A Demoniac-Nun Goes to the Confessional: Uses and Applications of the Sacrament of Penance in the Jeanne Féry’s Case (Spanish Netherlands, 1584-1586)

In the early-modern period, the sacrament of penance was subject of debates, controversies and rejections. In this article, my purpose will be to analyze the set of practices and representations created around the administration of sacramental penance in a particular case: the alleged diabolical pos...

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Autor principal: Garcia, Carlos Manuel
Formato: Artículo publishedVersion Artículo evaluado por pares
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires 2022
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Acceso en línea:https://revistascientificas.filo.uba.ar/index.php/analesHAMM/article/view/11684
https://repositoriouba.sisbi.uba.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=moderna&d=11684_oai
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Sumario:In the early-modern period, the sacrament of penance was subject of debates, controversies and rejections. In this article, my purpose will be to analyze the set of practices and representations created around the administration of sacramental penance in a particular case: the alleged diabolical possession suffered by Jeanne Féry, a conventual nun of the Sœur Noires of the city of Mons, in the Spanish Netherlands, between 1584 and 1586. The reading of the Histoire admirable et veritable, a documentary source compiled by Archdeacon François Buisseret, where the experiences of the possessed woman were narrated, reveals that the application of the paradigm of reconciliation was fundamental to expel the invading demons, as well as to exalt the ecclesiastical institution and its ordained ministers. Consequently, the return of the possessed person to the bosom of the Church was possible only through the performance of a general confession dispensed by the priests. In this article, I will seek to recreate the way the application of forgiveness was carried out on a person considered blasphemous and heretical possessed during a critical context of theological discussions around this particular sacrament, a by-product of the emergence and consolidation of the Protestant Reform.