Dominican Sisters Together in Prayer: Reading, Praying and Singing in Portuguese Observant Reform Literature

Par Gilberto Coralejo Moiteiro
Publication en ligne le 15 mai 2024

Table des matières

Article au format PDF

Dominican Sisters Together in Prayer: Reading, Praying and Singing in Portuguese Observant Reform Literature (version PDF) (application/pdf – 1,5M)

Introduction

1The nun who wrote the Chronicle of the Foundation of the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro [Crónica da Fundação do Mosteiro de Jesus de Aveiro] in the first quarter of the 16^th century noted the care that the prioress of her monastery placed in the performance of the community’s liturgical functions1:

Era a muỹ virtuosa madre Nossa brityz leytoa muito solicita sobre todas cousas no officio divino, trabalhãdo e mãdando que sẽpre fosse feyto ẽ todo muy perfeyto e solẽpne cõ grãde amor e desejo do serviço e louvor de deus ẽ esta sua Casa cõtynuadamente se cõprir e fazer ẽ tudo muito sẽ ninhuũ erro nẽ falta. Mãdava Cantar todo o que se podia; porque aỹda nõ tiinhã abastãça de lyvros, ẽ Cadernos e folhas andavã solicitãdo e screvẽdo por onde podessẽ solẽpnizar E cantar nas festas. Houve dos padres [do Convento da Misericórdia] ẽprestados hũus orgãos e hũu manycordio […]. Tangiia Maria Raffael […] aa qual mãdou a virtuosa madre e pidio ẽssynasse duas Irmãas […] e ffez vigayra do coro, e aa madre Ines eanes fez meestra das noviças. Muito grãde studo e dilygẽcia tinha que todo ho canto e fallas fossem muito cõformes e uniformes e sẽ nẽhũa descãtar nẽ fazer põto e sayr cõ a falla aalem e fora das outras. E assy ho Rezar muito cõpassado e pausado per todas; e pera ysto as ỹssinar, Viinha allgũas vezes o padre frey Johão de guimarães [prior do Convento de Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia] cõ seu cõpanheyro a Rezar e Cantar cõ as Irmãas ẽquãto mais nõ sabiã do oficio divino. Ho principal studo seu e ho que sẽpre ẽ seus Capitulos amoestava e comẽdava sẽpre, assy era ho oficio divino, e ho que a elle pertẽecia².

[‘The virtuous Mother Beatriz Leitão was very diligent about all things in the divine office, working and commanding that everything was done very perfectly and solemnly with great love and desire for the service and praise of God in this house; the divine office should be continuously fulfilled and done in all things without any error or fault. She ordered them to sing everything that could be sung. Because they did not yet have an abundance of books, they requested books and wrote them in quires and sheets wherever they could to celebrate and sing at feasts. They borrowed some organs and a clavichord³ from the friars [...] Maria Rafael played them, to whom the virtuous mother sent and asked her to teach two sisters […], and made her the vicar of the choir, and made sister Inês Eanes the mistress of the novices. She had great diligence that all the singing and speaking should conform and be very uniform, without any off-key notes, note shifting, or failing to keep up with the other voices. Similarly, the prayers should be very measured and deliberate by all; and to teach them, Friar João de Guimarães [prior of the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy] and his companion would come to pray and sing with the sisters while they still did not know the divine office well. His main concern and what he always admonished and entrusted in his chapters was the divine office, and what pertained to it.’]

2For Beatriz Leitão (prioress between 1461-1480), as well as for the spiritual leaders of the nuns, the liturgy constituted the focal point of monastic daily life. Both showed a deep commitment to teaching, learning, and the correct performance of the divine office. To achieve this, they needed books, musical instruments, and knowledge of the essential requirements for the proper conduct of readings and chants. Books and musical instruments were borrowed, so the nuns could copy and learn to play them. Knowledge was supplied by the chantress Maria Rafael and the mistress of novices Inês Eanes, who were experienced nuns from a Dominican nunnery that, like the Monastery of Jesus [Mosteiro de Jesus], was associated with the Observant movement: the Monastery of the Savior [Mosteiro do Salvador] in Lisbon⁴. These sisters took on two of the most important positions, that of a chantress leading the nuns’ choir and that of a mistress of novices educating candidates for religious life, both transmitting their experience to the other members of the community. During the founding period, they received help and guidance from their confessors from the nearby Dominican convent⁵. They all worked to fully involve the community in fulfilling its purpose, the prayer offered to God by a perfectly harmonious body. In both singing and speaking, the plurality of voices had to result in unison. Only in this way would the order established in the Rule of St. Augustine and sanctioned by the constitutions of the Dominican nuns be fulfilled: «one heart and one soul in the Lord»⁶. An emphasis on solemn celebration of the liturgy (required by legislative documents from the female branch of the Order of Preachers) can also be seen in other passages of Beatriz Leitão. The foundation chronicle documents the introduction of a uniform and solemn liturgical corpus in Aveiro’s Monastery of Jesus, that had been taught first to the convent’s chantress and after that to the entire community.

3The purpose of this study is to show that the Observant reform⁷ assumed communal and liturgical prayer as its fundamental defining element. I explore the discourses on liturgy and communal reading presented in the literature received and conceived by Portuguese female Dominican monasteries during the reform period. The texts analyzed come from two of the most important Portuguese Dominican nunneries of this period: the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro (founded in 1461)⁸ and the Monastery of Our Lady of Paradise [Mosteiro de Nossa Senhora do Paraíso] in Évora (founded in 1516)⁹. Keeping in mind that, at present, their libraries are the best studied, these two communities seem to be the most active sites for religious literature of the Order of Preachers in Portugal. Both liturgical and non-liturgical books survive from their libraries¹⁰. Non-liturgical books are the focus of my attention here.

4Almost all non-liturgical documents from these nunneries are written in Portuguese, and most of them deal with normative contents. As we will see, these texts derive from the Augustinian matrix and depend on the normative principles established in the Rule of St. Augustine. Some of them are associated with the legislative intervention carried out by the master general of the Dominicans, Humbert of Romans, in the mid-13^th century. One text parallels the translation and adaptation of the Book of Duties for the female branch of the Order by the German reformer Johannes Meyer in the mid-15^th century¹¹. In addition to legislative documents, I give special attention to the chronicle written by the anonymous nun mentioned at the beginning of this article, which tells the story of the Monastery of Jesus and confirms normative principles through a discourse aimed at building the identity of her community. Its extensive narrative adopts a hagiographic model, which reinforces its power of persuasion to establish in the monastery an environment conducive to the virtues exemplified by the story’s protagonists.

Literary Devices for Devotional and Liturgical Education

5The commitment of the Observant reformers to developing the literary skills of nuns has been noted repeatedly¹². This interest in female literacy is part of a larger trend of increasing vernacular literacy and of women’s participation in this process during the Late Middle Ages¹³. This trend has been demonstrated for the female branch of the Order of Preachers, allowing us to infer that the Order’s superiors saw the acquisition and development of literary skills, especially in the vernacular, as an effective tool for spiritual elevation and fulfillment of the requirements of religious life¹⁴. The same trends as in other Dominican provinces can be observed in Portugal, as well. Here too, we find the commitment of Dominican nuns to providing their monasteries with written materials in the vernacular, through which they can learn about their monastic obligations, perform liturgical duties, and occupy moments of communal reading¹⁵.

6Along with liturgical books, normative and narrative texts were the preferred genres. The prioress of the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro, Maria de Ataíde (1482-1525), sought to ensure that their monastery had a variety of normative, devotional, memorial, and liturgical books¹⁶. Apart from a Latin version of the Rule of St. Augustine¹⁷, we also find Portuguese constitutions¹⁸ and a Portuguese Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine by Hugh of St. Victor¹⁹. We know that the nuns of Aveiro copied a collection of sermons attributed to St. Augustine²⁰, as well as two hagiographic lives of this same saint²¹, and they received donated books on Christological themes²². Furthermore, Aveiro’s community constructed their memory with a history of the foundational period, followed by a list of professed nuns. It is composed in a hagiographic form, which gives it a strong didactic and persuasive power. The examples of the first generations of women of the Monastery of Jesus are presented to the readers (and listeners) as models to be followed by the Dominican nuns, simultaneously offering to the Observant movement exemplary figures that legitimize and strengthen its social image²³.

7The text that narrates the history of the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro is much more developed and profound when compared to the later history of the Monastery of Our Lady of Paradise in Évora²⁴, composed under the prioress Margarida da Grã (1532-1580)²⁵. The text from Évora relates the process of the community’s conventualization and its integration into the group of Observant monasteries. With its list of assets, a note about the works of the monastery’s enlargement and its records of professed nuns, the text clearly shows how the community became increasingly wealthy and noble²⁶. In 1537, Margarida da Grã also commissioned a codex²⁷ that brought together a set of normative texts in Portuguese, corresponding to those from Aveiro: the Rule of St. Augustine²⁸, the constitutions of the Dominican nuns²⁹, the Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine³⁰, and the Book of Duties³¹. This acquisition can be interpreted in the context of a broader strategy to provide the monastery with a set of texts considered essential for conforming the community to the principles of the Observant reform. Liturgical books were also commissioned, continuing the work initiated by the previous prioress, Joana Correia³². As we have seen for Aveiro and Évora, these distinct book types helped Dominican nunneries to understand what was expected from reformed nuns. Their contents were mutually reinforcing, as they shared a common purpose.

8Considered as a whole, these types of texts aimed to immerse the communities in the spiritual environment outlined by the reformers³³. Books and readings were the support for meditation and imitation, and the nuns found in them the principles, examples, and norms of expected behavior. It was certainly for this reason that the leaders of the communities acquired the texts considered essential for the project of consecrated life that these women intended to accomplish. Whether in the choir, in the chapter room, in the refectory, in the infirmary, or in the monastery’s chapels, readings were part of their daily lives. We find here true textual communities³⁴, whose objects and collective practices aim at the internalization of ordering principles with a view to their application in the lives of each and every member of the monastery.

The Community as a Horizon

9The underlying logic of this mental system is always on the level of the collective, not the individual³⁵. The collective mindset is frequently noted in the titles listed above, which are based on the concept of caritas, the backbone of the monastic way of life³⁶. These texts establish their spirituality on the example of the apostles, the union of wills, and the communal use of the goods necessary for the sustenance of religious people³⁷. If love for God is manifested in the love for one’s neighbor³⁸, within the monastic community that love is materialized in a set of dispositions that orbit around the notions of unity and sharing³⁹. Caritas implies gathering all members of the community under the same will, reproducing the image of the mystical body of Christ in peace, unity, and concord⁴⁰. This is exactly the mission of the superior, to ensure the unity of those he or she governs⁴¹. Peace and concord depend on humility and the obedience of each member, who must, above all, renounce their own will⁴². Marks of individuality must be erased since it is in collectivity that the project of holiness to which the religious person is called is effectively fulfilled⁴³. Even the slightest manifestation of individuality is subject to heavy censure, precisely because it tends to generate disunity. The texts that the Dominican sisters could read and hear even mention threats to community unity, including pride and vainglory, disobedience, covetousness, and envy⁴⁴.

10One of the indispensable conditions for building unity within the community is the prohibition of private property. The apostolic life constituted the paradigm that inspired the texts of the Augustinian tradition. The image conveyed in the Acts of the Apostles regarding the way of life that characterized the early Christian communities, especially the primitive Church of Jerusalem, was the model to follow⁴⁵. For the religious person to achieve this goal, it is necessary to renounce possession of any kind of property, which, regardless of its nature, movable or immovable, must be used for the common good. Ideally, rich and poor would find in the monastery an economically and socially leveled space, where the former share with the latter what they do not possess⁴⁶. Since the possession of personal belongings undermines unity, the Rule of St. Augustine maintains that all personal goods be handed over to the superior so that they can be put at the service of the community⁴⁷, which depends on shared clothing and provisions of food⁴⁸. The prohibition of property ownership is justified within the community according to the paradigm of spiritual nakedness, so that religious people could devote themselves entirely to God without concern for their material sustenance⁴⁹. The constitutions of the Dominican nuns maintained a concern for individual poverty by providing a chapter dedicated to the «community of goods»⁵⁰. Novices were taught that before taking their vows they should pay off any debts and place any remaining possessions at the feet of the prioress. The nuns would also hand over any donated property to the prioress when requested⁵¹. Violations of this principle were considered a very serious offense⁵². The principles of sharing goods and subsuming individual wills requires the participation of all members in the construction of the community. Every action is a collective one, regardless whether it is performed by the whole group or an individual⁵³.

11The texts analyzed here reveal a set of guiding principles for Dominican communities within a framework that is intended to remain perfectly stable. Although these legislative instruments are directed to each of the nunneries, taken together they project a desideratum that, since the 13^th century, has moved Dominican superiors: ensuring uniformity on a macro scale within the order. Empirical evidence does not always confirm the desired homogeneity⁵⁴. Perhaps for this reason, there was a need to constantly reaffirm the essential principles, particularly in a period of reform.

Devotional and Liturgical Communities

12According to the Augustinian tradition, liturgy and communal reading are the most powerful means to unite the community around the aggregating focus, which is God. Spoken or sung prayer should respect a certain sequence and be based on a harmonizing rationale. Prayer should take place at predetermined times and in absolute respect for the form and content of the words spoken. These words must reflect a suitable disposition⁵⁵, hence the recurring warnings about the concentration of brothers during moments dedicated to communal reading⁵⁶. Prayer must fully occupy the religious person. It will include not only the penitent’s intentions, but also the needs of all Christians, so that the benefits of their prayer spread throughout Christendom⁵⁷. The model to follow is found in the angels who eternally praise God in paradise. Likewise, religious persons should occupy themselves, vigilant day and night, in prayers directed to the Lord⁵⁸.

13The set of texts that rule the spirituality of Dominican women admonishes that extreme respect must be reserved for spaces of prayer. The dignity of the sacred space is based on the Scriptures, in the episode where Jesus expels the merchants from the temple in Jerusalem for engaging in activities incompatible with its function, thus profaning the house of God⁵⁹. The use of the Gospel narrative seeks to instill in its recipients an attitude conducive to the spiritualization of the prayer space, creating the appropriate environment for the union of the soul with the Creator⁶⁰. If monastic prayer is, above all, communal prayer, it is necessary to pay attention to how religious people should make use of the church.

14It is also essential to observe the norms stipulated for liturgical acts. The authors read in Aveiro treated this theme according to two main pairs of opposites: authority versus obedience, individualism versus community. Chant should be sung in absolute respect for the contents inscribed in the liturgical books. The introduction of individual innovations is not allowed⁶¹. If the need to modify any element of the liturgy is eventually considered, these alterations will depend on the order’s general chapter. What this prescription seeks to preserve is the principle of communal unity and the exaltation of humility, which underlies the condemnation of any kind of individual self-assertion, understood as pride⁶². The words directed to God in liturgical prayer should reflect the inner disposition and should influence one’s behavior⁶³. The repetitive nature of prayer and chant sometimes leads to distractions, taking the mind away from the meaning of the words. The Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine interprets these occurrences as the action of malevolent forces, who know the value of prayer⁶⁴. Yet, prayer itself is not enough. The words addressed to God should correspond to Christian conduct, especially when they are said in the space reserved for prayer.

15The constitutions of the Dominican nuns treat the observance of the canonical hours, mandating the presence of the whole community in deep devotion and absolute respect for the schedule and form of the offices. The nuns found advice there on the measured way prayers should be spoken and chants intoned. The constitutions gave them guidance on positions and gestures to observe, such as inclinations, genuflections, prostrations, sign of the cross, blessings, and sprinkling with holy water, but also on processions, the alternation of singing and gestures in both choirs, the direction in which the choirs face, moments of sitting and standing, with the prioress or the priest presiding, according to the different liturgical acts. The constitutions also established the main community prayers in praise of God, the Virgin, and the saints, prayers for the Church and suffrages for the deceased members of the order, benefactors, and relatives of the monastery, as well as for the nuns’ own relatives⁶⁵.

16The constitutions even stipulated punishments for faults committed by the religious women in this regard (punishable with psalms, disciplines, and prostrations): for nuns who were late or unjustifiably absent from liturgical services, for those who fell asleep, or for those who were inattentive or insufficiently circumspect. Incorrect singing, inaccurate pauses in communal reading, and lack of coordination with their fellow sisters were also punished. Similarly, improper treatment of liturgical vessels was subject to penalties. According to the gravity and consistency of the committed errors, penances could be bodily disciplines, such as fasting on bread and water, or humiliations before the entire community⁶⁶. These punishments aimed to guarantee nuns’ proper behavior and a harmonious atmosphere within the community, focusing on some of the most important elements of sisters’ duties. At the same time, these sanctions showed the essential cores of monastic daily life, centering on liturgy, to which nuns should attend with the utmost care.

17In addition to common property and uniform liturgical practice, all these texts also support the value of reading within religious life. They argue that the lessons from sacred texts inspire meditation and spiritual practices. The author of the Sermons of St. Augustine explained the necessity and functionality of texts in religious life, as well as exhorting religious individuals to read the Holy Scriptures. He argued that the New Testament had overcome an old problem, in which people despised the words of the prophets. Therefore, God had to send his son to speak to them himself and free humanity from the bonds of the Devil. Christ then sent his disciples to preach the sacred word and to record it in writing⁶⁷. Reading therefore constituted another spiritual tool against the snares of the Enemy. Through spiritual reading, religious people would distinguish good from evil and discover the criteria that should guide their behavior. The written word would inspire good works. Reading would teach the path of active and contemplative life to both the reader and the listener⁶⁸. It would be the light that illuminates, revealing the image of virtue and serving as a weapon against sin. Ultimately, reading was understood as the true food for the soul, superior to any physical nourishment. The value of reading therefore lay in the community’s endeavor to practice the principles transmitted in the texts⁶⁹.

18According to the Rule there were moments set aside for communal reading within the monastery that went beyond the confines of the church. The refectory, as a space that brought together all the members of the community at a distinct time, was designated as a place of meditation, where attentively listening to the words read in community was of utmost importance⁷⁰. Both the constitutions and the Book of Duties offer valuable information about the functions of a school for novices, where young nuns would learn the essential subjects for various dimensions of conventual life, with an emphasis on the liturgy⁷¹.

19The concern with the proper execution of readings and rituals led Master General Humbert of Romans, in his Book of Duties, to define conventual offices strictly dedicated to training and monitoring these two essential domains of monastic life. The duties of chantress, reader, and table corrector were to plan and organize readings, and to maintain in good condition the liturgical vessels and books that supported reading and liturgical performance. In addition to the mistress of novices⁷², whose office included a training program that summarized the Dominican forma vitae, the Book of Duties also highlighted the roles of the prioress and subprioress⁷³, who supervised everything related to the execution of the offices and readings, in coordination with other officials. They should make every effort to ensure that the monastery had not only the necessary liturgical books, but also biblical texts, devotional books, and the legislative instruments of the Order to be read in the chapter and refectory.

20The chantress (head singer), assisted by the subchantress, organized the liturgical life celebrated in the choir of the church. She ensured the conservation of the choir books, kept them in an appropriate cabinet, and corrected them «in chant, lyrics, points [and] accents»⁷⁴. She organized the schedule of offices, the weekly roster of the sisters responsible for conducting various liturgical duties, the singing of the canonical hours, the Eucharist, processions, burials, and the anointing of the sick. It was up to the chantress to prepare the sisters for the main feasts and for the most difficult offices to perform, distributing them evenly between the two choirs, correcting the pitch, making hand signals for raising or lowering the vocal pitch, as well as for pauses, inclinations, and prostrations. For cases of less dedicated or difficult-to-correct nuns, she had to inform the prioress of their faults during the conventual chapter⁷⁵.

21It was the sacristan’s responsibility to maintain the church altars and ring the bell to call the nuns to the chapter, for mass, for the canonical hours, and for other communal rituals. The sacristan was responsible for providing the church and other convent spaces with candles, candlesticks, oil lamps, hosts, wine, water, incense, and clean towels, as well as ensuring the cleanliness of the liturgical furnishings and vestments. The sacristan was also responsible for keeping an updated inventory of the church’s movable property. She should prepare the sisters of her community to sing the chants of the mass, especially on important feasts such as Palm Sunday and the Purification⁷⁶.

22The reader was responsible for the readings that took place outside the choir, in the chapter room and in the refectory⁷⁷, not only during the main meals but also during the smaller ones, called collation. So that she would be perfectly understood by the community, the reader had to pay attention to accentuation and punctuation, as well as to the implicit meaning in each sentence. She should use an appropriate tone of voice, not too loud or excessively low, read slowly, and make the necessary pauses. At the same time, she had to pay attention to the corrections pointed out by the corrector of the table. Placed in a position to be well heard, the reader would begin to read when the community was properly seated, at the signal given by the prioress⁷⁸. In addition to selecting the readings for the table, the corrector had the function of studying and helping the readers resolve doubts over pronunciation. The Book of Duties suggests using some written notes to assist her in this task⁷⁹.

23Ultimately, the existence of all these conventual offices aimed to ensure the constitutional mandates of the Order. Their activity within the communities should be seen as a network, where everyone worked towards the same goal in mutual dependence under the supervision of the prioress and her assistant, the subprioress. The performative cohesion of the community around the sung and recited prayer and the devotional uniformity fostered by communal reading depended on this hierarchical interconnectedness of duties.

24The normative texts also mandate that Dominican houses should be equipped with a set of books for the service of the choir and other liturgical functions, as well as texts for the refectory reading. In the rubrics regarding books, those of a liturgical nature receive special attention. The centrality of the divine office in the life of the convents of the second branch of the Order of Preachers justified this care. Besides overseeing the nuns’ behavior, the monitors (cercadoras) and the dormitory keeper had to be attentive to weather conditions that could endanger the preservation of books⁸⁰. This concern also compelled the vestiarian to provide «fabric covers for the books»⁸¹. It was up to the chantress to guard and select the books, according to the sequence imposed by the liturgical year and the performance of ad hoc ceremonies, such as the anointing of sick sisters or burials. Not only the conventual church or the choir, but also the infirmary had to have books that could be read by or to the sick sisters⁸².

25The Book of Duties advised readings for chapter and meals intended to teach contents from which devotion and meditation could be stimulated. Among the suggested titles, normative ones stand out, such as the Rule and the constitutions. The copy from Évora also advised convents to have the legislative updates from the superiors of the Order, crucial documents from a regulatory standpoint, to be known and observed by the communities. Indeed, the normative texts included a clause requiring their periodic reading⁸³. For the mistress of novices, the Book of Duties suggested a program that combined liturgical training with reading and commentary on moral and didactic texts, the same ones that should occupy the nuns at the table lesson. The recommended titles reveal a preference for the classics of the Christian monastic tradition, but they also open the possibility of recently composed texts, which had not yet acquired the same canonical status, as I believe I can interpret the reference to the so-called «original books»⁸⁴. The Book of Duties suggested to the Dominican nuns a set of titles that reveal the persistence of recurring models in many monastic libraries, mirrored in the lives and sayings of the desert fathers⁸⁵, which should be complemented by the passions and legends of the saints. Moreover, texts of contemplative monastic spirituality produced in a context of reform appeared alongside other important books aimed at inflaming the soul in divine love, such as Augustine’s Confessions, Anselm’s Meditations and Prayers, Pseudo-Bernard’s Meditations, Hugh of Saint Victor’s On Science⁸⁶, Bernard’s On the Degrees of Pride and On Loving God, and Hugh of Fouilloy’s De Claustro Animae, as well as pedagogical and moral treatises, such as a Book of Sins and Virtues. The Sacred Scriptures and sermons on the lives of saints and the Passion of Christ complete the picture of readings recommended by the author of the Book of Duties⁸⁷.

26Liturgy and devotional practices were the two defining elements of female monastic communities. All analyzed normative texts from the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro and the Monastery of Our Lady of Paradise in Évora emphasized the communal nature of prayer, on which communal unity depended. Sung and recited prayer had to follow the protocol approved by the superiors of the Order, so that all monasteries were linked to each other, united by the same texts. The importance that normative texts assigned to communal practices is revealed by the punishments stipulated for non-compliance, as well as the determination of competences and responsibilities allocated to very well-regulated positions, such as chantress and novice mistress, designed to ensure the fulfillment of liturgical obligations.

Liturgy and Reading: Markers of Community Life and History

27Along with the normative texts, the Chronicle of the Foundation of the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro, written by a nun of that community in the first quarter of the 16^th century, constituted a guide for the daily life of the community to which it was addressed. The fact that the text was organized around exemplary figures gave it an unprecedented strength, as it encouraged in the living community a bond of identification with their deceased members. The latter was presented in an unequivocally hagiographic manner, proposing a horizon of imitability where acts of a communal nature occupied a central position.

28The lengthy narrative includes two main parts⁸⁸. The first part tells the story of the monastery’s foundation and opens with Beatriz Leitão’s life⁸⁹. Her life embodies the attributes of the perfect prioress who leads her flock according to the regulations of the Order of Preachers. The lives of Catarina de Ataíde⁹⁰ and Mécia Pereira⁹¹ are also highlighted. The second part of the chronicle focuses on the figure of Infanta D. Joana (1452-1490)⁹², daughter of King Afonso V. All of them die in an odor of sanctity, all contribute to an environment of communal identification and appropriate conduct. The structuring traits of the devotional and liturgical regime promoted by this monastic narrative revolve around two essential categories: daily life and exceptional moments.

29Throughout both of these organizing cores of discourse, the idea of the superiority of the community over individuality is prominent. The Dominican friars, their confessors, admonished the nuns about the centrality of liturgical services. Despite the appointment of officials specifically dedicated to liturgical duties, the friars tasked the prioress with directly monitoring the performances of the nuns in this matter. They even defined very specific performative norms regarding the practices that the nuns should observe in the lessons, verses, and responsories, as well as regarding the balance that the nuns should respect between the liturgical services and manual labor⁹³. Recall the excerpt I quoted at the beginning of this article, which showed how Mother Beatriz was particularly invested in the divine office⁹⁴. This episode revealed the concern for teaching and learning the skills necessary for the proper execution of the office, accessibility to textual supports and musical instruments, and the demand for rhythmic uniformity in speech and song, with love for God to truly solemnize the liturgical acts. The introduction of any kind of innovation, polyphony, or individual particularism was not welcome⁹⁵.

30The chronicler emphasized the importance of community life through the exemplary life narratives of the Aveiro monastery’s founding women. She noted that Beatriz Leitão was deeply committed to maintaining a cohesive community, both physically and spiritually united. The prioress did not easily accept justifications from nuns who missed communal services⁹⁶. And when she noticed that a sister was separating herself from the others, she would call her to participate in the company of the sisters⁹⁷. Similarly, Infanta D. Joana was very pleased to see the nuns gathered, and fostered an environment of harmony, meditation, and collective discussion about the topics raised by the readings at the table⁹⁸. She also endeavored to acquire books, both liturgical and non-liturgical, so that the monastery had instruments of spiritual edification⁹⁹. Moreover, already very ill and seeing the sadness of the sisters who saw her leaving earthly life, she sought to console them, saying that she was leaving them a good set of books for their consolation and spiritual pleasure¹⁰⁰. The stories of these leading figures showed the nuns how they were highly committed to community cohesion around its devotional foci and times of gathering.

31Joana’s case is particularly curious, as she was situated on the border between religious life and the world. Her case deserves some exploration, as at times it seems to contradict the didactic plan underlying the narrative, but on the other hand, her attitudes reinforce the main message that the nuns should embrace. As the daughter of the monarch, Joana’s religious vocation was not accepted by her family or by representatives of the main social groups, who feared the possibility that succession to the throne might not be secured. The hagiographical text uses the topic of fuga mundi, as well as that of social resistance, which is portrayed as the action of malevolent forces against the salvation of souls¹⁰¹. Infanta Joana thus finds herself in an ambiguous situation in the monastery, as she receives the habit of a novice, but does not actually profess. On the other hand, her social position allows her to maintain a personal apartment within the monastery grounds, where she educates her nephew Jorge and even builds a private chapel equipped with liturgical vestments, devotional images, books, and her own chaplains¹⁰². However, the chronicler vehemently points out that she always followed the community of nuns in all moments and spaces of convent life, never failing to attend liturgical services, communal meals, and the weekly tasks assigned to her, following the rite of the Order of Preachers, and confessing to the Dominican friars¹⁰³. This aspect is emphasized from the moment she enters the Monastery of Jesus, when she abandons the Roman office¹⁰⁴. In sum, the chronicler justifies the liminal position in which the princess lives. On the one hand, this position allows her to act within a framework of exceptionality; on the other hand, the chronicler affirms that this happened due to external imposition, against her will, and that the infanta never shirks her duties. On the contrary, throughout her time in the community the infanta excels in holiness as a perfect Dominican nun¹⁰⁵.

32The case of Joana replicates in a more developed way the traits represented by the other religious women who likewise are portrayed as saintly¹⁰⁶. Just like the princess, Beatriz Leitão, Mécia Pereira, and Catarina de Ataíde participated in the day-to-day life of the community, even when they were ill¹⁰⁷. When their illness grew and they were bedridden, the community went to them, surrounding their beds and praying and reading with them. In extreme cases, masses were even celebrated by their bedside¹⁰⁸. The illnesses of these women generated networks of liturgical prayer that went beyond the walls of the monastery. In the nearby churches, starting with the Dominican friars, masses were celebrated to ask for divine intervention to obtain the health of the sick nuns¹⁰⁹. Regarding Joana, for example, the community was always present as her illness progressed. Describing these moments, the memorial text is filled with names of religious women who helped her both physically and spiritually, reading the Passion of Christ to her, praying, being present at the Anointing of the Sick, and, naturally, at her funeral¹¹⁰. These episodes reinforced the community’s commitment with liturgical celebrations. Although referring to individual sisters, the text commemorates the whole group of nuns, creating a sense of unity.

33From a liturgical point of view, discussion of daily life and exceptional events helped the intended audience to realize what was expected from them. The Chronicle of the Foundation of the Monastery of Jesus is particularly rich in references to liturgical times and spaces¹¹¹, officials responsible for liturgical functions¹¹², and quotations taken from liturgical sources, often used to establish comparisons with biblical episodes and lives of the saints¹¹³. However, there are moments that deserve the chronicler’s special attention and lead her to describe these events in considerable detail. In September 1479, a royal order forced Beatriz Leitão and a small group of nuns to leave their monastery and follow the princess due to an outbreak of the plague¹¹⁴. The group of nuns was accompanied by the princess’s chaplains. The chronicler emphasizes that, even though they were in environments very distinct from their monastery, the nuns never failed to fulfill their liturgical duties, reproducing along the journey towards the south of the kingdom the same offices they performed in Aveiro¹¹⁵. These are special occasions that reflect significant moments in the community’s history, either due to festive motivations or in relation to losses particularly significant to the community.

34The way the chronicler locates events in time takes liturgy as a reference. It is common to date events by the annual cycle of liturgical feasts. Sometimes, she identifies the time of the day when these events took place, indicating the canonical hour at which or near which they took place. Often, she associates these temporal markers with the respective date on the civil calendar, denoting, on one hand, an interest in attributing credibility to the narrated contents, and, on the other hand, revealing the monastic environment of which the narrator is a part, deeply imbued with the daily liturgical culture that is exactly the cultural horizon of her audience, the nuns of the Monastery of Jesus¹¹⁶.

35The festive days that received more detailed attention from the chronicler correspond to the founding moments of the community, which reflect its process of construction. These celebrations also mark the most significant moments in the process of development of the individual nuns. The blessing of the house where the first group of women gathered to adopt a religious way of life is one of those founding moments. We see there the Dominican friars assisting the group of women led by Beatriz Leitão, who, as soon as they began to live there, adopted a way of life oriented towards prayer and liturgy in seclusion¹¹⁷. After the reception of the papal bull that recognized the Dominican monastic community, the chronicler recounts the hurried profession of Mécia Pereira¹¹⁸, who was very sick and would soon pass away. She provides detailed descriptions of Christmas Day in 1464, when the older nuns took the habit, thereby officially entering the novitiate, and of the ceremony of the enclosure of the monastery¹¹⁹, which took place on January 1^st of 1465. Concerning this last episode, the chronicler made a point of recording the processions carried out with their respective routes, the hymns sung, the solemn mass, and the sermon given by Fr. Pero Dias de Évora. She recalls the theme of the sermon and explains its content. This was followed by lunch, for which tables were set up throughout the monastery. In the afternoon, vespers and compline were sung accompanied by organs. At the end of the day, the prior of the Dominican friars handed the keys of the monastery over to the prioress. This ceremony took on a public dimension, as it involved the clergy and the inhabitants of Aveiro, as well as the nuns’ relatives. The chronicler also makes a point of creating emotional ties with her audience, recalling the emotion and tears of wonder and joy that the characters in her text felt on those significant occasions¹²⁰. By means of these accounts, every nun could connect with the formative milestones of their community’s history, marked by significant rituals that brought together the entire community of which they were a member.

36After a year of wearing the habit, in January 1466, the novices made their profession. This event also received detailed attention in the monastic chronicle. The prior of the Dominicans, Fr. João de Guimarães, received the profession of Beatriz Leitão and two other nuns so that, as the community’s vicar, Beatriz could receive the vows of the remaining novices. The ensuing profession ceremonies were witnessed by King Afonso V himself, who made a point of being present. It is worth noting that this monastery was inhabited by several daughters of the Portuguese nobility, and the reputation of the Observance that was practiced there attracted attention. This ceremony even involved the participation of the royal chapel, its singers, and its preacher. The chronicler underlines the respect for enclosure, indicating that the king witnessed the profession ritual from outside the grille that separated the choir from the church¹²¹. She also noted the taking of the habit by Infanta Joana and the profession of Leonor de Meneses¹²², who would later hold the position of subprioress and succeed Beatriz Leitão as prioress. The ceremony that involved the infanta in 1475 received even more detailed attention, recording the spaces where the rites took place (chapter and choir of the church), the people who participated in the event, the words spoken, the cutting of her hair, the donning of the habit, the depositing of personal belongings (jewelry and relics) in a basket, and her prostration before the altar of the church. This description portrays the Dominican ritual of taking the habit¹²³, which was highly valuable to the nuns to whom this story was told; each of them had either experienced the same ceremony or were waiting for their turn. This rite of passage was central in each nun’s life, as it meant undergoing a complete separation from the world and symbolically conforming oneself to communal norms.

37The funerals of deceased nuns were also the subject of attention in the community’s memory. Some were preceded by prolonged and painful illnesses. The cases of Infanta Joana¹²⁴ and prioress Beatriz Leitão¹²⁵ are particularly significant from the point of view of the text’s hagiographic intention. Although not as detailed, the funeral of Mécia Pereira¹²⁶ had already received special attention, as it involved not only the Dominican communities of friars and nuns, but also other clergy and the population of the town, an aspect that is emphasized to show the prestige that these women had beyond the restricted circle of their monastery.

38Beatriz passed away outside of Aveiro, in Abrantes, where there was a community of Observant Dominican friars¹²⁷. The ceremonies of commendation of the soul and her burial were described in some detail, indicating the spaces occupied, the rites celebrated, the solemnity of the religious services, and the place of burial in the chapter room of the friars’ convent. However, her remains were transferred to the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro. This translation was also described in detail, as well as the burial services in her new grave in the chapter room of Our Lady, located in the cloister of the Monastery of Jesus, a central place in the life of the Aveiro community. The way the chronicler described the procession that accompanied Beatriz’s body conveys the idea of solemnity and public demonstration of that event, as the coffin, carried by an animal, was accompanied by chaplains and priests with crosses, burning torches and candles, praying and singing. Mécia Pereira was also buried in Aveiro’s chapter room of Our Lady. Funeral liturgies and burial practices linked the living community to the historical figures of the deceased community.

39The burial services of Infanta Joana also had a public dimension. The Catholic hierarchy manifested itself more explicitly through the participation of the bishops of Coimbra and Porto. Unlike the founding mothers, who had been buried in the chapter room, the infanta’s remains were laid to rest in the choir of the church, which, in addition to being a central place in the life of the community, emphasized her position of superiority both from a social and from a ritual standpoint. The Order of Preachers certainly recognized in this figure a potential for affirmation and prestige that no other Dominican nun could achieve.

40As we have seen, although the conventual memory produced in Aveiro was marked by the exploration of exemplary individual lives, the topics selected by the author of the text accord superiority to the communal contexts in which the protagonists act rather than to individual concerns. Their cases allow us to understand the precise moments in which the community is constituted as such. These moments permeate monastic life, as they involve daily routines, but they gain extraordinary didactic force through the accounts of significant events in the history of each of the main figures, such as reception of the habit, profession, and death, which reflect the life path of every nun.

Conclusion

41The Observant reform made use of vernacular textual instruments to establish truly committed female religious communities in fulfilling the Dominican way of life. Observance assumed community and liturgical prayer as its main defining element and the focal point of monastic daily life. Therefore, the leaders of convents and their spiritual directors were deeply committed to teaching, learning, and correct execution of the divine office. In order to meet the essential requirements for the good performance of readings and chants, the sisters needed books and musical instruments, which they made or borrowed, as well as literary and liturgical skills, which they obtained from experienced religious women and through their own confessors.

42Building a devotional culture implied the acquisition and development of literary skills, namely in the vernacular, so that the Dominican nuns could know their monastic obligations, perform liturgical offices, and fulfill the moments of communal reading. The prioresses of the Monastery of Our Lady of Paradise in Évora and of the Monastery of Jesus in Aveiro acquired normative texts in Portuguese with a pedagogical purpose in mind. They provided the monasteries with texts considered essential for shaping the community with the principles of the reform they sought to implement. In addition, they promoted the writing of conventual memoirs that sought to immerse the communities in a conducive spiritual environment, offering principles, examples, and norms of behavior. These constituted supports for meditation and pedagogical projects aimed at fostering imitation of the behaviors presented there. The nuns found models to be followed and exemplary figures that legitimized and strengthened the Observant movement.

43The underlying logic of the intended monastic way of life was based on the superiority of the community over individuality. Only in this way could the unity of the community be ensured. Its members had to renounce any mark of individuality to perfectly fulfill the devotional regime to which they were called. The texts used by the nuns supported the importance of prayer and liturgy as powerful means to achieve the union of the community around their focus, which was God. The liturgy had to be sung in absolute respect for the contents inscribed in the liturgical books. Voices and bodies had to act in perfect harmony, ensuring the unity of the bodies and souls of the nuns.

44Liturgy and reading proved important markers of the life and history of the community, as shown by the chronicle written in Aveiro. The monastic narrative presents exemplary figures that encourage the living community to identify with the deceased community, proposing a horizon of imitability. The organization of discourse around daily life and extraordinary events also highlights the superiority of collectivity over individuality. All the celebrated figures of the community demonstrate the importance of liturgy, uniformity, and community life. The chronicler reveals her deep immersion in the devotional culture of her community, especially when she details the most significant ceremonies, such as the enclosure of the monastery, reception of habits, profession ceremonies, or funerals. Contrary to the chronicler of Évora, whose text is much more schematic, factual, and less concerned with the didactics of daily life, the Aveiro chronicler creates emotional ties with her audience, recalling the tears shed by the figures in her text. By focusing the narrative on the saints of the community, this chronicler confers an exceptional strength to her text, as it stimulates identification processes in the community that promise to obtain the desired effect with greater probability. To put it briefly, all the vernacular texts secured the uniformity of the women’s ritual, liturgical, and performative lives.

Notes

Pour citer ce document

Quelques mots à propos de :  Gilberto Coralejo Moiteiro

Droits d'auteur

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY-NC 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/fr/) / Article distribué selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons CC BY-NC.3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/fr/)