Franciscan Lay Women and the Charism to Preach

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how lay women participated in the early Franciscan movement as evangelizers and as somatic preachers. Three women best characterize the role of female preachers in the first two centuries of the Franciscan movement: Rose of Viterbo, Angela of Foligno, and Angelina of Montegiove. All three women looked to Francis for spiritual inspiration and sought to follow his footsteps. In turn all three became revered by their contemporaries as holy. What we know about their careers as evangelizers, however, has been significantly shaped by the sources that relate their lives. The chapter explores their careers as somatic preachers as much as it explores what has been made of their careers by their promoters and interpreters. The understanding of preaching allowed for any of the Poverello’s followers to participate fully in a fundamental mendicant act, including women, without finding themselves subject to local ecclesial censure or limitations. Keywords:Angela of Foligno; Angelina of Montegiove; ecclesial concerns; evangelizers; Franciscan movement; lay women; Rose of Viterbo; somatic preacher