The Evolving Role of Noncloistered Religious Women in Papal Politics: A Case Study of Francesca Romana and Eugene IV

Francesca Romana was a fifteenth-century Roman saint. She was a mystic, a healer, and the foundress of a community of non-cloistered religious women. In one of her visions, Francesca foresaw Pope Eugene IV fleeing the city of Rome and the cardinal’s churches taken by the local populace. She tried to warn Eugene about the forthcoming troubles via her confessor, Giovanni Mattioti, but she was ignored and in 1434 Eugene fled to Bologna.

In her visions of Eugene’s impending troubles, Francesca mirrored other non-cloistered religious women such as Catherine of Siena and Brigid of Sweden. However, Francesca was more cautious in the relation of her visions, most likely because of the religious and social changes brought about by the Council of Constance and the writings of Jean Gerson on female mystics.

This paper explores Francesca’s role as a political mystic and Eugene’s response in the context of Renaissance Rome. It argues that although Francesca’s political dealings with the papacy were not as forceful and prominent as those of Catherine and Brigid, she nevertheless demonstrated the continued importance of female visionaries in papal politics. This paper demonstrates that female visionaries such as Francesca, had opportunities to continue to participate in papal politics. Furthermore, their ability to do so depended upon their negotiation of new social and religious norms to counteract increased suspicion of female visionaries.