In Sarah Dunant's novel set in 1570, the convent of Santa Caterina was a haven for the other daughters of the nobility, the ones not destined for marriage. Inflated dowries of the time caused many young women to be sent to nunneries to live out their lives as brides of Christ. In the case of a young woman of family taking the veil, the dowry was paid to the church which became home and family to the woman.
An Unwilling Young Heroine
Serafina is one such young woman. Without vocation and desperately in love with her singing instructor, she is forced into the convent, and spends her first night screaming her rage. Sent to subdue the girl, Suora Zuanna, the dispensary mistress, relives her own first night in the convent. Zuanna’s own father had died, leaving her alone in the world with his many books on herbal and mineral remedies and a vocation for healing.
The abbess Madonna Chiara is the head of this convent of Santa Caterina in Ferrara, Italy. Her mistress of novices, Suora Umiliana, and the dispensary mistress, Suora Zuanna, are her adjutants. A Benedictine community, Santa Caterina is administrated by an elected abbess, so family factions and political factions within the convent and outside the convent walls affect the life of the nuns in unexpected ways.
Historical Setting in Italy
The Council of Trent, which took place in the time of the setting of this novel, instituted a rigorous isolation of nuns from the outside world. Madonna Chiara sees her power and influence will not be enough to protect the privileges her nuns enjoy. Visits from the outside world, the public performances of the excellent choir, and the theatricals allowed in the carnival season are all coming under direct scrutiny as a result of the reforms dictated by the work of Trent. On the side of the reformers, Suora Umiliana challenges the way the convent of Santa Caterina is administered.
Madonna Chiara and Suora Umiliana, the mistress of novices are locked in a struggle for control of the abbey. Serafina and Suora Zuanna are locked in the struggle for control of their own lives, to wrest the control from the authority figures in their lives. Serafina and Zuanna are alternately pawns and players in the struggle to control the life of the convent. To protect her vocation as healer and help Serafina to her destiny, Zuanna begins to take an active role in the fight for the soul of the abbey.
The Author's Grasp of Human Struggle
Dunant’s novel is fraught with the very female tension between the nuns. Every catty remark and clever back-handed compliment will be familiar to the female reader. Her historical setting is aptly chosen as a background for the eternal struggle between humans that occurs in a tightly constrained community of ill-fitting personalities. The politics of religion intertwine with the politics of personality.
Blackmail, violence and potions may seem odd plot devices to a tale of nuns and love, but considering the stakes for the women involved, they are patently fitting. As power corrupts and the young and unaware are used, the dispensary mistress awakens to the challenge of wagering her own freedom on the outcome of the power plays.
Dunant’s ability to build the suspense makes this book a powerful and satisfying journey into the past where women’s ability to decide their own fate is non-existent. If one is desirous of a reason for the emancipation of women, it can be found in this community of women who are denied husbands, children or career. Ultimately, the struggle for control brings this novel its peak of tension and spurs the reader to turn the next page and find out if freedom can be wrestled from this tyranny.
Source: Sarah Dunant, Sacred Hearts, (UK - Virago Press, 2009)(US - Random House, 2009)
See also Book Review – Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
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