“Manipuler” les consciences et persuader spirituellement. Les traités de religion destinés aux femmes

This is the franch trasnslation of my""Manipolare" le coscienze e persuadere spiritualmente. La trattatistica religiosa rivolta alle donne", in "Violenza alle donne: una prospettiva medievale", Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018. The essay analyzes some case study: some treatises on the direction of conscience addressed to the female audience from the 13th century onwards and, in particular, focuses on the logical argumentative systems with which the spiritual fathers were concerned to advance female devotees along the path of spiritual elevation. It points out how the so-called 'mystical marriage' with Christ, presented to women as the vector for the advancement of the soul, was in reality an ambiguous element. In virtue of the marriage relationship with the Creator, in fact, the woman was legitimized to feel 'elect' but, in doing so, she could potentially have also bypassed her spiritual father: the proximity to the God, in fact, could have been configured as the main element of legitimization and, consequently, of her spiritual autonomy. Instead, by calling the devotee to humility and claiming for himself the ministry of discretion of spirits, the spiritual father not only avoided that risk, but stood as the necessary and constant verifier of the soul's spousal relationship with God. All this ended up, therefore, in drawing very precise boundaries to the spiritual autonomy of the devout bride of Christ who, the mystical marriage with the Creator remaining, could not and, in the end, did not even want to loosen the bond of obedience that bound her to the director of conscience.