ABSTRACT
The cura monialium, literally “the care of nuns,” is a term used to describe the essential religious services required by female monastic communities. Every community of nuns had to celebrate Mass, hear confession, and grant penances on a regular basis. However, since religious women could not be ordained, they were forced to rely on male priests to provide them with these services. Thus the cura animarum, or “the care of souls,” which priests provided for all Christians was transformed for these religious women into the cura monialium-specifically “the care of nuns’ souls.” During the twelfth century, as concern for the separation of men and women within the religious life reached a high point, men’s provision of the cura monialium became a subject for delicate negotiation between nuns and their priests. The letters of Abelard and Heloise reflect many of the issues facing male and female monastic communities at this time: the degree to which contact between men and women was permissible, the possible spiritual equality of the sexes, and the ideal role played by priests in the governance of female communities.
