Sacred sisters : gender, sanctity, and power in Medieval Ireland / Maeve Brigid Callan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Callan, Maeve, author.

Series:

Hagiography beyond tradition ; 1.

Hagiography beyond tradition

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women saints--Ireland.

Women saints.

Women in Christianity--Ireland.

Women in Christianity.

Church history--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Church history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (308 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2020.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Sacred Sisters focuses on five saints: the four female Irish saints who have extant medieval biographies (Darerca, Brigid, Íte, and Samthann), and Patrick, whose writings - fifth-century Ireland's sole surviving texts - attest to the centrality of women in Irish Christianity's development. Women served as leaders and teachers, perhaps even as bishops and priests, and men and women worked together in a variety of arrangements as well as independently. Previous studies of gender in medieval Ireland have emphasized sexism and sex-segregated celibacy, dismissing abundant evidence of alternative approaches throughout the sources, including in the Lives of Ireland's female saints. Sacred Sisters places these generally marginalized texts at its center, exploring their portraits of empowered, authoritative, compassionate women who exemplified an accepting and affirming ethics of gender and sexuality that would be unusual in many mainstream Christian movements in the present day, let alone in the Middle Ages.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Preface

Introduction

1. "Founded upon the Rock Which Is Christ": What Patrick and His Promoters Reveal about Women in the Early Irish Church

2. "A New and Apostolic Band of Virgins Arose": Darerca, an Exceptionally Learned Abbess

3. "The Safest City of Refuge": Brigid the Bishop

4. "God Is Always Present with Those Who Exemplify Such Devotion": Íte, Foster-Mother of the Saints of Ireland

5. "Do Not Harass My Sisters": Samthann, an Abbess Not to Be Crossed

6. "I Place Myself under the Protection of the Virgins All Together": Sister Saints with Something Like a Life

Conclusion

Appendices

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 08 Dec 2020).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-304) and index.

ISBN:

1-003-70321-6

90-485-4299-5

9781003703211

OCLC:

1178543299