by Hubert Wolf
A little was known about the Sant’Ambrogio case before the archive was opened. It was at least clear that this must have been a matter of feigned holiness. And so one might have expected the files from this case to be housed in one of the relevant archive series on the pretense of holiness.100 But the search for them there was fruitless. The case of Sant’Ambrogio was finally discovered in the Stanza Storica, the archive’s “historical hall,” which was principally a collection of material ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.101 The reams of paper that make up the case files, plus the documents and books confiscated from the convent, take up over six feet of shelf space. In terms of content, there are no recognizable connections between the Sant’Ambrogio files and the bundles on either side of them. There seems to be little logic to shelving the files here, and it may have been a mistake. Or were these incendiary papers deliberately hidden?
Due to the structure of the tribunal, with its two levels linked by individuals and institutions, in every Inquisition trial there are three types of court files. First, the investigation files from the lower section, documenting the work of the commissary and his two deputies. They are handwritten throughout, and comprise the receipt and record of the denunciation, along with transcripts from the witness examinations and the interrogations of defendants. There are also brief notes and remarks from the examining judge, detailing the current position of the trial. These were either made for the judge’s own benefit, or in preparation for presenting the case to the upper level of the cardinals, or even the pope. Sometimes there are also letters to the cardinal secretary.
The second type of file comprises important documents from the tribunal’s deciding level: transcripts of the assembly of consultors and their suggested decisions, as well as the handwritten Decreta from the assembly of cardinals. Where necessary, written reports or judgments from individual consultors on certain specialist topics were brought into the meetings.
The files connecting the investigating and deciding levels are the summaries of witness examinations (Relazioni) and the interrogations of defendants (Ristretti). These were first drafted by hand, and then multiple copies were printed secretly and internally for the cardinals and consultors. In the sommario, it was common for a selection of key passages from the examinations to be presented verbatim. These reports made by the investigative level formed the basis for the judgments made by the cardinals, and ultimately the pope, in all Inquisition trials. Sometimes the verdict was announced publicly; sometimes it was given in secret. One way of announcing the verdict in public was to publish the text of the judgment on large posters, called bandi. The bandi were pasted to the doors of the main Roman Catholic churches, and put up in the Campo de’ Fiori. The other option was to forgo a publication of the judgment, informing only the people involved in the trial. This approach was very frequently chosen, usually to protect the people involved.102
In this knowledge, let us take a closer look at the available material on the case of Sant’Ambrogio. First, the files produced by the investigating section of the highest tribunal, which, as usual, start with the Denunzia. The denunciator first had to give a valid reason for turning to the Inquisition. The material also had to fall within the Holy Office tribunal’s remit, which meant it must largely pertain to the protection of the true Catholic Faith, and the defense against heresy. Egotistical motives like hatred or resentment, and the intention to revenge oneself upon or harm an opponent, weren’t recognized. The only acceptable reasons for making a complaint were those of a “superior nature,” like the “unburdening of conscience,” a “zeal for the Holy Faith,” the fear of being excommunicated, and, above all, being instructed to complain by one’s confessor.103
The acceptance of the denunciation followed a fixed pattern:104 first, the denunciator gave his personal details and took an oath on the Gospels. Then his verbal complaint was heard in Italian, the first sentence of which had to contain one of the legitimate reasons mentioned above.105 There were other standard questions, followed by questions from the investigating judge pertaining to the specific case, each of which was asked in Latin and answered by the witness in Italian. Finally, the notary read out the transcript of the denunciation ad alta voce, and this was then signed by the denunciator.106 Later examinations followed a similar format.
The next set of documents in the investigative section of a trial is the transcripts of examinations and interrogations, all of them individual hearings. In the Sant’Ambrogio case, the pope expressly instructed that the interrogations should all be transcribed by the second investigating judge, the Dominican Enrico Ferrari. He had already taken down the denunciation. His job was to act as notary, and vouch for the authenticity of the statements. Each transcript starts with the date. There follows an introduction, with a record of the examinee’s personal details, and the oath. Like the investigating judge’s questions, both of these were spoken and transcribed in Latin. And as in the Denunzia, the answers from the witnesses and defendants were spoken and transcribed in Italian.
The opening question to the witnesses—as in all the hearings, formulated in the third person singular—was always: “An sciat, vel imaginetur causam suae vocationis, et praesentis examines?” (“Does he know, or can he imagine, the reason he has been called to this examination?”)107 The witnesses replied in Italian. Agnese Eletta simply answered, “No, Signore.”108 Archbishop Hohenlohe’s answer was much more positive: “I imagine that it could be to do with Princess Katharina von Hohenzollern, and all that she experienced in Sant’Ambrogio in Rome, when she was there as a novice.”109 The examination of each witness often lasted several days. As far as possible, their testimonies were taken down verbatim, and thus remained in the first person singular.
The course of a trial before the Roman Inquisition was divided into several clearly defined steps. (illustration credit 2.3)
However, the presence of the transcriber in these documents shouldn’t be overlooked. Ferrari was an experienced inquisitor, whose practiced ear may well have heard things implied that a witness didn’t actually say. His “anti-heretical” stance may occasionally have made him—and for the most part, this was probably an unconscious action—overhasty in filing away some statements into particular “inquisitorial drawers.” This should be borne in mind where the transcripts from the nuns’ examinations contain theological terminology that one might not expect to hear from relatively uneducated women.
The defendants’ interrogation transcripts are constructed in a very similar way to those of the witness examinations. The investigating judge, Sallua, always took part in the interrogations. His colleague Ferrari transcribed the nuns’ hearings, and a substitute notary took over for the interrogation of the confessors. Raffaele Monaco La Valletta, who became the assessor in January 1859, was also present for the latter. Sallua confronted the suspects with compromising statements from the witnesses. Unlike the witness hearings, which were purely a series of questions and answers, here there were heated discussions between the judges and the defendants.
Once the tribunal’s lower section had completed the first phase of investigation, the “informative process,”110 Sallua prepared a Relazione informativa, a detailed summary report, for the deciding section. This was first drafted by hand, and then printed secretly and internally in the Vatican and presented to the congregation of cardinals and the consultors. They had to decide whether the informative process had yielded sufficient evidence to move on to an offensive process, and bring formal charges, or whether the trial should be halted.
The Sant’Ambrogio Relazione informativa dates from January 1861. It was extremely detailed, and its sommario contained a long appendix of word-for-word extracts from the witness examinations. It documented the result of the investigation from the investigating judge’s point of view. Sallua’s handwritten notes on this are the closest we can get to his personal views on the Sant’Ambrogio case. He prepared these brevi cenni for his own use, or as the basis for a report to the pope
or the cardinals.
Following on from the informative process, the offensive process was also summarized in printed reports. These Ristretti—one for each defendant—were compiled by the investigating judge with the help of a scribe.111 They were then checked over by the fiscal and, where applicable, the defense counsel, before being passed on to the consultors and cardinals via the assessor.
A third phase of the trial, the defensive process, gave the defense counsel the opportunity to reevaluate the witness statements. This stage was omitted in the Sant’Ambrogio case, as neither the defendants nor their counsel requested it.112 This meant that the Ristretti informativi from the offensive process formed the basis for the verdict by the congregation of cardinals. As usual, a suggested judgment came from the conference of consultors, and the cardinals then came to a decision, which was presented to the pope. Finally, the verdict was announced in a decreto di condanna, which as a rule took the form of a notification detailing the names of the people who had been convicted, the offenses, and the reasoning behind the judgment and sentencing in each case. This text was communicated to the guilty parties, either publicly or privately. They were expected to subordinate themselves to the verdict unquestioningly and, if they had been convicted of heresy, to renounce their errors in a ceremonial abjuration. The sentence could be anything up to lifelong monastic imprisonment and, for capital offenses, dismissal from the priesthood. This would mean the accused having to stand trial before a secular court, which could impose the death penalty. When the Inquisition opened the Sant’Ambrogio trial, Maria Luisa, and possibly also her confessors, would have been afraid not only for their reputations, but for their lives and their souls’ salvation.
CHAPTER THREE
“I Am the Little Lion of My Reformed Sisters”
The Informative Process and the Devotees of the Mother Founder
THE CONVENT OF SANT’AMBROGIO DELLA MASSIMA
“From the Piazza Mattei, you follow the street that leads to the Pescheria; here you see the gate of the new convent, and the outer courtyard with the new church on its far side.… On the left is the gate to the enclosure. Passing through it, you enter a little courtyard to the right, from where you access the Rota.” This is the start of a description of Sant’Ambrogio della Massima, contained in an Apostolic Visitation report from the year 1710.1
The convent, which today serves as the office of the procurator general for the Benedictine Congregation of Subiaco,2 lies in the rione XI (11th district) of Sant’Angelo, in the old city of Rome. It is situated next to the former Jewish ghetto, the Marcellus theater, and the Palazzo Mattei, no more than two dozen paces from the famous “Turtle Fountain,” the Fontana delle Tartarughe.3 There is an old legend that says Saint Ambrose’s family’s home stood here in the fourth century, having been erected on the ruins of a temple to Hercules.4 Sant’Ambrogio was named after this famous bishop of Milan.5 The addition “della Massima” appeared for the first time in 1190, though researchers have never agreed on exactly what it refers to. Suggestions range from the convent’s proximity to the Cloaca maxima, or the Porticus maximus, to a daughter of Emperor Maximian named Maxima.6
In the early Middle Ages, the little convent was renamed, and called after the Virgin Mary or the protomartyr Stephanus, the patrons of the two small adjoining chapels. It seems to have been more or less constantly inhabited by pious women, though it isn’t entirely clear which rule they followed. At first this may have been a local Roman community of canonesses. But in the middle of the tenth century, the nuns took on the Rule of Saint Benedict, which they followed until the start of the nineteenth century.7 After 1606, the church and convent were redeveloped, and from then on they went by their original name of Saint Ambrose. The religious renewal that came with this was largely due to the Torres family of Spanish diplomats, in particular Cardinal Ludovico de Torres and his sister Olympia. She was installed in Sant’Ambrogio as abbess, as the inscription over the entrance still shows today. The building works begun at that time were only concluded at the end of the eighteenth century, so by the nineteenth century no more major restructuring was necessary.8
In 1810, the Benedictine tradition that had shaped Sant’Ambrogio for almost a millennium came to an abrupt end. Napoleon had occupied the Papal States in 1809, and on May 7, 1810, he issued a decree dissolving all religious orders in Rome.9 The Benedictine sisters of Sant’Ambrogio were given a fortnight to leave their convent. Following the fall of Napoleon and the restitution of the Papal States in 1814, Pius VII allowed them to return, but they decided to join another community of Benedictine sisters in the Campo Marzio. The pope then gave the convent over to a congregation of women known as the Virgins of the Conservatory of Saint Euphemia, who left again after only a few years.10
FRANCISCANS OF THE THIRD ORDER
This left the way clear for a community of nuns of the Regulated Third Order of Holy Saint Francis, governed by the Rule that Maria Agnese Firrao had re-formed with the help of her confessor. The three orders of Franciscans are fundamentally different:11 the First Order comprises Franciscan monks; they are further split into moderate “conventuals” and more strict “observants.” Later, the Capuchins were also added to this order. The Second Order refers to the Franciscan nuns called the “Poor Clares,” named after Saint Clara. They live cut off from the world, in strict enclosure. The Third Order was originally for “secular people” who tried to practice the Franciscan ideals of poverty and following Christ outside convents, “in the world,” in their own families and professions.12
But the Third Order’s Rule increasingly served as the foundation for communities of cloistered Franciscan nuns. A rash of female Third Order congregations came into being following the Council of Trent at the end of the sixteenth century, with even greater numbers being founded in the nineteenth century. Their members lived together in open convents, which allowed them to pursue charitable work, such as caring for the sick or educating girls, outside the convent walls.
However, there are now contemplative as well as active Tertiaries, often called Regulated or Reformed Franciscans of the Third Order. They are distinguished by absolute enclosure, strict fasting, and communal Divine Office. Their way of life is similar to that of the Second Order, although legally they aren’t Poor Clares.13 Sant’Ambrogio’s community was one of Regulated Franciscan Tertiaries.14 The nuns weren’t allowed to leave the enclosure, which contained their cells, the cloister, the refectory, the chapter house, and the nuns’ choir. People often referred to them as “walled in” or “buried alive.” In Sant’Ambrogio there was no dormitorium, or communal sleeping area. Each nun had her own cell. The novices’ rooms were in their own wing, the novitiate. Nobody from outside was allowed to enter the enclosure—even the confessor and other people acting in pastoral roles. Very few exceptions were made to this strict prohibition. If a nun was in immediate danger of death, the abbess could grant permission for a doctor to come and treat her, and for a priest to administer the last rites. If urgent repairs to the buildings were necessary, craftsmen were also permitted to enter the enclosure.
The sisters mostly communicated with the outside world through a metal grille. The parlatory in Sant’Ambrogio was divided into a room accessible from outside, and an inner parlor that could be reached from the enclosure, joined by a barred opening in the dividing wall. The confessors also took confession from the nuns through this grille.
The church of Sant’Ambrogio had a dual function: it was used both for the nuns’ services, and as a “church of the people” where townsfolk could come to hear Mass. The sisters followed the service from the nuns’ choir, which couldn’t be seen from the nave. They also took Communion through a barred window.
The daily routine in Sant’Ambrogio was, as in all contemplative convents, structured around the Liturgy of the Hours, when the nuns came together in the choir to praise God.15 Psalms were recited in Latin. There were seven Offices in total, and in Sant’Ambrogio they began at four in the morning with
Matins. Lauds followed at six, or at sunrise. Over the course of the day, work was interrupted three times by the “Little Hours”—Terce, at the third hour (around 9 a.m.), Sext at the sixth hour (around midday), and None at the ninth hour, the time of Jesus’s death on the cross (around 3 p.m.). The day ended with Vespers, the evening prayer at 6 p.m., and Compline before bed.
Holy Mass was read every morning after Lauds, which the nuns attended on an empty stomach. After this came breakfast, with lunch after Sext and supper after Vespers. Meals were taken communally in the refectorium, the convent’s dining room. After lunch there was an hour of leisure time, when the nuns could walk in the gardens or the cloister. Wednesdays and Fridays (the day of Jesus’s death) were fasting days. As a rule there was no talking during meals. Instead, there were refectory readings, often taken from the lives of saints. Between Offices, which always lasted from half an hour to forty-five minutes, the sisters did a variety of work. In Sant’Ambrogio, this was principally gardening or sewing vestments and other textiles for liturgical use, the sale of which helped to finance the convent. The chapter house was where the nuns gathered to read the individual chapters of the Rule and the constitutions, for communal discussion of any questions that had been raised, and for the election of sisters to the convent offices.