La santa, la regina e l’Immacolata. Beatriz de Silva e le origini dell’Ordine concezionista

An outstanding episode in the history of the relations between the Spanish monarchy and the Immaculate Conception relates to the protection given by Isabella the Catholic to a ‘living saint’ of Portuguese origin, Beatrice of Silva (c . 1426-1491). The essay examines the devotion to the Immaculate that bound Beatrice to the Queen from the different perspectives of gender issues, political strategies and religious experience. The founding of the Conceptionist Order in 1494 can thus be interpreted as the outcome of a negotiation between the desire for independence of Beatrice’s companions and the centralising reform of the Observant Friars Minor.