Class Notes 3/15

Discussing Our Readings

SONG OF THE SOUL AND THE BRIDEGROOM St. John of the Cross by

-          -Highlight a loving relation with God; connects with the soul

-          -Highly sexually charged

-          -Lots of negativity can be found in the poem. evidence: hidden, abandoned, groaning, fled, wounded, crying, gone

-          -Female soul is pursuing the man lover, which is Christ/God –who is seen as royal in the poem

-          -Asks nature if it has seen Him; she searches for Him throughout the whole poem  

-          -The soul feels abandoned by Christ who once captured her then left

-          -Apple tree refers to Garden of Eden, “mother” refers to Eve; renewal of relationship between God and the soul – original sin is reversed

-          -Ending: Bride has been engulfed in devotion and asks him to rejoice with her and go forth; expresses a desire to continue together with the bridegroom

Courtly poems

-          -1100s – 1400s à height of medieval monasticism

-          -Romance novels about what takes place at court

-          -Includes knights and ladies

-          -Common theme: unrequited love…the pushing away of the lady, the more she desires to come back in

-          -Translates into the love relationship between the soul and the Divine

Poems of Mechthild of Magdeburg

God’s Absence

-          -Absence of god is a positive thing because she came get stronger and stronger as God is away from her and makes the Divine dear to her

-         - Imprinting and reflection language and imagery found in the poem in “how the soul speaks to God” stanza

-          “God speaking to the soul”: He will love the soul forever; everlasting love

Medieval Women Religious

The paradox for Medievals

-          Jesus first appeared to women after his death, suggesting that women’s prayers are efficacious

o   Women’s prayers are particularly important – connects to praying to Mary

-          Women were seen as unclean, childish, and prone to sexual wantonness

o   Were seen as the ones who initiate sexual contact as opposed to men

A little context

-          Prior to the 6^th century, women were deacons, a role with pastoral authority

-          When women are restricted from the diaconate (Council of Orleans in 533), there was an increase in female monasticism

o   Women became regulars: those who follow the rule and hours (prayer times)

Medieval Nuns in the High Middle Ages

-          Height of female monasticism 1100s – 1400s

-          At the beginning less than 10% of those made saints were women but by the 15^th century 28% of saints were women

-          Medieval women’s monasteries emphasized the rule of community life, virginity, renunciation of property, and enclosure

o   Take vows of obedience, celibacy, and property

Relic: something that remains of a saint: “saint’s parts”

Primary relics: pieces of the saint like a bone or a toenail

Secondary relics / contact relics: things of the saint or something they’ve touched

Reliquary: holds the relic; they are often imitative. Ex: like a metal arm that holds an arm relic

Types of Women Religious

-          Nuns: the “regulars” who followed a rule and lived in a community

-          Anchoress: women enclosed in a small room, usually adore the Eucharist

o   Julian of Norwich for example

-          Vowess: usually a widow who took vows of chastity, but not obedience and poverty

-          Beguine: lay religious women living in a community called a beguinage; write their own rules but live lives dedicated to God; often do work

o   Example: Mechthild of Magdeburg

o   Popular in Northern Europe

-          Private/public paradox – those that are enclosed also serve an important public religious function

-          Often do service such as work in hospitals and feed the poor

What are some of the emphases of female piety according to Bynum?

-          Complicates female piety. Is it unique to women? What is said about gender and piety, and whether we can access female piety?

-          A lot of the accounts of women religious are written by men…therefore, maybe we can’t know

-          Bynum says that female piety is very complex

-          According to Bynum, female piety focuses on things such as:

o    the devotion of Christ’s suffering and wounds

o    identification and competition with Mary

o   Bride of Christ

o    fascination with the Christ-child

o   Strong Christological/Christological focus

o   Emphasis of the Eucharist à goes hand in hand with the interest in Christ’s wounds

o there's a variety!