Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy
The 16th century was a very different time and culture than what we are living in today. What occurred in the Theatine convent was not much of an odd occurrence for that era. Sister Benedetta was a sign of “Hope” in her community. Sister Benedetta demonstrates her ethos in the beginning of the book by having multiple types of visions which impressed her town and convent. It was mainly her confidence in her abilities, that made her community trust her. It was Benedetta’s lack of detail, and the continuous investigations that ended up having her audience start lose trust in her.
When Sister Benedetta was born she had her whole life planned out for her. Due to the tough birth her mother…show more content… An investigator named Stefano Cecchi, was the ecclesiastical official in the town Sister Benedetta’s convent was in, and he went to examine her (Brown, 75). He was not just going into the convent to look around, he went in to give her a physical examination of her stigmata, and to see what is going on with her visions. He questioned her stigmata the most. He checked the wounds the first day, they were fresh and then he checked them a day later and they were dried up, he eventually checked them a third time and they were bleeding again (Brown, 78-79). He also questioned her visions a lot, wondering how long they lasted, and when they occurred. He ended up leaving with no result. The problem with Benedetta’s claim was that she started to get lazy with having her visions. Although she might of believed the lies herself, others started to see the truth. She lost the others when she was caught puncturing her own holes in her hands by one of the other nuns. There was a second investigation and at this point other nuns were coming out and telling on sister Benedetta. I think the others in the community and especially in the convent noticed a change in Sister Benedetta. She started to give away the face that she was faking her visions, because she was enjoying the position of power.
In brief, Sister Benedetta won the hearts of her convent and community by
