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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Holly Flora for her continued guidance throughout this process; without her mentorship and sage editorial advice this thesis would not have been possible. I would also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the other two members of my committee, Dr. Susann Lusnia and Dr. Anne Dunlop, for their invaluable comments in helping shape this work. I am indebted to all of the members of my graduate cohort, especially Julia O’Keefe, Allison Caplan, and Jordan Mintz for entertaining my endless array of questions and encouraging me throughout every step of this process. I would like to thank Dr. Robin Jensen and Victor Sebastian Judge for revolutionizing the way I think about art and its relationship to religious studies. I must also extend my heartfelt gratitude to David Hoch for encouraging me to apply to Tulane, for continuing to bless me with his infinite knowledge and wisdom, and for keeping my spirits high when times were low. I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved parents. Thank you for your unwavering support and always encouraging me in whatever I do. While my mother taught me so many life lessons during her time on earth, I believe the most important virtue she instilled in me is perseverance, and for that I will be forever grateful. It seems ! ""! fitting to conclude these acknowledgements by singling out my father. Dad, we’ve been through this journey together. You are the most selfless man I know and you are my hero. Thank you for challenging me and helping me realize my potential. Words cannot express how lucky I am to be your son. ! """! TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGEMENTS…………………………………………….. ii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………….... vi INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….. 1 CHAPTER 1: The Interior Altars of Invisible Women: Envisioning the Eucharist in the Passion Frescoes at Santa Maria Donna Regina…………………………………………………... 10 Eucharistic Adoration and the Limitations of Sensory Experience The Poor Clares’ Infrequent Reception of the Eucharist CHAPTER 2: Constructing an Interior Monstrance: The Eucharistic Dimension of Performative Vision…………………………………….. 30 MS 410 and the Pastoral Care of Clarissan Nuns The Imitatio Mariae: Images of Maternal Compassion Contemplating the Humanity of Christ Transcending the Limitations of Enclosure through Imaginative Mobility Constructing an Interior Monstrance: The Concept of Ocular Communion CHAPTER 3: “[S]he took the bread into [her] holy and venerable hands…”: The Priestly Presentation of the Virgin in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Ital. 115…………………………………... 45 The Virgin as Celebrant: A Model for the Priestly Office The Christ Child in the Eucharist ! "#! The Conflation of Manger and Altar: A Eucharistic Reading of MS Ital. 115’s Infancy Narrative The Presentation in the Temple Sequence: The Presiding Virgin and the Elevation of the Literal Host The Wellesley College Panel: An Image of Motherhood and Priestly Action Gendered Viewing and Clarissan Response CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………. 67 FIGURES……………………………………………………………….. 71 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………. 104 BIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………… 108 ! #! LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, View from the nuns’ choir facing the apse Figure 2 Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Longitudinal view of church interior Figure 3 Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, View from the altar toward the nave and nuns’ choir at western end of church Figure 4 Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Schematic layout of frescoes Figure 5 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Communion of the Apostles Figure 6 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Derision and First Stripping of Christ; Denial of Saint Peter; Christ before the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas; the Flagellation Figure 7 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, First Judgment before Pilate and Christ before Herod Figure 8 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Second Judgment before Pilate; Crowning of Thorns; Second Stripping of Christ; Way to Calvary Figure 9 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Third Stripping of Christ and the Ascent of the Cross Figure 10 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Detail of Third Stripping of Christ Figure 11 Photograph, Procession of the Consecrated Host Figure 12 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Crucifixion Figure 13 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Detail of Crucifixion Figure 14 Photograph, Priests lying prostrate during the solemn liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday Figure 15 Fresco, Northern Wall of Nuns’ Choir, Santa Maria Donna Regina, Naples, Deposition and Lamentation Figure 16 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 135 verso, Ascent of the Cross Figure 17 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 136 verso, Crucifixion Figure 18 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 137 recto, Crucifixion ! #"! Figure 19 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 137 verso, Crucifixion Figure 20 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 139 recto, Crucifixion (Swoon of the Virgin) Figure 21 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 140 recto, Crucifixion Figure 22 Attributed to Jean Le Noir, Psalter and Hours of Bonne of Luxembourg, folios 330 verso and 331 recto, The Wound of Christ Figure 23 Ms. Corpus Christi College 410, Oxford University, folio 142 recto, Deposition Figure 24 Attributed to Giotto, Upper Church of the Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi, Miracle of the Crib at Greccio Figure 25 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 12 recto, The Virgin Thanks God after the Annunciation Figure 26 Ms. Hessische Landesbibliothek 1, Wiesbaden, Ecclesia and the Dowry Offering Figure 27 Breviary of Aldersbach, Staatsbibliothek Münich, CLM 2640, folio 15 verso, Christ Child in the Eucharist Figure 28 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 19 verso, Nativity Figure 29 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 19 verso, Detail of Nativity Figure 30 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 33 verso, Presentation in the Temple Figure 31 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 34 recto, Presentation in the Temple Figure 32 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 34 verso, Presentation in the Temple Figure 33 Ms. ital. 115, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, folio 35 recto, Presentation in the Temple Figure 34 Christ Mounting the Cross and the Funeral of Saint Clare, tempera and silver leaf on panel, Davis Museum, Wellesley College Figure 35 Detail of Christ Mounting the Cross and the Funeral of Saint Clare, tempera and silver leaf on panel, Davis Museum, Wellesley College Figure 36 Guido da Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Panel Painting Figure 37 Guido da Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, Detail of Saint Clare Wielding the Monstrance Figure 38 Church of Santa Chiara, Naples, View from the nuns’ choir facing the altar Figure 39 Church of Santa Chiara, Naples, View of nave interior Figure 40 Church of Santa Chiara, Naples, Plan ! #""! ! "! Introduction The world being dead to them, they were dead to the world, and becoming unseen by all, after their vocation they laid over their eyes and faces a thick veil like a shroud… Enclosed in this cloister of salvation, or rather buried alive in this sepulchre, they waited to change a temporary prison for the freedom of eternity, and to change this burial for resurrection. - Peter the Venerable, De Miraculis 1.22, (ca. 1135) 1 By the thirteenth century, Eucharistic devotion had reached a crescendo of adoration among medieval Christians. Contemporary sources recount how worshippers attended mass only for the moment of elevation, racing from church to church to see as many consecrations as possible.2 This religious fervor was sparked by the belief that spiritual benefit could be gleaned from the mere sight of the consecrated Host, as the totality of Christ’s body was believed to be present at the moment of consecration. As the priest raised the transubstantiated wafer above his head, the assembled congregation was granted the momentary luxury of gazing upon God. This awe-inspiring vision was believed to unify the gathered people, but nuns could not participate directly in this powerful experience. In the fourteenth century, following Pope Boniface VIII’s !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 Jane Tibbets Schulenberg, “Strict Active Enclosure and its Effects on the Female Monastic Experience (500-1000),” in Medieval Religious Women I: Distant Echoes, Cistercian Studies Series, 71 (Kalamazoo, 1984), 87-114. Peter the Venerable compared the severity of claustration at the cluniac convent of Marcigny to a perpetual prison, which inmates entered willingly. 2 Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 55. ! #! Periculoso (c. 1298), nuns heard Mass while hidden in private choirs, without a view of the altar. The Poor Clares’ affiliation with the order of Saint Francis would have further entrenched the sisters in a system of enclosure, as their mendicant brothers

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