Who is Mary? : three early modern women on the idea of the Virgin Mary / edited and translated by Susan Haskins.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Haskins, Susan.

Series:

Other voice in early modern Europe

The other voice in early modern Europe

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint.

Mary.

Colonna, Vittoria, 1492-1547.

Colonna, Vittoria.

Matraini, Chiara, 1515-1604?.

Matraini, Chiara.

Marinella, Lucrezia, 1571-1653.

Marinella, Lucrezia.

Physical Description:

xxviii, 280 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Summary:

For women of the Italian Renaissance, the Virgin Mary was one of the most important role models. Who Is Mary? presents devotional works written by three women better known for their secular writings: Vittoria Colonna, famed for her Petrarchan lyric verse; Chiara Matraini, one of the most original poets of her generation; and the wide-ranging, intellectually ambitious polemicist Lucrezia Marinella. At a time when the cult of the Virgin was undergoing a substantial process of redefinition, these texts cast fascinating light on the beliefs of Catholic women in the Renaissance and also, in the cases of Matraini and Marinella, on contemporaneous women's social behavior, prescribed for them by male writers in books on female decorum.

Who Is Mary? testifies to the emotional and spiritual relationships that women had with the figure of Mary, whom they were required to emulate as the epitome of femininity. Now available for the first time in an English-language translation, these writings suggest new possibilities for women in both religious and civil culture and provide a window to women's spirituality with regard to the most important icon set before them as wives, mothers, and sisters.

Contents:

Vittoria Colonna's The plaint of the Marchesa di Pescara on the Passion of Christ

Chiara Matraini's Brief discourse on the life and praises of the most Blessed Virgin and mother of the Son of God

Lucrezia Marinella's The life of the Virgin Mary, empress of the universe

Appendix: the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55).

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Translated from the Italian.

Contains:

Colonna, Vittoria, 1492-1547. Pianto della Marchesa di Pescara sopra la Passione di Christo. English. 2008.

Matraini, Chiara, 1515-1604? Breve discorso sopra la vita e laude della beatiss. verg. e madre del figlivol di Dio. English. 2008.

Marinella, Lucrezia, 1571-1653. Vita di Maria Vergine Imperatrice dell'universo. English. 2008.

ISBN:

9780226113982

9780226114002

0226113981

0226114007

OCLC:

225876050