La Papessa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
La Papessa, also written as La Popessa, is a term used in tarot to refer to The Papess or The High Priestess playing card. It is also a term used informally by some Roman Catholics to refer to a woman who is perceived as exercising undue influence on a pope to the extent that she is seen as La Popessa or a she pope. It was also used to refer to Pope Joan, the mythical woman pope who supposedly reigned as pope from 855 to 858.
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[edit] La Papessa in Tarot
The La Popessa or Papess card first appeared in Tarot cards in mediæval times. Some of the cards directly linked the woman on the cards to the papacy by showing the woman wearing a trigregnum or Papal Tiara. Some also showed variants in which, along with the triregnum, they also showed a key reminiscent of the keys to the kingdom that are a traditional symbol of the papacy. Various modern tarot decks such as Golden Tarot continue this tradition.
However not all cards however clearly linked the card with the papacy. Other variants on the card linked the woman to the Virgin Mary, Isis and even the legendary Pope Joan. Post-reformation cards in particular used images of Pope Joan with a child, linking in to the mythology of how Joan, disguised as a man, was elected to the papacy and was only supposedly discovered to be a woman when she gave birth.
[edit] La Papessa in Catholicism
While many women were accused of exercising "undue influence" on popes, the term La Popessa is particularly used to refer to two.
[edit] 'Pope Joan'
According to mediæval legend, in the 8th century (855-858) an English woman disguised herself as a man to be allowed to enter Holy Orders. It was claimed that she rose to prominence with her Order before being elected pope. Her deception was only unearthed when she collapsed in childbirth during a papal procession through Rome. According to one version, the angry crowd then stoned to death Pope Joan and her newborn child. All subsequent popes were then supposedly subjected to an examination whereby, having sat on a dung chair containing a hole called "sedia stercoraria", a cardinal had to reach up and establish that the new pope had testicles, before solemnly announcing " "Testiculos habet et bene pendentes" — "He has testicles, and they dangle nicely."
While the story of 'Pope Joan' is attested to by some respected mediæval historians who repeated as fact traditional accounts of her supposed reign, it has been generally dismissed by historians since the 17th century as a fabrication. While the dates of her supposed reign (855 to 858) may undermine the claim as to her existence, other facts do not. The papal seat with a hole for inspecting papal testicles was investigated by Diane Sawyer on Primetime Live in 2006. Diane Sawyer's investigations led to the conclusion that the only need for the use of such a curious chair would be if there were an actual need for it. Others have objected based on dating of the stool; does it predate the 9th century when Joan supposedly reigned, predate Christianity, or is it merely an ancient Roman birthing stool? Diane Sawyer and her team requested access to the chair. The Vatican denied her request.
[edit] Sr Pasqualina Lehnert
While the evidence as to the existence of the supposed "Pope Joan" may be scant, Sr. Pasqualina Lehnert was the real-life housekeeper of Eugenio Pacelli, a Vatican diplomat who in 1939 became Pope Pius XII.
The precise nature of the relationship between Pacelli and Lehnert remained a source of controversy throughout their lifetimes. The Bavarian-born nun first worked for Pacelli when he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the court of King Ludwig III of Bavaria. In 1918 rumours spread through the Vatican that Pacelli and Lehnert were lovers. Pacelli demanded and was granted a full investigation of what he called a "horrible calumny". Lehnert remained as his housekeeper, a post she would continue to fill until his death in the papacy in 1958.
Lehnert became highly controversial in the 1950s when Pope Pius XII's health began to deteriorate. Her enemies, which included his family (his sister labelled her "scaltrissima"-- extremely cunning, while his nephew begged him to dismiss her) and senior figures in the Curia. Lehnert assumed the role of gatekeeper to the Pope, deciding who could meet him and who would not be allowed to meet him, what Vatican documents could be submitted to him and what ones couldn't. Critics accused her of using her position to poison his mind against some senior figures, notably Giovanni Montini, who was explicably denied the cardinalate when appointed Archbishop of Milan. Her most outspoken critics within the Vatican labelled her La Papessa or the She Pope and sought, without success, to have her dismissed from the Papal Household.
[edit] Manfreda
Manfreda was a Umiliata nun who became a papess. Newman in 1995 remarked that many of the facts surrounding her lifge can be historically proven, and that much of what we know of her comes from Inquisition records.
