From Penitence to Charity: Pious Women and the Catholic Reformation in Paris (review)

In Women Mystics Confront the Modern World (1998), Marie-Florine Bruneau studied how Marie de l'Incarnation (d. 1672) and Madame Guyon (d. 1717) navigated the changing religious demands of the Catholic Reform. Challenging assessments by Michel de Certeau and Caroline Walker Bynum, Bruneau argued that both women changed from a mystic and suffering spirituality to one of accomplishment and (occasionally) overt resistance. But she suggested that for these women, "opportunities translated only into bold new visions of inner freedom, rather than into an attempt to shape society so as to make it better suited to their desire for freedom" (224). Despite the provocative nature of Women Mystics, Bruneau's emphasis on female oppression pervades her understanding, undermining the strong role women played in France and New France.

Barbara Diefendorf, world-renowned expert on Paris in the seizième siècle, expands upon and challenges Bruneau's thesis in her study of dozens of dévotes. She is not content with generalizations, but sees nuances within the activities of women of Catholic Reformation France. Her goal is the study of the "contested spirituality" among women that developed between the time of the Holy League in the 1580s and '90s to the Fronde (1650) — before the women studied by Bruneau. Importantly, she draws attention to geographical variations, pointing out that most studies of female spirituality in this period have centered on Spain and Italy. Women in France often had greater inheritance rights and wealth than their sisters elsewhere — and that equaled power. Diefendorf's goal, at which she succeeds magnificently, is to chronicle "the rise of two distinct but related spiritual impulses. The mystical and penitential piety with which devout women responded to the wars of the League began to wane by the 1630s, just as the new surge of compassionate charity that peaked with the Fronde began" (19). Her study is highly sophisticated — she takes full account of the overlap of mysticism, penitential behavior, and more-outwardly-directed spiritual impulses. One of the many important achievements of From Penitence to Charity is to demonstrate women's active role in shaping Catholic institutions and values. Unwilling to generalize (that is, not Mary to Martha, but rather Mary and Martha), she shows not only how women's behaviors changed over time, but also the differences within old and new female orders and among the lay patrons. To talk of female (or male) spirituality ignores the many human variations and impulses that grew out of changing circumstances. Diefendorf avoids this pitfall masterfully.

In line with recent scholarship, Diefendorf shows how in moments of crisis, particularly war, gender identities become more fluid, offering women new opportunities and giving them the skills — such as the kind Marie de l'Incarnation developed in New France — needed to further their spiritual pursuits. In the period of the League, many devout women (lay and religious) tended to adopt penitential and ascetic practices, including the mortifications that had been so characteristic of late medieval piety. But as time went on, women's spirituality came under the influence of — and in turn influenced — male models of religious life (especially the Feuillants and Capuchins). In her study of the development of the new female orders, Diefendorf challenges many of the stereotypes about women in the Catholic Reformation. It has been standard to accuse the Church of imposing strict clausura on women against their will. Diefendorf shows that stricter enclosure was often the decision of the women themselves (such as the Ursulines of Paris). As new orders developed and quickly expanded, they innovated, engaging in charitable work — including hospitals, orphanages, houses of repentant prostitutes — helping the poor, and especially educating girls.

Women were influential at every level of the Catholic Reform in France. Diefendorf demonstrates persuasively that women, working alongside men or by themselves, shaped the values and spirituality of Catholic Paris from 1580 to 1650. Women even...