American Academy in Rome - Role Models Abstract

Names, Identity and Politics in the Convent: Saintly Models in
Counter-reformation Milan

Renée Baernstein

The choice and use of a monastic name, and the exploitation of the model saint it provided, offered many opportunities for identity-formation to early modern nuns. This paper is based on a case study of Prioress Agata Sfondrati of the Convent of San Paolo Converso in Milan (d. 1630). It relies partly on manuscript material first used in my book A Convent Tale (Routledge, 2002). The paper studies Prioress Agata's use of her name saint and other saintly models (particularly the virgin martyrs and Carlo Borromeo) in her art patronage, theatrical performances, and devotional exercises, arguing that her choices of models may be seen as self-consciously politically motivated as well as responding to fashions of the times. Outstanding documentation reveals how these models, and the forms of sanctified identity they provided, contributed to maintaining her hegemony within the convent, as that hegemony came under attack in response to external political pressures in the 1620s. Biographies of Sfondrati, written by her admirers, further used the saintly models to shape Agata's literary identity as they attempted to forward her saintly reputation. The paper draws on recent literature on nuns' creative work, on role models for women in early modern Italy, and on self-fashioning.

Department of History, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056.

baernspr@muohio.edu