Un intermède religieux dans la vie de Casanova : l’épisode d’Einsiedeln

Abstract

Casanova in 1760, four years after his famous escape from the prison of Leads (1756), is ambushed in Stuttgart and escapes again with success from a very dangerous situation. He is exhausted when he arrives in Switzerland. He finds refuge and protection in a Benedictine monastery (Einsiedeln) with a sumptuous library. Fascinated by the spirituality and the peaceful life of the monks, he wants to enrol in this religious order. The abbot, before this sudden impulsion of penitence, advises him to deliberate two weeks before deciding. He makes a general confession and studies diligently: “To be happy, I thought, I needed only a library”.
Nevertheless, he begins to amuse himself in the neighbourhood as well, and at the end, he changes his mind. Nevertheless, his seeking for faith is a persistent emotion by him, see his surprising testimony in his Memoirs: “Thus did God provide me with what I needed for an escape [in 1756] which was to be a wonder if not a miracle.” He wrote many theological works (i.e., philosophical dialogs and a voluminous commentary about the Genesis) and this religious face of his very complex personality is an important factor for the comprehension of the History of my Life.