An Analysis of the Controversy Caused by Mary Ward's Institute in the 1620s

International audienceAfter experiencing what she described as a divine revelation to 'Take the Same of the Society', the Yorkshire-born Mary Ward left the Poor Clares convent she had entered on the Continent to found her own Institute of English Ladies, modeled upon the Society of Jesus. She and her followers worked in Europe and England to provide support for existing Catholic populations but also, and especially in England, to bring new converts to the faith. If their work as teachers and educators was usually respected both by those they helped and by the Church authorities they aimed to serve, their insitutional choice was a subject of hot debate. In the 1620s, Mary Ward's Institute faced strong opposition from the secular clergy and the Society of Jesus began to distance itself from these controversial women. This article explores the controversy which finally led the Pope to order the dissolution of Mary Ward's Institute in 1631

Les Religieuses en mouvement. Ursulines françaises et Dames anglaises à l'aube du XVIIe siècle

International audienceLes premières décennies de la Contre-Réforme témoignent de l'engouement féminin pour une vocation qui, inspirée par l'imitation du Christ, se définit à la fois comme religieuse et active. Or, si des congrégations féminines se forment sur le modèle des clercs réguliers, les décrets de Trente (1545-1563) déclarent clairement que la vraie religieuse ne peut être que cloîtrée. Les Ursulines françaises doivent choisir entre mouvement et statut religieux, tandis que les Dames anglaises de Mary Ward connaissent les mêmes difficultés quand elles se proposent de participer à la mission de reconversion de leur pays. Les objections de leurs détracteurs, empreintes d'une misogynie profonde, expriment des peurs complexes. Ces femmes en mouvement qui se réclament de la religion enfreignent pourtant les décrets tridentins et usurpent ainsi les rôles masculins. La religieuse à vocation missionnaire au XVIIe siècle représente une sérieuse menace pour l'ordre établi

Mary Ward et sa Compagnie de Jésus au féminin dans l'Angleterre de la Contre-Réforme

International audiencePeculiarly echoing the ongoing "querelle des femmes", the clerical polemic which developed around the catholic Institute founded in 1611 by Mary Ward (1585-1645) pondered whether these unusual missionary nuns could in fact be considered as Soldiers of God. Whereas their friends hailed them as saints and mystics of angelic virtue, their many enemies questioned the probity of these women, whom they viewed, by their very nature, as corrupted. Their novel vocation seemed evil rather than divinely inspired, and their deviance was believed to be illustrated in their Society of Jesus for women, which usurped clerical authority. In 1631, these argu­ments convinced Urban VIII, who eradicated the Institute, declaring it harmful to the Church.Insolite reflet de la querelle des femmes qui occupe les érudits, la polé­mique cléricale autour de l’Institut catholique fondé en 1611 par Mary Ward (1585-1645) tente de déterminer si ces étranges religieuses, qui se veulent missionnaires, sont les émissaires de Dieu ou les agents du mal. Tandis que leurs amis louent leur vertu, leurs nombreux ennemis contestent la probité de ces femmes qu’ils pensent corrompues. Leur vocation ne leur semble pas divine, mais maléfique, et l’innovation d’une Compagnie de Jésus au féminin, usurpant l’autorité cléricale, est la preuve de leur déviance. Convaincu, Urbain VIII éradique l’Institut en 1631 et le déclare nuisible à l’Église

' "Virgo becomes Virago": Women in the Accounts of Seventeenth-Century English Catholic Missionaries'

International audienceImportant studies have revealed the multi-faceted nature of female involvement in seventeenth-century English Catholicism. Women were active in traditional activities such as charitable works extended to the poor, the sick, and to prisoners, motherly duties concerning the religious education of children, or housewifely responsibilities for the observing of Catholic practice in the household. Those were universal roles for Catholic lay women everywhere; yet the particular circumstances of the English mission demanded more radical engagement. Because anti-Catholic penalties focused mostly on men, missionaries were shrewd enough to exploit the potential offered by women in England. Through them they could secure dwellings, finance their mission, utilise valuable social networks and be less conspicuous to the pursuivants. Thus female alliances offered unparalleled benefits

La séduction au service de la perfidie: représentation des missionnaires de la contre-réforme en Angleterre

International audienceThe construction of early modern English identity relied partly upon the systematic ostracizing of « papist » subjects, who came to embody the very opposite of Englishness. In a plethora of alarmist publications, polemicists insisted upon the importance of women in the subversive project of the Catholic mission : it was by corrupting spinsters, widows, but also housewives and mothers that papists jeopardized the integrity of the nation. The anti- Catholic controversy therefore exposed the seductive strategies of priests in order to unmask their duplicity and unveil their truly evil nature : like the serpent who tempted Eve to defy God, missionaries would seduce women as an indirect means to ensnare their husbands, influence their families, and eventually overthrow the values of the kingdom.L’Angleterre de l’ère moderne construisit en partie son identité sur l’exclusion systématique de ses sujets catholiques. Dans des publications volontiers alarmistes, la propagande anti-catholique dénonçait le rôle dévolu aux femmes dans le projet subversif de la mission catholique. C’est en circonvenant les femmes, célibataires, veuves, épouses ou mères, que les papistes menaçaient l’intégrité de la nation. La controverse anti-catholique dénonce la stratégie de séduction du missionnaire catholique qui, tel le serpent avec Ève, s’en prend à la femme pour mieux détourner l’époux, et de proche en proche, renverser les valeurs du royaume

Mary Ward et sa Compagnie de Jésus au féminin dans l’Angleterre de la Contre-Réforme

Insolite reflet de la querelle des femmes qui occupe les érudits, la polé­mique cléricale autour de l’Institut catholique fondé en 1611 par Mary Ward (1585-1645) tente de déterminer si ces étranges religieuses, qui se veulent missionnaires, sont les émissaires de Dieu ou les agents du mal. Tandis que leurs amis louent leur vertu, leurs nombreux ennemis contestent la probité de ces femmes qu’ils pensent corrompues. Leur vocation ne leur semble pas divine, mais maléfique, et l’innovation d’une Compagnie de Jésus au féminin, usurpant l’autorité cléricale, est la preuve de leur déviance. Convaincu, Urbain VIII éradique l’Institut en 1631 et le déclare nuisible à l’Église.Peculiarly echoing the ongoing "querelle des femmes", the clerical polemic which developed around the catholic Institute founded in 1611 by Mary Ward (1585-1645) pondered whether these unusual missionary nuns could in fact be considered as Soldiers of God. Whereas their friends hailed them as saints and mystics of angelic virtue, their many enemies questioned the probity of these women, whom they viewed, by their very nature, as corrupted. Their novel vocation seemed evil rather than divinely inspired, and their deviance was believed to be illustrated in their Society of Jesus for women, which usurped clerical authority. In 1631, these argu­ments convinced Urban VIII, who eradicated the Institute, declaring it harmful to the Church

Between the Cloister and the World: The Successful Compromise of the Ursulines of Toulouse, 1604-1616

International audienceIn 1609 the Ursuline congrégées of Toulouse sent a representative to Rome, requesting the elevation of their lay congregation into an enclosed convent. This decision may initially seem paradoxical, since the establishment had been founded specifically in order to educate and catechize the female population of the city across a wide social spectrum. Since congrégées, unlike traditional nuns, were not subject to monastic enclosure, they could teach day pupils and local women as well as wealthier boarders. So why did they wish to become enclosed nuns, when it would obviously curtail their vocational teaching? Surprisingly, monastic enclosure proved to be the key to the success of their teaching establishment. Between 1609 and 1616 the Toulousain Ursulines tactfully negotiated their status with Rome and reached a highly successful compromise when, while promising to observe perpetual enclosure, they obtained a papal brief ordering them specifically to teach pupils daily within the convent walls

Préserver l'action au sein de la clôture : le compromis des Ursulines de Toulouse, 1604 - 1616

International audienceIn 1604, the Ursulines of Toulouse worked uncloistered to catechize local girls. Yet in 1609, they decided to enter the monastic model and become cloistered. Documents indicate that, although this decision may appear paradoxical for religious women with an apostolic vocation, it made perfect sense for the Ursulines. Far from experiencing clausura as a burden, the Toulousain nuns celebrated it as a means of preserving their vocation intact. In 1616, they gained the safety accorded by religious status and negotiated a special permission to open their classrooms daily to extern pupils. This configuration allowed them to conjugate their catechizing vocation with the stability of a recognised convent, and it enabled the Ursuline Orderat large to become one of the most prolific and illustrious in Ancien Régime France.En 1604, la congrégation ursuline de Toulouse se soustrait au modèle monastique pour catéchiser les filles de la ville. Or, en 1609, les congrégées décident de se cloîtrer. Comment comprendre cette décision a priori paradoxale ? C'est que, loin de souffrir la claustration comme un fardeau, les Ursulines la célèbrent comme moyen de préservation d'une vocation apostolique féminine alors en danger. En 1616, elles gagnent et la sécurité du statut religieux et la permission papale d'ouvrir quotidiennement leurs classes aux externes. Alliant ainsi leur vocation de catéchistes à la stabilité du couvent, les Ursulines deviennent l'une des congrégations religieuses les plus illustres de la France d' "Ancien Régime"

Mary Ward's English Institute: The Apostolate as Self-Affirmation?

International audienceMary Ward (1585-1645) is known as the foundress of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an Order of women which, in its various forms, continues to educate girls around the world today. During the first decades of the seventeenth-century, her foundation maintained clandestine branches on English soil and opened eleven colleges on the Continent. There, it trained its own members and undertook the education of externs and boarders, following the model of the Society of Jesus. The Institute's vocation was not only to maintain the faith where it was already present but also to propagate it. To some modern historians, Mary Ward's initiative deliberately set out to lay tradition to rest and begin a new era for the women in the Church. Yet, this study contends that the English Ladies' active vocation inscribed itself within a heritage of long-established forms of female religious life. When they denied themselves the perfect life of the cloister, these missionaries embraced the apostolate, not as a gesture of self-empowerment but as one of self-abnegation in the service of the Church

Exciting new digital resources

For the autumn of 2017, early modernists await with eager anticipation a new digital project, at https://www.newberry.org/religious-change It is best described in its own words: "In Religious Change and Print, 1450-1700 (opening September 14), visitors will see the Reformation through the eyes of the people who experienced the transformations it spread across Europe and the Americas: preachers and teachers, travelers and traders, writers and printers. Featuring more than 150 objects from the..