Women, Jesuits, and The English Mission: The “Life” of Dorothy Lawson

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the “Life” of Mrs. Dorothy Lawson made by her chaplain, Jesuit William Palmes in the mid–17th c. (1646–1650). The “Life” of Mrs. Lawson was intended for the women of the English Catholic community, nuns and lay-women. The text revealed a post–Trident model of religious life adopted for the realities of the life of Catholics in England. It is shown that to describe the devotional practices of Dorothy Law-son, her biographer had to picture the actions of women that set them on collision course with secular and ecclesiastical authorities, and also contradicted the accepted gender stereotypes. The article is followed by a Russian translation of the “Life”, with commentaries.