About the lecture
Although few know about her today, Sor Luisa de la Ascensión (1565-1636) was one of the most charismatic mystics of her time. From her enclosed convent in Carrión de los Condes, she corresponded with the Habsburgs in Madrid, Paris and Brussels. The confraternity that she founded in 1616 would grow into a movement with 140.000 members. Following the example of mystic Juana de la Cruz (d. 1534), Luisa too started to distribute miracle-working crosses and beads, blessed by Christ himself as special favors to his beloved hija. Highly coveted across the Catholic world, it was said that over 30 local craftsmen were involved in their production. But then at the age of 69, Luisa's endeavor fell apart: the Spanish Inquisition removed her from her convent and mounted a trial against her, that eventually would result in her obliteration from historical memory.
The talk of Dr. Schraven will address the strategies used by Luisa (and her supporters) to navigate the complex and competitive arena of post-Tridentine Catholicism, imbued with a deep anxiety for anything related to sainthood, relics and indulgences. Minou Schraven has a special interest in the blessed devotional objects that Luisa signed and distributed among her followers. Interestingly, it was claimed that these objects were endowed with indulgences, which - by definition - could only be granted by the pope. Schraven will also discuss what this may tell us about the ways that sainthood and authority were constructed and gendered in early modern Catholic worlds.
About the speaker
Dr. Minou Schraven teaches art history, material culture and museum studies at Amsterdam University College (AUC) and is a research fellow at the Amsterdam 
Centre for Religious History, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where she coordinates the Religious Material Culture research seminars. She is a specialist in early modern Italian art and material culture with a keen interest in the ritual and magical use of (religious) objects and early modern festival culture.
Registration
The seminar is open to the public, but registration at https://nettskjema.no/a/eveningseminar is much appreciated.