The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal

by Hubert Wolf

  In this context, Christianity made its peace with mysticism once again. Protestantism experienced a renaissance of pietistic movements “inward.” The Allgau revival movement is particularly worthy of mention in this respect.29 Justinus Kerner’s 1829 bestseller, Die Seherin von Prevorst (The Seer of Prevorst), brought worldwide attention to the case of Friederike Hauffe, a young protestant woman who heard voices from the next world and saw supernatural lights. Divine powers also gave her the ability to make prophecies.30

  Within Catholicism, the publicist Joseph Görres developed a new concept of the mystical.31 He was particularly interested in beatific visions that had visible, tangible consequences in this world. During a vision, he said, a person became a medium, a “gateway to the other side—both the good and the evil.”32 Evidence of this mystical union appeared in the form of “wounds,” the “lovely fragrance of holiness,” or a “halo of ecstasy.”33

  Stigmata were interpreted as proof of God’s continuing action in history, and as a miracle of His potent presence. For Catholics, this was an opportunity to challenge modern science, by “producing quasi-scientific evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit, and the factual existence of miracles, in the shape of tangible extraordinary phenomena.”34 Viewed in this way, miracles and apparitions of the Virgin Mary weren’t irrational and unexplained at all: they were a deliberate response to the age’s materialism and faith in science.

  The “physical side-effects” of mystical experiences became increasingly important in this regard.35 Mystical phenomena were increasingly seen as “explicit, experimentally verifiable confirmation” of the Catholic belief in God.36 But the devil and the evil side of the supernatural realm were also able to use female mystics as a gateway to the mortal world. This called for caution and constant vigilance, to tell the good from the evil spirits.

  This Glauben an das Wunderbare (Belief in Miracles—the telling title of a work published in Münster in 1846) became widespread in Catholic circles by the middle of the century. The author, J. W. Karl, spoke enthusiastically of numerous apparitions of the Virgin, ecstasies, and women with stigmata. The time for automatically doubting all revelations and supernatural phenomena was finally over. There was a direct line running from the miracles of Christ and the apostles to the “supernatural apparitions of our century.”37 “Mysticism seems to be opening up again, and things that have long been considered fables and stories are … once again being justified as facts.”38 A real miracle came when a supernatural experience wasn’t confined to the mystic herself. The “supernatural effects” of a mystical union with Christ then became visible in nature, on the human body of the mystic.39 According to J. W. Karl, the belief in miracles wasn’t just the private opinion of a few theologians, but a “religious truth” that a “Catholic [must] not doubt.”40

  This belief that the supernatural had a tangible effect in nature was a crucial feature of Catholic mysticism in the nineteenth century: the next world materialized here on earth. Stigmata; apparitions of divine beings on earth; the divine fragrance rising from the body of a bride united with Christ in heavenly marriage—all these were a natural part of this belief. For Catherine of Siena, the heavenly ring given as a symbol of this marriage had been immaterial, only visible to her. Now it had to be material, a sign of God’s proximity that everyone could see and touch.

  The supernatural phenomena of Sant’Ambrogio should be viewed against this background. The “belief in miracles” made visions, ecstasies, and other mystical phenomena an everyday occurrence. In the nuns’ refectory readings, holy mystics from Catherine of Siena to Teresa of Avila and Gertrud of Helfta were continually held up to them as role models. So how did Maria Luisa and her miraculous gifts fit into this canon? Was she a true or a false mystic? Or could this even be the work of the devil?

  THE EARTHLY ORIGINS OF HEAVENLY RINGS AND THE SCENT OF ROSES

  These were the very questions Sallua put to the nuns and other witnesses.41 In his letters to Patrizi, which the cardinal vicar had handed over to Sallua at the start of the trial, Padre Leziroli had started talking about Maria Luisa’s “marriage to Jesus Christ” in heaven as early as the 1840s. Apparently the Virgin Mary, Saint Francis, and the two late nuns Maria Maddalena and Teresa Maddalena had also been present at this ceremony.42 Maria Luisa had received a divine ring, which the nuns and the abbess had seen “over the course of several years and on various occasions,” as they stated to Sallua when he questioned them. Over time, this ring changed shape and size, each time growing more ornamental and beautiful. Sometimes it was “so large and sparkling that it covered her ring finger almost entirely.” At first, it had been a gold ring with a little cross, then one with a larger cross “like a tree trunk.” Filled with “embarrassment and blushing in shame,” Maria Luisa had revealed the mystery of the heavenly ring’s variability. She confided to the abbess that the Lord had “decorated” her with not just one but several rings, and the “most beautiful and brightest” of these had come from the Virgin Mary.

  At first, it was only the abbess who knew about the divine wedding and the rings. But of course the entire community had to be informed of the miracle, in a suitably mystical way. The abbess recalled that one day, Maria Luisa had had a headache, which was “regarded by the nuns and the father confessors as something extraordinary and supernatural.” The abbess had come upon her lying lifelessly on the bed in her cell. Maria Luisa was wearing two rings, “one more valuable than the other.” The abbess sent for Leziroli and inducted the confessor into the “mystery.” At once, he fetched a few of the “more pious and careful” nuns into Maria Luisa’s cell, and announced to them that the “most valuable and brightest ring, decorated with a lily and rose intertwined, made of rubies and diamonds” was the ring of the Virgin herself, who had given it to her “favored daughter” Maria Luisa. The nuns should therefore “kneel and say some Ave Marias in the Virgin’s presence.” Then they had to kiss the ring with great reverence, which would “free some souls from the fires of purgatory.” As a bonus, the nuns were given further evidence of the beautiful young nun’s holiness: when the blanket was gently raised from the unconscious woman’s chest, “a divine fragrance rose up from her heart and flooded the cell.”

  After this, the mistress of the rings enlisted the two Jesuit confessors to help her make use of her heavenly regalia. When she had been elected vicaress, Padres Leziroli and Peters were admitted to the enclosure, against the convent’s rules. In a festively illuminated chapter house, Padre Peters led a great pageant of veneration, demanding that all the sisters kiss the “miracle ring” with reverence. The two confessors then also kissed the ring on Maria Luisa’s hand. During her hearing, Sister Maria Giuseppa made sure the inquisitor was aware of this breach of regulations—men were only allowed to enter the clausura in an emergency. “I would like to draw attention to the fact that nobody was ill when the father confessors … entered to conduct the celebration; at least, they did not visit any sick nuns.” The forty-seven-year-old Maria Giuseppa was the convent nurse, and she was sure about this.

  Once Maria Luisa had revealed her Mysterium, the confessors instructed her to wear the ring all the time, so that everyone might see it. Padre Leziroli proudly noted in the convent annals that the Virgin Mary’s ring was set with sixty-five precious stones.43 Many of the nuns mentioned that the madre vicaria had worked a number of “miracles” with her rings. In particular, they said she had healed the sick.

  Several nuns remembered a refectory reading during a meal they had taken in silence. The text came from the life of a virgin saint, whose “virginal body” had “exuded a divine fragrance.” A few days later, Maria Luisa’s body had also begun to give off a “strong fragrance,” which the witnesses described as being “like a rose extract or a rose essence,” according to Sallua’s summary. The abbess told the nuns that this lovely scent was obviously divine, and was a sign of Maria Luisa’s “purity and holiness.” The confessors confirmed this was the case.

 
The nuns also pinpointed a second source of this fragrance. In the nuns’ choir of the church, there were two tiles that gave off this “magnificent scent.” The nuns and confessors believed this was because “the Virgin Mary had laid her feet upon them and left the delicate fragrance behind.”

  But there were also critical voices. The convent doctor, Piazzoli, repeatedly asked the abbess: “What sparkling, valuable ring is that, which the madre vicaria wears on her finger?” The abbess replied that Maria Luisa wore it to bless the novices, and the doctor told her it was “a contradiction of Franciscan poverty.” On other occasions, he warned the abbess: “Keep an eye on this madre vicaria, she is prideful.” But the voices of doubt remained in the minority. In addition to the convent’s two confessors, other Jesuits who came to help with confession also regarded Maria Luisa as a saint, as many of the novices testified.

  Maria Luisa completely outstripped the mystics of the Middle Ages. Her ring was visible and tangible to all, as the new mysticism of the nineteenth century dictated it should be. The fact that she owned several heavenly rings at once is unique, as are the miraculous healings she accomplished with the aid of these rings. And Maria Luisa didn’t smell like any common or garden-variety saint; she gave off the scent of roses and lilies. Over the course of the century, the rose became the flower of the Virgin, and in Saint Augustine’s writings the virgins in the Lord’s garden smelled like lilies.44 Maria Luisa was erring on the side of caution here, too: such a quantity of holy fragrance would ensure nobody continued to doubt her holiness. And in this, she was successful.

  Sallua’s task was now to unmask Maria Luisa’s holiness as a deception. He quickly figured out that the convent’s lawyer, Luigi Franceschetti, would be an important source of information on this subject, and Franceschetti was called to give evidence no fewer than five times.45

  At his first hearing, he stated that his work had brought him into regular contact with the abbess and the vicaress. On one of these occasions, in the fall of 1859, he had learned that the convent was in a state of great upheaval as an Apostolic Visitation had been announced. The mother abbess told him that the Lord was merely testing the convent with this “tribulation.” She was convinced that all would be well, and the visitators wouldn’t discover anything bad there. There were two reasons for the Visitation: the veneration of the mother founder as a saint, and Maria Luisa’s mystical experiences, in particular the heavenly rings. Franceschetti was deeply shaken—and he had every reason to be.

  The lawyer was reluctant to come clean about the provenance of the rings. But finally he said that around two years previously, the madre vicaria had asked him to place an order on her behalf with a goldsmith in Rome for a ring with a gold cross on it. She had not, however, informed him of its purpose. A while later, she discreetly commissioned another, more valuable ring, warning him that neither the other nuns nor the confessors were to be told anything about it. Later she ordered a third, far more valuable ring, which was significantly larger and set with precious stones of various colors.

  After a time, Maria Luisa told the lawyer that she liked the rings so much she now wanted a bracelet, and another ring. On the ring, she wanted a rose and a lily entwined, with red and white precious stones for the flowers and green for the leaves. The lawyer told Sallua that the vicaress had been delighted with the ring; however, she had pretended it wasn’t for her, but for a stranger who wanted to collect it from the convent. Franceschetti finally revealed the names of the goldsmiths—Tofanelli and Colarietti in Rome—as well as the price of the rings. Maria Luisa had also paid him for his role as middleman, with a few gold circlets and some precious stones from broken jewelry. Franceschetti described the appearance of the rings in detail, and Sallua learned that Maria Luisa had asked for a ring that could be opened from underneath. The reason for this, the inquisitor suspected, was so that she could have the ring suddenly vanish from her finger. Maria Luisa had sworn the lawyer to secrecy and told him that if he absolutely had to, he must tell the visitators he had commissioned the ring for a stranger.

  Franceschetti also admitted that on several occasions Maria Luisa had asked him to buy rose oil for her. He had obtained a total of seventy or eighty drops at a price of a paolo per drop,46 from the Sant’Ignazio apothecary. She had told him she needed it to treat a mouth infection of his sister’s—she was living in the convent under the name Maria Giacinta.

  Of course, Maria Luisa had to find a way to pay for the rings and the rose scent. Luckily for her, one of the vicaress’s duties was to look after the convent’s funds. This meant she had access to the dowries that the sisters had to pay when they entered the order. The files of the investigating court reveal that she used a lady named Anna Cavazzi, the mother of one of the novices, to sell “a few trifles.” When she was questioned, Cavazzi stated that the novice mistress had ordered her, in the strictest confidence, to have a ring and a bracelet repaired. When she brought the jewelry back, Maria Luisa said this had been an errand for Katharina von Hohenzollern. Supposedly acting on the princess’s behalf, Maria Luisa had then ordered another four gold rings decorated with crosses. Cavazzi sold several individual pieces of jewelry for the vicaress in order to pay the bills. She also stated that on three occasions she had bought rose oil at Maria Luisa’s request, at 10 baiocchi per drop.47 This, too, was supposedly for the princess.

  Further witness hearings finally brought to light the fact that, a few days before her arrest, Maria Luisa had handed over the rings and the seal of the Madonna to her confidant, Sister Maria Ignazia, with strict instructions to hide them in a safe place if there was any danger. When the novice mistress was arrested, the twenty-year-old Maria Ignazia took fright, opened the sealed envelope, and found the large ring, two smaller ones, and the seal of the Immaculate Virgin. She then threw “these objects and the paper envelope into the opening of the secret place”—meaning the latrine.

  Sallua was now able to begin a targeted search.

  After receiving the above-mentioned information, the necessary judicial measures were taken to come into possession of these items. The master bricklayer, who had served the Holy Office several times before, was informed under sacred oath of the work he was to undertake (together with three other men, also under oath) in the latrines of the convent of Sant’Ambrogio. He proceeded with discretion and care. The mother abbess was advised to admit the workmen to the convent and take them to all the places they wanted to look, as there were some operations they had to carry out with the utmost secrecy. Under the sacred oath they were not allowed to reveal who they were and by whom they had been sent, so she had to ensure that the nuns stayed away from the scene of the investigations. As the men were not familiar with the locality, they encountered some difficulties while carrying out their task. The mother abbess claimed that the latrines emptied out into the sewer; she did not want to risk the potentially serious damage that could be caused by making a hole in the convent wall.… However, the Inquisition was determined to see the matter through, and allayed the abbess’s fears about the convent walls, saying that they would suffer no damage. It was simply necessary to go ahead with the work. On the second day of the operation the above-named items were found in the sluice of the latrine, and handed in by the master bricklayer. The openings in the wall were bricked up, and the work completed with all due care and secrecy.

  This proved the earthly origins of the rings and the rose scent, and Sallua’s Relazione informativa for the cardinals shows just how pleased he was with his demystification of Maria Luisa.48

  LETTERS FROM THE MOTHER OF GOD

  During the hearings of the female witnesses, Sallua was confronted with another mystical phenomenon that went far beyond anything he had seen before. Almost all the nuns of Sant’Ambrogio testified that the Virgin Mary had written letters from heaven, which had appeared in the convent and played a central role in the community’s life.49 In his investigation of the cult of Firrao, Sallua had already come across the “elegant letters” that th
e mother founder had supposedly written from heaven after her death. Now the Madonna herself was putting pen to paper.

  The first question Sallua had to ask himself was how the Virgin’s letters got from heaven to the convent of Sant’Ambrogio. The witness statements told him that the heavenly letters usually materialized in a wooden casket, to which Padre Peters held the only key. Every time he opened it, there would be a new letter inside. Anyone who wanted to reply to the Virgin would ask Padre Peters to put their answer in the casket and lock it again. The next day, the letter would have vanished, having been transported to heaven. This little box was probably kept on the altar underneath the miraculous painting of the Virgin Mary, which would mean a direct connection between the letters and the Virgin’s presence in the painting.

  The second point of interest for the Dominican was the letters’ contents. The abbess and the other nuns stated that the heavenly letters frequently mentioned Maria Luisa’s glorification by the Virgin. There was “great praise for the subject of this inquiry [Maria Luisa], who was called a great treasure, and whose humility and chastity were said to be incomparable,” as Sallua summarized. “There would be trouble in store for anyone who contradicted or disparaged her.” But the Virgin went even further, giving specific instructions that would enable Maria Luisa to fulfill her aspirations to power, both inside the convent and beyond its walls. The Blessed Virgin threatened draconian punishments in this world and the next to anyone who disobeyed.

  Sallua’s eye now fell on Padre Peters, the man with the only key to the casket. But why was the Jesuit willingly acting as postillion?