Week 3: Women Saints Unit Review (Essay)

For this week, I read the Women Saints unit.

Overall I liked this unit. I thought that some of the stories were very interesting. My favorite stories were of Theodora, Christine, and Mary of Egypt.

I loved Theodora's because it went into more detail than many of the stories. It talked about her life before she became holy and about her feelings. It also went into more detail about her life while living in the monastery and what led to her being accused of adultery as a monk. Also it talked a lot about her life on the streets with the boy and how she fought demons who kept trying to trick her. I think I could connect more with Theodora than any of the other women saints in the stories.

I liked Christine's story because of the amount of detail in the story also. However, the detail in Christine's story was much different than Theodora's. While many stories just say that the saints were tortured, Christine's story talks about the fate of the men who tortured her and the hardships they put her through to try to convert her back to pagan religion.

Finally, I liked Mary's story, mostly because it was so different from any of the other stories in this Unit. Many of the stories had similar messages and basic plots for the stories. For example in many, a woman runs away dressed as a man to become a monk, or a woman refuses to marry a pagan, or a woman is kept in a tower by her pagan father to keep her pure for making offerings. Mary's story was not like any of them. Her story was unique in that she was alone for most of her life, and she preferred it that way. Also, the fact that she lived naked in the desert for years was quite unique.

While I did like the unit, I also wish there hadn't been quite so many similar stories. A couple of them I felt like I was just rereading with some details and names altered. I think that's why Christine's and Theodora's stood out, also. While they were two stories that fit into one of the reused plots, their stories still felt more unique than others because there was more focus on the women and in Theodora's case, her emotions, not just what happened to her.

I would chose this unit again, knowing what I know now about it. I do think it would have been helpful to include a few more definitions, as the language is a bit hard to understand at first. The words that were linked to Wikipedia articles and definitions were very helpful. And after I looked up some words it got easier as I adjusted to the older writing style.

My favorite picture from the unit was in Saint Martha's story.
By Andre Abellon, "Saint Martha and the Dragon"

Week 3: My Name is Theodora (Storytelling)

I lay on the floor of my room. Silently, I stare at the ceiling and think of my life over the past decade. This wasn't the life I had wanted. But in the end I was happy for it, in all of its difficulties. I knew I was close to death. I felt a movement to my side where Peter was sleeping. I turned and looked at him, what a boy he had grown to be. I felt the motherly pride for him. While I may not have given birth to him, I had raised him from an infant, taught him how to love and follow God. He would be ten soon. I won’t be there for his birthday. I felt sadness swell, not for myself but for him.

As I watch him sleep, I think of how glad I am that we are at the monastery again. It’s only been two years since they let me back in with Peter. We lived on the streets together for seven years, as punishment for my infidelity. That’s how I always thought of it. While I didn't get Peter’s mother pregnant, (obviously, that would be impossible) this was punishment for my real affair. The one that made me run away from my husband in the first place. Still, Peter was the best thing that had happened to me since leaving my husband. Through these years of raising him, I tried to make him into a man like my husband, a holy man with strong morals. I tried to make him better than me. I hope I succeeded.

I turned back to the ceiling, suppressing the sorrow. My thoughts turned to the other love of my life. My husband. I had left him too. I wondered if they would find him after I died, once they figured out who I was. I wondered if he would mourn for me. I hadn't seen him for about ten years. Moreover, the last time I saw him, he didn't recognize me because I was dressed as a monk. The sadness rises again. I still miss him so much. However, guilt soon replaces the sadness.

What would my life have been like if I would have remained faithful to him? I most certainly wouldn't be dressed as a man, about to die in a monastery. But I also wouldn't have Peter. Still, I hope they find my husband, and I hope he can forgive me, even if I never forgave myself. Over a decade of penance and I still can’t shake the guilt. I know it must have been horrible for him, after I ran away. But I hope he eventually had a happy life. He deserved one. He deserved a better life than I could give him. A sob escapes my mouth, but I quickly silenced it to keep from waking Peter.

My mind jumps again. Images of our life on streets flood into my head. Demons and tricksters constantly tested me. I was so thankful for my time in the monastery again. From my brothers, I had learned how to cast away the devil, which kept Peter and me safe. And the way God provided for us still filled me with joy and wonder. While to everyone I was a disgraced monk with a child, God still helped me keep Peter alive.

So many emotions are pumping through my body, but I begin to grow tired. I remember the flood of relief when the monks said that we could return to the monastery. I nearly cried tears of joy. Finally, I had a safe home for Peter. Now, after two years, Peter is settled and close with many of the brothers. They will watch over him after I’m gone. And once they know the truth, I hope they will tell him my story. To Peter, I have always been Theodore, his father and a monk. My eyes start to close. Using all the energy I have left, I lean over to Peter while he sleeps. I whisper, “My name is Theodora. And I love you so much.”

I lie back down and begin to drift off into a sleep that I know I won’t wake from. 

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Author's Note: The story I rewrote was the story of Saint Theodora from the Women Saints reading unit. The story is about a woman, who after cheating on her husband, dresses as a man and runs away to join a monastery as penance. While at the monastery she is accused of fathering a child. She is cast out of the monastery and is given the child to raise, all the while still pretending to be a man. After seven years, she was allowed back into the monastery. She dies there, and it is only after her death when they learn she was a actually a woman the whole time. I changed the voice to first person, and focused on the end of the story, when Theodora and her son are in a cell and she knows she is close to death. This entire scene is made up, but I think she would have been thinking a lot in the end about how she ended up where she did in life. I also named her son, because it was much easier to refer to him by a name instead of 'the boy' over and over again. 

Bibliography:  The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis (1900).

Week 3: Women Saints Reading Diary

For the Women Saints reading homepage click here.

Reading A: In the first half of this week's readings, my favorite stories were the ones about Saint Marine and Saint Christine. These two stories have other similar stories in the unit. Many stories were of parents hiding a child in a tower to perform pagan offerings and later being tortured for refusing to convert from Christianity. My favorite of these was the story of Christine. Another common story that was told in different ways was of women disguising themselves as men and joining monastery, later to be accused of impregnating or fornicating with women. My favorite of these stories was the story of Marine/Marina.

The main reason Christine's story stood out to me, more than the other similar stories, was because of how much she went through. While all of these women suffered, I feel like Christine when through the most of any of them. She was tortured by her father, as he tried to kill her time and time again. Then she was also tortured by the judge Dion, as he also tried to kill her again and again. Then she was again tortured by the new Judge Julianus who eventually did kill her, although there were many miracles before he achieved his goal. Still through it all, Christine remained hopeful and faithful to her chosen religion and never renounced her God, even when it would have been much easier and less painful to do so.

(By Francesco Cairo, Painting of Saint Christine)

Marine's story stood out to me also, even though there were numerous stories of women dressing as men to become monks. I like that Marine's father is involved and dresses her a boy so he can stay with her, unlike the story of Pelagien, who runs away from her family to the monastery. I also like, that unlike the Pelagien story, there is more of an explanation on why the monks thought that Marine was the father of the virgin's baby, because she was staying with the family around the time. The last thing I liked more about Marine's story than Pelagien's was that Marine wasn't just imprisoned and died, but she raised the baby as her own once she was cast out of the monastery.

( By joeatta78, Saint Marina)

Reading B: For the second half of the Women Saints reading, my two favorite stories were the stories of Saint Theodora and Saint Daria. While Theodora's story is much like Marine's and Pelagien's stories, there are some different aspects of Theodora's that I find very interesting. As for Daria, her story is a bit different from all of the others and I think her story is great. 

Once again, Theodora's story is very similar to the other stories of women running away to become monks. What I like most about her story is that she runs away for a reason. Theodora feels so much guilt and sorrow when she cheats on her husband that she feels she isn't worthy of being his wife any longer and that she must pay a steep price of penance for her sin. This drive is very different from the other saints who go to remain pure or please their family. Theodora legitimately believes that this is her punishment, and while she knows she isn't pure, she hopes to help others to atone for her wrong doing. I also like the ending much better. While she does die, like all the others, the son she raises mourns her and continues with the monastery to finish what Theodora started. I also think it's really sweet that after all these years, when her husband learns of her death, he goes to where she died. Although it's quite sad that he stays there until he dies as well. 

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I also liked Daria's story, although some of it I had a hard time with. The main thing that troubled me about this story is that before Daria converted to Christianity, she was a Vestal Virgin in the story. I did a big research paper on the Vestals last semester and I don't see how, in this time period, they every would have sent a Vestal to a man alone, to convert him. The Vestals were too important to managing the hearth, which they thought kept the city from falling to ruins. Also, purity was paramount to the Vestals. If a girl was suspected of not keeping her chastity vows, she would sometimes be buried alive. Therefore, I don't think they would have sent a Vestal in with a man alone. But besides that, I liked the story. I like that the lion protects Daria, but when she instructs it not to seriously harm anyone it listens to her. I also like that while she and Crisaunt converted many people, most seemed to convert after talking to Daria.

(14th-century medieval manuscript)