Reports on visits to monasteries are an important source for researchers of monasticism, especially in Poland, where first-person accounts of monastic life are lacking. Researchers of female monasticism have even less material at their disposal, which leads to the temptation to misinterpret the few sources available. However, the analysis of these reports should take into account the context in which they were created and the goals of the episcopal visitation, which were to ascertain whether the religious practices of the community met the standards set by the visitators. The article is based on reports from visits to monasteries of Benedictine nuns in Lesser Poland and Silesia in the period from the 16th to the 18th century. These monasteries were under the jurisdiction of local bishops and did not participate in central monastic reform movements. Nevertheless, at the instigation of the bishops, some changes were introduced and monitored by the visitations. The interpretation of these reports requires taking into account that they are often dominated by normative patterns and routine procedures of visitors, which may lead to a distorted picture of actual monastic life. However, although the reports often contain stereotypical data, they also contain fragments of factual information, although their interpretation must be carefully verified. Visitors were rarely interested in local customs or traditions of monasteries, focusing mainly on their vision of the ideal nun and imposing their will. They did not take into account individual conditions or local context, which may lead to erroneous conclusions. The inspectors did not change their recommendations depending on the specificity of individual monasteries, treating the Rule and reform decrees as a universal source of law for all communities. This approach meant that their assessments were often one-sided and did not take into account the realities of monastic life.