Download or read book Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe written by Patricia Ranft and published by . This book was released on 1998-01 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious women have been present in every crucial aspect of Catholic church life: in schools, hospitals, orphanages, missions, social services and monasteries. Starting with the 4th-century birth of monasticism and continuing until the 17th-century birth of the active congregation, this text aims to emphasize the pivotal role that women have played in the development of Western culture and the Roman church.