Il velo, la penna e la parola

The first female community of the Dominican Order was founded in 1211 in Prouilhe, in southern France, where the first monastery was built to welcome a group of converts driven to monasticism by cultural and social reasons.
The foundation of the Second Order obtained papal approval before that of the male branch and in a short time it experienced a rapid diffusion, which had its peak at the end of the fifteenth century with the canonization of Catherine of Siena: a new way of reconciling active life and contemplative life was experimented, in close contact with the city, and the reform of the Church was promoted with commitment.
With the aim of highlighting the specificity, identity and originality of the Order's women's movement, the contributions of the various experts touch on different aspects of this original history: the value of the documentary sources of the origins of the movement; the importance for the life of the Church of the action and presence of women; the role in the cultural field of nuns as composers of music, poetry and literary works, also for an audience outside the monastery.