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

by Hubert Wolf

  33. Cf. Gousset, Moraltheologie, vol. 1, pp. 288–89. Tellingly, the term “il pessimo” arises in the case of Sant’Ambrogio for female same-sex acts: Relazione sommaria degli atti principali assunti nella causa contro le monache riformate in S. Ambrogio, Titolo VI: Complicità, massime e insinuazioni erronee dei PP. Confessori Leziroli e Peters; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 e 1: “N. B. L’Inquisita nei suoi costituti grava specialmente la madre Maria Maddalena di enormi turpezze commesse con essa lei nell’età di 15 anni, e Maria Crocifissa come sua istitutrice in rebus pessimis facendo l’una e l’altra derivare cotali azioni e massime quali doni ed insegnamenti della beata Fondatrice.”

  34. Walkowitz, Formen, p. 444.

  35. The term “lesbian” is used here, although this is an identity that only came into being at the end of the nineteenth century. Cf. Judith M. Bennet, “ ‘Lesbian-Like’ and the Social History of Lesbianisms,” in Journal of the History of Sexuality 9 (2000), pp. 1–24, in particular pp. 10–17; Gertrud Lehnert, “Lesbianismus/Lesbischer Feminismus/Lesbian Studies,” in Kroll (ed.), Gender Studies, pp. 230–32; Rich, Heterosexuality, pp. 139–68; Christine Steiniger, “Lesbische Liebe,” in Lissner et al. (eds.), Frauenlexikon, pp. 632–38.

  36. The Christian sexual morality of the nineteenth century prohibited any unusual satisfaction of sexual urges “absolutely and under threat of eternal damnation, with no advice for those who are not abstinent, other than to marry.” Cf. Stapf, Moral, p. 421. This is based on 1 Corinthians 6:9, according to which whores, idol worshippers, adulterers, effeminate men, and molesters of boys will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Any kind of fornication outside marriage was a “great sin against the Father,” which was why the Church and its lawmakers had always maintained an absolute prohibition of sexual satisfaction outside marriage. 1 Corinthians 7:9 says that those who cannot remain abstinent should marry. Cf. ibid., p. 422; Riegler, Moral, pp. 528–31. For a view of the Catholic position in a greater historical context, cf. Reinhard, Lebensformen, pp. 67–86.

  37. Cf. Cattaneo, “Vitio,” pp. 55–77; Pierroberto Scaramella, “Sodomia,” in DSI 3 (2010), pp. 1445–50.

  38. Cf. Louis Crompton, “The Myth of Lesbian Impunity. Capital Laws from 1270 to 1791,” in Journal of Homosexuality 6 (1980/81), pp. 11–25.

  39. Reinhard, Lebensformen, p. 87. Cf. also Brooten, Love; Rich, Heterosexuality, pp. 1445–50.

  40. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae II-II, Quaestio 154, article II.

  41. According to the Italian jurist Prospero Farinacci (1554–1618); quoted in Brown, Immodest Acts, p. 14.

  42. Cf. Gousset, Moraltheologie, vol. 1, p. 292.

  43. According to the Italian priest Ludovico Maria Sinistrari, toward the end of the seventeenth century; quoted in Brown, Immodest Acts, p. 18.

  44. Esame di Sr. Agnese Eletta, November 3, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 b, fol. 63r, 65r, 67v, 68rv (original files). Subsequent quotations also taken from this document. A printed version of the interrogation can be found in “Sommario del ristretto informative,” no. XII; ibid., B 7 c.

  45. Nicola Benedetti was born in 1807 and entered the Society of Jesus in 1826. In 1843 he took up the office of spiritual. He died in 1866. Cf. Mendizábal, Catalogus, p. 62.

  46. Memorie di tutte le cose più rimarchevoli occorse in questo nostro S. Istituto nelle diverse epoche incominciando dal principio della fondazione; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 s 1, fol. 576.

  47. Annuario Pontificio 1860, p. 32.

  48. Relazione sommaria degli atti principali, Titolo VI: Complicità dei PP. Confessori; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 e 1.

  49. Maurus Wolter to Sallua, September 17, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, no folio [after fol. 47v].

  50. This was Theodor Caspar Heinrich Wegener from Coesfeld. He was born in 1831 and ordained as priest in 1855. He went to Rome to study in 1859. Cf. Schematismus der Diözese Münster 1860 (January) (Münster, 1860), p. 131. There he “probably entered the circle of those devotees of Emmerick, who paid for her headstone in the Dülmen cemetery.” Cf. Franz Flaskamp, “Theodor Wegener,” in Heimatblätter der Glocke, no.135, May 16, 1963, Supplement, p. 537. Wegener may have returned to his home city of Münster in 1861: on June 19, 1861, he was admitted to the Congregation of the Virgin Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted of Kevelaer. Cf. Schematismus der Diözese Münster 1864 (August) (Münster, 1864), pp. 10 and 96. In March 1866, he was finally transferred to Haltern. Cf. Schematismus der Diözese Münster 1872 (January) (Münster, 1872), pp. 38 and 139. In Haltern he funded the creation of a Via Crucis on the Annaberg, and wrote the prayerbook Annabüchlein oder Andacht zur heiligen Anna (two editions, 1884 and 1890). In 1885 he entered the Augustinian order as Padre Thomas Villanova, and from then on devoted himself to research for the beatification process of Anna Katharina Emmerick. Cf. Chronik Annaberg, online: http://eservice2.gkd-re.de/bsointer160/DokumentServlet?dokumentenname=160l3ss3776.pdf (7/13/2012). Wegener died in 1917.

  51. On the Campo Santo in the nineteenth century, cf. Erwin Gatz, Anton de Waal und der Campo Santo Teutonico (Römische Quartalschrift Supplementheft 38) (Rome, 1980), pp. 8–35.

  52. The Church of San Nicola in Carcere lies on the Via del Teatro di Marcello, on a spot where a jail was situated in the Middle Ages. Cf. Armellini, Chiese, pp. 475–82.

  53. Letter from the priest of San Nicola in Carcere to Sallua, October 11, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 50rv.

  54. The art historian Ludwig Pollak recalled that most residents of the Via di Monte Tarpeo rented rooms. “In the winter of 1893–1894, I lived in the tallest house on this narrow street, number 61 (?), on the top floor, and for what was admittedly a very sparsely furnished room that was impossible to heat, I paid 30 Lire a month.” Ludwig Pollak, Römische Memoiren: Künstler, Kunstliebhaber und Gelehrte 1893–1943, ed. Margarete Merkel Guldan (Rome, 1994), pp. 93–94. “The Via di Monte Tarpeo rose along the front of the Church of the Consolazion, with a flight of steps. It then bent to the right, and descended again at the south-west point of the Tabularium. This street, descending to the Campo Vaccino, was opened under Gregory XIII, as the inscription on the slope shows, where the famous verses of the Aeneid describing what were then the new buildings of the capital are also written.” Cf. Ernst Platner, Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. Vol. 3: Die sieben Hügel, der Pincio, das Marsfeld und Trastevere (Stuttgart/Tübingen, 1837), p. 26.

  55. Sallua’s note, November 5, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 69rv.

  56. Sallua speaks of “una denunzia assai grave e corredata di molti argomenti di verità.” Ristretto informativo con Sommario; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 c. He also speaks of a “denunzia assai gravante e circostanziata.” Notes for the congregation of cardinals, November 16, 1859; ibid., B 6 b.

  57. It is difficult to say whether Sallua was using “more solito” as a specifically legal term, or just a turn of phrase. On the legal term, see Gerhard Dilcher, “Das mittelalterliche Stadtrecht also Forschungsproblem,” in Jörg Wolff (ed.), Kultur- und rechtshistorische Wurzeln Europas (Mönchengladbach, 2006), pp. 227–42, here p. 237, where customary law is described as “more solito, more maiorum, secundum antiquam consuetudinem.” Cf. also Simon Teuscher, Erzähltes Recht: lokale Herrschaft, Verschriftlichung und Traditionsbildung im Spätmittelalter (Historische Studien 44) (Frankfurt am Main, 2007), p. 178, which explains “more solito” and also “more consueto” as a legal mode established through custom. As a turn of phrase, it means “as usual”: “more solito ‘secondo il solito costume,’ in base alla solita consuetudine, come di consueto,” Paride Bertozzi, Dizionaria dei brocardi e dei latinismi giuridici (Assago, 6th ed., 2009), p. 123.

  58. Cf. Friedrich Münter, Gemischte Beyträge zur Kirchengeschichte (Copenhagen, 1798), p. 155: “Everyone who enters the Congregation, whether as a cardinal or a consultor, must take an oath of secrecy, from which they only have dispensation when they learn of matters that would damage and spoil the Inquisition itself or could hinder the course of proceedings. Breaking this silence carries a sentence of Excommunicatio latae sententiae, w
hich the pope alone can revoke. Otherwise, this transgression is viewed and punished as a personal offense against the pope.” Cf. also Maria Pia Fantini, “Segreto,” in DSI 3 (2011), pp. 1490–91. The phrasing of the oath can be found in ACDF SO St. St Q 2 c, fol. 15r–16r: “Ego N de N &c. constitutus coram vobis Rev.mo P. Sac. Theologiae Mag.o F. N de N Inquisitore N tactis per me Sacrosanctis Dei Evangeliis coram me propositis, iuro ac promitto fi deliter exercere munus, & officium Vicarii, vel, Consultori—Sanctae Inquisitionis huius civitatis N., & non revelare, nec loqui, aut tractare—verbo, vel scriptis, aut alias quovis modo de iis, quae concernent causas Sancti Officii, nisi cum dominis Consultatoribus aliisque Officialibus dicti S. Officii, sub poena periurii, & excommunicationis latae sententiae, a qua non nisi ab Eminentissimis, & Reverendissimis Dominus Cardinalibus Inquisitoribus generalibus absolvi possim. Sic me Deus adiuvet, & haec sancta illius Evangelia, quae propriis manibus tango.”

  59. Fogli consegnati dal Sig. Cardinale Vicario Patrizi al P. Sallua, November 5, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 73r–92r. Individually: fol. 74r–75v, no. 1, letter from Abbess Maria Agnese Celeste della Croce to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, October 6, 1848; fol. 76r–77v, no. 2, letter from Abbess Maria Agnese Celeste della Croce to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, December 30, 1848; fol. 78r–79r, no. 3, letter from Abbess Maria Agnese Celeste della Croce to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, March 30, 1849; fol. 80r–81v, no. 4, note from Padre Leziroli to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, undated; fol. 82r–83r, no. 5, letter from Leziroli to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, July 9, 1849; fol. 83v, Leziroli’s reply to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, relating to text no. 4, July 9, 1849; fol. 84rv, no. 6, letter from Sister Maria Metilde de’ dolori di Maria SS.a to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, undated; fol. 85r–87v, no number, probably from Leziroli to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, unsigned; fol. 88r, no number, letter from Leziroli to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, July 29, 1849; fol. 90rv, no number, letter from Sister Maria Metilde de’ dolori di Maria SS.a to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, [no month] 11, 1854; fol. 91rv, no number, letter from Agnese Eletta of the Holy Family to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, undated; fol. 92r, no number, letter from Sister Maria Metilde de’ dolori di Maria SS.a to Cardinal Vicar Patrizi, [no month] 21, 1854.

  60. Vita della Serva di Dio. La M. Maria Agnese di Gesù. Fondatrice delle Monache Riformate del Terz’Ordine del Padre San Francesco; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 q 1. Kunigunde Anna Helena Maria Josepha, Countess of Lausitz, Princess of Saxony, was born in 1774, and married Giovanni Patrizi-Naro Marchese Montoro. She died in 1828. Cf. Diario di Roma, no. 85, 1828.

  61. Sallua’s communication to the cardinal vicar, undated; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 105r–106r.

  62. Sallua’s note, November 5, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 69r. On the Congregazione Segreta, cf. Prattica del S. Tribunale del S. Offi zio nel formare i Processi diversa da quella di tutti gli altri Tribunali Ecclesiastici e Secolari; ibid., Q 2 m, fasc. 3a, no folio.

  63. Sallua’s relazione informativa for the Congregazione Segreta, November 16, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 b, fol. 1r–9r.

  64. Fascicolo dei Decreti, Decretum Feria IV, November 16, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f. In this fascicle, which is part of the court files from the Sant’Ambrogio case, there is a copy of all relevant decisions and suggested decisions by the consultors, cardinals, and the pope. The originals are held in the series ACDF SO Decreta 1859–1862.

  65. See “Congregazioni Cardinalizie attuali,” in Moroni, Dizionario 14 (1842), p. 234.

  66. “According to the intention or opinion.” This Latin expression is used in the documents of the Roman Curia to clarify, limit, or change a decision by referring to the original intent of that decision. Cf. http://www/treccani.it/vocabolario/ad-mentem (5/17/2012).

  67. Antonio Ligi-Bussi was born in 1799 and became a Franciscan Minorite. In 1851 he was made titular archbishop of Konya and vicegerent. Cf. Notizie per ’anno 1857, p. 217.

  68. Fascicolo dei Decreti, Decretum Feria IV, November 16, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f.

  69. Fascicolo dei Decreti, Decretum Feria III. loco IV, December 6, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f.

  70. Brevissimi cenni delli atti nella causa di S. Ambrogio, undated [probably December 8, 1859]; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n 1, no folio.

  71. Sallua’s audience with the pope on December 8, 1859, and the pope’s decision on December 11, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f.

  72. Relazione informativa, Elenco delle persone e testimoni esaminati in questa causa, January 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 c.

  73. Vita della serva di Dio. La Maria Agnese Firrao di Gesù; ACDF SO St. St. B6 q 1.

  74. Cf. Wolf, Inquisition, pp. 547–60.

  75. Cf. Schwerhoff, Inquisition.

  76. Cf. Claus Arnold, Die Römische Zensur der Werke Cajetans und Contarinis (1558–1601). Grenzen der theologischen Konfessionalisierung (Römische Inquisition und Indexkongregation 10) (Paderborn, 2008), pp. 171–332; Klaus Ganzer, “Aspekte der katholischen Reformbewegungen im 16. Jahrhundert,” in Ganzer, Kirche auf dem Weg durch die Zeit. Institutionelles Werden und theologisches Ringen. Ausgewählte Aufsätze und Vorträge, ed. Heribert Smolinsky und Johannes Meier (Reformationsgeschichtliche Studien und Texte. Supplemental vol. 4) (Münster, 1997), pp. 181–211, here pp. 187–91.

  77. Cf. Del Col, Inquisizione, pp. 509–698; Tedeschi, Prosecution.

  78. Cf. Angenendt, Toleranz, p. 263; Trusen, Inquisitionsprozeß, pp. 168–230, here p. 168.

  79. Over the four centuries from 1542 to 1966, in which the Roman Inquisition was the highest tribunal of the Catholic Church, individual elements of its procedure were altered. Relatively little is known about the Inquisitorial trial, its possible varieties and historical developments, because the archive of the Roman Inquisition has only been accessible to researchers since 1998. Cf. the relevant entries in the collections L’Apertura, L’Inquisizione, L’Inquisizione e gli storici, and A dieci anni. There has been an official guide to the procedure behind book censorship and the Inquisition’s involvement in creating the Index of Forbidden Books since 1752, the Sollicita ac Provida brought in by the pope. Cf. Wolf, Index, pp. 46–58; Edition and introduction in Wolf/Schmidt (ed.), Benedikt XIV. There are no normative guidelines available for a trial by the Holy Office. This means researchers have to take the more painstaking path of analyzing historical sources, and attempting to distill the basic structures of these tribunals from individual trials before the Suprema over the course of the centuries. To date, hardly any work has been done on the Inquisition trials of the nineteenth century, and thus on the immediate context of the Sant’Ambrogio case. There is the added problem that the jurisdictions of the numerous courts and tribunals in the Church and the Papal States were never precisely distinguished from each other, and an official Curia court law was never decreed. Cf. Agostino Borromeo, “Congregazione del Sant’Uffizio,” in DSI 1 (2011), pp. 389–91, here p. 390: “Conosciamo poco e male l’azione svolta dalla Congregazione nel XIX e nel XX secolo.” See also Adriano Prosperi, “Inquisizione romana,” in DSI 2 (2011), p. 826: “La storia della Congregazione è storia della sua composizione, dei suoi poteri e delle sue funzioni nel loro modifi carsi attraverso i tempi e i luoghi, ma è anche, naturalmente, storia di come e dove e a carico di chi quei poteri e quelle funzioni sono stati esercitati. Se si tiene conto di questi aspetti … appare tanto più singolare la mancanza di ricerche storiche adeguate fino a tempi recenti.”

  80. Norme per procedere nelle cause del S. Officio (inizio XIX secolo); ACDF SO St. St. D 2 i, no folio [following fol. 105v]. This lists the offenses that fall under the Inquisition tribunal’s jurisdiction, according to the inquisitors themselves. They include heresy, seduction in the confessional box, polygamy, and the issue of Jews in general.

  81. One consequence of this was that handbooks were written by skilled and experienced inquisitors. Cf. Andrea Errera, “Manuali per inquisitori,” in DSI 2 (2011), p. 821; Angelo Turchini, “Il modello ideale dell’inquisitore. La Pratica del cardinale Desiderio Scaglia,” in Del Col and Paolin (eds.), Inquisizione,
pp. 187–98.

  82. The cardinal secretary was the formal leader of the proceedings. Cf. Hinschius, Kirchenrecht, vol. 1, p. 451. More extensive information in Schwedt, Kongregationen, pp. 49–61, here p. 54: “Among the cardinals, the highest-ranking, managing cardinal has held the title of ‘secretary’ of the Congregation during the last 200 years. In the 16th century, the highest-ranking cardinal of the S. Officium signed letters and so on as unus ex Inquisitionibus Generalibus. It appears that this title was only made official in the first decades of the 17th century, meaning it was no longer dependent on changes of rank within the college of cardinals (for example, through the promotion of a titular church to a cardinalate). So we can speak of the fixed Curia office (independent of changes in rank) of secretary S. Oficii during this time. However, it took until the 18th century for this term to be officially entered into the Roman Lists.”

  83. On the Congregation of Cardinals, cf. “Congregazioni Cardinalizie attuali,” in Moroni, Dizionario 14 (1842), pp. 233–34; Agostino Borromeo, “Congregazione del Sant’Uffizio,” in DSI 1 (2011), S. 389–91; Pratica della Curia Romana, che comprende la giurisdizione dei tribunali di Roma, vol. 2 (Rome, 1815), p. 94; Wolf, Einleitung, pp. 36–37. On its members, see Annuario Pontificio 1860, pp. 267–69 and Notizie per l’anno 1861, pp. 279–81.

  84. Cf. Blouin, Archives, p. 7; Wolf, Einleitung, p. 41.

  85. Cf. Wolf, Einleitung, p. 36. On the conference of consultors and how it operated, see Luigi De Sanctis, Roma Papale (Florence, 1865), p. 274: “Ecco come si tengono le congregazioni del S. Uffizio. Ogni lunedì mattina alle 8 le carrozze papali, chiamate volgarmente frulloni, vanno a prendere i consultori, e li conducono al palazzo dell’Inquisizione. Là presieduti dal P. Commissario, e seduti intorno alla tavola ellittica, discutono sulle cause, e dànno i loro voti. Il voto de’ consultori è soltanto consultivo.” Cf also “Congregazioni Cardinalizie attuali,” in Moroni, Dizionario 14 (1842), p. 233: “La prima [Congregazione] tiene nel lunedì mattina nel palazzo del tribunale, coll’intervento de’ consultori, di monsignor assessore, del p. commissario, del primo compagno di questo, del fiscale ecc., all’effetto di leggere i processi, e le lettere degl’inquisitori de partibus; prendonsi le opportune provvidenze, e si preparano le materie per la congregazione de’ Cardinali.” On the consultors in the years 1860–1861, see Annuario Pontificio 1860, pp. 267–69, and Notizie per l’anno 1861, pp. 279–81.