Essay: Week 3

This week I chose to read about Women Saints. I picked this topic because I really enjoyed learning about Animals and Saints last week, and I figured that the stories would mirror them.

I know that usually, but not always, to be a Saint you need to have died for your faith and have become a Martyr. However, this unit really opened my eyes as to how gruesome the ends of these Saints lives were.

There was one story for me that was honestly a little too much. It made me kind of nauseous to read. The story of Saint Juliet involved a mother and her child trying to escape persecution for her faith. In the story, the child is thrown down the stairs by the Provst and the three year olds brains are splattered across the ground. The mother is then thoroughly beaten, burned and beheaded. I can understand how they would kill adults for their beliefs at the time, but learning about the child and the way of death was a little too much for me.

Picture Retrieved From Wikipedia

Picture of Saint Juliet and her child

I think one thing that would have been helpful to include in the information at the top of each article would have been to know the location, year, and ruler of the area. That would have given a little more background information into what the world was like around them. Of course, all of these people were being asked to worship idols and refusing, but I think having a better understanding of the time period would have been useful.

One thing I found very interesting about this unit was that several of the woman were dressing up as men to escape marriage. I was kind of wondering how they were able to get away with that for so long, living in a monastery with a ton of men. Certainly there were many issues they faced. Additionally, I think it was rather silly of them to let a woman say they got them pregnant instead of just coming out saying they were women. One main question I had, was why didn’t they just become nuns? I don’t fully understand why they had to disguise themselves as men to devote themselves to God, when they could have just done what women do today, and have become nuns. I guess I just don’t fully understand the situation. I am sure that everything they did was justified and I just struggle with understanding their culture.

I liked several of these stories and I thought all of the women were very courageous. I had no idea that they were tortured to the extent that they were. I know this unit provided background information on each Saint, however, I feel like to fully understand their stories, one must be more familiar with their culture and time period. Overall, I thought this was a good unit.