Dominican Penitent Women is the first comprehensive introduction in English to Dominican penitent spirituality. The volume examines Italian lay-women's ways of life through religious rules, hagiographical texts, and their own writings spanning the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. The first section contains translations of two versions of their rules, which open a window to the religious practices and institutions that structured their lives. The second section introduces hagiographical texts, including the Miracoli of Catherine of Siena and an extract from Thomas of Siena's Supplement, which includes accounts not discussed in Raymond of Capua's Legenda maior. A final section consists of Osanna of Mantua's letters to Francesco Gonzaga and Lucia Brocadelli's Seven Revelations, in which these two women wove mundane details and cunning practical insights into their Christ-centered devotion. Book jacket.
