Introduction

This chapter presents some representative and typical incidents of patriarchal, misogynistic violence towards women religious throughout the centuries. The chapter discusses the contextual narratives placed within the perspectives of women's and gender history, with particular reference to the history of women religious in the Roman Catholic Church in Europe and North America. The history of women religious down the centuries shows countless instances of how their intuitions and views were either ignored or roundly rejected by clerics. Women religious today in Europe and North America have come to an edge, to another edge, in their history. Furthermore, given the present state of the Church, and especially its attitude towards women, the attraction of religious life for women in these countries has greatly diminished. In the future researching and writing the present history of women religious will place their narrative at this historical edge, mindful of the rich tradition and lived experience of women religious over the centuries.