The Council of Trent and Women’s Active Congregations in Italy

Recent studies on religious women during the Counter-Reformation have questioned the idea that the Tridentine Church represented a compact repressive force enclosing passive women who wished to live an active religious life in the world. They have argued that enclosure was not enforced very successfully, that groups of devout women could pursue an active life in the world, that women were not submissive and did not necessarily see contemplative life in opposition or secondary to active life. Looking more closely at the Italian situation, this essay offers a novel picture of women’s active congregations after the Council of Trent and investigates the role played by the Church in their development. It will be argued that despite the fact that the Tridentine Church promulgated restrictive legislation concerning female religious life, women’s devotion in the world was actually supported and promoted precisely by the bishops who implemented the decrees of the Council of Trent, and by exponents of the new religious orders. The essay examines the social, spiritual and gender characteristics of the congregations and the factors that led the ecclesiastics to accept women’s devotion outside the cloister.