The Most Spectacular Case of All
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been doing a lot of historical research for a book about the history of sex and the clergy. Every time I think it’s just about done, something else drops into my lap that simply must be included. This amazing tale, for instance. It’s the latest, but I doubt the last…
One of the most spectacular cases of all time involved a school for poor girls run by nuns in Florence as a prostitution ring and sex cult. The sisters’ highborn and well-educated confessor, Canon Pandolfo Ricasoli, held the ancient heresy that all things are permitted to the pure. The official record says that he taught “that all carnal acts between men and women are not only allowed, but meritorious, if one keeps his mind united with God.” He claimed Christ with the Magdalen, the Virgin with Saint John, all performed these so-called “exercises of purity” together.
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