The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal (75 page)

53.
The theory of the connection between religion and sexuality is put forward by the psychologist and protestant theologian Christina Bachmann, among others. Cf. Christina Bachmann,
Religion und Sexualität. Die Sehnsucht nach Transzendenz
(Stuttgart, 1994), here pp. 118 and 226. On the relationship between religion, sexuality, and ecstasy, cf. Klaus Peter Köpping, “Ekstase,” in Christoph Wulf (ed.),
Vom Menschen. Handbuch Historischer Anthropologie
(Weinheim and Basel, 1997), pp. 548–68; Wunibald Müller,
Ekstase. Sexualität und Spiritualität
(Mainz, 1992).

54.
Costituto di P. Peters, May 28, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 z.

55.
Costituto di P. Peters, June 1, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 z.

56.
Pierre Dens,
Theologia moralis et dogmatica
, vol. 4 (Dublin, 1832), no. 297 I. See also “Baiser,” in Abbé Migne,
Encyclopédie Théologique
, vol. 31 (Paris, 1849), p. 293: “Kisses … on unusual parts of the body, for example on the chest, the bosom, or
more columbarum
[in the manner of doves], in which one puts the tongue into the mouth, are to be censured. They are viewed as an expression of lustful intentions, or at least as leading to a serious danger of lust, meaning one cannot save oneself from the mortal sin.”

57.
Otto Best, “Zungenkuss,” in Best,
Lexikon
, p. 254; Elberfeld,
Geschichte
.

58.
Costituti di P. Peters, May 28 and June 4, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 z.

59.
Ristretto con Sommario relativo ai Costituti del P. Giuseppe Peters, Parte II: Risposte sulla santità affettata di M. Luisa e sugli altri addebiti relativi; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 i.

60.
Karl,
Glauben
, p. 9.

61.
Ibid., p. 14.

62.
Ibid., p. 28.

63.
Ibid., p. 30.

64.
Ibid., p. 37.

65.
Ibid., p. 31.

66.
Ristretto con Sommario relativo ai Costituti del P. Giuseppe Peters, Parte IV: Sulle asserite predizioni, rivelazioni ed operazioni del Demonio relative alla malattia ed avvelenamento della novizia Principessa; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 i. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

67.
Ristretto con Sommario relativo ai Costituti del P. Giuseppe Peters, Parte III: Sul segreto imposto alle monache circa le cose straordinarie e sù di altri addebiti; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 i. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text unless otherwise stated.

68.
Sommario del Ristretto di P. Peters, no. X: Fogli consegnati nel Costituto, July 1, 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 i.

69.
Ristretto con Sommario relativo ai Costituti del P. Giuseppe Peters, Parte V: Istanze e contestazioni Fiscali; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 i.

70.
Costituti di P. Kleutgen; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 y, fol. 189–195. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text.

71.
Ristretto con Sommario relativo ai Costituti del P. Giuseppe Peters già confessore delle Monache Riformate in Sant’Ambrogio, October 1861; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 g (handwritten version) and ibid., B 6 i (printed copy).

72.
Letter from Hohenlohe to Pappalettere, August 1, 1859, quoted in Wenzel,
Freundeskreis
, pp. 361–62.

73.
Letter from Gangauf to Postelmayr, November 25, 1853, quoted in ibid., p. 161.

74.
Baltzer was born in 1803, and became a priest and lecturer at the Catholic Theological Seminary in Bonn in 1829. He went to Breslau as an extraordinary professor of dogmatic theology, and gained tenure there in 1831. He became a canon in Breslau in 1846, and from 1860 was persecuted by the prince-bishop of Breslau, Heinrich Foerster. He was relieved of his office and barred from drawing a salary. In 1870 he joined the Old Catholic movement, though he died a year later. See Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz, “Baltzer,” in
BBKL
1 (1975), p. 361; Ernst Melzer, “Baltzer,” in
ADB
2 (1875), p. 33.

75.
Knoodt was born in 1811 and became an extraordinary professor in Bonn in 1845, achieving tenure two years later. In 1878 he became the vicar general of the Old Catholics’ Diocese, and he died in 1889. See Herman H. Schwedt, “Knoodt,” in
BBKL
4 (1992), pp. 163–65; Paul Wenzel, “Knoodt,” in
NDB
12 (1979), p. 211.

76.
Baltzer to Knoodt, November 21, 1853, quoted in Wenzel,
Freundeskreis
, p. 161.

77.
Cf. Wolf,
Ketzer
, pp. 52–58.

78.
Reikerstorfer,
Günther
, p. 266.

79.
As Pritz puts it.
Glauben
, p. 266.

80.
See ibid., pp. 348–75; Schäfer,
Kontroverse
, pp. 28–36.

81.
Philosophisches Jahrbuch von Dr. A. Günther und Dr. J. E. Veith,
Lydia
4 (1854), p. 603.

82.
Wenzel,
Anliegen
, p. 204.

83.
Ibid., p. 206.

84.
Quoted in ibid., p. 211, note 445.

85.
Quoted in ibid., pp. 213 and 216.

86.
Geissel was born in 1796. He became bishop of Speyer in 1837, bishop coadjutor in 1841, archbishop of Cologne in 1845, and cardinal in 1850. He died in 1864. See Eduard Hegel’s article on him in Gatz (ed.),
Bischöfe
, pp. 239–44.

87.
Rauscher, who was born in 1797, became archbishop of Seckau in 1849 and prince-archbishop of Vienna in 1853. He was made a cardinal in 1855, and died in 1875. See Erwin Gatz’s article on him in ibid., pp. 596–601.

88.
The account of the trial against Günther in Rome is based on the excellent study by Herman H. Schwedt, with additional material from sources released by the Vatican ACDF archive in 1998. Schwedt,
Verurteilung
, pp. 301–43. See also Schoeters,
Beckx
, pp. 146–51. On the theological disagreement between Kleutgen and Günther, see Schäfer,
Kontroverse
.

89.
See Wolf (ed.),
Prosopographie
, pp. 806–17, here p. 807.

90.
See ACDF Index Causes célèbres 4, Günther.

91.
Schwarzenberg was born in 1809. He became prince-bishop of Salzburg in 1836, cardinal in 1842, and prince-bishop of Prague in 1850. He died in 1885. See Erwin Gatz, in Gatz (ed.),
Bischöfe
, pp. 686–92.

92.
Brignole was born in 1797 and made a cardinal in 1834. He was the prefect of the Congregation of the Index from 1851 to 1853, and died in 1853. See Weber,
Kardinäle
, vol. 2, pp. 443–44 and elsewhere.

93.
Lambruschini was born in 1776, became a cardinal in 1831, and was cardinal secretary of state from 1836 to 1846. He died in 1854. See ibid., pp. 475–76 and elsewhere.

94.
Schwedt,
Verurteilung
, p. 309.

95.
D’Andrea was born in 1812. He became titular bishop of Mèlitene and nuncio to Switzerland in 1841. He was made a cardinal in 1852, and served as prefect of the Congregation of the Index from 1853 to 1861. In 1866 he was suspended from the office of bishop, and from his cardinalate in 1867, with the loss of all his earnings. His rehabilitation and his death both came in 1868. See Wolf (ed.),
Prosopographie
, pp. 379–83.

96.
Cf. Ickx,
Santa Sede
, pp. 593–94 (index); Wolf,
Index
, pp. 173–74.

97.
Pius IX’s Encyclical of December 8, 1864, full English text:
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9quanta.htm
and his Syllabus of Errors (the collection of the eighty most important errors of our time):
http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm
.

98.
ACDF Index Prot. 121, nos. 18 and 19 (
Lydia
); ibid., Causes célèbres 4.

99.
Flir was born in 1805. He became a professor of philology and aesthetics in Innsbruck in 1835, and in 1856 he was made a consultor of the Congegation of the Index. He was named auditor of the Roman Rota in 1858, though he died in 1859 before taking up office. See Wolf (ed.),
Prosopographie
, pp. 591–93. On the relationship between Hohenlohe, Flir, and Günther, see Rapp (ed.),
Briefe
, p. 28.

100.
Wolf (ed.),
Bücherverbote
, pp. 248–50; Wolf (ed.),
Repertorium Indexkongregation
, pp. 361–64.

101.
“Ingenue, religiose, ac laudabiliter se subjecit”; bando, January 8, 1857; Wolf (ed.),
Bücherverbote
, p. 249.

102.
Cf. for example the bando of June 12, 1856; ibid., pp. 245–46. This was the judgment on Louis-Hilaire Caron. The decree contained the statement: “Auctor laudabiliter se subjecit et opus reprobavit.”

103.
Letter from Kleutgen to Schlüter, January 10, 1857; quoted in Deufel,
Kirche
, p. 245.

104.
ASS
8 (1847), pp. 445–48.

105.
Wenzel,
Anliegen
, p. 211, note 445.

CHAPTER NINE
“Sorrowful and Contrite”

1.
Fascicolo dei Decreti, Feria II., January 27, 1862, Votum DD. Consultorum; ACDF SO St. St. B 6 w f. Subsequent quotations also taken from this text. An inventory of the objects and description of the rooms was produced after Sant’Ambrogio was dissolved. Inventario degli oggetti sacri e mobiliari rimasti nel soppresso monastero delle Riformate in S. Ambrogio con succinta descrizione dei locali che lo compongono; ibid., B 6 i 1.

2.
Cf.
Annuario Pontificio
1862, pp. 261–63. The consultors of the Holy Office were:
Ignazio Alberghini, Giuseppe Primavera (Fiscal), Gaetano Bedini, Giuseppe Berardi, Andrea Bizzarri, Annibale Capalti, Luigi-Maria Cardelli, Giuseppe Cipriani (Advocatus Reorum), Luigi Ferrari, Giacinto De Ferrari (Commissary), Girolamo Gigli, Pietro Silvestro Glauda, Camillo Guardi, Vincenzo Jandel, Luigi Jannoni, Antonio Ligi-Bussi, Paolo Micallef, Raffaele Monaco La Valletta (Assessor), Bonfiglio Mura, Salvatore de Ozieri, Giuseppe Papardo del Parco, Girolamo Priori, Antonio Maria da Rignano, Giovanni Battista Rosani, Vincenzo Leone Sallua (first
socius
), Camillo Tarquini, Augustin Theiner, Luigi Tomassetti, and Cornelis van Everbroeck. The members of the congregation on January 27, in addition to the assessor and the commissar, the fiscal Antonio Bambozzi (in place of Primavera) and the advocatus reorum, were the consultants Cardelli, Glauda, Guardi, Jandel, Jannoni, Micallef, de Ozieri, Papardo, Priori, da Rignano, Tarquini, Van Everbroeck; ACDF SO Acta Congregationis 1861–1862, Consulta habita Feria II. January 27, 1862.

3.
Theologians and canon lawyers differentiated between four types of abjuration. The
de formali
was called for if the defendant’s heresy could be established with certainty;
de vehementi
was used for Catholics “strongly” suspected of heresy;
de levi
was for Catholics who were “slightly” suspected of heresy; finally, the abjuration
violenta suspicione haeresis
was for those who had come under suspicion of heresy through saying or doing something that could give the judge reason to think they were a heretic. Cf. “Abiura,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
1 (1840), pp. 32–33; Elena Brambilla, “Abiura,” in
DSI
1 (2011), pp. 5–6.

4.
Cf. Maria Messana, “Carcere,” in
DSI
1 (2011), pp. 269–71.

5.
The Decalogue merely reads: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). In Catholic moral theology this commandment has been gradually extended to include an entire catalogue of sexual misdemeanors, including prostitution. This sin comprises all “animal lust,” called forth through “mingling of the sexes outside marriage.” Prostitution is condemned in Christianity on the basis of 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Ephesians 5:5. Cf. Stapf,
Moral
, p. 445.

6.
The Pia Casa di Penitenza in Corneto was a correctional facility for convicted priests, around forty miles from Rome. The house was set up by Pope Urban VIII, and later extended by Pius VI. Up to thirty-eight prisoners could be accommodated here. The house was a safe, clean, and orderly jail. See “Carceri ecclesiastiche,” in Moroni,
Dizionario
9 (1841), pp. 261–63, here p. 262; Carlo Luigi Morichini,
Degli istituti di carità per la sussistenza e l’educazione dei poveri e dei prigionieri in Roma. Libri tre. Edizione novissima
(Rome, 1870), p. 738, note 1; Jean Joseph François Poujoulat,
Toscana e Roma. Lettere
, 2 vols. (Milan, 1840), here vol. 2, pp. 161–62.

7.
It continues: “The guilty priest shall be punished for this crime without regard to his standing, office, special privileges or exemptions, according to the magnitude of the sin and the aggravating circumstances, with suspension, loss of active and passive eligibility election rights, privation or dismissal. But whosoever falsely denounces a priest for such a crime, be he priest or laity, cannot be absolved by priests or bishops (except
in articulo mortis
), but only by the Apostolic See.” Three constitutions are mentioned as legal sources:
Universi Dominici
by
Gregory XV (August 30, 1622),
Sacramentum poenitentiae
by Benedict XIV (June 1, 1741), and
Apostolici muneris
, also by Benedict XIV (February 8, 1745). Cf. “Sollicitatio ad turpia,” in Heinrich Josef Wetzer and Benedikt Welte (eds.),
Kirchen-Lexikon oder Encyklopädie der katholischen Theologie und ihrer Hilfswissenschaften
, vol. 10 (Freiburg i. Br., 1853), p. 241.

8.
See Luigi De Sanctis,
Roma papale. Descritta in una serie di lettere con note
(Florence, 1865), p. 373. De Sanctis further describes the practice of the tribunal: after acceptance of the denunciation, the tribunal investigates the reputation of the woman; if she does not enjoy a good reputation, the denunciation is taken to be slanderous. Only following three denunciations by honorable women is the case discussed before the Congregation. If the man denounced is a respectable person, he is secretly requested to appear before the Inquisition and make a spontaneous confession of his sin. The Holy Office then accepts his confession and—De Sanctis remarks critically—“tutto è finito,” everything is all right again. There are numerous denunciations for
Sollicitatio
in the ACDF, but very few judgments against confessors.