The scandalous subject matter probably won this slender academic piece a popular release. Benedetta Carlini, abbess and mystic in sixteenth-century Italy is discovered, under investigation by church authorities, faking her own stigmata and having sex with a fellow nun while under the influence of an angel called Splenditello. The scrupulously on-topic main paper abandons intriguing hints of a definite career arc for popular female mystics of the time so the author can concentrate (with all the prim charm of 1980s America) on the sexual allegations. Especially recommended for fans of footnotes and appendices, where curious details and suggestions for further investigation abound.