Aut Maritus, Aut Murus: Love, Marriage, and the Convent

Résumé En

The cloister is, and ever was, a fertile locus for the imagination of those on the outside. Today, monastic life is no longer as ‘usual’ as it once was, thereby making religious women somewhat exotic, and any photo search on the internet produces a plethora of demonic nuns, rebellious nuns, nuns having fun but mostly, naughty or sexy nuns. Between conventual walls and marriage, Western societies have all but abandoned the former in favour of the latter.This talk will consider some of the Religious who lived in English convents in exile in the seventeenth century. Between 1598 and 1678, 22 of those convents provided for the religious vocations of English Catholic women. Despite the ubiquitous presence of religion in early modern society, nuns were already the object of curiosity, particularly in England where convents has disappeared since the dissolution of the monasteries. The Rules and Constitutions of all convents stressed the importance of enclosure to avoid being tempted into sin. The hagiographies of saints, and the edifying texts read in religious communities all praised the virtues of exemplary nuns who embodied the very vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and enclosure. But what did the women who were enclosed nuns themselves have to say about that famous dichotomy: ‘Aut maritus, aut murus’? This talk will address that delicate interface, when a woman made her choice between the patriarchal injunctions of the secular world (marriage, motherhood), and the demands of Religious life. It will show that, although human love and religious vocation may appear mutually exclusive, the desire for human companionship and love did not prevent all women from developing a sincere and rewarding life as cloistered nuns.