Reading Diary A: Women Saints

The Women Saints unit was filled with an abundance of stories about virginal women who sacrificed themselves for their beliefs.  Some died in monasteries, while others were beheaded for their beliefs.  Here are a couple of my favorite stories from this unit:

Saint Pelagien:  The attribute that I admire most about her is that she stood up for what she wanted and believed in, which was not getting married and taking care of herself.  She was so devote in convictions that she cut off her hair to disguise herself as a male so she could live in a monastery. While living in the monastery, she was accused of getting a woman pregnant and was treated terribly because of the accusations.  Saint Pelagien denied the accusations against her in her story.   I'm most intrigued by this story because no one ever figured out she was a male until she had written a letter exposing her true identity upon her death.   When her true identity was discovered to be of a virginal woman, her body was then exhumed and buried where she truly belonged...with the nuns.  A truly fascinating story to read.

Saint Marine:  This story is very similar to Saint Pelagien's story, but the details are quite different.  She did not move into the monastery to escape marriage, but was taken into the monastery by her father who disguised her as a boy.  Saint Marine also lived out her life there and while living in the monastery was also accused of fathering a child.  Saint Marine chose not to deny the accusations that she fathered a child while living in the monastery.  She chose to keep her gender a secret and took in the child as her own and raised him.  Even though she never admitted that she was indeed a woman, she was found out to be a woman upon her death.  She was then blessed and buried as the virginal woman too.  It truly amazes me that no one in either monastery ever found out the women's true genders until their deaths.

Saint Marina by joeatta78