The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal by Hubert Wolf Page A
Authors: Hubert Wolf
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matters, and he said: “In truth everything that has happened to the princess was the work of the devil; we have carried out the necessary tests and we are sure that it was the devil’s art, and that the mistress Maria Luisa neither thought nor said such things, and did not carry out these deeds.”
I replied: “So was I speaking to the devil?”
And he:
“Certainly. It was most certainly the devil who caused you these troubles.”
During spiritual exercises, this same Padre Leziroli preached in front of the entire community that the worries that some—in fact almost all—the nuns had experienced with regard to the princess, whom all the sisters knew, had been a deception by the devil. He could assume the shape of other people, and had poisoned the soup and the medicine. He did all this to disrupt the peace of the community. But we should remain calm, as none of us had done any of the things we saw. The princess was present at this sermon.
I know that in the end Leziroli also tried to convince the princess of this deception by the devil. He said she should not judge the mistress so harshly and should not hate her—for if she did, she could not remain in the house of God. Leziroli concluded the above sermon by saying he had firm evidence of the mistress’s innocence.
Maria Ignazia’s testimony was corroborated by several other nuns and the abbess. 49 Even after Katharina had left, the nuns were repeatedly told that all the poisoning attempts had been the work of the devil.Maria Francesca had to write another letter for Maria Luisa, this time using the name and handwriting of Maria Felice, who had just died. This letter said that the princess had been a “strange woman” who “carried on with the devil” and falsely believed somebody was trying to poison her. The dead nun complained about having to nurse this peculiar woman during her illness. Maria Stanislaa confirmed that the novice mistress had tasked Maria Francesca with writing out this letter.
In the fall of 1859, when the Apostolic Visitation that the pope had requested was already under way, the confessors instructed the nuns to treat the statement “The devil assumed the shape of Maria Luisa to poison Katharina” like an article of the creed. Any dissenting nuns were pressured and persecuted. Maria Giuseppa was treated particularly harshly for her stubborn refusal to comply with this. When she insisted in the confessional that Maria Luisa was responsible for the poison attacks against Katharina, Leziroli forced her to make a formal retraction. She had to swear to Maria Luisa’s “holiness and extraordinary gifts” before Leziroli, with her hand on the gospels, and reject her suspicions as a “great sin.” “He said I had to speak his phrase about Maria Luisa’s holiness, if I wanted to save my soul,” Maria Giuseppa recalled.
Maria Luisa also followed this pastoral strategy, in her own way. Notes suddenly started appearing and being passed around the convent, supposedly originating from the Americano. According to Maria Ignazia, these explained “how the demons took on the shape of the mistress and other sisters, to poison the princess.” 50 The Americano addressed the notes defending “the mistress’s innocence” to Padre Peters. “She read one out to me, to convince me of her innocence in the poisoning affair. Before the mistress was taken away, she told me I should defend her innocence, just as she would defend mine when I was taken away. Now I know why she said this. She was afraid because of what she had done.”
MORE MURDERS
By “what Maria Luisa had done,” Maria Ignazia didn’t just mean her attempted murder of Katharina von Hohenzollern. The madre vicaria had also made several attempts to kill other nuns. 51
First, there was the case of Maria Giacinta, which must have played out in the first half of 1859. Luigi Franceschetti’s sister had observed Maria Luisa grinding glass and mixing it into the princess’s food. She
I replied: “So was I speaking to the devil?”
And he:
“Certainly. It was most certainly the devil who caused you these troubles.”
During spiritual exercises, this same Padre Leziroli preached in front of the entire community that the worries that some—in fact almost all—the nuns had experienced with regard to the princess, whom all the sisters knew, had been a deception by the devil. He could assume the shape of other people, and had poisoned the soup and the medicine. He did all this to disrupt the peace of the community. But we should remain calm, as none of us had done any of the things we saw. The princess was present at this sermon.
I know that in the end Leziroli also tried to convince the princess of this deception by the devil. He said she should not judge the mistress so harshly and should not hate her—for if she did, she could not remain in the house of God. Leziroli concluded the above sermon by saying he had firm evidence of the mistress’s innocence.
Maria Ignazia’s testimony was corroborated by several other nuns and the abbess. 49 Even after Katharina had left, the nuns were repeatedly told that all the poisoning attempts had been the work of the devil.Maria Francesca had to write another letter for Maria Luisa, this time using the name and handwriting of Maria Felice, who had just died. This letter said that the princess had been a “strange woman” who “carried on with the devil” and falsely believed somebody was trying to poison her. The dead nun complained about having to nurse this peculiar woman during her illness. Maria Stanislaa confirmed that the novice mistress had tasked Maria Francesca with writing out this letter.
In the fall of 1859, when the Apostolic Visitation that the pope had requested was already under way, the confessors instructed the nuns to treat the statement “The devil assumed the shape of Maria Luisa to poison Katharina” like an article of the creed. Any dissenting nuns were pressured and persecuted. Maria Giuseppa was treated particularly harshly for her stubborn refusal to comply with this. When she insisted in the confessional that Maria Luisa was responsible for the poison attacks against Katharina, Leziroli forced her to make a formal retraction. She had to swear to Maria Luisa’s “holiness and extraordinary gifts” before Leziroli, with her hand on the gospels, and reject her suspicions as a “great sin.” “He said I had to speak his phrase about Maria Luisa’s holiness, if I wanted to save my soul,” Maria Giuseppa recalled.
Maria Luisa also followed this pastoral strategy, in her own way. Notes suddenly started appearing and being passed around the convent, supposedly originating from the Americano. According to Maria Ignazia, these explained “how the demons took on the shape of the mistress and other sisters, to poison the princess.” 50 The Americano addressed the notes defending “the mistress’s innocence” to Padre Peters. “She read one out to me, to convince me of her innocence in the poisoning affair. Before the mistress was taken away, she told me I should defend her innocence, just as she would defend mine when I was taken away. Now I know why she said this. She was afraid because of what she had done.”
MORE MURDERS
By “what Maria Luisa had done,” Maria Ignazia didn’t just mean her attempted murder of Katharina von Hohenzollern. The madre vicaria had also made several attempts to kill other nuns. 51
First, there was the case of Maria Giacinta, which must have played out in the first half of 1859. Luigi Franceschetti’s sister had observed Maria Luisa grinding glass and mixing it into the princess’s food. She
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