Laurence Sterritt, de l’Université d’Aix-Marseille, présentera sa communication “Illness, Death and Beyond: The Body as Witness in Seventeenth-Century English Convents” le jeudi 14 avril, de 17h à 19h. Maison de la Recherche, 28 rue Serpente, Paris 6e , salle D421.

Discutante: Anne-Marie Miller Blaise

En raison des contrôles de sécurité, les personnes extérieures à Paris IV souhaitant assister à ce séminaire sont invitées à se munir d’une carte d’étudiant ou d’une carte professionnelle, ou encore d’une carte d’identité et de cette annonce imprimée.

Résumé:
The obituaries which describe the last illnesses and dying hours of religious women have often been described as formulaic and, therefore, delicate historical sources. Yet, these narratives yield much information about what appeared important to both writers and convents, in the construction of their communal records. By telling of the illness and death of individuals in certain ways, obituaries partook of the development of communal memory and corporate identity. This was particularly important in the context of the English convents which were founded on the Continent in the seventeenth century. This paper will approach the topic through an analysis of the Benedictine Order, whose rich archives provide a glimpse into the interface between the personal and the collective experience of death, and throw light upon aspects of the construction of a Catholic identity in exile.