Women in Religion: Vocation, Spirituality, and Daily Life
Abstract
The medieval world, profoundly religious, found in women—of different ages, conditions, and social strata—active and participatory subjects, with a broad range of action and a unique contribution to the reform of the Church and to strengthening the role of the laity within Christendom. Some of these women organized themselves into communities governed by a rule, and within this environment fulfilled their vocation and lived according to a distinct spirituality. This presentation will focus on these women and their everyday lives.
About the Speaker
Maria Filomena Andrade holds a degree in History from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon and a Master’s degree (1994) and PhD (2011) in Medieval History from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of NOVA University of Lisbon. She is a lecturer at Universidade Aberta, an integrated researcher at the Centre for the Study of Religious History of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP), and a collaborating member of the Institute for Medieval Studies at FCSH-UNL. The author of several studies on the Franciscan worldview in medieval Portuguese society, she has also worked on projects to inventory monastic documentation. Her main areas of interest and specialization are Religious History, Female Monasticism, Religious Archival Studies, and Women’s Studies.
