This Week

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. ----Philippians 4:2-3 (Paul)

This larger female presence also contributed to the teeming variety of Irish religious life -- a variety that would have distressed the Romans, had they known of it. They would have been even more distressed had they known of the wide ranging activities of the high abbesses, whose hands had the power to heal, who almost certainly heard confessions, probably ordained clergy, and may even have celebrated Mass. ----Thomas Cahill How the Irish Saved Civilization

Now, of her father's wealth and property, whatsoever her hands would find or
get Brigit used to give to the poor and needy of the Lord. Wherefore her father
became displeased with her and desired to sell the holy Brigit. He went with her
in a chariot, and said: 'Not for honour or for reverence to thee art thou
carried in the chariot; but to take thee to sell thee, that thou mayst grind at
the quern of Dunlaing, son of Enna, king of Leinster.' When they came to the
king's fortress, Dubthach went in, and left his sword near Brigit in the
chariot...[during which time Brigit gave away her father’s sword to a begging
leper...]
	When Brigit came before the king, he said, "Why dost thou steal thy
father's property and wealth, and what is worse, why hast thou given the sword
away?" Then said Brigit: "The Virgin's Son knoweth if I had thy power,
with all thy wealth, and with all the Leinster, I would give them all to the
Lord of the Elements." Said the kind to Dubthach, "It is not meet for
us to deal with this maiden, for her merit before God is higher." Thus was
Brigit saved from bondage.
	Everything that Brigit would ask of the Lord was granted her at once. For
this was her desire: to satisfy the poor, to expel every hardship, to spare
every miserable man...She was simple towards God: she was compassionate towards
the wretched: she was splendid in miracles and marvels: wherefore her name among
created things is Dove among birds, Vine among trees, Sun among stars.
----The Living Spirit: Prayers and Readings for the
Christian Year, adapted from The Lives of the Saints from the Book of
Lismore

...a healing well in Exeter dedicated to Sidwell who, according to a late
medieval catalogue of English saints was killed there when her pagan
stepmother incited the reapers in the harvest fields to cut off her head.
...Juthwara was the victim of a jealous stepmother who incited her son Bana
to murder her, by making out that Juthwara was pregnant. Fooled by the
deceit, he became so furious that he slashed the girl's head off, whereupon a
spring of water gushed from the rock where it fell. Immediately, the
headless virgin picked up her severed head and carried it to the church. ----Shirley Toulson, The Celtic Year, a Celebration of Celtic Christian Saints, Sites and Festivals

With a herd of only six cows, to emphasize the poverty of the convent that
she established at Clonroney, County Longford, Samthann, who died in 739,
inspired many of the leaders of the reform movement known as the Celi De (the Servant of God) by the simplicity of her life ... Several of her sayings
have been preserved for us. Two concerning pilgrimages have her advising a
disciple to remember that "The distance to heaven is the same from every end
of the earth and if a person comes close to God he cannot be far from home,"
and emphasizing that "the kingdom of heaven can be reached from every land." ----Shirley Toulson The Celtic Year, a Celebration of Celtic Christian Saints, Sites and Festivals

• How do these examples of women in Celtic culture and Paul’s time relate to how women function in the church now?
• The women described were pious, embraced poverty, gave things away, and were virtuous. Does our culture or church embrace these qualities in women today?
• Has the role of women in the church changed since these stories? How? What have we lost or gained?
• How useful are these stories to us?