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

by Hubert Wolf

  3. Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 11, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n, fol. 1–4.

  4. Cf. ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w l.

  5. The source material doesn’t specify which feast of the Madonna this was. The following feasts are likely candidates: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (January 1); the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25); the Feast of the Assumption (August 15); the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary (today on September 12; then on September 8); the Immaculate Conception (December 8). The first of the churches mentioned, San Silvestro, is on the Quirinal Hill and was most recently renewed under Pope Gregory XIII. San Quirico is at 31, Via di Tor de’ Conti, and is dedicated to the three-year-old Quiricus and his mother, Julitta, who suffered martyrs’ deaths under Emperor Diocletian. Cf. Alfred von Reumont, Römische Briefe von einem Florentiner. vol. 3: Neue Römische Briefe 1837–1838, Erster Teil (Leipzig, 1844), pp. 386–87.

  6. Cf. Morichini, Istituti, vol. 2, pp. 88–89; http://pallottinespirit.org/charism/congregational-history/ (5/2/2012).

  7. “Si dotano 3 zitelle povere ogni anno, una dalla collegiata, l’altra dalla confraternita del ss. Rosario, la 3a dalla confraternita della SS. Annunziata e del Carmine.” “Viterbo,” in Moroni, Dizionario 102 (1861), pp. 3–421, here p. 65.

  8. Archpriest Pastacaldi was secretary to Cardinal Vincenzo Macchi. Cf. Giornale arcadico di scienze, lettere ed arti, vol. 68 (Rome 1836), p. 366.

  9. The Basilica lies on the street of the same name in Rione Celio, halfway between the Colosseum and the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano. The buildings also include a convent, occupied by Augustine canonesses since 1560. The church and convent are known for the impressive frescoes depicting the legend of Saint Sylvester. See Maria Giulia Barberini, I Santi Quattro Coronati a Roma (Rome, 1989).

  10. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Part 1, summary of Maria Luisa’s own handwritten report; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  11. Cf. Feldbauer, Geschichte, pp. 30–36; Traniello and Sofri, Weg.

  12. Cf. Behringer, Hexen; Schwaiger (ed.), Teufelsglaube.

  13. On impurity through menstruation, see Angenendt, Pollutio, pp. 52–93.

  14. Cf. Müller, Dogmatik, pp. 680–713.

  15. Fascicolo dei Decreti, Decretum Feria IV, May 2, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f. Buon Pastore lay on the Lungara, and was founded by a Barefoot Carmelite in the first half of the seventeenth century. It was known as La Scalette. In 1838, this correctional institution for women was handed over to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (Religieuses de la Congrégation de Notre-Dame-de-Charité du Bon Pasteur d’Angers). They took in those who entered freely and showed the will to reform. Women whose husbands wanted them locked away, to which the cardinal vicar had to give his assent, also found themselves in La Scalette. However, the institute also served as a prison for women under investigation. “A stay in this house is supposed to work wonders, and the Good Shepherd sets many lost sheep back on the right track. In Rome, many touching stories are told about it. Apart from those women who are sent there, they also take in those who go of their own accord and wish to live apart from society. Both are released when, as a result of their good conduct, it appears suitable. The way of life there is semi-nunlike: retreats; prayer and song; work, the profit from which the women keep; readings during the midday and evening meals. Talking is only permitted during leisure hours. Only visits from fathers, mothers, guardians or husbands are received. Most pay an annuity, which varies according to their circumstances. The nuns are all French: Italians would scarcely do so well. The number of these is twelve; the penitents number up to 70. It is said that the nuns of Notre Dame de Charité will be charged with the rest of the penitentiaries and correctional facilities for women: judging by the successes in this limited area to date, such a measure can only be for the best.” Alfred von Reumont, Römische Briefe von einem Florentiner. Vol. 3: Neue Römische Briefe 1837–1838, Erster Teil (Leipzig, 1844), pp. 188–89. See also “Conservatorio di S. Croce della Penitenza alla Longara detto del Buon Pastore,” in Moroni, Dizionario 17 (1842), pp. 20–21.

  16. Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 11, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n.

  17. Paolo Mignardi was born in 1790 in Macerata, and professed his vows in 1842 after entering the Jesuit order. He died in 1860. See Mendizábal, Catalogus, p.46.

  18. Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 12, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n.

  19. Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 13, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n.

  20. Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 14, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 n. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  21. Louise Beck was born in 1822, and according to her own account had visions of saints, “poor souls,” and her guardian angel even as a child. Her stigmata appeared in Easter week 1846, and she then sought help from the Redemptorist provincial, Franz von Bruchmann, who became her spiritual guide. She died in 1879. See Weiß, Redemptoristen, pp. 522–77, 649–52, and 668–71.

  22. Franz Ritter von Bruchmann was born in 1798. He entered the Redemptorists in 1831, after his wife, Juliane, died in October 1830. They had not been married long. Bruchmann was provincial of the Bavarian Redemptorists from 1814 to 1865, and died in 1867. See Weiß, Redemptoristen, pp. 573–75.

  23. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte II: Si riportano i detti e i fatti deposti ex se dall’Inquisita durante i costituti; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  24. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte II, closing summary; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  25. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte IV: Risposte; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text unless otherwise stated.

  26. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. III: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 24, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  27. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. X: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, August 22, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  28. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. II: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 21, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  29. 2 Kings 4:32–37.

  30. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VI: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 20, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  31. Peter Morsbach, “Lactatio,” in Marienlexikon 3 (1991), p. 702; Schreiner, Maria. Jungfrau, pp. 78–213.

  32. See for example Otto von Corvin, Der Pfaffenspiegel. Historische Denkmale des Fanatismus in der römisch-katholischen Kirche (Leipzig, 1845); Manuel Borutta, Antikatholizismus. Deutschland und Italien im Zeitalter der europäischen Kulturkämpfe (Göttingen, 2nd ed., 2011), pp. 155–218.

  33. Cf. Wipplinger and Amann, Missbrauch, p. 29. It has been impossible to prove statistically whether sexual abuse was more common in institutions governed by the Catholic Church than in society in general. Cf. Christian Pfeiffer, “Drei Promille aller Täter. Eine Außenansicht,” in Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 15, 2010.

  34. Klemm, Mißbrauch, pp. 12–23, here p. 18.

  35. Criteria according to Wipplinger and Amann, Missbrauch, p. 32.

  36. Cf. Klemm, Mißbrauch, p. 30; Richter-Appelt, Folgen, p. 230.

  37. Cf. Richard Utz, “ ‘Total Institutions,’ ‘Greedy Institutions.’ Verhaltensstruktur und Situation des sexuellen Missbrauchs,” in Marion Baldus and Richard Utz (eds.), Sexueller Missbrauch in pädagogischen Kontexten. Faktoren. Interventionen. Perspektiven (Wiesbaden, 2011), pp. 51–76. See also the entries in Ammicht Quinn et al. (eds.), Verrat.

  38. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. I: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 26, 1860, und Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte II; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  39. José Doz was born in 1738 in Tarazona, Spain, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1752. When the Jesuits were expelled from Spain, Doz was deported to Italy, where he died in 1813. See Sommervogel, Bibliothèque
, vol. 9, p. 242.

  40. Luigi Santinelli was born in 1760 in Sant’Angelo in Vado (Pesaro). He entered the Society of Jesus and professed his vows in 1824, and died in Rome in 1842. See Mendizábal, Catalogus, p. 22.

  41. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte IV; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  42. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. I: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 26, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  43. Agustín Monzon (sometimes written Monzón, Monton, or Monçon) was born in 1750, and began his novitiate with the Jesuits in 1765 in Spain. After the order was prohibited there, he was sent to Italy. He professed his vows there in 1814. He wrote the “Vita del servo Dio P. Giuseppe M. Pignatelli,” though this was only published posthumously in Rome, in 1833. Monzon died in 1824. See Sommervogel, Bibliothèque, vol. 5, pp. 1203–4.

  44. Brunelli may have been an ex-Jesuit who became a secular priest after the Society of Jesus was banned. It is unlikely that this was the canon Giovanni Brunelli, who worked as the archivist in the Ospedale di Santo Spirito from 1755 to 1786. Cf. Giuseppe Flajani, Methodo di medicare alcune malattie (Rome, 1786), p. 31. Francesco Brunelli, who took up office as the Father of Santa Maria del Carmine and San Giuseppe in 1822, is also a very unlikely possibility, as he probably rejoined his order when the ban was revoked in 1814. Cf. Notizie per l’anno 1822, p. 195.

  45. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. I: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 26, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  46. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VIII: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, June 28, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  47. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VIII: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 28, 1860, Fogli manoscritti consegnati in sudetto costituto; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  48. In the Italian original, the clitoris here is referred to as “membro” (member).

  49. In the Italian original, “vagina” is also referred to as “membro.”

  50. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VIII: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 24, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  51. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte IV; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  52. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VII: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 24, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  53. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. VIII: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 28, 1860, Fogli manoscritti consegnati in sudetto costituto; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  54. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. IX: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, August 14, 1860, Fogli manoscritti consegnati in sudetto costituto; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u.

  55. Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, September 18, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 o, fol. 116.

  56. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, Parte IV; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u. Ristretto con Sommario, Sommario dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Luisa, no. IV: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 3, 1860, and no. V: Costituto di Sr. Maria Luisa, July 6, 1860; ibid., B 6 u. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  57. Cipriani was born in 1812 and ordained in 1838. He became an advocatus reorum in 1843. See Boutry, Souverain, p. 680; Wolf (ed.), Prosopographie, pp. 330–31.

  CHAPTER SEVEN “That Good Padre Has Spoiled the Work of God”

  1. Cardinals’ decision, Feria IV, February 27, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 wf.

  2. See the Ristretto dei Costituti del P. Giuseppe Leziroli, Parte I: Sulla veneration e culto della fondatrice Sr. Maria Agnese Firrao; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e. Prov. Rom. Summ. Vitae 1846–1889, p. 559; ARSI. See also Catalogus Provinciae Romanae Societatis Iesu …(Rome, 1844–1875); Mendizábal, Catalogus, p. 88; Sommervogel, Bibliothèque, vol. 4, p. 1771.

  3. Ristretto con Sommario dei Costituti del P. Giuseppe Leziroli, October 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  4. Saint Stanislaus Kostka was born in 1550. At the age of fifteen, he ran away from home to Vienna, to join the Jesuit order. In the novitiate he distinguished himself by being joyful, pious, and striving for perfection. He died in 1568, probably from the exertions of his escape. He was beatified in 1670 and canonized in 1726. Leziroli probably praised this Jesuit saint particularly highly to the nuns. See Bernhard Stasiewski, “Stanislaus Kostka,” in LThK, 2nd ed., vol. 9 (1964), pp. 1017–18.

  5. Ristretto dei Costituti del P. Giuseppe Leziroli, Parte I: Sulla veneratione e culto della fondatrice Sr. Maria Agnese Firrao; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  6. Appendice al Ristretto informativo, Esami di Beckx, carried out by Monaco La Valletta, March 1, 5, 8, and 14, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 f and Costituti Peters, ibid., B 6 z, fol. 2r–9v.

  7. Appendice al Ristretto informativo, Qualifica del Volume manoscritto “Sulle memorie della Vita di Sr. Maria Agnese di Gesù” del Rmo Maestro Girolamo Priori, October 20, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 f.

  8. Girolamo Priori lived from 1810 to 1883. See Boutry, Souverain, pp. 737–38; Wolf (ed.), Prosopographie, pp. 1220–22.

  9. Cardinal Giuseppe Pecci was born in 1776. He came from Gubbio, where he was made a canon in 1800, a vicar general in 1821, and the administrator of the bishopric in 1839. Pecci (no relation to Cardinal Gioacchino Pecci, later Pope Leo XIII) was in Gubbio throughout Firrao’s exile, working in important canonical offices. He died in 1855. See Weber, Kardinäle, vol. 2, p. 503 and elsewhere.

  10. Interventions by Cardinal Giuseppe Pecci, the bishop of Gubbio, Cardinal Gabriele della Genga, the nephew of Pope Leo XII, and Cardinal Vicar Patrizi were all unsuccessful.

  11. Cf. Anderson, Piety, p. 702.

  12. Ristretto dei Costituti del P. Giuseppe Leziroli, Parte II: Circa l’affettata santità di Sr. M. Luisa, massime erronee ed altri addebiti; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  13. Sommario del Ristretto di P. Leziroli, no. IV: Costituto di P. Leziroli, June 13, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e.

  14. Cf. Elke Bayer, “Sieben Schmerzen Mariens,” in Marienlexikon 6 (1994), pp. 157–58.

  15. Cf. Schreiner, Maria. Jungfrau, pp. 95–100; Karl Woschitz, “Schmerzensmutter,” in Marienlexikon 6 (1994), pp. 28–29.

  16. Sommario del Ristretto di P. Leziroli, no. V: Costituto di P. Leziroli, June 14 and 15, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e.

  17. Ristretto dei Costituti del P. Leziroli, Parte III: Attentato avvelenamento; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e.

  18. Ristretto dei Costituti del P. Leziroli, conclusion: Il P. Leziroli si rende a pieno confesso su tutti i punti delle conclusioni fi scali e domanda perdono; ACDF SO St. St. B7 e. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  19. “Un mostro d’iniquità.” Relazione informativa con Sommario, Titolo VI: Affettata santità, Sallua’s introduction; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 c.

  20. Ristretto con Sommario dei Costituti sostenuti dall’Inquisita Abbadessa Sr. Maria Veronica Milza, September 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B7 d.

  21. Sonnino is a town in the Latina province in Latium. Robbers plied their trade in the surrounding area. Among them was the famous Gasparone of Sonnino, who was an uncle of the secretary of state to Pope Pius IX, Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli. Cf. Aurelio Bianchi-Giovini, Il Diario di Burcardo. Quadro dei costume della Corte di Roma. Aggiuntavi la Storia del Legno della Croce. Una biografi a del cardinale Antonelli ed altri documenti analoghi (Florence, 1861), p. 76; Hermann Reuchlin, “Das italienische Brigantentum,” in Unsere Zeit. Deutsche Revue der Gegenwart. Monatsschrift zum Conversationslexikon, New Series 6 (1870), pp. 145–66.

  22. The church of Santa Pudenziana lies near Santa Maria Maggiore, in what was then the Via di S. Pudenziana and is now the Via Urbana. The convent next to it belonged to the Cistertians and later the Augustine nuns B.M.V. (Canonichesse regolari di S. Agostino). It was the site of the house of S. Pudente,
a Roman senator who, legend has it, was converted by Saint Peter. In AD 164, the house was converted by Pope Pius I, first into an oratory and then into a church. It did not attain its present appearance until 1598. Cf. Anon, Corografia di Roma, ovvero descrizione: e cenni istorici de suoi monumenti colla guida ai medesimi mercé di linee stradali, corredata di elenchi (Rome, 1846), p. 28; Armellini, Chiese, pp. 565–69.

  23. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Veronica, Parte I: Sulla veneratione e culto della fondatrice Sr. Maria Agnese Firrao; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  24. Giustiniani was born in 1769 and became the titular bishop of Tyrus in 1817. He became bishop of Imola in 1826, and a cardinal in the same year. He died in 1843. See Boutry, Souverain, pp. 393–95; Wolf (ed.), Prosopographie, pp. 701–5.

  25. Sommario del Ristretto della Abbadessa, no. I: Documenti sull’espressa proibizione fatta alla Firrao di mai più avere comunicazione colle pretese sue fi glie. Documenti che mostrano non essere mai stata né revocata questa proibizione, né tollerata alcuna corrispondenza; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d.

  26. Ristretto dei Costituti di Sr. Maria Veronica, Parte II: Sull’affettata santità e doni straordinari di Sr. Maria Luisa Ridolfi; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  27. Esame della Priora di San Pasquale, October 17, 1859; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 a, fol. 52r.

  28. Esame di Msgr. Hohenlohe, April 19, 1860; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 m, fol. 7f.

  29. Sommario del Ristretto della Abbadessa, no. IV: Risposte sull’ingresso del P. Peters in clausura, undated; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  30. Sommario del Ristretto della Abbadessa, no. V: Risposta sulla storia dei pretesi veleni attribuiti ad illusioni diaboliche, undated; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

  31. Ristretto dei Costituti relativi a Sr. Maria Veronica, Parte II, conclusion; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 d. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text unless otherwise stated.