Women’s Groups

1. Women’s Groups By: Emma Tombaugh & Christina Nyman

2. Angela Merici Company of St. Ursula • It was started in 1535 by an Italian nun, Angela Merici. • It was an organization of women devoted to teaching girls of the town about religion. • This was unusual because the women were consecrated but lived outside the cloister. • Officials of the Church were unhappy with a group of consecrated women living independently, not under direct authority of the clergy • This shows religious disunity because the women who were a part of this were going against the status quo of the church. They were consecrated but weren’t living in a cloister, which was highly unusual. The church officials were not happy with this so the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan insisted they become an enclosed religious order, which is what traditional nuns are. Pope Gregory XIII approved this.

3. Jane of Chantal Visitation of Holy Mary • It was started by Jane of Chantal and Francis of Sales. • Francis didn’t originally mean for it to be a religious order, he wanted it to be a congregation without vows where after the first year, the sisters could leave to visit the sick and poor. • Women were trained to be teachers there. • It was founded to establish a new type of religious life, that was open to older women as well as more fragile and sickly women. • This shows religious disunity because traditionally, religious orders or congregations had vows. Also, women weren’t allowed to be trained to become teachers because women didn’t have a prominent role in society. Francis of Sales went against these religious norms when he created the congregation of the Visitation of the Holy Mary. Francis of Sales

4. Mary Ward Mary Ward • Mary Ward was an English woman who believed education for women was important. • She made system of schools within Europe for girls to learn. • Since the education for women was such a new idea, Mary’s works were not approved of by the church and anti-Jesuits. • Later, her work was accepted by the church. • This shows religious disunity because Mary was educating women which was a novel idea and was frowned upon. Her works weren’t approved by the church and were actually denounced by the church and the anti-Jesuits. She went against the church for something she felt strongly about.

5. Teresa de Avila Teresa de Avila • Teresa de Avila was a Spaniard who wanted to be a nun and in 1515, ran away to a convent because her father disapproved of her decision. • She came up with her own fasting, prayer, and sleeping practices because she believed the convent’s rules were not strict enough. • Teresa was given approval to reform the Carmelite order and this led to many people remaining in the Catholic Church instead of converting to Protestantism. • This shows religious disunity because at first, Teresa de Avila went against her convent and made her own rules and practices. Although, later the church gave her permission to reform the Carmelite order which was an order of mendicant friars. She caused many people who would’ve converted to Protestantism to stay with the Catholic Church so this helped the church to keep a lot of its members.