
Humble Women, Powerful Nuns
A Female Struggle for Autonomy in a Men’s Church
Kristien Suenens
The fascinating story of four ambitious Belgian religious women in a male world
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
Introduction
PART I RELIGIOUS REVIVAL, ROMANTICISM AND FEMALE ACTION IN A POST-REVOLUTIONARY AGE: FOUR YOUNG WOMEN (ca. 1820-ca. 1860)
‘Foremothers’, Revolutions and Revival (ca. 1820-ca. 1848)
The female pioneers of the revival
Ambiguous images of women
Aut maritus, aut murus? Between
marriage and the convent
Female Religious Entrepreneurship on the Offensive (ca.
1848-ca. 1860)
Religious education: the female
voice of the revival
The need for male support
Enterprising and discursive
mechanisms
Social and political tensions and
female agency
The Spiritual Dialectic of Revival Devotion
“L’
eucharistie peut sauver le monde”
A plurality of devotional practices
and ascetic self-denial
A passion paradigm
Female saints as role models
PART II FEMALE AGENCY AT A TURNING POINT: FOUR CONGREGATION FOUNDERS (1857-1867)
Between Longing and Coercion: Spiritual Partnerships
“Une religieuse, c’est une
paroisse”: frustration and appreciation
Jesuits: irresistible and unavoidable
Soulmates and Rivals: The Power(lessness) of Female
Alliances
The convent as a place of refuge
An alternative family unit:
ambiguous female bonding on a micro level
“Autel contre autel”: the limits of
a wider female coalition
Mechelen and Rome: Normative Identity and Ecclesiastical Positioning
Sterckx’s pragmatic policy
Basic feminine inspiration
Male implementation
Containing the revival: the struggle
with the contemplative legacy
The crowning accomplishment: a Roman
approval
PART III FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND LEADERSHIP IN AN ULTRAMONTANE CHURCH: FOUR CONVENT SUPERIORS (ca. 1865-ca. 1885)
Between Dream and Reality: Charisma and Numbers
The story behind two typical
congregations
“Les Dames illusionnées”: ambitions
and criticism
Convents and Castles: An Uneasy Alliance
In the grip of ultramontane elites
A forced turn to the countryside
“Au comble du bonheur”: women for
women
The female alliance challenged
Crusading in a Convent Habit
A modern apostolate, conservative
ideas
Female agency, the European culture
wars and the missionary drive
The inevitability of the crusade:
the School War (1879-1884)
The challenge of social Catholicism
Victims and religious entrepreneurs:
the spiritual dynamics of ultramontanism
“Pas assez femme”? Female Leadership in Women’s Convents
“Une hostie vivante”: institutionalised
self-denial
Internal power balances
Lay sisters: women among women
“Domina ista valde facunda est”
Female Leadership in a Male Church
A double-voiced ‘conventualisation’
Gender, power and freedom of conscience:
the confessor issue
Roman feminism?
Epilogue
The Shaping of Perceptions
Fanny Kestre: an active “femme forte”,
a spiritual “âme simple”
Antoinette Cornet: between oblivion
and rediscovery
Anna de Meeûs: “trop robuste pour
être sainte”
Wilhelmina Telghuys: always independent
Conclusion
A Study in Ambiguity
Timeline
Bibliography
Index of names
Colophon
Format: Monograph - ebook
384 pages
ISBN: 9789461663276
Publication: July 15, 2020
Series: KADOC-Studies on Religion, Culture and Society 26
Languages: English
Rose Luminiello, Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique (vol. 117, 2022/1-2)
This engaging analysis undoubtedly adds to the scholarly enterprise of gaining a nuanced understanding of female’s involvement in (conservative) religious communities. Although the book focuses on the 19th century, the author relates to contemporary debates within the academic field of religion and gender.
Eline Huygens, Religion and Gender 11 (2021), DOI:10.1163/18785417-01101002
Suenens studie ger en inblick i det kvinnliga socialkaritativa ordenslivets utveckling i ett belgiskt perspektiv och illustrerar hur det kom att fungera som en plattform för kvinnors entreprenörskap, nätverksbyggande och frigörelse. Hon belyser också andlighet och religiös mentalitet och illustrerar den religiösa trons funktion som en drivkraft för de biograferade kvinnornas engagemang. Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning men ger också många nya infallsvinklar som kan vara värda att gå vidare med. Detta gäller inte minst den »romerska feminismen», manifesterad i den kyrkliga hierarkins allt starkare intresse av att använda sig av kvinnornas aktiva engagemang i den kyrkliga verksamheten – en trend som förstärkts på senare tid!
Yvonne Maria Werner, Kyrkohistorisk årsskrift 2021