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May, 2004
"A Woman’s
Choice: A Recovered Manuscript of Angela Merici’s
Rule": That’s the title
of a presentation that Mary-Cabrini Durkin will make
at the Thirty-ninth Annual Congress on Medieval Studies
on May 9, 2004. She will speak on a panel titled "Early
Modern Women Writers."
Mary-Cabrini Durkin’s book about the Rule will
appear later this year.
At the Congress in May she will show how the recently
(1985) recovered manuscript of The Rule of the Company
of Saint Ursula offers an unusually intimate glimpse
of an early sixteenth-century Italian woman of a very
modest social station. The Rule draws upon Angela’s
experience to shape a new way of life for single lay
women with narrow choices.
The manuscript preserves the oral quality and the female
independence of the original Rule, both features lost
in later editions. Since the Company’s spirituality
and structure grew out of Angela’s relationships
and context, her passionate voice is a treasured recovery.
Mary-Cabrini will connect the newly recovered text with
Angela’s personality and experiences and show how
she created alternatives for women in her world.
The Medieval Institute hosts its annual Congress at
Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
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