« Lo specchio della vita » di madre Maria Agnese di Gesù (1693-1761). Monachesimo femminile e direzione spirituale nel Carmelo genovese del Settecento

The subjects of this article are the life and spirituality of Genoese Carmelite nun Maria Agnese Pinceti (born Francesca Pinceti 1693 - 1761). After discussing the origins of Genoa’s Carmel between the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the article will focus on the papers that informed us on Pinceti’s life. In specific, the article focuses on Pinceti’s life – narrated in a manuscript preserved at the Carmelitan monastery in Genoa – as well as on the letters she received from the Augustinian father Carlo Giacinto di Santa Maria (1658 - 1721). Both Carmelitan and Genoese spirituality of that era emerge as key subjects of the manuscript, with themes including the Marian devotion, the cult of relics, the craftsmanship inside the convent and the multiple forms of prayers.