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Expériences féminines de la conversion à la fin du xixe siècle
oleh: Caroline Muller
Format: | Article |
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Diterbitkan: | Laboratoire de Recherche Historique Rhône-Alpes (LARHRA UMR 5190) 2019-02-01 |
Deskripsi
The cases of conversion from Protestantism to Catholicism caught the attention of Catholic writers who sought to make converted women edifying models. The correspondence received by the converts allows us to go beyond the literary stereotype to find the lived experience of these women. For them, conversion is an experience of withdrawal or family breakdown: their entourage considers that their choice engages the community and threatens its interests. They are closely monitored and their behavior is read into their conversion. When the secret of conversion is revealed, there is conflicts concerning the future of children and the social and cultural practices that converts intend to modify to be in harmony with their new religion. Their experience is closely tied to the decisions of fathers and husbands, whom they seek to weigh with the advice of their spiritual director. These directors pursue several goals: to enable individual conversion while sheltering from scandal, to prepare the collective conversion of families by making women missionaries in their homes.