Resumo

CALDEIRA, Arlindo Manuel. Women’s religious orders from the 16th to the 18th century. What cloister?. Faces de Eva. Estudos sobre a Mulher [online]. 2025, n.53, pp.138-159.  Epub 13-Jan-2026. ISSN 0874-6885.  https://doi.org/10.34619/zlg2-hoxl.

The Council of Trent and Pope Sixtus V attempted to reorganise women’s religious orders, imposing strict enclosure on nuns and attempting to ensure that they professed without external imposition. In practice, from the 16th to the 18th century, both efforts fell far short of the mark. In the dominant social groups, daughters were often forced into religious life even though they had no vocation. The cloistered nature of most convents and monasteries also revealed a porosity that had little to do with the rigidity and total cut-off from the world that the Council representatives had planned.

Palavras-chave : Women’s religious orders; enclosure; porosity; annulment of vows..

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