Donne sub districtione aeclesiastica: il ratto di vedove e consacrate nella legislazione canonica tardoantica

This essay analyzes the legislation on the crime of abduction of widows and virgins deo dicatae in Late Antiquity. In this period the power of the Church over the sanctimoniales is growing and they are considered as ‘property’ of the Church, as attested in canonical legislation against the widows and the virgins deo dicatae who agree to the abduction. A different case is that of imperial law, which, since the constitution of Constantius II, always considers the sanctimoniales should not be punished, because it did not give value to the will of women.