{"id":22465,"date":"2026-10-01T16:13:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmushouse.museum\/08-10-25-conference-maria-fallica\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T16:13:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:13:41","slug":"08-10-25-conference-maria-fallica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erasmushouse.museum\/en\/08-10-25-conference-maria-fallica\/","title":{"rendered":"08.10.25 \/ Lecture Maria Fallica – Sacred Folly: A Woman\u2019s Voice in Erasmus\u2019 World (EN)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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She is bold, brilliant, and just a little outrageous. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Meet the \u201cfool\u201d who knew more than anyone expected.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mary Magdalene by Quentin Massys. Oil on oak panel, 15th or 16th century. Detroit institute of Arts.<\/h5>\n
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Sacred Folly: A Woman\u2019s Voice in Erasmus\u2019 World<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What happens when a woman dares to speak uncomfortable truths? In The Praise of Folly, Erasmus gives us Lady Folly \u2013 a sharp-tongued, witty, and captivating speaker who slips between humour and seriousness, charm and challenge. She teases, provokes, moralizes, and, in the end, leads us to something unexpected: a soaring, almost mystical vision of faith.<\/p>\n

Lady Folly\u2019s voice is not just entertainment \u2013 it raises questions about how femininity, wisdom, and faith were imagined in Christian thought. Her \u201cfool\u2019s mask\u201d hides and reveals at the same time, protecting the speaker while allowing her to say the unsayable.<\/p>\n

This mask, worn by both Erasmus\u2019 fictional heroine and many real Renaissance women writers, reflects a paradox at the heart of Christianity: the idea that what seems foolish can contain the deepest truth.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Maria Fallica<\/strong><\/h4>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”22454″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””]Maria Fallica (PhD, Sapienza University of Rome) is Tenure-track Assistant Professor of History of Christianity at Sapienza University of Rome. Her research interests lie in the reception of the Fathers of the Church in the modern age and the European Reformations. She is currently working on a project on the gendered notion of folly in the early modern Age, with a particular focus on France and Italy (Folly and the Feminine in the Renaissance\u00a0(FOLIE).[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Practical<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Wednesday 8th October 2025 – 6 pm<\/p>\n

In English<\/p>\n

The lecture is followed by a concert of the accordeonist Sara Salv\u00e9rius at 8 pm<\/p>\n

Prices : 3\u20ac (lecture – Friends of Erasmus House) \/ 5\u20ac (lecture) \/ 15\u20ac (lecture and concert)<\/p>\n

Booking is required<\/p>\n

Funded by the European Union[\/vc_column_text]