Maria Maddalena De Pazzi

In one of the only English translations available, here are the mystical visions of this 16th century Italian saint

This work offers a detailed reconstruction of the campaigns for and trials resulting in the beatification (in 1626) and subsequent canonization in 1169 of the Florentine mystic nun, Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1607). Clare Copeland places her findings in the wide context of the politics of saint-making at a time of particular significance for the history of Roman Catholic canonization. The Protestant Reformation had put the Roman Catholic Church on the defensive in this area of devotional practice and the period covered in this volume (ca. 1600-1669) saw far-reaching reforms in the ways in which sanctity was measured and adjudicated by Rome. Copeland shows how these developments need to be seen less in terms of a top-down attempt by the central organs of ecclesiastical control to impose a hegemony of holiness and more in terms of negotiation over the meanings of sanctity—and how it relates to canonization-between the various stakeholders.

Employing contemporary theoretical perspectives, Uttering the Word provides the first detailed analysis of the language and thought of Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1607), an important but neglected Renaissance mystic. Borrowing from Lacan, de Certeau, and Deleuze, Maggi analyzes de' Pazzi's unique mystical discourse and studies how the Florentine visionary interprets the relationship between orality and writing, authorship and audience, sexual identity and language.

Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1607) spent most of her life as an enclosed nun in the Carmelite monastery of S. Maria degli Angeli in Florence. There she claimed to experience a remarkable range and number of ecstasies and visions; she received the stigmata, was mystically married to Christ, and re-enacted the Passion several times. This is the first book-length study of Maria Maddalena's life, cult, and cause for canonization. Whereas the Carmelite mystic nun Teresa of Avila is very well known, Maria Maddalena has received much less attention. Yet her life and afterlife provide compelling insights into convent culture and the place of mystical spirituality in the Counter-Reformation; how official saints were made during a period of major reform to the formal canonization process; and how people came to call on someone as an intercessor.

This work offers a detailed reconstruction of the campaigns for and trials resulting in the beatification (in 1626) and subsequent canonization in 1169 of the Florentine mystic nun, Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi (1566-1607). Clare Copeland places her findings in the wide context of the politics of saint-making at a time of particular significance for the history of Roman Catholic canonization. The Protestant Reformation had put the Roman Catholic Church on the defensive in this area of devotional practice and the period covered in this volume (ca. 1600-1669) saw far-reaching reforms in the ways in which sanctity was measured and adjudicated by Rome. Copeland shows how these developments need to be seen less in terms of a top-down attempt by the central organs of ecclesiastical control to impose a hegemony of holiness and more in terms of negotiation over the meanings of sanctity—and how it relates to canonization-between the various stakeholders.

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