Decir verdad. Pesquisa secreta en un convento femenino (siglo XVIII)

Abstract

This paper analyses two key occasions of a canonical visit by the vicar general of the diocese of Tucumán to the monastery of Carmelitas Descalzas of San José de Córdoba in 1776: a questioning and after an auto dedicated to aspects subjected to reform. Starting from the theoretical outlines proposed by Michel Foucault, the paper examines the process of “production of truth” about the observance of the perpetual cloister stipulated for the nuns, at a time marked not only by the rules prompted from the Council of Trento but also by the project to reestablish discipline in monasteries, undertaken by the Bourbon monarchy. It points out that before the ecclesiastical power, the declarations of the nuns
are not precisely uniform: they offer hues, particular impressions as regards positions put forward in the discourse and the subjects displayed, and also the values assigned at that stage of the monastic life.