Consecrated Virgins in Italy: A Case Study in the Renovation of Catholic Religious Life

Abstract

Catholic religious life has undergone major changes since the Second Vatican Council. These have to do with the relationship between the individual and the institution and the place of consecrated people in contemporary society, among other issues. This article focuses on the consecration of virgins. It is a very ancient rite, re-established by the Church in 1970. The women make a public promise of perpetual virginity. They do not belong to any religious order. Their distinctive feature is a secular lifestyle: they live alone or with their parents, have secular jobs and ordinary relationships with friends, colleagues, and parishioners, and do not wear a veil or any religious habit. There are about 400 consecrated virgins living in Italy today. In this empirical study, emphasis is placed on their work and their (sometimes difficult) relations with the institutional church.

Religion, Spirituality and Everyday Practice

“…Young and sometimes pretty women make a pledge of lifelong virginity, ratified by a bishop in the course of a public ceremony, and then are free to pursue their calling in the world, living alone, holding a secular job, without showing any external sign of consecration (Turina 2011). The Catholic Church renounces direct control over them in favor of self-control.…”