Silvia Mostaccio | UCLouvain (University of Louvain) (original) (raw)

Books by Silvia Mostaccio

Sacramental potency and ecclesiastical power. Putting power and sexual abuses in the Catholic Church into context, in Catholic clergy, abuse of power and sexual assaults. Case studies and tools for historical investigation (16th-early 20th century), “Rivista di Storia del cristianesimo”, 2 (2022..., 2022

Before presenting the contributions to this monographic issue, this text points a fundamental ele... more Before presenting the contributions to this monographic issue, this text points a fundamental element: the status and role of the ordained priest, both according to the decrees of the Council of Trent and according to the catechisms of the (early) modern period

• Masculinités Sacerdotales. Approches historiques (Xème-XXIème siècles), 2022

This volume is the first bringing together studies by researchers from different historiographica... more This volume is the first bringing together studies by researchers from different historiographical backgrounds (religious history, gender history, art history, cultural history), to deal with the history of priestly and clerical masculinities from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period. At the intersection of religious history and gender history, these studies show the importance of taking into account the tool of gender for the history of clergy, but also highlight the way in which both historical approaches and the consideration of the religious, in turn, interrogate the categories by which gender studies have analysed contemporary masculinities.

Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Falders, and Spain, 2022

Interdisciplinary study of Spinola’s turbulent life Many of the most significant studies devoted... more Interdisciplinary study of Spinola’s turbulent life

Many of the most significant studies devoted to Ambrogio Spinola have focused on one particular aspect of his life: his successful military career. This volume, through its interdisciplinary and cultural approach, breaks open this all too narrow perspective and expands our understanding of Spinola and his world. As a great military strategist and Catholic knight, entrepreneur in the international finance market, courtier, and diplomat, Spinola was certainly a Genoese, but he was also a member of the transnational Iberian elite, to which he linked his fate and that of his children. His life's journey between Italy, Flanders, and Spain, and the reinterpretations of his life by his contemporaries in art, literature, and the press, give us the opportunity to reflect on the multiple identities and the physical and mental wanderings of many Europeans of the Early Modern Age. Ambrogio Spinola offers an example of humanity that is impossible to capture in a single reading and is much more contemporary than we can imagine.

Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain allows the reader to better understand not only his military activities, but also (and above all) the family, social and political foundations of his successful career, as well as the various forms of art and communication (literature, architecture, paintings, sculptures, engravings, newspapers, etc.), which were used to celebrate him both during his life and beyond.

Contributors: Blythe Alice Raviola (University of Milan), Emiliano Beri (University of Genoa), Alicia Esteban Estríngana (University of Alcala), Dries Raeymaekers (Radboud University), Davide Maffi (University of Pavia), Nina Lamal (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), Paul Arblaster (Saint-Louis University Brussels), Enrico Zucchi (University of Padua), Laura Stagno (University of Genoa)

• Paul Servais, La composante humaine. Textes réunis et présentés par Silvia Mostaccio , 2018

Paul Servais. Comment se fait-il qu'un historien formé à l'histoire économique et sociale ait pu ... more Paul Servais. Comment se fait-il qu'un historien formé à l'histoire économique et sociale ait pu développer un parcours cohérent à travers des thématiques si différentes que l'évolution de la rente et du crédit hypothécaire en terre de Liège au 18 e siècle, la littérature dévote bourgeoise en langue française du 20 e siècle, les représentations de la Chine par les savants et les aventuriers du 19 e et du 20 e siècle ? En lisant ses études, on se rend compte que le fil rouge reliant des objets d'enquête si différents est celui que Paul Servais définit à plusieurs reprises comme « la composante humaine ». Un élément constitutif et unificateur d'expériences diverses, comme différentes sont les sphères d'action mobilisées par tout être humain dans le courant de sa vie. Si chaque historien est avant tout le fils de son temps, Paul Servais est à mes yeux un enfant des Annales, avec toute la richesse de cette tradition historiographique capable de circuler entre les sources les plus disparates dans la confiance déterminée de ceux qui veu-lent saisir l'homme.

Cet ouvrage est consacré aux différentes échelles du pouvoir exercé par les femmes et sur elles-m... more Cet ouvrage est consacré aux différentes échelles du pouvoir exercé par les femmes et sur elles-mêmes de la part des autorités ecclésiastiques et civiles engagées dans le contrôle des congrégations religieuses féminines inspirées du modèle ignatien. Les cas d’étude ici considérés se réfèrent à la période
qui va de la suppression de la Compagnie de Jésus (1773) aux premières décennies du XXe siècle, c’est-à-dire ce que l’historiographie a défini comme « le long XIXe siècle ». Cette perspective de longue durée permet de saisir les dynamiques d’adaptation et d’évolution de ces échelles de pouvoir
face à la situation politique et religieuse des divers contextes géographiques, de l’Europe occidentale jusqu’aux Amériques.

This book seeks to contextualise the debates concerning obedience that took place amongst the Jes... more This book seeks to contextualise the debates concerning obedience that took place amongst the Jesuits of south-western Europe during the generalate of Claudio Acquaviva (1581–1615). Acquaviva’s generalate marked a period of significant redefinition for the Ignatian institute during which the Society’s system of government was called into doubt. The need for obedience and the limits of that obedience posed a question of fundamental importance to debates taking place within the Society, and to the definition of a collective Jesuit identity. At the same time, struggles for jurisdiction between political states and the papacy, as well as the difficulties raised by the Protestant Reformation, all called for matters to be rethought. Obedience was reconsidered in anthropological, theological and political terms in an attempt to integrate the various demands it placed upon subjects within a hierarchical system that was still in the midst of being redefined. Several Jesuits took part in this debate over obedience. Moreover, by this period the individual’s own conscience was emerging as a new authority that was demanding its own jurisdiction. Moulded, controlled and heard in the on-going work of the Spiritual Exercises, a person’s own conscience became an essential part in negotiations between external authorities and the individual. Thus Jesuit obedience should be taken into account as a theory and topic of discussion that is able to cut across matters both within and outside the Society, thus transforming itself into an object of cultural narration.

Each chapter examines archival sources and contemporary printed books aimed at various audiences. The Jesuit authors whose texts are considered formed part of the elite of the Catholic reconquest of their day, or were involved in affairs at the highest level during the generalate of Acquaviva. Given this context, the book pays special attention to the importance of gender relations and the theoretical and social consequences these had. In particular, the book explores several examples of Jesuits offering spiritual direction to mystic women, as well as the texts and pastoral initiatives that sprung from these relationships, tying these in to the topic of obedience.

The first chapter offers an analysis of the texts and contexts in which Jesuits reflected on obedience at the turn of the seventeenth century. It looks in particular at their consideration of obedience in terms of a ‘political’ necessity both within and outside the Society: necessary for living together in the Church and in society at large. The chapter examines the many approaches and solutions proposed by Jesuits according to the different social and political contexts in which they were working and the public they were trying to reach.
The three following chapters explore the various Ignatian sources of this period that discussed obedience, placing them within their specific contexts. Chapter 2 lingers on the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, comparing their conception of obedience with that proposed by some of Ignatius’s own writings (particularly the Récit and Journal) as well as with the legal documents of other contemporary religious orders. Chapter 3 examines the famous letter on blind obedience written by Ignatius in 1553 and addressed to his Portuguese brothers. The letter underlines the issue of obedience in relation to an inquisitorial power and centralised papacy set on affirming its authority over religious orders during the pontificate of Sixtus V. Finally, Chapter 4 analyses the way in which the Spiritual Exercises were used as the preferred means to give the individual a voice, looking at this from the perspective of gender.

Papers by Silvia Mostaccio

Masculinités Sacerdotales. Approches historiques (Xème-XXIème siècles). Dir. par Jean-Pascal Gay, Silvia Mostaccio, Josselin Tricout. Collection de la Revue d’Histoire ecclésiastique 111, Tournhout, Brepols, p. 291-301, 2022

This article focuses on the interplay of masculinities in the context of the army of Flanders (la... more This article focuses on the interplay of masculinities in the context of the army of Flanders (late 16th-17th centuries), between the warrior masculinity of the military and the priestly masculinity of Jesuit military chaplains. Based on unpublished sources and books of the time, the meaning of the word "virility" for the religious involved with the military is also analysed
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/267801

Brepols Publishers eBooks, 2023

Ce prologue ce veut une relecture du parcours de recherche de Paul Servais, historien, par une hi... more Ce prologue ce veut une relecture du parcours de recherche de Paul Servais, historien, par une historienne d'une autre génération et d'une différente orientation historiographiqu

Cet atelier international propose un travail collectif au carrefour des différents réseaux économ... more Cet atelier international propose un travail collectif au carrefour des différents réseaux économiques, politiques, familiaux, militaires et culturels qui constituèrent les contextes de vie changeants et complexes d’Ambrogio Spinola; un homme à la fortune immense et aux qualités militaires surprenantes. Des spécialistes aux perspectives historiographiques différentes et complémentaires se réuniront donc autours de Spinola, avec l’objectif d’une biographie chorale qui sera publiée en 2020. Cette biographie se veut le résultat d’un travail interdisciplinaire, mobilisant des historiens du fait militaire, de la diplomatie, des aristocraties transfrontalières et des réseaux financiers, mais aussi de l’histoire de l’information (création et circulation), de la culture écrite et par images, du genr

This paper is based on my current research on the missio castrensis, instituted in the army of Fl... more This paper is based on my current research on the missio castrensis, instituted in the army of Flanders (the Spanish army fighting against the rebel Calvinists of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands between 1568 and 1648, during the Eighty Years' War).In this research I would like to examine the issues of missionary masculinities in military and confessional wartime contexts. D iscourses on masculinities allow us to think in terms of hierarchies of masculinities within the essentially homosocial framework of the army. We are speaking of complex hierarchies at the crossroads of religious, social and military contexts

Universitaire Pers Leuven eBooks, Oct 3, 2022

Many of the most significant studies devoted to Ambrogio Spinola have focused on one particular a... more Many of the most significant studies devoted to Ambrogio Spinola have focused on one particular aspect of his life: his successful military career. This volume, through its interdisciplinary and cultural approach, breaks open this all too narrow perspective and expands our understanding of Spinola and his world. As a great military strategist and Catholic knight, entrepreneur in the international finance market, courtier and diplomat, Spinola was certainly a Genoese, but he was also a member of the transnational Iberian elite, to which he linked his fate and that of his children. His life's journey between Italy, Flanders and Spain, and the reinterpretations of his life by his contemporaries in art, literature and the press, give us the opportunity to reflect on the multiple identities and the physical and mental wanderings of many Europeans of the Early Modern Age. Ambrogio Spinola offers an example of humanity that is impossible to capture in a single reading and is much more ...

Les émotions de Dieu. Attributions, revendications, appropriations (XVIe-XVIIIe siècle), 2015

La communication repose sur un corpus hétérogène d'écrits composés par des religieux lors de la l... more La communication repose sur un corpus hétérogène d'écrits composés par des religieux lors de la longue guerre (à la fois civile, confessionnelle et contre les espagnols) qui opposa l'Espagne et ses représentants aux provinces des Pays-Bas entre la fin du XVIe siècle et 1648. Le journal spirituel d'une carmélite déchaussée du monastère de Bruxelles sera comparé avec les écrits dévotionnels pour les soldats de Thomas Sailly, le jésuite premier responsable de la mission militaire établie auprès de l'armée des Flandres, ainsi qu'avec un traité d'exégèse spirituelle de l'Apocalypse réalisé par Carolus Scribani, humaniste jésuite, historiographe d'Anvers et responsable de la province Flandro-belgica. Un corpus « genré » donc, où hommes et femmes catholiques parlent de Dieu en interprétant son ressentit par rapport à la violence d'une guerre conçue comme sainte, ou du moins « juste ».

Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain. Eds. Silvia Mostaccio, Bernardo García García, Luca Lo Basso (Avisos de Flandes vol. 20). Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2022

This contribution focuses on Ambrogio Spinola's correspondence with members of his restricted fam... more This contribution focuses on Ambrogio Spinola's correspondence with members of his restricted family, conserved in Brussels (1600-1629) from a gender perspective. The aim is to highlight the results of interactions between men and women, based on relationships between individuals (hierarchies, struggles for power, collaborations). In this regard, these letters make it possible to capture Ambrogio Spinola at the crossroads between the different worlds that were his own (Genoa, Flanders, Madrid). The place of his family (especially his mother Polissena and his sisters) is essential as a constant space for emotional life, but also as a fundamental financial network. The same goes for the relationship between Ambrogio and his wife Giovanna Baciadonne. It is thanks to the latter that we can ask about the role played in military enterprises by women through their dowry. From the letters exchanged with and about his sons and daughters, we question Ambrogio's attitudes as a father and pater familias (a role that refers to a precise Italian humanist literature, but also to the paternal function in the Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation). Fatherhood is therefore an important dimension of masculinity that integrates that of the military and of the war chief. At the very center of these interactions, there is the idea of individual and clanic honor

Face aux défis d’une histoire culturelle qui ne se contente pas de poser son regard sur les élite... more Face aux défis d’une histoire culturelle qui ne se contente pas de poser son regard sur les élites politiques, religieuses ou culturelles, ni sur les seules couches plus basses de la population, mais qui aspire plutôt à une intégration des discours et des pratiques étant le reflet de sociétés composites et multiples, j’ai conduit une enquête dont le parcours heuristique puisse être le reflet de cette multiplicité de regards posés (ou pas) sur les faits miraculeux aux Pays-Bas espagnols, lors de la guerre des Quatre-vingt Ans. De cette sorte, les faits considérés comme miraculeux par les différents acteurs agissant dans un cadre de conflits confessionnel, ou par ceux qui racontèrent ce même conflit, peuvent être analysés dans leur épaisseur, en tant qu’indices de différentes façons de considérer le monde et les êtres humains, ainsi que les enjeux d’une société toute entière. Dans cette contribution il sera beaucoup question de militaires, de diplomates, d’hommes et de femmes intégrés...

A la moitié des années 1660 la ville bretonne de Vannes voit s’affirmer une nouvelle pratique rel... more A la moitié des années 1660 la ville bretonne de Vannes voit s’affirmer une nouvelle pratique religieuse : les Exercices Spirituels dans des maisons crées à cet effet et capables d’accueillir plus de cent personnes à la fois. Les nouveautés ne font pas défaut. On peut souligner, entre autre, la mixité sociale –particulièrement insistée parmi les femmes- et d’état de vie des exercitants ; la création d’une sorte de communauté temporaire –une semaine- sans contacts avec le monde extérieur ; la mobilisation importante d’outils de mission élaborés dans le cadre des missions itinérantes bretonnes tels que les « images morales ». Nouveauté encore plus étonnante est la création de deux maisons : l’une pour les hommes et l’autre pour les femmes. La première, qui ouvrira ses portes en 1663, sera directement liée à la Compagnie de Jésus et des jésuites, à partir du père Vincent Huby, en seront les directeurs. La deuxième verra le jour en 1665 grâce à l’implication dévouée d’une riche aristocr...

• Masculinités Sacerdotales. Approches historiques (Xème-XXIème siècles), 2022

Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Falders, and Spain, 2022

Interdisciplinary study of Spinola’s turbulent life Many of the most significant studies devoted... more Interdisciplinary study of Spinola’s turbulent life

• Paul Servais, La composante humaine. Textes réunis et présentés par Silvia Mostaccio , 2018

Brepols Publishers eBooks, 2023

Universitaire Pers Leuven eBooks, Oct 3, 2022

Les émotions de Dieu. Attributions, revendications, appropriations (XVIe-XVIIIe siècle), 2015

Ambrogio Spinola between Genoa, Flanders, and Spain. Eds. Silvia Mostaccio, Bernardo García García, Luca Lo Basso (Avisos de Flandes vol. 20). Leuven, Leuven University Press, 2022

Il rapporto al sacro in tempi d’interminabili guerre confessionali come quelle che travagliarono ... more Il rapporto al sacro in tempi d’interminabili guerre confessionali come quelle che travagliarono le Fiandre tra la fine del XVI e la prima metà del XVII secolo assume forme diverse, che raccontano delle priorità e dei bisogni di molteplici soggetti storici. Le devozioni mariane (in particolare quelle sviluppatesi in stretto contatto con il reticolo di santuari dedicati alla Vergine nei Paesi Bassi meridionali e nell’Italia spagnola) si prestano ad un’analisi che vada al di là dalla sola lettura politica e confessionale di devozioni imposte dalle autorità politiche e religiose. In questa prospettiva i libretti di pellegrinaggio forniscono elementi importanti per ricostruire le grandi linee di un accesso al sacro per via femminile, in cui alla Signora degli eserciti dei gruppi egemoni si accompagnano altri volti della Madre di Dio. L’empatia con l’essere umano e con le sue sofferenze é uno degli elementi dominanti, che nello stesso periodo si ritroverà anche in diverse devozioni limin...

genre, subaltern Studies: deux approches historiographiques pour réinterroger des dossiers "... more genre, subaltern Studies: deux approches historiographiques pour réinterroger des dossiers "classic" dans une perspective renové

For many years I devoted my research to the articulation between religion and power, for a religi... more For many years I devoted my research to the articulation between religion and power, for a religious history capable of integrating a wider cultural and social framework. My gateway was that of the issues of Early Modern obedience in the Society of Jesus (collective identity, internal governance, disciplinarization of the secular society and especially of women). The comparison of normative sources among Jesuits and other new religious orders has allowed me to identify specific Jesuit characteristics and to better understand the contribution of this religious order to the construction of European societies. More recently, taking seriously the contexts of religious action has led me to a long detour to integrate war into my research, as an essential reality in the lives of lay and religious people throughout Early Modern time in Europe

Interpreting Obedience : Cathechisms and Devotional Manuals by the Jesuits in Western Europe Read... more Interpreting Obedience : Cathechisms and Devotional Manuals by the Jesuits in Western Europe Reading Jan Machielsen’s Consultation document in order to set up my own paper, I found particularly interesting one of his questions: “How texts helped to interpret Catholic religious experience in Early moden period”. In Early Modern Europe, among different, possible experiences shared by Catholics, we can find the experience of Obedience. Obedience is a political and a religious virtue and the reflection on the hierarchical organization of heterogeneous loyalties is a focus point for theologians and confessors, as well as for jurists. In the specific case of my research on Jesuit Obedience, Jan’s question could sound: how Jesuit texts helped to interpret the catholic obedience’s experience? Today, my proposal is to follow Obedience, going through a range of texts written by Jesuits and read by Catholics (most of these texts have been Early modern best sellers). What happened to the nuance...

Review in English and Italian

The formation of the Modern State witnessed a reinforcement of control over the public sphere. Re... more The formation of the Modern State witnessed a reinforcement of control over the public sphere. Religion and politics sought to impose well-codified social norms and patterns of behaviour against a background of profound turmoil manifested by various forms of disobedience and dissent among both the ruling and the lower classes.

From Flanders to Italy, passing by the German lands, the Thirty Years' War, a great ‘media event’, contributed to the process of destabilisation with the massive circulation of people, ideas and works of art and literature. The resultant fruitful tension gave rise to new literary and artistic forms (the Picaresque genre for one) challenging basic concepts of social hierarchy, identity, gender and stereotyped beauty.

The panel invites papers exploring the connections and tensions between visual and literary forms reflecting the political, social and religious turmoil in Early Modern Europe.

Topics of interest include:

• Diffusion of liminal or heterodox devotional images created by lower classes paralleled in contemporary texts
• Clothing as a means of identity disguise to challenge social rules (‘cross-dressing’)
• Emergence of female and lower-born characters within the Picaresque genre and in the context of the Thirty Years' War
• The birth of the ‘mock hero’, a low-life character enacting epic narratives for comic effect
• Celebration of the ugly and grotesque rather than traditional standards of beauty

Proposals should include:
Presenter’s name
Academic affiliation (if appropriate)
Email address
Paper title (15 Words maximum)
Abstract (150 Words maximum) + 3-5 Keywords
PhD completion date (if appropriate)
CV (200 Words maximum)

Proposals by 21st July 2019 to Carlo Avilio (carloavilio@gmail.com) and Silvia Mostaccio (silvia.mostaccio@uclouvain.be)

Die Blockveranstaltung dient der Vorstellung und intensiven Diskussion von Abschlussarbeiten und ... more Die Blockveranstaltung dient der Vorstellung und intensiven Diskussion von Abschlussarbeiten und Forschungsprojekten (Master, Dissertation, Habilitation). Die Teilnahme steht allen interessierten Studierenden und Nachwuchsforschenden unangemeldet offen. Aus organisatorischen Gründen ist für die beiden Mittagessen und das Buffet am Freitagabend eine Anmeldung per E-Mail bis spätestens 20.11.2019 erforderlich: hedy.werthmueller@hist.unibe.ch. Die Kosten der Mittagessen gehen zu Lasten der Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer; die Gastreferentinnen und -referenten werden eingeladen. Für das Buffet vom 28.11.2019 wird von den Berner Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmern (Ausnahme: BA-und MA-Studierende) ein Beitrag von CHF 20.-an die Kosten eingezogen.

“Quaderni Storici”, 2 (2017), 631-638, 2017

ARO, 2020

Titel: Dio in uniforme. Cappellani, catechesi cattolica e soldati in età moderna Ort: Bologna Ver... more Titel: Dio in uniforme. Cappellani, catechesi cattolica e soldati in età moderna Ort: Bologna Verlag: Il Mulino Jahr: 2018 ISBN: 9788815273253 URL: Link zum Titel REZENSENT Silvia Mostaccio-Université catholique de Louvain Empfohlene Zitierweise S. Mostaccio, Rezension von Vincenzo Lavenia, Dio in uniforme. Cappellani, catechesi cattolica e soldati in età moderna, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2018, in: ARO, III, 2020, 2, URL https://aro-isig.fbk.eu/issues/2020/2/dio-in-uniforme-silvia-mostaccio/