The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal (67 page)

27.
Albani was born in 1750, became a cardinal in 1801, and was cardinal secretary of state from 1829 to 1831. He died in 1834. See
DBI
1 (1960), online:
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/giuseppe-andrea-albani_(Dizionario_Biografico)
(5/22/2012).

28.
In the
Notizie per l’anno
from 1786, p. 35, to 1788, p. 35, Marconi appears as a lecturer in
“Teologia morale”
at the Collegio Romano. In the later
Notizie per l’anno
from 1789, p. 35, to 1808, p. 109, Abbot Marconi appears as a lecturer in
“Sagra Scrittura.”
He also features in connection with the founding of the Conservatorio Borromeo. Cf. “Conservatori di Roma,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
17 (1842), pp. 9–42, here p. 33. Surprisingly, there are barely any references to Marconi’s life and work in the secondary literature, and no biography of him, although he wrote numerous books that were read abroad as well as in Italy, including the
Vita
of Benedict Joseph Labre (
Ragguaglio della vita del servo di Dio Benedetto Giuseppe Labre
[Rome, 1783]), which was translated into German, English (
Account of the Life of the Servant of God, Benedict Joseph Labre, Frenchman
[London, 1785]), French, Dutch, Polish, and Spanish. Marconi was confessor to Labre, and to Karl Emmanuel, king of Sardinia, and spiritual guide to the king’s wife, Marie Clotilde, who was declared an Honorable Servant of God on April 10, 1808. Cf. “Maria Clotilde di Francia,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
42 (1847), pp. 316–18; Luigi Bottiglia,
Erbauliche Lebensgeschichte der Dienerin Gottes Marie Clotilde von Frankreich, Königin von Sardinien
. Translated from the French, 3 vols. (Augsburg, 1819). As well as Firrao’s life story, Marconi was said to have written the biography of Margherita Muzi, “vergine di specciata virtù.” Cf. Qualifica del volume manoscritto sulle memorie della vita di Suor Maria Agnese di Gesù del Rmo P. Maestro Girolamo Priori Priore Generale de’ Carmelitani Calzati Consultore del S. Offizio; ACDF SO St. St. B7 f.

29.
Pignatelli was born in 1737 and entered the Society of Jesus in 1753. After his novitiate in Tarragona, he studied philosophy and theology and was ordained in 1762. In 1803 the Russian superior (the Jesuits had not been suppressed in Russia) made him provincial of Italy. When Napoleon’s troops took Parma in 1804, the Jesuits had to leave town and move to Naples. Pius VII had granted special permission for the Society of Jesus to exist within the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Over the following two years, many Jesuits who had become secular priests in 1773 returned to the order. They founded a community in Saint Pantaleon near Rome, and soon there were other settlements in Tivoli and a novitiate in Orvieto. During his final two years, Pignatelli suffered from gastric bleeding. He died in 1811, was beatified in 1933 by Pope Pius XI, and finally canonized by Pius XII in 1954. See Giuseppe Boreo,
Istoria della vita del Ven. Padre Giuseppe M. Pignatelli della Compagnia di Gesù
(Rome, 1856, and Monza, 1859); José
Antonio Ferrer Benimeli,
José Pignatelli S.J. 1737–1811. La cara humana de un santo
(Bilbao, 2011); Johannes Hellings,
De heilige schakel: de zelige Joseph Pignatelli S. J
. (’s-Hertogenbosch, 1935); Konstantin Kempf,
Joseph Pignatelli. Der neue Selige der Gesellschaft Jesu
(Einsiedeln, 1933); José M. March,
El restaurador de la Compañía de Jesús Beato José Pignatelli y su tiempo
, 5 vols. (Barcelona, 1935); Agostino Monçon,
Vita del servo di Dio P. Giuseppe M. Pignatelli della Compagnia di Gesù
(Rome, 1833); Robert Nash,
Saint of the Displaced. St. Joseph Pignatelli
(Dublin, 1955); Sommervogel,
Bibliothèque
, vol. 9, p. 770. See also Qualifica del volume manoscritto sulle memorie della vita di Suor Maria Agnese di Gesù del Rmo P. Maestro Girolamo Priori Priore Generale de’ Carmelitani Calzati, Consultore del S. Offizio; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 f. Following the Firrao case, the Inquisition researched Pignatelli and went over his canonization process with a fine-tooth comb. The files are under S. Cong. ne de’Riti per la causa del Pignatelli P. Giuseppe della Comp. di Gesù 1845–1846; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 u 1.

30.
This was probably the Conservatorio Borromeo, which Marconi founded and led with the support of Cardinal Vitaliano Borromeo. Cf. “Conservatorii di Roma,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
27 (1848), pp. 9–42, here p. 33: “Il sacerdote d. Giuseppe Marconi … vedendo alcune fanciulle di tenera età oppresse dalla miseria e dall’infermità … caritatevolmente le riunì in un locale terreno sul colle Esquilino presso via Graziosa … e fu detta
la casa delle povere fi gliuole della scuola della divina carità.”
Cardinal Borromeo “acquistò le case contigue al suddetto luogo, che ridusse in forma di conservatorio, gli assegnò rendite, e lo dichiarò erede dei suoi beni liberi, meno alcuni legati. Per questo motivo il conservatorio prese il nome di
Borromeo
, e le alunne furono chiamate
Borromee
.… Il medesimo ne affi dò la cura allo stesso Giuseppe Marconi.” The Via Graziosa lies on the hill from Esquilin down into Rione Monte. It stretches from the Piazza della Suburra (on the corner between Via Urbana and Via Leonina) to Via Panisperna. Today it is part of the Via Cavour.

31.
Approbation of the Rule and the ceremonial in Pius VII’s papal brief: “Nuper dilectae in Christo Filiae” of January 26, 1806; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 r 1, no folio. Cf. also Erasmo Pistolesi,
Vita del sommo pontifice Pio VII
, vol. 2 (Rome, 1824), p. 24.

32.
See Mark 6: 35–44; Mark 8: 1–10.

33.
Angela Merici was born between 1470 and 1475, became the founder and author of the Rule of the community of Saint Ursula in 1535–1536, and died in 1540. See Karl Suso Frank, “Merici, Angela,” in
LThK
, 3rd ed., vol. 1 (1993), p. 647. Cf. also Käthe Siebel-Royer,
Die heilige Angela Merici. Gründerin des ersten weiblichen Säkularinstitutes
(Graz, 1966).

34.
Mary Ward was born in 1585, and founded the “Congregatio Jesu,” a women’s order for the education of girls with a Jesuit Rule, in 1609. She died in 1645. See Imolata Wetter, “Ward, Mary,” in
DIP
10 (2003), pp. 583–86; on the intervention of the Inquisition, see also p. 584; Wetter,
Ward
; Gabriela Zarri, “Ward, Mary,” in
DSI
3 (2011), p. 1707.

35.
Merenda was born in 1752. A Dominican, he had been commissary of the
Sanctum Officium
since 1801, but was unable to perform this office between July 1814 and August 1815. He died in 1820. See Wolf (ed.),
Prosopographie
, pp. 991–93.

36.
Vita della Serva di Dio. La M. Maria Agnese di Gesù; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 q 1.

37.
Napoleon also had the entire archive of the Inquisition transported to Paris. It only returned to Rome—relatively incomplete—after 1815. Cf. Andrea Del Col, “Archivi e serie documentarie: Vaticano,” in
DSI
1 (2011), pp. 89–91, here p. 90; Wolf,
Einleitung
, p. 38. The corresponding series in the Vatican’s secret archive are entitled “Epoca Napoleonica.” Cf. Karl August Fink,
Das Vatikanische Archiv. Einführung in die Bestände und ihre Erforschung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der deutschen Geschichte
(Bibliothek des Deutschen Historischen Instituts in Rom 20) (Rome, 2nd ed., 1951), pp. 87–88.

38.
Relazione informativa con Sommario, Cenni storici sull’antica causa, e relative condanna della Fondatrice Sr. Maria Agnese Firrao, e di altre religiose; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 c. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

39.
A search of the ACDF, in particular the “SO Decreta” collection, yielded no results.

40.
Little is known about Pietro Marchetti. The “Appendice al Ristretto informativo, Sommario no. II” speaks of the verdict the cardinals gave on him on May 15, 1816: “Insuper addiderunt, quod scribatur Episcopo Tudertino, ut sub alio praetextu removeat in sua Dioecesi sacerdotem Petrum Marchetti ab audiendis confessionibus sacramentalibus, et a quacumque directione animarum”; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 f. According to this text, he belonged to the diocese of Todi in Umbria. The “Relazione sommaria degli atti principali assunti nella causa contro le monache riformate in S. Ambrogio” refers to him as “Pietro Marchetti di Rieti Cameriere Dogmatico di Nostro Signore,” and in another place “D. Pietro Marchetti di Rieti Cameriere Segreto di Nostro Signore”; ibid., B 6 e 1. From the
Notizie per l’anno
, 1819, p. 141, 1820, p. 132, and 1821, p. 146, it emerges that he was one of the pope’s Camerieri Segreti Soprannumerari, which is surprising given that this was only three years after he was condemned by the Holy Office.

41.
Relazione informativa con Sommario, Cenni storici sull’antica causa; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 c. Marconi’s Saint’s Life is essentially a “Proposition,” which the Congregation for Canonization put together, often over decades and usually long after the death of a “servant of God,” to justify the proposed saint’s
fama sanctitatis
with evidence of their virtues and miracles, documenting these in as much detail as possible. Cf. Gotor,
Chiesa
; Samerski,
Himmel
, pp. 81–83.

42.
Cf. Adelisa Malena, “Quietismo,” in
DSI
3 (2011), pp. 1288–94; Anthony Meredith, “Quietismus,” in
TRE
28 (1997), pp. 41–45; Modica,
Dottrina
; Petrocchi,
Quietismo
; Schwedt,
Quietisten
, pp. 579–605. On the combination of Quietism and Satanism, cf. Orlandi,
Fede
.

43.
Louis Cognet, “Quietismus,” in
LThK
, 2nd ed., vol. 8 (1963), pp. 939–41, here p. 939.

44.
Cf. “Conservatorii di Roma,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
17 (1842), pp. 9–42, here p. 40.

45.
The Venerabile Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia was the largest hospital in Rome, with 645 beds and around thirty medical staff. The hospital for internal medicine was situated under the Bridge of Angels on the Vatican side, and was housed in several large buildings. Cf. L. Tutschek, “Aerztliche Mittheilungen aus Rom,” in
Aerztliches Intelligenz-Blatt
, no. 12, March 19, 1865, p. 163.

46.
Cf. Wolf,
Einleitung
, pp. 21 and 46–64.

47.
Notificazione di affetata santità, February 14, 1816; ACDF SO St. St. B7 a (printed copy). There is a copy of the
bando
in the Biblioteca Casanatense, Per. Est. 18/115, no. 82. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

48.
Santa Maria del Rifugio, called Sant’Onofrio, is in Trastevere, on the street of the same name, Salita di S. Onofrio. Cf. Armellini,
Chiese
, p. 493. The institution “goes back to 1703, and owes its origins to the devout priest Alexander Bussi.… Set up on broader foundations than other refuges, the conservatorium took in girls of 13–20, if they were orphans with no other means of support. The general custom of taking girls at a younger age is of course very praiseworthy; it is also very helpful that there is a place such as that we are presently visiting, to keep the older members out of danger. They number about 50, and are raised to be pious, hard-working and accustomed to the work done here. They buy their uniforms themselves from the wages they receive for their labor, which consists of making household linen, embroidery and ornaments for priests.” Cf. Jean Joseph Gaume,
Rom in seinen drei Gestalten, order das alte, das neue und das unterirdische Rom
, vol. 2 (Regensburg, 1848), pp. 284–85.

49.
Cf. Andreas Heinz, “Der Rosenkranz. Das immerwährende Jesus-Gebet des Westens,” in
Liturgisches Jahrbuch
55 (2005), 4, pp. 235–47.

50.
Assembly of the consultors of the Holy Office, January 22, 1816; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 a.

51.
On Molinos and Molinosism, see Gotor,
Chiesa
, pp. 115–20; Heppe,
Geschichte
, pp. 110–35 and 272–82; Adelisa Malena, “Molinos, Miguel de,” in
DSI
2 (2011), p. 1059; Modica,
Dottrina
, pp. 17–42 and 117–36 (“Santità finta e atti sessuali illeciti”); Romeo,
Inquisizione
, pp. 87–94 (also on the role of confessors in cases of female false saints); Schwedt,
Quietisten
, pp. 579–605.

52.
Cf. Jacobson Schutte,
Saints
, pp. 201–21.

53.
Cf. Hans-Wolf Jäger, “Mönchskritik und Klostersatire in der deutschen Spätaufklärung,” in Harm Klueting et al. (eds.),
Katholische Auf klärung
—
Auf klärung im katholischen Deutschland
(
Studien zum achtzehnten Jahrhundert
15) (Hamburg, 1993), pp. 192–207; Franz Quarthal, “Aufklärung und Säkularisation,” in Nicole Priesching and Wolfgang Zimmermann (eds.),
Württembergisches Klosterbuch. Klöster, Stifte und Ordensgemeinschaften von den Anfängen bis in die Gegenwart
(Ostfildern, 2003), pp. 125–38.

54.
Sommario del Ristretto contro il P. Leziroli, no. I: Cenni storici delle vicende di Sr. Maria Agnese Firrao, e del Monastero di S. Ambrogio estratti dagli Annali manoscritti, che comprendono la Storia dell’Istituto dall’anno 1804 fino a tutto il 1857 divisi in 26 fascicoli e pagine 628 in foglio; ACDF SO St. St. B 7 e. The women named as Firrao’s accomplices, Sisters Maria Maddalena Ragazzoni, Teresa Maddalena della Vergine del Dolori, Maria Crocifissa Pantanelli, and Agnese Celeste Rabuer, were sent to various other convents. See Copia dell’antico piccolo ristretto per il Rmo P. Priori; ebd., B 6 e 1; Vita della Serva di Dio. La M. Maria Agnese di Gesù; ibid., B 6 q 1.

55.
The convent in Rione Castro Pretorio, built in the seventeenth century, and the church of Santa Maria della Concezione ai Monti next to it, no longer exist. They were pulled down in order to lengthen the Via Cavour. See Armellini,
Chiese
, p. 404; Ottorino Montenovesi, “Il monastero della Concezione ai
Monti,” in
Archivi d’Italia e rassegna internazionale degli archivi: periodico della Bibliothèque des annales institutorum
26 (1959), pp. 313–41.