43 minute read
The Venerated and the Despised: Dualities in the Catholic Church’s Responses to Pious Women
KEYWORDS: Catholicism, women, saints, heretics, religious power DOI: https://doi.org/10.4079/2578-9201.1(2022).09
LAUREN KIKER
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PSYCHOLOGY & HISTORY, CCAS ‘23, lkiker25@gwu.edu
ABSTRACT
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church remained a pervasive force in Christian society, setting social and religious standards for the laity by canonizing spectacular examples of devoted Christians. At the same time, the Church also faced a battle against those seen as a threat to their recently stabilized authority. Receiving very different treatment for their actions, women put in both of these categories, saints and heretics often violated the same authority and autonomy norms. These differences can be seen between the treatment of saints Christina Mirabilis, Clara of Assisi, and Catherine of Siena and women in the Cathar, Beguine, and Waldensian heresies. Sainted women took on religious authority that went against traditionally gendered roles, but instead of being punished for it as many women deemed heretical were, the Church saw value in the work of these women, choosing instead to praise them. Similarly, the women viewed by the Church as heretics and saints often took severe poverty vows. Interestingly, only those seen as heretical were persecuted for their beliefs. Violation of social autonomy norms also led to different treatment, with women seen as heretics persecuted heavily taking on roles of authority without the supervision of male Church leaders but women declared saints were praised despite often operating independently without male authority. Through examining these women’s stories, it can be seen that the Church’s decision to persecute or praise these women was not random, but originated in the Catholic Church’s perception of how useful the women’s narratives were to achieving the Church’s goal: maintaining authority.
INTRODUCTION
Over a thousand years after the death of Christ, another resurrection story found its way into Biblical texts, but this time centered on a woman. Dead at the age of twenty-one, Christina Mirabilis was laid to rest in a coffin that was moments away from burial.1 However, before the priest could close the coffin, Christina burst forth, levitating in the rafters above the congregation to the amazement and confusion of all below.2 After the priest performed an exorcism, Christina returned to the ground and spoke of her travels to Purgatory and Heaven, revealing that she was sent back from heaven in order to reduce the discomfort of those trapped in Purgatory.3 This was only the start of Christina Mirabilis’ peculiar second life. Accounts tell of Christina jumping into fires, baking herself in ovens, and enticing dogs to attack her, leading her to suffer much physical pain, however none of these encounters resulted in physical wounds on Christina’s body.4 The spectacular life of Christina Mirabilis is only one of many examples of marvelous women in the Middle Ages whose lives take on a supernatural character through their piety. The accounts of these women, selected by the Catholic Church and often recorded by male Church officials in Saints’ Lives, survive to serve as examples of women in the Middle Ages whose remarkable lives left a lasting impression on medieval society and Christianity.
At the same time as miraculous women, such as Christina Mirabilis, were amazing crowds, the Catholic Church was grappling with a very different issue: heresy. During the beginning of the Middle
1 Thomas de Cantimpré and Margot H. King, The Life of Christina Mirabilis (Toronto, Ont.: Peregrina, 1995). 2 de Cantimpré and King, Christina Mirabilis. 3 de Cantimpré and King, Christina Mirabilis. 4 de Cantimpré and King, Christina Mirabilis.
Ages, heretical practices were less of a concern for the Catholic Church, with efforts focused on converting pagans and implementing basic religious and social structures.5 As the Church’s political and social authority solidified in the twelfth century, the presence of variants of Catholicism became an increasing topic of concern to their goals of uniform authority.6 The Catholic Church deeming a person or group “heretical” was not a common experience, and many laypeople with deviating beliefs were left unbothered by Church officials, who instead sought to focus on those willfully and knowingly holding beliefs in opposition to the Catholic Church.7 According to the Catholic Church, groups such as the Cathars, Beguines, and Waldensians were heretical sects of Catholicism, purposely adhering to incorrect beliefs and practices. However, these distinctions between heresy and orthodoxy are exaggerated. Heretical groups and the Catholic Church both believed in the same tenets of Christianity and heretics often saw themselves as Catholics who were addressing wrongs in the Church by more strictly adhering to pillars of Christianity.
In each of these groups identified by the Church as heretical, women took on extraordinary roles, sometimes living separately from male authority or taking on active roles in religious organizations. While an examination of these heresies may indicate that the Catholic Church persecuted these groups due to deviations of the religious and social norm, further analysis reveals that the accounts of venerated women show similar patterns of digressions from the norm. This inconsistency in response was far from random. Rather, officials in the Catholic Church deliberately chose their response to spectacular women, both saints and heretics, based on the Church’s ability to adapt these women’s messages to further support their authority. This is apparent in the Catholic Church’s differing responses to the Cathar, Beguine, and Waldensian heresies as compared to their response to Christina Mirabilis, Clara of Assisi, and Catherine of Siena on the issues of authority and autonomy. THE RISE OF “HERESIES”
In the medieval period, religion played a central role in the life of many, providing hope for escape from a miserable life in the next world. During this period, a number of saints’ joined the Catholic Church’s pantheon of important religious figures, inspiring the laity with their piety and sacrifice. With the addition of saints came the addition of remembrance days, festivals, and special masses to recognize each saint’s contribution to Catholicism. However, the Catholic religion was far from static in this period, but was rather being actively
5 Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane. A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers), 10-20. 6 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 10-20. 7 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 12-25. shaped by both the Church officials who preached Catholicism and the laypeople that interacted with this religion in everyday life.8 Through the end of the Middle Ages, Catholicism was a shifting force and respected Church officials held and debated different opinions. Theologian and cardinal Pierre d’Ailly opposed the expanding number of festivals and saints along with the introduction of new hymns, imagery, and special masses, which he saw as indicative of pride and excess among priests and laypeople.9 However, these practices continued throughout the Middle Ages, supported by many Church officials who saw them as opportunities to appease laypeople and deepen connections between the laity and the Catholic Church.10 Disagreements over these topics indicated that even among Church officials, there was significant variation in beliefs surrounding what religious practices the Church should emphasize and how to incorporate these practices into everyday religious life.
Given debates between respected Church officials on which aspects of and how to implement the Catholic religion, the differentiation in lay people’s worship practices seems natural. During the early Middle Ages, this deviation was not the Church’s major concern, as they were mainly focused on converting the masses and ingraining Christian doctrines into pagan societies. 11Around the turn of the century, when Catholic authority became more stable and powerful, the Catholic Church began to recognize new forms of lay piety that contrasted with the established orthodoxy.12 However, in many cases, these new forms of worship did not spell trouble for the Catholic Church or dissenters. Unorthodox beliefs were far from uncommon among the laypeople and the clergy normally adopted policies of gentle correction and forgiveness for those who at least appeared to right their ways.13 True problems arose when laypeople resisted correction in the eyes of the Catholic Church and knowingly continued to practice unorthodox beliefs. 14These groups of laypeople who, according to the Catholic Church, flouted the word of God and mocked the Christian religion, would become one of the main antagonists of the Church during the Middle Ages.
Throughout the high medieval period, several groups with unorthodox beliefs caught the attention of the Catholic Church, resulting in periods of persecution and inquisition. One of the first groups of concern
8 Johan Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, trans. Rodney J Payton and Ulrich Mammitzsch (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 170-185. 9 Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 170-85. 10 Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, 175-90. 11 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 10-20. 12 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 10-20. 13 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 22, 25-36. 14 Deane, History of Medieval Heresy, 20-22.
was the Cathars. Against many Catholic teachings and rejecting the power of the clergy, the Cathars believed that human bodies were not sacred, but that the souls were angels who had fallen from Heaven, imprisoned in mortal bodies, and trapped in a physical world made by the devil.15 In a monthly confessional required of the most pious individuals, the perfecte, Cathar leaders ask God to “Have no pity on the flesh, born of corruption, but show mercy to the spirit which is imprisoned.”16 Believing the physical world to be an unholy prison, Cathar men and women turned against anything involving the material realm, rejecting the authority of the clergy, believing in no physical attachment to the world, and believing procreation to be trapping more divine souls on Earth, choosing instead to remain unmarried and celibate.17 Rejecting the authority of the Catholic Church’s clergy and many important sacraments which gave the Church power over laypeople, the work of Cathars risked undermining the Catholic Church’s power. Cathars also held many other interesting beliefs, including that both holy men and women, called “perfects,” could teach and spread religious ideas.18 This contrasts with Catholic orthodoxy which did not allow women in many religious authority roles and these teachings could threaten the Catholic Church’s power hierarchy built on male authority.
At the same time the rise and spread of Cathars concerned the Catholic Church, another group the Church identified as a heretical sect was already forming, devoted to reforming lay religion. This sect, the Waldensians, were not seen as heretical from the start, but were rather first praised by the Catholic Church for their devotion and beliefs in poverty.19 Waldensians held many similar beliefs with the Cathars, including the belief that women could act as religious educators, but were especially problematic for the Catholic Church due to their refusal to obey Catholic authority and rejection of the validity of sacraments performed by corrupt priests.20 Waldensians also renounced wealth and earthly possessions in favor of absolute poverty, relying on charity to survive while preaching.21 Compared to the Cathars, the Waldensians
15 Carol Leroy Lansing, Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 3-15. 16 Lo Servissi, 2.20, trans. Lance S. Owens, (1991) 17 Lansing, Power and Purity, 3-20. 18 Lansing, Power and Purity, 3-20. 19 Claire Taylor, “‘Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian Crusade.” (French History 32, no. 3 (2018): 327–49. https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/ cry065. ) 20 Peter Les-Vaux-de-Cernay, The History of the Albigensian Crusade: Peter of Les-Vaux-De-Cernay's Historia Albigensis, trans. W. A. Sibly and M. D. Sibly (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2000), xix-xxxv. 21 Taylor, “Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa,” 327-49. have a slightly more complex history with the Catholic Church, first praised by the Church but warned not to preach without Church permission.22 This warning was especially pressing for women, who were both preaching without Church permission and preaching as women. However, the Waldensians continued to preach and were eventually pronounced heretical by the Catholic Church.23 Once holding the Catholic Church’s favor, the Waldensian heresy presented a threat to the Catholic Church due to their rejection of religious norms, but also their subverting of Catholic authority through continuing to preach. As a result of this threat, the Catholic Church turned against these men and women, persecuting them for their deviating beliefs.
While the Waldensians had a more complicated history with the Catholic Church than the Cathars, the most complex relationship can be found in the Beguines. Made up of women, Beguines developed independent communities that worshiped through establishing charitable houses and maintaining chaste and poor lives. 24Similar to Waldensians, the Catholic Church did not persecute these women at first and they operated for an extended period without the intrusion of the Church. 25In some cases, Beguine women were praised for their devout nature and pointed to as examples for laypeople in the face of rising religious dissent.26 Importantly, Beguines did not disagree with the Catholic Church on any major sacrament or protest against the corruption of priests. Rather, Beguines sought to utilize an existing religious system to benefit themselves, choosing to live in all women communities, harmonious with the missions of the Catholic Church and society.27 The admiration of the Catholic Church did not stand, however, although attitudes towards Beguines are less clear. Rather than being declared as a heretical group, like the Cathars and Waldensians, some Beguines were declared heretics and would be persecuted for their beliefs and the Church began to regard these communities with suspicion.28 Attitudes towards Beguines would oscillate slightly from century to century, and traces of Beguine communities, although often adapted into other religions or converted to community service centers, continue to exist in modern times.29 While far from the only groups deemed heretical
22 Taylor, “Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa,” 327-49. 23 Taylor, “Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa,” 327-49. 24 Julie Neuffer, “The Beguines of the Middle Ages” (dissertation, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2000), 1-10. 25 Neuffer, “The Beguines of the Middle Ages,” 1-15. 26 Tanya Stabler Miller, “What's in a Name? Clerical Representations of Parisian Beguines (1200-1328),” Journal of Medieval History 33, no. 1 (2007): pp. 60-86, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jmedhist.2007.01.005. 27 Neuffer, “The Beguines of the Middle Ages,” 8-25. 28 Neuffer, “The Beguines of the Middle Ages,” 8-25. 29 Christine Guidera, “The Beguines: An Overview of Their Life, Work and Spirituality” (dissertation, National Library of
in the Middle Ages, Cathars, Waldensians, and Beguines were prominent groups whom the Catholic Church directed significant attention to and who demonstrate overarching themes of treatment of women identified by the Church as heretical.
In the high medieval period, women’s authority was limited, especially in political and legal spheres, but gendered opportunities for power remained. Public authority was particularly limited from women in the Middle Ages, with very few options for the average laywomen to directly engage in politics and most women possessed limited legal rights.30 Women were, however, able to obtain some authority in the home, with control over family life, household functions, and the raising of children.31 However, society limited even this gendered authority, and patriarchal authorities, such as husbands or fathers, could overrule women’s decisions. Another venue of power for medieval women was the medieval parish. The social structure of the parish allowed for women to distinguish themselves from their piety while engaging in collective action with other parish members and interacting with other women as support systems.32 However, Church officials also limited this form of authority, such as through restricting women from purchasing pews and by confining women to secondary roles as cleaners and laundry attendants, rather than administrative positions open to men.33 Though limited, women were not powerless in the Middle Ages, but rather possessed conditional authority that the Catholic Church and societal norms restricted to gendered spheres, such as the home and family.
In groups identified as heretical by Catholic officials, women transgressed both the gendered boundaries of authority and the limits on the degree of authority women could possess, resulting in strong reactions from the Catholic Church. A frequent deviation of these authority norms was female involvement in preaching and spreading beliefs. This can be found in both the Cathar and Waldensian sects, with women taking on active roles as preachers and religious leaders. In the Cathar sect, women could obtain roles as perfectae, which involved blessing bread, preaching, and teaching others how to make the melhorament, which means making improvements or
Canada, 1992). 30 Mary Carpenter Erler and Maryanne Kowaleski, Gendering the Master Narrative: Women and Power in the Middle Ages (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003). 31 Erler and Kowaleski, Gendering the Master Narrative, 4-17. 32 Erler and Kowaleski, Gendering the Master Narrative, 4-17. 33 Erler and Kowaleski, Gendering the Master Narrative, 4-17. corrections to the self and others.34 In the Cathar Rite of Baptism, Elders are instructed to tell their followers during the ceremony, “And if there are Believers present, let them perform the act of Peace as well. And if there are women Believers present let them perform the Act of Peace.”35 This ritual, performed to baptize a Believer and transition them to a perfectae, explicitly involved women in the process and dedicated a space for female followers to operate. Peter Waldo’s followers also violated this norm, with Waldensians involved in spreading the Word, sometimes hearing confessions and leading communion, while refusing to accept the need for an episcopal license to preach.36 While both Waldensian men and women would be violating this restriction by the Catholic Church, the Waldensians defended women’s ability to preach and the role of women in the Waldensian heresy seemed to be of particular concern for male Inquisitors.37 Reinarius Saccho writing in 1254 claims that one of the Waldensians’ major faults was claiming “that every layman, and even woman ought to preach,” specifically drawing attention to the role of women as a significant error of the Waldensians. 38Women in both the Cathar and Waldensian sects violated gendered distinctions of authority, maintaining active roles in religious spheres, preaching and performing religious rites traditionally restricted to men.
In reaction to these deviations, the Catholic Church launched harsh responses in the form of inquisition and crusades, causing the deaths of many men and women. Imprisoned and questioned over multiple months, Agnes Francou, a suspected Waldensian, refused to swear an oath or recant her faith and Church officials sentenced her to be burned at the stake along with her companion, Raymond Gasc.39 Cathars faced similar persecutions, notably in the form of the Albigensian crusade and the Great Inquisition, which saw the relentless persecution of Cathars and resulted in the mass murder of men and women.40 While women in these heresies did violate the orthodoxy established by the Catholic Church, their
34 William G Edmundson, “The Participation of Women Believers and the Family in Later Languedocian Catharism, 1300–1308.” (Dissertation, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2020) 2-10. 35 Rite for the Ministration of the Consolamentum, 4.57-4.58, trans. Lance S. Owens, (1991). https://www.cathar.info/doc_ lyons_ritual.htm#baptism1 36 Taylor, “Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa,” 327-49. 37 Shulamith Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect: Agnes and Huguette the Waldensians, (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2001), 46-65. 38 Reinerius Saccho, "Of the Sects of Modern Heretics" (1254), in S. R. Maitland, trans. History of the Albigenses and Waldenses (London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington, 1832), pp. 407-413. 39 Germain de Castelnau, “Confession of Agnes Francou” (1319), trans. Nancy P. Stork (1996). 40 Mark Gregory Pegg, The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001).
actions did not directly violate the tenets of Christianity. Rather, these women pushed against social norms of authority by taking action in public religious roles and acting outside of male Church authorities. Operating without Church consent, and sometimes in direct violation of commands by Church officials, the actions of these women posed a threat to the authority of the Catholic Church and the social patriarchal systems of power that benefited the Church. As a consequence of violating these social and religious authority norms, Church officials persecuted and murdered women they identified as heretical.
Women in groups deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, however, were not the only people who violated social and religious authority norms. Women identified by officials as saints also transgressed these norms but were met with a much different reaction from the Catholic Church. Catherine of Siena operated as a very active agent in spheres that were commonly off-limits to women. Catherine took on many political and religious roles, writing to scribes, traveling to inform laypeople on religious norms, corresponding with Pope Gregory XI, acting as an ambassador to Florence, and working in Pope Urban VI’s court.41 Writing personality to Pope Gregory XI many times, Catherine communicates informally with him, telling him that to chase the “demons out,” referring to corruption in the Catholic Church, he must accomplish a “return to Rome and uplifting of the standard of the most holy Cross,” directly involving herself in an ongoing political debate surrounding the Avignon papacy.42 Following her death, the Catholic Church canonized Catherine, and the Bull of Pius II declaring her canonization specifically mentions her roles in numerous political conflicts.43 Acting with considerable authority, Catherine of Siena was an active political and religious figure during the Middle Ages but her actions were largely supported by the Church.
Christina Mirabilis also possessed religious authority outside of the gendered norms of the Middle Ages. After her dramatic return to the living, Christina Mirabilis practiced harmless self-harm and other miraculous feats, drawing the attention of the Catholic Church.44 Through her physical suffering, Christina’s followers believed she was able to relieve others suffering in Purgatory, giving her a Christ-like role in relieving the pain of others through
41 Diana L. Villegas, “Catherine of Siena’s Spirituality of Political Engagement,” HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 77, no. 2 (May 2021), https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i2.6319. 42 Catherine of Siena, “Letter to Pope Gregory XI” (1377), trans. Vida Dutton Scudder, (2004). 43 Pope Pius II, Bull of Pius II for the Canonization of Saint Catherine of Siena, Centro Internazionale di Studi Cateriniani website. 44 Sarah Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries: The Salvific and Sacramental Roles of Christina Mirabilis,” (Medieval Feminist Forum 52, no. 2, 2016) 44-69. her own sacrifice.45 Through acting in this role, Christina took on authority outside the social norm, taking control of people’s suffering and putting it on herself. Christian committed these feats without Church approval and acted without the protection of a monastery or clerical authority.46 Acting as an independent agent, Christina’s practices could have been a source of major concern for the Church but officials made little moves to stop her. The Church remained supportive of Christina Mirabilis’s acts, admiring her for her piety and devotion to ending others’ suffering in purgatory, and declared her a saint after her death in 1224.47 Despite obvious violations of religious authority norms, the Catholic Church accepted Christian Mirabilis and the Church incorporated her story into their religion to perpetuate her messages.
While women the Catholic Church identified as heretical and saintly pushed boundaries on authority and power in similar directions, the Church responded very differently to these women. Preaching without Church authority and living independent of a male religious advisor, the heretical deviation from the norm posed no benefit to the Catholic Church. Women whom Church officials identified as saints, on the other hand, deviated from authority norms in ways the Catholic Church could use to their benefit. Catherine of Siena’s work advocating for clerical reform and helping to settle the issue of the Western Schism assisted the Catholic Church at the time this assistance was very much needed. While not acting under the authority of a male religious figure, Christina Mirabilis’ authority did not exactly threaten the Catholic Church and the message she instilled on the real and terrifying nature of purgatory was extremely beneficial at a time when this aspect of Catholicism was increasingly called into question.48 The concept of Purgatory was important to the Catholic Church, not only to sell profitable indulgences but also to keep the laity concerned and dependent on the Catholic Church for absolution so that they could escape spending time in this middle ground.49 While Christina’s work led her to gain a degree of authority outside of the social norm, she was not directly asserting herself as an authority figure, such as through becoming involved in preaching, but rather was using her suffering as a tool to help other people. By supporting the messages of Christina Mirabilis and Catherine of Siena, the Catholic Church was able to further its personal agenda of strengthening its authority in the political sphere and over everyday life. On the other hand, the messages sent by women deemed heretical, though involving similar deviations of authority norms, directly undermined the Church’s authority and power, resulting in differing responses to the two groups
45 Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries,” 50-69. 46 de Cantimpré and King, Christina Mirabilis. 47 Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries,” 44-69. 48 Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries,” 44-70. 49 Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries,” 44-70.
as officials in the Catholic Church modulated their responses to these women to best fit their own goals. FEMALE POVERTY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Differences in responses by the Catholic Church to women deviating from norms of authority are also seen in issues revolving around beliefs in poverty. Many Christian religious texts emphasize the importance of poverty in religious leaders, with Jesus quoted as telling his followers “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”50 Apostolic poverty was an important concept in the medieval period and increasingly became a cause for debate. Imitating the life of Jesus and his apostles, adhering to strict standards of poverty became popular among some lay members and a way for some to connect to religion outside of the institution of the Catholic Church.51 The Church, however, which was steadily gaining wealth and power throughout the Middle Ages, was less supportive of this form of worship. Through supporting and drawing attention to tenets of poverty in Christianity, the paradox of the Catholic Church as both a religious institution and an economic and political power became increasingly apparent.52 In response to this, the leaders of the Catholic Church carefully chose their reaction to groups supporting extreme levels of poverty and were reactive to criticism of their role in the economic sphere.
In groups deemed heretical by the Catholic Church, specifically the Cathars and Waldensians, beliefs surrounding poverty played a central role in the formation of the groups’ classification as heretical. While Cathars did occasionally participate in economic spheres, they took extreme vows of poverty, believing that the devil created the physical world and all worldly possessions were unholy.53 In a prayer written by leaders and used only among the perfectae, Cathars swore to “live only from water and wood,” meaning living off water and vegetables, and to “not abandon [their] body to any form of luxury.” 54Waldensians held similar beliefs, emphasizing the role of voluntary poverty in worship and denying ownership and indulgence, dressing in plain clothing and sandals, visible traits they became known for.55 Waldensians were also
50 Luke 6:20-21 ESV 51 Jerry B. Pierce, Poverty, Heresy, and the Apocalypse : The Order of Apostles and Social Change in Medieval Italy 12601307 (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012) 80-90. 52 Pierce, Poverty, Heresy, and the Apocalypse, 80-90. 53 Edmundson, “The Participation of Women Believers,” 2-10. 54 Rite for the Transmission of the Prayer, 4.58, trans. Lance S. Owens, (1991) https://www.cathar.info/doc_lyons_ritual. htm#transmission 55 Shulamith Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect: Agnes and Huguette the Waldensians (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2001), 1-25. especially critical of the Catholic Churches involvement in activities such as landowning and the selling of indulgences, significant forms of profit and power for the Church.56 Neither of these groups violated Christian principles, with their strict adherence to poverty more in line with the message spread by Jesus and his apostles than the Catholic Church’s idea of poverty. Regardless, the Church declared Cathars heretical at the Third Lateran Council and heavily persecuted them, although the Church would not declare Waldensians heretical until the Fourth Lateran Council and they faced less heavy persecution.57 By operating in the same religious spheres, the definition of religious poverty supported by Cathars and Waldensians clashed with the type of religious poverty the Catholic Church was presenting. As a major landowner and economic agent, the Catholic Church disagreed with the position taken by these heretics and it stood a chance at reflecting badly on the Catholic Church.58 In response to this threat, the Catholic Church turned against these groups, depicting them as a dangerous “other” by declaring them as heretical sects despite the true nature of these groups being closely aligned with Christian commandments.
In contrast to women seen as heretics, saintly women that took on extreme vows of poverty received very different treatment by the hands of the Catholic Church, often rewarded for their piety and devotion. Clare of Assisi founded the Order of the Poor Ladies, a female monastic religious organization, and wrote the rules these religious women were to adhere to.59 Church officials repeatedly praised Clare for her devotion and for taking extreme vows of poverty which she would maintain throughout her life.60 Towards the end of her life, the Catholic Church granted Clare an allowance to live a more comfortable life at the behest of those concerned over her wellbeing and many Church officials urged Clare to renounce her strict adherence to her vows of poverty as her health rapidly declined.61 Clare refused and would pass away following a long period of poor health, with the canonization process starting soon after her death.62 Shortly before her death, Clare would write The Testament, a work including her own beliefs and guidance for her sisterhood after her death. In this, Clare writes, “I have always been most zealous and solicitous to observe and to have the others observe the holy poverty that we have promised to the
56 Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect, 1-25. 57 Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect, 1-25. 58 Pegg, The Corruption of Angels, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001) 20-50. 59 Gabrielle E. Sutherland, “Clare of Assisi: Shaping a New Paradigm of Sainthood.” (Dissertation, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2009), xxi-xxiii. 60 Vanessa Diane Cash, “Clare of Assisi: Image and Reality” (dissertation, University of Bristol, 2010). 61 Cash, “Clare of Assisi,” 1-10. 62 Cash, “Clare of Assisi,” 1-10.
Lord … let the others who will succeed me in office always be bound to observe it… that we would never in any way turn away from her [poverty].”63 Clare’s dedication to holy poverty can be seen in her writing, where she stresses the establishment of poverty as a tenet for the Order of the Poor Ladies and begs her successor to follow through by ensuring the Order remains devoted to religious poverty.
Alongside her political engagement, Catherine of Siena would also maintain extreme vows of poverty throughout her life, leading to praise from the Catholic Church. In the Bull declaring Catherine a saint, Pope Pius II reveals that “Catherine’s abstinence was surprising, and her austerity prodigious. She rejected the use of wine, of meat and every kind of seasoning. She finished by depriving herself of vegetables, and took no other bread, than that heavenly Bread.”64 This extreme form of poverty and denial of basic nutrition needs as a form of worship was recognized by the Catholic Church and applauded by Pope Pius II. Despite worries from those in her sisterhood and others in the Church over her extreme fasting and an order from a male Church official to end her fast, Catherine would continue this extreme form of fasting through the end of her life.65 While both Clare and Catherine continued to adhere to strict poverty vows despite direction from the Catholic Church to stop, the reaction towards these women differed greatly from the reaction towards women seen as heretics. Instead of being persecuted, the Church admired these women for their piety and devotion.
These similar beliefs in poverty led to different attitudes towards women identified by the Catholic Church as heretical and saintly. Heretical women were critical of the Catholic Church’s position on poverty, enforcing a more strict version among their group members and preaching their interpretations to others. These groups, especially Cathars and Waldensians, saw poverty as an essential commandant for religious officials to follow, extending poverty vows outside of themselves to impact methods of worship in Christianity as a whole. The Catholic Church saw this as a direct challenge to its orthodoxy, resulting in heretical persecutions. These groups were also often critical of the Church’s landowning and economic activity, especially those identified as Waldensians who argued against corrupt priests seeking financial gain.66 In contrast, women identified as saints rarely extended ideas of poverty outside of themselves or their immediate context, choosing extreme poverty vows as an individual form of worship rather than a way of life for all Church members.67 This was not a threat to the Catholic Church
63 Clare of Assisi, The Testament, (1247-1253), trans. Franciscan Intellectual Archives. 64 Pope Pius II, Bull of Pius II. 65 Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2010), 66 Taylor, “Sunt Quadraginta Anni Vel circa,” 327-49. 67 Anna Minore, “Julian of Norwich and Catherine of Siena: and, given that most of the lay population was also poor, was a way for the Catholic Church to inspire the laity and minimize questions of Church authority in times of economic hardship. Rather than taking one position on strict poverty vows, the Catholic Church adapted their attitudes towards those supportive of poverty as a form of worship depending on the threat or usefulness of those maintaining the vows. These resulted in distinctions often between individual and group worship, with vows maintained by individual saints posing little overall threat to the Catholic Church but poverty vows made by heretical groups in connection with their criticism of the Church presenting an opportunity to undermine the Catholic Church’s authority. FEMALE AUTONOMY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
Alongside poverty, autonomy was also a realm in which similar deviations resulted in different reactions from the Catholic Church. In the Middle Ages, marriage norms were strongly enforced for women, used as a way to control female power, autonomy, and sexuality.68 Often living under their father’s control until marriage, women possessed little autonomy before marriage and had little legal rights along with the inability to participate in politics.69 After marriage, female social autonomy was still extremely limited, tied to their husbands, women remained second-class citizens with little legal rights, had reduced abilities to participate in the economic sphere, and remained locked in patriarchal systems of power.70 Through reducing women’s independent rights and abilities, medieval society assured that many women would be dependent on relationships with male relatives to survive. In some regions, widowed women possessed a greater degree of autonomy than was traditionally allowed to them, able to live independently and have control over property and money.71 However, even this remained limited and women often felt pressure to remarry to ensure security for themselves and their children.72 Through confining women to roles as secondclass citizens with few rights or abilities to function independently, medieval society assured a dependence on male authority figures and established control over female autonomy and sexuality.
In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church maintained
Pain and the Way of Salvation.” (Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 40, no. 1, 2014), 44–74. 68 James A. Brundage, Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 1-9. 69 Shulamith Shahar, The Fourth Estate : A History of Women in the Middle Ages. (London: Taylor & Francis Group, 2003.) 11-26. 70 Shahar, The Fourth Estate, 11-26. 71 Shahar, The Fourth Estate, 11-26. 72 Shahar, The Fourth Estate, 11-26.
power over marriage, an essential limit to female social autonomy. At the start of the twelfth century, the Catholic Church redefined marriage in words of free choice rather than sexual consummation, a reaction against heretical beliefs against marriage and political pressures.73 At the 1184 Council of Verona, the Catholic Church introduced marriage as a sacrament, writing that all those who deny “the remission of sins, matrimony, or any other sacrament of the Church” are worthy of the Church’s disdain.74 At this council, Church officials confronted heretical beliefs and established a firm policy against them, specifically calling out Cathars and Waldensians for their beliefs, declaring them “to lie under a perpetual anathema.”75 Shifting the definition of marriage and directly condemning heretical beliefs, the Catholic Church fostered further division between orthodoxy and heretical groups.
Women deemed heretical by the Catholic Church deviated from social autonomy norms in many ways, but most importantly through rejecting or denying the sacrament of marriage and the need for male authority figures. Cathars were particularly known for their views of marriage and sexuality. Cathars believed that souls were genderless trapped divine beings and that these beings could be reincarnated in any form, man or woman, resulting in women being seen as equals to men.76 Believing the physical world to be a creation by the devil to trap fallen angels, Cathars believed that procreation trapped more souls in the physical world and subjected them to the torture of the mortal world.77 Due to this, Cathars rejected the sacrament of marriage which often led to child production, and leaders discouraged their followers from getting married, resulting in women possessing a larger degree of autonomy than in traditional social mores. This rejection of marriage was concerning from the Catholic Church, as marriage was a way to assert power over both the average person and major political leaders who still required the Church’s approval on matters regarding marriage to produce legal heirs. In reaction to this, the Catholic Church began shifting its definition of marriage from a relationship confirmed by sexual consummation to a sacrament involving a free choice between two consenting parties.78 This political manipulation of marriage frustrated many and, ironically, may have made Cathar teachings more appealing to those annoyed by the Catholic Church’s increasingly political role.79 By rejecting marriage, Cathars presented a major challenge to the Catholic Church’s authority over
73 Lansing, Power and Purity, 106-34. 74 Pope Lucius III, Ad Abolendam, Synod of Verona, 1184. 75 Pope Lucius III, Ad Abolendam, Synod of Verona, 1184. 76 Lansing, Power and Purity, 3-20. 77 Lansing, Power and Purity, 3-20. 78 Lansing, Power and Purity, 106-34. 79 Lansing, Power and Purity, 106-34. the masses and especially over powerful political figures, resulting in both the persecution of the Cathars and also a shift in the Church’s definition of marriage.
Alongside Cathars, Beguines also presented a challenge to female social autonomy norms through challenging conceptions of marriage. At the start of these groups’ organization, Church officials often widely defined Beguines in documents, with the term “beguine” applied to a variety of groups of women and sometimes men.80 As the definition of Beguines became more concrete, often groups of religious women living together but very active in nearby community life, the Catholic Church first presented these communities with praise for their devotion and charity to others.81 Battling religious disagreements in the laity, Church officials praised Beguines as models of obedience and devotion, with early Beguine leader Marie D’Oignies canonized by the Catholic Church.82 However, these views of Beguines began to change as the Church became increasingly aware of the threat they posed to established Catholic authority. While unmarried nuns lived with male overseers, Beguines were both unmarried and unsupervised, living outside of male control in communities that often saw interaction with the laity through charity work.83 Interacting with communities and not confined to a specific location, Beguines also violated enclosure norms the Church established for religious women, free to move in and out of communities without Church approval. Enclosure norms stressed the importance of confining female religious groups to a Church-approved physical location in which they would be required to stay and overseen by a male preacher.84 Independent of male control, the novelty of the Beguine way of life became an increasing cause for concern for the Catholic Church as the power of this religious group increased with their growing autonomy. In response, the Church would brand some Beguines as heretical and began the process of persecution, despite their general popularity as a result of their charitable works.
While living outside of male control was a flashpoint in the Catholic Church’s relationships with women identified as heretics, many saints who did not marry or had little male oversight were ultimately met with a very different response. Clare of Assisi left the traditional path of marriage laid out for women in the Middle Ages, choosing instead to follow Francis of Assisi, seeking to roam freely in the tradition of the Franciscans.85 However, the Catholic Church rejected this, pushing against the ability of women to freely move in society without a
80 Miller, “Clerical Representations of Parisian Beguines.” 81 Miller, “Clerical Representations of Parisian Beguines.” 82 Miller, “Clerical Representations of Parisian Beguines.” 83 Guidera, “The Beguines,” 1-10. 84 Guidera, “The Beguines,” 1-15. 85 Sutherland, “Clare of Assisi,” 1-10.
system of patriarchal power to retain them, an issue it would again face with the Beguines. After a period of tension, Clare of Assisi compromised, devoting herself to leading a monastery, known as the Order of Saint Clare after her death.86 While Clare never married and sought to live independently of the Catholic Church, which threatened the traditional social autonomy allowed to women, Clare’s eventually compromised to enclosure, living in a physically defined Church-sanctioned religious group. This ensured that she would still have continuous contact with male authority figures and would still be involved in patriarchal systems of power. Although Clare’s original stance caused tension with Catholic officials, her eventual agreement to revert back to a more comfortable social norm resulted in her identification as a saintly woman.
Christina Mirabilis would also never marry and, unlike Clare, would not perform her miraculous acts under the supervision of a male confessor, but she would spend her final days in a monastery where religious officials reported that she was humble and obedient.87 Christina also violated the concepts of enclosure that both Clare and the Beguines pushed against. In her biography, Thomas de Cantimpré writes of her movement between communities, such as Wellen and Loon, interacting with men and women along the way and regularly begging in towns and along roads, all without male oversight or Church approval.88 However, even though she was not always directly under the control of a male authority figure, Christina’s deviations from social autonomy norms presented little threat to the Catholic Church, as she did not directly advocate for autonomy or present an example of groups of women successfully living without male control.
These differences in responses to women’s violation of social autonomy norms are a result of the Catholic Church’s need to maintain its authority over the masses in response to shifting pressures. Pushing against the sacrament of marriage, Cathars risked undermining a major source of Church authority over the laity, including the poor and powerful. Beguines similarly presented a challenge to Church authority, forming their own free-moving communities with women from various backgrounds that did not rely on male overseers or Church approval. Providing medical care and other charitable services, these women were often well-liked by the communities they were embedded in, presenting a problem for the Catholic Church to maintain authority. While many saints also refused marriage, by continuing relationships with male confessors and operating in Church-approved religious communities, they did not present a threat to Church approval, but rather helped to
86 Sutherland, “Clare of Assisi,” 1-10. 87 Macmillan, “Invisible Injuries,” 44-69. 88 de Cantimpré and King, Christina Mirabilis. increase Church authority. This indicates that violations of social autonomy norms by women were acceptable to the Catholic Church as long as the Church could maintain its authority over women through enforcing close patriarchal relationships with Church officials. LIMITATIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
While the Middle Ages saw the emergence of many more heresies and the canonization of many more women than discussed here, these groups of women present interesting examples that represent larger themes in attitudes towards women as heretics and saints. Limited by the available documents preserved from the Middle Ages, often selected by the Catholic Church for preservation, this topic reveals that deviation from social and religious norms was not the main cause for concern for the Catholic Church. Rather, Church officials judged cases on a more individual basis to determine the degree of threat or benefit these women could provide for the Church. However, this is not meant to undermine the work and roles of these women in medieval society, but to point to inconsistencies in the way the Catholic Church depicted and treated these women. This essay also draws clear distinctions between heretical beliefs and orthodox Catholicism when more similarities than differences existed between the two. Also, terms used in this essay, such as Beguines, Waldensians, and Cathars, were in use by Church officials during the Middle Ages to refer to the heretical groups but these groups did not see themselves as separate from the Catholic religion, often believing that their methods of worship were more in line with the original aims of the founders of the religion. The distinctions made in this essay are meant to allow for a better understanding of the cause for the inconsistencies of treatment of heretical and canonized women. This allows for researchers to better understand how the lives of women have been depicted throughout history, sometimes subject to biased interpretations at the hands of male authority figures. CONCLUSION
Receiving very different treatment at the hands of the Catholic Church, officials responded to women identified as heretical and saintly based on the usefulness of their deviations to the Church’s mission to maintain authority. Deemed heretics or saints by the Church, these women took on roles in religious organizations and politics not expected for women in the Middle Ages while maintaining strict poverty vows despite disapproval or discouragement from the Catholic Church. Women placed in heretical and sainted groups by the Church also both violated autonomy norms for women in the medieval period, often rejecting marriage in favor of a life of religious devotion. Reactions to these women varied based on their perceived threat to the Catholic Church’s authority. Involved in politics
and extreme poverty vows, saints violated the same norms but because they were still under the control of male Church officials, these women were seen as less of a threat than heretical women who were actively involved in spreading the religion and supporting strict poverty vows while living outside of male authority. Through this, it can be seen that the reactions to these women were not based on the norms they violated, but rather based on the way in which they violated these norms and the usefulness of their message to maintaining the Catholic Church’s authority. These findings indicate a possible trend of religious institutions claiming women’s stories to achieve their goals and warrants further research on the topic to understand how women’s history has been shaped by these narratives.
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About the Author
Lauren is a third year undergraduate student at GWU originally from South Carolina and double majoring in Psychology and History. Her research interests include the history of women’s interactions with religious institutions and the effects of these interactions on women’s perceptions and mental health. Lauren is a research assistant at the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project and in Dr. Le’s Mothers and Babies: Mood and Health Research Program.
An Assistant Professor in GWU’s History department, Dr. Agresta specializes in medieval European and Mediterranean history, with an emphasis on environmental history, urban history, and history of public health. Dr. Agresta earned her Ph.D. in history from Yale University and is a recipient of the Bishko Memorial Prize and is a George Washington University Humanities Center Fellow. Dr. Agresta’s current project, God, Humans, and Nature in Late Medieval Valencia, examines how rulers of religiously mixed Valencia, Spain understood the relationship between God, humans, and the natural world.
