Benedetta Carlini: Victim or Victimizer

Bendetta’s father believed she was a gift from God. His wife and Benedetta were expected to die during the childbirth. "In gra

Everyone in her mountain village thought she was wonderfully blessed. She grew up with every privilege available and when she moved to her convent at the age of nine, she experienced a drastic change. She was now a simple nun meant to do the menial work of and for others. No one at the convent thought her visions were spectacular, because unlike the small community she grew up in, the city had seen other mystics and heard of visions more important and more frequently. In order for Benedetta to excel beyond her position of the simple nun, she required more meaningful visions. Benedetta supplied such with vigor and careful attention as not to disturb the fine balance within the clergy.

Things calmed down at the Convent of the Mother of God for quite some time. It wasn’t until Benedetta’s father died that things started to stir up again. Benedetta had a vision of her own death. Soon after she died and came back to life when Father Ricordati summoned her. She came to and explained the vision. She had died and went to Purgatory and then on to Heaven. “Before she departed God also told her that eventually Father Ricordati and the Provost of Pescia would be there as well, as would the nun of the convent if they behaved as they should”(103). In saying this she intended to regain her control over the convent. She wanted to be worshiped herself.

Her visions, for instance, contained contradictions although it was obvious to all that God neither lied nor was ever contrary to himself. Benedetta claimed, for example, that in one of her visions the Virgin had asked her to obtain permission from Father Ricordati to have a guardian angel but, prior to this request, such an angel had already appeared on her early visions…. Her visions, moreover, turned her away from the path of true religion (107).

Benedetta Carlini had begun her life as a blessed child, promised to a life within the convent, dedicated to God. Her dissatisfaction with this lowly position led her to abuse “her gift” to obtain power, notoriety and societal stature that few women were able to achieve. She gained this stature at the expense of others, as well as her faith.

The reports also found fault in the validity of her marriage. “It was, above all, a great display of vanity” (107). The investigators uncovered disparities in all of Benedetta’s visions and even said “and coupled it [mountain-life] to the notion that communing with the devil was hereditary” (109). The officials decided there had to be a more thorough investigation.

In addition to her parents , supernatural help came her way. One beautiful spring day, when Benedetta was standing on a small porch of her house singing her Lauds to the Virgin, she suddenly heard a nightingale imitating her song. Like other fairy-tale children, Benedetta took this miracle in stride. Instead of being awed by the unusual nature of the event, or thanking God for being witness to His power, she simply commanded the bird stop singing because she did not want to be accompanied (26).

The comet that I recently caused to appear in the sky above this community signifies the excellence of my bride and the pain that I made her suffer.... If you thought that it signaled the death of princes, lords and kings of the world, it didn't; rather, it meant that the wonders and prodigies that I work in my bride should be known throughout the world, since I do them not just for her but for the salvation of all souls.... Now I send you this my servant, who is the greatest that I have in the world, so that you may see that I do not like to dwell in the proud hearts that are full of vi

Some topics in this essay:
Father Ricordati, Lauds Virgin, Benedetta Abbess, Catherine Sienna, Stefano Cecchi, Monsignor Cecchi, Catholic Church, Benedetta Carlini, Abbess Due, Giuliano Benedetta's, father ricordati, nuns questioned, benedetta's visions, catholic church, convent mother god, theatine nuns, pescia nuns, mother god, control convent, devil benedetta, convent mother,