The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 by Pinder Janice

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 by Pinder Janice Thomas A. Fudge Pinder, Janice, The Abbaye du Saint Esprit: Spiritual Instruction for Laywomen, 1250–1500 (Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, 21), Brepols, Turnhout, 2020; cloth; pp. x, 219; 1 b/w illustration, 2 b/w tables; R.R.P. €75.00; ISBN 9782503586816. Vernacular writings for the spiritual instruction of women in late medieval Europe were not isolated phenomena. Ideas of spiritual direction took many forms. Janice Pinder argues that the Abbaye du Saint Esprit likely emerged in northern France or the southern Netherlands from a 'context of experimentation with new forms of religious life among the laity where features of beguinal life and prayer were familiar and viewed with approval' (p. 8). One should not misjudge the force and influence of female spirituality between the Atlantic and the deeper reaches of central Europe. One cannot read the Abbaye without thinking of related texts addressed to communities of women elsewhere. Around 1413 the Czech priest [End Page 246] Jan Hus composed a similar text, Dcerka: O poznání cěsty pravé k spasení (The Daughter, or How to Know the Correct Way to Salvation), for a Beguine-like community of women living together in Prague. Running to about 13,000 words and consisting of ten chapters, Hus focuses his spiritual instruction with the repeated declaration 'slyš, dcerko' ('hear, O daughter'). This is not the place to compare those texts, but the analysis might be fruitful. The Abbaye also uses a similar device, employing the French fille to address the readership. Following Bernard McGinn, Pinder suggests that vernacular theology was a result of conversations surpassing simplistic readings of Scripture, rote catechetical memorizations, or the hearing of formal sermons. We have lost the gist of those conversations, but texts like the Abbaye provide hints. Based on thirteen extant manuscripts and with plenty of discussion about those manuscripts, their history, modification, striking omissions, and additions, Pinder succeeds in demonstrating several things: there is no single edition of the text; the transmission history is complex; it endeavours to communicate to a lay audience the idea of the spiritual quest; and it relies upon a variety of sources to achieve that aim. Importantly, Pinder understands the Abbaye as depicting a struggle between vices and virtues, a contest in which the daughters of the Holy Spirit oppose the daughters of the Devil. The context for this battle is the cloister. Allegorically, the holy spaces of the religious house are signposts for the pilgrim who must navigate the minefields of adversity created by the daughters of the Devil. The architecture of the convent parallels the cloister of the soul. Spiritual aid and instruction are encountered in cellars, chapter houses, chapels, dormitories, granaries, infirmaries, refectories, and in the stone walls, to say nothing of the foundations. Conscience is where the Holy Spirit desires to dwell. The ladies of truth, purity, humility, and poverty are active. The fortress against sin and temptation is buttressed by Lady Obedience and Lady Mercy, while Patience and Fortitude provide reinforcement. Truth is encountered by means of Lady Preaching in the refectory where souls are fed. Lady Contemplation fits out the dormitory, Prayer the chapel, Compassion the infirmary, Devotion the cellar, and Meditation the granary, while Lady Charity is abbess, Wisdom the prioress, Humility the sub-prioress. Lady Discretion is treasurer, while Lady Prayer is the choir-mistress supported by Lady Jubilation. Lady Penance works in the kitchen, Temperance serves food and drink in the refectory, and Sobriety reads at table, while the ladies Pity, Mercy, Fear, Honesty, Courtesy, Simplicity, Reason, Loyalty, Generosity, and Zeal perform other functions. The spiritual life attracts deadly enemies, namely the four daughters of the Devil—pride and presumption; murmuring and detraction; envy; and false judgement—who seek to thwart the progress of the female seeking spiritual maturity. The Abbaye shows women actively engaged and not passive recipients of spiritual instruction. A major thematic thread in the Abbaye is the soul's ascent to God and the practices that enable and enhance that goal. The ethos of the Beguine is apparent throughout, and the world of the Beguine appears to constitute the...