The Visionary Preaching of Juana de la Cruz (1481-1534): Ritual, Revelation, and Collective Writing(25 The Medieval Franciscans)

Step into the world of 16th-century Castile, where a devout community of Franciscan women preserved the public preaching of their visionary abbess, Juana de la Cruz (1481-1534), through writing. This groundbreaking book uncovers how her sermons were recorded, explores the materiality of the surviving codices, and reveals their role in the controversial censorship and blocking of Juana’s canonization. Tracing the rich tradition of the liturgical vision (12th-16th centuries), it delves into female literacy and the creation of collective knowledge in female religious houses around Europe. Featuring rare insights and fresh evaluations of historical texts, this volume illuminates the intersection of female prophetic preaching, community, and the written word at the end of the Middle Ages.

Table of Contents:
Funding Foreword Acknowledgments List of Figures Abbreviations Note on citing the manuscripts of the sermons of the Conorte Transcription principles for Conorte (and other manuscripts and printed matter cited) Introduction 1 Pathways to Preaching 2 Pathways to Rapture 3 Conceptual Reflections 1 Material. The Conorte as a Textual Artefact   1 Introduction   2 The Codices of the Conorte and Juana de la Cruz’s Canonization Process   3 The El Escorial Manuscript   4 The Vatican Manuscript   5 Juana’s Preaching and the Date of Production of the Manuscripts   6 Conclusions 2 Textual. The Architecture of the Sermon Book   1 Performance, Memory, Text   2 Textualization Processes   3 Difference, Amplification, and Recreation   4 Cyclicity and Amalgam   5 Conclusions 3 Intertextual. Towards a Genealogy of the Visionary Sermon   1 Introduction   2 Hildegard von Bingen and the Degrees of the Open Word   3 Elisabeth von Schönau and the Liturgical Vision   4 Mechthild von Hackeborn and Communal Writing   5 Domenica da Paradiso and the New Prophetic Preaching   6 Conclusions 4 Hermeneutical. Liturgical Vision in the Conorte   1 Introduction: Liturgy and exegesis   2 Liturgical Anchoring and Exegetic Commentary   3 Sermon Form   4 Case Analyses     4.1 Septuagesima Sunday     4.2 In festo S. Laurentii Martyris     4.3 In Dominica Quadragesimae   5 Conclusions Conclusions Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Pablo Acosta-García, Ph.D. (2009), Pompeu Fabra University, is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He has been a Marie Curie Fellow at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Germany) and a María Zambrano Postdoctoral Fellow at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). His work includes edited books, and numerous articles and book chapters on medieval and early modern mystic women, including the first annotated translation of Angela da Foligno's Memoriale into Spanish (Siruela, 2009).

Review :
"The Visionary Preaching of Juana de la Cruz (1481–1534)... represents a pioneering contribution to the broader study of female preaching in premodern Europe. By illuminating the performative, creative, and theological dimensions of Juana’s sermons and their manuscript history, Acosta-García challenges long-standing assumptions about women’s roles in religious leadership." Carolyn Muessig, University of Calgary, Department of Classics and Religion, 15 December 2024