Resumen de Fashioning the Passion: The Poor Clares and the Clothing of Christ
The only fully illustrated manuscript of the "Meditations on the Life of Christ" to survive from trecento Italy, Oxford Corpus Christi MS 410 features an unusual presentation of the dressing and undressing of Christ, one that both mirrors and resists its accompanying text. This study offers a reading of the motif of Christ's clothing in MS410 that suggests several interpretative and experiential possibilities for a Clarissan reader. It argues that the themes of Franciscan poverty, Eucharistic devotion, and bridal mysticism -all germane to Clarissan spirituality- find expression within the discourse on the robing and disrobing of Christ in the manuscript. The primary provider of Christ's clothing throughout his life, Mary becomes a surprisingly powerful, even priestly agent within the Passion cycle, as well as a performative model for a Poor Clare devotee.
