A standout among thousands... Women's marks of ownership in Catalan convent collections

The Historical Institute of the Province of Hispania, in collaboration with four prominent Catalan institutions, is inaugurating ‘Una entre milers’ (One among thousands), a new virtual exhibition focusing on the role of women in convent reading during the Modern Age.

Owning a book, contemplating it, remembering where it came from, leafing through it, reading it. Any of these ‘moments’ of the book in relation to its owner point to different meanings. They tell us about the lives of the women who integrated some of them into their daily lives.

A specific and precious element in this world of female reading were the monasteries, where nuns were readers and owners of books and, as such, in many cases left their mark of ownership.
Despite the walls of the cloister, books entered and left the convents, and the works in these libraries were used by women of different generations, who left their names written in them.

The exhibition brings together a careful selection of volumes with female ownership marks from four monasteries in Catalonia and Majorca: Santa María de Montesión, Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles and Pie de la Cruz (Barcelona), Santa Clara de Vic and Santa Catalina de Siena (Palma de Mallorca). Alongside these works, biographical details of their former owners are presented, allowing their names to guide us towards their personal stories.

‘Una entre milers’ is the result of a joint effort with other Catalan cultural institutions: the CRAI of the University of Barcelona, the Àmbit Cultural de les Benedictines de Catalunya, the Reial Monestir de Pedralbes and the Arxiu dels Carmelites Descalços de Catalunya i Balears. In addition, the exhibition includes virtual examples of other female orders, including Benedictines, Discalced Carmelites, Poor Clares, and Dominicans.

The library of the historic building of the University of Barcelona is also hosting the exhibition, which will be open until 27 November. On 6 November at 6 pm, there will be a guided tour of the exhibition and lectures by Professor Mariela Fargas and researcher Mercè Gras.

This proposal not only vindicates the figure of women readers in the conventual sphere, but also rescues from oblivion their firm and silent voices, inscribed in the pages of the books that once formed part of their daily lives.