The language(s) of spirituality in the writings of Caterina Vigri, Illuminata Bembo and Teresa de Cartagena

The figure of Caterina Vigri (1413-1463), also known as La Santa of Bologna, has merited significant historical recognition over the years, yet minimal literary attention has been given to her spiritual works. Caterina authored a powerful spiritual manifesto, Le Sette armi spirituali, which was disseminated throughout her Franciscan community of Poor Clares after her death and later throughout the larger lay communities of Bologna. Analytical studies of women's devotional literature in the Quattrocento, specifically that of the Poor Clares, remains insufficiently researched by scholars. My inquiry aims to fill this gap as I re-evaluate women's devotional literature in fifteenth century Italy and Spain. Three woman, in particular, figure into my reappraisal of the language of women's spiritual literature: Caterina Vigri, Illuminata Bembo (c. 1410-1493), Caterina's colleague and first biographer, and Teresa de Cartagena (c.1450), a Spanish contemporary.;In Chapter One, I discuss how Vigri creates a visual manifestation of threat and redemption through her literary persona, Caterina, in Le Sette armi spirituali, a visionary account of diabolical and divine experience.;Chapter Two addresses issues of female religiosity and reciprocity in Illuminata Bembo's biography of Caterina Vigri, Specchio di illuminazione. .;Chapter Three examines the Italian and Spanish rhetoric of spirituality. In this chapter, I present a comparative study of authority and gender in the treatises of Teresa de Cartagena and Caterina Vigri.;Chapter Four discuss the intersection between the physical space of the convent and the spiritual space of religious experience within the works of Vigri, Bembo and Teresa de Cartagena.;Finally, a brief Excursus concludes the dissertation in exploring the Humanist and Franciscan traditions and their relationship to Vigri's Le Sette armi spirituali..;My study marks an important cornerstone in Italian women's devotional literature in treating Caterina Vigri and Illuminata Bembo's texts as emblematic examples of Italian women's devotional literature in the fifteenth century. Subsequently, by comparing Teresa's devotional treatises to her Italian contemporaries, my dissertation offers unique insights into the language(s) of spirituality among Spanish and Italian female contemplatives.