By the thirteenth century, Eucharistic devotion had reached a crescendo of adoration among medieval Christians. Contemporary sources recount how worshippers attended mass only for the moment of elevation, racing from church to church to see as many consecrations as possible. As the priest raised the transubstantiated wafer above his head, the assembled congregation was granted the momentary luxury of gazing upon God. While this awe-inspiring vision was believed to unify the gathered people, nuns could not participate directly in this powerful experience. In the fourteenth century, following Pope Boniface VIII's Periculoso (c. 1298), nuns heard Mass while hidden in private choirs, without a view of the altar. This thesis will explore how Clarissan nuns in fourteenth century Italy would have encountered the Host via works of art inside and outside of their enclosed choir. The Passion cycle decorating the Neapolitan Church of Santa Maria Donna Regina (ca. 1318-1320) will illustrate how Eucharistic vision could occur during the public recitation of the liturgy, while two illustrated manuscript copies of the Meditationes vitae Christi (Oxford Corpus Christi College MS 410, ca. 1350 and Paris Bibliothèque Nationale MS Ital. 115, ca. 1340-1350) will demonstrate how devotional books could provide an avenue for Eucharistic veneration in the privacy of the convent. The main objective of this thesis is to draw attention to one major limitation of enclosure, specifically how Clarissan communities were able to overcome their visual obstruction to the altar by engaging in the devotional practice of performative vision. By entering into the image with her mind's eye and sustaining the narration of the biblical episode as though she were present, the nun is able to visualize spiritually what she is denied from seeing corporeally. Sensory experience is thus restored in the cerebral confines of the brain, as devotional images become intercessory conduits of connection, bridging the gap between the sponsa and her sacrificial bridegroom.
