Corso di laurea magistrale in Scienze delle religioni

The course aims to provide the knowledge necessary to understand and critically analyze the relationship among society, religion (especially Catholicism) and gender in the Early Modern Age, up to the twentieth century, with particular attention to the shaping of consciences in Europe and the Italian peninsula. The course allows students to develop critical tools useful for understanding the evolution of gender roles in the socio-religious history of Catholic Europe through the study of the mechanisms put in place by the post-Tridentine Church to discipline both the body and sexual morality up to the twentieth century (sacramental confession, spiritual guidance, inquisitorial investigations and trials) as well as the gendered characterization of mystical-expiatory phenomena, understood as expressions of sanctity or simulated sanctity.

The relationship between masculinity and femininity in Early Modern religious society will be read within the framework of the post-Tridentine Church, exploring how it shaped – by means of spiritual directors – the morals of penitents subjected to their authority, thus creating precise behavioral patterns. At the same time, it will also interpret this relationship in light of the abuse of power, potentially taking the form of sexual abuse, that had the potential to arise from the relationship between confessor and penitent and which could affect women, men and minors.

The overall educational objective is therefore to enable students to historicize issues such as the development of gender roles in socio-religious contexts, the shaping of female behavior by male authorities, and abuse, issues which are still enormously relevant in today’s society.

The course will provide students with the ability to historicize and critically understand not only the development of gender roles in the socio-religious context of Early Modern Europe, but also the relationship between ecclesiastical discipline and abuse.

Students will acquire the following skills:

(a) Knowledge of the post-Tridentine historical context in which the idea of socio-religious discipline developed and its connection to the abuse of power (including sexual abuse) perpetrated in religious contexts by male authority, between the Early Modern Age and the late nineteenth century

(b) Knowledge of the functioning of the mechanisms and tools of moral discipline, including sacramental confession and the Roman Inquisition 

(c) Understanding of the consequences of discipline, i.e. the creation of gendered behavioral patterns and their impact on society in the Early Modern Age and in the long term, up to the twentieth centur

d) Understanding of female mystical-expiatory phenomena (e.g. stigmata and penitential and self-harm practices) in connection with gender role

e) Ability to deal critically with the archival sources (e.g. trial testimonies, correspondence) through which it is possible to retrace some of the case studies that will be examine

f) Ability to argue and communicate the proposed issues using appropriate language, including in contemporary contexts of public debate.

The course spans different perspectives and historical disciplines, such as religious, social and cultural history, the history of ideas and gender studies, applied to the analysis of the relationship among society, religion and gender in the Early Modern Age up to the threshold of contemporaneity. The teaching addresses the following topics:

(a) Discipline of the body and sexuality in the Early Modern Age, through the Church’s instruments of control and repression, especially sacramental confession and the Roman Inquisition: rules of chastity for nuns, the breaking of ecclesiastical celibacy, and the disciplining of marital sexual morality.

(b) The Inquisitorial crime of sollicitatio ad turpia, i.e. solicitation in the confessional: sexual abuse of penitents during confession.

(c) Gender roles in the ecclesiastical disciplining process (the confessor and the penitent, Inquisition judges and women on trial) and sexual abuse perpetrated by clerics against women according to Early Modern theological and moral categories.

(d) Simulation of female sanctity (stigmata, penitential and self-harm practices) in relation to the theme of spiritual guidance and sollicitatio ad turpia; the experiences of women and spiritual fathers investigated and put on trial, understood in their socio-religious contexts.

(e) Creation of behavioral patterns, including hagiographic models, through the shaping of people’s consciences.

(f) The control of sexual morality and spread of sexual abuse in female monasteries in the Italian peninsula in the nineteenth century: sollicitatio ad turpia and abuse perpetrated by women against other women.

(g) The phenomenon of stigmata, in relation to spiritual guidance and control of the female body, between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Oral, in-person, with the aid of Power Point presentations.

The end-of-course examination will be conducted orally, in Italian or English. The exam is based on the topics covered in class and the content of the texts listed in the bibliography.

Not only content knowledge will be assessed, but also the ability to critically analyze the topics covered in the course and/or analyzed in the texts provided.

For students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) or disabilities, please review the support procedures (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disabilita) and accommodations (https://www.unito.it/accoglienza-studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa) provided by the University, particularly the necessary procedures for exam support (https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-e-studentesse-con-disturbi-specifici-di-apprendimento-dsa/supporto).

To prepare for the exam, in addition to their lecture notes, students should also study a text of their choice from among the following three books:

Alfieri, Fernanda. Veronica e il diavolo. Giulio Einaudi Editore, 2021.

Brambilla, Elena. Corpi invasi e viaggi dell’anima. Santità, possessione, esorcismo dalla teologia barocca alla medicina illuminista. Viella, 2016.

Wolf, Hubert. Il vizio e la grazia. Edizioni Mondadori, 2015. 

And a text of their choice from among the following four articles:

Alfieri, F. 2012. “Impossibili unioni di uguali. L’amore fra donne nel discorso teologico e giuridico (secoli XVI-XVIII).” Dimensioni e problemi della ricerca storica 2: 33-;53.

Alfieri, F. 2022. “Sacrificio del desiderio e matrimonio cristiano fra tardomedioevo e prima età moderna.” Storicamente 18.

Kane, Paula M. 2002. “She offered herself up”: the victim soul and victim spirituality in Catholicism.” Church History 71, 1: 80-;119.

Laven, M. 2001. “Sex and celibacy in early modern Venice.” The Historical Journal 44, 4: 865-;888.

In addition to the two texts of their choice among those indicated above, the students who do not attend classes will also study the following book, instead of course notes:

Prosperi, Adriano. Tribunali della coscienza. Inquisitori, confessori, missionari. Einaudi, 1996.