02867cam a22003373u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000370011324500220015026400510017230000470022333600260027033700260029633800360032250000310035850801370038952017110052653400690223765300400230665300470234665300220239385600520241585600430246799900190251077395UtSlPG20260610134807.0mcr n260607r20251861utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7afr2iso639-1 4aBX1 aChasles, Philarète,d1798-187310aVirginie de Leyva 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2025-12-03  aLaurent Vogel (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica))  a"Virginie de Leyva" by Philarète Chasles is a historical account written in the mid-19th century. Drawing on original legal records, it reconstructs the scandal of the Signora di Monza—Sister Virginia Maria—an aristocrat forced into vows in early seventeenth-century Lombardy, and the web of passion, crime, and clerical casuistry that followed. Centered on Virginia, the Machiavellian neighbor Osio, and the corrupt confessor Arrighone, it unfolds against Spanish-ruled Italy. The work uses this case to probe what civilization and morality mean beneath polished forms and pious rhetoric.

The opening of the work dedicates the narrative to Thackeray, poses sharp questions about true civilization versus empty forms, and invokes Fénelon to argue that moral life must grow from the inner soul, not external discipline. Chasles then introduces the scholar Dandolo, secluded in the Apennines and mining archives, whose discoveries lead to the Monza trial; he situates the story in an Italy made decadent by Spanish domination, baroque taste, and social servility. The narrative sketches Virginia’s lineage and forced profession at thirteen, her beauty and seigneurial power, the lax convent culture, the casuist guidance of Arrighone, and the proximity of the adroit Osio. It proceeds to Cardinal Federico Borromeo’s discreet visit and Virginia’s audacious demand to marry, followed by her removal to Milan, the nocturnal flight of two nuns and the violent Lambro assaults that trigger public scandal, apathetic bystanders, and the first interrogations—signaling the broader exposure of justice, power, and moral decay that the case will reveal. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cParis: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861  aLeyva, Virginia Maria de, 1575-1650  aMonasticism and religious orders for women  aConvents -- Italy4 uhttps://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5831417q40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77395  c118115d118115