. Along with Derek Pearsall and Felicity Riddy, they have all generously discussed or read work in progress at various stages. Thanks, too, to Sister Winefride and to Margaret Harcourt-Williams, the meticulous archivists at the Darlington convent; to Sister Constance Fitzgerald of the Carmelite Convent in Baltimore; to library staff at the British Library, London, and at the Universities of Kent and Sheffi eld; to Pat FitzGerald for her expertise in preparing camera-ready copy; and, most especially, to the General Editors of this series, Betty S. Travitsky, Patrick Cullen and Anne Lake Prescott whose wise interventions and timely advice improved and informed the fi nal text. Erika Gaffney at Ashgate has guided this project throughout, with insight, tact and refreshing directness: the best of commissioning editors. Not least, huge personal thanks, as ever, must go to Rosie Valerio.

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