In the book titled Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, Judith Brown shares the story of “the rise and fall of a powerful woman in a church community.” A nun named Benedetta Carlini pretended to have religious visions in order to become an abbess and advance her position within her convent. Nuns, priests, and townspeople all willingly embraced Benedetta and her claim of being a visionary due to her outstanding acting as well as the benefits that would arise if her claims were true; however, her supposed marriage to Christ and sexual misconduct with another nun accounted for their eventual turn against Benedetta.
Benedetta led her community to believe that she was a visionary by the means of her superb public performances where she pretended to be in trance-like states. Before telling anyone about her visions, Benedetta first acted as if she was having them while in the presence of her fellow nuns. During prayer, “she gesticulated and made incomprehensible sounds” as if she…show more content… Although there were many testimonies that discredited her claims, this one was the most damaging. While heterosexual sodomy could lead to a female’s death sentence, this sexual misconduct could be seen as even more horrid since relationships between two females was almost unheard of. When Bartolomea revealed that she had sex with Benedetta, the community was extremely disturbed; they were uncertain which sin the nuns committed, but they were certain that their acts were not sinless. Benedetta was not sentenced to death, but she no longer had the support she once gained after the report was made by the investigators. Her visions seized and she was eventually sentenced to prison three years later. It is still unclear exactly what her sentence was for, but it is evident that Benedetta’s relationship with Bartolomea is what finally ended her claims of being a
