A Woman’s Way A Woman’s Way < The Forgotten History of Women Spiritual Directors Patricia Ranft AWOMAN’SWAY Copyright © Patricia Ranft, 2000. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-312-21712-9 First published in hardcover in 2000 by Palgrave First PALGRAVETMpaperback edition: November 2001 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE is the new global publishing imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-0-312-29444-1 ISBN 978-1-349-38533-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-38533-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ranft, Patricia. A woman’s way : the forgotten history of women spiritual directors / by Patricia Ranft. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Spiritual direction—History. 2. Women spiritual directors— History. 3. Spiritual directors—History. I. Title. BV5053.R36 2000 253.5’3’082—dc21 99–059605 Design by Letra Libre, Inc. First paperback edition: November 2001 1 09 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Transferred to Digital Printing in 2008 To Michael For so very, very much Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Early Christianity 9 Chapter 2 Women Spiritual Directors of Church Fathers 25 Chapter 3 Early Monasticism and the Early Medieval West 49 Chapter 4 The Great Medieval Directors 67 Chapter 5 Late Middle Ages: Direction Comes of Age 87 Chapter 6 Confessors, Spiritual Directors, and Women 107 Chapter 7 Spiritual Directors within the New Orders 129 Chapter 8 Spiritual Direction among the Protestants 157 Chapter 9 The Modern Era 173 Conclusion 193 Notes 195 Bibliography 237 Index 249 Acknowledgments I would like to thank those friends whose conversations helped nourish me while working on this book. In particular, I am grateful to my dear friend Terry Fleming for allowing me to use him as a sounding board time and again. His reactions and corrections were always helpful. I am also indebted to Angela McGlynn for discussing logotherapy with me. The rest of my thanks are due to the faithful few who came to my aid once again to fulfill tedious tasks. As usual, Annette Davis saved me from many a computer snafu and helped produce the final manuscript. My daughter Meredith and my husband Michael edited and proofread the man- uscript, while my son Jeff and my son-in-law Oddur offered their constant support. I am most indebted to Michael for his very constructive criticism and, more importantly, for making me believe all things are possible. Finally, I would like to thank Meredith, Oddur, Jeff, Debbie, my parents, our sib- lings and their families, and all our friends who have offered much-needed support during the last few months; I am especially grateful to Robert and Kate for their help and concern. Michael and I are very fortunate indeed.