In-Person

From Lay Penitents to Dominican Tertiaries: Liturgical Learning and Practice in the Lives of Giovanna of Orvieto and Margaret of Castello

Painted image of Giovanna of Orvieto

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https://ism.yale.edu/events/2026-04-13-orvieto-and-margaret-of-castello
Miller Hall
406 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511
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  • General Public

Join us for a lecture in Miller Hall by Samantha Slaubaugh.

This talk explores how the lives of Giovanna of Orvieto (d. 1306) and Margaret of Castello (d. 1320) present various approaches for learning to engage with the church's liturgy. The fourteenth-century Latin lives of these two lay women reveal how stories and images, postural practices, and learning the Latin liturgy by ear could be models for other laity and penitents who sought a deep connection with the ritual and sacramental life of the church. The talk will also examine how in the fifteenth century the Dominican friar, Thomas of Siena, interpreted these models as he translated the earlier Latin lives of Giovanna and Margaret into Italian as part of his efforts to promote an institutional history of the Dominican Third Order. 

Free and open to the public.

This event is part of the ISM Liturgy Symposium Series.

Contact: Katya Vetrov

Samantha Slaubaugh

Bio:

Samantha Slaubaugh is Assistant Professor of Theology at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a liturgical scholar with a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, where she focused on medieval liturgy. She has held postdoctoral positions at Notre Dame as a teaching scholar and at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Her research interests include medieval women and their liturgical lives, Christian mysticism, and hagiography. Her first monograph (forthcoming), is on the Provençal Beguines of Roubaud and the life of Douceline of Digne. In addition to medieval liturgy, Slaubaugh is also interested in contemporary liturgical issues of lay performance and participation.