Sacred Fictions

THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES

Ruth Mazo Karras, General Editor
Edward Peters, Founding Editor

A complete list of books in the series

is available from the publisher.
 Sacred Fictions
Holy Women and Hagiography
in Late Antiquity

Lynda L. Coon

PENN
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
 Copyright © 1997 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I

Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6097

Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data

Coon, Lynda L.
Sacred fictions : holy women and hagiography in late antiquity /
Lynda L. Coon.
p. cm.-(The Middle Ages series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN0-8122-3371-9(alk. paper)
1. Women in Christianity- History- Early church, ca. 30-600.
2. Women in Chistianity-History-MiddleAges, 600-1500.
3. Christian women saints-History. +. Christian hagiography-
History. 1. Title II. Series.
BRI95·W6C66 1997
270' .082-dc21
 IN MEMORY OF
NELSON B. COON AND
JUDY A. COON
This page intentionally left blank
 Contents

List of Illustrations IX

Acknowledgments Xl

Introduction XUI

1. Hagiography and Sacred Models

2. Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 28

3. The Rhetorical Uses of Clothing in the Lives of Sacred Males 52

4-. God's Holy Harlots: The Redemptive Lives of Pelagia of

Antioch and Mary of Egypt 71

5."Through the Eye ofa Needle": Wealth and Poverty in the

Lives of Helena, Paula, and Melania the Younger 95

6. Civilizing Merovingian Gaul: The Lives of Monegund,

Radegund, and Balthild 120

Conclusion: Sacred Fictions 14-3

Notes 153
Bibliography 203

Index 221
This page intentionally left blank
 Illustrations

1. Woman of Samaria at the well. 47

2. Francesco Traini (P. Lorenzetti?), "St. Mary of Egypt
receiving the Sacrament." 90
3. Francesco Traini (P. Lorenzetti?), "Saints Paul and
Anthony." 92
4. Saint Radegund at the table with the king, praying in her
oratory, and prostrate on the floor. 130

5. Dominique Papety, "Abba Zosimas delivers his cloak to

Saint Mary the Egyptian." 150
This page intentionally left blank
 Acknowledgments

I AM GRATEFUL TO ALL the individuals who aided me in the completion of

this book. My deepest thanks go to Thomas Noble for introducing me to
the critical study of hagiography, for his great skill in communicating the
vital importance of these texts to the study of late antiquity, and for his
steadfast support. I greatly appreciate the mentoring of Duane Osheim,
who guided me through my early study of gender and Christian spiritu-
ality. I should also like to thank Jerome Singerman of the University of
Pennsylvania Press as well as the Press' two anonymous readers of the
manuscript, whose thoughtful suggestions helped me to clarify certain sec-
tions of the book.
This book could not have been completed without institutional sup-
port. The year I spent at Bates College in Maine was crucial to the initial
phases of this project, and I should like to express my gratitude to my col-
leagues in history there, particularly Michael Jones and Margaret Creigh-
ton. A 1991 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend
allowed me to devote three uninterrupted months to research. The Ful-
bright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas awarded
me a one-year fellowship at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, and the
history department made it possible to accept the award.
I appreciate the support I received from many new friends and col-
leagues in Cambridge while I was writing the book. I am grateful to the
gracious faculty and remarkable students of Lucy Cavendish College for
their intellectual stimulation, especially Lorna McNeur, Jane Renfrew,
Anja Matwijkiw, and Adelheid Voskuhl. I am deeply indebted to Betty
Wood, who shared her home (with its whimsical garden) across from Jesus
Green and her cats, Miss Ruthie and Mr. Gibson. I also thank Michael
O'Brien for his great dexterity as an editor and Tricia O'Brien for her wit,
erudition, and companionship.
There are a number of individuals who have had a direct influence on
this undertaking. Iena Gaines, Kathy Haldane, Ellen Litwicki, Peter Potter,
and Elisabeth Sommer offered unflagging encouragement, both in gradu-
ate school and beyond. I thank David and Marilyn Appleby for their hos-
pitality and willingness to help me with final details.
XlI Acknowledgments

At the University of Arkansas, my friend and colleague, Lynn Jacobs,

has been extremely helpful both in terms of referring me to the works of
art historians and in reading early versions of the manuscript. I would also
like to thank Jeremy Hyman for his willingness to discuss with me the her-
meneutics of Leviticus and Exodus. And, to my humanities teaching team,
Charles Adams, Ethel Goodstein, and David Fredrick, I extend special
thanks for introducing me to scholarly theories in the fields of literary criti-
cism, classics, gender, sexuality, and architectural history. My students in
medieval history at the University of Arkansas have contributed to this
book in more ways than can be recounted here, particularly John Arnold,
Jennifer Howard, and Mary Thurlkill, all of whom are extraordinary
hagiologers.
I would like to thank those special friends in Fayetteville whose guid-
ance and tireless labors saw this book to its completion. I cherish my neigh-
bors' Mary Gussman, Karin Herrmann, and Martha Middleton, and thank
them for enduring my ups and downs while working on this book. I remain
grateful to my colleague and friend, Elizabeth Payne, for her insightful
comments on the role of gender in historical narrative. I extend immeas-
urable thanks to my dear friends, Robert Finlay and Suzanne Maberry, who
read countless drafts of chapters, edited compulsively, and greatly im-
proved the overall structure of the book. Thanks go to my brother, Eric,
for inspiring my interest in history when we were children. My most pro-
found appreciation is for my parents, Nelson B. Coon and Judy A. Coon,
who encouraged and sustained me, and in whose memory this book is
dedicated.
 Introduction

At first Zosimas was troubled, thinking that he saw the appear-

ance of the devil and he trembled. But he protected himself
with the sign of the cross, and he saw that there really was some
kind of being walking along at mid-day. It was a woman and
she was naked ... her body black as if scorched by the fierce
heat of the sun, her hair was white as wool and short, coming
only to the neck. 1

IN THE EARLY SEVENTH-CENTURY LIFE of the harlot-saint Mary of Egypt,

the holy woman first appears to a virginal priest, Zosimas, as a demonized
apparition floating along the banks of the Jordan River. At the same time,
her extraordinary physical appearance resembles that of the Son of Man
from Revelation (1.14), "his head and his hair were white as white wool,
white as snow." 2 She is also the bride from the Song of Songs (1.5-6): "I
am swarthy but beautiful, ... Do not gaze at me because I am dark, be-
cause the sun has blackened me." 3 This hagiographical text illustrates the
paradoxical nature of late antique biographies of Christian holy women.
The Egyptian Mary, in her sacred biography, is a hideous wraith and, at
the same time, the eschatological Messiah; her body is repulsive yet she is
the bride of Christ; she is a vessel of sin as well as a vessel of repentance;
she describes herself as the disciple of the devil, but she subsequently be-
comes the spiritual mentor of a male altar servant. She is the physical em-
bodiment of feminine self-indulgence and, conversely, the personification
of Christian self-mortification.
Mary's holy life (vita) is entirely fabricated from paradox and inver-
sion; although she becomes an exemplary holy woman, the first half of her
symbolic life replicates Eve's expulsion from paradise. The defiled Mary
engages in sexual acts not for payment but for pleasure. She explains to her
chaste confessor, Zosimas, that "all unnatural acts were natural for her."
The whore-Mary corrupts Christian pilgrims and inverts the apostolic mis-
sion; as the ex-harlot reveals to Zosimas, she used to "hunt for the souls of
young men." Mary's vita parodies the pious lives of more conventional late
antique female saints who engage in extraordinary acts of philanthropy,
xiv Introduction

remove their bodies from the marriage market, and travel independently
about the Mediterranean and Holy Land. The harlot-saint's independence
stems not from pious continence but from her depraved sexuality. Her phi-
lanthropy and charity take the form of the free bestowal of her body on
Christian pilgrims; she finances a pilgrimage to the Holy Land by offering
her flesh as payment for the voyage. Through her conversion to the radical
life of self-renunciation, however, Mary refashions her debauched body
into a vehicle of grace.
Grotesque asceticism and heroic compunction transform Mary's sa-
cred image from that of the postlapsarian Eve into the inviolable Virgin
Mary, for intense abstinence makes the holy woman's body impenetrable.
The Egyptian Mary's sun-scorched skin, woolly-white hair, and naked
body are physical proof texts that the ex-harlot has recaptured the status
before sin (status ante peccatum). The Jordan River Valley, in Mary's vita,
is the earthly counterpart of heavenly paradise where human beings-even
the most debased sinners-can achieve a celestial perfection. The saint-
Mary lives in this hallowed valley as a spiritual being who symbolically
baptizes herself in the Jordan River and receives no instruction or com-
munion from the priestly hierarchy until just before her death. She walks
on water, levitates, travels at supernatural speed, possesses the power of
prophetic clairvoyance, and survives for forty-seven years consuming only
three loaves of bread for nourishment. Mary's symbolic life castigates the
works-righteousness of Zosimas, who submits to her spiritual authority,
dramatically reversing the gender relations of late antiquity. The vita of
this harlot-saint thus confronts the historian of gender and Christianity
with a provocative question: how can texts that contain such stereotypical
images of female depravity simultaneously empower corrupt females to
such a great extent that they overwhelm spiritual men?
This work approaches the study of late antique and early medieval ha-
giography, or saints' lives (c. 400-700 CE), from a theological perspective
by demonstrating how very different hagiographers from disparate cultures
exploited biblical rhetoric both to empower and bridle sacred portraits of
women." It examines the three major patterns of female sanctity which
range in locus from East to West, in time from late antiquity to the early
Middle Ages, and in model from independent desert hermit to cloistered
ascetic. The book describes the influence of the institutionalization of the
male priesthood and the masculinization of the altar space on subsequent
depictions of holy women and men. It compares women's vitae within the
context of corresponding male models of sanctity and shows how rhetori-
 Introduction xv

cal uses of male and female clothing in hagiographical texts delineate the
distinctive theological roles of both sexes."
The book focuses on eight sacred fictions of women from the Holy
Land, the late antique Roman Mediterranean, and Frankish Gaul. The lives
of the fifth-century legendary saints Pelagia of Antioch and Mary of Egypt
were enormously popular throughout the Middle Ages and the Renais-
sance. The textual depictions of these two harlot-saints mirror the biblical
motif of defiled woman as instrument of salvation. 6 The vitae of three in-
fluential Roman women-the Augusta Helena (c. 255-329), Jerome's life
of the widow Paula (c. 347-404), and the fifth-century sacred biography
of Melania the Younger (c. 383-439 )-transform the image of the late
Roman aristocracy into a charitable, humble, and humanitarian regime
that adheres to Christ's precepts." These three lives perform the feminine
function of civilizing and humanizing the militant, apocalyptic Christian-
ity of the late Roman Empire." The sixth- and seventh-century Frankish
hagiographies of Monegund, Radegund, and Balthild demonstrate the de-
piction of holy women as civilizing forces in another turbulent era of west-
ern history, early medieval Gaul. This shift in geographical focus is essential
because of the enormous influence of the vitae of the Romans Helena,
Paula, and Melania on Merovingian portraits of phenomenal women." The
critical salvific directive of all eight lives is the transformation of female
flesh from sin to redemption in imitation of the metamorphosis of fallen
Eve into the Virgin Mary.
The title, Sacred Fictions, expresses the basis of this study-hagio-
graphical motifs driven not by historical fact but by biblical topoi, literary
invention, and moral imperative. Historians recently have exploited saints'
lives for what they reveal about the social, political, and spiritual cultures
that produced them. In contrast, the emphasis of this work is not on the
historical lives of the subject saints but on the theological and didactic
agendas of their authors. Clearly some of these vitae have more basis in
historical fact than others. For example, the lives of Melania the Younger
and Paula are relatively well documented. Melania's priest and fellow pil-
grim, Gerontius, composed her sacred biography. Gerontius's account is
replete with historical detail; however, the priest also creates a "sacred fic-
tion" of his female patron by patently assimilating Melania to the biblical
image of the charitable matron. Not all "sacred fictions" are presented in
the form of vitae. Paula's "life" is actually a late antique epitaphium; it is a
letter of praise (laudatio) written by Paula's friend, the biblical exegete
Jerome, and addressed to her daughter, Eustochium. The epitaphium de-
XVI Introduction

tails Paula's pious deeds and saintly death; but it also goes beyond chroni-
cling in that Jerome refashions Paula's laudable life to conform to biblical
models of feminine piety. Other kinds of religious texts, such as liturgical
calendars, martyrologies, and liturgies commemorating saints' feasts, often
contain such spiritual inventions.l'' "Sacred fictions" also can include col-
lections of numinous narratives, such as those allegorical texts which com-
prise the Helena legend. 11 Of the three late Roman patrician lives studied
here, Helena's is clearly the most fictional. The late antique churchmen
who constructed Helena's holy image counterbalanced the warlike Chris-
tianity of her son, Constantine, by highlighting the philanthropic deeds of
his elderly mother. Allegorically, Constantine and Helena became the new
Christ and Mary of a resurrected Christian empire.
The lives of the Merovingian saints examined here were written by
friends and disciples of the subjects or by hagiographers who desired to
foster their cults. By fusing biblical and native Germanic traditions, the
culture of Merovingian Gaul put a unique twist on these vitae. For ex-
ample, Radegund's male hagiographer, Bishop Fortunatus, portrays her as
a Merovingian martyr who crucifies her flesh in imitation of Christ's pas-
sion. Fortunatus also punctuates his text with a distinctive Germanic flavor.
Radegund tends the hearth, carries firewood, mixes drinks with her own
hands, and hosts folkloric banquets where she ministers to the poor and
diseased. The bishop also recounts in detail Radegund's rejection of the
characteristic clothing and diet of the Frankish nobility. Despite the Ger-
manic imagery, Merovingian vitae, like their desert and Roman counter-
parts, use biblical rhetoric to demonstrate how fallen female bodies can
transmute into mediators of salvation.
Unlike the vitae of Radegund, Melania, and Paula, which can be
documented by other sources, the representations of Pelagia and Mary are
mythological and fabricated from biblical rhetoric, apocryphal lives of
Mary Magdalene, and the lives of other desert hermits. Clearly the cultures
that produced the holy biographies of Mary of Egypt and Radegund of
Poitiers are disparate, and, as Julia Smith has pointed out, the eastern
model of the penitent prostitute had little influence on representations of
Merovingian female saints.'? Although the construction and reception of
the images of the eastern and western holy women studied here are not the
same, they are comparable because their creators used biblical rhetoric to
demonstrate how women who convert to the life of radical self-abnegation
become instruments of salvation for men. This book is about the use of
biblical discourse by authors from very different cultures and historical eras
for this corresponding purpose.
 Introduction XVll

Both Hebrew and Christian scripture use images of defiled women to

depict the chasm between humans and God, and the Christian gospels pro-
claim the hope of universal redemption through Christ's healing and con-
verting of female sinners. Christian hagiographers, including the author of
the vita of Mary of Egypt, similarly exploit biblical conversion rhetoric to
affirm the possibility of universal salvation. The message of such texts is
simple: if daughters of Eve can remake their bodies into spiritual vessels, so
too can all other sinners. 13 The most enduring paradigms for early women's
sanctity-the repentant hermit, the late Roman patrician philanthropist,
and the early medieval Frankish cloistered nun-are built on a series of
unconventional images of women. Hagiographers make their dynamic
women saints walk on water, mystically consecrate the eucharist, and en-
gage in death-defying acts of self-mortification.
The same hagiographers, however, counteract these unorthodox
representations of women's power by including spiritual motifs that invari-
ably domesticate female authority. Women's hagiography teaches that the
daughters of Eve must make their bodies impenetrable through militant
chastity, self-entombment, spiritual exile, or institutionalized claustration.
Repentant women must adhere to Pauline strictures concerning their status
in the public church, and they must eradicate feminine self-indulgence
through ascetic attire and philanthropy. Finally, the spiritual powers (cha-
rismata) of cloistered nuns must operate within a feminized, domestic
environment. Female saints clean altars, catch demons with their spindles,
and miraculously perform domestic chores. They atone for Eve's fall by
enclosing their bodies in tiny cells, coffins, and tombs. An enshrined, peni-
tential woman who atones for the sorrowful life of the postlapsarian Eve is
a salvific instrument in Christian history.
The hagiography of female saints replicates the process of redemption.
By transforming profane female flesh into a vehicle of grace, women's con-
version extends the hope of universal salvation to sinful humanity. Dy-
namic male saints act out the linear progression toward salvation through
a series of exemplary deeds. Late antique and early medieval Christians
interpreted Christ's crucifixion as a kind of exorcism, initiating the expul-
sion of evil from the world. The great Egyptian male hermits thus repro-
duce the redemptive powers of the crucifixion by exorcizing legions of
demons who take the shapes of beasts, serpents, reptiles, crocodiles, bish-
ops, and seductive women. For the male hermits, evil is an external force
that must be eliminated from the world. Female ascetics, however, immure
themselves in claustrophobic cells, expiate their sins, and place themselves
under the mentorship of male teachers. For women ascetics, the battle
XV111 Introduction

against evil is generally internal, a struggle against the female nature itself.
While the holy man ventures into the world or the wilderness to battle
heroically against evil, the holy woman turns inward to heal the fissures of
a corrupted self. The vita of a holy man records the transformation of male
flesh from dust to spirit, from Old Adam to New Adam or Christ (I Cor-
inthians 15.45-47; Genesis 2.7). Female vitae describe how exceptional
holy women remake the fallen body of Eve into the body of the "New Eve"
or the impenetrable Virgin Mary. Biblical discourse endowed hagiographi-
cal vitae with the male prototype of the "New Adam/Christ" and the cor-
responding female model of the "New Eve/Mary."
Paradox, inversion, reversal, transformation, and rebirth are all essen-
tial components of sacred discourse. Masculine and feminine spirituality
both appropriate traditional constructions of male and female behavior
and invert them to instruct human audiences that the sacred operates in a
manner antithetical to profane convention. Medieval theologians manipu-
lated the paradoxical nature of sacred gender. Early theologians interpreted
the crucifixion as an exorcism, while later biblical exegetes understood it as
a childbirth.!" The wound in Christ's side gives birth to the church (eccle-
sia ), just as Adam gave birth to Eve from his side. Medieval depictions of
Christ crucified compare the bleeding Messiah with lactating females who
nourish infants. Christ feeds Christians with the blood that pours through
the wound in his side, his own flesh performing the female function of
providing food and nurturing new life. IS Through similar paradoxical im-
agery, the Virgin Mary functions as a Christian priest because she first
consecrated Christ (the eucharist) in her womb. She is also the Christian
altar, for her lap displays the baby Jesus just as the sacrificial table exhibits
the eucharist. The enclosed space of the Virgin's body functions as a recep-
tacle of grace, and medieval "opening-virgins" (vierges-ouvrantes) portray
Mary's womb as sheltering the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The enig-
matic nature of sacred gender runs counter to the frequent assumption of
modern scholarship that early societies operated under rigidly polarized
masculine/feminine categories: "intellect/body, active/passive, rational/
irrational, reason/emotion, self-control/lust, judgment/mercy, and or-
der/disorder." 16 Church writers, however, blended both masculine and
feminine characteristics not only in the vita Christi but also in the sacred
lives of holy women and men in order to demonstrate the otherworldly
nature of Christian sanctity.
The lives of late antique and early medieval holy women (and men)
also contain instances of spiritual cross-genderings. Holy women are both
 Introduction xix

masculine (spirit) and feminine (flesh), and their sacred biographies both
empower and restrain their spiritual activities. Averil Cameron has argued
that early Christian writings couple outspoken misogyny with a kind of
early Christian feminism. 17 Dyan Elliott has noted that in the lives of pious
women "submission inevitably overshadows subversion in the hands of a
skilled narrator." 18
Feminist theologians, historians, and literary critics of the past two
decades applied contrasting hermeneutic approaches to the existence of
both misogyny and feminism in the same text. In the 1970S radical femi-
nist theologians concentrated on the misogynous motifs of Christian dis-
course, denouncing the scriptural representation of God the Father as a
phallic conspiracy." In the 1980s, more moderate feminist interpreters of
the Bible reacted against the polemical exegesis of the previous decade by
recovering the "secret history" of early Christian women's authority, in-
dependence, mobility, prophetic power, and charismatic potency." The
rediscovery of the antique women's ecclesia.,they maintained, provided a
vital model for contemporary Christian feminists who did not want to re-
ject the church as a misogynistic, patriarchal community."
Church historians and hagiologers who subscribe to this "hereme-
neutics of remembrance" have proclaimed that holy women experienced a
gender revolution in late antiquity. In her 1991 work on early women
saints, Joyce Salisbury championed the late antique gender revolution by
featuring holy women's "freedom from social expectations," "freedom of
thought," "freedom of movement," and "freedom from gender identifi-
cation." 22 Salisbury identified such activities as living or traveling indepen-
dently and rejecting marriage to practice celibacy as demonstrations that
holy women wielded power and autonomy that went well beyond the
norm for late antique and early medieval women. There is little question
that most vitae of holy women contain the textual cross-genderings em-
phasized by Salisbury. But she reached her conclusions by considering only
the feminist rhetoric of women's hagiography and downplayed its misogy-
nist counterpart.
Both the radical feminist hermeneutic of the 1970Sand its theoretical
antithesis, the "hermeneutic of remembrance," focus on only half of the
paradoxical treatment of women in sacred discourse. Because hagiographi-
cal texts duplicate biblical motifs, women's vitae reproduce the enigmatic
portrayal of women in scripture. Late antique and early medieval saints'
lives suggest that women's piety and depravity are codependent and that
male altar servants alone possess the power to exorcize feminine corruption
xx Introduction

and reunite women with God. Even in the iconoclastic Life of Mary of
Egypt, an apparently independent figure confronts a hierarchical patron,
kneels pliantly before him, and accepts communion. Women's vitae need
to be reexamined with an eye toward the highly rhetorical and symbolic
meanings contained in their sacred biographies.
Very recent work on women and early Christianity has been influ-
enced by post-structuralist interpretations of the social and cultural con-
struction of gender, sexuality, and the body." Historians focusing on these
constructions examine the fluidity of gender models and the means by
which various historical cultures recreate the categories of "masculine" and
"feminine" in order to accommodate changing social, political, economic,
and spiritual precepts. This methodology also considers more fully the re-
lationship between author and text and between sacred image and didactic
purpose.r" Male writers who constructed the symbolic images of holy
women did so not only to glorify the piety of female saints but also to
suppress the vacillating faith of men and to feature powerful, independent
holy women's submission to the male hierarchy.
Kate Cooper suggests that late antique women's lives should be re-
interpreted in terms of the messages they direct to Christian men since
"both speaker and audience were generically understood as masculine."
Late antique vitae did not "straightforwardly represent flesh-and -blood
women themselves," according to Cooper, but "rather served to symbolize
aspects of the tension to be found among men." 25 Christian writers wrote
for a "masculine" audience, and female saints' lives can be used only cir-
cumspectly to document the actual condition of late antique and early me-
dieval Christian holy women. The Life of Mary of Egypt, for example, is not
really about Mary: the vita elucidates "the tension to be found among
men" 26 because the male compiler of this mythological life used the heroic
conversion of an illiterate, sinful woman to castigate the spiritual pride of
a works-righteous male priest. In so doing, the hagiographer employed a
rhetorical technique drawn from the Christian gospels.
The evangelists often contrast the rational intellect of the male apos-
tles with the emotional and simple minds of women. Faithful women be-
lieve in Christ without hesitation whereas the male apostles doubt, demand
"signs and wonders," and cling to earthly things. Christ (Matthew 16.22-
23) vents his wrath at the apostle Peter, who is not able to comprehend the
spiritual significance of the future passion: "And Peter took him and began
to rebuke him, saying, 'God forbid, Lord! This [the crucifixion] shall never
happen to you.' But he [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me,
 Introduction XXI

Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but
of men.'" In the Life of Mary of Egypt, Mary functions as the converted
woman whose simple faith is pure and spontaneous. Her confessor, Zosi-
mas, personifies the doubting apostle who clings to the rational intellect
and to "human things."
Although Mary's sacred biography is a highly mythological one, other
women's lives-even those with corroborating historical sources-contain
similar topoi of female depravity and piety. In short, all saints' lives are
rhetorical, didactic, and constructed. They are sacred fictions, not factual
accounts of human achievements. The lives of the legendary Pelagia and
Mary, as well as the better-documented biographies of Melania the
Younger and Paula, overstep traditional gender boundaries and conform
to more conservative portraits of ancient women. These texts allow the
historian to reconstruct the perspective of the male authors rather than the
historical reality of the women whose stories are recounted.
Radical portrayals of female saints are those in which holy women fol-
low the charismatic models of Hebrew and Christian holy men, such as
Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ, and the apostles. Although the
Hebrew and Christian Bibles provide brief references to female judges and
prophets, there are no biblical women whose deeds can compare with the
miraculous accomplishments of these charismatic men. In fact, the prophet
Ezekiel condemns female prophets who make magic veils and wrist bands
and who "hunt for human souls" (Ezekiel 13.17-18). In the ancient world,
men possessed public authority: "They were astounded at his [Christ's]
teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority" (Mark 1.22). In
Christian discourse, manhood defined miraculous power, consecrated au-
thority, and spiritual perfection: "Until we all attain to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ so that we may no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles" (Ephesians
+.13 - 1+). Christian scripture provides the antithesis of the "manhood of
Christ": "Weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various im-
pulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of
the truth" (2 Timothy 3.6-7). Christian hagiographers based authoritative
images of both male and female holiness on the "mature manhood of the
Son of God." Ascetic practices assimilate the female body to that of Christ
crucified, so that holy women literally become Christ and perform his sal-
vific miracles. Powerful women, therefore, are like powerful men. Although
XXll Introduction

modern readers may be offended by spiritual perfection being defined by

manhood, it must be recognized that late antique and early medieval au-
diences apparently could celebrate female holiness only in terms of a reso-
lutely patriarchal standard;"
Conservative or traditional depictions of holy women emphasize the
unique spiritual attributes of female sanctity as derived from biblical (and
even classical) depictions of women-domesticity, submission to male
authority, and the codependency of women's depravity and piety. Only
female vitae highlight these particular scriptural components of human
spirituality. For example, the sixth-century hagiographer of the Frankish
queen, Radegund of Poitiers, depicts the austere nun as meticulously
cleaning house-an unthinkable activity for most male saints.

The major patterns for the literary representation of female sanctity

duplicate the biblical motif of converted female as instrument of salvation.
The three distinct models of female sanctity-the legendary harlot-saint,
the patrician philanthropist, and the cloistered nun-are the textual off-
spring of the paradoxical biblical presentations of women. Scriptural
women typically function either as the human embodiment of apostasy
from God or as the passive recipients of divine power and grace. The He-
brew Bible (Ecclesiastes 7.26) personifies the rift between humans and God
as a menacing female: "And I found more bitter than death the woman
whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters; he who pleases
God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her." The Christian book of
Revelation (17.3-6) embodies Roman depravity by describing the physical
appearance of a besotted harlot, who is "arrayed in purple and scarlet, and
bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden
cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication .... And
[she was] drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus." Yet the gospels repeatedly recount Christ's healings of idola-
trous, depraved, and defiled women-all of whom are earthly manifesta-
tions of Revelation's sordid whore.
In the gospels (Matthew 26.6-13; Mark 14.3-9; Luke 7.36-50; John
12.1-8), a woman anoints Jesus and washes his feet with her tears and dries
them with her hair." In response to this great demonstration of faith, Jesus
pronounces that "wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world,
what she has done will be told in memory of her" (Matthew 26.13). The
gospel of Luke identifies the woman with the "alabaster jar of ointment"
as a "woman of the city, who was a sinner" (7.37). Christ announces the
 Introduction XXlll

universality of the redemptive process by instructing the male apostles to

preach the gospels and immortalize the prophetic action of the anointing
woman. The biblical construct of repentant woman as symbolic of pristine
faith, however, relies on the fundamental correlation between female de-
pravity and redemption, an antithetical alliance that hagiographers repro-
duce in the sacred fictions of even the most devout holy women. The
essential didactic message of the various hagiographical vitae examined in
this book is that all women-even holy women-must continually combat
the female self that is inherently alienated from God.
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 I

Hagiography and Sacred Models

HAGIOGRAPHY IS AN EXALTED DISCOURSE that has formulated the literary

representation of saints in popular and elite imagination during the two
millennia of Christian history. 1 The often allegorical lives (vitae) of the
saints were recited by priests during mass,' read by literate audiences, and
depicted in art for illiterate Christians. The vitae of Christian holy women
and men served the important function of reminding medieval Christians
of their otherworldly citizenship and anticipated celestial residence. Saints,
as superhuman mortals, were venerated locally or even universally as mar-
tyrs, confessors," ascetics, pastoral administrators, and cloistered servants
of God. While ordinary Christians were God's foster children, the saints
were the Creator's special friends." Hagiographers recorded the manifes-
tations of the Holy Spirit to these friends of God who acted as intermedi-
aries between the divine and the temporary." The ability of the saints to
exist simultaneously in both worlds empowered them to work miracles and
to serve as arbitrators for Christian communities in imitation of their bib-
lical predecessors. As the heroic protagonists of hagiographical narratives,
saints performed the symbolic function of acting out the sublime ideals of
the faith as set forth in the biblical presentation of Hebrew and Christian
holy men and women."
The biblical lives of Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ, and the
apostles form the charismatic prototypes for the sacred biographies of
Christian saints. Elijah and Elisha, who hold "the word of the Lord"
(I Kings 17.24-) in their mouths, function as intermediaries between God
and humans. As such, the prophets accomplish a variety of miraculous
deeds on behalf of humankind. The two holy men resurrect the dead:
"Then Elijah stretched himself upon the child three times .... And the
Lord hearkened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into
him again, and he revived" (I Kings 17.21-22). Elijah multiplies both meal
and oil for an impoverished widow during a terrible famine: "For thus says
2 Chapter I

the Lord the God of Israel, the jar of meal shall not be spent, and the cruse
of oil shall not fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth"
(I Kings 17.14). Elisha miraculously traverses the Jordan River: "The water
was parted to the one side and to the other; and Elisha went over" (2 Kings
2.14). The terrifying Elijah slays the prophets ofBa'al: "And Elijah brought
them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there" (I Kings 18.40).
Angels and ravens nourish the undomesticated Elijah and Elisha, who
dwell under trees, in caves, and on the tops of hills and who wear hairy
mantles and leather girdles. "[Elijah] wore a garment of haircloth with a
girdle of leather about his loins" (2 Kings 1.8).
Christ and John the Baptist similarly find the source of their charis-
matic authority in the wilderness. John the Baptist "was clothed with
camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts
and wild honey" (Mark 1.6). In the desert, Christ "was with the wild
beasts; and the angels ministered to him" (Mark 1.13). When the Son of
God emerged from the desert, he possessed the mysterious charismata of
the Hebrew prophets. After Christ's death and resurrection, the human
apostles continued his marvelous deeds and active ministry. The heirs to
the prophetic, charismatic, and apostolic missions of biblical holy men are
the saints who recreate the celestial feats of Elijah, Elisha, and Christ for
diverse audiences of far-flung gentiles. Saints' lives served as the medium
through which Christian writers chronicled the post-biblical intervention
of the divine in human affairs.

The Origins of Christian Sanctity

Most world religions venerate the hallowed lives of extraordinary women

and men who live in close proximity to the divine." Sacred biography is not
an exclusively Christian genre, for classical antiquity and Hebrew writings
similarly produced the miraculous vitae of holy mortals." The classical
Greek hagios or Latin sanctus ("holy one") refers to a "quality possessed
by things or persons that could approach divinity."? The Septuagint, or
Greek translation of the books of the Hebrew Bible and apocrypha, uses
hagios to describe the celestial nature of the angels (Job 5.1; Tobit 11.14,
12.15; Zechariah 14-.5; Psalm 89.6; Enoch 1.9). Both the Septuagint and
Christian scripture characterize the prophets as hagioi (Wisdom 11.1; Luke
1.70; Acts 3.21); and the gospel of Mark (6.20) portrays John the Baptist as
"righteous and holy" (dikaion kat htigion). In the gospels of Mark (1.24)
and Luke (4.34), a demoniac acknowledges that Jesus of Nazareth is the
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 3

"holy one of God" (ho hagios tou theou); and, in John (6.69), Simon Peter
recognizes Jesus as the "hagios tou theou." Sacred discourse terms the Is-
raelite tribes holy because they share an intimate, if not tempestuous, re-
lationship with their Creator. The Hebrew Bible also designates assemblies
of humans who have been called together by God as holy (Exodus 12.16;
Numbers 16.3; 28.18ff), while Acts (9.13) names the Christian community
in Jerusalem as the holy ones of God. The Pauline epistles generally use
hagioi, which is often translated as "saints," to identify those humans who
belong to the Christian community or ecclesia. The apostle Paul provides
a more specific definition of "saint" in Romans (12.1), where he equates
hagios with a consecrated state: "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and ac-
ceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Thus a saint is an indi-
vidual who has attained a state of spiritual and bodily purity.
Sacred discourse not only applies hagios to celestial beings and hu-
mans, it also identifies certain geographic locations, architectural struc-
tures, and objects as holy. In Exodus (3.5; see also Acts 7.33), God cautions
Moses: "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place
on which you are standing is holy ground." Other mountains, hilltops, and
even cities function as "holy ground." The prophet Nehemiah (11.1,11.18)
refers to Jerusalem as the "holy city," as does the evangelist Matthew (4.5).
In the Hebrew Bible, holy ground possesses the power to sanctify material
culture, such as tabernacles, incense, priestly garments, and the flesh of
sacrificial animals. In Acts (19.11-12), Paul's handkerchiefs heal the sick and
exorcize demoniacs. Scripture therefore applies the term hagios to immor-
tals, mortals, places, edifices, and objects, all of which are consecrated by
their proximity to the divine. Hagiographers, however, would transform
the definition of human hagioi during the first centuries of Christian
history.
Although the Pauline epistles most often depict the universal commu-
nity of believers as "saints" (hagioi, sancti), one epistle, Hebrews (7.26),
characterizes the holiness of Jesus as "blameless, unstained, separated from
sinners, exalted above the heavens." Gradually, the extra-biblical definition
of sanctity ceased to embrace the universal ecclesia and instead came to
signify only those "unstained" mortals who had immediate access to divine
power through their physical and spiritual imitation of Christ. The earliest
humans to be venerated as superhuman Christians were the martyrs or
"witnesses" of the faith. The literary prototype is provided in Acts, where
a certain Stephen, "a man full offaith and the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6.5), who
4- Chapter I

"did great wonders and signs among the people" (Acts 6.8), undergoes
an arrest, trial, and execution that parallels Christ's own passion. During
his trial, Stephen receives ecstatic visions and exonerates his tormenters:
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (Acts 7.60). Stephen's sacrifice
of his own life emulates Christ's death on the cross and the ensuing divine
forgiveness of human sin. The biblical protomartyr's successors, the North
African, Syrian, Greek, and Roman martyrs, comprise a special category of
sanctity because they reenact Christ's torment and death. In return, God
endows their bodies with salvific powers, for before their executions they
received the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including miracle working, celestial
visions, prophecy, and absolution.
The lives of the martyrs, however, constitute an "unrealizable impera-
tive" for ordinary Christians who could not bear the imitation of Christ's
crucifixion.'? After the age of the persecutions ended in the early fourth
century and the church emerged as a legitimate institution, Christian sanc-
tity focused more on holy endurance than on sacrificial death. Late antique
sacred biographers concentrated on the asceticism, pastoral activity, and
miracles of holy women and mcn.!' If the martyrs were God's exceptional
dead, then the saints were the Creator's miraculous living.'? Yet sanctity
itselfwas not a very well-articulated phenomenon in the late antique and
early medieval church. The ecclesiastical hierarchy at that time did not in-
stitutionalize the process of making saints, and there were only sporadic
attempts to systematize the cults of holy women and men.':' Canonization
as a formal, ecclesiastical process is the product of a thousand -year history
of Christian sanctity. 14
A contemporary author has asked, "Is Mother Teresa a saint?" Al-
though millions venerate her as a "living saint" who ministers to the
wretched and outcast, she is not. In order for her to become an official saint
in the Roman Catholic Church, a papal commission would have to validate
the orthodoxy of her writings and would have to call witnesses to attest to
her righteous life and post-mortem miracles. Only after this elaborate legal
process would Mother Teresa be declared a saint. In the twentieth century,
the pope is the exclusive arbitrator of Roman Catholic sanctity. The pa-
pacy, however, did not begin to expand its authority over the process of
saint-making until the late tenth century, and, even then, local veneration
and not papal sanction continued to establish cults of the holy dead. The
twelfth- and thirteenth-century papacy proclaimed that the pope alone had
the power to make saints, and in the late Middle Ages canonization devel-
oped into a legalistic and bureaucratic procedure. The late antique and
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 5

early medieval church, however, did not rely on such papal machinery. The
sacred biographies of Christ-like humans sparked the popular cultic ven-
eration of anchorites, priests, and pastoral bishops; written texts expedited
the "canonization" of early saints and immortalized their local cults. IS

Hagiographers and Medieval Audiences

The scholarly study of hagiography has had a conflicted history. Eigh-

teenth-century intellectuals, such as David Hume and Edward Gibbon,
condemned saints' lives to the murky world of popular polytheism and ere-
dulity.'" The Enlightenment and post- Enlightenment scholarly neglect of
and contempt for saintly biography resulted from a tenacious belief in his-
torical "objectivity" and the ability to recover the authentic past as well as
an anti -ecclesiastical sentiment. Hagiographical discourse is notorious for
its fallacious biographical details and fantastic phenomena and therefore
did not appeal to Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thinkers dedi-
cated to rational inquiry into antiquity. In the past few decades, however,
intellectual and cultural historians have transformed the study of saintly
narrative by focusing not only on the scant biographical information that
can be gleaned from a text but also on the cultural paradigms transmitted
to medieval audiences through the symbolic lives of the saints. Since the
1930S,social and economic historians also have recognized the value ofha-
giography for the study of daily life, material culture, and even commerce. 17
There now exists a multiplicity of approaches to the study of hagiography,
ranging from concentration on political uses of saintly biography to the
search for gendered meanings in these allegorical texts. IS
Since the early 1980s, historians of the church and popular religion
have reevaluated the relationship between the privileged, literate authors
of sacred texts and their intended audiences, suggesting that the over-used
categories of popular and elite religion were the creation not of ancient
Christianity but of post- Enlightenment scholarship.'? Medieval Christians
of all social classifications consumed saints' lives in various forms, and
therefore holy vitae were part of a universal Christian culture. Artistic, ver-
bal, and written accounts of heroic humans who emulated the suffering of
Job, the visions of Ezekiel, the ascension of Elijah, Jesus' exorcism of the
Magdalene, the raising of Lazarus , the passion of Christ, and the mourning
of the Marys circumscribed the pious Christian. These earthly representa-
tions of divine truths were ubiquitous in the villages and urban centers of
northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
6 Chapter 1

Hagiologers and linguists have attempted to identify the early medi-

evallay audience of saints' lives and have tried to ascertain how well these
congregations comprehended what they were hearing, seeing, or reading.
One scholar of early medieval Latin has argued that Merovingian vitae
were "used with direct pastoral objectives." Another has suggested that
saints' lives were a major tool of edification in Merovingian Gaul. 20 Mero-
vingian hagiographers themselves remark that they are aiming at illiterate
audiences, and they note that their lives were read publicly during mass
and on saints' feast-days. Sociolinguists have recognized that both the col-
loquiallanguage and repetitious vocabulary (audire, auditores, spectare,
vulgo,plebs,populus,jideles, multi) of Me roving ian vitae suggest that these
texts were aimed at a general public." By the ninth century, however, the
intended audience for sacred biography increasingly was restricted to mo-
nastic houses. Theorists have explained the change from Merovingian "pas-
toral communication" to Carolingian "internal monastic use" by pointing
to the ninth century's "clericalization" of Latin." Of course, all hagio-
graphical narratives possess more than one specific public. For example,
Venantius Fortunatus could have written the Life of Radegund of Poitiers
with an eye toward the select group of nuns at Poiters, but more than likely
the bishop solicited a wider audience of holy women and men, and, per-
haps, an. even more expansive congregation of lay aristocratic women;"
The work of linguists who focus on the intersection of oral and writ-
ten culture has shed light on the reciprocal relationship between hagiog-
rapher and audience.> An individual hagiographer's successful promotion
of a saint's cult depended on "the flexibility of a collective oral tradition." 25
By the sixth century, the Bible had become the normative text of European
culture, and the majority of medieval Christians received instruction in the
gospels through the medium of oral culture. Thus, medieval hagiographers
could evoke an unspoken, extratextual dimension that would be under-
stood by medieval audiences who were culturally versed both in scripture
and in the lives of the saints. Linguists refer to this process as metonymy, or
a "mode of signification wherein the part stands for the whole." 26 Biblical
culture enabled medieval Christians to decode these symbolic narratives.
For example, Fortunatus describes how the young Radegund engaged in
sacred play: she organized her fellow toddlers into penitential processions
and marched them into churches. Such images were evocative of a greater
biblical context: the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2.41 - 52)
and the young Samuel, putting on the Hebrew ephod and ministering as a
boy-prophet (1 Samuel 2.18). Radegund, like Samuel, "grew in the pres-
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 7

ence of the Lord" (I Samuel 2.21). Thus many of the textual clues that may
be overlooked by modern audiences were undoubtedly recognized by me-
dieval Christians, whose childhood instruction would have focused on the
legendary feats of prophets, martyrs, and saints. So, the audience for
medieval hagiography was not a blank tablet on which hagiographers'
"representations of a story or person could impress themselves." 27 Public
response to oral readings or visual depictions of saints' vitae constituted a
crucial stage in the evolution of sacred biographies.
The multivalent uses of hagiographical discourse can be understood
only by examining the spiritual and cultural environment of both hagiog-
raphers and their intended audiences. Sacred biography was an omnipres-
ent literary genre in medieval Europe, and hagiographers wrote hundreds
of vitae during the first seven centuries of Christian history. Male theolo-
gians, exegetes, and members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy composed the
majority of early sacred biographies, although there have been several at-
tempts to claim female authorship of important hagiographical accounts,
such as the apocryphal acts of the apostles." There were a handful of anony-
mous female hagiographers during the early medieval period, including
the seventh-century Frankish nun Baudonivia who wrote the vita of the
Frankish queen, Radegund of Poitiers, and is the only extant self-named
woman hagiographer of the late antique and early medieval period;"
The church fathers, or patristic authors, composed some of the most
famous sacred fictions of the late antique period. Athanasius (c. 296 - 373),
the theologian and bishop of Alexandria, wrote the archetypal desert as-
cetic vita, the life of the Egyptian hermit Abba Antony.'? The bishop's
narrative fashions the austere Antony as an Egyptian Christ, a prototypical
desert anchorite, and a charismatic preacher against the Arian heresy in
Egypt. Other patristic writers created sacred biographies of women and
men to promote the virginal life among the Mediterranean elite in both
Rome and Byzantium;" The eastern fathers Gregory of Nazianz us (c. 329-
389), Basil (c. 330-379), and Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) combined the
simple beauty of Christian parable with the highly stylized rhetoric of late
antiquity in vitae that immortalized the sanctity of their most intimate
friends and family." Patristic hagiography served a variety of purposes,
which included evoking the experience of desert asceticism, reinforcing
theological orthodoxy, promoting virginity, and sanctifying members of pa-
trician families who would then serve as models for worldly renunciation.
Church fathers devised the rhetorical framework from which later ha-
giographical models were derived. Erudite biographers such as Athanasius,
8 Chapter I

Jerome, Basil, and the two Gregorys blended Christian conventions, pagan
eulogies, and the lives of virtuous men of antiquity. Their vitae fused He-
brew, classical, and Christian formulaic patterns of behavior. The result is
the invention of saints such as Jerome's Paul the First Hermit, whose cha-
risma is Hebrew and whose knowledge is classical, or Sulpicius Severns's
(c. 363-420) Martin of Tours, who is both a Roman soldier and an Elijah-
like exorcist;" Texts written by the church fathers chronicle the triumph of
Christian morality over classical virtus, of saints' lives over the lives of phi-
losophers and Caesars. They underscore the victory of Christian biography
over its classical counterpart, that is, the symbolic vitae of male intellectuals
and politicians.
Sixth -century western hagiographers, inheriting many of these textual
models, acknowledge the literary debt owed to the church fathers. Greg-
ory of Tours in his Glory of the Martyrs asserts that Jerome was one of the
two great doctors of the Merovingian church, second only to the apostle
Pau1.34 There are, however, important rhetorical differences. Sixth-century
hagiographical discourse is characterized by the ubiquitous intervention
of God in the most mundane matters. Whereas patristic authors exploit
Christian and classical rhetoric to endow their subject saints with Chris-
tian virtue and divinely given wisdom, early medieval hagiographers stress
biblical miraculous texts in order to bestow on their saints the charismatic
and miraculous powers of the Hebrew prophets and Christ." Early medi-
eval saints heal, curse, exorcize, raise the dead, walk on water, multiply
food and drink, control nature, and live on earth as heavenly citizens
through their imitatio Christi. In fact, the sixth century represents a turn-
ing point in the history of Christian discourse, for during that time scrip-
tural models overpowered secular or classical ones." The sixth -century
East witnessed a massive increase in the number of Christian miraculous
texts, saints' lives, relics, shrines, and images, with little room left for secu-
1ar narrative.F The sixth-century proliferation of Hebrew- and Christian-
influenced images, objects, and literary topoi in both the East and West
presented Christian audiences with visible, tangible, and audible manifes-
tations of divine power. In fact, the great majority of Christians probably
received their training in saintly narrative through the vehicles of visual art
and public readings of holy vitae.
Sacred biography thus communicated the vita Christi to antique and
medieval Christians through both verbal and nonverbal means." Monastic
libraries housed collections of written saints' lives, and wealthy individuals
apparently owned private devotional copies of popular texts. For example,
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 9

the court of the ninth -century Carolingian king, Charles the Bald, pos-
sessed a small volume of the Life of Mary of Enypt, and some laity probably
owned manuscript copies such as the vita of the Egyptian Mary to use for
devotional purposes." Most devotees of the saints, however, had access to
hallowed vitae through art and liturgical performance. The shrines and
tombs of the holy dead contained numerous works of art depicting the
miraculous deeds of the saints. Roman pontiffs and local bishops commis-
sioned artists to embellish places of worship with lavish ornamentation,
such as crucifixes, jeweled reliquaries, and images of saints and biblical fig-
ures. Relics and images of saints were also worn as protective palladiums or
amulets."? Many of these objects themselves became focal points of venera-
tion and pilgrimage, as did the material remains from saints' shrines and
tombs, such as shrouds, dust, votive candles, and clothing." Representa-
tional art and material culture from the tombs of the holy dead conse-
quently contributed to the discourse of the sacred."
In the highly ornate churches, shrines, and tombs of late antiquity and
the early Middle Ages, consecrated priests recounted the lives of famous
holy women and men for illiterate Christian audiences. It is likely that
saints' lives were dramatized by the clergy prior to the sacrificial climax of
the mass. With exaggerated gestures, priests recited the holy biographies
of the saints as part of a broad attempt to Christianize the northern king-
doms and to edify barbarians in the imitatio Christi:" Public ceremonies,
rituals, images, and liturgical performances preached to Christian audi-
ences the acceptance of social, religious, and political norms as illustrated
through the lives of the saints. Sanctity was thus part of a universal yet
diverse late antique and early medieval community.
Saints' vitae also served a variety of metaphorical, mimetic, and mor-
alizing functions. Hagiography is a discourse that represents the deeds and
values of holy persons so that a mundane audience can have access to their
transcendent experience. Few worshipers responded to these numinous
lives literally. Holy biographies induced a minority of Christians to act out
the ascetic and miraculous deeds of God's saints. For most of Christen-
dom, however, sacred lives represented good moral lessons but did not
oblige ordinary mortals to mount pillars or inhabit caves to escape both
family and worldly comfort.
The sacred biographies of the saints compelled the faithful to worship
the omnipotence of God which manifested itself through the miraculous
deeds of the saints. The word, both written and spoken, was the primary
metaphor of Christianity because Christ, the Word (logos), had become
10 Chapter I

flesh (John 1.14-).44 Each word of holy scripture therefore represents the
earthly manifestation of the heavenly logos.The public readings of scripture
during mass were designed to illuminate divine truths for earthly congre-
gations. The text of a saint's life, like a liturgical object or the eucharist,
functioned as an earthly doorway to the divine because the reading, hear-
ing, and seeing of these "moving icons" united the audience with God. 4 5
Because hagiographical texts expropriate the language, symbols, and liter-
ary commonplaces (topoi) of Christian scripture, the words of a saint's vita
similarly function both as temporal revelations of divine truths and as litur-
gical aids to mystical meditation. Aside from serving the primary function
of celebrating the Christ-like lives of the saints and the power of the logos,
narrative vitae also chronicle the post- biblical intervention of the divine in
human affairs. They thus demonstrate how humans can enact metaphori-
cally the sublime precepts of the faith.
Hagiographers used the miraculous deeds and heroic virtues of holy
women and men as cultural and religious symbols for eclectic audiences
from Ireland to Syria. Saints' lives provided an ecumenical arena of dis-
course for a highly diverse Christendom, incorporating local (and relatively
recent) heroes into an evocative biblical context. Thus Martin of Tours,
who conversed with the departed, and Mary of Egypt, who miraculously
levitated, recalled for audiences the revered stories of Saul speaking with
the dead (I Samuel 28.8-20) and of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee
(Matthew 14-.25-26; Mark 6.4-8-50; John 6.19-20). Through these hagio-
graphical performances, Christian saints promoted knowledge of the Bible
in terms familiar to the audiences who heard or read their vitae. All saints'
lives, whether mythical or historically based, provided widespread audi-
ences with human examples of the imitation of Christ. Even the highly
legendary and fantastic Life of Mary of Egypt became a popular paradigm
for the process of converting sinners to the imitatio Christi.
The hagiographical recasting of the vita Christi not only exemplified
the mysteries of the faith for audiences unfamiliar with Hebrew culture, it
also enforced theological orthodoxy and institutional power. Through
saints' lives, sacred biographers demarcated Christian asceticism, dogma,
and miraculous power. Hagiographical images therefore operated as the
popular manifestation of didactic power and, as such, they provided vital
lessons of institutional authority and hierarchical control over most aspects
of Christian spirituality. For example, sixth-century Gallo- Roman hagiog-
raphers argued for the superiority of corporate monasticism over solitary
asceticism by employing the imperative power of holy vitae to discredit
such independent action.
 Hagiography and Sacred Models II

Western saintly discourse delineated the limits of Christian self-

mortification precisely because the fourth - and fifth -century hagiographical
construction of the Egyptian and Syrian desert hermit, whose motto was
"no authority save God," presented a dilemma to the developing organiza-
tion of the church. The legends of powerful desert hermits challenged the
authority of the ecclesiastical structure. Desert anchorites lived indepen-
dently in caves and tombs, fought demons, overshadowed wealthy urban
churchmen, and consecrated themselves through their asceticism. These
icons of the faith possessed the charisms of healing and exorcizing-or the
powers of inclusion and exclusion from the Christian community-with-
out the sanction of the church hierarchy." Indeed, fourth- and fifth-
century desert chroniclers sometimes portrayed these charismatic hermits
as outspoken censors of the episcopacy. Sixth-century writers, however,
gradually softened the radical, extra -institutional images found in desert
ascetic texts by creating new texts which placed such independent manifes-
tations of spirituality under the control of the organized church. Saints'
lives served as the medium through which bishops promoted themselves as
the arbiters of Christian spirituality.
Gallo-Roman churchmen championed a corporate model of asceti-
cism over an individual one. The greatest danger facing superhuman desert
ascetics, according to early medieval churchmen, was pride. Communal
self-mortification and obedience to the episcopal hierarchy safeguarded
the individual monk from pernicious fame. Institutional stability chan-
neled the original fluid association of master hermit and disciple into
highly disciplined monastic forms.
In his Histories, Bishop Gregory of Tours provides a glimpse of the
Gallo- Roman transformation of the desert ideal into the western model
of organized monasticism. Gregory reconstructs Merovingian sanctity
through both popular legend and oral interview. In his Decem libri bist-
oriarum, the bishop of Tours recounts his own encounter with an unusual
holy man, the deacon Vulfoliac, who lived in a monastery at Carignan in
Gau1.4 7 Gregory prompted the taciturn deacon to describe his failed emu-
lation of the greatest of all Syrian ascetics, Symeon the Stylite or "pillar
sitter" (c. 390-459 ).48The Syrian legend claims that Symeon chained him-
self to the top of a column in the desert in order to live both as Elijah on
Mount Carmel and as the crucified Christ. Symeon's pillar dwarfed the
pagan temples that stood on nearby earthen mounds, and his column func-
tioned as a kind of ladder of divine ascent. The Syrian holy man himself
served as a mediator between heaven and earth. Vulfoliac, a Lombard ex-
patriot in Gaul, professed that he had become so enamored of the power
12 Chapter I

of superhuman Christians such as Symeon that he aspired to live a life of

exemplary austerity. He thus modeled himself on the Syrian stylite and
reposed on a tower in Gaul during a winter that froze offhis toenails.
The story, however, has an unusual ending. Vulfoliac's asceticism at-
tracted the attention of local bishops, who came to inspect the peculiar
ascetic and his pillar. Instead of congratulating the stylite on his perfect
replication of the actions of eastern saints, the churchmen accused the holy
man of spiritual presumption. They pointed out that the weather of Gaul
was too harsh to permit ascetic modes that might be appropriate in desert
climes. The bishops ordered Vulfoliac to dismount immediately, destroyed
the pillar, and sent the holy man off to the nearest community of monks
where Gregory later induced him to recite the events of his life. According
to Gregory, the hapless saint remained embarrassed about his youthful
excesses.
Gregory of Tours raises Vulfoliac to the superhuman status ofSymeon
Stylites and then knocks the Lombard pretender offhis column to empha-
size the subordination of independent asceticism to corporate monasticism
and episcopal authority. Vulfoliac "was within an inch of being cast in with
the wandering preachers, miracle workers, and other troublemakers who
often ended their days rotting in episcopal prisons. He was saved by obe-
dience."49 Gregory's discourse on Vulfoliac illustrates the use of hagio-
graphical narratives to modify previously established spiritual conventions.
In the mini -vita of Saint Vulfoliac, Gregory of Tours asserts that bishops
are the divinely ordained ministers of Gallo- Roman asceticism and monas-
ticism, and that they alone are the custodians of divine power.
Hagiographical narratives also proclaimed the sacred mysteries of the
mass, affirmed the power of those who consecrate the eucharist elements,
and illustrated the proper veneration of holy persons, objects, and places.
For example, an early medieval miraculous text, the Mass of Saint Gregory,
describes how an unfaithful woman who had questioned the miracle of the
mass became convinced of the magical transformation of bread and wine
into body and blood when she beheld a bloody finger in the eucharist. This
famous hagiographical narrative, duplicated in countless works of art, re-
inforced for medieval audiences the miracle of the mass and the power of
the priests who perform it. 50
Early medieval vitae dictate proper reverence for the sacred. In imita-
tion of Hebrew sacred discourse which teaches that proximity to the sacred
consecrates both locations and objects, hagiographical texts acknowledge
that the place and material culture connected with the life of a holy man or
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 13

woman must be revered by the faithful. Frankish saints blind, mutilate,

and otherwise impair all violators of churches, tombs, shrines, vestments,
devotional objects, and even the private living spaces of holy persons. De-
mons infiltrate the slothful bodies of nuns who forget to bless their food
before eating it, and foul spirits haunt married women who engage in
sexual activity during the sabbath. 51 Abbesses and abbots punish debased
nuns and monks who abandon their vows, and bishops castigate ascetics,
like Vulfoliac, who fall into the sin of pride. The spiritual medicine of the
saints who cure by means of the sign of the cross (signum crucis), prayer,
and exorcism overpowers the feeble attempts at healing by pagan magi-
cians. Holy men possess the power of unleashing souls from purgatory and
releasing them into God's care.P The saints themselves could return from
the dead and request that prayers and ritual processions be held in their
honor and that their bodily remains be housed in ornate reliquaries. Saints'
vitae recount numerous examples wherein the holy dead punish slothful
Christians who neglect their post-mortem cults and sacred remains. Sacred
biographies thus served as coercive discourse and, as such, enjoined proper
behavior-liturgical, social, medical, and even sexual. 53

The Christ Model

First and foremost, saints' lives commanded all Christians to emulate the
exemplary life of Christ: "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ" (I Corin-
thians 11.1). The primary model for constructing the lives of holy women
and men is the evangelical life of Christ; however, the imitatio Christi of-
fers the pious Christian a paradoxical model of behavior. The literary re-
creation of Christ's brief tenure on earth inverted ancient societal norms
for the purpose of segregating the Son of God from ordinary patterns of
human existence." This kind of textual inversion is not unique to the
Christian gospels, as the great Hebrew prophets, Elijah and Elisha, had
similarly existed on the periphery of the human community. John the Bap-
tist, the evangelical heir to the Hebrew prophets, wore camel's hair cloth-
ing and ate locusts; his ascetic clothing and diet connected him not with
human society .but with the animal world. Biblical prophets, who dwell in
caves, on hilltops, and in the wilderness validate their affinity with heaven
by rejecting such human conventions as family and community. 55
Christ shares the celibacy and poverty of the biblical prophets who
lived in antithesis to ordinary mortals. The Son of God's charismatic pow-
ers of healing, resurrection, and control of nature attested to his descent
14- Chapter I

from Elijah and Elisha. The image of Christ as judge in the gospels con-
firmed his divinity within the context of the ancient eastern discourse on
immortal adjudicators. As Hebrew prophet and exorcist, Christ conformed
to the masculinized biblical model of the independent holy man as a mas-
terful wonderworker.
The evangelical presentation of the vita Christi, however, also con-
tains fluid gender images, thus harkening back to the Pentateuch which
employs the feminine symbols of feeding and nurturing to describe Yah-
weh's love for the Israelites. Similarly, several of the pivotal metaphors of
the Christian gospels rely on a profound feminization of Christ. Thus the
vita Christi contradicted the traditional gender system of the antique
Mediterranean. Participation in war and state service, and the siring of off-
spring had defined Greco-Roman masculinity. Roman men circulated in a
sex-segregated official world where women were ritualistically excluded
from the male spaces of government, such as the Curia. 56 Christ, however,
displayed both masculine and feminine behavior within the context of a
Judaic and Greco- Roman world that adhered to the ancient standard of sex
segregation and gender distinction.
Christ's vita inverted the traditional gender order: he was apolitical, a
pacifist, a nurturer of souls, a friend of women and lepers; his judgments
were spiritual and otherworldly, not physical and political. Christ's celibacy
proclaimed his prophetic status, while abrogating his virility in a world that
honored sexual potency and fruitfulness in marriage. The constructed im-
age of Jesus in the Christian gospels is paradoxical; he was the Son of God
and Lord of Heaven, but his physiognomy was that of a simple pilgrim who
was indistinguishable from the crowd of ordinary humans (Luke 24-.13-35;
John 20.15).
The most startling gender inversion in the gospels is that of the
anointing of Christ (Matthew 26.6-13; Mark 14-.3-9; Luke 7.36-50 and
John 12.1-8). The greatest prophets such as Samuel (I Samuel 10.1) and
Nathan (I Kings 1.34-) had performed the symbolic action of anointing
Hebrew kings. In Christian scripture, however, a woman ritually conse-
crates the Son of God, and in two of the synoptic gospels (Matthew 26.6;
Mark 14-.3) she performs this allegorical gesture in the house of a leper. The
medieval exegesis of this event identified the woman with the "alabaster
flask of ointment" as Mary Magdalene, a sinful woman (Luke 7.37) from
whom Christ had expelled seven demons (Luke 8.2).57 The metaphorical
anointing of the prophet-Christ by a woman illustrates perfectly the evan-
gelical technique of rhetorical inversion. In a society with strict regulations
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 15

against eating with the diseased or associating openly with women, a sinful
woman anoints the Son of God in the house of a leper. The evangelical
Jesus embraces the powerless: women, children, and the afflicted. In a
manner of speaking, the vita Christi turns the world upside down, and,
through this reversal of the traditional social, political, and gender order,
Christ empowers the marginal sectors of Greco-Roman society. In the
gospels, a "hierarchy of piety" supplants the existing social and economic
order." The earthly life of the Son of Man thus foreshadows the impending
eschaton which will culminate in the destruction of human hierarchies and
social stratification. Metaphorical inversions of the status quo are therefore
earthly signs of Christ's heavenly mission. Because hagiographical texts
function as further revelation of the divine plan, saints' vitae contain the
same kinds of metaphorical inversions found in the vita Christi.
Christian hagiographers incorporated Christ's rebellious, cross-
gendering style in their lives of holy women and men. Female saints cut
off their hair, dressed as men, traveled as apostles, preached, taught, walked
on water, and defeated Satan in battle. Male saints fed and clothed the
poor, multiplied food and drink, renounced physical weapons in favor of
spiritual ones, and acted as spiritual mothers for Christians." Because all
hagiographical discourse contains an element of the Christological "world
upside down" leitmotif, women, children, lepers, and the poor become
central characters in sacred biography.

Sacred Models (I): The Adam and Eve of the Desert

The first major prototypes for Christian holiness-aside from the life of
Jesus and the superhuman lives of the martyrs-are the vitae of desert her-
mits and recluses. Desert asceticism found its origins in third- and fourth-
century Syria and Egypt. A series of fourth- and fifth-century writings
record the momentous deeds and terse sayings (apophthegmata) of the
great spiritual men and women of the desert.?" These texts were incor-
porated into the institution of the western church through oral legends,
private devotional copies, and monastic rules which required the public
readings of desert vitae during the lectio divina ," The intrepid piety, de-
monic warfare, and superhuman asceticism of the hermits who withdrew
from the urban centers of the east to dwell in the wilderness, in imitation
of Moses , Elijah, and Christ, became emblematic of the golden age ofpris-
tine austerity. Erudite hagiographers, including Athanasius of Alexandria,
fashioned these charismatic hermits as second-covenant patriarchs who
16 Chapter 1

verify the accuracy of Christian prophesy. Fourth- and fifth-century west-

ern chroniclers of Egyptian and Palestinian asceticism, such as Jerome,
Rufinus, Egeria, Cassian, and Palladius, created the popular image of the
desert as the Garden of Eden inhabited by Christian patriarchs and matri-
archs whose rigorous asceticism had achieved for them a cherished prelap-
sarian status."
Paradox defines the prototypical male hermit or anchorite. The desert
ascetic is an uneducated peasant whose divinely given wisdom rivals that
of Greek philosophers (I Corinthians 1.20); he is an unarmed warrior who
defeats Satan's toadies with a spiritual weapon, the signum crucis. He is not
consecrated through any symbolic ritual but is sanctified directly by God.
His celibacy makes him spiritually fertile; his denial of the flesh results in
superhuman strength; and his rejection of earthly food provokes angels
to feed him (I Kings 19.7). He is physically repulsive and "wild to look at,
with unkempt hair, shriveled face, the limbs of his body reduced to a skele-
ton, dressed in some dirty rags sewn together with palm shoots."63 Yet
his physiognomy is also that of a man who has been highly cultivated
through Christ. His terrifying countenance provides a vivid warrant for
the apostle Paul's declaration that "God chose what is low and despised
in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are"
(I Corinthians 1.28).
The Christian male anchorite thus is a being who exists on the periph-
ery of human society and is "low and despised in the world." His habitat,
diet, and appearance bind him to the domain of animals, for he is a scav-
enger living off wild roots and herbs. The intellectuals who compiled the
mythological biographies and wise sayings of the desert hermits seized on
the rhetoric of inversion to connect these new Christian heroes with such
champions of the biblical past as the locust-eating John the Baptist or the
hairy Elisha. The desert fathers continue Christ's warfare against evil, and
their recorded lives promote these living icons of the faith as active agents
in the salvation of humankind.
The primary charismatic power possessed by desert ascetics is that of
exorcism, or the ability to drive out unclean spirits (Jakathartoi). In signal-
ing the first step in the long process of expelling evil from the world,
Christ's crucifixion itself functions as a kind of exorcism. The lives of desert
saints mirror the sacrifice of God's Son in the service of defeating Satan. In
fact, the vitae of prototypical desert ascetics, such as Athanasius's Abba
Antony, mimic the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Naza-
reth. Antony crucifies himself through the intense mortification of his flesh
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 17

and immures himself in a tomb.v' He engages in such fierce demonic com-

bat that he collapses on the floor of the sepulcher. He finally emerges from
the shrine with a new, spiritual body that is the physical manifestation of
the apostle Paul's teaching: "It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiri-
tual body" (I Corinthians 15.4-4-). Through Christian asceticism, the arche-
typal anchorite becomes the crucified and resurrected Christ. His new
body mirrors that of the prelapsarian Adam: "The first man Adam became
a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit .... The first man
was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven" (I Co-
rinthians 15.4-5-4-7; see Genesis 2.7). The hermit thus bears the likeness of
"New Adam" or the image of the resurrected flesh. He has successfully
liberated himself from the fruits of the fall-avarice, lust, greed, gluttony,
and pride-and therefore is free to use his unearthly limbs to cleanse the
world of demonic influence.
The sacred fiction of the male desert hermit thus centers on the mili-
tant powers of the crucifixion or the expulsion of evil from the world. The
image of the female ascetic embraces the biblical archetype of masculine
ascetic authority and shares many of the rhetorical motifs found in the lives
of holy men. But whereas the vitae of male hermits exemplify the militancy
of the cross, desert holy women's lives highlight the healing process of the
crucifixion. The textual presentation of the conversion of men to the life
of radical asceticism stresses the warfare against evil intitiated by the cru-
cifixion' whereas women's lives underscore the restorative powers of the
cross.
The mythological image of the desert as a holy paradise where all hu-
mans would be emancipated from oppressive social and gender responsi-
bilities attracted numerous women who dwelled in the tombs, cells, and
communities of the wilderness.:" The hagiographical depiction of female
anchorites rivals the portrayal of the spiritual prowess of ascetic men. In
the fifth-century Syrian corpus of desert texts, two holy women, Marana
and Cyra, chastise their flesh to such an extent that their holy example
frightens a male pilgrim who visits their cell. The two women "wear iron,
and carry such a weight that Cyra, with her weaker body, is bent down to
the ground and is quite unable to straighten her body. They wear mantles
so big as to trail along behind and literally cover their feet and in front to
fall down right to the belt, literally hiding at the same time face, neck,
chest, and hands." 66 Other Syrian and Egyptian female anchorites crucify
their flesh, scavenge food, walk on water, exorcize, arbitrate disputes, and
teach men. The withered breasts, shriveled flesh, and sun-scorched faces of
18 Chapter I

these holy women demonstrate that an emaciated female body can be a

Christ-like spiritual vessel.
Male hagiographers so successfully incorporate female hermits into
the discourse of the desert that certain women appear in the texts as trans-
vestites who masculinize their bodies through extreme mortification, wear
men's clothing, and sometimes live in male monasteries. Not all desert
holy women were so thoroughly subsumed by the masculine rhetoric of
the desert, however. Although the titillating portraits of women who
donned male clothing and lived as ascetic men have intrigued scholars for
several decades, this mythological toposis not the predominant one for holy
women.r" There are very few extensive spiritual portraits of desert holy
women, but the ones routinely recorded by desert chroniclers follow the
prototype of the female recluse.
The hagiographical portrait of the female recluse, like its male coun-
terpart, is built on a series of reversals. The inversions contained in
women's vitae, however, illuminate the transformation from Eve to Mary.
Because the ancient world associated females with bodily and spiritual
sloth, the lives of holy women who could remake their bodies into im-
maculate vessels of faith dramatized the metamorphosis of the penetrated
Eve into the impenetrable Virgin Mary." In order to present this theologi-
cal evolution, female desert vitae accentuate both unyielding enclosure and
grotesque asceticism to confirm the evolution of holy women from bodily
weakness to spiritual fortitude.
Desert women, according to hagiographical depictions, frequently
entomb themselves in tiny cells which have no doors and usually only one
window. The Syrian couple Cyra and Marana lived in such a heavily bul-
warked space that it was possible to enter only by digging through the
door.?? According to these texts, women's power flows from such enclosed
spaces; rarely do female hermits venture into the world to combat Satan's
demonic hordes. Rather, most female recluses function as immovable re-
ceptacles of divine grace, not as active participants in the history of Chris-
tian salvation. The spiritual stratagem of self-immurement allows a holy
woman to live as the bride of Christ who is, according to the Song of Songs
(4-.12), "a garden locked, a fountain sealed." She is the "New Eve" or the
Virgin Mary, whose body served as a vessel of the Word. Through self-
imprisonment, the desert recluse also removes her body from the sight
of men and therefore works for male salvation, so often lost to the lures of
feminine flesh. The fifth-century Syrian holy woman Domnina shuts her-
self in a hut in her mother's garden and there she makes herself invisible:
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 19

"[She is] literally covered up by her cloak and bent down onto her knees."
Intense penance transforms Domnina's earthly body into a spiritual vessel:
"Her skin is very thin, and covers her thin bones as if with a film, while her
fat and flesh have been worn away by labors." 70 The symbolic description
of Domnina's doubled-over body and withered flesh documents her suc-
cessful atonement for Eve's sin. The Syrian recluse's tiny dwelling perfects
her body by making it inaccessible even to the pilgrims and beggars who
solicit her spiritual advice and alms.
Female desert vitae, such as Theodoret of Cyrrhus's brief account of
Domnina, feature uncompromising enclosure, passionate contrition, and
repulsive physiognomy as godly attributes of women's piety. The lives of
male saints similarly contain the spiritual motifs of claustration, super-
human fasting, and terrifying appearance. Theodoret, in his Life ofSymeon
Stylites, asserts that Symeon sealed himselfin a small cottage for three years
but then abandoned his hut to mount the pillar where he publicly fought
paganism and imitated the marvelous deeds of Elijah and Christ." Atop
his column, Symeon displays his charismatic descent from the Hebrew
prophets by wearing animal skins, and he exhibits his body as that of Christ
crucified to the multitudes of pilgrims who come to him for a blessing. The
ascetic life cycle of desert holy women such as Domnina witnesses similar
spiritual configurations. Most female recluses, however, do not roam the
open desert and do not display their bodies before Christian pilgrims and
disciples. Instead, they conceal their emaciated skin and bones under heavy
mantles. They sojourn as enshrined penitents who receive divine gifts as a
consequence of their miraculous transformation of the female body into a
vehicle of grace. In these sacred fictions, women, who were first alienated
from God (Genesis 3.6), can be reconciled to the Creator through fervent
asceticism. The heroic vitae of Syrian and Egyptian recluses would inspire
hagiographers of other women and men, such as the patrician saints of the
late Roman empire, who took up the life of radical self-denial in a modified
manner.

Sacred Models (2): The Patrician Intellectual and Philanthropist

The problem facing the authors of the lives of patrician saints was how to
duplicate the symbolic affinity between desert ascetic and Hebrew prophet
within the refined and urbanized milieu of Mediterranean nobility. The
solution was found in the very nature of early Christian discourse; because
such discourse was structured on a series of paradoxical images, it allowed
20 Chapter I

the sacred biographers of the late Roman aristocracy to appropriate pro-

phetic and charismatic prototypes and apply them to the urban elite of late
antiquity. The result was a brilliant re-creation of the eastern desert model
within the bustling urban centers of Rome and Constantinople. If the King
of Heaven had assumed the guise of a common pilgrim, then the Mediter-
ranean nobility could devoutly mimic the austerity of desert anchorites.
Through the imitatio Christi, the wealthy could become symbolically
poor, uncultivated, and unwashed. By combining the rhetorical style of
classical authors with the simple parables of scripture, the church fathers
created lively vitae of noble saints whose heroic renunciation inspired
Christians of all social classes to venture a symbolic life of poverty. 72
The church father and biblical exegete Jerome employs the paradoxi-
cal imagery of Christian discourse to decode the increasingly peculiar be-
havior of his most intimate associates in Rome. One of his favorite literary
devices is the inversion of material culture to signify the conversion of an
aristocratic soul. In Epistle 66, Jerome uses the changed clothing of a sena-
torial aristocrat and personal friend, the patrician Pammachius, to depict
the rejection of pagan, political power. Jerome asks his reader: "Who
would have believed that this grandson of consuls and the glorious scion
of the Furii clan went forth into the Senate cloaked in mourning black
amid the Senators' purple robes, and he was not ashamed to pass by the
eyes of that assembly, but even scorned those who scorned him." 73 This
passage ingeniously exemplifies the appropriation of classical rhetoric by
patristic hagiographers in order to glorify Christian ascetics. Jerome's
Epistle is an inversion of Cicero's famous Letter to Atticus, in which Cicero
acknowledges that those senators who were publicly infames (loss oi fama;
existimatio) were required to adopt the dark mourning tunic (togapulla ).74
Jerome's reconstruction of Pammachius's violation of the ritualized space
of the Senate heralds the conversion of the Roman elite through the inver-
sion of the official toga.
Roman law regulated the official dress of public men and dictated the
kinds of garments that could be worn within the precincts of the Curia.
The toga represented the old order of moral righteousness and republi-
canism and signified the political, social, economic, sexual, and religious
status of its wearer. This multifunctional garment symbolized the wordly
dignity and authority of politicians, lawyers, and administrators. Accord-
ing to Roman tradition, the toga pulla was to be worn only during times
of bereavement or during religious rites; donning the garment at any other
time was considered "inauspicious." 75 Jerome dressed his ascetic friend in
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 21

the distinctive mourning tunic, and, for his readers, the toga pulla griev-
iously desecrated the sober atmosphere of the political arena. The literary
image of the reclothed Pammachius serves two additional rhetorical func-
tions: it connects him with biblical prophets, Christ, and the desert her-
mits; and it signals the eradication of the senator's former lifestyle as the
public man. The patrician adopts the attire of "the poor, the mourning,
and the ignoble" (infamia) to signify his rejection of secular authority in
favor of the charismatic power of holy men. Pammachius parades his imi-
tation of the desert fathers in the Senate, the seat of Roman secular power.
Patristic hagiographers, such as Jerome, Augustine, Basil, Chrysos-
tom, and Gregory of Nyssa, tested the boundaries of Christian paradox
through their inverted depictions of patrician saints. For them, the mythi-
cal eastern desert was less a holy place than it was a style of life. Any elite
Christian who repudiated worldly power, property, familial ties, and all the
other imperatives of an aristocratic existence could recapture the "primal
freedom" of the Egyptian desert."? Moreover, in emulating the heroic as-
ceticism of the desert, male patrician vitae also stress the importance of
these noble saints as church administrators and theologians. The sacred
biographies of the intellectual, cultural, and economic elite thus fuse both
active and contemplative models of Christian piety. In their vitae these
holy men supplant classical scholarly retirement (otium ) with Christian as-
ceticism and replace duty (officium) to the state with ministry to the poor.
Although Jerome does describe the radical conversion of a few of his
male friends, most of his accounts focus on aristocratic women who sub-
stitute apostolic poverty for lavish ostentation.'? Jerome's Life of Paula , for
example, provides an excellent female parallel to his depiction of the sena-
tor Pammachius." Just as Pammachius shows his contempt for worldly
ambition by wearing the mourning toga instead of senatorial garb, so
Jerome's disciple Paula obliterates the feminine vice of self-indulgence
through her exchange of patrician silks for garments of fetid goat hair.
Jerome constructs his sacred portrait of Paula by shrewdly altering estab-
lished literary conventions of female piety, reworking the classical model
of the Roman matron into a charismatic paradigm. Of course, not all such
women aspired to the elevated piety of Paula. For those Roman matrons
who disdained donning foul animal skins, Jerome's textual image of the
ideal holy woman might serve at least as a figurative guide for the restraint
of materialistic appetites by aristocratic females.
Classical rhetoric portrayed the ideal Roman matron as attractive,
wealthy, well-born, fertile, and chaste."? This literary archetype of virtue
22 Chapter I

centered on female devotion to husband, family, household, and wool-

working. A second-century BCE funerary inscription of a woman named
Claudia propagates the matron prototype: "[Claudia] loved her husband
in her heart. She bore two sons, one of whom she left on earth, the other
beneath it. She was pleasant to talk with, and she walked with grace. She
kept the house and worked in wool." 80 In his portraits of noble Roman
women, Jerome appropriates the familiar literary paradigm of the deferen-
tial matron, but he uses it to champion Christian spirituality and asceticism
over mundane domestic duty. According to Jerome's holy portrait, Paula
is the scion of one of the most noble clans in Rome, and yet she rejects her
lineage to embrace a spiritual family of ascetics, bishops, monks, and nuns.
The widowed Paula replaces the love of an earthly husband with that of a
divine groom; she abandons her children in Rome to nurse mystically the
infant Jesus at Bethlehem. The matron works wool not with her daugh-
ters in Rome but with her spiritual sisters, the nuns of Bethlehem. She is
such a devout philanthropist that she impoverishes her heirs to enrich the
church. And the formerly stunning woman ravages her face and body so
that she can become the repentant daughter of Zion who wears sackcloth
and shaves her head (Isaiah 3.24-). In this sacred biography, Jerome employs
all the accepted feminine virtues-devotion to husband and children,
charity, and physical beauty-to demonstrate how earthly values can be
converted to celestial ones.
Jerome also uses his image of the spiritual Paula to castigate the uni-
versal degeneracy of womankind and admonish Roman matrons for their
excesses. In the first half of the second century CE, the poet [uvenal's
Sixth Satire savagely mocked the insatiable passions of upper-class Roman
women to highlight the moral decline of the capital city. [uvenal provides
a catalogue of the vices of imperial women: they engage in perverse sexual
acts, abort the offspring of adulterous affairs, sadistically dominate men,
disguise their putrid flesh with layers of makeup, and squander ancestral
wealth on muscular gladiators and beauty lotions. Juvenal's elite trollops
parody the chastity, modesty, and humility of archetypal Roman ma-
trons." Jerome, who in many of his writings reproduces Juvenal's misogy-
nist rhetoric, asserts that the holy Paula attacked her body with a harsh
ascetic regime to atone for the years she spent as a sensual woman who
painted her face and pursued sexual pleasures. The newly austere matron
marred her face with rivers of tears to repent the hours she previously had
spent in frivolity. She replaced the jewels and silks she had worn in her
debauched life with a coarse mantle of rank animal hair. Jerome's hagio-
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 23

graphic depiction of Paula's ascetic exercises serves as a spiritual remedy for

that corruption. His account of Paula-no doubt heightened and ideal-
ized to suit his exegetical purposes-detailed her transformation from a
self-indulgent patrician into a philanthropic recluse and thus provided a
model and inspiration for other aristocratic women who might also refash-
ion their bodies into vessels of grace. The spiritual portrait of Paula assured
them that they too could appeal to the restorative powers of the cross.

Sacred Models (3): The Pastoral Bishop and Cloistered Nun

The sacred models of pastoral holy man and nun transfer the imitatio
Christi from the eastern deserts and Mediterranean capitals to the Gallo-
Roman episcopacy and cloisters of northern Europe. One of the most
influential early Galle-Roman vitae is the fourth -century Life of Martin of
Tours by Sulpicius Severus, an educated nobleman from Aquitaine.:" Sul-
picius produces a composite conception of the peculiar bishop by fusing
Hebrew, Christian, and Roman portraits of exceptional men.V Martin
(c. 336-397), in his sacred biography, administers monasteries, rules Chris-
tian communities, and engages in prophetic, ascetic, and charismatic feats.
In addition to writing the holy biography of his friend and mentor,
Sulpicius accumulated an inventory of Martin's miraculous activities in a
work known as the Dialoques.": In the Dialogues, Sulpicius proclaims the
popularity of his saint, pointing out that his Vita Martini had circulated
throughout the Mediterranean and the Near East and that, even during
Sulpicius's own lifetime, zealous shoppers in Rome had fought over the
remaining copies." For emphasis, Sulpicius invents a conversation between
himself and a friend who had just returned from Egypt. The author's com-
panion confides in the hagiographer how universal was the appeal of Mar-
tin's vita: "I saw it being read by an old man in the desert .... When I told
him that I was your friend he asked me to ask you for more miracles." 86
Sulpicius's apocryphal dialogue thus reverses the direction of ascetic dis-
course, which had been from East to West. No longer merely the student
of the Egyptian fathers, Martin is now the master teacher of the eastern
hermits.
In his textual depiction of Martin of Tours, Sulpicius adopts both bib-
lical and extra-biblical spiritual prototypes and creates the monk-bishop
topos that was to become the primary model for early medieval male
saints.:" He portrays Martin not only as a Hebrew prophet and Christ-like
exorcist but also as a missionary apostle, a desert anchorite, and a pastoral
24- Chapter I

bishop. As Sulpicius relates, Martin, a Pannonian by birth, had quit the

Roman army to embrace the life of militant self-denial and, by 372, was
elected bishop of Tours. As a bishop, however, Martin had little in com-
mon with his aristocratic contemporaries who sat on thrones (cathedrae)
and wore ceremonial vestments. Moreover, Martin's physiognomy was an
anomaly among the elite bishops of Gaul whose refined lifestyles hinted at
spiritual sloth. Sulpicius describes how Martin stood out among his col-
leagues: they were blind to his Elijah aspect and repelled by his looks, find-
ing the holy man to be "a despicable individual and quite unfit to be a
bishop, what with his insignificant appearance, sordid garments, and his
disgraceful hair." 88 Although Martin was a consecrated member of an edu-
cated church hierarchy, his physical presence was that of an uncivilized He-
brew prophet.
The hagiographical construction of Martin presents the ascetic bishop
as a biblical hero who could withstand poison, demolish pagan temples,
and speak with the dead; amid these remarkable feats, he ably performed
his pastoral duties. The hagiographer proclaims that his Martin outshines
the Egyptian anchorites because, as bishop of Tours, he labors in the arenas
of both contemplative asceticism and active ministry." Sulpicius's portrait
of the holy man as prophetic, nurturing, and dutiful represents Martin as
a point of convergence of all Hebrew, Christian, and Roman virtues.
The successors to Martin's archetypal hagiographical image are other
Gallo- Roman administrative bishops who imitate Martin's prophetic and
pastoral style. For example, the fifth-century hagiographer of German us of
Auxerre (c. 378-4-4-9) recounts how the future saint joined the ecclesiasti-
cal hierarchy after having been the secular governor (dux) of a province in
Gau1.9 0 The ex-governor's sacred biography connects him with the most
austere Egyptian hermits as well as the most successful Roman politicians.
Although he sleeps on an "Egyptian bed" made of pieces of sacking spread
over rough wooden planks cemented with ashes, Germanus remains a
judge, diplomat, and urban patron.
In a uniquely feminine manner, the vitae of Merovingian holy women
also merge the vita activa and the vita contemplativa. Sixth- and seventh-
century hagiographers compiled a corpus of saintly biographies of noble
women to instruct all females in the godly life of renunciation. These
women, like their late Roman patristic predecessors, were mainly scions of
aristocratic clans who abandoned families and wealth to become abbesses
or nuns in important ascetic communities." The hagiographers who im-
mortalized the famous residents of these cloisters, such as Radegund, Sad-
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 25

alberga, Aldegund, and Burgundofara, endow the holy women with the
powers possessed by the exotic Martin of Tours. Radegund of Poitiers pro-
tects her holy community with the signum crucis: "One of the sisters saw a
thousand thousand demons standing on top of the wall in the form of
goats. When the saint raised her blessed right hand in the sign of the cross,
this whole multitude of demons fled, never to be seen again." 92 Her char-
ismatic hair shirt resurrects a diseased child: "As soon as the infant's body
touched the most medicinal garment and those noble rags, he came back
from the dead to normal life." 93 Saldalberga of Laon experiences celestial
visions of paradise reminiscent of the prophet Ezekiel's ecstatic revelations:
"And he showed her the city of the most high God, and the seats of the
twelve Apostles reddening with gold and gems." 94
In addition to exhibiting charismatic power in their vitae, Merovin-
gian holy women appropriate the consecrated powers and pastoral respon-
sibilities of urban bishops. According to the life of the seventh-century
mystic Aldegund of Maubeuge, a sleeping nun receives a vision of Alde-
gund standing before the altar in the place of a priest, breaking the eu-
charist and placing it in the chalice." The life of the seventh-century
Burgundofara ofFaremoutiers claims that the abbess heard the confessions
of her nuns three times a day and that she administered communion to a
dying woman.?" Holy women such as Aldegund and Burgundofara mirror
the active ministry of Christian bishops by teaching, financing public
works, administering cloisters, and procuring relics. Early medieval hagi-
ographers depict female saints who perform many of the functions of the
male priesthood, albeit with a subtle, gendered difference.
The hagiographical construction of early medieval female saints
probes the limits of Christian paradox. Women's vitae contain extreme
examples of self-mortification, ecstatic power, and apostolic ministry, yet
these symbolic lives also promote a feminized sanctity. Like Jerome's Ro-
man matrons and virgins who take up the cross as an indictment of worldly
women, the transformation of Frankish noblewomen into receptacles of
the Holy Spirit rebukes universal feminine vice. Hagiographical texts pro-
mote austere attire, charity, domestic servitude, self-mortification, and
claustration as the spiritual remedies for female profligacy.
The anonymous author of the early sixth-century life of the ascetic
Genovefa of Paris asserts that the repudiation of bodily adornment is a
primary attribute of female sanctity. According to the vita, Bishop Ger-
manus of Auxerre gave the young Genovefa a necklace made from a copper
coin inscribed with the sign of the cross. The holy man instructed the child
26 Chapter I

always to wear this austere necklace, to think of him when she looked at
it, and never to allow her body to be decorated with precious gems and
pearls. Celestial ornamentation of the soul, the bishop cautioned the little
saint, could only be achieved by eradicating earthly luxury.?" Adult women
saints, according to their vitae, reject the opulent clothing of the Germanic
aristocracy in favor of goat-hair mantles, and they redirect the wealth of
their noble families into the service of the church by embellishing altars,
oratories, and saintly tombs.?" The sacred portraits of these abstemious
women validate the renunciation of a noble birth by emphasizing domestic
servitude. Frankish hagiographers often portray cloistered women as char-
ismatic housekeepers who perform domestic miracles, cheerfully clean la-
trines, dust altars, wash saints' crypts, tend the hearth, and minister at
table. In addition, sacred biographies demonstrate how enclosure and as-
ceticism remake carnal bodies into spiritual vessels.
Merovingian nuns discipline their rebellious flesh through gruesome
acts of mortification. In fact, one of the most extreme descriptions of as-
cetic self-crucifixion is from a woman's vita."? In the sixth-century spiritual
biography of Queen Radegund of Poitiers, the saint literally becomes a
superhuman Syrian ascetic. She encircles her upper body with iron fetters,
covers her limbs in goat hair, prays by the latrine, and burns the sign of the
cross on her flesh with a red-hot crucifix. Radegund, like Jerome's Paula,
atones for her former earthly life as a regal spouse through extreme asceti-
cism and is thus transformed into a bride of Christ. The queen performs
these rituals of self-torture inside a tiny cell, an enclosure that served to
focus her charismatic powers, where she was endowed with the biblical
gifts of healing the sick, resurrecting the dead, and exorcizing demo-
niacs.'?" The dual hagiographical images of self-flagellation and rigorous
enclosure, in both Syrian and Frankish female vitae, empower holy women
with the mysterious charismata of the male prophets, martyrs, and ascet-
ics. The Merovingian corpus of vitae, like its desert and patrician equiva-
lents, preaches austerity and enclosure as the focal points of women's
power and presents the enshrined female body as a vehicle for the salvation
of humankind.

Hagiographical discourse is a highly complicated, symbolic genre

which serves a variety of cultic, mimetic, and educational purposes for
both elite and popular audiences. Christian congregations absorbed the
lessons of hallowed vitae through the mediums of written texts, liturgical
performances, material culture, and art. Sacred biography, in all its various
 Hagiography and Sacred Models 27

forms, facilitated the creation, preservation, and extension of Christian

sanctity in an era when there was no systematic, institutionalized process
of identifying a saint. Hallowed lives played a crucial role in the develop-
ment of late antique Christianity. Syrian, Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and
Gallo- Roman hagiographers used biblical models in their narrative ac-
counts of contemporary holy women and men to recast Palestinian culture
in their own terms. Saints' vitae provided written testimonies to God's per-
petual intervention in human affairs, even in locations as far away from
Jerusalem as Tours, Kildare, or Durham. As a coercive discourse, intended
to bend the recipient to its imperatives, hagiography dictated proper rev-
erence for sacred behavior. The text of a saint's life, like a liturgical object
or the eucharist, functioned as an earthly doorway to the divine because
symbolic vitae united the faithful with God.
The three paradigms examined in this chapter illustrate the hermeneu-
tical complexities of the genre of hagiography, for, on the surface, male
and female models of sanctity share similar rhetorical strategies and biblical
images. A careful reading of these texts, however, reveals the subtle differ-
ences between the portrayals of women's and men's lives. Whereas male
sacred biographies reproduce the militant and prophetic powers of biblical
heroes, female vitae duplicate the doubled -edged biblical topos of impeni-
tent woman as sinful humanity and repentant woman as harbinger of un i-
versal salvation.
 2

Gender, Hagiography,
and the Bible

As THE MOST HEAVILY SCRUTINIZED BOOK of the medieval era, the Bible
created the normative principles of medieval culture.' Biblical images of
women encompass the entire spectrum of Hebrew and Christian spiritu-
ality. Pregnant women symbolize the heavenly prototype of the earthly
community (Revelation 12.1), and maternal and bridal figures represent
earthly Jerusalem and the church (I Samuel 1-2; Galatians 4.26-27; Reve-
lation 19.7-8, 21.2ff). Hebrew women serve as the guardians of Israel
(Judges S.7) and personify human virtue (Proverbs 31.10-31), while pow-
erful holy women possess the gifts of prophecy and political arbitration
(Judges 4; Acts 21.9). Christian scripture portrays a handful of contrite
women as believers of superior faith to most men (Mark S.2S-34, 7.24-30;
Matthew 9.20-22, IS.2I-28; Luke 8.43-48; John 11.1-3, 20-44). Repen-
tant and mourning women function as the human signifiers of contrition,
compunction, and submission to the will of God (Luke 1.26ff, 8.2-3, IS.8-
10; John 4.7-30, I9.2S). Both Hebrew and Christian females personify
the contemplative and active components of spirituality (Genesis 29.I6ff;
Luke 10.38-42), and they sponsor and serve holy men (2 Kings 4.8-10;
Mark 1.29-31; Matthew 8.I4-IS; Luke 4.38-39; Acts 9.36-41, I6.I3-IS).
A few Christian women perform the duties of missionaries and deacons
(Acts 18.1-26; I Corinthians 16.19; Romans 16.1-4; Philippians 4.2-3; Phi-
lemon 2). These unconventional depictions of spiritual women, however,
are counterbalanced by more traditional representations of women as the
embodiments of fleshly sin.
Corrupt female characters in sacred writings function as the incar-
nation of lust, idolatry, and prideful self-indulgence, and therefore they
personify the part of human nature that is alienated from God. A few of
the most important metaphors in Hebrew and Christian scripture rely on
the image of woman as sin. In the Pentateuch, the harlot-figure exemplifies
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 29

apostate Israel and other debauched women symbolize the tyrannical em-
pires of the ancient Near East and their associated urban vices (Jeremiah 3;
Ezekiel 16, 23; Isaiah 23.17-18; Nahum 3.4). The book of Revelation (17-
18) reproduces the harlot topos by identifying Babylon or the Roman
Empire as a drunken whore. Guardians and destroyers of Israel, biblical
women are simultaneously intimate with and estranged from God.
The Hebrew and Christian scriptures focus on physical appearance,
spinning, domestic service, patronage, and contrition as the outward man-
ifestations of feminine piety. Biblical representations of female spirituality
surface in later patristic, monastic, and conciliar writings that simultane-
ously empower and domesticate women's spiritual prowess. The starting
point for any consideration of gender and sacred discourse is the Hebrew
depiction of the expulsion of Eve and Adam from paradise (Genesis 2-3)
and the resulting division of labor between the sexes. The Judaic and
Christian interpretations of this famous passage range from praise for Eve's
acquisition of knowledge and condemnation of Adam's passivity to denun-
ciation of Eve's seduction by the serpent and her subsequent enticement
of Adam." From the patristic period, biblical exegetes have concentrated
on the story of the expulsion through the parable of human sexuality. The
most immediate ramification of Adam and Eve's fall from grace, however,
is God's merciful act of reclothing their naked bodies. In the City of God,
Augustine explains that, in Genesis 3, God stripped off the garment of
grace (immortality) and reclothed the first couple with garments of skin
(mortality)." According to Genesis 3, clothing is the material representa-
tion of humankind's fallen state, and, in the subsequent books of the He-
brew Bible, ornamentation of women's bodies personifies further apostasy
from God.

Biblical Clothing

"And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins,
and clothed them" (Genesis 3.21). The expulsion of Eve and Adam from
the garden and God's subsequent reclothing of the first couple in animal
skins symbolize the death of their prelapsarian bodies and the birth of their
animal-like mortality." The Hebrew prophets, Christian evangelists and
apostles, and patristic writers are extremely sensitive to the rhetorical pur-
poses of clothing in the Torah. Because the reclothed human body is such
an important image in this fundamental text from Genesis, early church
fathers interpret subsequent books of the Hebrew Bible as using symbolic
30 Chapter 2

clothing and hairstyles of individual humans as the outward manifestations

of their inward piety or impiety. According to this exegetical tradition, the
Pentateuch and the prophetic books of the Bible signify the corruption of
the human soul by the increasingly elaborate ornamentation of the body. 5
The differences between symbolic male and female dress found in these
books reflect ancient gender precepts of carnality as feminine and spiritu-
ality as masculine. In particular, women's clothing denotes defilement,
apostasy, and the eventual destruction of Israel. The charismatic hair shirts
of the Hebrew prophets, in contrast, serve as the focal point of masculine
power and as the signifiers of the male prophets' proximity to the pristine
human status before the fall.
In the Hebrew Bible, animal-hair garments manifest the charismatic
and prophetic powers of God's holy men. Although nudity is the natural
garment of the undefiled body, the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden
made the veiling of the shameful, defiled body a necessary part of human
existence. Certain humans, however, continue to wear the primitive cloth-
ing of the first couple. For example, God wraps the prophets Elijah and
Elisha, like Adam and Eve, in animal garments (2 Kings 1.8), rendering
the ascetic attire of the two prophets only one step removed from the pre-
lapsarian nudity of Eden. 6 When Elijah ascends to heaven on a fiery char-
iot, he throws off his camel-hair mantle because nudity is the dress of
paradise (2 Kings 2.13). Similarly, the gospel of John suggests that nudity is
the celestial garment of the body by emphasizing that, when Simon Peter
and John opened Christ's tomb, they found only the linen cloths that had
covered the sacred corpse (John 20.5).
In addition to relating the proximity of the prophets to Eden, ascetic
mantles are indicators of the miraculous powers of Hebrew holy men. Eli-
jah's cloak parts rivers (2 Kings 2.14-) and enables the prophet to hear God's
voice: "He wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the
entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said,
'What are you doing here, Elijah?' " (I Kings 19.13). The hairy tunics of
Hebrew and Christian ascetics connect holy men to the animal world,
which is free of the taint of human civilization and its associated vices. The
nude bodies of exceptional saints, according to Christian hagiographers,
reflect the purity of the resurrected flesh. For example, the Gallo-Roman
writer, Sulpicius Severus, recalls one Egyptian hermit who lived in such a
state of divine grace that he had no need of clothing, and his body was
covered only by his long hair and beard." The outward appearance and
dress of Hebrew and Christian holy men herald both their charismatic
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 31

authority and their intimacy with God. The clothing of biblical women,
however, serves a different rhetorical purpose. Whereas male garments
signify power, female clothing usually represents sin or women's subordi-
nation to the authority of men.
Opulent women's clothing is a primary metaphor of the defilement of
Hebrew piety through urban decadence; it signifies human pride, vanity,
deceit, and lust while underscoring the alienation of humans from God."
According to the prophet Isaiah, the corruption of humankind is epito-
mized by the outward demeanor and dress of the daughters of Zion. All
human vice is manifested in the "finery of anklets, the headbands and the
crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarfs; the headdresses, the
armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; the signet rings
and nose rings; the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags;
the garments of gauze, the linen garments, the turbans, and veils" of these
depraved women (Isaiah 3.16-23). Isaiah prophesies that God will cleanse
the filth of the daughters of Zion and the Creator will transform their
perfumes, fine robes, and pride into stench, sackcloth, and shame (Isa-
iah 3.24-4.4). The adoption of sackcloth by women is not an act of power
but an act of repentance for their true nature. The book of Revelation
(17.4) mirrors Isaiah's use of ornamentation as the signum of human de-
pravity in a rebuke of the perversions of immoral Rome: "The woman
[Rome] was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and
jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations
and the impurities of her fornication." The adorned body of a woman is
the physical representation of human sin.
Individual women, such as the infamous Iczebel, assume the guise of
the unrighteous daughters of Zion and Revelation's debauched harlot:
"She [Iezebel] painted her eyes, and adorned her head" (2 Kings 9.30).
The biblical Iezebel is a Phoenician idolater who takes her meals with "four
hundred and fifty prophets of Ba'al and the four hundred prophets of
Ashe'rah" (I Kings 18.19).9 The Phoenician woman also dominates her
husband Ahab, King of Israel and Samaria (I Kings 16.31-32), whom she
induces to dedicate altars to the fertility deity Ba'al. The heathen queen
orders the murder of Yahweh's prophets (I Kings 18.13), attempts to destroy
Elijah (I Kings 18), and forces Ahab to kill an innocent man and seize his
property (I Kings 21.5-16). Elijah, after he defeats Jezebel's prophets at
Mount Carmel, curses his female nemesis and prophesies that "the dogs
shall eat Iezcbcl in the territory of [ezreel, and none shall bury her"
(2 Kings 9.10). Iezebel, the supreme personification of human apostasy
32 Chapter 2

from God, suffers one of the most gruesome deaths in the Bible. Her re-
bellious eunuchs throw the impious woman out of a window, her blood
splatters the courtyard, and horses trample her body so savagely that only
her skull, feet, and the palms of her hands are left to be fed to the dogs.
Jezebel's executor, Jehu, pronounces that the wretched queen's corpse
"shall be as dung upon the face of the field" (2 Kings 9.37). [ezebel, the
unrepentant daughter of Zion, would later become the model in hagio-
graphical discourse for all women who hinder the work of holy men."?
The transformation of the daughters of Zion from vehicles of sin
into vehicles of repentance is one of the most important biblical images
for subsequent depictions of holy women. Only through the eradication
of outward ornament can women atone for the vices of their sex. For
male prophets, ascetic garb makes a statement about otherworldly power,
connects these charismatic men to the biblical past, and places them out-
side the boundaries of human society. In contrast, women's adoption of
mourning dress is symbolic of the inherent depravity of the female sex and
the necessity of physical penance.
Hairstyles, as depicted in holy scripture, also serve as outward indi-
cators of either righteousness or ritual pollution. In the Hebrew Bible
hairstyles are used metaphorically as signa of the siege and destruction
of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 5.1- 2) and the consecrated power of priests (Leviti-
cus 21.10). In both Christian and Hebrew scripture, the arrangement of
the hair represents holiness and apostasy, as well as physical strength,
contrition, and bodily defilement. 11 Depictions of ritual hairstyles in the
Hebrew Bible are but part of a larger series of strictures concerning purity,
prayer, and offerings whereas, in the Pauline epistles, hairstyles and cloth-
ing function as the outward manifestations of the temporal social order
necessitated by the fall from grace (Genesis 3).
The academic investigation into Paul's views on women and gender
has inspired some of the most volatile theological debates of the last two
decades.'? Much of this scholarly disputation has centered around Paul's
support of women as missionaries, patrons, and local church leaders as well
as his advocacy of women's subjugation to the authority of men. In the
tradition that ascribes all the "Pauline epistles" 13 to the apostle himself,
the most provocative passage concerning the relationship between the
sexes is in Galatians 3.28: "There is neither male nor female; for you are all
one in Christ Jesus." Theologians and church historians have suggested
that this passage is a pronouncement of mythical androgyny, a preaching
device designed for mixed-sex audiences, a baptismal rite, or an announce-
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 33

ment of eschatological equality between the scxes.!" Galatians (3.28) can

also be interpreted as a continuation of the "world upside down" leitmotif
found in the life of Christ. Early Christian communities may have believed
that there would be no supremacy based on sex, legal status, or economic
status during the Final Judgment. Galatians (3.28) therefore could be a
statement about the order of redemption which recognizes no hierarchy in
contrast to the order of creation that results in a sexual hierarchy of male-
female (Genesis 2). Certain sections of the Pauline corpus suggest that
Christ's disciples advocated the traditional subordination of woman to
man, and, consequently, these texts devote a great deal of attention to the
outward demeanor and appearance of Christian women and less attention
to the clothing, hair, and deportment of Christian men.
Some of the most famous passages from the epistles dictate the pub-
lic activity and appearance of women. These sections clearly uphold the
directive of Deuteronomy (22.5): "A woman shall not wear anything that
pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for who-
ever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God." Cross-
dressing, in a Hebrew context, was a form of ritual impurity because it
rendered men and women "imperfect members of their class." 15 The "Paul-
ine" (c. 50S-60S) and other epistles, 1-2 Timothy and 1-2 Peter (c. 50-120),
follow the purity laws of Deuteronomy, imposing proper female behavior
and appearance in the community or ecclesia,'?
Several passages establish a sex-specific procedure for prayer in I Cor-
inthians (11.3-16). Although Moses and Elijah were required to veil their
heads when they spoke with Yahweh, the incarnation of God in human
flesh allowed men to approach the Godhead without veils: "We all, with
unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3.18).17
Christian men, the text emphasizes, must pray or prophesy with their heads
uncovered because they are the "image and glory of God," but women
who do so are to wear veils. The veil is a visible reminder of woman's sec-
ond place in creation and her subordination to male authority because
"woman is the reflection of man" (I Corinthians 11.7).18A woman's veil is
defined as "a symbol of authority on her head" (I Corinthians 11.10). If a
female member of the community refuses to veil her head while praying or
prophesying in public, the apostle decrees that "she should cut offher hair;
but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a
veil" (I Corinthians 11.6). Shaving the head, according to Hebrew scrip-
ture, is a remedy for making an unclean person clean (Leviticus 14-.8), an
act of taking away power (Judges 16.19), and a sign of spiritual repentance
34 Chapter 2

(Isaiah 3.24). Paul, in I Corinthians (11.6-7), suggests that an unveiled

woman who does not shave her head is polluted, unrepentant, and defiant
of the biblical order of creation. A male member of the ecclesiawho refuses
to cut his hair similarly transgresses the authority of Genesis (2).
In I Corinthians (11.14), Paul, who himself had cut his hair short at
Cenchreae because of a vow (Acts 18.18), advises Christian men to wear
their hair short, as long hair is dishonorable to their sex (I Corinthians
11.14). Here Paul appears to be ignoring the Hebrew Bible's great hero,
Samson the Nazarene (Judges 13-16), whose famous long hair signified
his physical strength. The Nazarenes, however, let their hair grow only for
brief periods of time so that they could cut it off and offer it to the Temple
(Numbers 6.18). Their shorn heads would then symbolize purity and obe-
dience to God. Christian women, however, are to keep their hair long as a
"covering" (I Corinthians ILlS). Paul seems to be arguing in I Corinthians
(11.3-16) that the earthly relationship between woman and man must con-
form to the story of creation from Genesis (2). Man is made in the image
of God, and, since woman is made from man, her physical appearance must
reflect her subsidiary status. Long hair emasculates a man, whereas short
hair empowers a woman. For Paul, cross-gendering violates Hebrew purity
laws because a feminized man or a masculinized woman is ritually unclean.
Any transgression of gender lines could potentially result in the contami-
nation of the entire community and breach the natural order of creation
as presented in Genesis (2). Both proper clothing and hair must reflect the
divine order of the universe.
Paul ordains in I Corinthians (14.33-36) that women should remain
silent in the community. This controversial passage has been explained as
a later interpolation of I Corinthians (11.3- 16) because it contradicts the
apostle's earlier directive that women can pray as long as their heads are
covered.'? It is possible that these apparently dissenting passages reflect
Paul's own struggle with the role of women in the church;" He tempers
his radical support of women's celibacy, prophesy, missionary work, and
the female diaconate by dictating the communal conduct of ordinary
women in more traditional terms. When Paul writes of extraordinary
women, such as Phoebe, the deacon of the church at Cenchreae (Romans
16.1-2), he leaves aside such patriarchal edicts: "I commend to you our
sister Phoebe, a deacon [diakonos] of the church at Cenchreae ... for she
has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well." When he writes
about women generally, however, he turns to conservative gender precepts
and affirms gender divisions. The post-Pauline epistles, I Timothy and
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 35

I Peter, highlight women's role in bringing sin into the world. The same

letters also preach that women must combat continuously their inherent
depravity.
I Timothy 2.13-14- contains an exegesis on Genesis 2-3 which names

Eve as the guilty party in the story of the fall: "For Adam was formed first,
then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and
became a transgressor." The apostle Paul himself had named Adam as the
violator of divine commandment: "Sin came into the world through one
man and death through sin" (Romans 5.12). The epistles of Timothy and
Peter, which include some of the most vehement attacks on women in the
corpus, amplify the apostle's directives concerning female behavior and
appearance and incorporate the Hebrew Bible's metaphor of the adorned
woman as the embodiment of sin.
I Peter and I Timothy apply Pauline rhetoric by proclaiming that

women shall have no authority over men, they shall not teach men, and
that they shall be "saved through bearing children" (I Timothy 2.12-15).
In a Christian redaction of the "daughters of Zion" metaphor, the author
of I Peter (3.3-4-) castigates women who wear luxurious clothing, display
extravagant jewelry, and braid their hair." I Timothy advises modest dress
and submissive demeanor as the spiritual remedies for feminine wiles. The
virtuous woman, according to both Timothy and Peter, should engage in
charity and hospitality. She should be submissive to male authority, and
she should acquiesce to her husband as "Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling
him lord" (I Peter 3.6). The Christian woman should be modest, chaste,
and domestic; she should wash "the feet of the saints" (I Timothy 5.10).
The pious matron should avoid the traditional female vices of idleness,
quarrelsomeness, and self-indulgence, and she should not fall prey to false
teachings (I Timothy 5.11-13; 2 Timothy 3.6-7).
Whereas ideal female behavior in biblical rhetoric centers on domes-
tic matters and physical appearance, exemplary male conduct is associ-
ated with public duty. The apostolic directives concerning public male
demeanor concentrate on the qualities that make good administrators:
temperance, intelligence, dignity, diplomacy, generosity, and sensitivity
(I Timothy 3). An effective bishop, according to I Timothy, must be able
to rule his wife and children, "for if a man does not know how to manage
his own household, how can he care for God's church?" (I Timothy 3.5).
The mandates concerning male and female comportment reveal a concern
for the reputation of the ecclesiain the non-Christian world, but the guide-
lines for churchmen additionally emphasize public accountability and male
 Chapter 2

authority over a household. The edicts for women accentuate the impor-
tance of female submission to the authority of men and the eradication of
uniquely feminine sins."

The Theology of the Cosmetic"

Patristic writings supplement the Pauline construction of the ideal Chris-

tian woman and prescribe mourning dress and penance as spiritual treat-
ments for the female soul. The patristic authors further the gender
directives of the Pauline corpus by arguing that Eve's fall from grace
continuously manifests itself in the lavish apparel of degenerate women.
The patristic writers who established the Christian rhetoric of the cosmetic
partook of the wider classical worldview that connected self-presentation
with either piety or impiety. Stoic philosophers, including Seneca (4 BCE-
65 CE), Musonius Rufus (c. 30-90S CE), and Epictetus (c. 50-130 CE),
believed that the physical appearance of public men should reflect their
interior virtue. Patristic writers, however, shifted the Stoic emphasis on
male dress to that of female adornment to theologize Eve's role in the fall
from grace. Christian theologians thus fused the Stoic rhetoric of outward
appearance with the Hebrew discourse on exterior adornment as a signum
of interior depravity. In urging women to adopt the mourning garb of the
"daughters of Zion," theological treatises on women's dress and veils echo
the rhetoric of the Hebrew Bible. Women who squander family fortunes
on self-adornment are the unrepentant daughters of Eve.
Tertullian wrote the most impassioned castigation of female dress.
He accuses women of destroying humankind by opening the door to the
devil. 24 The theologian identifies the wardrobes of excessive, seductive
women with the fall of Eve from primordial grace. Significantly, Tertullian
argues that it was not covetousness of knowledge that led Eve into sin but
desire for ornamentation." He claims that if gems, gold, and embroidered
clothing had been available to Eve after the expulsion, she would have
cast aside the tunic of skins provided by God. The "daughters of Eve," he
argues, "still think of putting adornments over the skins of animals." 26
Even luxuriant color connotes unnatural vice, for had God desired women
to dress in brilliant colors he would have created blue and purple sheep. In
Tertullian's opinion, Satan is a licentious artist who transformed the spiri-
tual bodies of Adam and Eve into fleshly corpses. Satan's minions instruct
women in the art of cosmetics and personal adornment and teach men the
mysteries of metallurgy, astrology, herbal cures, and philosophy." Men
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 37

pervert the natural order of the universe through illegitimate knowledge;

women desecrate divine order through deceitful self-presentation.
The "cosmetic" theologian also argues that the angels mentioned by
Paul are Satan's servants who instruct women in the arts of bodily adorn-
ment ("That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of
the angels," I Corinthians 11.10 ).28Tertullian supports the legitimacy of the
apocryphal book of Enoch which details the legend of the fallen angels
who seduce the "daughters of man." 29 This legend is derived from Gene-
sis (6.2), which enigmatically states that "the sons of God saw that the
daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they
chose." In On the Veiling of Virgins, Tertullian makes the direct connec-
tion between women's veils and the angels who fall on account of earthly
women. Men, Tertullian argues, do not need to veil their heads because
they did not cause the angels to sin and because the head of man is Christ.
Virginal veils serve as helmets and shields against temptation, scandal, and
the seduction of angels. 30 The exegete adds at the end of this vituperative
attack that fine clothes "are the trappings appropriate to a woman who was
condemned and is dead, arrayed as if to lend splendor to her funeral." 31
Women thus must wear penitential garb to escape spiritual death and to
expiate the original sin of Eve. Tertullian asserts that holy women who
dress their bodies in austere and humble garments will be rewarded spiri-
tually by having their souls adorned in silk and fine linen. Female ascetics
must combat their natural inclination to tempt angelic beings by cor-
relating their flesh to the austere physiognomies of poor apostles and
undomesticated prophets.
The bishop and martyr Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258) defines the
ideal apparel of holy women in his treatise On the Dress of Virgins, modeled
after Tertullian's discourse on ornamentation." The bishop states that
"continence and modesty consist not alone in purity of the flesh, but
also in modesty of dress and adornment." 33 Humble dress therefore is a
concrete sign of a woman's chastity, which should be evident in the soul
as well as to the physical eyes. Cyprian cites both the passages from Isaiah
on the "daughters of Zion" (3.16ff) and the adorned harlot of Revelation
(17.1 - 6) as justifications for his insistent condemnation of sumptuous
female attire. "Apostate angels" induce women to put on jewelry and
makeup, to dye their hair, and to take luxurious baths, but such alteration
of a woman's divinely given image, according to Cyprian, transforms her
body into the devil's vessel. After all, the bishop argues, if the Son of Man's
hair is "white as white wool, white as snow" (Revelation 1.14-), then holy
 Chapter 2

women, in imitation of him, should be content with their postlapsarian

bodies and not try to disguise their true nature through ornamentation."
Jerome similarly associates the fine raiment of Roman women with
covetousness. He contrasts the hunger of Elijah, the nakedness of Christ,
and the poverty of the apostles with the teeming closets of patrician
women. 35 Jerome advises the mothers of young girls, who are vowed to
virginity, to dress them in mourning garb (pulla tunica), such as little black
cloaks, and to take away their elegant linens and gems." In the hands of
patristic writers, the Hebrew metaphor of the adorned woman is no longer
merely a penitential topos; it has become part of a thriving theological
exegesis on the fall.
The church fathers prescribe sober dress and veils as spiritual remedies
for the natural pollution of womankind. Papal, episcopal, and monastic
legislators gradually transformed the patristic discourse on corrupt female
dress into ad hoc institutional practice." Eastern and western church
councils between the fourth and seventh centuries reiterated the apostle
Paul's directives on women's public demeanor, veils, and dress. One fifth-
century North African council forbids women to teach men in public.
The same council mandates that women should wear appropriately somber
vestments when receiving the veil from bishops. Church councils began to
command virgins to strip off their silks, gold, and jewels and to stand at the
altar in consecrated black." The veiling of professed religious females was
to be carried out in public, supervised by bishops. Episcopal councils also
dictate the appropriate age for women to take the veil. 39 The papacy took
similar actions to regulate the veiling of professional religious women and
to forbid nuns from touching any of the sacred objects within the euchar-
istic spaces of churches." A series of sixth-century Gallo-Roman church
decrees require women to be veiled in the presence of the eucharist; they
could not receive the eucharist in their bare hands, and they could not
touch any consecrated objects."
Legislation of the Council of Gangra (325-381), which was replicated
in subsequent councils, cites Deuteronomy (22.5) and Paul (I Corinthians
11.10) as authoritative justifications for its condemnation of "theatrical
transvestism." 42 The denunciation of cross-dressing as theatrical suggests
that the roots of transvestism are in mime and theatre. The canon forbid-
ding cross-dressing follows a discussion of false ascetics who misuse the
austere dress of spiritual men. A transvestite therefore violates the ritual
purity regulations of the Hebrew Bible, transgresses the authority of the
apostle Paul, disrupts social order, and emulates the decadence of pro-
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 39

fessional actors and mimes. Later episcopal councils condemn women's

cross-dressing as a pagan abomination perhaps because ancient cults had
practiced cross-dressing as part of their fertility rites. Fifth-century Roman
law forbade women with shaved heads from crossing the threshold of
churches, while legal texts threatened the expulsion of bishops who al-
lowed bald women into their sanctuaries." The condemnation of spiritual
transvestism also appears in the hagiographical accounts of the fourth-
century Pachomian monastery at Tabennisi in Egypt. According to tradi-
tion, the female community that was built across the river from the male
coenobium adhered to the strict rule of Pachomius except that the women
were forbidden from donning the goat hair worn by the male ascetics."
Subsequent monastic rules similarly safeguard female religious from
their natural inclinations toward luxurious adornment and at the same
time protect cloistered women from the rigorous regime of masculinized
askesis. The first significant rule for women in the West, that of Caesarius
of Arles (c. 470-542), emphasizes modest clothing and austere material
possessions." Clothing is such an important metaphor in Caesarius's mo-
nastic legislation that another sixth -century bishop in Gaul claimed that
Caesarius's rule was "as sweet as a vestment of linen," perhaps a reference
to Caesarius's own use of linen as symbolic of the spiritual "inner gar-
ments" of chaste souls." The bishop of Arles wrote two monastic rules,
one for the male community at Arles and the other for the women's cloister
at Saint Jean which was under the direction of his sister, Caesaria."? In
adapting his male rule to what he regarded as the unique spiritual require-
ments of the female sex, Caesarius added more detailed stipulations on
material culture within the women's cloister.
Caesarius underscores the dangers of luxury within a women's com-
munity. He warns nuns (but not monks) against luxurious clothing, fur-
nishings, and sacramental objects. Only in the rule for women does
Caesarius provide a detailed description of dress. He bans bright colors and
allows only milk-white dress or undyed cloth. He designates appropriate
colors and textiles and even suggests which items may be embroidered.
There is to be no purple trim, no purple dye, no silk, and no bombycine (a
heavy fabric fashioned from mixed yarns). 48 According to Caesarius, female
clothing-indeed, all objects in the women's cloister-should be selected
and designed for the good of the spirit, not for earthly pleasure or physical
ease. His influential rule for female religious was intended to combat the
inherent feminine impulse toward luxury by carefully constructing its radi-
cal opposite-somber clothing and modest material objects."
40 Chapter 2

Hagiographical vitae popularized the image of the solemn, veiled, or

mourning holy woman. Women's changed dress became the central meta-
phor for the demise of their earthly attachment to ornamentation and the
rebirth of their life of ascetic penance because sacred scripture and patristic
discourse associated the feminine with vanity and sclf-indulgencc.v' Late
antique and early medieval holy women reverse Eve's covetousness of or-
namentation by wearing undyed, austere attire and by donating their
luxurious material objects to the churches and tombs of the holy dead.
There were a handful of holy women who donned the charismatic hair
shirts of the Hebrew prophets and male ascetics as well as the mourning
dress of the daughters of Zion. Most church fathers disapproved of women
who adopted masculine dress, and they upheld Paul's ordinances concern-
ing gender distinctions and social order. Sacred fictions, in spite of patristic
and episcopal proscriptions of spiritual cross-dressing, continue to record
the legendary lives of the great transvestite saints. Obviously, tantalizing
sacred portraits of women who shave their heads and put on male ascetic
attire continued to intrigue both hagiographers and their audiences."
Other sanctified women wear linen, which represents both "the righteous
deeds of the saints" (Revelation 19.8) and Christ's resurrection.P Saints,
even as young girls, repudiate sparkling gems, desire to wear "Christ's"
unstained linen, and receive ecstatic visions of their future veilings. 53
In the late antique theological world, veiling of women typically sig-
nified their second place in creation, their role in the fall, and the resulting
submission of women to male authority." By the early Middle Ages, how-
ever, the veil also became an emblem of a woman's spiritual vocation; it
signified her disengagement from marriage and the family and was the cy-
nosure of her otherworldly citizenship. Virgin's veils possess miraculous
powers and are capable of withstanding swords because the veil, like vir-
ginity, is impermeable. 55 The hair of these righteous females has none of
the negative connotations of feminine hair in classical and sacred discourse;
remnants of saints' hair function as charismatic relics capable of healing the
diseased and possessed. 56 Hagiographers refashion the negative attributes
of female bodies-deportment, dress, and hair-into vessels of repen-
tance, with women's charismatic power stemming from the eradication of
feminine vice.
The vitae of late antique and early medieval holy women therefore
popularize the theology of the cosmetic that was promulgated by both
sacred scripture and patristic discourse. Because female apparel had tradi-
tionally associated women with spiritual apostasy, churchmen designed
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 41

appropriate ascetic attire that would immediately signify the alienation of

these special women from the transgressions of their sex. The hagiographi-
cal rewriting offemale dress transforms the self-indulgent daughters of Eve
into the repentant daughters of Zion.

Biblical Spinning and Serving Women

Patristic, monastic, and hagiographical writers also appropriate the image

of the chaste, charitable spinning woman from Hebrew, Christian, and
even classical sacred discourse as symbols of women saints' virginal purity.
Spinning is linked intimately with charity and ritualistic piety and, in the
Hebrew Bible, the virtue of spinning women serves as a contrast to the
depravity and apostasy of adorned women. The book of Proverbs (31.10-
31) defines the ideal woman: "She seeks wool and flax, and works with will-
ing hands .... She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the
spindle. She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches to the needy." In
Exodus (35.25-26), women "who have the ability to spin with their hands"
make "spin offerings" to Yahweh. The Christian compiler of Acts judges
a woman's worth by the beauty of her clothwork. In Acts (9.36-41) the
apostle Peter resurrects a charitable widow named Tabitha after her friends
had displayed before him the exquisite tunics and garments she had woven.
The Hebrew and Christian Bibles also glorify women who serve or
patronize holy men. In 1 Kings (17.9-16) Yahweh commands a pious widow
to feed and serve Elijah and, in return, the prophet multiplies her grain and
oil. The synoptic gospels recount Jesus' resurrection of Peter's mother-in-
law, who immediately upon rising waits upon the men (Mark 1.29-31; Mat-
thew 8.14-15; Luke 4.38-39). In both instances, women who serve men
are the recipients of divine gifts. Luke uses Martha, the sister of Mary and
Lazarus who dispenses food and drink to Jesus and the apostles (Luke
10.38-42), as the paradigm of women's service to men. Both the books of
Luke and Acts praise a number of women who finance the missionary
movement and offer their households as shelters to the neophyte commu-
nity. Sacred scripture and classical discourse formulate female spirituality
through the images of domesticity and spinning.
In classical literature, spinning and working wool signify a woman's
chastity, charity, and femininity. 57 Neither masculinized women, such as
the Amazons, nor virile male citizens worked cloth. 58 The Hebrew and
Christian Bibles similarly assign gender-specific work. The division of the
labor, as recorded in Genesis (3.16-19) and the gospel of Matthew (6.28),
42 Chapter 2

is that men shall toil and women shall spin. Like cross-dressing, transposing
work roles results in ritual impurity. In 2 Samuel (3.29), King David curses
the house of Jo'ab by proclaiming that each successive generation will
never be without a son who "has a discharge, or who is leprous, or who
holds a spindle, or who is slain by the sword, or who lacks bread." Thus
the compilers of the Hebrew Bible rank effeminacy, or the transposing of
traditional work roles, with oozing diseases, defeat, and starvation. The
woman who holds the spindle, however, like the woman who engages in
charitable acts or serves holy men, is the exemplar of her sex.
According to patristic writers, the spinning and weaving of virgins sig-
nify their fidelity to Christ and their charity to his poor. Tertullian advises
holy women to keep their hands busy with spinning at home. 59 The patris-
tic author Ambrose (c. 340-397) asserts that God had given women the
wisdom of textiles. Jerome informs his virgins that spinning and weaving
are fundamental components of female spirituality. The Gallo- Roman aris-
tocrat Sidonius of Apollonaris (c. 430-487) agrees that men philosophize
and women spin."? Caesarius preaches that the church is like a spinning
woman who weaves Christ in a "double cloak" of flesh and divinity."! Be-
cause patristic discourse embraces both Hebrew and classical rhetorical
devices, the church fathers naturally applied the familiar literary image of
the chaste, spinning woman to Christian saints. Monastic legislators then
converted the theoretical discourse of the virginal spinning matron into ad
hoc institutional practice.
Caesarius of Arles devotes several sections of his women's rule to spin-
ning and weaving. The nuns are to spin daily while reading aloud. Signifi-
cantly, the sister in charge of wool work holds an office of equal importance
to that of the cellarer and porter-the two important offices in the male
regula. All the nuns produce the cloister's garments, but the Benedictine
Rule, the major male regula of the sixth century, required monks to pur-
chase vestments elsewhere rather than make them in the monastcry.v- The
significance of this attention to clothwork in female regulae is twofold: it
points to the historical reality of the convent as a primary producer of li-
turgical cloth and monastic dress; and the symbolic use of spinning in both
monastic regulae and in saints' vitae reinforces the ancient association of
women's piety with clothwork.
A number of famous women saints spin, sew, or weave in order to
manifest their charity or charismatic power. A few sacred depictions of
male martyrs, however, use working wool or donning female dress as part
of a ritualistic humiliation. For example, the life of the male martyr, He-
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 43

sychius of Antioch, replicates the Hebrew and classical condemnations of

men who spin. This rather unusual martyr is "dressed in a slave's tunic and
delivered to the wool workers in a fabric mill to be cruelly ridiculed." 63
Other male martyrs, such as Serge and Bacchus, are stripped of their mas-
culine attire and paraded about cities in women's clothing.v' In male sacred
fiction, cross-dressing or working wool thus appear as ceremonial punish-
ments. In female vitae, however, cloth working is a crucial aspect of fe-
male piety, and transvestism can serve as an outward indication of spiritual
virility.
Many female saints have some connection, however tenuous or insub-
stantial, with the domestic arts. The desert hermit Piamoun spins flax in
her cell when she is not performing her requisite charismatic duties as an
anchorite. Even the undomestic and unconventional Mary of Egypt, the
harlot-saint, carries a distaff." Melania the Younger spins cloth in Jerusa-
lem while her husband, Pinian, chops wood in imitation of the evangelical
gendered-work directive (Matthew 6.28). The younger Melania also en-
gages in extensive charitable works, as does the ideal woman of Proverbs
who spins and extends her hand to the poor. 66 When Radegund of Poi tiers '
friend, Bishop Gregory of Tours, comes to her funeral, the nuns show him
her spindles and he weeps at the sight of them. 67 The queen's spindles are
so infused with the Holy Spirit that they could expel demons from the
cloister. 68 The Frankish queen Chlotild weaves in silence while she per-
forms miracles.v" Frankish women saints also weave and spin ecclesiastical
vestments, altar cloths, and altar hangings for the consecrated male hier-
archy.?? Pious women who spin are connected intimately with both phil-
anthropic acts and service to holy men.
Hagiographical discourse duplicates biblical images of humble serving
women. In their vitae, late Roman patrician holy women and northern
European noble saints of the early Middle Ages disavow their aristocratic
origins through their servile demeanor, modest dress, and domestic deeds.
The Empress Helena dresses as a humble servant and ministers to nuns at
table." Melania the Elder dons a slave's hood and waits upon important
churchmen;" In their lives, the Theodosian empresses humanize the pub-
lic image of the imperial family by clothing the poor, working in soup
kitchens, and washing dishes;" The holy women of the Frankish aristoc-
racy imitate the philanthropic deeds of the late Roman empresses. Rade-
gund of Poi tiers ministers to lepers, the poor, and the diseased. She cleans
churches and waits upon holy men in imitation of Martha's service to Jesus
and the apostles." In the life of Martin of Tours, Maximas, the wife of a
44 Chapter 2

Roman official, emulates Mary Magdalene's repentance by drenching the

Christ-like Martin's feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. She
also imitates the pious service of Martha by making dinner for the bishop
of Tours, mixing his drink with her own hand and collecting the crumbs
after he had finished;" Other holy women, such as the Frankish Austre-
berta, display their obedience to God by baking bread;" In Frankish Gaul,
the domestic service motif culminates in the archetypal housekeeping saint
who cooks, spins cloth, washes the feet of the poor, and nurses the sick.'?
The refashioned images of late Roman and early medieval aristocratic
women also include their replicating evangelical women's financial pat-
ronage of the institution of the church. In both Luke and Acts, wealthy
women finance and shelter the neophyte missionary movement and the
early Christian community. In Acts (16.14- 15), Lydia, a merchant-woman,
offers her residence to the apostles as a refuge. In imitation of wealthy,
evangelical women such as Lydia, late antique patricians serve as ecclesi-
astical benefactors by building churches, funding male careers, and dis-
pensing alms. Early medieval holy women simulate the universal patronage
of the late Roman patricians albeit on a more provincial level. Frankish
women establish monasteries, decorate altars, and finance local episcopal
politics. But like the women of Galilee who witness holy events from a
distance (Matthew 27.55), the spirituality of early medieval holy women
remains supplemental to that of important male saints. Female saints sup-
port the consecrated hierarchy of the church as humble servants who re-
main outside the closed circle of male power.

Biblical Women as Simple Faith

Spinning, service, and patronage are integral facets of the ascetic lives of
late antique and early medieval female saints, and these feminine virtues
replicate the charity and piety of women in the Hebrew and Christian
Bibles. Biblical representation of repentant females personifying a simple
faith in God is also repeated in lives of women saints. A favorite motif of
evangelical authors is to castigate the rational intellect of the male apostles
by promoting the simple faith of women whose beliefin Christ is stronger
than that of the men (Mark 5.25-34, 7.24-30; Matthew 9.20-26, 15.22-28;
Luke 8.43-48; John 11.1-3, 20-44). Because ancient theology associated
women with the irrational and emotional, they were the perfect meta-
phorical representations of the purest faith in God. Faith in God, according
to the apostle Paul, stands in opposition to reliance on human knowledge:
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 45

"Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (I Corinthians
1.20). Paul uses the rhetoric of inversion to admonish those who rely on
wondrous signs or philosophy to believe in God (I Corinthians 1.22). He
proclaims that "the unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit
of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them be-
cause they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2.14). Only those who
become "fools for Christ's sake" can achieve divine wisdom. In this per-
spective, women's irrational psyches made them ideal "fools for Christ."
Evangelical authors use the simple faith of women who believe in
Christ as a foil to the apostles who often demand "signs and philosophy."
The synoptic gospels recount the famous story of the woman who touches
the fringes of Christ's garments and is healed immediately of an "issue of
blood" (Mark 5.25-34; Matthew 9.20-26; Luke 8.43-48). This healing is
an act of inclusion because Christ violates Hebrew purity laws by curing a
hemorrhaging woman (Leviticus 15.25-30), considered a social pariah be-
cause she transferred her uncleanliness to anyone or anything she touched,
to skin, clothing, bedding, and entire households. Indeed the Bible de-
signates all humans who ooze-lepers, menstruating women, and men
who discharge matter-as unclean (Leviticus 12-15). After Jesus heals the
woman who had suffered for twelve years from an issue of blood, he res-
urrects a twelve-year-old girl (Mark 5.42). In Luke, Jesus straightens the
body of a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years (13.11-13).
Jesus' healings of a menstruating woman, a young girl at the onset of men-
struation' and a postmenopausal woman signify the universal restoration
of the female life cycle. 78
Jesus' metaphorical healing of a hemorrhissa communicates the im-
portant spiritual messages of the power of faith. The gospel of Mark states
that the woman had sought the healing powers of doctors and had spent
all her money seeking a cure. Yet Jesus restores the unclean woman: "And
Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immedi-
ately turned about in the crowd and said, 'who touched my garments? ' "
The male apostles challenge Jesus: "You see the crowd pressing around
you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?' " (Mark 5.31). The trembling
woman, however, approaches Jesus and prostrates herselfbefore him. Jesus
instructs her: "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and
be healed of your disease" (Mark 5.34). Jesus shows no fear that the bleed-
ing woman has transferred her uncleanliness to his garments. He ignores
the male apostles who question his authority. The gospel thus asserts
that the power of faith overcomes all earthly healing arts. The unclean
46 Chapter 2

woman personifies pure faith in God and, although she is outside the rit-
ual boundaries of the Law, she is a recipient of the divine gift of healing.
Her simple faith rivals that of a male apostle, who distrusted the charis-
matic abilities of Jesus: "0 man of little faith, why did you doubt?"
(Matthew 14.31).
Sinful or idolatrous women in the gospels are sometimes represented
as the human manifestation of pristine faith in Christ. In Matthew (15.22-
28) a woman implores Jesus to exorcise her possessed daughter. She is a
Canaanite and therefore an idolater and enemy of the Jews; like the hem-
orrhaging woman, she lives outside the ritual confines of the Law. The
apostles, annoyed by the woman's pleading, beg Jesus to send her away,
but he heals the daughter in response to the simple faith of the mother.
The significance of the event parallels that of the healing of the woman
with an issue of blood. The Canaanite woman believes in the Messiah more
strongly than do the apostles who instinctively dismiss her plea. The gos-
pel of Mark (7.26-30) repeats the story but designates a Syrophoenician
woman as the zealous gentile convert. Finally in John (4.7-30), Jesus
converts an unnamed Samaritan woman not by performing an exorcism
but by speaking with her in public. In Ravenna, sixth-century mosaicists
chose to depict the meeting between Jesus and the woman of Samaria
(Figure I).
Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at a watering well, where he asks
her for a drink. She responds: "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me,
a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Jesus
reveals his supernatural clairvoyance by commanding her, "Go, call your
husband, and come here." She answers, "I have no husband." Jesus re-
sponds, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five
husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband." The woman
then recognizes the Son of God: "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet"
(John 4.18). At this point in the narrative, the apostles approach Jesus
and ask him why he is speaking to a woman. The Samaritan woman goes
out among her people to announce the coming of the Messiah. Early
Christian writers regarded this woman as the first missionary to the gen-
tiles."? The evangelical presentation of Christ's conversion of women-
even adulteresses-created a powerful, enduring prototype for the spiri-
tual powers of repentance and obedience."
The conversion of the Samaritan, Syrophoenician, and Canaanite
women affirms Jesus' embrace of the excluded, the triumph of divine heal-
ing over earthly medicine, and the vacillating faith of the male apostles.
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 47

Figure 1. Woman of Samaria at the well. Sixth-century mosaic. S. Apollinare Nuovo,

Ravenna, Italy. Alinari/Art Resource, New York.

These gospel stories represent pure faith in God through the conversion
of women who believe in the Messiah when the male apostles doubt. The
metamorphosis of sinful, polluted women into contrite vessels of faith
represents the possibility of the redemption of universal humanity, for if
defiled women can become apostles of God then salvation is open to every-
one. The authors of the gospels employ the rhetoric of inversion to remind
male audiences that faith depends on submission and repentance, that is,
on qualities closely associated with the simple faith of the female. The evan-
gelists represent the male intellect as a "stumbling block" to faith. Femi-
nine belief in divine power is the mirror-opposite of masculine reason.
Because women represent faith in Christ, they also personify belief in
his resurrection. The anointing of Jesus by a woman is the most significant
foreshadowing of his crucifixion in the gospels (Matthew 26.6-13; Mark
14.3-9; Luke 7.37-50; John 12.1-8). She enters the male banqueting room
with unbound hair, a style favored by prostitutes of the time. She wipes
the feet of Jesus with her hair and anoints him with ointment from an ala-
 Chapter 2

baster flask, entreating him to forgive her sins. In two of the gospels the
anointing takes place in the house of a leper. In Luke (7.39), the event
occurs in the house of a Pharisee who is scandalized that Jesus would allow
a sinful woman to anoint him: "If this man [Jesus] were a prophet, he
would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching
him, for she is a sinner." Jesus, however, rebukes the legalistic Pharisee for
being less hospitable than the contrite woman: "I entered this your house,
you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair" (Luke 7.44). In the Mark (14.6-7) and
Matthew (26.10-11) versions of the story, the male disciples question Jesus
for allowing the woman to waste three hundred denarii's worth of oil. Je-
sus reprimands the men: "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has
done a beautiful thing for me. For you always have the poor with you, and
whenever you will, you can do good to them; but you will not always have
me." He then acknowledges the act as a prophetic sign of his burial and
immortalizes the symbolic actions of the woman by stating that the gospel
shall be preached in all nations "in memory of her." 81 He admonishes the
men at the table for both their inhospitality and their inability to compre-
hend the eschatological significance of the contrite woman's deed.
Such anointing also foreshadows the role of women at Christ's cruci-
fixion, burial, and resurrection, as does the account of Lazarus in John
(11.1-44). This text also parallels Jesus' healing of defiled women inasmuch
as Hebrew purity laws decreed that dead bodies pollute those who come
into contact with them: "He who touches the dead body of any person
shall be unclean seven days" (Numbers 19.11). In John, Jesus resurrects
Lazarus who had been dead for four days. The number of days is revealing
because the ancient Hebrews believed that the soul lingered over the body
for three days before departing the earth." The mourners had entombed
Lazarus in a cave that is reminiscent of Christ's own sepulcher, with a huge
stone blocking the entrance. Jesus enters the cave where there is no odor
of death and raises the dead man. He performs this miracle because Laza-
rus's sister, Martha, acknowledges him as the Messiah: "Yes, Lord; I believe
that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."
Both Martha and Mary, who represent active and contemplative spiritu-
ality, possess a steadfast faith in the Son of God. Their mourning for Laz-
arus and their subsequent faith in Christ's ability to revive him portend the
symbolic function of women at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ."
Women representing simple faith are the principle actors in the story
of the crucifixion and resurrection. Mourning women dominate these
crucial theological passages of the New Testament both because of their
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 4-9

ancient cultural role as the anointers and custodians of dead bodies and
because of the evangelical motif of inversion. All the gospels mention the
women who stood at the cross (Matthew 27.55-56; Mark 15.4-0-4-1; Luke
23.4-9; John 19.25-27). In John (20.11-18), Mary Magdalene is the first wit-
ness of the resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and
Salome prepare to anoint the body of the dead Jesus with spices and oint-
ments (Mark 16.1; Luke 23.55-24-.1; Matthew 28.1), but angels command
the women to announce the resurrection of Christ to the male apostles. In
Mark (16.9-11) and Luke (24-.10-11), the male disciples refuse to believe
that the resurrected Christ appeared first to Mary Magdalene and the other
women. Christ later castigates males for their spiritual vacillation: "0 fool-
ish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! "
(Luke 24-.25). The spiritual message of the crucifixion and resurrection
passages repeats the motif of inversion from the vita Christi, that women
represent faith because they are the incarnations of simplicity and emotion.
Sinful women, such as Mary Magdalene and the Samaritan woman, under-
score the possibility of redemption for all of humanity; Christ's choosing
to appear to a contrite sinner, Mary Magdalene, further emphasizes the
hope of universal salvation. The dead Christ thus extends his special re-
lationship with the female sex that he had initiated during his life and
ministry.
Patristic and hagiographical texts accentuate the singular association
between the crucified Christ and repentant women. Augustine praises the
women who stood at the cross because their devotion to Christ's body
represents perfect faith in God and the resurrection." Hagiographical vitae
similarly stress the theological importance of the faithful women of the
New Testament and the symbolic connection of these women with the
dead body of Christ. Pious female pilgrims to the Holy Land sought out
the places associated with the faithful women of the Bible. The early fifth-
century traveler Egeria stood on the spot where the angel announced the
resurrection to the holy womcn.:" Melania the Younger stayed at the mar-
tyrion of Saint Phocas because it was reputed to be home of the faithful
Canaanite woman of Matthew (15.22-28).86 Paula visited the Holy Sepul-
cher and, in an ecstatic frenzy, rolled on the stone floor and licked the rocks
on which the Lord's dead body had lain."? In numerous ways, the sacred
biographies of women elevate their subjects to the status of the evangelical
female custodians of the crucifixion.
Female saints, according to their vitae, procure relics of the true cross
to manifest their special relationship with the crucified Christ. According
to a late-fourth-century sacred fiction, the Augusta Helena, mother of
50 Chapter 2

Constantine, discovered the wood of the true cross in Jerusalem." Two

centuries later, the Frankish queen Radegund obtained similar relics for her
cloister at Poitiers." Melania the Elder received from the bishop of Jeru-
salem a fragment of the lignum crucis, something which Macrina, the sister
of Saint Basil and Saint Gregory of Nyssa, wore around her neck."? The
Frankish holy woman Rusticula always carried a piece of the cross with her,
and she rededicated to the holy cross a church that had previously been
consecrated to the militant archangel, Michael." Female saints frequent
the places where biblical women manifested their simple faith, and they
care for the material remains of Christ's death. Similarly, they mourn the
deaths of contemporary Christ-like holy men, prepare their bodies for
death, and safeguard their relics." They also care for male shrines, as when
the Frankish holy woman Ingitrude regularly washed the tomb of Saint
Martin;" Although women's care for the dead was part of their larger,
pre-Christian role as custodians of familial mernory.?" the hagiographical
depiction of female saints who nurture the dead bodies of holy men is
evocative of the biblical portrait of the contrite women who prepared
Christ's corpse for burial."

Hebrew and Christian scriptures create a twofold image of sacred gender.

On the one hand, spiritual women personify unwavering faith, active
service, and repentance. On the other hand, depraved women represent
alienation from God, carnal vice, and deceit. In Hebrew discourse, the
elaborate ornamentation of female bodies symbolizes humankind's un-
faithfulness. Pauline and patristic writings on female appearance and de-
meanor adopt the Hebrew metaphor of adorned women as vessels of sin,
and contrite, austere female bodies as vessels of redemption. The patristic
theology of the cosmetic distinctively fuses the Hebrew image of the
painted woman with the Stoic doctrine of self-presentation as the outward
unveiling of interior piety or depravity. Late antique and early medieval
conciliar, monastic, and hagiographical sources foster both the Pauline and
patristic proscriptions concerning the female body and public behavior.
Veiled, repentant, somber women manifest absolute submission to divine
authority. Hebrew and Christian scripture also link women's chastity and
piety with spinning and charity. In creating archetypal representations of
female sanctity, patristic, monastic, and hagiographical sources similarly
embrace the charitable, spinning woman of Proverbs, the domestic female
servant of the gospels, and the women in Acts who finance and house the
apostles.
 Gender, Hagiography, and the Bible 51

The evangelists likewise portray Christ's conversion of polluted and

idolatrous women to proclaim the possibility of salvation for sinful hu-
manity as a whole. Women's sacred biographies further depict the conver-
sion of their heroines to the life of radical self-denial as a proof text of
ecumenical redemption. Finally, repentant women share a singular rela-
tionship with the crucified Christ; they are the custodians of his dead body
and the principal mourners of his passion. Hagiographical vitae stress this
special alliance by linking female saints with relics of the passion and by
depicting women's pilgrimages to the Holy Land and their mystical appre-
hension of the events leading to the passion and resurrection. Roman and
Frankish women nurture the bodies of Christ-like holy men and serve as
caretakers of male tombs. At the same time, and perhaps in reaction to the
exaltation of female qualities and deeds, representations of masculine spiri-
tuality positioned female sanctity as disparate from and subordinate to
male authority.
 3
The Rhetorical Uses of Clothing
in the Lives of Sacred Males

IN THE HEBREW BIBLE, GOD SENDSEzekiel a vision about the dangers of

consecrated, symbolic vestments. Yahweh instructs the prophet that "when
they [the Hebrew priests] go out into the outer court to the people, they
shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering, and lay
them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, lest they
communicate their holiness to the people with their garments" (Ezekiel
44.19).1 The warning is conveyed that the clothing of the Hebrew priest-
hood, the sole reserve of the inner sanctum of the Temple and the altar,
should not be visible in profane spaces. Hebrew sacred discourse contains
meticulous descriptions of the ceremonial dress of male altar servants. The
books of Exodus, 1 Kings, and Ezekiel include detailed regulations con-
cerning the sanctification of material objects and the consecration of those
who wear or carry them. Linen coats, turbans, caps, breeches, girdles, and
the embroidered ephod comprise the most important material embodi-
ments of the spiritual authority of the sanctified Hebrew priesthood. The
intricate ephod, the jeweled breastplate, the urim and thummim (the sa-
cred lots carried in the pouches of the breastplate), and the ceremonial
headpiece signify the power of priestly intercession, Temple sanctification,
and altar officiation (Exodus zxff, 39.lff; 1Samuel 2.28; 2 Samuel 6.14; Eze-
kiel 21.26; Zechariah 3.5). Yahweh consecrates the Hebrew sacrificial table
and all those who come in contact with it (Exodus 29.37), but divine power
destroys those men who approach the hallowed space without wearing the
proper ritual clothing (Exodus 28.43). The Temple precinct similarly re-
quires the donning of appropriate sacred vestments and the cutting of the
hair in a symbolic fashion (Ezekiel 44).
In contrast, the Christian scriptures offer very little information on
the outward appearance of Iesus and his disciples. They wear the common
attire of the Mediterranean-sandals, seamless shirts, and mantles (John
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 53

19.23; Acts 12.8). The simple clothing of the Son of God and his male vo-
taries inverts the ritualized garments of the consecrated Hebrew priest-
hood. The charismatic power of these second-covenant holy men emanates
from bodily and spiritual purity, not from altar status. The late antique
Christian hierarchy, however, gradually transformed the simple, apostolic
tunics of the gospels and Acts into a complex, ritualistic assortment of
vestments that physically embodied the unique powers (charismata) of
Christian altar servants and through which masculine sacred gender was
constructed. Male garments increasingly represented the special status of
hallowed men who dutifully served at the Christian sacrificial table. Whereas
female metaphorical clothing personified repentance and submission, ritu-
alistic male dress signified charismata and institutional authority.

Biblical Sacred Dress

In the Hebrew Bible, the adornment of women's bodies exemplifies the

spiritual chasm between apostate humankind and the divine, while the
elaborate ornamentation of the bodies of male priests represents divine
consecration and power.' Late antique and early medieval ecclesiastical
sources suggest that Christian writers appropriated Hebrew images of sa-
cred space and objects. Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel 44 advises
the adoption of special, pure garments by those who hold the sacraments."
Early medieval church councils describe the Christian altar as the Holy of
Holies." Specific canons compare the Christian clerical tonsure with the
unique hairstyle of Levite priests and claim that the lower clergy who carry
enthroned bishops to mass are like the Levites who bore the Ark of the
Covenant on their backs." Hebrew discourse therefore contributed to the
later Christian display of consecrated power through metaphorical cloth-
ing and hallowed objects."
In Exodus (28.4), Yahweh instructs the Israelites to make for the male
priests "a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban,
and a girdle." The Lord continues to specify the colors, fabrics, embroi-
dery, engravings, jewels, and shape of each garment. The ephod and the
breastplate both symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel. Aaron and his sons
are to wear these symbolic garments when they "go into the holy place"
and serve as priests (Exodus 28.5ff). The blue robe of the ephod was deco-
rated with golden bells which safeguarded the priest from demons. The
headpiece was engraved with the signet "Holy to the Lord" (Exodus
28.36). Yahweh warns that those priests who do not wear consecrated vest-
54 Chapter 3

ments when they approach the altar shall "bring guilt upon themselves and
die" (Exodus 28.43); hence, access to the sacred space surrounding the
sacrificial table demanded highly ritualized costume.
The consecration of the bodies of Levite priests involves sacrificing
animals, anointing the head with oil and garments with blood and oil
(Exodus 29.7ff). Priests must perform ritual ablutions before they ap-
proach the holy altar (Exodus 29.4, 40.30-32). Yahweh also stipulates the
size, decoration, and building materials of the Hebrew sacrificial table
(Exodus 30.1ff). Sanctification of the altar is similar to the consecration of
priestly vestments. Once sanctified through the ritual offerings, anything
that touches the altar becomes holy (Exodus 29.37). Finally, Yahweh pro-
claims the uniqueness of priestly consecration: "This shall be my holy
anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured upon
the bodies of ordinary men" (Exodus 30.31-32). Anyone who attempts to
emulate the sacred process of consecration and anoints an outsider "shall
be cut offfrom his people" (Exodus 30.33).
Yahweh also consecrates the Temple built by King Solomon and re-
veals the heavenly dimensions of the second Temple to the prophet Ezekiel
(I Kings 9.3; Ezekiel 40.5ff). Divine revelation provides the prophet with
detailed instructions for maintenance of the sacred space of the inner sanc-
tum and the altar (Ezekiel 43.18). The book of Ezekiel (43ff) uses the me-
diums of sacred space, vestments, and hairstyles to identify individuals who
are ritually pure or impure. After describing a series of ritual cleansings of
the altar, God instructs Ezekiel that the uncircumcised and aliens will be
excluded from the holy place. God commands the Israelites to separate
themselves from the gentiles by trimming their hair in ritualistic fashion
(Leviticus 19.27; Jeremiah 9.26; Ezekiel 44.20). Yahweh also stipulates the
fabrics, garments, hairstyles, and sexual status of the priests who enter
the sacred space of the altar. Special garments of linen are to be worn in
the inner court, and wool is prohibited there." When priests return to
greet the laity in the outer court, they are to remove the sacred linen gar-
ments, which are only for use in the inner sanctum (Ezekiel 44.19). He-
brew scripture thus formulates the intricate process of sanctifying material
objects and consecrating the men who wear or employ them. According to
Exodus (29.21), the Hebrew priest and his garments "shall be holy." Chris-
tianity accepts this legacy while rejecting the commandment that priestly
consecration "shall not be poured upon the bodies of ordinary men" (Exo-
dus 30.31-32).
In the Christian scriptures, rebellious second-covenant holy men don
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 55

the simple dress of Palestine. The clothing of the apostles is not sanctified
through rituals-God consecrates material objects through the agency of
the pristine bodies of Christ's spiritual brotherhood: "And God did ex-
traordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons
were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the
evil spirits came out of them" (Acts 19.11-12). Ceremonial costume does
not reveal the spiritual prowess of the apostle Paul; rather, Paul's modestly
clad body itselfis "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans
12.1), thereby radiating divine power. The humble garments of Jesus and the
apostles comply with God's commandment that consecrated men should
not reveal their holiness to the laity through their sacred garb (Ezekiel
44.19). The self-presentation of Christ's votaries is that of humble travel-
ers, as Jesus commands in Matthew (10.9), "take no gold, nor silver, nor
copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals,
nor a staff." The charismatic beggars of the Savior are to be "like men
sentenced to death ... ill-clad, and buffeted and homeless" (I Corinthians
4.8, II). Christ's itinerant preachers are the moving icons of a new spiritual
order. The gospels present them as seeking to invert the priestly hierarchy
which (under the old dispensation) displayed itself to the world in an
elaborate dress peculiar to its mission. Apostolic clothing is part of the
larger rhetorical strategy of inversion; homeless beggars who had been so-
cial outcasts are transformed into chosen vehicles of divine power." No-
where in Christian scripture is there a portrait of ritualized apparel akin to
the lavish description of the costume of Hebrew priests. The most specific
depiction of evangelical garments is that of John the Baptist, who wears
Elijah's camel-hair mantle and leather girdle (Mark 1.6). John's prophetic
dress validates Christianity's descent from the charismatic heroes of He-
brew scripture, for the Baptist is the "New Elijah" of the second covenant.
Detailed physical descriptions of Jesus of Nazareth, however, are strikingly
absent from the gospels." Jesus is portrayed in terms of what he is to be-
come, not in his mundane reality: "And he was transfigured before them,
and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light"
(Matthew 17.1-8; Mark 9.2-9; Luke 9.28-36). This sublime portrait, how-
ever, reveals only the eschatological physiognomy of the Son of God. Jesus'
earthly ignominious dress is yet another indication both of the insignifi-
cance of this world and the looming eschaton which will eradicate human-
made structures.
A handful of textual clues concerning the earthly image of Jesus and
the apostles are, however, given. Jesus' outward demeanor is that of a
 Chapter 3

simple traveler who does not stand out in a crowd (Luke 24.13-31). He
wears a seamless shirt and modest vestments (John 19.23). During the trial,
Herod clothes Jesus in "gorgeous apparel" as a mocking gesture to the Son
of God who wears the humble dress of the common people (Luke 23.11).
Likewise, the Roman soldiers reclothe Christ in a purple cloak and crown
him with thorns to ridicule his insignificant stature and presumed ambition
(Mark 15.17). Like Jesus, the apostles dress in the everyday mantles and
sandals of the Mediterranean (Acts 12.8).
The predominant fabric of the gospels is linen, which symbolizes
Christ's resurrection: "Then Simon Peter ... went into the tomb; he saw
the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not
lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself" (John 20.6-
7). Christ abandoned the linen wrappings as evidence of his resurrection,
and, like Elijah, he cast off his earthly raiment before entering paradise. In
Hebrew scripture, linen is the consecrated fabric of the Temple; in the
gospels, it represents bodily purity, righteousness, and resurrection: "The
armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure" (Revelation 19.14).
Unstained linen is, according to Christian scripture, ocular proof of sanc-
tity: "Fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints" (Revelation 19.8).
Linen is thus the unceremonial fabric of those who have transformed their
bodies themselves into "living sacrifices."
The elaborate ornamentation of male bodies in Exodus and Ezekiel
evokes the separate and unique status of those who stand by the sacrificial
table at the Temple. The common dress of Jesus , disciples, however, inverts
the decorative garb of the Levites. Jesus' followers appear as ordinary
members of the human communities they serve. Their uniqueness stems
not from ritual garments but from unblemished spirituality. In later gen-
erations, this recasting of the appropriate clothing for holy men would be-
come the basis for a male theology of the cosmetic that helped validate
Christianity within the late Roman world.

The Male Theology of the Cosmetic

Jerome used his "reclothed" aristocratic friend, Pammachius, as the herald

of the infiltration of charismatic power within the somber precinct of the
Senate. Pammachius dresses in the toga (toga pulla) of the mourning or
ignoble to signify his connection with the otherworldly authority of apos-
tolic men, and he violates the inner sanctum of Roman power by wearing
inappropriate dress. Jerome contrasts the symbolic garment of the empire,
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 57

the toga, with the austere, sordid garb of Christian ascetics in order to
dismantle the varied political functions of the secular garment. The impe-
rial Roman toga was a ceremonial dress that designated the status of the
public person. Only Roman citizens could wear the toga, which gave Ro-
man political ideals of dignitas,gravitas, and respublica visible expression.
The woolen toga was used as a swaddling cloth, a blanket, and a shroud.
The toga pulla (the dark-wool toga) was a mourning garment. Young, free-
born boys wore a toga with a red border and a special amulet, the bulla,
which signified that these youths were "off-limits for sex." 10 Adolescent
boys donned the toga virilis as a sign of their manhood. Men and female
prostitutes wore the short toga. Proper women and elderly men used the
long toga. Those who were generally regarded as "effeminate" wore the
toga vitrea, or the "transparent toga," which resembled the diaphanous
short togas of female prostitutes. Candidates for political office put on the
toga candida (the white toga). Senators wore a special imperial toga with a
purple border in the Senate. II Roman law regulated the public dress of
senators, and any senator who disobeyed the clothing ordinances was ex-
pelled from his office.'? Clothing had to display the social, political, and
economic status of the wearer because improper dress could potentially
pollute Rome.
Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria discusses the public and political cha-
risma of the "viri boni et gravis auctoritatem." 13 The political toga, accord-
ing to the first-century rhetorician, is part of the rhetorical performance of
powerful Roman males, who therefore need instruction on the proper dis-
play of stately dress.':' A well-trained politician throws the togas over his
shoulder and gestures with his left hand as he paces back and forth speak-
ing;" Quintilian specifies the amount of jewelry to be worn by dignified
politicians, the manner in which they should hold their hands, and the
proper length of the toga for various elements of Roman society: long
togas for women, medium-length for senators, and shorter ones for cen-
turions. Those men who improperly veil their bodies in public could po-
tentially be accused of effeminacy or madness.!" Proper use of the toga in
Roman political life therefore proclaims both the somber dignitas of public
men and the honor of service for the Roman respublica.
The enormous significance that the Romans attributed to the sym-
bolism of clothing helps explain Tertullian's attraction to the subject of
Christian male dress. Although most church fathers were preoccupied with
prescribing the appropriate dress of holy women, Tertullian, the great
theologian of the Christian cosmetic, launched a polemic that proclaimed
 Chapter 3

the spiritual benefits of the Christian mantle over the toga of politics. Ter-
tullian's De Pallio, written in the early third century, is a flamboyant piece
that mocks the political and rhetorical uses of the Roman toga as estab-
lished by Quintilian.!" The Christian pallium (Greek himation) was de-
rived from the rectangular long tunics and cloaks that had been the simple
dress of nonpolitical persons. IS The fourth-century council of Gangra ac-
knowledged that philosophers had worn pallia to display their contempt
for the world, and early church writers recognized this modest garment as
the evangelical dress of Christ and the apostles.'? Tertullian declares that
the Roman toga, which is complicated to interpret and burdensome to
wear, has been superseded by the humble dress of Christian holy men. He
ridicules Quintilian's meticulous instructions concerning the proper vest-
ment of the political body: the throwing of the toga over the appropriate
shoulder, the constant rearranging of its many folds, the girding of the
body underneath, and the lengthy time spent in donning the voluminous
garment.s? In contrast, the ascetic's pallium is simply thrown over the
body. Tertullian asserts that the pallium had become the signum of Chris-
tianity, the "new philosophy" of the world.
Both Tertullian's De Pallio and Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria em-
ploy the Stoic belief that the self-presentation of potent men should par-
allel their interior virtue. The Stoics were divided over what form that
self-presentation should take." On the one hand, certain Stoic philoso-
phers, such as Musonius Rufus and Epictetus, argued that a man must not
tamper with his natural appearance by adopting varied styles of dress and
hair, but should allow his hair and beard to grow long in accordance with
nature. On the other hand, Seneca reasoned that the cultivation of an un-
domesticated appearance may be only a ruse for getting attention." Men
should comply with conventional rules concerning dress and hairstyles,
but that they should not go too far in following tonsorial customs. Seneca
thus denounced those Roman patricians who plucked the hair off of their
legs, arms, and groins, because depilation of bodily hair was the fashion
of effeminates and male prostitutes. Urging moderation for the Roman
public man, Seneca warned that excessive tonsorial concern would place
a senator beyond the political pale, while an unkempt, feral appearance
would hinder the public duty of the Stoic philosopher because it would
alienate his intended audience.
Both the Stoic philosophy and Christian male theology of the cos-
metic connect self-presentation with political and charismatic power. Ter-
tullian's De Pallio follows the Stoic thought of Musonius and Epictetus in
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 59

that his treatise champions unaffected masculinity over the elaborate dress
code of Roman politicians. Early Christian ascetics donned humble, apos-
tolic dress and allowed their hair and beards to grow long as outward signa
of their contempt for the world and its hierarchies. In the Christian cos-
metic, an uncivilized appearance conveyed miraculous power and spiritual
authority.

The Sanctification of Material Objectsand Altar Vestments

The late antique church veered from the simplicity of this early Christian
ideal and gradually embellished the bodies of male priests in order to
display the unique relationship between altar servants and the divine. Be-
tween the third and seventh centuries, conciliar and papal legislation indi-
cate that the ecclesiastical hierarchy created its own form of institutional
dress. The late antique and early medieval episcopacy increased the fre-
quency of legislative church councils in both the East and the West to
address a host of issues, including sexuality and sacred clothing. The leg-
islation of these various councils is difficult to interpret because it was
piecemeal, localized, and inconsistently applicd.v' It is possible, however,
to discern a consistent episcopal ambition to create a sacred space around
the altar. In Exodus and Leviticus, Yahweh endowed the Hebrew sacrificial
table with the power to sanctify humans and objects; Christians modeled
their conception of their altar on the hallowed workings of its Hebrew
forerunner described in Exodus and Leviticus.
Christian bishops transformed the altar from a wooden eucharistic
table into a stone sacrificial table embellished with gold, silks, and saints'
relics and covered by a lavish ciborium.> In Gaul, church councils required
that the altar be anointed with chrism and blessed, that it be made of stone,
that relics be placed in it, and that the corpus Domini be positioned cor-
rectly on it. 2 5 Bishops condemned altars that had been used by heretics or
consecrated by excommunicated priests.i" Canons regulated the lower
clergy's access to space around the altar and the altar vessels." As early as
the sixth century, altar railings separated the laity from the consecrated
clergy during the celebration of vigils and mass."
Late antique theorists of sacred space equated linen altarcloths (pal-
lia) with Christ's shroud because, like the shroud, the pallia covered the
Christ crucified, who was personified by the sacrificial table. 29 By the end
of the early medieval period, the altar was linked with the physical body
and blood of Christ while the pallia represented Christ's mystical body or
60 Chapter 3

the Church. The Liber Pontificalis records the increasing ornamentation of

the "gold and silver-wrought" pallia. 30 Because altar pallia served the
function of covering the body of Christ crucified, bishops outlawed the
practice of wrapping ordinary corpses in thcm.:" The Christian altar, like
its ancient Hebrew prototype, sanctified all objects that came into contact
with it.
Bishops reserved for themselves the special privilege of consecrating
objects connected with the celebration of the eucharist. During the early
Middle Ages, service chalices (calices ministeriales), censers, patens, and
the pyx evolved as distinctive liturgical instruments. Bishops used a special
oil (oleum exorcidiatum) to exorcise demoniacs and special water basins
(aqualmanile) to wash their hands after they anointed babies at baptism."
They distributed consecrated pieces of bread (fermenta) throughout their
districts in order to unify the churches under their control. Bishops de-
creed that no consecrated vessels were to be used for profane purposes and
that non-consecrated ministers were forbidden to touch the hallowed ob-
jeers." Similarly, bishops banned the use of church furnishings for wedding
celebrations.?"
Liturgical furniture also served to separate altar servants from ordinary
Christians. Late antique Mediterranean bishops sat on special chairs cov-
ered with linen, for linen's lily-white purity symbolized righteous deeds
(Revelation 19.8) and was used in memory of Christ's burial and resurrec-
tion.:" Gallo-Roman bishops sat on thrones (cathedrae) in accordance with
the legend that Saint Peter had occupied a Roman cathedra." The Liber
Pontificalis claims that the first-century pope Clement inherited his cathe-
dra directly from Jesus through the apostle Peter."? The elevated reading
desk (ambo) magnified the power of the episcopacy, while the highly or-
nate interiors of cathedrals in Gaul contributed to the solemn ritual perfor-
mance of the mass." They were hallowed spaces, designed to augment and
emphasize the eucharistic powers of the priesthood, evoking images of
paradise with their dazzling lights, gorgeous hangings, and resplendent
decorations."?
The most significant use of material culture to define unique spiritual
status was the creation of a specific kind of sacred dress and hairstyle for
those who celebrated the eucharist and moved within the sacred spaces of
Christian churches. Certain items of ceremonial clothing and objects re-
called particular events from the vita Christi. The deacon's pallium (pal-
lium linostinum) was worn over the left arm as a reminder of the towel
with which Jesus had washed his disciples' feet."? Sixth-century Easter vest-
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 61

ments were decorated with linen bands in memory of Christ's burial and
resurrection." The late antique papacy gradually began to regulate the
garments that were to be used only in liturgical rites. Pope Stephen I (254-
257) mandated that priests and deacons should not use their consecrated
clothing for ordinary work outside of the church." Pope Eutychian (274-
282) required special dress for burials." Pope Silvester (3 14- 335) distin-
guished between the clothing worn by deacons in the church and that
worn by priests and bishops.v' The Council of Agde (506) compelled
priests to wear vestments, shoes, and even hairstyles that would distinguish
them as pristine altar servants." Such distinctions had become so elaborate
by the fourth and fifth centuries that differences between the consecrated
and non-consecrated were vividly conveyed by ecclesiastical vestments.
Symbolic dress became the primary way to distinguish rank, and cere-
monial vestments themselves developed into the material reflection of the
ecclesiastical "ladder of ascent" (cursus honorum). Pope Silvester estab-
lished a complicated hierarchy based on eucharistic status (reader, exorcist,
acolyte, subdeacon, guardian of the martyrs, deacon, priest, and bishop)
that is reminiscent of the Roman cursus honorum. Subsequent church
councils clarified the age and education level required for each clerical of-
fice.:" During the third and fourth centuries, bishops isolated themselves
from the proliferation of minor church officials by claiming apostolic and
prophetic descent as well as by creating a distinctive material culture that
included dress, furniture, and signa of office."? Church councils began to
dictate the presentation of rank through symbolic vestments."
The fourth-century Council of Laodicea allowed only the major or-
ders to wear the forerunner to the stole, the orarium, although there was
a difference between the deacon's orarium and the oraria of priests and
bishops."? The orarium of the high clergy was a scarf-like object worn
around the neck as an ornament of rank. The deacon's orarium, however,
was transformed into a linen towel worn over the right shoulder as indica-
tive of the diaconate's service function. 50 Church councils stipulated that
no official below the rank of deacon could put on the orarium. In sixth-
century Gaul, a council forbade monks to wear oraria." Indeed, the in-
creasing distinction between monastic and hierarchichal dress parallels the
subordination of the cloister to episcopal power. 52 Sixth -century bishops
announced they would imprison priests who ignored the conciliar decrees
and continued to wear secular clothing and carry weapons. 53 Ecclesiastical
vestments became, like the Roman toga, the outward representation of the
rank and piety of public men.
62 Chapter 3

The pallium or himation, which developed into the paramount cere-

monial vestment, eventually became the mark of an archbishop in the early
Middle Ages.v' Its adoption by the church hierarchy was reinforced by late
antique depictions of Christ, the apostles, and even Moses in the pallium.
A popular cloak worn throughout the Roman Empire, particularly by phi-
losophers and intellectuals, the pallium served as a material representation
of the motif of inversion embodied in evangelical discourse. This common
cloak of the Mediterranean personified both the universal nature of the
church and its specific origins among the charismatic poor of Judea. Gradu-
ally another type of cloak, the heavy woolen paenula; replaced the pallium
as an ecclesiastical mantle, which was reduced to a circular scarf decorated
with six violet crosses." In this form, the Roman pallium lost all connec-
tion with its original function as a cloak and became instead a church
vestment that represented episcopal authority. By the sixth century, the
pallium had become a sacred garment, the threads of which were regarded
as capable of working miracles. 56 The Council of Macon (585)decreed that
archbishops must wear the pallium while they recite the mass. 57 Eventually,
all archbishops were required to petition the papacy for the privilege of
wearing the pallium, which had become the symbolic dress of metropoli-
tan bishops.
Christianity inherited the practice of ritualistic hairstyle from the an-
cient Hebrews, who had used hair to indicate ritual purity and separation
from neighboring religions by developing styles specific to the Hebrew
gens and to sacred functions of priesthood. Long hair was forbidden in the
Temple for trimmed hair signified repentance (Ezekiel 44.20). Conse-
crated Hebrew priests were not allowed to let their hair hang loose (Leviti-
cus 21.10), and Temple ordinances prohibited men from shaving their
heads.
For late antique Christians, the ultimate distinction between the or-
dained-and the ordinary was the tonsure and, by the sixth century, it had
become the signum of the angelic life for men in the West. 58 The tonsure
first appeared in Rome in the sixth century, sanctioned by Paul's advice on
short male hairstyles as well as by popular legends that Peter had been
shorn by Christ or had demanded to be tonsured as a sign of his humility. 59
By the seventh century, the tonsure was such an important symbol of reli-
gious status that the Celtic and Roman churches fought over its exact con-
forrnation.?" In the early-eighth-century life of the Anglo-Saxon bishop
Wilfrid of York, a Gallic archbishop cuts the Anglo-Saxon's hair in the form
of a tonsure to commemorate "the crown of thorns which encircled the
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing

head of Christ." 61 Throughout the Middle Ages, the tonsure remained the
most striking emblem of masculine religious status, required of any man
upon entering the highest ecclesiastical offices.
Early medieval artisans designed special liturgical combs to be used
only by altar servants. After a priest or bishop donned his vestments, he
combed his hair with the ritual instrument, thereby symbolically reorder-
ing the divine cosmos before the act of consecrating the eucharist." At
Durham, the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon ascetic and bishop Cuthbert
was buried with a pair of scissors and a comb to commemorate his "eternal
tonsure." 63 Hallowed hairstyles, ritualized dress, and liturgical objects
therefore served to elevate altar servants from the multitude of ordinary
believers and even from unordained holy men.
The outward manifestation of the authority of priests and bishops
sheds light on the subtle differences between eastern and western attitudes
concerning institutional and extra-institutional power. In the early medi-
eval West, members of the male hierarchy segregated themselves from the
laity through symbolic dress and hair. Ritualistic clothing and hair served
the western episcopal hierarchy as the outward symbols of apostolic descent
and institutional authority against the charismatic power and unregulated
dress of individual holy men. In the East, however, the individual charisma
of the ascetic remained the model for power and local patronage.?"
The symbolic meaning of clothing provides an excellent guide for
measuring the tension between East and West concerning the role of as-
ceticism and authority. When the iconoclastic Emperor Constantine V
(7+1-775) aspired to usurp the power of the eastern church, he attacked
the authority of ascetics who remained outside its institutional hierarchy
by stripping them of their unique dress, the monastic schema, and by forc-
ing them to put on wedding clothes as a symbol of their reintegration into
the world.:" Constantine denounced the schema because this rough tunic,
rather than episcopal office, had imbued the eastern holy man with spiritual
authority.v" In Italy, however, Byzantines assailed the western church by
stripping the pallium from the Roman pontiff Silverius (536) and recloth-
ing him in a monastic habit."? This nicely captures the contrasting perspec-
tives toward clothing and authority in Constantinople and Rome: in the
East, removal of the monastic schema meant the eradication of extra-
institutional power whereas in the West donning the monastic habit emas-
culated the wearer and annihilated his political power.?"
The western episcopacy successfully absorbed the charismatic dress
and persona of the Hebrew prophet and desert ascetic while carefully de-
 Chapter 3

lineating the hierarchical relationship between ascetic and bishop. As ad-

ministrative officials, bishops expressed the vita activa through charitable
acts, missionary work, estate management, and public construction pro-
jects.?? Simultaneously, their claim to apostolic descent recast them as the
heirs of Hebrew prophets and priests, thereby merging their administrative
responsibilities with the spiritual prowess of powerful holy men, such as
Elijah and Elisha, who had remained outside the traditional Hebrew priest-
hood. This sacred lineage led to the theological tenet that the Christian
bishop had become an earthly conduit to God and a chosen receptacle for
the Holy Spirit. Bishops possessed the spiritual gifts of the apostles, such
as the ability to discern spirits and to prophesy; they counted the angels
among their friends and benefactors; and, by the sixth century, they held
the more radical charisms of healing, exorcism, resurrection, andglossolalia
(I Corinthians 12).

The Masculinization of Sacred Space

A crucial consequence of this unique melding of bureaucratic and charis-

matic power was the gradual but decisive marginalization of laymen and all
women from sacred space."? Late antique and early medieval bishops cur-
tailed women's access to ecclesiastical offices, male altar servants, liturgical
objects, and the altar itself. Laymen and women were required to wash
their hands before they entered the sacred space of the church, and women
had to wrap their hands in linen cloth before they received the eucharist."
A campaign for clerical celibacy in the early medieval West was part of
this program. Episcopal councils sought to remove females from proximity
to the daily lives of hierarchical men whose virginal status reflected the
imago Dei. Conciliar legislation repeatedly argued that no woman could
share a household with a male member of the major orders. Bishops' wives,
or episcopae, were the primary targets of sixth-century legislation.'? They
were required to be celibate themselves, they were expelled from the epis-
copal hierarchy, and they were not allowed to remarry." The language
used to describe this refashioned relationship between cleric and wife was
that of "brother and sister." 74 Any transgression of the spiritual kinship
between episcopus and episcopa was defined as incestuous. The Council of
Tours (567) ousted all women from the households of men, acknowledging
that it was better for clerics to make their own vestments than to allow
female "serpents" into their homes." Eventually this strict separation of
non-kinswomen from the major orders filtered down into the minor ones.
The uncompromising legislation of the Council of Macon (585) required
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing

the wives of members of both the major orders (deacons, priests, and bish-
ops) and the minor orders (subdeacons, acolytes, lecturers, and exorcists)
not to remarry after the death of their husbands. If these widows did marry
again, they were handed over to a woman's monastery for life."? Thus what
began as an attempt to regulate the number of times clerics could see their
wives or how many witnesses were required when they spoke to one an-
other ended in a total exclusion of non -blood kin from the living quarters
of clerics. Women had to be kept away from clerics because the female sex
possessed the power to corrupt sacrificial priests and to defile the body and
blood ofChrist. 77
Women who had been admitted to the sacred ministry also became
the objects of similar papal and conciliar prohibitions." Pope Gelasius de-
clared that women who presume to minister at the altar usurp the rightful
offices of meri." Merovingian councils abolished the female diaconate,
thereby ignoring scriptural precedent and Paul's praise of his own women
friends who were deacons. The episcopacy also revoked the pastoral order
of widows,"? The Gallo-Roman episcopacy stressed that women's delicate
nature rendered them unsuitable for even the lowest ranks of the major
orders." The repeated attempts to eradicate women's participation in pas-
toral works reflects the masculinization of the ecclesiastical cursus honorum
and of the space around the sacrificial table. 82
Several councils resolved to remove women from the hallowed space
of the altar. The fourth-century Council of Laodicea ordered women not
to approach the altar." The Council of Tours (567) clearly separated the
area around the eucharist from the rest of the church, and stipulated that
laymen and women could not approach the area between the cancelli and
the altar." The protracted Council of Auxerre (56r-605) regulated the li-
turgical behavior of the clergy and restricted women's access to sanctified
objects. The most famous canons prohibited women from receiving the
eucharist in their bare hands and from touching the altar cloth (palla Do-
minica ).85 This policy reinforced a fifth-century papal prohibition on
women and nuns touching and washing the pallium or placing incense
within the sacred space of the church;" Sacred sex segregation influenced
the architecture of medieval nunneries, which housed a specialized liturgi-
cal space for male priests, the sacristy."? The sanctification of the Christian
altar, like its ancient Hebrew prototype, depended on the exclusion of the
non-consecrated from the sacred boundaries of the sacrificial table. In ad-
dition to the architectural separation of the sexes, there were also gender-
based liturgical divisions. Early Christian sources reveal that there existed
male and female rites of baptism and exorcism. Ancient baptismal rites for
66 Chapter 3

girls emphasize certain biblical texts, such as the gospel account of Mary
Magdalene in the garden with the resurrected Christ;" The Gelasian Sa-
cramentary contains sex-specific blessings for women and men who enter
the monastic life and sex-specific prayers of exorcism.s" There may have
been special sections of churches consecrated for women, such as the ma-
troneum:" Architectural historians and archaeologists have theorized that
the Byzantine basilica Hagia Sophia reserved the second -floor gallery for
women, leaving the ground floor for the men.?'
Hagiographical sources also stress the ritualistic separation of the
sexes. The sanctified soil surrounding the pillars of stylite saints functioned
similarly to the consecrated space of a church altar. Inasmuch as Symeon
Stylites displays his body as that of Christ crucified, his pillar symbolically
serves as a kind of sacrificial table. Divine justice, therefore, strikes down
women who approach Symeon's figurative pillar-altar." Other male saints
praise women who avoid meeting them in person.?" Saint Augustine, ac-
cording to his hagiographer, forbade women, including his sister, who was
prioress of a convent, from entering his episcopal domus." God miracu-
lously unites the tombs of bishops and their wives whose marriages had
remained chaste as a signum of their numinous spirituality. Celestial power,
however, destroys the wives of bishops and priests who violate conciliar
legislation by attempting to seduce their husbands or by penetrating the
virginal, masculine space of the episcopal domus. Hagiographers manifest
the virginal purity of male saints by asserting that demons attack depraved
women who audaciously attempt to spend the night in their holy shrines.
God miraculously establishes the innocence of bishops who are accused
falsely of transgressing their vows of chastity and indicted for fathering
children. Gregory of Tours in his Glory of the Confessorsacknowledges that
the wife of one priest broke church law by entering her husband's bed-
chamber to defile him. When she crossed the threshold of his holy cell,
however, she saw a shimmering agnus Dei on his chest, a vision that con-
vinced her to submit to episcopal legislation." Such sacred fictions fur-
thered conciliar legislation and accentuated the increasing estrangement of
the consecrated servi Dei from ordinary men and all women.

The Rhetorical Usesof Clothing in the Lives of Martin of Tours

and Germanus of Auxerre

As the Christian hierarchy refashioned itself in the imago Dei and under-
scored its distinction from mundane society through symbolic clothing,
ritualistic hairstyles, material objects, and sacred space, Gallo-Roman sa-
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing

cred biographies of bishops increasingly stressed the charismatic and anti-

institutional origins of the episcopacy. The empowerment of late antique
holy men parallels the sanctification of institutional clothing. Two saints'
lives, the vitae of Martin of Tours and Germanus of Auxerre, demonstrate
how clothing was used in popular texts to exemplify the separation of the
new Christian administration from its pagan roots as well as the appropri-
ation of ascetic authority by the western episcopacy without the sacrifice
of active political power.
The most treasured religious story in medieval France was that of
Martin of Tours at the gate of Amiens clothing a beggar by dividing his
soldier's cloak (Greek chlamys, Latin paludamentum) , only to discover
later that he had bestowed his garment on Christ himself'?" This tale was
recorded in countless works of medieval and modern art, including altar
pieces, embroideries, and reliquaries. Martin's chlamys is no ordinary cloak,
for it was worn by the most important Roman secular officials, emperors,
and military officers, and never by Christian officials." The chlamys is the
same kind of garment that Roman soldiers had dressed Jesus in before the
crucifixion (Matthew 27.28).98 Thus the soldier Martin's reclothing of
Christ in the chlamys reverses the earlier cruelty of the Romans. Indeed,
when Martin returned to camp, his fellow soldiers derided his mutilated
garment, as centuries before their pagan counterparts had ridiculed Jesus
in his mock chlamys.
In his sacred fiction Martin mangles his military dress as a signum of
his future vocation. As Christ's "reclothed soldier," he renounces physical
weapons in favor of supernatural ones, such as the sign of the cross, sack-
cloth, and ashes. As a bishop with wild hair and a sordid hairy tunic, Mar-
tin's physiognomy, miracles, and masculinity recall the prophets, apostles,
and desert hermits. His physical presence is so awe-inspiring that, as he
travels the roads of Gaul with his "shaggy tunic and black coat ... swaying
to and fro," his charismatic appearance frightens important officials." Lo-
cal communities in Gaul identify Martin as an apostle because of his
"poverty-stricken clothing." 100 Sulpicius Severus, the saint's hagiographer,
describes Martin in such allegorical terms so that his audience would natu-
rally regard the saint as belonging to the same lineage as Elijah, John the
Baptist, and the great desert fathers. 101
The holy Martin's popular image as a prophet and bishop, promul-
gated through literary and artistic replicas, marks a transitional period in
the history of Christian dress and institutional power. It is highly signifi-
cant that, even though Martin possesses all the charismatic qualities of a
great ascetic, he is nevertheless safely and firmly ensconced within the epis-
68 Chapter 3

copal hierarchy. Sulpicius's vita uses clothing to emphasize Martin's break

with the secular past through his rejection of official Roman dress, while at
the same time the hagiographer portrays Martin as taking on Roman-like
public responsibilities as a vigorous pastor, a charitable nurturer, and a lo-
cal governor. Moreover, by the sixth century Martin's image as a hierarchi-
cal servant overshadowed his apostolic charisma; he is described as wearing
the garments of a bishop rather than the fetid mantle of an ascetic.':"
The other important vita from late antique Gaul, that of Germanus of
Auxerre, portrays the charismatic bishop as heir to apostolic and Hebrew
power through the metaphorical use of changed dress. Germanus, like
Martin of Tours, renounces his commitment to secular life by transforming
his official Roman dress. Germanus's monastic hagiographer, Constant ius
of Lyons, uses elements of material culture to describe the conversion of
this Gallo-Roman lawyer. Like many of the aristocratic male saints of the
fifth and sixth centuries, Germanus joined the ecclesiastical hierarchy after
having served as governor (dux) of a Gallic province. To accentuate Ger-
manus's conversion from a worldly leader to a Christian one, Constant ius
provides evocative details concerning his dress, furniture, and eating hab-
its. Bishop Germanus wears a hair shirt under his tattered tunic and hooded
cloak (cucullus), and he sleeps on an "Egyptian" bed made of pieces of
sacking spread over rough wooden planks cemented with ashes. He uses
his general's cape (sagulum) as a blanket.l'" He never removes his clothes,
not even his girdle and shoes, and he always wears a reliquary around his
neck. His diet of barley bread made from ashes is more rigorous than that
of an ordinary monk."'" As in the Vita Martini, the perversion of official
civil dress is a signum of ascetic vocation and abrogates the secular past.
And, like Martin, the wretchedly dressed Germanus remains a public man
who serves as a Christian official, travels as an ecclesiastical diplomat, and
establishes official ties with ruling elites in Italy, Gaul, and Britain.
Most hagiographical vitae of late antique and early medieval bishops
emphasize regenerated power through outward appearance. In his De Pal-
lio ; Tertullian championed the feral appearance of Christian ascetics over
the clothed dignitas of Roman politicians. In hagiographical texts, God
grants exceptional holy men the right to wear only the "bristles of the
body" in imitation of prelapsarian nudity. lOS In Gregory the Great's life of
Benedict of Nursia, the papal hagiographer substantiates the cenobite's
prophetic charisma by describing Benedict's tenure as an anchorite at Sub-
iaco. According to Gregory, when shepherds discovered the holy man in
his cave dressed in skins, they identified him as a wild animal. 106 The didac-
 Rhetorical Uses of Clothing

tic message of the passage is clear: before becoming the abbot of a monas-
tery, Benedict had existed on the farthest periphery of society, as had his
prototype, Elijah. Gallo-Roman hagiographers claim that Martin's monks
at Marmoutier wear Elijah's camel-hair mantles, and they describe future
bishops as Hebrew prophets. 107 The physiognomy of celebrants of the holy
eucharist mirrors the shining face of the transfigured Christ; ordinary
mortals glimpse the Holy Spirit upon the faces of the ecclesiastical hierar-
chy. When these custodians of Christ's body preach, laymen and women
see angels speaking into their ears.'?" Balls of fire ascend from the heads of
altar servants, and future holy men are born with tonsures.J?? Early medi-
eval saints' vitae both vividly and subtly unite the charisma of uncivilized
holy men with western episcopal authority.
Hagiographical discourse also conveys the lesson that local commu-
nities should respect the ceremonial dress of consecrated men. Divine
power punishes the spiritually depraved who abuse the garments of the
episcopacy. Gregory of Tours's vita of Bishop Nicetius of Lyons, which
contains an unusually detailed description of the ceremonial dress of Me-
rovingian bishops, gives an example of such punishments. After Nicetius's
death, an episcopal rival distributed the dead bishop's garments, just as
Roman soldiers had divided Christ's clothing. The bishop gave Nicetius's
cape (cappa), which possessed supernatural power, to a degenerate deacon,
who fashioned it into socks for himself. A demon, however, persuaded the
deacon to stick his legs in a fire, upon which both the deacon's feet and the
sacrilegious socks were consumed.P? Gregory's other hagiographical nar-
ratives contain similar incidents of divine retribution for desecration of sa-
cred clothing. For example, five thieves stole hallowed vestments and
liturgical vessels from the shrine of Saint Saturninus in Clermont.'!' Four
of the plunderers were killed soon afterward, and God blinded the remain-
ing thief, who eventually returned the holy objects and regained his sight.
Sacred biographers thus instructed Christian audiences in the West
that holy hair shirts and altar cloths possessed substantial spiritual power.
In focusing on garments and other accoutrements, hagiographical dis-
course used material culture to draw firm lines that incorporated the repen-
tant in the community and excluded the unrighteous. At the same time,
that discourse made it clear that the hierarchy of the church, dressed in sym-
bolic vestments, had the responsibility of supervising all of Christian life.

To change one's condition was to change one's clothes. To renounce

profane ambitions and embrace new spiritual obligations called for exterior
70 Chapter 3

signs of inner renewal.U? The lives of Martin of Tours and Germanus of

Auxerre employed the motif of changed dress to assert the charismatic
origins of the episcopacy. Within a few generations, however, the reality of
episcopal dress was very different from Sulpicius Severus's depiction of
Martin of Tours as the Gallic Elijah in a hairy mantle. By the fifth century
the western hierarchy had constructed a distinctive administrative dress-
the pallium, orarium, dalmatica, paenula-to embody the responsibili-
ties of the vita activa. The piecemeal development of complex liturgical
vestments communicated and enhanced the power of those who per-
formed the sacrificial action of the sancta misteria. The image of the cere-
moniously clad bishop informed western Christian audiences that ascetic
power had been subsumed by episcopal authority, while hagiographical
accounts demonstrated to them that the institutional power of bishops
had roots in the charisma of sacred males. The outward transformation
of the bodies of holy men signified the suppression of earthly ambition
and the birth of a spiritual power which united the charismatic and the
institutional.
The institutional separation of church officials from non -sanctified,
ordinary men and all women was manifested by the increasing sanctifica-
tion of all objects associated with the eucharist and the altar. Individual
male ascetics who did not assume public responsibilites, as did Martin
and Germanus, were also rigorously excluded from the church hierarchy.
Church councils prohibited women's access to offices, objects, and persons
sanctified by promixity to the body and blood of Christ. Consecrated
things, persons, and spaces were set against those regarded as profane or
polluted.'!" This ritual process reflects (and descends from) He brew con-
ceptualizations of sacred space that strove to isolate the sacred from the
profane. As bishops were increasingly consecrated as "God's anointed" and
"virginal administrators," women's authority within the church declined,
as did the authority of individual holy men who stood outside the hierar-
chy.'!" Conciliar legislation, monastic regulae, liturgical texts, and hagio-
graphical vitae contributed to the creation of a unique, male consecrated
space that protected virginal men from the temptations of the flesh. Chris-
tian priests, like their ancient Hebrew prototypes, became members of an
exclusive order distinguished by sacred dress, hairstyle, consecrated ob-
jects, and sexual status.
 4
God's Holy Harlots
The Redemptive Lives of Pelagia of Antioch
and Mary of Egypt

IN CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE,JESUS, LIKE ELIJAH and Moses before him,

purifies himself in the terrifying desert, and the wasteland of Palestine pro-
vides the battleground for Christ's warfare with Satan: "Then Jesus was led
up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he
fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the
tempter came to him" (Matthew 4.1-3).1 In the Hebrew Bible, Moses so-
journs in the deserts of Sinai in order to receive God's written revelation to
the Israelites (Exodus 34.28). Elijah renews his spiritual potency in the wil-
derness around Mount Horeb, where angels nourish him while he rests
under a broom tree (I Kings 19.4-8). John the Baptist, who dresses in the
charismatic garb of the prophet Elijah, preaches the urgency of repentance
in the remote Jordan Valley before the looming eschaton (Matthew 3.1-
17). 2 These four prototypical charismatic holy men all trusted in the soli-
tary desert as the place of purgation, prophecy, and spiritual warfare. Four
centuries after the crucifixion of Christ, Christian holy women and men
also sought spiritual perfection in the deserts of Syria and Egypt.
The vitae of ascetic women and men reveal the theological messages
central to any understanding of Christian desert spirituality." Hagiogra-
phers recast the desert as a sacred terrain, where. emaciated hermits recreate
Christ's passion through ascetic practices. In return, God endows both
female and mate bodies with salvific powers." Hagiographers constructed
spiritual models of anchorites of both sexes to feature the theology of the
crucifixion. Christ's sacrifice on the cross initiated both the expulsion of
evil from the world and the rehabilitation of sinful humanity. Male desert
vitae dramatize the militant aspects of this soteriology. The stalwart desert
fathers purge the world of demonic influence, acting as militant guardians
of humankind. The vitae of desert men chronicle the metamorphosis of
72 Chapter +
male flesh from dust to spirit, from Old Adam to New Adam (I Corinthians
15.+5-+7). The lives of enshrined female penitents as recounted by their
sacred biographers underscore the restorative powers of the cross. Women
alienated from God (Genesis 3.6) can be reconciled to the Creator through
an impassioned ascetic regime and self-entombment. Such females serve
as mediators of human salvation; they atone for the sorrowful life of the
postlapsarian Eve. The lives of desert men therefore reflect the super-
natural spirituality of Christ and the prophets, while women's vitae hu-
manize the militancy of desert asceticism and preach the necessity for
universal repentance.

Apocalypse and Repentance in the Desert

The desert symbolically became the mother of the fourth- and fifth-
century ascetic movement: "For more are the children of the desert than
the children of the married wife" (Isaiah 5+.1). The caves, hilltops, and
constructed cells of the Egyptian and Syrian wasteland housed desert ma-
triarchs and patriarchs whose heroic self-abnegation transformed them
into legendary models of repentance and spirituality. Inasmuch as Chris-
tian hagiographers viewed the desert as an eschatological paradise free
from mundane hierarchies, they adapted both holy women and men to
biblical portraits of Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist.
Hagiographical depictions of the anchorites' dwellings, askesis, and
salvific powers, however, belie the different theological strategies of male
and female vitae. Certain holy men inhabit the natural landscape that was
created by God before the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden.
The omnipotent Syrian and Egyptian anchorites dwell in the wilderness,
in places such as ditches, bogs, and groves. Abba Elias survives for seventy
years on the side of a remote mountain: "He had his seat under a rock in a
cave, so that even the sight of him was very impressive." 5 Elias is portrayed
as a prelapsarian being who "does not live in shrines made by man, nor is
he served by human hands" (Acts 17.2+-25). Similarly, the Syrian holy
man, Julian, lives in a cave "not made by hands." 6 Macarius of Alexandria
sits naked in the Egyptian marshes." Abba Macedonius crucifies his flesh
in a pit. 8 James of Nisibis roams the Syrian hilltops in imitation of Elijah.
In the spring and summer he lives in forests, while in the winter he retires
to a cave. He refuses to make fires, thereby rejecting a fundamental skill of
civilized humanity." The lifestyles of holy men prove they are spiritual be-
ings who have returned to the divine landscape created in Genesis (1.9).
 God's Holy Harlots 73

God grants them the power of subduing ferocious beasts because, like
Adam (Genesis 1.26), hermits possess dominion over the animal kingdom. 10
Other desert fathers imitate the passion and resurrection of Christ in
human-made sepulchers. ll The Syrian Abba Limnaeus constructs a tiny
cell out of unmortared stones, sealing the door with mud. He reconciles
the diseased and the possessed to God's grace, and he blesses pilgrims
through a window. Athanasius's Life of Antony represents the saint morti-
fying his flesh and immuring himself in a tomb. The holy man engages in
such fierce demonic combat that he collapses on the floor of his sepulcher.
He finally emerges from the shrine with a new, spiritual body that is the
physical manifestation of the apostle Paul's pronouncement, "it is sown a
physical body, it is raised a spiritual body" (I Corinthians 15.44). Antony
transforms himself into the New Adam or Christ through his rituals of self-
abnegation, and, in return, God grants him the martial power of the
cross-the power to bind and loose souls. The Life of Antony is thus a
metaphorical re-creation of the passion, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Angelic recluses, like Antony, who roam the wilderness are mistaken for
heavenly beings, just as the apostles Paul and Barnabas had been wrongly
identified as Hermes and Zeus by the inhabitants oflconium (Acts 14.12). A
paralyzed beggar acknowledges Abba Agathon as a celestial being: "Rais-
ing his eyes, [the beggar] saw no man; [Agathon] was an angel of the
Lord." 12 Abba Antony is such a visible icon of the faith that merely the
sight of him insures salvation;" Abba Eustathius's asceticism transforms
his body into that of Christ crucified, for he is so emaciated that "the sun
shone through his bones." 14 Certain hermits engage in such fierce askesis
that they no longer appear to be human. Abba Adolius's excruciating mor-
tification and intense vigils led to the suspicion that he was a monster. 15
Abba Ammonius brands his flesh, Abba Julian reduces his body to skin and
bones, and Abba John's swollen feet split because he never sits down.!"
Other fathers resemble biblical heroes. With his long beard and graceful
body, Abba Arsenius looks like Jacob; his continuous weeping causes his
eyelashes to fall out.!" Desert patriarchs, like their Hebrew counterparts,
outlive ordinary mortals because they no longer share human notions of
time. Abba Cronides lives to the age 110, Abba Elias to 100, and Antony
himself lives to 105.
The ascetic transformation of the male body from dust to spirit equips
holy men with the militant powers of the cross and the apocalyptic prow-
ess of the Archangel Michael, who battled a fierce serpent in the desert:
"Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the
74 Chapter 4

dragon .... And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan" (Revelation 12.7-9 ).18 The Egyptian
monks constitute a band of warrior-angels who safeguard humanity from
demonic reptiles. According to one text, an entourage of desert pilgrims
beheld the tracks of a large serpent. The hermit who had been guiding the
group through the wilderness dispelled their terror by explaining that "we
have destroyed many serpents and asps and horned vipers with our bare
hands, and have fulfilled in our own lives the Scripture which says, 'I gave
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy'" (Luke 10.19 ).19 Desert hagiographers develop a martial
vocabulary to describe the celestial training of the anchorites. The hermits
are likened to an army expecting its emperor, to a legion of angels, and to
serpent-slayers who spit on demons. The barren landscape houses these
godly soldiers, who cross pathless mountains by reading the stars. They
collect water by sponging dew off rocky peaks, and they test their strength
by destroying demons lurking in caves.
Male desert vitae provide Christian audiences with superhuman ex-
emplars of Christian spirituality. The lives of the Syrian and Egyptian fa-
thers intimate that the male body is perfectible in this world, for the desert
patriarchs outlive ordinary humans and their angelic appearance manifests
their sanctity. The male hermits have returned to the prelapsarian world
where humans lived in harmony with their Creator. They re-create the
landscape conceived by God before the fall, and the most exalted male an-
chorites communicate their abandonment of human society by embracing
the natural life: "Many have not been induced to have a cave or hole or hut
or cell, but giving their bodies to the naked air endure contrasts of tem-
perature sometimes frozen by unrelieved frost, sometimes burnt by the fire
of the sun's rays." 20 Through militant asceticism, they become Christ cru-
cified whose self-sacrifice began the expulsion of evil from the world. These
God-men have "appeared like stars in the East and reached the ends of the
world with their rays." 21
In some respects the vitae of female anchorites resemble the structure
of male lives. Desert women engage in terrifying acts of self-crucifixion,
they immure themselves in claustrophobic cells, and they serve as suffering
mediators of divine grace. But whereas the lives of the lofty God-men ap-
proach celestial status on earth, most female vitae remain earthbound.
Desert hagiographers use the lives of female anchorites and cenobites to
humanize the militant spirituality of the desert and to preach the urgency
of universal repentance. Contrite, obedient women are forerunners to ecu-
 God's Holy Harlots 75

menical redemption because they atone for Eve's fall from grace." And,
like the women in the Christian gospels who instantly obey Jesus' com-
mand, female hermits personify total submission to the divine will.
Most holy women live in human-made structures, not in the open
desert. The fifth -century desert chronicler Palladius immortalized the life
of one female penitent, Alexandra, who symbolically remade herself into
the Virgin Mary. Palladius recounts, "[Abba Didymus] also told me about
a maidservant named Alexandra who left the city and immured herself in a
tomb. She received the necessities of life through a window and for ten
years never looked at a woman or man in the face." 23 Palladius's briefvita
of Amma Alexandra parallels Athanasius's Life ofAntony. Like the fearsome
Antony, Alexandra journeys into the desert and transforms a house for the
dead into her dwelling, for "death is swallowed up in victory" (I Co-
rinthians 15.54-). Alexandra, in Palladius's narrative, recounts her ascetic
experience to the famous Roman holy woman, Melania the Elder, who
comes seeking her advice through the window of the tomb. Alexandra in-
forms Melania of her own personal motivation to take up the via crucis:
"A man was distracted in mind because of me, and rather than scandalize a
soul made in the image of God, I betook myself alive to a tomb, lest I seem
to cause him suffering or reject him." 24 When Melania asks the great amma
how she endures the tedium of desert askesis, Alexandra replies that con-
stant prayer, spinning flax, and meditating on holy scripture are sufficient
to defeat the noontide demon of ennui. She merely "eats her crusts" and
awaits the death of her flesh. Alexandra dies peacefully in her cell, which is
so heavily bulwarked that the woman who routinely brought the amma
food must break down the vault to retrieve the holy body.
This terse vita presents the female anchorite as an heir to the charis-
matic piety of the desert fathers. Like the heroic hermits, Amma Alexandra
remakes a place of death into the locus of spiritual rebirth. She engages
in model ascetic behavior: continuous prayer, manual labor, and vigilant
celibacy. And, like the male recluses, she advises spiritual disciples through
the window of her cell. Palladius's description of Alexandra's conversion
to radical askesis, however, relies on a different theological purpose than
that of Athanasius's Antony. Both anchorites trust friends and servants to
bring them food, and both recluses achieve ascetic fame through their self-
entombment. Antony, however, uses his sepulcher as a temporary battle-
ground. According to Athanasius's vita, the abba survives savage attacks
by demons who appear to him in the guise of torturers , beasts, and reptiles.
His conflict with the devil is so intense that his friend who had been sup-
 Chapter 4

plying the ascetic with bread found the exhausted recluse lying on the floor
of the sepulcher as if he were dead. At the end of Antony's tenure in the
tomb, he vanquishes the devil: "The Lord did not forget the wrestling of
Antony, but came to his aid. For when he looked up he saw the roof being
opened, as it seemed, and a certain beam of light descending toward
him." 25 This saving light (aktina photos) illuminates the spiritual "wres-
tler" and decimates Satan's subordinates." After a celestial voice promises
the godly athlete that he would become famous throughout the world, he
leaves the crypt and embarks on a militant career in the open wilderness.F
The tomb offers only a transient spiritual shelter for the famous abba whose
tenure there is for the purpose of athletic training. Similarly, the Syrian
father Baradatus begins his ascetic career in a cramped cell, dwells in a
wooden coffin, and then emerges into the open air. 2 8 The tombs and cells
of holy women, on the other hand, function as the fixed places of their
piety and are symbolic of saintly women's inviolable chastity.
Alexandra's decision to immure herself in the desert, as Palladius pres-
ents it, stems from her desire to save the souls of men. Palladius's vita du-
plicates the gender precepts of sacred discourse by presenting the female
body as a source of temptation. By removing her body from the sight of
men, Alexandra works for male redemption. Thus Aroma Alexandra's self-
entombment elevates her as a salvific force within the human community."
Antony imitates the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to achieve the
salvific power of exorcism. Similarly, Alexandra's self-imprisonment is a re-
demptive act that empowers her to mediate the salvation of men. The obe-
dient Alexandra is like the Virgin Mary, who submits to divine power:
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word" (Luke 1.38). Aroma Alexandra's ascetic lifestyle, as Palladius de-
scribes, is stationary and passive. She does not fight the demonic battalions
of the wasteland but struggles in her cell against another desert enemy,
ennui. She spins flax in her crypt in imitation of the charitable, chaste
women of Hebrew and Christian sacred discourse, and there she awaits the
death of her flesh. The mortal Alexandra is unlike the God-men of the
desert who dwell in a divine landscape and move in sacred time.
Other desert women, such as the Egyptian Piamoun who settles vil-
lage disputes from the cell she shares with her mother, find the source
of their ascetic power within enclosed spaces." Syrian hagiography also
provides examples of immured women ascetics who pray, spin, and se-
clude their bodies from the sight of men. The physical appearance of these
women associates them not with the biblical patriarchs and prophets but
 God's Holy Harlots 77

with the baldness and wretchedness of the repentant "daughters of Zion"

(Isaiah 3.24-26). The emaciated Syrian mothers conceal their flesh with en-
veloping cloaks, and immense iron weights force them to creep about their
crypts in imitation of the doubled-over woman in Luke (13.11-13).31 Their
self-entombment represents militant virginity because fortified tombs make
the female body impenetrable; their Madonna-like chastity reverses Eve's
fall from grace. Enclosed spaces also point to the language of the Song of
Songs (4.12) which defines God's bride as "a garden locked, a fountain
sealed." Enshrined, penitential females do not strangle reptiles or expel
demonic legions. The fact that women can live as charismatic recluses is a
miraculous event itself, according to these metaphorical texts. The hal-
lowed lives of mournful women personify repentance and submission.
They convey that female flesh can evolve allegorically from the fallen Eve
to the immaculate Virgin. 32

Pelagia: God)sHoly Harlot

The late antique biographers of the legendary ammai, Pelagia of Antioch

and Mary of Egypt, recount how the two former harlots convert to the life
of radical self-abnegation. Mary's iconoclastic vita diverges from the stan-
dard life of an enshrined penitent, for the harlot-saint roams the Jordan
River Valley where she displays her naked body to a male priest who be-
comes her votary. Pelagia travels independently in Palestine wearing a
bishop's chiton. The lives of both harlot-saints, however, soften such pro-
vocative images by merging the biblical motif of defiled woman as instru-
ment of salvation with desert portraits of penitential recluses.
The life of Pelagia of Antioch probably first circulated orally among
fifth -century ascetics in Syria and Palestine and later became a popular li-
turgical tale of conversion. The earliest written text of the life may date
from the seventh century. There exist numerous translations of a Greek
original, including Syriac, Latin, Arabic, Armenian, and Slavic versions. 33
Latin translations of the vita were known in the early medieval West, and
the legend remained popular throughout the Middle Ages.:" An emended
version appears in Jacobus de Voragine's thirteenth-century hagiographical
collection, The Golden Legend. In Jacobus de Voragine's rendering, Pelagia
describes herself as "a sea of iniquity cresting with waves of sin ... an abyss
of perdition." 35
Pelagia's mythological biography is based on a series of other texts,
including the apocryphal lives of Mary Magdalene, martyr narratives that
 Chapter 4-

feature transvestism, and desert vitae that profile the miraculous con-
version of actresses and whores. Male desert anchorites themselves use
the image of a harlot to characterize monastic discipleship." Pelagia's
hagiographer, who claims to have been an eyewitness to the events he
describes, introduces himself in the text as a deacon named James, who
accompanied a Bishop Nonnus to a fifth-century episcopal synod held at
the church of Julian the Martyr in Antioch;" James describes Nonnus not
only as a paragon of episcopal virtue but also as a monk from the most
famous coenobium in Egypt, the Pachomian foundation at Tabennisi."
Nonnus, the hagiographer emphasizes, had been forced into the onerous
office of bishop because of his desert training and pristine spirituality.
According to the vita, Nonnus and James arrive at Antioch and join
the congregation of bishops who had assembled at the entrance of the ba-
silica of Saint Julian. The other metropolitans beg the eloquent and erudite
Nonnus to deliver the first sermon. While Nonnus is speaking, a parade of
opulently dressed actors, mimes, and slaves passes by the porch of the
church. The foremost actress of Antioch, Pelagia, sits astride an ass, her
great beauty singling her out among the debauched retinue. Gold, pearls,
and gems cover her body, and her feet and head are bare; her perfumes and
ointments drift over the seated bishops as she sinuously passes." Scandal-
ized, the holy men throw their veils over their heads and hide their faces
within the folds of their scapulas.?"
Nonnus, however, not only refuses to bury his head in his sacred garb,
he gazes intently at the exquisite woman. In an almost comical fashion, he
repeatedly questions the other bishops: "Were you not delighted by her
great beauty?" 41 When the other bishops do not reply, Nonnus mocks his
compatriots by hiding his head in a copy of the holy scripture." Because
the other bishops continue to resist the physical allure of the actress, Non-
nus brilliantly incorporates her bejeweled image into his sermon, castigat-
ing the episcopacy by comparing the meticulous care with which Pelagia
decorates her body to the work of embellishing the soul for the bride-
groom, Christ: "Why do we not adorn ourselves and wash the dirt from
our unhappy souls, why do we let ourselves lie so neglected?" 43 Afterward,
Nonnus and James retire to their rooms, and the bishop continues his dis-
course on the soul and the bridegroom from the Song of Songs.v' He la-
ments the state of his own soul in a prayer to God: "Alas, I am a sinner and
unworthy, for I stand before your altar and I do not offer you a soul
adorned with the beauty you want to see in me.":"
On the Sabbath, Nonnus preaches from the episcopal throne, or ca-
 God's Holy Harlots 79

thedra, of the bishop of Antioch. His stunning sermon causes the congre-
gation to flood the cathedral with their tears. Pelagia, who had never
before entered a church, crosses the sacred threshold and listens to Non-
nus's discourse. After Nonnus grants her an audience, Pelagia prostrates
her body before the entire synod and pleads with Nonnus to baptize her.
Nonnus assents and provides the harlot with a baptismal sponsor, the dea-
con Romana. He then exorcises and baptizes the repentant actress and
feeds her holy cornmunion.:"
After her baptism, Pelagia dons the white tunic of a spiritual cate-
chumen and moves into the house provided for the newly baptized. She
struggles with the demons of fornication and avarice and soon resolves to
leave the city for the wilderness. She bequeaths her jewels, ornate clothing,
gold, and silver to Nonnus, who distributes them to widows, orphans, and
other poor. She also frees her slaves and provides each with a gold collar."?
On the eighth day after her baptism, she removes her tunica alba accord-
ing to church custom, but violates the ritual purity commandments of
Deuteronomy (22.5) by donning Nonnus's tunic or chiton. She then flees
Antioch and travels to Jerusalem where she builds a cell on the Mount of
Olives."
Years later, Bishop Nonnus sends Deacon James to Jerusalem to locate
a famous holy anchorite named Pelagius. James makes the pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, lodges with the monks on the Mount of Olives, and eventually
discovers Pelagius's cell."? He knocks on the window and an emaciated fig-
ure with sunken eyes appears at the opening of the oratory. 50 James in-
forms the shriveled hermit that he had been sent by Bishop Nonnus. The
anchorite succinctly replies: "Tell him to pray for me." James departs for
the city inspired by the angelic face of the recluse. Once back in Jerusalem,
he learns of the holy reputation of the immured Pelagius. In response,
James returns to the cell but finds the saint dead inside the crypt. He col-
lects a number of monks who break down the cell and carry the "sacred
little body" outside. 51 As they prepare the body for burial, the ascetics dis-
cover that Pelagius is really Pelagia. This "miracle" attracts crowds of pil-
grims who marvel at Pelagia's holy life: "Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
for you have hidden away on earth such great treasures, women as well
as men." 52 Her funeral procession is an elaborate affair: "Monks came in
from all the monasteries and also nuns, from Jericho and from the Jor-
dan where the Lord was baptised, bearing candles and lamps and singing
hymns; and the holy fathers bore her body to its burial." 53 Pelagia's suc-
cessful metamorphosis into Christ crucified had deceived even the deacon,
80 Chapter 4

who questioned himself: "How could I have known her again, with a face
so emaciated by fasting?" 54
Scholars have focused on the Life of Pelagia the Harlot to explore the
symbolic function of ascetic transvestism in late antique hagiographical
literature. 55 One historian has claimed that spiritual cross-dressing was a
revolutionary act because it enabled women to "escape their social, and
indeed their biological destiny." 56 Pelagia's vita, however, presents a femi-
nized portrait of ascetic spirituality rather than a model for women to es-
cape their biological fate. Her transvestism serves as a textual device that
enables the hagiographer to explain how the former harlot journeyed alone
to the Holy Land. The topos originates in Greco-Roman adventure tales
and Christian martyr texts that feature female heroines who elude their
.male captors or guardians by traveling independently in masculine guise.
(For example, in the second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla, the ascetic
heroine, Thecla, puts on a man's chiton and travels to Myra.) 57 Pelagia's
adoption of male garb and her subsequent metamorphosis into a spiritual
eunuch is not the crucial theological issue in this text. The symbolic heart
of the vita lies in its re-creation of biblical texts which describe the meta-
phorical relationship between contrite women and spiritual men. Biblical
conversion rhetoric recasts Nonnus and Pelagia as Solomon and the queen
of Sheba, the bride and groom from the Song of Songs, Christ and a re-
pentant female sinner, and the New Adam and New Eve. The vita rein-
forces the Christian theology of the cosmetic, the necessity of universal
repentance, and the power of male altar servants to reconcile female sinners
to God.
In the Hebrew Bible, a wealthy woman visits King Solomon to test his
wisdom: "Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon
she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great
retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones"
(2 Chronicles 9.1). Solomon so astounds the queen with his brilliance that
there was "no more spirit in her" (2 Chronicles 9.4). After the queen sub-
mits to Solomon's authority, she extols his God-given power: "Blessed be
the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as
king" (2 Chronicles 9.8). She then bequeaths to Solomon countless trea-
sures, including talents of gold, gems, and spices (2 Chronicles 9.9), and
returns to Sheba. The Life of Pelagia the Harlot-with its rich retinue,
daring woman, precious goods, and eloquence evoking penitence-clearly
reconstructs this biblical passage. In the Hebrew Bible, a wise and holy
man subdues a spirited and wealthy woman; in the hagiographical retelling
 God's Holy Harlots 81

of this story, an exemplary ascetic reconciles a recalcitrant female sinner to

God's grace.
This sacred fiction is also a Christian reworking of the Hebrew Song
of Songs which describes the intense, sexual desire of a bride and bride-
groom: "0 that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth" (Song
of Songs 1.2). On the surface, Nonnus and Pelagia share an intense, erotic
passion, but the didactic intention of the author is clearly theological, not
sexual. Monastic audiences understood the erotic poetry of Solomon's
love songs as a metaphor of Christ's relationship with the individual soul
or Christ and the church. 58 In Pelagia's vita, the subtle eroticism of the
text signifies the intimate experience of divine love in the individual soul.
Pelagia's "jewels and ornaments" and her "fragrance of oils" seduce Non-
nus (Song of Songs 1.10-11,4.9-10): "His speech [which] is most sweet"
(Song of Songs 5.16) captivates the actress. Pelagia's jeweled body repre-
sents the soul adorned before God; Nonnus's "ravished heart" (Song of
Songs 4.9) personifies the human desire for God. The hagiographer thus
transforms the ecstatic dialogue between confessor and penitent into an
allegory of the soul ravished before God.
Pelagia is also the biblical harlot who represents human apostasy from
God, and Nonnus's spiritual taming of this willful woman emulates
Christ's conversion of polluted women. In the gospel of Luke (7.37-38),
a notorious female sinner enters the house where Jesus and the apostles
are dining, and she anoints Jesus' feet and washes them with her tears and
wipes them with her hair. The men at the table castigate Jesus for allowing
an unclean woman to touch him. "The Pharisee who had invited him saw
it, and he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would have known
who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a
sinner'" (Luke 7.39). Jesus rebukes the Pharisee for his inhospitality and
embraces the repentant female as a vessel of pure faith. Pelagia's vita repro-
duces this scene from Luke. When Pelagia boldly passes by the bishops
seated on the church porch, the hagiographer claims that all of the holy
men except Nonnus hid their faces in their scapulas. Like the Pharisee who
recognizes the female anointer as a notorious sinner, the synod of bishops
shuns the actress because of her reputation for debauchery. Nonnus, who
covers his head with his Bible, preaches to the others that God should be
their refuge, not material embodiments of their rank such as the scapula.
The hagiographer uses an unclean woman to castigate prideful male altar
servants, including Nonnus, who claims that "today the ornaments of a
harlot have shone more brightly than the ornaments of my soul." 59
82 Chapter 4

The former harlot's intense compunction shames the male hierarchy,

just as the passionate faith of evangelical women humbled the male apos-
tles, whom Christ rebukes as "foolish men, and slow of heart to believe"
(Luke 24.25). Pelagia writes to Nonnus that she is like the sexually depraved
Samaritan woman whom Christ converts at a well (John 4.7-39): "Will
you look upon me, as He did?" 60 When the harlot enters the church to be
baptized, she pleads with the bishop to remember Christ's compassion to-
ward sinners: "If you are a true disciple of Christ, do not reject me, for
through you I may deserve to see His face." 61 She imitates the repentant
action of the woman who anoints Jesus by washing Nonnus's feet with her
tears and wiping them with her hair in full view of the other bishops.s-
Pelagia cautions the bishop that, if he does not baptize her, he will be like
an apostate and idolater. In the Life of Pelagia the Harlot, the hierarchical
servant represents the pathway to grace, while the sinful woman manifests
the universal nature of God's love. The hagiographer employs the rhetoric
of inversion to remind Christian audiences that faith depends on sub-
mission and repentance-that is, on qualities closely associated with the
female.
The vita also presents Pelagia's metamorphosis from the fallen Eve to
the immaculate Mary. The cell on the Mount of Olives transforms Pelagia's
voluptuous body into a vessel of God's grace. The hagiographer signifies
her piety not by recounting tales of heroic warfare against demons but by
describing her withered flesh and skull-like face. Pelagia's conversion to the
life of penance is the vita's miracle. Pelagia's mythographer features her
cell, an enclosed space perfecting the process of conversion.v' Pelagia, who
personifies the bride from the Song of Songs (4.12), has now become "a
garden locked, a fountain sealed." The architecture of seclusion transforms
a body that had been open to sin into an impenetrable fortress, and Pelagia
transmutes into the New Eve and the immaculate Virgin. Although this
text features a woman who symbolically becomes a man, the vita presents
a very feminized portrait of desert asceticism. Pelagia, like the other female
recluses of the desert, mortifies her flesh to atone for the fall of Eve.
The hagiographer employs the theology of the cosmetic to further
the Eve-Mary duality. Pelagia first appears in the text as the embodiment
of feminine self-indulgence: "She was dressed in the height of fantasy,
wearing nothing but gold, pearls, and precious stones, even her bare feet
were covered with gold and pearls." 64 The woman tells Nonnus, "I was
called Pelagia by my parents but the people of Antioch have called me Mar-
garet (a pearl) because of the amount of jewelry with which my sins have
 God's Holy Harlots

adorned me; for I am decked out as a slave for the devil.Y'" Tertullian,
the great theologian of the Christian cosmetic, had claimed that Eve's ex-
pulsion from paradise resulted from her desire for ornate dress and shiny
baubles.v" The hagiographer denotes Pelagia's fallen state by the pearls and
gold that cover her naked body. She is the besotted whore from Revela-
tion (17.4): "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked
with gold and jewels and pearls." The hagiographer represents Pelagia's
conversion by reporting that she relinquishes her jewels, perfumes, and
ointments-the signa of her enslavement to sin-to the bishop Nonnus,
who exorcises the jewels and donates them to orphans, widows, and beg-
gars."? Pelagia ends her life as a withered recluse who, like a daughter of
Zion, replaces perfume with rottenness, a girdle with rope, a rich robe
with sackcloth, and beauty with shame. "Ravaged, she shall sit upon the
ground" (Isaiah 3.24-26).
Throughout the vita, the figure of Nonnus serves as the conduit of
grace and the Christ-like savior of this "New Eve." The sacred biographer
uses the anomalous image of the harlot-saint to castigate the pride of the
late antique episcopacy and to reaffirm the power of consecrated altar ser-
vants. The bishop is a Christ-like holy man whose eloquent speech per-
sonifies the power of the Holy Spirit. He preaches from the cathedra, the
symbol of episcopal authority, and his conversion of the harlot requires
the hierarchical prerogatives of baptismal exorcism and holy communion.
Nonnus obeys church law by appointing baptismal sponsors to ensure that
the prostitute will not lapse into her old life of sin. His sublime oratory
converts her, and he teaches her how to make the signum crucis to exorcize
the demons of fornication. Moreover, she initiates her life of radical self-
abnegation by donning his tunic. The vita both rebukes male altar servants
and empowers them by embracing the biblical rhetoric of inversion.
The Life of Pelagia the Harlot is built on a series of paradoxical images.
Nonnus first appears in the narrative as a Christ-like holy man, and Pelagia
disports herself as the incarnation of feminine apostasy and blasphemy. The
hagiographer describes the saintly bishop as Christ's apostle, while Pelagia
characterizes herself as Satan's votary. Nonnus officiates at the sacred altar,
but the harlot has never even crossed the threshold of a Christian church.
Her advent in the vita is a satirical re-creation of Jesus' triumphant entry
into Jerusalem: "The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem .... And Jesus found a young ass
and sat upon it" (John 12.12-14). Pelagia, in imitatio Christi, proudly
passes by the episcopal synod riding an ass. The first half of Pelagia's life
84 Chapter 4

mocks the more conventional lives of female saints who engage in exten-
sive charity, join the discipleship of important church leaders and ascetics,
and travel independently around the Mediterranean with their own reti-
nues.?" Pelagia's charity assumes a sexual form, and her admirers are lech-
erous men, not virginal ascetics. Her spirited independence stems from the
wealth she earns from lascivious acts. Her entourage includes actors and
whores, and, when she frees her slaves, she gives them golden collars, thus
parodying the iron shackles worn by ordinary bond servants. This para-
doxical vita does not offer a revolutionary portrait of female piety, but
reaffirms well-established biblical depictions of defiled women who submit
to divine power through the mediation of spiritual men. Pelagia's vita thus
highlights the restorative powers of the crucifixion by portraying the con-
version of the harlot to the life of penance.

Mary of Egypt: Vesselof Sin and Repentance

Unlike the Life of Pelagia the Harlot, the sacred biography of Mary of
Egypt departs from stereotypical portrayals of female piety. Mary's hagi-
ographer radically rewrites the biblical discourse on prophecy and charisma
by adding a spiritually potent woman to the chain of male prophets and
miracle workers. The vita, which is attributed to the patriarch of Jerusalem,
Sophronius (c. 600), is based on a series of earlier texts, including Jerome's
fourth-century Life of Paul the First Hermit/" The life also follows the
pattern established in the fifth-century desert corpus of depraved women
who castigate male pride."? Although Mary's life originates from fourth-
and fifth -century desert texts, the earliest written version may date from
the seventh century, and, like the Life of Pelagia the Harlot, the Greek text
has been translated into numerous languages. Knowledge of the vita in the
West may have been as early as the seventh century." The ninth-century
court of the Carolingian king, Charles the Bald, possessed a small vol-
ume of the Latin vita which may have been used for lay devotional pur-
poses." Mary appears in the thirteenth-century Golden Legend as a "public
woman" who "never refused her body to anyone."73 This sacred fiction
continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages as an epic story of
repentance and conversion.
The vita of Mary of Egypt is a complicated text that not only places
Mary in the roles of Christ, Elijah, and Saul but also contains stereotypi-
cal reactions to female sanctity. The hagiographer refashions the former
whore into a female Saul, for, like Saul, Mary receives loaves of bread be-
fore beginning her spiritual journey (I Samuel 10.3-4). Her independent
 God's Holy Harlots 85

life in the desert resembles the spiritual solitude of Elijah and Christ. More-
over, her vita follows the eastern model of repentance which emphasizes
the extra-institutional power of living anchorites." Mary's extraordinary
power stems not from a church office or from symbolic consecration, but
comes from her simple ascetic regime, her devotion to the Virgin Mary,
and her direct communion with God.
Mary's hagiographer characterizes her independence, piety, and ex-
treme asceticism by providing her with emaciated flesh, withered breasts,
short hair, and sun-blackened skin ..The holy woman, unlike most of her
female counterparts, lives in the Jordanian wilderness. She miraculously
crosses the Jordan River in imitation of Elisha and Jesus: "As soon as she
had made the sign of the cross, she stepped on to the water and walking
over the flowing waves she came as if walking on solid land." 75 Mary de-
scribes the harsh life of the desert to her confessor: "I was burned by the
heat of the summer and frozen stiff in the winter by so much cold." 76 She
has no access to learning, but like the greatest male heroes of the Egyptian
desert, relies on spiritual wisdom. She lives off bread and herbs, and her
physiognomy parallels that of the Son of Man in Revelation (1.14), for she
is "naked, her body black as if scorched by the fierce heat of the sun, [her]
hair ... was white as wool and short, coming down only to the neck." 77
The enervating regime of desert life is inscribed on the body of Mary of
Egypt, which resembles that of the eschatological Messiah.
It is this extraordinary physical appearance that the priest Zosimas en-
counters on a trip into the desert. Zosimas had been raised in a monastery
and his spirituality reflects the disciplined routine of the communal life.
When he is in his fifties, however, he leaves his own monastery and travels
to another coenobium located in the Jordan River Valley. The hagiographer
explains that God had led Zosimas to the Jordanian community because
it follows a strict rule. He also describes the hermitage as a training place
for charismatic prophets and master ascetics inasmuch as the monks are
required to don the tattered clothing of Elijah and graze in the desert like
the great hermits of Syria. The brotherhood's spiritual goal is "to be in
the body as a corpse, to die completely to the world and everything in the
world." 78 In order to enact this sacrificial death, the monastery requires all
its monks to leave the community during Lent and go into the desert in
imitation of Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Christ. While in the de-
sert, the holy men are to pray, keep night vigils, and live off the wasteland.
Zosimas participates in this eremitic ritual and penetrates the depths of the
Jordanian desert carrying with him only a little food and ragged clothing.
Zosimas roams the wilderness for twenty days, prays facing East, and
86 Chapter 4

sleeps on the hard ground. While he is meditating, he sees a naked, sun-

blackened female walking in the desert. His first reaction to this peculiar
human body is to make the sign of the cross to protect himself from de-
monic fantasy. In fact, the hagiographer intends his audience to view this
initial contact between male confessor and female penitent as an allusion
to Jesus' first encounter with the devil in the desert (Matthew 4.1-3). Zo-
simas decides that this unusual individual is indeed human, and he violates
his vow not to seek human contact by pursuing the unclothed woman
along the banks of the Jordan. After an exhaustive chase, the charismatic
figure turns toward Zosimas and addresses him by his name; she requests
that he clothe her in his threadbare monastic cloak. The two ascetics then
kneel together and argue over who should give the blessing. Mary reminds
Zosimas that, because he is a priest and has the power to stand by the
sacrificial table and to distribute the body and blood of Christ, he should
bless her. Zosimas responds by emphasizing that God had led him to a
"mother in the spirit" in order that he may receive a spiritual charism. The
priest also informs the amma that "grace is recognised not by office but by
gifts of the Spirit." 79 Mary acquiesces and begins praying for the holy man.
Zosimas trembles at her words, her ability to levitate while praying,
and her Christ-like power of clairvoyance. Although he still believes that
she might be a demonic fantasy, the wasted figure assures him that she is
flesh and not spirit.s? Zosimas pleads with the shriveled woman to explain
how she came to live her life for Christ "for whose sake you clothed your-
self in this nakedness, for whose sake you have wasted your flesh." 81 Mary
agrees to recount her history because, as she explains, "you have seen my
body ... why not my bare life?" Before narrating the miraculous conver-
sion of her sinful existence, the saint warns Zosimas that her life has been
the exact opposite of priests, God's chosen vessels, for she had been the
"chosen vessel of the devil." The hagiographer establishes a context for
Mary as a fallen Eve in the amma's caution to the holy man that the details
of her life will make him "run from her as from a snake." 82
Before living for over forty years as an ascetic in the Jordan Valley,
Mary experienced a life that was wholly contrary to the conventional tales
of the childhood days of female saints. She abandoned her parents at the
age of twelve-when many holy women vow marriage to Christ-and
journeyed to Alexandria. There she earned a living by begging and by
spinning flax, and offered her body for pleasure, not payment. By classical
standards, Mary was the worst kind of harlot because she engaged in in-
tercourse not from financial need but to satisfy lust. She always carried a
 God's Holy Harlots

spindle, as if to mock the distaffs of the chaste, charitable women of sacred

and classical discourse. The ex-prostitute informs the undefiled priest that
all unnatural acts were welcome to her.
Eventually Mary met a group of sailors at Alexandria's harbor who
were headed for the Holy Land to attend the festival of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross. The harlot pushed her way through the crowd of pilgrims
and, in an inversion of pious preaching, enticed the Egyptian and Libyan
seafarers with lewd language. Mary claimed that at the time her strong
desire to go with them was motivated not by religious ceremony but by
the beautiful bodies of the seamen to whom she offered her own as pay-
ment for the voyage. She, like [ezebel, led men to sin, for once she arrived
in Jerusalem, she seduced male pilgrims at the religious festivals. Mary's
journey to Jerusalem is a perverted pilgrimage, and her activities in the city
invert the Christian apostolic mission; as she tells Zosimas, "I was hunting
for the souls of young men." 83 During the festival of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross, Mary attempted to enter a church, but her polluted body was
miraculously suspended outside the sacred space, held fast by the discrimi-
nating power of a relic of the true cross. Resting in the basilica's forecourt,
she saw an icon of the Theotokos which impelled her to confess her sins to
the Virgin, weep, and beat her brcast.v' She called upon the Mother of God
as the mediator of salvation, imploring the Virgin to grant her access to the
sanctus sanctorum.
Finally, the miraculous power of Christ's Mother guided Mary's sinful
body over the threshold of the church, where the harlot "threw [herself]
on the floor and kissed the sacred dust." 85 She then returned to the icon
and vowed to remake her body into a vessel of repentance. The Virgin's
celestial voice instructed her to go out into the wilderness and cross over
the Jordan River. Mary left the forecourt of the church and walked through
the streets of Jerusalem. Her supernatural experience had so transformed
her physical appearance that, as she wandered the city, a Christian gave her
three coins and called her amma. The transfigured woman used the coins
to buy three loaves of bread and then ran out the city gate.
When Mary reached the Jordan River, she washed her hands and face
in its salvific waters, an action designed to evoke symbolic baptism and
spiritual rebirth. The amma received communion at the church of Saint
John the Baptist and then, under the Virgin's direction, she crossed the
Jordan. She had been living in the desert for forty-seven years when Zosi-
mas found her walking along the river banks. She tells the virginal monk
that during those five decades in the wilderness she had been tempted
88 Chapter 4

by memories of her former life of sin, but that a miraculous light sur-
rounded her and provided her with spiritual peace: "This light saved me
from the lusts of mind." 86 But unlike Antony's "saving light" which res-
cued the great hermit from vicious, demonic attacks, Mary's saving light
delivered her from her inherent depravity. During her generation of desert
life, Mary received neither instruction nor communion from a priest until
she encountered Zosimas. Zosimas, on hearing this "life-giving narrative,"
pleads with the holy woman to tell him more.
At this point in the narrative, the hagiographer employs the rhetoric
of inversion from the gospels in order to make a spiritual point about mi-
raculous power. A favorite motif of the evangelists uses spiritual doubters
to prove the wonder-working abilities of Christ. In the Life of Mary of
Egypt, it is not the ex-harlot who functions as the "doubting Thomas,"
but a priest, Zosimas. In Matthew (6.31-34) unfaithful men ask Jesus:
"What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?" 87 Zosimas,
in like fashion, asks the holy woman: "What have you been able to find to
eat? Have you passed this length of time without suffering? Did you not
have any food or vestments?" Mary, like Christ, convinces the doubting
Zosimas that God has mandated her ascetic and charismatic life. In her
vita, Mary becomes confessor, absolver, and prophet-all male-gendered
personifications."
At the end of the narrative, the hagiographer provides a second signifi-
cant gender reversal. Zosimas journeys again to the desert to administer
communion to Mary, only to find her dead. Zosimas responds to this dis-
covery by expressing for Mary the same piety Mary Magdalene demon-
strates for Christ (Matthew 26.6-13; Mark 14.3-9; Luke 7.36-50; John
12.1-8): "He saw the holy one lying dead, her hands folded and her face
turned to the East. Running up to her, he watered the feet of the blessed
one with tears; otherwise he did not dare to touch her. He wept for some
time." 89 The hagiographer emphasizes the intense feelings ofZosimas by
framing him in the evangelical role of Mary Magdalene and the Virgin
Mary at the cross. Zosimas anoints Mary with his tears, weeps for her, cov-
ers her with his monastic cloak, and buries her with maternal care; he dares
not touch her, just as the Magdalene was instructed not to touch the risen
Christ (John 20.17). The hagiographer represents Zosimas emotionally
identifying with the saint to the extent that he is seen to assume the per-
sona of both Mary Magdalene and Mary of Egypt. This cross-gendering
characterizes the physical intensity of Mary of Egypt's faith as masculine,
whereas Zosimas's emotional intensity is a feminine expression of piety.
 God's Holy Harlots

The gender reversals in the vita of Mary of Egypt are extreme ex-
amples of a hagiographer adhering to the Christ model in celebrating a
saint's life that could understandably be viewed as revolutionary. Mary,
unlike Pelagia, converts to the life of repentance without the aid of the
priesthood, and she lives most of her spiritual life outside the jurisdiction
of the church hierarchy. She baptizes herselfin the Jordan; her desert ask-
esisremakes her body into the eschatological image of the Son of Man. She
assumes the guise of a hierarchical servant and reduces a priest to the status
of an ascetic disciple. At the same time, however, the hagiographer also
tempers the potentially subversive message of Mary's independence from
the ecclesiastical hierarchy by introducing a male figure, the ascetic and
priest Zosimas. In fact, Mary's hagiographer makes her encounter with
Zosimas, the representative of the male hierarchy, the central feature of
the vita.
The final sections of the life underscore the salvific importance of the
eucharist. Mary begs the priest to bring her Christ's body and blood in a
"holy vessel." 90 She takes communion at the church of Saint John the Bap-
tist before entering the depths of the desert, and Zosimas gives commu-
nion to her toward the end of her life. These concluding passages also
resemble the Hebrew purification rite for female adulterers. In Numbers
(5), Yahweh describes for Moses the process for reconciling an unfaithful
wife to the community. According to the ceremony, an altar servant shall
"take holy water in an earthen vessel. ... And the priest shall set the woman
before the Lord, and unbind the hair of the woman's head, and place in
her hands the cereal offering of remembrance" (Numbers 5.16-18). Mary's
life thus reaffirms the authority of sacred males; even though the woman
walks on water, travels at supernatural speed, and prophesies, at the end of
her life she depends on a male priest to cleanse her sins, administer the
eucharist to her, and bury her in orthodox fashion. The lesson that the
female saint is ultimately subordinate to holy men is reflected in later me-
dieval artistic depictions of Mary that feature the great woman hermit
kneeling before the priest Zosimas to receive communion from him, such
as Francesco Traini's (or P. Lorenzetti's), "St. Mary of Egypt Receiving the
Sacrament" (Figure 2).91
Although the legend of Mary is a partial re-creation of Jerome's fa-
mous life of Paul the First Hermit (c. 380), Mary's hagiographer reorders
Jerome's vita to conform more closely to traditional gender expectations.
In Jerome's earlier version, a male ascetic, Paul, is the Mary of Egypt char-
acter, while the Zosimas figure is the famous Antony who travels into the
90 Chapter 4

Figure 2. Francesco Traini (P. Lorenzetti?), "St. Mary of Egypt receiving the Sac-
rament," detail of the Thebaid. Camposanto, Pisa, Italy. Alinari/ Art Resource,
New York.
 God's Holy Harlots 91

Egyptian desert to find and bury Paul, a superhuman ascetic. The differ-
ences between the male and female versions of the same story are note-
worthy. In Jerome's narrative, the Zosimas figure (Antony) immediately
recognizes the holiness of Paul (the Mary character). In the Mary of Egypt
redaction, however, Zosimas first believes that the ex-prostitute's naked,
blackened body is a demonic fantasy because desert demons often assumed
the guise of women to tempt virginal ascetics. Jerome's vita places the two
male hermits on an equal footing; they pray together, share bread, and
Antony receives instruction from the elder ascetic without reservation.
(Figure 3). In contrast, Zosimas questions Mary's validity as a holy person
and as a teacher. Paul is very erudite whereas Mary is illiterate and her faith
child-like. Paul wears a cloak made from palm leaves; Mary is ashamed of
her naked body. Paul is an untouched virgin, but Mary describes her sordid
sexual past in shocking detail to the naive Zosimas.'? The subtle, erotic
images that accent the vita of Mary of Egypt reveal the conservative gender
reworkings of the female text. The didactic message of Jerome's Life of
Paul the First Hermit is simple: the virginal, erudite, superhuman recluse
Paul was the first inhabitant of the Egyptian desert and the mentor of the
more famous Antony. Mary's vita, however, transforms the rather uncom-
plicated message of Jerome's life into a more complex narrative that relies
on the harlot-figure as the embodiment of repentance.
The image of the harlot in the Life of Mary of Egypt exemplifies hagi-
ographers' dilution of radical gender imagery by introducing more tradi-
tional gender precepts found in Hebrew and Christian discourse. The
ancient Near Eastern topos of the harlot connects the depravity of pros-
titutes with the pervasive sinful nature of humanity.:" The redemption
of even one harlot signifies the potential for universal salvation. The life of
the virginal Paul, whose asceticism and godliness are superhuman, could
not communicate this message. His is an unattainable model, however,
whereas Mary's is accessible to the sinner.?" The body of a former prosti-
tute, reformed through extreme mortification, mirrors the hope of an
eschatological reward for contrite sinners. Like the Life of Pelagia, Mary's
vita follows the theological pattern of the reversal of Eve's fall through the
militant chastity of the Virgin Mary. In fact, the life promotes the cult and
theology of the Theotokos, for Mary's conversion to the life of repentance
springs from her supernatural discovery of her spiritual antithesis, the
Blessed Virgin. Mary herself tells Zosimas that the Mother of God had
guided her throughout her independent askesisin the desert. The hagiog-
rapher also emphasizes that the Virgin Mary is the mediator of grace and
92 Chapter 4

Figure 3. Francesco Traini (P. Lorenzetti?), "Saints Paul and Anthony," detail of the
Thebaid. Camposanto, Pisa, Italy. Alinari/Art Resource, New York.
 God's Holy Harlots 93

that through her immaculate example even the most base sinners can be
saved.
Mary's life also follows the biblical prototype of women whose faith is
superior to that of the male apostles (Mark 5.24--34-, 7.24--30; Matthew
9.19-26, 15.21-28; Luke 8.4-0---:4-8;John 11.3, 21-32). The vita recreates
the conversion of the sexually depraved Samaritan woman, who confronts
Jesus at a watering well. The simple faith of the Samaritan woman humbles
the male apostles who constantly question Jesus' symbolic actions. Mary's
hagiographer, like the evangelists, embraces the rhetoric of inversion to
castigate the pride of a monk who personifies misguided faith in a monastic
rule. Mary functions as the Samaritan woman in her own life because, al-
though she had been an insatiable harlot, contrition and submission yet
led her to the purest faith in God. Her vita speaks directly to men who, like
Zosimas, place too much value on the rational intellect and ritual obser-
vance. Mary's contemplative spirituality is gendered female precisely be-
cause of its emphasis on obedience and repentance. Indeed, the Life of
Mary of Egypt is not about the ex-prostitute; it is about both Zosimas and
the universal nature of God's love for humanity. The hagiographer uses
Mary's simple faith and sordid past to rebuke the works-righteous monk
and to affirm the possibility of universal salvation through the conversion
of the harlot figure. Like the Virgin Mary who holds the redemption of
the world in her womb, the life of the Egyptian Mary suggests that repen-
tant women carry the hope of universal salvation within them.

The most iconoclastic features of the Life of Mary of Egypt are her
physical description, her independent conversion, and her symbolic self-
baptism in the Jordan. In his depiction of Mary's sun-blackened body and
white-wool hair, the hagiographer fuses the image of the bride from the
Song of Songs (1.5-6), "I am swarthy but beautiful. ... Do not gaze upon
me because I am dark, because the sun has blackened me,"95 with the
apocalyptic Son of Man from Revelation (1.14-), "his head and his hair were
white as white wool, white as snow." 96The wizened desert hermit is both
the eschatological Messiah and Christ's bride; 97she is a vessel of sin and a
vessel of redemption; she is the devil's votary and a virginal male's spiritual
guide. The Egyptian begins her life as a whore and ends it as a desert hero.
Few women's vitae demonstrate better the paradoxical nature of sacred
gender.
Mary's legendary life, like Pelagia's, belittles the more conventional
vitae of women saints. The defiled woman has sex for pleasure, she cor-
94 Chapter 4

rupts Christian pilgrims, and she inverts the apostolic mission by "hunting
for the souls of young men." The unrepentant harlot is like the female
prophets denounced by the prophet Ezekiel for leading the weak into
apostasy: "Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people?" (Ezekiel
13.18). Mary's vita, like Pelagia's, mocks the charity, chastity, and pilgrim-
ages of most holy women. The harlot-saint's autonomy results not from
celibacy but from carnal corruption. Her philanthropy and charity take the
form of the free bestowal of her body on Christian pilgrims; she undertakes
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land by offering herself as payment for the voy-
age. Mary's conversion to the life of extreme penance, however, transforms
her unruly body into a disciplined receptacle of God's grace. Only the con-
version of sexually depraved women, such as Mary of Egypt and Pelagia of
Antioch, could teach Christian audiences that redemption is possible even
for the most loathsome sinners. The vitae of eastern holy men suggest the
opposite; only superhuman hermits can hope to bridge the gap between
the temporal and the divine. The sacred fictions of reclusive females, how-
ever, soften the militancy of male texts by allegorizing the metamorphosis
from Eve to the Blessed Virgin, from human perdition to ecumenical
redemption.
 5
"Through the Eye of a Needle"
Wealth and Poverty in the Lives
of Helena, Paula, and Melania the Younger

IN THE HEBREW AND CHRISTIAN BIBLES,wealthy widows house, nour-

ish, and finance the prophetic and apostolic missions of God's most holy
men. In Hebrew scripture, a wealthy woman from Shunern provides a
sanctuary for Elisha: "50 whenever he passed that way, he would turn in
there to eat food. And she said to her husband, 'Behold now, I perceive
that this is a holy man of God, who is continually passing our way. Let us
make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table,
a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there'"
(2 Kings 4-.8-10). God commands a widow of Zarephath to feed Elijah,
and she brings the holy man water in a vessel and a morsel of bread (1 Kings
17.8-13). In response to the piety of both these ministering women, Elisha
and Elijah resurrect their sons (2 Kings 4-.34-; 1 Kings 17.22). In the gospels
and Acts, prosperous women support Jesus' ministry and the apostolic mis-
sionary movement by supplying their own households as neophyte ecclesiae
and by offering food and drink to God's votaries. Jesus himself commends
a poor widow who donated two copper coins to God: "Truly, I say to you,
this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the
treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of
her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living" (Mark 12.4-1-
4-4-; Luke 21.1- 4-) .
Late antique hagiographers blend the sacred lives of Roman patrician
women with biblical depictions of female patrons of the prophets, Jesus,
and the apostles. The fourth-and fifth -century corpus of texts that com-
prise the Helena legend, Paula's epitaphium, and Melania the Younger's
vita, contain dramatic accounts of philanthropy, pious projects, and pa-
tronage of the cult of martyrs and saints. These lives advertise the mobility,
independence, and empowerment of imperial women who convert to the
 Chapter 5

life of radical self-abnegation. Helena, Paula, and Melania possessed vast

properties and incomes. The Augusta Helena even earned the right to dis-
tribute the imperial fisc, and her image was reproduced on gold coins.' In
their sacred biographies, each of these three wealthy women literally be-
comes the "poor widow" praised by Jesus for having impoverished herself
to support God's missionaries. The hagiographers detail the patricians' he-
roic almsgiving, self-imposed poverty, and their exchange of fine silks for
coarse goat hair. All three lives embody Jesus' commandment to "sell your
possessions, and give alms; provide yourself with purses that do not grow
old, with a treasure in heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches
and no moth destroys" (Luke 12.33). In addition to engaging in sensational
acts of charity, Melania the Younger preaches and proselytizes; her life in
particular usurps many of the sacred topoi of the male priesthood.'
The same hagiographers, however, temper these provocative images
of women's philanthropic, ascetic, and pastoral power by introducing the
biblical motif of the chaste, abstemious, charitable woman who combats
female depravity and apostasy by remaking her body into a vessel of rep en-
tance. Helena, Paula, and Melania all exorcize the demons offeminine self-
indulgence through their philanthropy, ministry to the poor, and ascetic
attire. They thereby reverse the patristic theology of the cosmetic. Their
male hagiographers use these more traditional topoi offemale piety to em-
phasize that, although Helena, Paula, and Melania were saintly women,
their holiness remains distinct from and subordinate to that of men. To-
gether these three vitae serve as spiritual medicine (remedia) for other aris-
tocratic women who cling to the feminine vices of lust and vanity.
The three vitae are also part of a larger discourse on the post-
Constantinian conversion of the late Roman aristocracy. Scholars of late
antiquity have focused on how fourth- and fifth-century texts present the
ascetic transformation of the imperial elite. Feminist scholars have empha-
sized the revolutionary prominence of women among this illustrious group
of abstemious saints." In fact, the late antique church did rely heavily on
the benevolent patronage of great patrician matrons." Nonetheless, aris-
tocratic women appear in hagiographical discourse not merely on account
of their historical role in endowing the neophyte church, but because their
conversion to the life of apostolic poverty enabled Christian rhetoricians
to insert the evangelical leitmotif of inversion into their sacred biographies.
By empowering those who could not enter the ritualistic precincts of the
Senate, Christian writers augur the eschatological obliteration of political,
social, and sexual hierarchies. 5
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 97

Hagiographers also rework established imperial ideology by trans-

forming loyalty to the state, emperor, and family into allegiance to a heav-
enly kingdom and to a spiritual family comprised of Christ, the saints and
martyrs, and the church." Much of Roman law was directed at maintaining
familial inheritance, but patrician Christians purposely obliterate ancestral
properties and precious objects to impoverish their heirs." Hagiographers
refashion building projects, donatives, almsgiving, and other republican
and imperial forms of civic philanthropy into pious contributions to the
cults of saints and martyrs. Church writers convert the political and cere-
monial travels of the imperial family (itinera principum ) into Christian pil-
grimagc." For women, love of a heavenly groom, Christ, replaces devotion
to an earthly husband, and patrician authors modify the feminized classical
virtues of chastity, humility, and piety into Christian charismata,'

Helena: Madonna of a New Empire 10

The textual turning point for the refashioning of secular, imperial ideology
into charismatic, Christian rhetoric is Eusebius of Cae saria's Vita Constan-
tini (c. 337). In the Vita Constantini, the bishop of Caesaria places the
tumultuous political events of the early fourth century within the larger
rhetorical framework of the death of the pagan empire and the rebirth of a
Christian basileia on earth. In 312 CE, a celestial vision of a blazing cross
and an inscription, "In this sign you shall conquer itotao nika )," inspired
Constantine to defeat his imperial rival, Maxentius, at the Milvian Bridge
in Italy. 11 Constantine's sacred biographer, Eusebius, recasts the emperor's
victory over his enemies and his subsequent metamorphosis as a Christian
emperor within the context of a universal exorcism, the apocalypse, and
the resurrection.F Constantine's defeat of his imperial rivals parallels the
apocalyptic warrior angel's binding of the devil for one thousand years
(Revelation 20.1-3). His triumph purges evil from the world, resurrects
the God-centeredgloria of the empire, and ushers in a Christian pax Ro-
mana. Eusebius describes Constantine as a "heavenly messenger of God"
whose bejeweled presence dazzles the imperial court."
The bishop of Caesaria, however, mitigates Constantine's militant,
apocalyptic Christianity by including the life of the emperor's widowed
mother, the Augusta Helena. Helena's philanthropy, humility, and minis-
try to the poor humanize Eusebius's supernatural portrayal of the divine
Constantine.J" According to Eusebius's account and her post-Eusebian
legend, Helena transforms Jerusalem into a Christian city and miraculously
 Chapter 5

finds the relics of Christ's passion. IS Fourth- and fifth-century sacred bi-
ographers recreate the historical persona of the elderly Augusta as a char-
ismatic archaeologist whose excavations in Palestine fulfilled the prophesy
of New Jerusalem: John "saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband"
(Revelation 21.2).16 Her journey to Palestine and her construction ofsev-
eral basilicas in Jerusalem and Bethlehem motivate subsequent pilgrimages
by members of the imperial family and other patricians." Eusebius's brief
vita of the emperor's mother is one of tile most influential models for later
hagiographical depictions of charitable widows, empresses, and Germanic
queens. By the ninth century, the legend of Helen's inventio of the holy
cross was read aloud in western monasteries, read individually by erudite
lay persons, and performed publicly during liturgical festivities surround-
ing the feast-day of the inventio crucis.18
Eusebius of Cae saria places the vita of Helena within the broader con-
text of the Vita Constantini, and his narrative appeals to a diverse audience
of both civic-minded pagans and Christians. Eusebius's Constantine em-
bodies Roman filial duty, and his Helena personifies the deferential pietas
of Roman matrons. At the same time, however, Eusebius connects the im-
perial pair with Christ and Mary: the bishop praises Helena for her obedi-
ence to the will of God, her "God-loving acts," 19 and for giving birth to
the Christ-like Constantine. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315-386), Ambrose of
Milan, Paulinus of Nola (c. 354-431), Socrates (c. 380-450), and Sozomen
(early fifth century) expanded on the Eusebian account of Helena's pil-
grimage to Palestine, emphasizing above all Helena's miraculous discovery
of relics of the passion."
Helena appears in Book Three of the Vita Constantini, after a lengthy
description of her son's discovery, cleansing, and restoration of Christ's
sepulcher." In Eusebius's version of the Helena legend, the Augusta fur-
thers the work already begun by her son. Helena embarks on an unprece-
dented pilgrimage to the Holy Land (c. 326) to venerate the holy places
associated with Christ's life and passion. There she dedicates and decorates
two churches in Palestine, at the Cave of the Nativity and on the Mount of
the Ascension;" She also places a statue of Christ on the Mount of Olives
and constructs oratories on the summit." According to Eusebius, the em-
peror augments Helena's philanthropy by offering gold, silver, and em-
broidered hangings to the new basilicas. In addition to overseeing the
construction of basilicas associated with the birth and death of Christ,
Helena tours the eastern provinces, where she dispenses alms to the poor
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 99

and frees prisoners and political exiles." Eusebius assures his readers that
Helena's itinera are undertaken in the full grandeur of imperial authority,
although Helena dresses in humble attire and mingles informally with the
crowds of pious who come to worship at the Constantinian shrines." He-
lena dies at the age of eighty (c. 329) with Constantine at her side; the
emperor honors his mother with a lavish funeral and buries her in the im-
perial tomb.>
Eusebius's hagiographical depiction of Constantine's mother serves a
variety of didactic and political purposes. The bishop connects Helena's
pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the more traditional itinera principum
of the imperial family.F Her sojourn refocuses the spiritual attention of the
empire on Jerusalem and on Christ's passion and resurrection. She is the
active campaigner for Constantine's New Jerusalem. Because Helena, un-
like Constantine, could travel without an armed escort, she exemplifies the
charitable side of the new dynasty." Eusebius includes the short vita of
Helena within the life of Constantine to soften the militant life of the em-
peror. Her pilgrimage is one of healing and resurrection, thereby implicitly
countering the narrative of violence and political chaos that dominates the
Vita Constantini.
The bishop also fashions the imperial pair as Christ and Mary to
further the rhetorical strategy of the birth of a Christian empire. Helena
focuses her philanthropy on the two biblical places associated with the Ma-
donna-the nativity at Bethlehem and the resurrection at Jerusalem. He-
lena, like Mary, gives birth to a godly son who honors her according to
scripture." The Christ-like Constantine defeats his depraved adversaries in
emulation of the book of Revelation's account of the vanquishing of the
devil. At the same time, Eusebius praises Constantine's filial piety and por-
trays Helena praying for her son and grandson in traditional Roman fash-
ion. As presented by Eusebius, the figure of Helena is an appealing one for
Christians and non-Christians alike. Her piety, humility, and philanthropy
establish the hagiographical prototype for sacred portraits of aristocratic
women, and her itinera in the Holy Land establish Christian pilgrimage as
an essential aspect of women's sanctity.
The hagiographers who elaborated on Eusebius's abbreviated vita of
Helena revise her mythical life in order to concentrate more fully on her
connection with the relics of Christ's passion and her steadfast faith. The
legend of the discovery of the holy cross first appears about twenty years
after Eusebius's Vita Constantini in the liturgical writings of Cyril of Je-
rusalem.?" Cyril's Catecheses(c. 350) details Jerusalem's unique Lenten and
100 Chapter 5

Easter liturgical rituals. The bishop of Jerusalem was an important pro-

moter of religious travel to the Holy Land;" In his Catecheses, Cyril claims
that already by the mid-fourth century the wood of the cross had been
distributed throughout the world, but he does not name the elderly Hel-
ena as instrumental in the dispersion. Its universal dispensation, the bishop
states, is further proof of the efficacy of the resurrection." Cyril's liturgical
presentation of the salvific wood of the cross probably inspired later Chris-
tian writers to connect Helena's imperial pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the
legend of the inventio crucis. One of the most detailed western accounts of
Helena's charismatic excavation of the holy cross is by Ambrose, bishop of
Milan, who included a brief vita of Helena in his larger work, the Oration
on the Death of Emperor Theodosius (395).33
Ambrose inserts the sacred life of Helena into the De obitu Theodosii
oratio because he wanted to compare Emperor Theodosius's wife, Flac-
cilIa, to Constantine's mother." According to Ambrose, Helena travels to
Jerusalem and surveys the places of the Lord's passion. The Holy Spirit
inspires her to study the sacred topography and to unearth the holy cross.
She journeys to Golgotha and begins an ecstatic conversation with the
devil, whom she accuses of obscuring the vexillum salutis, the "standard of
salvation." Ambrose uses the exchange between Helena and Satan to re-
inforce the importance of the Virgin Mary in the process of redemption;
Helena warns the devil that he will be conquered by Mary, mother of
the triumphant one (triumphator), who would eventually vanquish evil
through his death on the cross. Helena compares her discovery of the sa-
cred cross with Mary's birth of Christ: "Just as the holy woman gave birth
to the Lord, I shall deliver his cross. I shall elevate the divine standard (di-
vinum vexillum) from the ruins as medicine (remedium) for us sinners." 35
Helena then orders the holy ground of Golgotha to be excavated, af-
ter which three crosses (patibula) and the inscription INRI ("Jesus ofNaz-
areth, the King of the Jews," John 19.19) appear amid the debris. The Holy
Spirit reveals to the Augusta which of the three is Christ's cross, the "medi-
cine of immortality" (remedium inmortalitatis'[," Helena also unearths
two nails of the crucifixion; she weaves one into a horse's bridle fastening
and the other into a crown of precious gems. Helena sends both the dia-
dem and the bridle fastening to Constantine to fulfill the prophecy of
Zechariah: "There shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, 'Holy to
the Lord'" (Zechariah 14.20), as well as that in the Psalms: "Thou dost set
a crown of fine gold upon his head" (Psalm 21.3). Ambrose is clear about
Helena's role in the Christian refashioning of the Roman empire: "The
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 101

Holy Spirit visited Mary so that Eve would be liberated: the Spirit also
visited Helena so that emperors would be redeemed." 37 Mary is the media-
trix gratiae of humanity, while Helena is the mediator of grace for the
imperial family and the universal empire. Ambrose names the emperor's
mother as the chosen vessel of God's work and as the salvific force in Con-
stantine's life. Constantine triumphs over the persecutors of the faith, and
his mother's discovery of the "medicine of immortality" heals the divided
empire. By weaving the nails of the cross into Constantine's crown and
horse bridle, the two symbols of the emperor's judicial and military power,
Helena insures that her son's rule will follow Christ's precepts." Ambrose
thus appropriates Eusebius's sacred portrait of Helena and reinterprets the
legend in terms of Marian theology and the salvific force of the cross.
Later Christian theologians and historians further Ambrose's exegesis
of the inventio crucis and Helena's role as the mediatrix gratiae for the
empire. In the early fifth century Paulinus of Nola, a Christian bishop and
poet, received an unusual gift. According to Paulinus's Epistleit (402), the
remarkable holy woman, Melania the Elder (d. 410) brought the bishop a
piece of the holy cross from Ierusalern.:" This charismatic souvenir of the
Holy Land inspired the bishop to ponder the spiritual significance of the lig-
num crucis and Helena's role in its miraculous discovery. Paulinus elabo-
rates on Ambrose's metaphorical presentation of Helena as the mediator
of grace for the empire, claiming that Constantine "deserved to be the
prince of the princes of Christ as much through the faith of his mother as
through his own." 40 Helena, like the charitable widow commended by Je-
sus for impoverishing herself to enrich God, emptied the imperial purse to
embellish the House of God.
Paulinus duplicates Ambrose's account of the charismatic excavation
of the three crosses. Paulinus, however, uses a miraculous event and not
mere inspiration by the Holy Spirit to verify Christ's cross. Helena orders
that each of the three crosses be placed on the body of a dead man. The
first two crosses fail to revive the body, but the third resurrects the corpse
just as Jesus had animated Lazarus."! Paulinus claims that the cross is only
exhibited publicly during the festival of Christ's passion, but that some
pilgrims are allowed to see it on a private basis. According to Paulinus, the
bishop of Jerusalem also reserves the right to distribute fragments of the
wood as gifts to important pilgrims, including Melania the Elder. Paulinus
asserts that the wood of the cross is divided on a daily basis but that its
weight miraculously never diminishes. His presentation of the legendary
life of the Augusta Helena, like Ambrose's, symbolically transforms Con-
102 Chapter 5

stantine's widowed mother to the status of the charitable widows of sacred

scripture. The imperial matron's devotion to the dead body of Christ and
the material remains of his crucifixion also emphasize women's connection
with the ritual care of Jesus' body. Finally, Helena, like the Madonna, car-
ries the hope of universal salvation within her in the form of the Christian
emperor, Constantine, and her discovery of the "medicine of salvation"
results in the miraculous distribution of the healing wood of the cross.
Two Constantinopolitan ecclesiastical historians, Socrates and Sozo-
men, also embellish the cultus of Helena, and they incorporate many of the
narrative constructions found in Ambrose's De obitu Theodosii oratio and
Paulinus's Epistleii .42 According to Socrates and Sozomen, celestial dreams
guide Helena to Jerusalem, where she destroys a statue of Venus and a
pagan temple and unearths the three crosses. Both Socrates and Sozomen
claim that Helena discerns the true cross by curing a dying woman with it.
Helena encloses part of the cross in a silver case at Jerusalem, and she sends
the remaining section to Constantinople. Constantine, according to Soc-
rates, places the lignum crucis in a public statue of himself to protect the
capital city. And, he states, after Helena dedicates churches at Jerusalem
and Bethlehem, she prays in the company of pious nuns and ministers to
them at table." Sozomen adds that, while Helena is in Jerusalem, she gath-
ers together the holy virgins of that city, orders a feast to be held in their
honor, waits upon them at table, and washes their hands.v' Later Roman
empresses, in imitation of Helena's humble service-piety, humanize the
Christian monarchy by visiting the sick, nursing the maimed, and working
in soup kitchens in Constantinople." The image of the imperial woman
who ministers to virgins and feeds the poor would influence later depic-
tions of early medieval royal women who supposedly engaged in similar
domestic activity.
Hagiographers recreated the Helena legend to magnify a growing
Christian interest both in pilgrimage to the Holy Land and in the efficacy
of the relics of the passion. By the time of Socrates and Sozomen, the pious
matron of Eusebius's narrative had been transformed into a charismatic
holy woman. Eusebius, Ambrose, Paulinus, and the two eastern historians
compare Constantine and Helena to Christ and Mary, and they humanize
the imperial family and the empire through the dutiful life of the Augusta.
Her discovery of the holy cross parallels the Virgin's birth of Christ in that
both acts miraculously propagate universal redemption. According to her
vitae, Helena is a charismatic mediator of grace for the empire. Eusebius,
however, is not concerned with the tangible remains of the cross of the
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 103

crucifixion. For him, the artistic symbol of the New Empire is the labarum,
the military standard adopted by Constantine after his vision of the cross
in the sky. Constantine's obligation, imposed from heaven, was to rescue
the empire, hence his focus was necessarily political and public. Helena's
equally sacred task was to restore the physical cross to the Christians of the
empire, to pilgrims of all degrees in Jerusalem. For Constantine, the cross
was a warrant of imperial redemption, whereas for Helena it was medicine
for sinners. For the emperor, the cross was a weapon, and his later biog-
raphers incorporate the nails of the crucifixion into the emperor's armor,
but for Helena it represented the restorative powers of the "wood of salva-
tion." In Eusebius's hagiographical discourse, the actions of the emperor
and his mother-militant and humble, political and devotional, triumphant
and charitable-together represent the ideal of the Christian empire.

Paula: Roman Virtues and Christian Charisma

In the 380s the noble Roman woman Paula emulated Helena's journey to
the Holy Land. Jerome, Paula's close friend and spiritual advisor, recorded
her pilgrimage and her pious life in an epitapbium that he composed some
twenty years after her journey." His account of Paula-no doubt height-
ened and idealized to suit his exegetical purposes-describes her transfor-
mation from a self-indulgent patrician to a philanthropic recluse. He uses
the Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae (404) to display brilliantly the Christian
rhetoric of inversion, the reworking of Roman Republican virtues, and the
comparison of patrician women to the charitable widows of holy scrip-
ture."? Jerome presents Paula's sacred biography in the form of a letter to
her daughter, Eustochium, who was also an ascetic. Jerome's narrative of
Paula's life employs the classical genres of funeral elegy, panegyric, and bi-
ography.:" Like Suetonius, the biographer of the Caesars, Jerome arranges
his vita topically, focusing on family, voyages, administration, and personal
habits, each of which he inverts in the service of Christian rhetoric. In
many respects, Jerome's symbolic chronicle overturns classical gender con-
structions: Paula abandons her children, makes an independent pilgrimage
to Egypt and the Holy Land, constructs monasteries in Bethlehem, studies
languages and scripture, administers a religious community, and engages
in rigorous askesis. Jerome, however, moderates this radical portrait of his
disciple's spirituality by introducing the image of the chaste widow from
sacred discourse, Pauline directives on the role of women in the church,
and the theology of the cosmetic.
104 Chapter 5

Jerome begins his Vita Paulae by detailing the holy woman's splendid
aristocratic lineage. Paula's family, the exegete states, is the blood kin of
the scions of the Republic, the Gracchi and Scipii, and the Iliad's Agamem-
non. Paula marries Toxotius, also from a senatorial family, and gives birth
to five children. After the death of Toxotius, Paula dedicates herself to the
life of self-abnegation. Jerome depicts her imitation of the charitable widow
praised by Christ. Paula depletes her ancestral inheritance and engages in
spectacular acts of charity, for, as Jerome exclaims, "what dying poor man
did she not wrap in her own vestments?" 49 And like the wealthy women in
the book of Kings, the gospels, and Acts, Paula provides sanctuary for im-
portant holy men who attend Roman church councils. 50 These men inspire .
her to travel to the deserts of Egypt and Palestine. Along with her daugh-
ter, Eustochium, she departs from Italy in the mid-jxos.
Paula's itinera to Pontia, Cyprus, Antioch, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and
Nitria in Egypt fit the symbolic pattern of other charitable women's jour-
neys to the sacred sites of Christian history. 51 She visits the island of Ponti a
and prays at a shrine dedicated to the early patrician martyr, Flavia Domi-
tilla, who had been banished by Domitian because she was a professed
Christian;" Paula, Jerome claims, tours the cells that had been inhabited
by Flavia during her "long martyrdom." 53 The patrician widow then visits
her spiritual mentor, Bishop Ephiphanius, in Cyprus. While in Cyprus,
Paula frequents the local monasteries and bequeaths money to each. 54 She
then travels to Antioch in search of another famous holy man, Paulinus,
after which she leaves Antioch riding a donkey instead of being carried by
eunuchs. 55 From Antioch, she continues to the Holy Land where the pro-
consul of Palestine offers her official lodging, which she refuses in favor of
a stark cell. In Palestine she tours the holy places of Hebrew and Christian
scripture, particularly sites associated with biblical women, such as Caesa-
rea, where the four virgin daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 21.8-9),
Diospolis, where Peter raised the charitable widow Dorcas (Acts 9.36-41),
the home of Mary and Martha, who sheltered and served Christ (Luke
10.38-42), and the well where Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman
(John 4.7-30). Like Helena before her, Paula focuses on places associated
with the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Christ. She journeys to Em-
maus, where the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples (Luke 24.13-
53), and she visits Christ's sepulcher, the holy cross, the scourging column,
and the stable of the nativity. 56
During her pilgrimage, Paula experiences a number of ecstatic visions.
As she stands before the cross, she beholds the body of the dead Christ
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 105

hanging upon it. 57 She kisses the boulder that the angel had rolled away
from the tomb (Matthew 28.2; Mark 16.3-5; Luke 24.2-3; John 20.1). In
the Holy Sepulcher, the matron licks the cold stones upon which Christ's
corpse had lain. 58 In Bethlehem, Paula mystically envisions Jesus' early life,
from his birth to the flight into Egypt. Obviously, early pilgrimage was
more than a visual experience; it involved all of the senses and often re-
sulted in a ritual absorption of the sacred events that had occurred at the
pilgrimage sites.>" For Paula, the Holy Sepulcher, the cross, and the Cave
of the Nativity were all "living icons" of the faith where mystical experi-
ence continuously recreated sacred narrative.v"
After her vision of Christ's birth and resurrection, Paula sails to Egypt
to visit the Egyptian God-men at Nitria, where a throng of ascetics and
bishops greet the austere matriarch." She visits the cells of numerous her-
mits, and Jerome declares that she perceives Christ in the countenance of
each one. After her tour of the humble dwellings of the great heroes of the
desert, Paula returns to Bethlehem, where she lives in a hostel, wears the
garb of a simple servant, and refuses to enter the Roman baths. She sleeps
on the hard ground and covers her body with a goat-hair blanket. In Beth-
lehem, Paula serves as a spiritual mother for the noble women under her
charge, while in her convent, she studies Hebrew, Greek, and theology.
In 404, the fifty-six-year-old Paula takes to her bed with a serious ill-
ness. Her daughter Eustochium nurses her mother both physically and
spiritually, alternating between Paula's chamber and the Cave of the Na-
tivity, where she prostrates herself and prays to Christ to allow her to ac-
company her mother in death. Jerome is present when Paula makes the
signum crucis over her lips and commends her spirit to the heavenly bride-
groom.:" Her funeral is a lavish affair, attended by the bishop of Ierusalern,
priests, monks, and virgins, who chant psalms in Greek, Latin, and Syriac.
After a week-long ceremony, Paula is buried beneath the church located
next to the Cave of the Nativity." Jerome informs the virgin Eustochium
that her mother's life was not merely one of self-abnegation, it was a life of
slow martyrdom.?' At the end of the vita, Jerome bids farewell to Paula,
telling the dead woman that his little epitaphium will be a monument that
will outlast those built from precious metals."
One of the main preceptive purposes of Jerome's Life of Paula is to
overturn the classical topos of the pious Roman matron. By inverting the
traditional norms of the Roman aristocracy, Jerome presents a radical por-
trait of his spiritual pupil. Paula's holy life represents a vindication of
Christ's teaching that "you cannot serve God and wealth" (Luke 16.13).
106 Chapter 5

The literary construction of the ideal classical matron centered on women's

role in the family, which involved worshiping family cults, caring for a hus-
band, rearing children, and maintaining the estate." Jerome remakes this
traditional family-centered topos into a God-centered, charismatic model.
The hagiographer begins with a description of Paula's noble lineage, but
then states that her rejection of this illustrious, Republican genealogy glo-
rifies God. She reluctantly produces children for Toxotius, but in doing so
she fulfills Jerome's teaching that marriage is acceptable because it pro-
duces more virgins for the church.?" Jerome asserts that Paula "preferred
Bethlehem over Rome and having fled her golden dwelling, she exchanged
it for a shapeless one formed of vile mud." 68 She forsakes her domus to go
on a pilgrimage, just as she replaces affections for her earthly husband with
love for a divine groom who calls out to her: "Arise my love" (Song of
Songs 2.10 ).69 Her most intimate physical experiences occur in Christ's
tomb where she rolls about on the floor in an ecstatic frenzy."?
Two of Paula's children, Pammachius and Eustochium, took up the
life of self-abnegation, and it is to them that Jerome addresses post-
mortem eulogies of their mother." Her granddaughter, "little Paula," Je-
rome proclaims, is destined to follow Paula's charismatic life, for even as a
baby she miraculously sang Alleluia from her cradle." Paula's maternal in-
stincts, however, are focused not on her children but on her spiritual dis-
ciples and on the Baby Jesus, whom she mystically envisions sleeping in his
cradle in Bethlehem;" Jerome professes that the widow's abandonment of
her children was "against nature" (hoc contra iura naturae); yet in doing
so, Paula adheres to Christ's celestial commandment to forsake relations
and property to earn life eternal (Mark 10.29- 30 ).74
Jerome's most dramatic reversal of the classical topos of the Roman
matron is his depiction of Paula's impoverishment of her heirs. Roman leg-
islation insured the smooth transfer of property and incomes between gen-
erations' but by ignoring ancestral custom, though not legal obligation,
Paula earns treasure in heaven;" Jerome emphasizes that Paula knowingly
deprives her children of their inheritance and leaves the pious Eustochium
in debt.?" The Roman matrons of classical discourse also practiced phi-
lanthropy and expended vast sums on widows, orphans, and the poor. Je-
rome ridicules such women for lavishing money on flatterers and living in
luxury."? In contrast, Paula's charity is unmitigated and uncontrolled. She
intends to become a beggar. In an excess of zeal, she even borrows more
money at interest to fuel her insatiable desire to throw off the burdens of
wealth;" In a short time, her appearance and habits reflect Paula's squan-
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 107

dering of her family's wealth. She exchanges her patrician silks for rank
goat hair, neglects the baths, and reduces her body to squalor. She refuses
a soft bed in favor of an animal-hair mat and fasts to remake her aristocratic
body into a vessel of repentance. Paula prefers God's professional poor-
hermits, monks, and virgins-over senators. She even rejects the hospi-
tality of the proconsul of Palestine, an old family friend.?? Paula studies
Hebrew, scripture, and the patristics, neglecting classical poets and gram-
marians. Her death, funeral, and burial further alienate the matron from
her Roman ancestry, as she is entombed not in a family mausoleum but
with Christ in Bethlehem. Paula's mourners include her spiritual family
(comprised of bishops, nuns, monks, and the poor), who bemoan the loss
of their "mother and nurse." 80 Jerome thus uses the traditional genre of
funeral eulogy to applaud Paula for rejecting the values of the Roman do-
mus and embracing those of Christ's sepulcher."!
Throughout the vita Jerome equates Paula to the charitable women
of the Bible. Like the widow of Zarephath and the wealthy woman of Shu-
nem (I Kings 17.8-13; 2 Kings 4-.8-10), Paula offers her Roman domus to
traveling holy men, and she supports monasteries in Cyprus, Egypt, and
the Holy Land. In Jerome's rendition, she is the poor widow whom Christ
praises for her charity, for Paula "disinherited herself upon earth so that
she might find an inheritance in heaven." 82 Paula, who ministers to the
poor and instructs her virgins on clothwork, is also the Roman personifi-
cation of the Hebrew charitable woman who spins wool and extends her
hand to the destitute (Proverbs 31.19-20 ).83Jerome compares Paula to the
widow Dorcas from Acts; during Paula's funeral ceremony "the widows
and the poor showed the garments that Paula had given them," just as
Dorcas's mourners displayed her handmade garments to the apostle Peter
(Acts 9.36-4-2).84
This homiletic image of Paula also reinforces the pastoral epistles'
commandments concerning the role of women in the church. Jerome de-
scribes Paula as submissive and silent, welcoming the scriptural authority
of men.:" Her symbolic life personifies the teachings of I Timothy (2.11-
12): "Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no
woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent."
2 Timothy (3.6-7) warns that certain women are easy prey for profligate
preachers who entice "weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by
various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a
knowledge of the truth." Jerome states that a depraved heretic had at-
tempted to seduce Paula by attacking infant baptism and bodily resurrec-
108 Chapter 5

tion. Paula wisely refused to confront the apostate and begged the learned
Jerome to intervene on her behalf." Both Paula's exegetical modesty and
her recourse to the wiser male conform to Jerome's notion of the evan-
gelical commandments concerning Christian widows: "She must be well
attested for her good deeds, as one who has brought up children, shown
hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, relieved the afflicted, and de-
voted herself to doing good in every way" (I Timothy 5.10). She is the op-
posite of the impious widow described in I Timothy (5.5-6), who is "self-
indulgent" and therefore "dead even while she lives." In fact, the Life of
Paula teaches other aristocratic women how to eradicate feminine self-
indulgence and remake the patrician body into a vessel of grace.
Jerome's concluding lesson in the Vita Paulae concerns the patristic
theology of the cosmetic. Paula's life is spiritual medicine (remedium) for
the extravagance of classical Roman matrons because her philanthropy and
askesiseliminate women's natural propensities toward bodily sin. As a mas-
ter of cosmetic rhetoric, Jerome claims that Paula ravaged her body to pun-
ish her flesh for its former adherence to avarice and self-indulgence. Paula
reportedly told Jerome that she must disfigure her face since it had once
been painted with rouge and white lead; that she must mortify her body,
which had enjoyed years of sensual gratification; that she must scar her
cheeks with a river of tears to obliterate hours spent in merriment; that she
must don a mantle of fetid animal hair as penance for her former opulent
garb; and that she must now serve Christ as she had formerly satisfied her
earthly husband.V Jerome uses the ascetic image of Paula to counter the
negative stereotype of the self-indulgent matron, who veils the outside of
her body with jewels and fine silks but leaves her soul full of "rotting
bones." 88 Asceticism reduces Paula's body to a skeletal state in the service
of reversing Eve's fall from grace and exterminating the postlapsarian femi-
nine vices of vanity, avarice, and lust. Jerome's depiction of the Roman
matron mortifying her flesh is a lesson for his patrician contemporaries on
the necessity of refashioning the body into a vessel of repentance.
The Life of Paula transforms traditional Roman virtues into Christian
charismata and recasts the charitable patrician as one of the wealthy wid-
ows of sacred discourse. It features the submission of women to the au-
thority of holy men and reinforces the patristic theology of the cosmetic.
Like Eusebius's Life of Helena, Jerome's sacred biography of Paula appeals
to ascetic-minded Christians and educated Romans alike, but its resonance
with those audiences was surely subtle and disturbing. On the one hand, a
Roman reader would have admired aspects of Paula's piety. Eustochium,
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 109

the only offspring who labored with Paula, is shown by Jerome to exem-
plify ancestral filial obligations of "obedience, support, and company." 89
Paula herself is depicted as invariably chaste, charitable, and respectful of
male authority.?" In this regard, she is a Christian counterpart of Lucretia,
the ideal matron of Roman literature, whose piety is evident in her weaving
and whose vow of chastity leads to her death."! Even the ascetic-minded
Christian would have to acknowledge that certain Roman virtues, the fruit
of an ancient pagan tradition, spoke to Christian concerns. On the other
hand, a Roman audience certainly would have been deeply scandalized
by Paula's behavior-abandoning her children, squandering their inheri-
tance, forsaking her patriarchal domus, and exalting Bethlehem over Rome,
the caput mundi. Jerome clearly intended to shock a conventional Roman
audience with his depiction of a matron of the senatorial order licking the
stones of Christ's sepulcher and writhing ecstatically on its floor. Nothing
could be more alien to the moderation and discretion treasured by tradi-
tional Romans.
Jerome's portrait of Paula thus embodies considerable tension, ap-
pealing in a certain way to Roman pieties in the very act of affronting them.
Paula's sacred fiction is structured both to evoke recognition of continuity
between Roman values and Christian commitments and to force the reader
to contemplate the abyss between the old way of life and the new dispen-
sation. The historical Paula, whatever she may have been like and whatever
she actually did, disappears irretrievably in that gap.

Melania: Through the Eye of a Needle

The Life of Melania the Younger extends the spiritual motifs established in
the sacred biographies of Helena and Paula. The vita, by her confessor, the
priest Gerontius, takes the hagiographical topos of the abstemious, chari-
table woman to its charismatic extreme while adhering to the patterns of
classical panegyric, biography, and Hellenistic romance." Melania was a
member of one of the most prominent senatorial families of the late Roman
Empire and her grandmother, the "thrice-blessed" Melania the Elder, was
an ascetic, pilgrim, and a patron of monasticism in Ierusalcm.:" Gerontius,
who accompanied the younger Melania on her travels to Africa, Constan-
tinople' and the Holy Land, provides an allegorical account of one patri-
cian woman's descent into symbolic poverty and extreme asceticism. More
than any other late antique holy woman's life, Melania's vita usurps sacred
topoi of the male priesthood. Melania engages in spectacular acts of phil an-
110 Chapter 5

thropy and astounds the imperial family with her miraculous way of life.
Yet Gerontius appears to be ambivalent toward his benefactor's unrivaled
patronage of the church, and he consistently pairs her charitable deeds with
Jesus' teachings on the dangers of attempting to buy salvation (Matthew
6.1-2, 7.13; Luke 18.24-25). In the vita, Gerontius is criticizing the spirit
of Melania's caritas: "If I give away all I have and if I deliver my body to be
burned, but have not love, I gain nothing" (I Corinthians 13.3).
Gerontius begins the Vita Melaniae by claiming that his heroine had
attacked the sins of senatorial rank by entering the angelic life and by de-
spising the world.?" Melania's external way of life and physical appearance
exemplify her piety; she engages in intense vigils, sleeps on the ground,
mistreats her body, and wears inexpensive clothes. In her youth, Melania
vows herself to eternal marriage to Christ, although her family forces her
at age fourteen (c. 399) to marry the patrician, Valerius Piniari." Melania
tries to persuade Pinian that they should remain chaste, but he insists she
bear two children to inherit the couple's vast patrimony. Melania gives
birth to a girl, and afterwards begins to mortify her flesh by refusing to go
to the baths and by wearing rough goat hair under her patrician silks. Pi-
nian persists in his desire to have another heir, and bishops advise Melania
that she should adhere to the apostle Paul's injunction that those who are
already married should uphold their wedding contract (I Corinthians 7.27).
Melania submits to the will of the holy advisors and becomes pregnant
once again. She spends the night before giving birth in her private oratory,
where she keeps the vigil for the feast of Saint Lawrence and prays to God
that he deliver her from worldly burdens.?" The next day, she gives birth to
a son who immediately dies. Melania thereupon becomes so despondent
that Pinian begs God to restore his wife's health. Her depression impels
Pinian to take a vow of chastity, and when their daughter dies, the couple
becomes zealously ascetic. Melania celebrates her long-awaited charismatic
life by renouncing all her lavish silk clothing."?
Both parental opposition to their new, abstemious lifestyle and the
threat of barbarian invasions cause Pinian and Melania eventually to flee
Rome. The twenty-year-old Melania and her slightly older husband move
into one of their family's villas outside the city. On the suburban estate,
the couple begin their askesis and dress in sordid clothing." The hagiogra-
pher explains that they do not immediately imitate the austerities of the
Egyptian and Syrian desert, preferring instead a gradual taming of their
pampered flesh."? They open their domus as a hostel for travelers and, like
the Augusta Helena, they visit the sick, relieve the sufferings of the poor,
and free prisoners. The hagiographer reports that Pinian's brother, Seve-
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" III

rus, attempts to thwart the couple's dissipation of the family's patrimony

by inducing their suburban slaves to revolt. 100 Melania, through the media-
tion of holy bishops, gains an audience with the Empress Serena to head
off slave disturbances in her various estates, which are scattered throughout
Spain, Italy, Africa, and Britain. 101
Serena, moved by the physical appearance of the austerely dressed Me-
lania, agrees to intervene on her behalf and informs Emperor Honorius of
the machinations of Pin ian's brother. The emperor decrees that all of Me-
lania's and Pinian's provincial properties would be sold by local officials,
with the couple receiving the total proceeds.'!" In return for Serena's pa-
tronage, Melania and Pinian offer her gifts, but the devout empress re-
sponds that receiving benefactions from saints is an act of sacrilege because
it robs the poor offuture alms.
Gerontius itemizes Melania's and Pinian's rejection of the burdens of
enormous wealth and their spiritual rebirth as God's poor. Pinian's annual
income is 120,000 pieces of gold in addition to the payments from the sale
of Melania's properties. The sacred biographer enumerates the charitable
distribution of the holy couple's entire income.l'" He even describes with
lavish detail one of their most luxurious estates, which included sixty-two
households, expensive statues, and an enormous pool from which bathers
could view the sea.'?' The saintly patricians sell this palatial estate just be-
fore the barbarian invasions,':" and Melania uses the proceeds to purchase
monasteries, decorate altars with silks and silver, and buy islands, which she
then turns over to holy hermits. 106 When the Gothic warlord Alaric enters
Italy and ravages Roman suburban estates, Melania and Pinian flee to
North Africa, Before they reach the coast of Africa, they assist an island
that has been blockaded by the Goths by offering the invaders a ransom of
2,500 gold coins. They also provide an additional 500 coins to feed the
starving inhabitants. 107
Pinian and Melania arrive in North Africa (410), sell their remaining
property there, and engage in ministry to the poor. When they visit impor-
tant bishops, including Augustine of Hippo and Alypius ofThagaste, they
are advised to use their money to build and finance monasteries in North
Africa in order to obtain a "memorial in both heaven and earth." 108 They
choose to live in Alypius's town ofThagaste, where Melania occupies her-
self with the study of scripture, the decoration of Alypius's church with
costly goods, and the construction of two large rnonasteries.!"? Upon
completion, Melania provides each monastery with an income to support
80 monks and 130 nuns.
According to Gerontius, this largess finally relieves Melania of most of
112 Chapter 5

her earthly riches. At last she can devote herself to matters of the spirit and
to governing her convent at Thagaste. He recounts the saint's fasts and
meals of moldy bread, her devotion to scriptural exegesis, her fascination
with the Lives of the desert fathers, her strict administration of the women's
community, and her sackcloth bed and vigils.!'? Amid all this activity, her
askesis rivals that of the most austere hermits of the Syrian desert. She im-
mures herself in a small wooden box and prays without being able to
move. III In Gerontius's vita, Melania is an awe-inspiring ascetic, a profi-
cient scribe, a linguist, a model abbess, and a dedicated missionary. Ger-
ontius maintains that the humble Melania describes herself as a "useless
servant," fit only to wash the feet of saints.!'?
Melania rules over her monastery in Thagaste for seven years before
she decides to take up the via crucis to Jerusalem (c. 4-16-4-17). Pinian,
Melania, and her mother, Albina, stay at the Constantinian church of the
Holy Sepulcher and employ local officials to distribute alms on their be-
half. 1l 3 By this time, Gerontius emphasizes, the couple is so liberated from
the burden of riches that they consider enrolling themselves on the church's
poor registry. 114 Eventually Melania determines to make the journey to the
Egyptian desert to witness the ascetic lives of Christ-like hermits. She fi-
nances the pilgrimage with money from the liquidation of her Spanish
holdings. ll s Before leaving for Egypt, Melania instructs her mother to
build a small cell on the Mount of Olives so that she can move into it when
she returned to Jerusalem. In Egypt, Melania distributes gold to God's
unblemished anchorites, visits the cells of famous holy men, and meets
with the abbot of Tabennisi. She also makes the arduous journey to the
birthplace of Christian monasticism, Nitria, where the holy fathers wel-
come her "as if she were a man." 116
Upon her return to Jerusalem, Melania secludes herselfin the tiny cell
her mother has completed on the Mount of Olives. Sitting on sackcloth
and ashes, she refuses all visitors except Albina, Pinian, and her cousin
Paula, who come to seek Melania's spiritual advice.'!" Gerontius claims
that Melania endures fourteen years of strict askesis in this narrow vault and
that, when she finally emerges, he sees huge lice fall from her sackcloth. 118
After the death of her mother, Melania establishes a women's monastery in
Jerusalem, humbly relinquishing the administration of the ninety-member
convent to another wornan.!'? The convent is devoted to the conversion of
prostitutes to the life of holy chastity, and Melania gives sermons to the
sisters on the virginity of the soul and the requisite spotlessness of the
brides of Christ.'?" She also erects an oratory and altar in the monastery
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 113

and obtains the relics of the prophet Zechariah, the protomartyr Stephen,
and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.!"
While the holy woman is busy with these various projects, her earthly
husband and spiritual brother, Pinian, dies (c. 432). Melania enshrines his
remains in an aposteleion she had constructed, and she descends into it to
pray and keep vigils for four years. Gerontius contends that when Melania
emerges from this period of intense mourning she directs him to procure
stones for a new monastery to be built on the Mount of the Ascension. 122
She also commissions the monks of the Mount of the Ascension and the
aposteleion to chant the liturgy for both Albian and Pinian. After comple-
tion of the second coenobium in Jerusalem, Melania and Gerontius travel
to Constantinople to convert the holy woman's uncle Volusian, a former
Roman prefect. 123
On their way to the capital of the eastern empire, Melania enacts the
first miracle of the vita: her prayers impel an official in Tripoli to allow the
pious entourage to transport animals to Constantinople without proper
documentation.'>' Gerontius observes that Melania later heals the Em-
press Eudocia's twisted ankle, exorcizes two female demoniacs, and mi-
raculously aborts a dead fetus.l'" Melania remains in Constantinople for
forty days, during which she enjoys the hospitality of the imperial cham-
berlain (prepositus sacri cubiculi) and impresses the imperial court with her
charismatic appearance. Melania carries through the conversion of her
uncle Volusian, and, immediately after his baptism and sudden death, an
intense pain in her foot miraculously disappears. Indeed, Melania so in-
spires the imperial court that the Empress Eudocia subsequently visits her
in the Holy Land. 126 At Sidon, Eudocia meets Melania at the martyrion of
Saint Phocas, which was traditionally believed to have been the abode of
the humble Canaanite woman whom Christ converted (Matthew 15.22-
28). Eudocia acknowledges Melania as her spiritual mother and accompa-
nies her back to Jerusalem, where the empress, in imitation of the Augusta
Helena, mingles with Melania's virgins as if she were one of thern.P"
The empress's submission to Melania's spiritual authority underscores the
saint's elevated status in the eastern court.
At the end of the vita, Melania embarks on her last pilgrimage. She
and her cousin Paula journey to Bethlehem to participate in the festival of
the Holy Nativity.P" Upon her return to the convent in Jerusalem, Me-
lania preaches at the festival of the protomartyr Stephen. Before she dies
(December 31, 439), she entrusts Gerontius with the supervision of her
male monasteries.P? She is entombed in the oratory she had dedicated to
114 Chapter 5

the holy martyrs. The mourners spend the night singing psalms and read-
ing from scripture, and Gerontius assures his audience that the apostles,
prophets, and martyrs welcome this extraordinary matron into their celes-
tial choir.
The Life of Melania the Younger is simultaneously an unprecedented
account of one woman's authority within the late antique church and a
striking narrative of the inversion of classical gender precepts. Melania's
childhood misogamy and later vow of chastity contravene the celebrated
maternal role of Roman patrician women. Her marriage is unconventional
by late antique standards in that she controls her own destiny, finances,
and travel. The most fundamental gender reversal in the vita occurs in the
relationship between Melania and her husband. The hagiographers of wid-
owed female patrons, such as Paula, Helena, and Olympias, were not
forced to consider how to portray the relationship between husband and
abstemious wife. In the Life of Melania the Younger, the hagiographer re-
duces Pinian to a passive subordinate who follows his wife's lead. Pinian is
the" helpmeet" (prostatis) of the charismatic Melania, and there is no cor-
responding Life of Pinian, however saintly he supposedly was. Melania's
husband barely utters an independent word after his conversion. In con-
trast, Melania hectors Pinian into celibacy, lectures him on asceticism, and
upbraids him for his spiritual weaknesses. Melania is the charismatic leader
revered by empresses and bishops, while Pinian is merely enrolled as one of
her obedient acolytes.
By rigorously punishing her flesh with strict fasting, rough goat hair,
and night vigils, Melania's askesisparallels the austerity of desert hermits.
She imprisons herselfin cells so small that she can barely move. In Alexan-
dria, a holy prophet recognizes Melania as housing the spirit of a saint. 130
Her reputation as a prophet and saint enables her to perform such salvific
miracles as exorcism. She also possesses the capacity of literally becoming
the crucified Christ. When Melania's unbaptized uncle Volusian falls ill, she
miraculously absorbs his pain into her own body, and, with his baptism and
death, it vanishes in the same wondrous way. The symbolic meaning of this
passage of the vita is that Melania, like Christ on the cross, experiences
physical suffering to redeem sinners.
As does Jerome in the Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae, Gerontius uses
Melania's vita to chastise the profligacy of secular women. He implicitly
attacks the indulgent, lavish lives of Roman women by itemizing Melania's
austere wardrobc.l'" Melania reportedly grows to despise silk garments so
much that merely touching them causes her skin to break out. She dresses
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 115

in Antiochene-style garments which are less expensive than the Cilician

style, and she is buried in what hagiographers regarded as vestments of
salvation and virtue-the tunic, veil, belt, and hood of important saints. 132
In fact, Melania's acceptance of the theology of the cosmetic refashions her
body into a vehicle of conversion. Gerontius reports that it is Melania's
austere appearance that moves the imperial court, inspires the empresses
Serena and Eudocia, and converts her uncle Volusian to Christianity. He
also uses Melania's audience with the Empress Serena to reinforce Pauline
strictures concerning women's demeanor. According to the hagiographer,
members of the senatorial class uncovered their heads when they visited
the imperial family, but Melania violates this convention to obey Paul's
directive that "any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled
dishonors her head" (I Corinthians 11.5 ).133 Melania also refuses to change
her sordid mantle, appearing before the empress instead in her salvific garb.
Gerontius thus radically inverts ancient Roman custom, while champion-
ing Pauline legislation concerning women's physical appearance.
In Melania's vita, Gerontius is not so much praising the saint for her
independent adoption of ascetic dress as he is using the theology of the
cosmetic to admonish all women for sinful indulgences. Melania's fierce
rejection of fine apparel is therefore a backhanded acknowledgment of
women's propensity toward decadent self-gratification. Her refashioned
ascetic attire belies an ancient topos in sacred writings of the adorned
woman as the embodiment of sin. Her exchange of silk for goat hair stands
as a kind of universal repentance for her sex, and Gerontius emphasizes that
her veil and hood of haircloth served as punishments for her past life of
luxury. 134 Her lice-ridden sackcloth validates her renunciation of the world
and, like the sinful harlots who end their lives in claustrophobic cells, Me-
lania immures herself in a cramped wooden box to repent for her past life.
It is significant that her convent specializes in the conversion of sinful
women to the life of renunciation. According to Gerontius, Melania be-
lieves that her substitution of haircloth for silk is akin to an exorcism of
feminine profligacy. 135
Gerontius's model of female sanctity stresses almsgiving, a conven-
tional way for ancient women to wield power. This model, of course, was
also shaped by the mythological life of Helena, which made the construc-
tion of basilicas and endowment of holy places a requisite part of a holy
woman's vita. But Jesus had warned his disciples about the perils of inap-
propriate philanthropy: "Beware of practicing your piety before men in
order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father
116 Chapter 5

who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before
you" (Matthew 6.1-2). In his vita of the saint, Gerontius suggests that
Melania was indeed sounding her own trumpet.
The hagiographer also provides such an abundance of detail about
Melania's wealth and charity that it belittles her benevolence. Gerontius
reports that Melania and Pinian had an income of over 120,000 pieces of
gold, that their house was so expensive that not even the empress could
afford to buy it, that the couple effortlessly bought entire islands, and that
they shrewdly sold almost all their western properties at the very moment
of the Gothic invasions. In fact, Melania's dissolution of her ancestral land-
holding could be described as a clever real estate liquidation.P" Melania's
enormous wealth allows her to privatize the holy: she owns relics and altars,
builds private chapels and oratoria, buries Pinian in her own aposteleion,
and possesses several monasteries.P? One sometimes has the impression
reading Gerontius's narrative that North Africa and the Holy Land were
virtually littered with the consequences of her philanthropy. Indeed, the
hagiographer implies that Melania was buying her way into the sacred
without a clear sense of the contradictions of her position and the inappro-
priate nature of her actions.
Although charity was a legitimate, albeit resented, method for ancient
women to gain influence, it is clear from Gerontius that Melania employed
her riches to enforce her will. She bribes servants not to reveal that she is
avoiding the baths, pays young women to be chaste, and offers money to
pagans who convert to Christianity. 138 As a wealthy woman accustomed to
compliance with her desires, she evidently did not consider whether the
behavior she purchased from the prostitute and the pagan reflected a com-
mensurate change of heart. The first minor miracle of the vita, the release
of Melania's animals in Tripoli, reinforces the image of the saint as an ob-
tuse philanthropist. Gerontius reports that both Melania's striking sanctity
and a generous tip encouraged a local official to let her beasts go. 139 Ger-
ontius asserts that the devil had taunted Melania about buying her way into
heaven, a warning that may reflect the anxieties he felt about her position
as a free-spending pauper. 140
Gerontius declares that Melania and Pinian experienced a vision in
which they painfully pass through a narrow slot in a wall. Clearly, this vision
derives from Jesus' warning about wealth as an obstacle to heavenly life:
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that
leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many" (Matthew 7.13).
It is very difficult "for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 117

For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God" (Luke 18.24--25). The vision of Melania
(and Pinian) is relevant to the most unsettling story Gerontius relates
about the patrician saint. During Melania's pilgrimage to the cells of fa-
mous anchorites in Egypt, she attempts to give them gold when she sees
their meager possessions. 141 When one indignant recluse asks Melania what
purpose gold possibly could serve in the desert, she advises him to use it
for alms. In response, the hermit cruelly chastises the heroine of the vita
by pointing out that the poor did not retreat to the desert to then beg
from ascetics who had rejected earthly wealth. Defiantly, the anchorite
throws Melania's gold coins into a river. It is rare indeed for hagiographers
to rebuke their own saints, who are generally admonished only for their
behavior before conversion. Equally unusual is the word Gerontius uses to
describe Melania's attempt to give alms to God's poor. He asserts that she
gave gold to the hermit Hephestion, "on account of spiritual craftiness
(did panourgias pneumatikes)."142 The gospel of Luke (20.23) applies the
term panourgia (cunning, craftiness, trickery) to the spies of the scribes
and the chief priests, and Paul (I Corinthians 3.19) uses the term to de-
nounce those who place credence in the wisdom of this world and not the
next. This revealing exchange between holy woman and venerable hermit
suggests that Melania's understanding of the ascetic vocation is tenuous
and that her connection with the inner circle of great holy men negli-
gible.v-' Gerontius even goes so far as to liken the zealous benefactor to
vain patrician women who travel to the Egyptian desert accompanied by a
majestic retinue of eunuchs, animals, and churchmen. 144
The hagiographer's ambivalent view of Melania was surely condi-
tioned by his inclusion in her retinue and, having been appointed supervi-
sor of her male monasteries, a recipient of her generosity. He is with her
when she usurps the authority of the episcopacy by procuring relics of
saints and martyrs, installing their remains in altars, reclothing sacrificial
tables with silks, and preaching in her own sacred basilicas. He watches her
order her family's silver collection to be turned into lavish church altars
and observes her bestowal of these sacrificial tables on the deserving. He
also sees great bishops such as Augustine and Alypius put in the dubious
position of being the clients and economic dependents of a wealthy as-
cetic through Melania's financial patronage of North African basilicas and
monasteries.
The most peculiar aspect of Gerontius's vita of Melania is his constant
applause of the saint's poverty and asceticism in the context of her appar-
118 Chapter 5

ently lifelong failure to rid herself of riches. Time and again, the hagiogra-
pher proclaims that Melania can finally embrace the ascetic life, all her
wealth having been benevolently dispensed, only subsequently to portray
his heroine acquiring more relics, endowing more temples, and paying for
her retinue to visit yet another congeries of hermits. Even after fourteen
years in a narrow vault on the Mount of Olives, Melania emerges not only
with enormous lice on her sackcloth but with the wherewithal to endow a
monastery, attend court in Constantinople, and obtain the relics of the
Forty Martyrs ofSebaste. Not long after she and Pinian contemplated en-
rolling themselves on the poor registry of the church in Jerusalem, she
journeys to the Egyptian desert where she tries to foist gold on holy men.
According to Gerontius, Melania was like the poor woman who offered
Jesus her last copper coins, yet the hagiographer also informs his audience
that Melania had fifty gold coins when she died-a princely sum at the
time. In short, Gerontius's sacred fiction makes clear that Melania's "pov-
erty" was more symbolic than real.
Of course, Gerontius may simply have been careless of consistency,
and he may have been so impressed by the fortune Melania gave away that
fifty gold coins seemed like a relative pittance. But it is more likely that
Gerontius was truly ambivalent about his benefactor's deeds and thus
could not avoid introducing tensions into his portrait of her. From his per-
spective, Melania did heroic good work and kept the ideal of the ascetic
life before her. Despite her good intentions and relentless generosity, how-
ever, she failed to make the ultimate commitment that would have abol-
ished the vices she formally abhorred. She was determined to force herself
painfully through the eye of the needle, dispensing largess as she went,
heedless of Jesus' teachings about the "narrow gate" and the devil's warn-
ing about buying her way into heaven. In doing so, she could not avoid
becoming a scandal to the male hierarchy of the church, upon whom she
bestowed so much charity. She never abdicated the role of a wealthy patri-
cian woman bent on good deeds. With its ambivalence and inconsistencies,
the Life of Melania the Younger stands as a late antique lesson on the depths
of self-indulgence and superficiality that even the holiest of women must
overcome to achieve their own redemption.

The vitae of Helena, Paula, and Melania highlight the prominent role
of patrician women in the formulation of early Christian pilgrimage, the
orchestration of the cult of the dead, the establishment of Bethlehem and
Jerusalem as primary monastic sites, and the transmutation of Roman Re-
 "Through the Eye of a Needle" 119

publican values into Christian charismata. According to her legendary bi-

ographies, Helena became the unique arbiter of Christ's passion through
her miraculous discovery of the wood of the cross. Her hagiographical im-
age also served to humanize the militancy of Constantine's dominion over
Rome: she is the Mary of a new empire, who dispenses the medicine of
salvation throughout Christendom. The philanthropic and humble ex-
ample of Helena influenced subsequent lives of patrician women who as-
sumed the radical life of self-abnegation. Jerome's Life of Paula provides
one of the most elaborate models of the inversion of Roman virtues: Paula
destitutes her heirs, chooses mystical union with Christ over earthly mar-
riage, reduces her elegant body to a withered corpse, and exalts the ascetics
of Bethlehem over the senators of Rome. Gerontius's Life of Melania the
Younger is an extraordinary account of how one patrician woman's philan-
thropy, missionary fervor, and salvific powers were accommodated within
a male hierarchy.
These three lives, however, temper the iconoclastic power of Christian
women by featuring the theology of the cosmetic, Pauline strictures on
women's status in the church, submission to male authority figures, and
the imitation of biblical women who serve holy men. The Helena myth
reworks the discourse of the charitable widow of Hebrew and Christian
scripture. Paula is the Roman Martha who ministers to holy men at table
and the charitable wife of the book of Proverbs who extends her hand to
the poor; she obeys Paul's pastoral epistles' commandment that women
remain silent and submit to the authority of men. In contrast, Melania's
life underscores the danger of female usurpation of male power. As a patri-
cian philanthropist, she places holy men in the unusual position of being
clients of a woman. Gerontius pairs Melania's outstanding ascetic deeds
with her misguided charity. Finally, all three lives use the theology of the
cosmetic in order to present their saints as vessels of repentance for the
female sex. The vitae of Helena, Paula, and Melania serve as spiritual medi-
cine for other aristocratic women who cling to the vices of vanity, lust, and
self-indulgence.
 6
Civilizing Merovingian Gaul
The Lives of Monegund,
Radegund, and Balthild

IN HOLYSCRIPTUREWOMENEXPRESStheir piety through domestic ser-

vice to godly men and the impoverished.' In John (12.1-2), Martha, the
sister of Lazarus, feeds Jesus and the apostles: "Six days before the Pass-
over, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised
from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus
was one of those at the table with him." Early medieval hagiographers re-
produce the biblical image of the faithful serving woman to underscore
the conventional piety of female saints, such as Radegund of Holy Cross,
who became the "new Martha" (nova Martha) of Me roving ian Gaul: "She
did not cease from feeding the weak and blind food with a spoon. Two
women were present with her for this purpose, but Radegund alone min-
istered at table. Like a nova Martha, she bustled about until the brothers
were both rich in their cups and convivial.t'? Merovingian sacred biogra-
phies, including Radegund's, couple iconoclastic depictions of women's
charismatic and institutional authority with more traditional motifs of do-
mesticity, charity, and claustration.
In their vitae Merovingian women usurp many of the sacerdotal, pas-
toral, and administrative functions of the male hierarchy." Hagiographers
portray cloistered women as mystically performing the sacrificial action of
the mass and baptizing the sick. Holy women bury the dead, hear confes-
sion, absolve sinners, and, like priests, they preach, teach, and proselytize.
They impose communal penance on monasteries and even entire villages,
and they administer the cult of the dead by procuring relics and building
saints' shrines. The tombs of female saints consecrate both material ob-
jects and human beings. The same sacred biographers who so exalt female
saints, however, also characterize women's piety within the framework
of a feminized household and folkloric domesticity.' Female Merovingian
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 121

saints demonstrate their steadfast faith in God by spinning altar cloths,

baking bread, and making candles. They cheerfully perform menial tasks,
such as cleaning latrines, dusting altars, and washing saints' tombs; they
nurse, bathe, and feed the poor. And, by rejecting royal dress and jewelry
in favor of haircloth, they conform to the theology of the cosmetic. Their
vitae promote women's submission to male altar servants and highlight the
cloister as the locus of female sanctity. Merovingian hagiographers illus-
trate their hallowed lives with the unique imagery of a Germanic popula-
tion that is in the process of blending with a Gallo-Roman one; thus,
Merovingian vitae present hagiographical motifs in a singular way. Yet the
hagiographers who created the corpus of female vitae in early medieval
Gaul employed biblical rhetoric to achieve goals similar to those of their
Mediterranean and eastern counterparts-the empowering and bridling of
female sanctity.
Fifth- and sixth-century Gaul witnessed the fusion of northern Ger-
manic tribes with a Romanized Gallic population that was ruled both
by bishops and Frankish military leaders who eventually became the reges
Francorumr The Merovingians (i.e., the royal dynasty that ruled what is
now France, Belgium, and the Rhineland between 4-50 and 751) accel-
erated the process of making saints, sanctifying entire families, and creat-
ing monastic communities." Monasticism in early France can be traced to
the diffusion of eastern ascetic principles through an aristocratic group of
fifth-century Romanized Gauls who lived in Aquitaine and the Rhone Val-
ley, and along the Mediterranean coast. Gallo-Roman aristocrats, some of
whom had received ascetic instruction in Egypt and Constantinople, in-
troduced eastern-style monasticism at a handful of major sites, including
Tours, Marseilles, Lerins, ArIes, Jura, and Poitiers. 7 The Gallo- Roman epis-
copacy gradually established control over the various ad hoc monastic
organizations that developed around the cults of famous saints, such as
Martin of Tours, founder of Marmoutier and Liguge." Bishops sought to
incorporate all individual ascetics into the structure of the church hierarchy
to prevent the creation of unofficial sects that might evolve around the
magnetic personalities of non-consecrated holy women and men. Under
episcopal and royal guidance, monasteries became critical units of political,
economic, and missionary activity.
Whereas early medieval male houses tended to be concentrated in
the countryside, walled towns, urban basilicas, and private households
safeguarded neophyte female communities." The first significant women's
cloisters in Gaul were located at Marseilles, Jura, Vienne, Tours, Arles,
and Poitiers, and these early houses were often connected to renowned
122 Chapter 6

male institutions, such as that of John Cassian's at Marseilles. The influ-

ential bishop and monastic regulator, Caesarius of Arles, composed the
primary monastic rule for women in early medieval Francia. Several impor-
tant Gallo-Roman cloisters followed Caesarius's women's regula, includ-
ing those at Arles, Poitiers, Metz, and Laon.!? The rule imposed strict
isolation and claustration on the nuns and emphasized working wool,
modest dress, and mild asceticism.
Several historians of early monasticism have noted that women's ac-
cess to financial resources and donatives has always been more limited than
men's, and that female houses depended on both the patronage of royal
women and the post-mortem cult of saintly founders.'! Frankish queens
may have been attracted to the life of organized asceticism because they
already served as secular caretakers of vast estates and dispensers of the
royal fisc, and the cloister provided them the opportunity to expand their
diplomatic, financial, and administrative skills.'? Since philanthropy was
such an essential component of female sanctity, royal nuns who had private
access to ancestral estates, treasures-hoards, and political alliances were
viewed as ideal saints." Queens ruled women's communities with royal
authority and endowed them with both land and portable treasures.
Royal women were also instrumental in the promotion of renowned
cults, including those of Saint Genovefa of Paris and Saint Martin of Tours.
Queen Chlotild (d. 544), the wife of the founder of the Merovingian dy-
nasty, Clovis I (c. 465-511), established a shrine for Genovefa and con-
structed several women's monasteries before she retired to the basilica of
Saint Peter at Tours.':' A number of important Frankish holy women, in-
cluding Queen Chlotild, Papula, Ingitrude, Radegund, Ultragotha, and
Monegund, chose sites associated with the legendary Martin of Tours to
inspire their spiritual lives. 15 In particular, Radegund's foundation at Poi-
tiers became one of the most influential women's houses of early medieval
Gaul, and her community developed into such an important diplomatic
and religious center that it challenged the authority of a local bishop;'? By
the sixth century, women had no hierarchical alternative to male church
offices, and the cloister had become the institutional place for female as-
cetics. Merovingian hagiographical vitae played an important role in pro-
moting the cloister's spiritual efficacy for repentant noble women.

Monegund: Mediator of Celestial Medicine

In the 590S, the hagiographer and bishop Gregory of Tours completed a

compilation of Gallic saints' lives known as the Liber vitae patrum (book
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 123

of the lives of the fathers ).17Curiously, Gregory chose to include the life of
one woman among the twenty sacred biographies of illustrious bishops,
abbots, and ascetics. Gregory's interest in the holy woman's life stemmed
from the promotion and celebration of his familial see at Tours. 18 Accord-
ing to Gregory, Monegund made the pilgrimage to Tours only because of
the prominence of the cultus of Martin.!? As sixth -century hagiographical
texts attest, Martin's shrine had the power to captivate Christians not only
in the Touraine but as far away as northern France, the homeland of Saint
Monegund. Part of the rhetorical strategy of the Liber vitae patrum lay in
the institutionalization of independent, charismatic holy women and men
who had attached themselves to important shrines and basilicas." Gregory
therefore incorporated Monegund's autonomous life at Tours into the
larger framework of the institutionalization of Martin's cult.
Gregory of Tours begins the Vita Monegundis with a description of
the holy woman's former life in the world. Monegund is from the northern
Frankish village of Chartres. She fulfills her parents' desire that she marry,
and she eventually gives birth to two girls. When both daughters die from
a fever, Monegund goes through intense mourning and uncontrollable
weeping. According to Gregory, Monegund finds solace not in the com-
forting words of her husband, relatives, and friends, but in holy scripture;
only the Bible inspires her to end her lamentations and inaugurate a life of
penance." Monegund removes her mourning garb and immures herselfin
a narrow cell attached to her familial home. Gregory describes her vault as
a desert-like ascetic tomb with only one window. In this oratory, the peni-
tent spends her time renouncing the vanities of the world, rejecting her
earthly marriage, and praying for the sins of both herself and the Franks. A
domestic servant brings her barley flour, ashes, and water, from which
Monegund makes bread. She distributes the remainder of the food from
her household to the poor. Monegund's servant, however, abandons the
duty of ministering to the saint to return to a mundane existence. Mone-
gund therefore suffers five days without food until God miraculously sends
snow (Exodus 16.14--15) from which she draws water to make her bread.
After these initial healings, she deserts her husband and household at
Chartres to travel to the basilica of Saint Martin at Tours."
On the way to Tours, Monegund lingers at the village of Esvres in the
Touraine to celebrate the festival of Saint Medard of Soissons, whose relics
were enshrined at the local basilica.:" During the mass, Monegund miracu-
lously bursts open a young girl's malignant tumor by employing the sign
of the cross over the rotting flesh. She then makes her way to Tours, pros-
trates herselfbefore the shrine of the blessed Martin, and moves into a cell
124 Chapter 6

attached to the basilica.> She continues her desert-like rituals of praying,

fasting, and keeping vigils. Strict enclosure endows her with the charism of
healing, and her magnetic spirituality attracts a small crowd of female dis-
ciples who form a prayer community that supports itself by weaving mats
and baking bread." Monegund ends her life among her disciples, but be-
fore she dies she comforts them by placing them in the care of the blessed
Martin and by blessing their oil and salt supply. The nuns use these benefi-
cia to continue the salvific process begun by Monegund of healing the sick
and the possessed. The community buries the saint in her cell, and her
shrine becomes a focal point of pilgrimage and worship.
Gregory's ecstatic portrayal of the reclusive Monegund transcends
traditional gender boundaries. The anchorite transforms her earthly body
into a spiritual one in imitation of the greatest Hebrew and Christian holy
men of antiquity. Like the renowned ex-soldier Martin of Tours, she heals
using the Christian weapons of prayer and oil,26 and, in imitation of the
famous Gallo- Roman ascetic Germanus of Auxerre, she fashions her bread
from a mixture of barley flour and ashes." Her abandonment of husband,
family, and native village of Chartres confers upon her the desert gifts of
healing by laying on of hands and exorcizing by means of the signum cru-
cis. Like the charismatic doctors of the desert, Monegund cures the dis-
eased with herbal medicines. God feeds the saint in her oratory, just as
divine power had nourished the prophets in the desert. Monegund feasts
directly from God's grace and, in turn, she feeds other Christians." She
also weaves mats from interlaced twigs, and, in imitation of the desert fa-
thers' she sleeps on coarse sacks. In desert fashion, the charismatic amma
attracts a band of disciples who form a community around her cell.
In the prologue to the vita, Gregory compares Christian dogma to a
"stable of celestial medicine." Monegund is thus a Christ-like dispenser of
celestial medicine, for like a priest, she distributes grace to the Franks." In
fact, there are several eucharistic images in the vita. The bishop asserts that,
by traveling to Tours, Monegund drinks from a "priestly fountain" and
thereby is "able to lay open the avenue to the grove of Paradise." 30 The
saint reconciles a blind female sinner to God's grace by miraculously heal-
ing her eyes with the signum crucis." She also blesses oil and salt, two ele-
ments used by the male priesthood to perform exorcisms and baptisms."
Finally, her tomb functions as a consecrated altar wherein divine power
sanctifies the many material objects and human bodies that come into con-
tact with it.:"
In addition to presenting Monegund as a faith healer and desert-like
ascetic, Gregory stresses her connection with the Hebrew Job, whose suf-
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 12 5

ferings signified divine favor. Medieval theologians interpreted Job's tor-

ment as a foreshadowing of the passion of Christ on the cross. Monegund,
like Melania the Younger, initiates her religious retreat precisely at the
moment of her greatest earthly ordeal, the deaths of her two daughters. In
his vita, Gregory uses the mother's grief to transform her into a Frankish
Job, for, like Job, she eventually recognizes her terrible loss as part of the
divine plan. In response, Monegund disrobes, renounces her earthly family
and marriage, and begins a life of penance. She symbolically enacts the
verse from the book of Job (1.21): "Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord." She divests herself of her earthly pos-
sessions and reclothes herself, thereby evoking the image of self-baptism. 34
Monegund's vita functions as a proof text that God creates beneficia from
human suffering, for the Lord remakes Monegund, who was helpless to
prevent the deaths of her children, into a faith healer. The didactic message
in Gregory's Vita Monegundis is that God's grace triumphs over earthly
sufferings and divine medicine prevails over temporal healing arts.
Although Gregory depicts Monegund as a Christ-like intermediary
between paradise and earth, he also softens the independent charisma of
his subject saint by situating her power within the institutional setting
of the cultus of Martin of Tours. Indeed, in many ways, Martin is the car-
dinal figure of the vita. Gregory compares Martin and Monegund to Sol-
omon and the queen of Sheba: "Now when the queen of Sheba heard of
the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test
him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue,
with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and
when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And
Solomon answered all of her questions" (1 Kings 10.1-3). The biblical en-
counter between Solomon and the queen of Sheba provides a context for
viewing the life ofMonegund. In Gregory's redaction of the Hebrew leg-
end, Tours becomes the "New Jerusalem," and Monegund undertakes her
journey to seek the advice of the godly Martin, who thereafter serves as
Monegund's spiritual director, answering "all her questions."
Dead altar servants miraculously counsel Monegund on her most sig-
nificant actions. Saint Martin authorizes Monegund's abandonment of her
husband, even though such a desertion violates Paul's teachings on mar-
riage: "A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives" (1 Corinthians
7.39 ).35She travels to Esvres to join in the religious festivals held in honor
of Saint Medard of Soissons, and her unerring reverence for Medard en-
dows her with the gift of healing a young girl of a deadly tumor. At Tours,
126 Chapter 6

she attaches herself to the basilica of Martin, and her hermitage becomes
the locus of her apostolic powers of healing and exorcism. Gregoryempha-
sizes, however, that Monegund's healings do not overshadow those of the
blessed Martin, for Monegund commands a blind woman not to seek a
cure from her: "Does not Saint Martin live here, who each day shines with
the work of his miracles? Go to him and pray that he may deign to visit you.
For I am only a sinner; what can I do?" 36 While dying, Monegund entrusts
her disciples to the care of Martin, their "shepherd." 37 After her death,
Monegund miraculously instructs a blind man that he must seek a cure not
at her shrine but at the basilica of holy Martin: "Go then to the feet of the
blessed Martin and prostrate yourselfin front of him." 38
The Life of Monegund presents the reader with a striking re-creation
of desert asceticism within the context of an urban shrine in Gaul. In Gre-
gory's sacred portrait, Monegund is a spiritual doctor who dispenses the
medicine of heaven without clerical intervention." Through the abandon-
ment of both her marriage and her native town of Chartres, Monegund
becomes a salvific force in the lives of the inhabitants of the Touraine. She
cures the deaf and blind; and she blesses oil and salt, and these two ele-
ments of priestly baptism and exorcism continue to work miracles after her
dcath.t" Gregory represents Monegund's small cell next to the basilica of
Saint Martin as a consecrated space. By crossing the threshold of Mone-
gund's tomb, the afflicted "drink in the resurrection" and receive a divine
cure. The saint's powers hallow both material objects and afflicted hu-
mans." In Gregory's portrayal, Monegund's authority seems to rival ap-
ostolic and priestly powers; but that possibility is undercut by the ha-
giographer's assurance that Monegund was part of a community busy with
baking and weaving and that the saint limited her miracle working to heal-
ing the sick. Gregory also links Monegund's spiritual success to her intense
identification with her mystical shepherd Martin.? While certain aspects
of Monegund's vita resemble those of the great ammai of the eastern de-
serts, the self-entombment of the ascetic was secured in an institutional
setting dominated by male saintly authority. The Vita Monegundis was
part of a process whereby Merovingian bishops were restraining potentially
disruptive asceticism, particularly as practiced by females, by placing it un-
der hierarchical supervision.

Radegund: The New Martha of Gaul

The vitae of the Merovingian Queen Radegund of Poitiers (c. 518 - 587)
created an influential model of female piety for following generations of
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 127

noble and royal holy womcn.v' In addition to the widely disseminated

sixth-century text authored by the Italian poet and later bishop of Poitiers,
Fortunatus, another seventh-century life ofRadegund was written by Bau-
donivia, a nun of Holy Cross.r' That both a woman and a man chron-
icle the life of this cloistered holy woman provides a rare opportunity to
compare gendered accounts. In describing Radegund's independence and
charismatic power, Fortunatus seems to be fitting the Frankish queen into
the gender-inverted molds of a Merovingian Elijah, Samuel, and Christ."
He tempers these radical gender inversions, however, by rationalizing Rad-
egund's most aggressive expressions of independence and by feminizing
her miracle working. The female saint's life is thus rendered paradoxical by
her male hagiographer's choice to couple the topoi of heroic martyrdom
with folkloric domesticity. The bishop's Radegund on the whole resembles
the charitable, domestic women servants in the New Testament and more
closely fits the model of a Merovingian Martha than that of a great prophet.
Baudonivia, who boasted that she had been "nourished from the cradle"
by the queen, portrays a Radegund who is an astute politician, a destroyer
of pagan shrines, and an active participant in the cult of the dead.?' These
male- and female-authored texts share many similar spiritual motifs, al-
though the female version emphasizes Radegund's pastoral and adminis-
trative achievements whereas the male-authored text dismisses the queen's
authority outside of the cloister and emphasizes her domestic duties within
the convent.
Fortunatus begins his Life of Radegund by describing the saint's tu-
multuous childhood. When Radegund is about twelve years old, the Franks
defeat her uncle, the Thuringian ruler, Hermanfred, and divide his house-
hold among thernselves.t? Radegund falls to the lot of King Chlotar, and
the victorious Franks deposit her at the royal villa of Athies in the Verman-
dois." At Athies, Radegund receives an education in grammar and domes-
tic labors, and she begins to train the children who are with her in the art
of penance."? She lives at Athies for about ten years before Chlotar marries
her at Soissons. Fortunatus stresses, however, that after the wedding Rade-
gund lives as an ascetic and is truly married not to Chlotar but to Christ.
She dispenses the royal fisc to monasteries, independent hermits, and the
poor. She transforms the villa at Athies into a hospice for destitute and
leprous women. During the course of her earthly marriage, she multiplies
both her munificence and her self-mortification. Finally, she flees from
Chlotar to Bishop Medard of Noyon- Tournai, who consecrates the queen
as a deacon and veils her.t" After her consecration, Radegund travels to a
number of pilgrimage sites around the Touraine, including Tours, Candes,
128 Chapter 6

and Saix. During this Gallic itinera, she increases her poor relief, nursing,
and philanthropy. She eventually leaves Saix and constructs her own insti-
tution at Poitiers.>'
At Poitiers, she moves into a small cell, where she fasts, prays, and
wears sackcloth and ashes. She refuses the office of abbess in order to de-
vote herself more fully to a life of humble service, just as Melania the
Younger had refused to govern her own convent in Jerusalem. She also
vigorously engages in the domestic chores of the convent and visits the
diseased in the convent's infirmary. According to Fortunatus, Radegund's
life embodies the ascetic discipline and household labors of the regula of
Caesarius of Arles." Her self-entombment, askesis, and philanthropy be-
stow upon her the charisms of healing, exorcism, and resurrection. She dies
at Holy Cross, and her piety, self-denial, and faith reportedly result in many
post-mortem miracles at her shrine.
Bishop Fortunatus fashions the Merovingian queen into a woman-
prophet, female-Christ, and Frankish martyr. Her ascetic and miraculous
activity also parallel the famous acta of the male saints, Martin of Tours
and Germanus of Auxerre. Fortunatus endows her holy body with extra-
ordinary charismatic powers and arresting acts of self-mortification. In
fact, Fortunatus's Radegund engages in the most brutal ascetic rituals of
any female Merovingian saint, and her putrefaction of the flesh rivals the
charismatic authority of most early medieval male saints. 53 She achieves the
status of superhuman martyr, institutional confessor, and grace-dispensing
priest. The bishop's vita suggests that Radegund's self-martyrdom, li-
turgical usurpations, and miraculous activity invert traditional images of
women's subservience.
Fortunatus evokes the image of martyrdom throughout Radegund's
sacred biography, beginning with the story of her childhood abduction.
He compares the child Radegund, captive at the Frankish court at Athies,
with the ancient Israelites, who were enslaved, subjugated, and oppressed
by war. During her confinement at the villa of Athies, Radegund becomes
a child-martyr and pseudo-priest. She confides in her playmates that she
desires to wear the crown of Christian martyrdom, and she commands the
other children to construct a wooden cross and organizes them into a band
of tractable penitents. Under Radegund's charge, the ritual procession of
toddlers marches into the villa's oratory, surrounds the altar, and chants
psalms. This unusual depiction of Frankish children's liturgical play has a
eucharistic focus; Radegund, before leading her company into the basilica,
stages a child's version of the last supper with table scraps and ceremonial
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 129

hand washing;" Like the child-Jesus (Luke 2.41-52), Radegund's true

home is the Temple. Fortunatus uses the standard hagiographical topos of
the wise child as evidence ofRadegund's future sanctity, and, in doing so,
he has Radegund impersonate the sacerdotal functions of the consecrated
priesthood.
As an adult, Radegund's continual defiance of masculine authority in-
verts the traditional gender hierarchy of male-female. She abandons her
earthly marriage in favor of a celestial union. As Christ's bride, she prefers
praying on the cold ground next to the privy to sleeping in a royal bed, a
scene depicted in the eleventh-century illustrated version of the vita (Fig-
ure 4).55 She dons monastic vestments and persuades Bishop Medard to
consecrate her as a deacon and to veil her. Her financial support of the male
hierarchy and of monasticism places important holy men in the position of
being the economic clients of a woman, while her desert-style punishment
of her body rivals that of any Frankish holy man.
In imitation of the superhuman acts of the desert fathers, Radegund
rigorously fasts, wears heavy chains, and brands her flesh with a red-hot
crucifix. She cheerfully cleans latrines and punishes her body with coarse
goat hair. Fortunatus provides gruesome details of her self-imposed cor-
ruption of the flesh. During Lent, she drinks only two pints of water and
her throat becomes so parched that she cannot even chant the litany. 56Her
Lenten diet consists of roots and herbs, with bread reserved for Sundays.
She thus suffers constantly from burning thirst and intense hunger. In
preparation for Holy Week, Radegund squeezes massive amounts of blood
out of her body by encasing herself in Syrian -style iron fetters that cut into
her flesh. 57 Even though the stiff barbs of her hair cloth scrape the flesh off
her limbs, she subjects them to further torment by carrying a basin brim-
ming with burning coals. Like Germanus of Auxerre, Radegund sleeps on
a bed of ashes and covers herself with a hair cloth. 58 Fortunatus proclaims
that these terrifying feats of self-mortification mark the holy woman as a
martyr even though the historical age of persecution has ended. 59
In Fortunatus's rendition, Radegund's grueling askesis empowers her
with the wonder-working abilities of Martin of Tours, Michael the warrior-
angel, and the prophet Elijah. She heals the blind by impressing the signum
crucis on their eyes, expels demons by trampling on the necks of their
victims, and resurrects the dead. Like Christ, she ministers to lepers, the
poor, and the diseased. Fortunatus places her powers of healing in a sacer-
dotal context; Radegund cures the sick by immersing them in baths, a sym-
bolic act which clearly recreates the baptism of catechumens.?" A monacha
130 Chapter 6

Figure 4. "Saint Radegund at the table with the king, praying in her oratory, and
prostrate on the floor." Ms. 250, fo1. 24r. End of the eleventh century. Bibliotheque
Municipale, Poitiers, France. Giraudon/ Art Resource, New York.
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 131

Animia, who suffers from a dropsical swelling, mystically envisions being

baptized by the saint. Radegund comes to Animia in a dream and orders
her to strip and lower herself into a bath. Radegund then pours oil over the
sick woman's head and reclothes her in a new garment, after which Animia
awakes from the dream in a state of pristine health. Like Radegund's ac-
tions, early baptism was comprised of prayer, exorcism, anointing, disrob-
ing, bathing, and reclothing. These rituals were symbolic of the removal of
postlapsarian flesh and the resurrection of the spirit.?' Just as Radegund's
mystical baptism of Animia evokes priestly baptism, the banquets the
queen gives for beggars and lepers involves her dispensing wine to the con-
gregation in a quasi-liturgical manner."
Fortunatus exercises constraint, however, in his representation ofRa-
degund as a powerful saint. He weakens the force of the queen's spiri-
tual rebirth and rejection of her husband by suggesting that she was
compelled to do so by the nature of her marriage. According to Fortuna-
tus, Radegund's marriage to Chlotar was a Raubehe, or a Germanic "cap-
tive marriage," because the king acquired his future bride as a war trophy."
Radegund, who had wanted to remain chaste for her celestial groom, he-
roically cleanses her body after sexual intercourse. Fortunatus reports that
Radegund would leave her husband's bed at night, put on a goat-hair
mantle, and pray by the latrine to convince Christ that she was unadulter-
ated.v' Here, Fortunatus places Radegund's holy life within the framework
of epic accounts of female martyrs who endure physical torture to preserve
their bodily purity.
Fortunatus describes Radegund's request to be consecrated by Bishop
Medard not to depict an influential holy woman but to justify the aban-
donment of her marriage. A number of historians have questioned the
likelihood of Radegund's confirmation as deacon because sixth-century
episcopal legislation had been passed to abolish the women's diaconate.:"
It is quite possible, then, that the hagiographer fabricated a formal title
and institutional consecration to mitigate the queen's scandalous deser-
tion of her husband, just as Gregory of Tours used the celestial sanction of
Saint Martin to justify Monegund's abandonment of her marriage.v" For-
tunatus suggests that the consecration was hastily carried out because
Chlotar's courtiers were ridiculing both the king and his peculiar bride.'?
Radegund's imitatio Christi had made her the object of derision among
Chlotar's supporters who, according to the male hagiographer, used to
joke that the king was married to a monk, not a queen." Fortunatus's
description of Radegund's consecration may not be an affirmation of
 Chapter 6

women's institutional authority; its inclusion in the narrative apparently

attenuates Radegund's rebellion against the traditional female role of wife
and mother by creating a title that would legitimate her independence.
A similar legitimation is at work when Fortunatus places Radegund's
charismatic abilities only within a feminine, domestic, and even child-like
environment. Radegund plays at being a priest like the boy-Samuel: "Sam-
uel was ministering before the Lord, a boy girded with a linen ephod"
(I Samuel 2.18). Fortunatus draws on this image of the boy-prophet:
"[Radegund] carried out these things in the manner of the little cleric,
Samuel.">? During her lifetime, she heals only powerless women and
children. Even her emulation of the ecstatic abilities of Elijah and Martin
of Tours involves the nursing and resurrection of infants. Only one post-
mortem miracle of the vita involves the healing of a man, the secular of-
ficial, Domnolenus, who suffers from a throat disease. Significantly, how-
ever, Radegund promises to cure Domnolenus only if he will agree to
dedicate an oratory to the greatest of all male saints, Martin of Tours."?
Radegund thereby serves as the "helpmeet" of Martin.
Like Gerontius with Melania the Younger, Fortunatus provides de-
tailed descriptions of Radegund's philanthropy, claiming that even hermits
could not hide from her charity, that she decorates the altars of pious men
with gold and jewelry, and that she divests herself of all her wealth."! She
dispenses the royal fisc throughout Gaul, just as the Augusta Helena dis-
tributed the imperial treasury in the Holy Land, and, in imitation of
Helena, Radegund secures the release of prisoners through political arbi-
tration and miraculous intervention."
Fortunatus presents the queen's conversion to the life of radical asceti-
cism through the hagiographical topos of changed garments." He enumer-
ates Radegund's rejection of the opulent clothing of the Merovingian ar-
istocracy by providing the most elaborate literary account of Merovingian
women's aristocratic dress." She prostrates herself at the threshold of bas-
ilicas and places her noble costume on "the table of divine glory." 75 She
commissions another holy woman, the monacha Pia, to design a special
linen tunic with goat-hair lining. The vitae of both Melania the Younger
and Radegund of Holy Cross suggest that charity and proper ascetic attire
are integral aspects of feminine spirituality and serve to eradicate the asso-
ciation of women with self-indulgence. The reclothing of the Merovingian
queen in fetid animal hair preaches to other women the necessity of throw-
ing off the earthly body. Fortunatus, like Gerontius and Jerome, uses the
theology of the cosmetic to feminize the spirituality of his saint.
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 133

Throughout the vita, Fortunatus circumscribes Radegund's charis-

matic asceticism within the domestic and feminine environment of the
cloister. Instead of officiating at the altar, she cleans it with her tunic. She
also scrubs the pavement surrounding the sacrificial table and, with great
reverence, carries the sacred dust in her apron and places it outside the
church. Fortunatus's Radegund is an ascetic housekeeper who miracu-
lously finds dirt in the kitchen and uses her spindle, the symbol of her chas-
tity and domesticity, to exorcize demons in the guise of mice.:" She grinds
flour, lights fires, and polishes the shoes of her nuns. Similarly, Martin of
Tours, while he was still in the Roman army, cleaned the boots of his
domestic servant and ministered to him at table.'? Martin's hagiographer
Sulpicius Severus, however, includes these examples of Martin's domestic
piety primarily to validate his rejection of the military hierarchy and does
not allow Martin's table ministry to dominate his vita, as Fortunatus does
in his life ofRadegund.
The queen also washes the hair of destitute women who come to her
at the royal villa of Athies, and she ministers to the poor by cleansing their
skin, extracting vermin, and combing their hair. She prepares drinks for
them, gives them new clothes, carves their meat, and wipes their mouths
with napkins." She rubs ointment on women lepers and kisses them on the
face. She also bathes the feet of visiting holy men with warm water and
serves drinks to them."? Fortunatus accentuates domestic imagery not only
because Radegund's immaculate housekeeping reflects the cloister's inte-
rior purity of spirit but also because such household piety accommodates
the imposing image of the saint within the biblical topos of contrite serving
women. The hagiographer inverts the model of dynamic queenship by re-
fashioning Radegund as a humble servant.
Radegund's performance of such household activities follows the
evangelical pattern of women's domestic service to the apostles and to
Christ. The synoptic gospels recount Jesus' resurrection of Peter's mother-
in-law, who, immediately upon rising, waits upon the men (Mark 1.30-31;
Matthew 8.14-15; Luke 4.38-39). The evangelists similarly present Martha,
the sister of Mary and Lazarus, who dispenses food and drink to Jesus and
the apostles, as the paradigm for women's service to men. Significantly,
Fortunatus renames Radegund the "new Martha" (nova Martha) because
of her domestic service to the apostles of Gaul. 80
Fortunatus's Life of Radegund illustrates the paradoxical treatment of
holy women by sacred biographers. The male writer combines the grue-
some acta of the saints and martyrs with folkloric domesticity and biblical
134 Chapter 6

women's table ministry. Radegund's nursing, feeding, and philanthropy

symbolically heal the endemic factionalism and violence of Merovingian
politics; she, like Helena, is a mediatrixgratiae for the Frankish kingdom.
In Fortunatus's sacred fiction, the saint usurps the liturgical and miracu-
lous authority of the male priesthood, but only within the context of child-
hood play, the theology of the cosmetic, and miraculous housekeeping.
Within this paradigm of female holiness, Radegund is a domestic martyr,
with a vita activa which is distinctively feminine.
Both Fortunatus and the female hagiographer, the nun Baudonivia,
employ the conventional representations of female piety, such as table
ministry, claustration, and healing. The difference between the two texts is
one of emphasis. Fortunatus focuses on the queen's activity as that of a
Merovingian Martha, whereas Baudonivia recounts Radegund's life within
the context of relic hunting, political arbitration, and pastoral duty." Both
hagiographers use similar models: the vitae of Hebrew and Christian holy
men and the lives of contemporary Gallo- Roman saints, including Martin
of Tours and Germanus of Auxerre.t" They also replicate elements in the
influential life of Saint Helena. Whereas Fortunatus's Radegund imitates
Helena's philanthropy and domestic service, Baudonivia's Radegund du-
plicates Helena's role as a charismatic archaeologist and active missionary.
Baudonivia's account highlights her mentor's contribution to the public
vitality and power of the convent of Holy Cross and acknowledges its in-
fluence on the history of her own people. In order to achieve this goal,
Baudonivia empowers Radegund and restrains the authority of the impor-
tant men in her life, just as she ignores the male figures in the Helena leg-
ends to focus on the Augusta's independent acts."
Baudonivia suggests that, during her earthly marriage, Radegund is
not a victim of sexual pollution but a model laywoman." There is no
mention in this life of Radegund's consecration as deacon by the Bishop
Medard. Radegund finds her "helpmeet" in the person of the bishop of
Paris, Germanus, who helps convince the ineffectual king that he will have
to free his queen of her marital bonds." The major focus of Baudonivia's
vita is the queen's active ministry, imperial authority, and orchestration of
the cult of the dead. In imitation of Saint Martin, Radegund destroys an
ancient Frankish shrine (fanum) and converts the pagans who had de-
fended it. 8 6 Fortunatus excludes from his sacred biography both Rade-
gund's foundation of Holy Cross and her successful procurement of a piece
of the true cross from the Holy Land.:" In Baudonivia's account, however,
Radegund is a Merovingian spiritual empress who uses her contacts with
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 135

the patriarch of Jerusalem and the Byzantine emperor to retrieve ornate

editions of the gospels, the lignum crucis, and other relics of important
martyrs. Baudonivia proudly proclaims that "what Helena did in the East,
Radegund did in Gaul." 88 Her relic hunting rouses the envy of the local
bishop, Maroveus of Poitiers, who unsuccessfully attempts to block the
arrival of the lignum crucis at Holy Cross." Moreover, as Baudonivia re-
counts, Radegund's charismatic powers protect the sacred boundaries of
the cloister, such as when she exorcizes the devil in the guise of thousands
of goats standing on the convent's wall.?" During her life and after her
death, the queen's miraculous power cures the diseased and the possessed.
Her shrine and its associated beneficia consecrate all objects that come into
contact with it, and her tomb-shroud (pallia) heals important church
officials."!
Although Baudonivia underscores her spiritual mother's political acu-
men and authoritative control over the relics of the cross, she nonetheless
frames Radegund's piety within acceptable rhetoric. Baudonivia offers a
brief depiction of Radegund as a devout table-minister who bustles about
as a servant. " She replaces her fine linen with sackcloth and ashes and wears
fingerless gloves made from old boots. She washes the feet of the destitute
and cleanses them with her veil, but refuses to wipe them with her hair in
accordance with the apostle Paul's commandment that women should
keep their heads covered (I Corinthians 11.5-10 ).93In general, however, the
female hagiographer's portrayal of the Merovingian holy woman accentu-
ates pastoral duty over domestic service. It may be that Baudonivia alludes
to the queen's household devotion primarily to make Radegund's substan-
tial authority more acceptable to a seventh-century audience that would
expect the queen's active ministry to be compatible with female domestic
piety.

Balthild: A Royal Handmaid of God

The controversial life of the Anglo-Saxon slave and later Frankish queen,
Balthild (c.630s-680), composed by an anonymous nun of Chelles, fur-
thers the hagiographical motif of the authoritative woman as God's hum-
ble handmaid (ancilla Dei). The hagiographer states that Balthild's life fits
the pattern of the charitable queen -saints of the sixth century, including
Chlotild, Ultragotha, and Radegund.?" In fact, Fortunatus's Life of Rade-
gund is the primary model for the life of the seventh-century Merovingian
queen. Balthild's hagiographer tells us that she ascended the Frankish so-
 Chapter 6

cial hierarchy from the position of household bondswoman to be the most

important queen of her century;" After the death of her husband Clovis II
in 657, Balthild continued his program of ecclesiastical and monastic re-
form. She acquired relics, revitalized the cults of early Gallic saints, ap-
pointed abbots and bishops, and supported several prominent cloisters
including Chelles, Corbie, Iumieges, Fontanelle, Logium, Luxeuil, and
Parernoutiers.?" Balthild acts as a peacemaker among the Frankish prov-
inces of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy, and as regent for her son,
Chlotar III, king of Neustria, until she left politics for a life of holy retire-
ment at Chelles.?"
Balthild's vita presents a remarkable account of an authoritative fe-
male whose regency combined sacred and secular aspects of monarchy, me-
diating both court politics and the hallowed cult of the dead. Balthild's
Hausherrschaft ("houserule") empowered her to distribute the royal pat-
rimony to the poor, arbitrate factionalism among the nobles, and ceremo-
niously receive important diplomats and churchmen. As a royal nun, she
continued to manipulate political alliances, clothe the poor, and minister
at table. She exploited the Hausherrschaft model of early medieval queen-
ship to extend her political influence over both the church and nobility.?"
This formidable woman, however, was not without her detractors. Nearly
contemporary hagiographical sources denounce Balthild as a new "Iezc-
bel," who initiated the murder of nine bishops and poisoned Frankish poli-
tics with her machinations."? Indeed, it is likely that the queen's retirement
to the convent at Chelles was less an act of pious devotion than a forced
political exile. 100 Balthild's hagiographer, however, refashions the queen's
controversial political life by subordinating worldly authority to her do-
mestic piety.
Balthild, like Radegund, begins her spiritual journey as a captive in a
noble Frankish household (c. 641).101 According to the hagiographer, the
Anglo-Saxon slave's pious demeanor and refined manners attract the atten-
tion of Erchinoald, the mayor of the palace of Neustria.':" Erchinoald
selects Balthild as his personal cupbearer, and, after the death of his wife,
he attempts to marry her. The hagiographer contends that Balthild escapes
this earthly marriage because she is already dedicated to her heavenly
spouse Christ-a consideration that apparently did not prevent her even-
tual marriage to the Merovingian king, Clovis II (c. 648).103 The latter ap-
points the holy man Genesius as Balthild's spiritual overseer, and the queen
ministers to the poor and to the church through him.'?" She also engages
in extensive church reform and strives to eliminate simony, infanticide, and
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 137

the slave trade. She sends letters to bishops and abbots, advising them to
adhere to monastic regulae; she endows monasteries and important basili-
cas with land, sends gifts to the papacy, and reestablishes the veneration of
important saints. IDS When she withdraws to her own holy house of Chelles
(c. 664-/665), she becomes a model nun and humbly serves the abbess
Bertilla."'" Balthild dies on June 30, 680, and God bestows on her tomb
the ability to cure those suffering from fevers, toothaches, and demonic
possession.':"
The anonymous biographer of Queen Balthild transforms a career of
political power into a life of feminized charity, domesticity, and claustra-
tion in imitation of previous Merovingian holy queens such as Radegund.
Balthild is an Israelite-like captive, a victim of a Germanic Raubehe, a chari-
table queen of an earthly king, and a true bride of the celestial groom.
Balthild's life as a bondswoman foreshadows her saintly piety. Her over-
lord, Erchinoald, honors her as a perfect housekeeper, and she obediently
ministers to his table and washes the feet of the elders of his household.
She brings bathing water to Erchinoald's family and lays out their cloth-
ing. When Erchinoald wishes to make Balthild his bride, "she hid herself
secretly in a corner and threw some vile rags over herself" to remain pure
to her divine husband, Christ. lOB Perhaps the hagiographer depicts Erchi-
noald's sexual pursuit of the Anglo-Saxon bondswoman in order to re-
plicate the hagiographical motif of heroic chastity found in the Life of
Radegund. 109 As Clovis II's queen, Balthild assumes the dutiful roles of
mother, nurse, and humble disciple of the male priesthood. 110 She feeds
and clothes the poor, buries the dead, and dispenses the royal patrimony
to ascetics and the church hierarchy, but only under the pious guidance of
the priest Genesius, who serves as her almoner. 11 I And, in imitation of
Radegund, Balthild bequeaths her lavish girdle to the monks at Curbio,
thereby rejecting the vanities of the royal court. 112
Instead of presenting Balthild as an independent royal regent, the ha-
giographer focuses on her role as the peacemaker among her sons.'!" She
never misuses royal authority, but rather issues commands that enrich the
church, reform monasticism, and further diplomatic ties with Rome. She
prohibits the sale of Christian captives and protects the cult of the holy
dead. According to the vita, the queen's retirement to Chelles is a vol-
untary exile not a political imprisonment.U" In fact, the hagiographer em-
phasizes that an alliance of Frankish nobles attempted to keep her from
entering religious life by plotting to murder the bishop who had encour-
aged her to do so. 115 Balthild herself is never linked with episcopal murder;
 Chapter 6

instead, the queen enlists the political support of a number of bishops. 116
At Chelles, her household duties rival those of the lowliest servant: "She
would valiantly take care of the dirtiest cleaning jobs for the sisters in the
kitchen, personally cleaning up the dung from the latrine. And she did
all this gladly and in perfect joy of spirit, doing such humble service for
Christ's sake." 117 The hagiographer adds that Balthild had occupied herself
with similarly unpleasant domestic tasks even while she was queen. She
humbly submits to the authority of the abbess, Bertilla, just as Melania and
Radegund placed themselves under the authority of the spiritual overseers
of their communities. Engaging in vigils, nursing, and poor relief, Balthild
is the model nun.
At Chelles, Balthild suffers from a disease of the bowels, but com-
mends herself to divine medicine rather than temporal cures. Before her
death, she envisions a celestial ladder , leading from the altar of her church
to heaven; the deaths of the greatest saints were accompanied by such vi-
sions.'!" The hagiographer concludes Balthild's vita by acknowledging the
wonder-working abilities of her shrine and by featuring the creation of
Balthild's cultus at several important churches. Finally, the sacred biog-
rapher extols the evangelical perfection of the queen who ended her life as
a "true nun." 119
The Life of Balthild ofChelles is a strange narrative of a saint. Although
the hagiographer proclaims that she was an exemplary recluse, the text it-
self provides no account of the queen's asceticism or charismata. In her
vitae, Radegund crucifies herself, conquers the devil, and resurrects the
dead, but Balthild neither enacts any miracles while she is alive nor does
she live a spectacularly abstemious life. In fact, once Balthild retires to
her community of Chelles, her cloistered existence is entirely constructed
around conventions established in previous lives of devout queens. The
hagiographer even includes synopses of the lives of other great Merovin-
gian royal saints, such as Chlotild, Ultragotha, and Radegund, to show
how Balthild's holy life conforms to these earlier vitae. Like Radegund,
Balthild is a captive in a foreign household, a bride of Christ, and a domes-
tic martyr. In her sacred biography, Queen Chlotild civilizes her pagan
husband by converting him to Christianity; she also promotes the cult of
the holy dead in Paris and pioneers a religious institution at Chelles dedi-
cated to Saint George. Similarly, Balthild's charity humanizes Clovis II's
reign, which contemporary chronicles report was characterized by degen-
eracy, violence, and alcoholism.P" The image of Balthild as an ecstatic
arbitrator of Germanic brutality is an apocalyptic toposfrom Hebrew scrip-
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 139

ture (Ezekiel 36-37). The queen is the peacemaker between the Burgun-
dians and the Franks, just as Ezekiel prophesies the miraculous union of
the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. 12 1
The image of Balthild as a mediatrix gratiae for the bellicose Ger-
manic tribes is also based on the late antique lives of Mediterranean saints,
particularly the Vita Helenae. Helena's philanthropy and humble domestic
piety counter the political and geographic ruptures of the late empire
and humanize Constantine's imperium. In like fashion, the domestic and
charitable lives of Chlotild and Balthild humanize the warrior aristocracy
of the Frankish kingdoms. As mediator of their conversion, Chlotild is the
vessel of redemption for the Franks: "The queen did not cease to tell the
king that he should worship God and desert the vain idols he honored." 122
Balthild also conforms to Chlotild's sacred portrait in that she revitalizes
shrines in Paris and establishes a women's community at Chelles. In imita-
tion of Ultragotha, the wife of King Childebert, Balthild patronizes male
monasticism and nurses the poor. Her charity and ministry to the poor
soften the barbarous reign of her husband.
The vitae of Chlotild, Ultragotha, and Radegund provided Balthild's
hagiographer with an acceptable biographical niche in which to place the
controversial rule of the seventh-century queen. In effect, the hagiogra-
pher may have been simply extending the political punishment inflicted
on Balthild by enemies during her life: immuring her within a convent,
keeping her securely within conventional pieties. Not all contemporary
sources were so accommodating, however. Stephanus, in his early eighth-
century life of the Anglo-Saxon holy man and bishop, Wilfrid of York,
compares Balthild to the depraved Iezebel of Hebrew scripture. Accord-
ing to Stephanus, Wilfrid received his clerical tonsure from the bishop of
Lyons, Dalfinus, who, along with eight other bishops, was summoned to
the Frankish court and executed in the presence of Balthild. Stephanus
claims that it was Balthild, a "malicious queen" (malivola regina), who
gave the order to massacre the holy men: "For at that time there was an
evil-hearted queen named Baldhild who persecuted the church of God.
Even as of old the wicked Queen Iezebel slew the prophets of God, so she,
though sparing the priests and deacons, gave command to slay nine bish-
0ps' one ofwhorn was this Bishop Dalfinus." 123
In fact, Balthild was probably not such an exemplary instrument of
the devil. In all likelihood, Balthild had nothing to do with the murder of
the nine bishops, and Wilfrid himself was not present at their slaughter.'>'
Wilfrid's hagiographer, Stephanus, was less concerned for the historical ac-
140 Chapter 6

curacy of his account of politics at the Frankish court than for refashioning
events within a biblical framework to establish his hero as an Anglo-Saxon
Elijah. Within that context, Balthild, the most important woman at the
court, fell neatly into place as Elijah's nemesis, the depraved queen [eze-
bel. 12 5 Certainly the construction of gender played a pivotal role in the
vilification of Balthild. Jeze bel (I Kings 21) is the personification of human
apostasy from God, who induces men to do evil, to reject God, and to eat
sacrificial food. No male biblical figure could evoke such an image ofhu-
man depravity and fleshly sin. Early medieval churchmen, such as Ste-
phanus, inherited an ancient sacred discourse concerning the pernicious
influence of powerful women on politics, and they applied this narrative to
the lives of powerful contemporary queens.'>
Balthild's vita functions as a kind of apologia for a provocative career
in politics. It also serves as an advertisement for the religious community
at Chelles as well as evidence of the success of the post-mortem cultus of
the queen.F" In the Life of Balthild ofChelles, the queen is shown usurping
the political and administrative functions of Merovingian kings and Chris-
tian bishops. At the same time, the hagiographer tempers Balthild's asser-
tive power by embedding it in a life replete with domestic, charitable, and
submissive rhetoric. Balthild's biographer demonstrates the use of hagio-
graphical rhetoric for conservative purposes; the royal woman who over-
stepped her authority as regent is posthumously accommodated within the
hagiographical model of the biblical serving woman. The intent of the
anonymous hagiographer is clear at the conclusion of the vita, which cele-
brates the conventional attributes: "To her followers, she left a holy ex-
ample of humility and patience, mildness and overflowing zest for loving;
nay more, infinite mercy, astute and prudent vigilance, pure confessions." 128

The corpus of Merovingian women's lives exemplifies the paradoxical

treatment of female saints by sacred biographers. In numerous ways, Mer-
ovingian female saints expropriate the functions of the consecrated male
priesthood. Monegund dispenses grace throughout the warring Frankish
kingdoms as if she were a eucharist celebrant. Radegund mystically bap-
tizes the sick, anoints the dying, and occupies Christ's chair at Frankish
re-creations of the last supper. She is a Merovingian Helena, who trans-
forms Gaul into a Christian province and dispenses the "medicine of sal-
vation" among the Franks. Balthild is a female bishop who takes an active
role in appointing church officials, promoting the ecclesiastical economy,
and reforming clerical morality. The hagiographers of these three women,
 Civilizing Merovingian Gaul 141

however, soften such imposing images of female authority by employing

conventional domestic rhetoric.
Vitae of holy women concentrate on the pious service of the Martha
figure and the desert motif of an immured woman as a receptacle of grace.
Gregory of Tours recasts the independent Monegund into a miraculous
nurse and pious attendant of the post-mortem cults of the bishop-saints of
Gaul. By secluding herself in a desert-like cell, Monegund becomes a re-
pository of divine power. Radegund is a domestic martyr who brands her
flesh and wears heavy chains; but she also dusts altars, cleans latrines, and
tends the cloister's hearth. Radegund's ability to resurrect the dead, ex-
orcize demons, and dispel disease stems from her self-imprisonment in
an ascetic crypt and from her uncompromising adherence to the Rule of
Caesarius.'?? The constructed, hagiographical image of Balthild uses the
domestic-martyr topos created in Fortunatus's Life of Radegund to tame
the seventh-century queen's controversial rule in Gaul. Balthild's anony-
mous biographer places her vita within the context of the hallowed lives of
the great Merovingian philanthropists, Chlotild, Ultragotha, and Rade-
gund. While the historical Balthild was an important monastic and clerical
reformer, the hagiographical Balthild is a holy housekeeper, ministering to
Frankish noblemen and cloistered nuns. Frankish churchmen chose to jux-
tapose the conflicting images of the holy woman as Christ crucified and
domestic minister to prophetic men. These early medieval hagiographers
created enigmatic portraits of their subjects to instruct lay, monastic, and
clerical audiences that, although female saints can literally become Christ,
they nonetheless continue to serve as the submissive attendants of male
priests. Only consecrated men, who officiate at God's sacrificial table, pro-
vide the unique and ecstatic link between human communities and the
divine. The vitae of female saints, however, also fulfill a distinctive role, for
the conversion of Merovingian noblewomen to the life of cloistered virtue
offers the salvific power of the cross to all Germanic and Celtic peoples.
This page intentionally left blank
 Conclusion: Sacred Fictions

BUILDING ON MODELSIN THE HEBREW BIBLE, the Christian gospels es-

tablished gender-based images of piety and faith that remained influential
well into the modern period. In late antiquity and the early Middle Ages,
those images were most powerfully and widely transmitted through the
popular medium of hagiography. In part the product of their environment,
the vitae of saints are thus a cornucopia of information for the historian
about society, culture, and values in different times and places. To concen-
trate mainly on the historical "facts" of these texts, however, is to ignore
their role as sacred fictions, as documents providing spiritual direction for
ancient and diverse audiences. Hagiography is a very treacherous source,
wherein the historian is tempted to treat the vitae as transparent windows
on the past rather than as fictional narratives driven by biblical topoi, liter-
ary invention, and moral imperative. Perhaps predictably, crucial theologi-
cal and salvific messages of hagiographical texts often have been neglected
by historians intent on extracting social or political realities. In particular,
feminist historians have analyzed the sacred biographies of holy women to
reveal the hidden history of female empowerment in late antiquity and the
Middle Ages. It is no denigration of feminist values to suggest that this is
to enlist hagiographical texts in a modern political agenda that can only do
violence to their subtle, convoluted nature. On the contrary, an under-
standing of vitae within their historical context can do much to illuminate
perceptions of male and female capacities that have shaped the fate of both
sexes throughout western history.
The sacred fictions of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages cannot
be read at face value for the history of women in the church any more than
the Christian gospels can be taken as factual depictions of Jesus' mission
and destiny. The gospel of Luke (8.1-2) makes a distinction between Jesus'
male and female disciples that would be exemplary for the future: "And the
twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons
had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Suz-
anna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means." The
144 Conclusion

passage nicely captures the tension between the male votaries, "the twelve"
who constitute Jesus' most intimate circle, and his female supporters who
formerly were demon -possessed and diseased. The Savior's most important
intimates are not the women who watch the events of the crucifixion "from
afar" (Matthew 27.55) but apostolic men who lie "close to the breast of
Jesus" (John 13.25).1 The contrast not only encapsulates a difference of
function among the followers of Jesus-charismatic males who will extend
the mission of salvation and female patrons who will support them-it also
assumes certain failings that were regarded as intrinsic to men and women.
Men, including some of Jesus' cherished companions, are liable to be
alienated from faith because they venerate the human intellect. In the gos-
pels, Jesus uses the metaphor of blindness to condemn masculine skepti-
cism: "You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the
plate, that the outside also may be clean" (Matthew 23.26). Vision and
darkness symbolize Jesus' ministry to men: "For judgment I came into this
world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may
become blind" (John 9.39). The resurrected Christ converts the future
apostle Paul by clouding his mortal eyes: "Saul arose from the ground; and
when his eyes were opened, he could see nothing" (Acts 9.8). Men are the
doubters of Jesus' divinity, both during his earthly ministry and after his
bodily resurrection. Spiritually blinded by overweening reason, men are
hard -won converts to the grace of God. Demanding proof of the resurrec-
tion, the apostle Thomas touches the flesh of Christ: "Unless I see in his
hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails,
and place my hand in his side, I will not believe" (John 20.25).
Lacking the male commitment to reason and evidence, women do not
demand physical proofs or miraculous signs. They unquestioningly recog-
nize the Messiah, as with the Samaritan woman submitting to Jesus with
the simple declaration, "I perceive that you are a prophet" (John 4.19).
The failings of women lie in the flesh, not in their display of immoderate
reason. Time and again, Jesus violates Hebrew taboos in response to the
faith of women: "And [Jesus] came and touched the bier, and the bearers
stood still. And he said, 'Young man, I say to you arise.' And the dead man
sat up, and began to speak. And [Jesus] gave him to his mother" (Luke
7.14-15). By touching funeral biers and cleansing menstruating women,
Jesus ignores purity laws in the name of the new dispensation. He tends to
the unique ailments of women, restoring a girl at the onset of menstruation
(Mark 5.42) and curing a post-menopausal woman (Luke 13.11-13). When
a hemorrhaging woman touches Jesus' robe, "he said to her, 'Daughter,
 Conclusion 14-5

your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease'"
(Mark 5.34-).
The presentation of Jesus' ministry in the gospels relies on ancient
gender constructions that identify human intellect as masculine and hu-
man flesh as feminine. The skepticism of men poses a barrier to simple
faith, while the "fleshy wrappings" of women impede the soul's journey
back to God." But if the faults of women lie in their bodies, their strength
stems from their unquestioning faith. Inferior to men by virtue of their
weak intellect and polluted flesh, women embody wellsprings of simplicity
and devotion from which even men might draw. The gender-based temp-
tations of the intellect and of the flesh thus account for the twofold sym-
bolic mission of Jesus: to restore spiritually blind men to God's grace and
to release the simple faith of the female as an example to all humankind.
The biblical rhetoric of inversion depicts a human-God who ventures be-
yond patriarchal heads of households to embrace faithful women, who
thereby become symbolic icons of the new order despite their pollution
and intrinsic faults. The salvific message of the gospels depends on Jesus'
restoration of diseased and demon-possessed women, for the conversion
of these polluted females to pristine faith in God foreshadows the possibil-
ity of universal redemption. The fall from paradise that began with the
failings of Eve will be reversed by the simple, submissive faith of her
daughters.
Biblical discourse is the key to understanding the symbolic meanings
of female vitae; scriptural notions of the male and female flowed directly
into and pervasively shaped the writing of Christian hagiography. Late an-
tique and early medieval sacred biographers simultaneously present the
sanctification of women through the imitatio Christi and the obedience of
these potent women to the greater authority of sacred males. The critical
salvific directive of women's vitae is the transformation offemale flesh from
sin to redemption in imitation of the metamorphosis of fallen Eve to the
blessed Mary. Because women were first alienated from God (Genesis 3),
they personify human attachment to carnal indulgence and the estrange-
ment of flesh from the spirit. But like unfaithful Israel, who "upon every
high hill and under every green tree bowed down as a harlot" (Jeremiah
2.20), fallen women can be reconciled to God through the agency of char-
ismatic males. The sacred biographies of desert hermits, patrician philan-
thropists, and Merovingian nuns all replicate the spiritual metamorphosis
of the biblical daughters of Zion, who "walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go" until the
14-6 Conclusion

Lord converts them into icons of repentance, mourning human apostasy

and sitting "ravaged upon the ground" (Isaiah 3.16-26). Christian hagi-
ographers adopt Isaiah's rhetoric in presenting humble and contrite female
penitents as mediators of grace for men and women. As a metaphorical
reunion of flesh and spirit, the conversion of the female represents the pos-
sibility of redemption for all sinners, whatever their sex.
Hagiographical texts emphasize the hope for universal salvation
through the conversion of whores, wealthy matrons, and pampered queens.
The Syrian and Egyptian ammai who conceal their withered flesh under
enormous mantles and creep about in cramped cells function as enshrined
penitents, atoning for the fall of Eve by serving as archetypes of piety.
The conversions of the harlots, Pelagia and Mary, to lives of radical self-
abnegation refashion their debauched bodies into vessels of redemption.
The sacred biographies of Roman patricians teach that even opulent ma-
trons can humble themselves to hierarchical male authority and can pass
"through the eye of a needle." The written lives of Helena, Paula, and
Melania serve as spiritual medicine for aristocratic women clinging to the
feminine vices of self-indulgence and ostentation. The charismatic lives of
Frankish holy women show that institutional claustration, always under
male authority, can transform the female body into a celestial benediction
for barbarous nations.
Almost always written by men, the sacred lives offemale penitents con-
tain specific spiritual messages for the male ecclesiastical hierarchy. Mary of
Egypt'S mythological vita uses the leitmotif of inversion both to castigate
masculine pride and to empower male altar servants. Mary is less the cen-
tral figure of her own sacred fiction than a mere instrument through which
a male priest, Zosimas, comes to recognize that naive faith is superior to
the righteousness of works. Even though she is the means of humbling the
prideful Zosimas, Mary submissively relies on the male priest to bring her
the Lord's body and blood in a sacred vessel. The achievements of the Au-
gusta Helena in her legendary biography are less important in themselves
than in their contribution to her son Constantine in his creation of a holy
polity. Helena is an allegorical Madonna of a Christian empire, whose nur-
turing and devotional actions soften the militant, apocalyptic Vita Con-
stantini; her private, domestic concerns complement the public actions of
the victorious emperor. The ambivalent portrait of Melania the Younger in
Gerontius's text mutes the powerful holy woman's economic influence
within the fifth-century church by introducing the biblical motif of femi-
nine self-indulgence as an impediment to salvation. Because Melania re-
 Conclusion 147

tained substantial wealth until her death, she remained a scandal to the
male hierarchy as well as a living proof of the depths of female frailty. It is
clear from Gerontius that Melania could only exorcize the final demons of
self-indulgence through the superior agency of sacred males. In their vitae
of Frankish queens, hagiographers critique the usurpation by women of
the powers of the consecrated male hierarchy by highlighting the evangeli-
cal image of dutiful women ministering to apostolic men. Just as Mary of
Egypt took second place to Zosimas in her vita, Monegund's spiritual ca-
reer, as it appears in Gregory of Tours's account, was an appendage to that
of the cultus of Saint Martin. In like fashion, Queen Radegund's charis-
matic asceticism, as related in Fortunatus's vita, was qualified, and thereby
controlled, by being placed within a context of domestic duty and clois-
tered virtue. In feminizing the spirituality of their sacred subjects, male
hagiographers simultaneously circumscribed the charismatic power of holy
women and elevated the hierarchical authority of male ecclesiastics.
Although the lives of female saints directed a special message to male
altar servants, a more universal one was intended for general Christian au-
diences. Congregations absorbed the lessons of hallowed vitae through a
variety of means, including written texts (whether read singly or with
others), liturgical performances on feast days and holy days, and artistic
productions (in paint, sculpture, and chant). However they were commu-
nicated, narratives of sacred women taught that both sexes can imitate
Christ in their everyday lives-always in ways that conform to conventional
gender precepts. Of course, the lives of contrite harlots, impoverished pa-
tricians, and ascetic queens all take the vita Christi to fantastic extremes-
a naked Mary roaming the harsh Jordanian desert, a lice-infested Melania
the Younger immured in a claustrophobic cell, Radegund branding herself
with a red-hot crucifix. The hagiographers who constructed these images
of extravagant asceticism certainly did not expect average Christians to rep-
licate the self-inflicted torments of these saints. Rather, the very immod-
eration of suffering extolled in the vitae was intended to induce Christians
to embrace the necessity for daily sacrifice, no matter how mundane and
meager, such as giving alms to the church, submitting to penitential cor-
rection, enduring fasts, restraining from sexual intercourse, and forswear-
ing ornaments and cosmetics.
The purpose of the hagiographers was not simply to denigrate or con-
fine female capacities per se but to illuminate them for an audience focused
on private, domestic concerns. In this regard, a crucial lesson of the lives
of Pelagia and Mary of Egypt was that if the lowliest of society, common
 Conclusion

harlots and profligates, could redeem themselves, then so too could those
less ravaged by demands of the flesh. The lives of Helena, Paula, and Me-
lania conveyed the moral to all ranks of society that wealth and position
were less important than self-abnegation and piety. The lives of Radegund
and Balthild taught that if queens could so completely suppress tempta-
tions of the flesh, if they could so successfully subordinate themselves to
hierarchical authority, then far less exalted persons could do so as well.
These general lessons were entirely consonant with the concern ofhagiog-
raphers to mute or domesticate the achievements of outstanding women.
Narratives of charismatic females submitting to the direction of male ec-
clesiastics served to reinforce the injunctions that all Christians should
obey the priestly caste and that all wives should comply with their hus-
bands' commands.
Like the apostles who were "close to the breast of Jesus," the lives of
holy men generally presented distant ideals, dramatizations of the militant
soteriology of the crucifixion, and the unique power of God's altar ser-
vants. In contrast, the vitae of holy women emphasize the restorative pow-
ers of the cross, the virtue of simple piety, and women's domestic ministry
to superior men. Like the repentant females who ministered to Jesus and
followed him to Golgotha to witness the crucifixion "from afar," holy
women dutifully and submissively served charismatic men precisely be-
cause their spirituality was distinct from and subordinate to that of sacred
males. That spirituality probably had a special relevance at a time when the
ecclesiastical hierarchy was increasingly separate and distinct from the gen-
eral society. As the altar space became the special reserve of relatively few
consecrated males, most men and all women were excluded from the most
sanctified area of the church. Lessons that could be drawn from female
vitae had increasingly greater relevance to ordinary Christians than did
narratives focused on the hallowed male priesthood. Sacred fictions of the
female saint brought piety down to earth.
Subtle, complex, and replete with narrative incident, hagiographical
texts had enormous potential for expansion and elaboration. Diverse mean-
ings were garnered from (or imposed on) the vitae as they spread through-
out the Mediterranean and reached into different social groups, especially
as texts were scrutinized and interpreted to address concerns that were dis-
tant from those of the original hagiographers. In this regard, it seems that
the more extreme and inventive were the sufferings of the saint, the more
the sacred life was open to allegorical reconstruction. The Life of Mary of
Egypt, then, experienced striking transformations, even though the central
 Conclusion 149

narrative of the text remained unchanged. It was probably intended by the

original author as a castigation of prideful male ascetics who, in their
mortal attempts to live as Christ crucified, ignored the Lord's teachings on
humility. That message, however, had only slight resonance for Frankish
audiences unacquainted with the excesses of anchoritic asceticism; hence,
in Carolingian Gaul, where paganism still flourished, the vita of Mary was
read as an elaborate allegory of the conversion process. In eighth -century
Byzantium, the iconodule John of Damasus used the vita of the Egyptian
Mary to demonstrate how an icon of the Theotokosconverted the whore to
the life of repentance.' In the fourteenth century, an Italian merchant,
John Colombini, converted to the life of radical privation after he read
Mary's provocative vita,' For audiences in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, the story of Mary's transformation from a debauched harlot into
a redemptive vessel symbolized the future renewal of an apostate church
divided by violent schism. In the nineteenth century, the French painter
Dominique Papety chose to depict the first meeting between a shy Zosimas
and a very seductive Mary of Egypt (Figure 5). John Tavener's opera, Mary
of Egypt: An Icon in Music and Dance (1992), reworked the desert legend
as a parable about the chimerical nature of virtue and the different paths
toward salvation.
Few sacred biographies have had so extraordinary a career as Mary of
Egypt's, but many were reinterpreted in novel ways. The life of Melania the
Younger, originally a critique of feminine self-indulgence, was recast in
later centuries as an allegory of the bounty that flows from God's grace,
whereas political elements in the story ofRadegund, which were central to
its composition, were ignored to highlight the saint as the embodiment of
monastic virtue. Audiences hundreds of years removed from the society of
Roman aristocrats could appreciate the narrative of the life of Paula as an
allegory about the triumph of obedience and humility over earthly obses-
sions. The vita of the Augusta Helena was the product of writers devoted
to allegorical discourse, so Helena was consciously presented from the first
as a mediator of grace for the Christian empire. This made it easy for later
medieval and Renaissance writers to adapt the model developed for Helena
to the lives of other royal matriarchs, such as the Byzantine Empress Irene
(mother of Constantine VI), Blanche of Castile (mother of Louis IX of
France), and Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII of England).
By the seventh century, hagiographers had at their disposal a formi-
dable array of topoi of female piety refined over centuries. They had become
adept at applying conventions that first appeared in the vitae of ascetics of
150 Conclusion

Figure 5. Dominique Papety, "Abba Zosimas delivers his cloak to Saint Mary the
Egyptian (1837-42)." Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France. Musee Fabre-Mont-
pellier, Cliche Frederic Jaulmes.

the East to the very different scene in Merovingian Gaul. This hagiographi-
cal inheritance played a large role in the history of women in the West over
the next thirteen hundred years. Biblical rhetoric, as institutionalized in
the vitae of repentant females, continued to foster both negative and posi-
tive images of women in sacred and even secular portraits. Women who
deviated from what men considered appropriate behavior for females were
represented with the negative attributes of Eve: frail flesh, weak judgment,
depravity, levity, and self-indulgence. In contrast, virtuous women in Ro-
man Catholic and later Protestant narratives were seen as like the Virgin
Mary, with lives exemplifying the ideal feminine qualities of piety, submis-
sion, motherhood, innocence, and compunction. Domesticity, philan-
thropy, and claustration, the crucial attributes of early medieval female
saints' lives, continued to be the focal points of feminine piety for clois-
tered nuns and a diverse group of lay women. Domestic metaphors per-
 Conclusion 151

meated the symbolic language of late medieval female mystics, who

signified their rejection of the world through humble table service under
the disciplined guidance of sacred males. Claustration, which constituted
a central feature of medieval spirituality for women, emerged as a secular
ideal in late medieval and Reformation Europe. Fifteenth-century preach-
ers, such as San Bernadino of Siena, celebrated the madonna clausura
("cloistered lady") as the ideal wife because she rarely ventured out of her
home and (allegorically speaking) knew only the company of angels. San
Bernadino enjoined married women to avoid using wigs, opulent clothing,
and featherbeds, and he even went so far as to urge them to avoid public
appearances, including sermons in church."
Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century did away with the insti-
tutional cloister as women's special domain, but they resituated women
within the confines of a cloistered, secular household ruled by a patriarch.
The home increasingly was elevated as a peculiarly female realm, where the
wife served as the spiritual helpmate of the man and as the moral guardian
of the child. The separate sphere of female spirituality, so thoroughly delin-
eated in late antique hagiography, thrived in the secular atmosphere of the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." While the supposedly spiritual
nature of women meant that they were not suited for public authority,
philanthropy remained an appropriate activity. Women could venture into
public life, especially in voluntary reform organizations, to the extent that
they supported worthy endeavors that were defined by men and that pre-
served the sanctity of home and the family." Women who went beyond
those limits risked criticism and scandal that was not radically different from
that visited on Melania the Younger and Queen Radegund. Moreover, fol-
lowing hagiographical precedent, the physical appearance of women con-
tinued to be seen as an outward sign of their interior piety or depravity.
The theology of the cosmetic resurfaced in the image of the nineteenth-
century "painted woman" whose loose hair denoted a licentious female,
while in the 1920S short hair on women was widely regarded as an assertion
of hedonism and gender transgression." Long after the hagiographical
roots of such notions were forgotten, they continued to condition percep-
tions of the nature and capacities of the female.
Drawing on the Hebrew Bible and Christian gospels, hagiographers
narrated stories that assumed common notions about women and men,
faith and reason, reverence and authority, the sacred and the profane. Al-
though little that they asserted on these topics was novel, the popularity
and longevity of hagiographical texts meant that their biographies of holy
152 Conclusion

women and men played a substantial role in preserving, elaborating, and

passing on a venerable tradition of accommodating female spirituality
within hierarchical structures. It is clear that the audience for these texts
was never composed only of Syrian abbots, Roman matrons, Byzantine
courtiers, and Frankish lords. Rather, they were aimed at disparate audi-
ences of ordinary persons seeking guidance and consolation in an excep-
tionally tumultuous time. The vitae of holy women were an important
vehicle for teaching moral lessons relevant to the needs and aspirations of
common Christians in their homes, families, and marriages. In sustaining
an ancient tradition of saintly biography, from the female ascetics of the
eastern desert to the penitent queens of western courts, late antique and
early medieval hagiographers responded to deep-seated spiritual anxieties
and hopes. Their sacred fictions held out the promise of universal redemp-
tion. As Zosimas pleaded with Mary of Egypt when shame made her stop
telling her story, "For God's sake, speak, Mother; go on and do not break
the thread of your life-giving narrative." 9
 Notes

Abbreviations

AS Acta Sanctorum, Bruxelles: Impression Anastaltique Culture

et Civilisation, 1970.
CC Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina. Turnholt: Brepolis Ed-
itores Pontificii, 1956.
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. New York and
London: Johnson Reprint, 1963.
MANSI Mansi, [oannes Dominicus, ed. Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et
Amplissima Collectio. 31vols. Graz: Akademmische Druck-u.
Verlagsanstalt, 1960.
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Societas Aperiendis Fon-
tibus Rerum Germanicarum.
EPP Epistolae.
SCR Scriptorum.
SRM Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum.
PG J. P. Migne, ed. Patrologia Graeca. Paris, 1886.
PL J. P. Migne, ed. Patrologia Latina. Paris, 1886.
SC Sources Chretiennes. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 194-3-.

Introduction

1. "Mulier autem erat, quod videbatur, corpore nigerrimo, prae solis ardore
denigrata, et capillos capitis habens ut lana albos, modicos et ipsos, non amplius
quam usque ad cervicem descendentes": Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis,
7 (PL 73.677); translation from Benedicta Ward, Harlots of the Desert (Kalamazoo,
Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1987),4-1.
2. The Vulgate reads: "caput autem eius, et capilli erant candidi tanquam
lana alba, et tanquam nix." Biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from
the New Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised Standard Version.
3. Author's translation of Vulgate: "Nigra sum sed formosa ... nolite me
considerare quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol."
154 Notes to Pages xiii- xviii

4. "Late antiquity" includes both the chronological period of c. 300-800

CE and the geographic region of the Mediterranean and the Near East. The early
Middle Ages (c. 500-1000) overlaps the period of late antiquity but comprises the
geographic region of the barbarian kingdoms of northern Europe. For an overview
of the era of late antiquity, see Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late
Antiquity, AD39S-6oo (London: Routledge, 1993).
5. The sections on the rhetorical uses of clothing are indebted to Marcia
Colish's article, "Cosmetic Theology: The Transformation of a Stoic Theme," As-
says I (1984): 3-14; and R. Howard Bloch, Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of
Western Romantic Love (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 199 1), 39-47.
6. The lives of both Mary and Pelagia appear in the compilation of later me-
dieval saints' lives, Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints,
ed. and trans. William Granger Ryan, 2 vols. (Princeton, N.T.: Princeton University
Press, 1994), and have been translated into numerous languages, including Greek,
Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, and various Slavic languages. See Pierre Petit-
mengin et al., eds., Pelagie la pinitente: metamorphosesd'une legende, 2 vols. (Paris:
Etudes Augustiniennes, 1981, 1984); and Peter F. Dembowski, La Vie de Sainte
Marie FEgyptienne (Geneva: Librairie Droz, 1977).
7. See Kenneth Holum, Theodosian Empresses:Women and Imperial Domin-
ion in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 25-26.
8. Ewa Kuryluk, Veronica and Her Cloth: History) Symbolism) and Structure
of a "True" Image (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991), 34.
9. Gallo- Roman and Frankish historians and hagiographers acknowledge the
importance of the vitae of Helena, Melania the Elder, Melania the Younger, and
Paula: Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 1.40 (MGH SRM 1.1.27); Greg-
ory of Tours, In Gloria Martyrum , 5 (MGH SRM 1.2.39-42); Baudonivia, De Vita
Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 16 (MGH SRM 2.387-89); and the anonymous Vita
Saldabergae abbatissae Laudunensis, 25 (MGH SRM 5.64).
10. Patrick Geary, "Saints, Scholars, and Society," chap. I in Living with the
Dead in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994), II.
II. Stephan Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was Found: From Event to
Medieval Legend, Bibliotheca Theologiae Practicae Kyrkovetenskapliga studier 47
(Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell International, 1991), details the textual tradition
of the Helena legend.
12. Julia M. H. Smith, "The Problem of Female Sanctity in Carolingian Eu-
rope c. 780-920," Past and Present 146 (1995): 12.
13. For discussions of sinful women as salvific instruments, see Susan Harvey,
"Women in Byzantine Hagiography: Reversing the Story," in That Gentle Strength:
Historical Perspectiveson Women in Christianity, ed. Lynda L. Coon, Katherine J.
Haldane, and Elisabeth W. Sommer (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia,
1990), 36-59; and Ward, Harlots of the Desert.
14. The twelfth-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen also viewed the Cre-
ator as a mother who gives birth to the "ministry of the Word." See Augustine
Thompson, "Hildegard of Bingen on Gender and the Priesthood," Church History
63 (1994): 349-64.
IS. Caroline Walker Bynum, "The Female Body and Religious Practice in the
 Notes to Pages xviii-xx 155

Later Middle Ages," in Fragmentation and Redemption: Essayson Gender and the
Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zone Books, 1992), 215.
16. For the asymmetrical pairings of masculine/feminine, see Bynum's essays
in Fragmentation and Redemption, and her earlier work, Holy Feast and Holy Fast:
The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (Berkeley: University of Cal-
ifornia Press, 1987), as well as, '" ... And His Humanity': Female Imagery in the
Religious Writing of the Later Middle Ages," in Gender and Religion: On the Com-
plexity of Symbols, ed. Caroline Walker Bynum, Stevan Harrell, and Paula Richman
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1986), 257. Bynum cites the work of art historians on the
Virgin Mary as symbolic altarpiece; see Barbara G. Lane, The Altar and the Altar-
piece:Sacramental Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting (New York: Harper and
Row, 1984), 71-72; and Carol J. Purtle, The Marian Paintings of Jan van Eyck
(Princeton, N.J,: Princeton University Press, 1982), 13-15,27-29.
17. Averil Cameron, "Virginity as Metaphor: Women and the Rhetoric of
Early Christianity," in History as Text: The Writing of Ancient History, ed. Averil
Cameron (London: Duckworth, 1988), 184-205.
18. Dyan Elliott, Spiritual Marriage: Sexual Abstinence in Medieval Wedlock
(Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1993), 265.
19. For a historiographical discussion of the radical feminist hermeneutics, see
Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, "Toward a Feminist Critical Hermeneutics," chap. I
in In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins
(New York: Crossroad, 1983). Schussler-Fiorenza here discusses the work of the
"post-biblical" feminist, Mary Daly.
20. Janet Soskice ("Blood and Defilement," paper presented at the Society for
the Study of Theology Conference, Oxford University, April II - 14, 1994) discusses
how contemporary feminist theologians have highlighted Christ's "gender egali-
tarianism" and have ignored issues of ritual pollution and defilement.
21. For a discussion of feminist methodologies, see Schussler-Fiorenza, "To-
ward a Feminist Critical Hermeneutics," and her Searching the Scriptures:A Femi-
nist Introduction (New York: Crossroad, 1993).
22. Joyce Salisbury, in Church Fathers and Independent Virgins (London:
Verso, 1991), examines the vitae of Constantia, Mary of Egypt, Helia, Egeria,
Melania the Younger, Pelagia, and Castissima.
23. For a discussion of recent feminist theological critical methodologies,
see Mary Ann Tolbert, "Social, Sociological, and Anthropological Methods," in
Searching the Scriptures, ed. Schussler-Fiorenza, 255-71, 258-59. Roberta Gilchrist
provides an introduction to post-structuralism and medieval archaeology in chap. I
of her Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology of Female Monastic Houses
(London: Routledge, 1994). See also Kate Cooper, The Virgin and the Bride: Ide-
alized Womanhood in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1996); Gillian Cloke, This Female Man of God: Women and Spiritual Power in the
Patristic Age) 350 -450 (London: Routledge, 1995); Susanna Elm, Virgins of God:The
Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994); Gillian
Clark, Women in Late Antiquity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993); Clarissa
Atkinson, The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991); Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and
 Notes to Pages XX-I

Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1990); Michel Feher, ed., Fragments for a History of the Human Body, 3 vols. (New
York: Zone Books, 1989); Margaret Miles, Carnal Knowinq: Female Nakedness and
Religious Meaning in the Christian West (New York: Vintage, 1989); Peter Brown,
The Body and Society:Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1988); Cameron, ed., History as Text, 184-
205; and Aline Rousselle, Porneia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity, trans. Feli-
cia Pheasant (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988). Several of these scholars cite Michel
Foucault (The History of Sexuality, trans. Robert Hurley, 3 vols. [New York: Pan-
theon, 1978]) as a major influence.
24. Averil Cameron ( Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: The Development
of a Christian Discourse [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991]) discusses
the many "rhetorical strategies" found in sacred discourse.
25. Kate Cooper, "Insinuations ofWomanly Influence: An Aspect of the Chris-
tianization of the Roman Aristocracy," Journal of Roman Studies 82 (1992): 151.
26. Cooper, "Insinuations of Womanly Influence," 151.
27. Julia Smith ("The Problem of Female Sanctity," 20) discusses the depic-
tion of Merovingian and Carolingian women saints "in terms of an essentially male
notion of sanctity." See also Cloke, This Female Man of God, 13: "It is through these
male commentators that we must look at women."
28. All four gospels contain the story of the anointing woman. There are,
however, differences among the four accounts. In Matthew and Mark, the anoint-
ing occurs in the house of "Simon the leper." In Luke, the symbolic action takes
place in the house of a Pharisee; and in John, it transpires in the dwelling of Mary
and Martha of Bethany. In Luke and John, the woman wipes Jesus' feet with
her hair.

Chapter I

I. Cameron (Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, 5) defines discourse

as "all the rhetorical strategies and manners of expression" contained within nu-
minous Christian writings. The classic works on hagiography include Hippolyte
Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints, trans. Donald Attwater (New York: Fordham
University Press, 1962), and Rene Aigrain, LJHagiographie: sessources,sesmethodes,
son histoire (Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1953). The secondary source work on hagiographi-
cal literature is extensive. The Bollandist successors to the early work of Delehaye
include Baudouin de Gaiffier, Recueil dJhagiographie, Subsidia Hagiographica 61
(Bruxelles: Societe des Bollandistes, 1977); Baudouin de Gaffier, RecherchesdJhagio-
graphie Latine, Subsidia Hagiographica 52 (Bruxelles: Societe des Bollandistes,
1971); and Pierre Delehaye, Les Legendes hagiographiques (Bruxelles: Societe des
Bollandistes, 1955), among numerous others. More recent works include Thomas
Heffernan, Sacred Biography: Saints and Their Biographers in the Middle Ages (Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press, 1988) and Peter Brown, Cult of the Saints: Its Rise
and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).
 Notes to Pages 1-4- 157

For the cross-cultural perspective, see Stephen Wilson, Saints and Their Cults: Stud-
ies in Religious Sociology)Folklore)and History (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1983).
2. For example, Gregory of Tours describes how two blind men were
healed during the public reading of a saint's vita during mass: "Factum est autem
in die festivitatis suae, adstante populo, dum virtutes de vita illius legerentur, factus
est super illos splendor corrusco similis, et confractis ligaturis, quae palpebras obser-
averant, defluente ex oculis sanguine, late visu patente, cuncta cernere meruerunt."
Gregory of Tours, De Virtutibus S. Martini, 2.29 (MGH SRM 1.2.170). E. Cathe-
rine Dunn (The Gallican Saine's Life and the Late Roman Dramatic Tradition
[Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1989]) suggests that such public
recitations were actually theatrical performances.
3. Confessors are those exemplary Christians who crucify their own flesh
to imitate the passions of the martyrs and the death of Christ. Discussed by Ray-
mond Van Dam, Glory of the Confessors (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
1988),10-11.
4. "Alumnos cultoresque amicorum suorum protegere dignetur in sae-
culo": Gregory of Tours, In Gloria Martyrum, 106 (MGH SRM 1.2.111).
5. Peter Brown uses the phrase amici Dei ("friends of God") throughout
Cult of the Saints.
6. Delehaye (Legends of the Saints, 230) states that the lives of the saints act
out the "sublime ideal" of the gospels.
7. For the world-religions perspective, see Richard Kieckhefer and George
D. Bond, eds., Sainthood: Its Manifestations in World Religions (Berkeley: Univer-
sity of California Press, 1988). This collection investigates notions of sanctity in
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
8. For a discussion of classical hagiography, see Patricia Cox, Biography in
Late Antiquity: A Quest for the Holy Man (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1983); and Robert L. Cohn, "Sainthood on the Periphery: The Case of Judaism,"
in Sainthood, ed. Kieckhefer and Bond, 43-68.
9. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1952), 9.
10. Edith Wyschogrod (Saints and Postmodernism: Revisioning Moral Phi-
losophy [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990], 13) argues that the life of
Christ is an "unrealizable imperative" because its miraculous quality cannot be
duplicated by mere mortals.
II. Kieckhefer, "Imitators of Christ: Sainthood in the Christian Tradition,"
in Sainthood, ed. Kieckhefer and Bond, 12.
12. Brown, in Cult of the Saints (69-85), refers to the "very special dead"
of God.
13. Kieckhefer, "Imitators of Christ," 4.
14. For the process of canonization, see E. W. Kemp, Canonization and
Authority in the Western Church (London: Oxford University Press, 1948); Andre
Vauchez, La Saintete en occident aux dernieres sieclesdu Moyen Age) d'aprislesproces
de canonisation et les documents hagiographiques (Rome: Ecole Francaise de Rome,
 Notes to Pages 4-6

1981);Kenneth L. Woodward, Making Saints: How the Catholic Church Determines

Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn't, and Why (New York: Simon and Schuster,
1990), 64--68; and Kieckhefer, "Imitators of Christ," 5-11.
15.Woodward (Making Saints, 15, 68) discusses both the papal procedures
and the role of the voxpopuli. See also Kieckhefer, "Imitators of Christ," 6.
16. For an analysis of Hume, Gibbon, and hagiography, see Brown, Cult of
the Saints, 13-22. See also Patrick Geary, "Saints, Scholars, and Society," in Living
with the Dead, 9-10.
17. As early as the 1930S, Henri Pirenne's Mahomet et Charlemagne recog-
nized the value of Merovingian hagiography as evidence for the continued existence
of trade networks in northern Europe during the early Middle Ages. Pirenne's use
of hagiographical texts is discussed in Richard Hodges and David Whitehouse,
Mohammed, Charlemagne, and the Origins of Europe (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1983), 5-6. In the 1960s, Frantisek Graus (Volk, Herrscher und Heiliger
im Reich der Merowinger: Studien zur Hagiographie der Merowingerzeit [Prague:
Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovcnske akademie ved, 1965]) explored the social ramifica-
tions of hagiography as well as its propagandistic qualities. Patrick Geary ("Saints,
Scholars, and Society," 12-13) discusses Graus's contribution to the field of hagi-
ology. Other historians who have quarried vitae for glimpses of social and economic
realities include Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, (Saints and Society:The
Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000 -1700 [Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1982]).
18. Peter Brown's Cult of the Saints (1981) explores the political, theologi-
cal, and cultural uses ofhagiographical narratives. Marc Van Uytfanghe ("Modeles
bibliques dans l'hagiographie," in Le Moyen Age et la Bible, ed. Pierre Riche and
Guy Lobrichon [Paris: Editions Beauchesne, 1984-], 4-50) discusses saints' lives as
"instruments devangelisation." Both Van Uytfanghe, "Modelcs bibliques dans
l'hagiographie," and Jean LeClercq, "L'Ecriture sainte dans l'hagiographie mon-
astique du Haut Moyen Age," La Biblia nell'alto medioeve,settimane di studio del
centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioeve (Spoleto: Presso la Sede del Centro, 1963),
103-28, examine the influence of the Bible on hagiographical literature. Caroline
Walker Bynum has investigated the gendered implications of sacred biographies
(Holy Feast and Holy Fast [1987] and Fragmentation and Redemption [1991]), and,
more recently, Gillian Cloke (This Female Man of God) explores the social implica-
tions of late imperial women's hagiography. See also Susanna Elm, Virgins of God;
Gillian Clark, Women in Late Antiquity; Aline Rouselle, Porneia; Peter Brown, Body
and Society; Io Ann McNamara, A New Song: Celibate Women in the First Three
Christian Centuries (New York: Harrington Park Press, 1985); Franca Ela Conso-
lino, "Modelli de sanctita femminile nelle piu antiche Passioni romane," Augusti-
nianum 24-(1984-): 83-113; and Averil Cameron and Kuhrt Cameron, eds., Images
of Women in Late Antiquity (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983).
19. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire , 202-3.
20. Marc Van Utyfanghe, "L'Hagiographie et son public al'epoque merov-
ingienne," Studia Patristica 16 (1985): 54--62.
21. See Van Uytfanghe, "L'Hagiographie et son public," 55.
22. Katrien Heene ("Audire, legere, vulgo: An Attempt to Define Public
 Notes to Pages 6-7 159

Use and Comprehensibility of Carolingian Hagiography," in Latin and the Ro-

mance Languages in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Roger Wright [New York: Rout-
ledge, 1991], 146-63) uses the phrases "pastoral communication" and "pastoral
objectives." She also discusses the vocabulary of Merovingian and Carolingian
vitae. See also Heene's article, "Merovingian and Carolingian Hagiography: Con-
tinuity or Change in Public and Aims?" Analecta Bollandiana 107 (1989): 415-
28. The work of Marc Van Uytfanghe: "Modeles bibliques dans l'hagiographie";
"L'Hagiographie et son public"; "Histoire du latin, protohistoire des langues ro-
manes et histoire de la communication," Francia 11(1984): 579-613, has done much
to illuminate the issue of audience. Furthermore, consult Thomas]. Heffernan,
Sacred Biography, 18-22; and Brian Stock, The Implications of Literacy: Written
Language and Models of Interpretation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
(Princeton, N.].: Princeton University Press, 1983), chap. I. For audience response
to the visual arts, see Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-
Century Italy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972).
23. Julia Smith ("Female Sanctity in Carolingian Europe," 13-14) notes that
the vita of Radegund of Poitiers by Venantius Fortunatus circulated widely beyond
Poitiers.
24. For the theory of oral composition, see the work of John Miles Foley:
Immanent Art: From Structure to Meaning in Traditional Oral Epic (Blooming-
ton: Indiana University Press, 1991); The Theory of Oral Composition:History and
Methodology (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988); and "Orality, Textual-
ity, and Interpretation," in Voxintexta: Orality and Textuality in the Middle Ages,
ed. A. N. Doane and Carol Braun Pasternack (Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 199 1), 34-45.
25. Heffernan, Sacred Biography, 22.
26. Foley, Immanent Art, 7.
27. Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, 45.
28. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, 97.
29. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, ed. Bruno Krusch,
MGH SRM 2.377-95. In the prologue to the vita Baudonivia names herself: "Bau-
donivia humilis omnium." There are other female-authored saints's lives, includ-
ing that of the Merovingian Queen Balthild composed by an anonymous nun at
Chelles; see MGH SRM 2.482-508. For discussions of female-authored vitae, see
Rosamond McKitterick, "Frauen und Schriftlichkeit im Friihmittelalter," in Weib-
liche Lebensgestaltung im Fruhen Mittelalter, ed. H. W. Goetz (Cologne: Bohlau,
1991), 65-118; and Suzanne Fonay Wemple, Women in Frankish Society:Marriage
and the Cloister) SOD-900 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981),
181-88. For the female readership of medieval women's saints' lives, see Jocelyn
Wogan-Browne, "Saints' Lives and the Female Reader," Forum for Modern Lan-
guage Studies 27 (199 1): 314-32.
30. Athanasius of Alexandria, Vita Antonii, PG 26.835-976. Athanasius
wrote the vita shortly after the death of the holy Antony in 356. For a discussion
of Athanasius 's career and writings, see David Brakke, Athanasius and the Politics
of Asceticism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).
31. Most notably Jerome (c. 342-420), who wrote several biographies of
160 Notes to Pages 7-11

famous patrician women and men. For a discussion of the patristics and the dis-
course of virginity, see Bloch, Medieval Misogyny, chap. 4.
32. For a discussion of patristic uses of hagiographical discourse, see Cam-
eron' Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, chap. 4; and Elm, Virgins of God,
39ff, 151ff.
33. See Jerome, Vita Pauli, PL 23.17-60; and Sulpicius Severns, Vita S. Mar-
tini, SC 133- 35. Martin Heinzelmann ("Neue Aspekte der biographischen und
hagiographischen Literatur in der lateinischen Welt [1.-6. Iahrhundert]," Fran-
cia I [1973], 27- 44) discusses the relationship between early hagiography and pagan
eulogy.
34. Hieronimus presbiter et post apostolum Paulum bonus doctor eclesiae
refert": Gregory of Tours, In Gloria Martyrum, Prologue (MGH SRM 1.2.37).
35. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, 141.
36. Robert A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1990),226.
37. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire , 209-10.
38. Discussed by Robin Lane Fox in "Literarcy and Power in Early Christian-
ity," in Literacy and Power in the Ancient World, ed. Alan K. Bowman and Greg
Woolf (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 145-46. Baxandall, Paint-
ing and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy, examines nonverbal responses to the
visual arts.
39. Rosamond McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 241ff.
40. Gregory of Tours claims that his own mother cured a girl by tying a relic
of a saint around her neck (Gloria Confessorum, 84).
41. Discussed by John M. McCulloh in "The Cult of Relics in the Letters
and' Dialogues' of Pope Gregory the Great: A Lexicographical Study," Traditio 32
(197 6): 145-84.
42. For a discussion of the ability of religious images to evoke physical re-
sponses, see David Freedberg, The Powerof I mages:Studies in the History and Theory
of Representation (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1989), esp. 99 - 135.
43. Dunn, Gallican Saine's Life, 84-85, details the liturgical recitation of
saints' lives in Gaul.
44. Discussed by Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire, 57.
45. In his 1992 opera, Mary of Egypt:An Icon in Music and Dance, the con-
temporary British composer John Tavener describes the hagiographicallife of the
harlot-saint as a "moving icon" of the faith.
46. For an analysis of the eastern holy man as a "living icon," see Peter
Brown, "Eastern and Western Christianity in Late Antiquity: A Parting of the
Ways," in his Societyand the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1982), 166-95; and Markus, End of Ancient Christianity, 157- 211.
47. Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 8.15 (MGH SRM 1.1.380-
383). Gregory frames his Histories in the motifs and metaphors of sacred discourse,
and, therefore, it is a hagiographical history.
48. Simeon's life is in Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa = Histoire
des moines de Syrie, 26 (ed. P. Canivet and A. Leroy-Molinghem, SC 234, 257).
 Notes to Pages 11-15 161

English translation in R. M. Price, A History of the Monks of Syria , Cistercian Studies

Series 88 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1985), 160-76.
49. Patrick Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transfor-
mation of the Merovingian World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 138.
50. One of the most influential eucharistic tales from the Middle Ages is the
so-called Mass of Saint Gregory. For a discussion of the theological and political uses
of the Mass of Saint Gregory, see Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late
Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 308-10, and
Caroline Walker Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity) 200-
I336 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 316.
51. In his Dialogorum libri IV (SC 251, 260, 265) Gregory the Great tells the
story of a nun who became possessed after neglecting to bless her salad before she
ate it, thereby missing the minute devil perched on the lettuce (Dialogorum libri
IV, 1.7). Gregory also reinforces the importance of keeping the sabbath and holy
days by relating the tale of a married woman who was possessed by a demon because
she had sexual relations with her husband prior to the dedication of a church (Dial-
ogorum libri IV, 1.10).
52. Gregory the Great's life of Saint Benedict includes an example of the
saint's power to release souls from purgatory (Dialogorum libri IV, 2.23).
53. For a discussion of how saints' lives dictate proper reverence for the
saints, see Brown, "Relics and Social Status in the Age of Gregory of Tours," in
Societyand the Holy, 222-50.
54. See Thomas Mathews, The Clash of the Gods:A Reinterpretation of Early
Christian Art (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993), 43ff.
55. Brown, "The Holy Man in Late Antiquity," in Society and the Holy,
131-32.
56. See Tacitus, Annales 13.5; cited by Holum, Theodosian Empresses,29-30;
Holum also notes that Roman law prohibited women from wearing senatorial garb
and insignia.
57. For a discussion of the evangelical image of Mary Magdalene, see Susan
Haskins, "De Unica Magdalena," chap. I in Mary Magdalene: Myth and Metaphor
(New York and London: HarperCollins, 1993).
58. William C. Young, "The Ka'ba, Gender, and the Rites of Pilgrimage,"
International Journal of Middle East Studies 25 (1993): 286, discusses how sacred
texts and rituals establish a "hierarchy of piety" by overturning "social distinctions
(between rich and poor and governors and governed)." See also Gillian Cloke, This
Female Man of God, 57, on the motif of inversion in the lives of late imperial women
saints.
59. See John Boswell, Christianity) Social Tolerance) and Homosexuality
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 198o), 156-58, for a discussion of the Chris-
tian reworking of classical gender expectations.
60. For an introduction to the textual tradition, see Graham Gould, "The
Community and the Text," chap. I in The Desert Fathers on Monastic Community
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
61. For example, the Regula Sancti Benedictii, 42 (Latin text with French
translation by Adalbert de Vogue, SC 182.584), required a public reading of the
162 Notes to Pages 15-20

desert vitae during meals: " ... si tempus fuerit prandii, mox surrexerint a cena,
sedeant omnes in unum et legat unus Collationes vel Vitas Patrum aut certe aliud
quod aedificet audientes."
62. Jerome, Vitae Patrum ; PL 23.17-60; Rufinus, Historia Monachorum in
Aegypto, PL 21.387-462; Egeria, Itinera, CSEL 39; Cassian, Conlationes (Confer-
ences), CSEL 13; Cassian, Institutiones Coenobiorum (Institutes), CSEL 17; and Pal-
ladius, Historia Lausiaca, ed. Cuthbert Butler, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1898 and 1904).
63. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 6.9; translation from Price,
History of the Monks of Syria, 66.
64. Athanasius, Vita Antonii, 8.
65. Rufinus (Historia Monarchorum in Aegypto, 5.6) asserts that there were
20,000 nuns living in Oxyrhynchus in the early fifth century. Theodoret ofCyrrhus
(Historia Religiosa, 30.6) states that there are numerous ascetic "wrestling schools"
sprinkled throughout Syria, Palestine, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, and Egypt.
66. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 29.4; translation from Price,
History of the Monks of Syria , 184. See also Harvey, "Women in Byzantine Hagiog-
raphy," in That Gentle Strength, ed. Coon, Haldane, and Sommer, 38.
67. For example, see the life of Eugenia (Vita S. Eugeniae, PL 73.602-24),
who became the abbot of a male monastery. For discussions of the transvestite con-
vention, see Caroline Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 290-91; Evelyne Patlagean,
"L'Histoire de la femme deguisce en moine et I'evolution de la saintete feminine a
Byzance," Studi Medievali 17 (1976): 597-623; John Anson, "The Female Trans-
vestite in Early Monasticism: The Origin and Development of a Motif," Viator 5
(1974): 1-3 2; and Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests: Cross Dressing and Cultural
Anxiety (New York: Routledge, 1992),213-17.
68. Harvey ("Women in Byzantine Hagiography," 45) says that, "as women
had been the source of sin through Eve, they could also be the source of salva-
tion through Mary, the Second Eve. In hagiography, women become the weak
made strong, the unworthy made worthy, the foolish made wise, the sensual made
spiritual. "
69. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 29.5. Theodoret himself
claims to have "dug through" the door of the cell in order to visit the two women.
70. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 30.2; translation from Price,
History of the Monks of Syria , 186-87.
71. Theodoret ofCyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 26.10.
72. See Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire , 149.
73. Author's translation of Jerome, Epistle, 66.6, PL 22.642; "Quis enim
hoc crederet, ut Consulum pronepos, et Furiani germinis decus, inter purpuras
Senatorum, furva tunica pullatus incederet, et non erubesceret oculos sodalium,
et deridentes se ipse derideret?"
74. Satius esse illum in infamia relinqui ac sordibus quam infirmo iudicio
committi": Cicero, Epistula ad Atticum, 1.16.2, in M. Tulii Ciceronis Epistulae,
vol. 2.1, Episulae ad Atticum, ed. W. S. Watt, Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca
Oxoniensis Series (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1901), 23. Julia Heskel, "Cicero as
Evidence for Attitudes to Dress in the Late Republic," in The World of Roman
 Notes to Pages 20-24- 163

Costume, ed. Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante (Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1994-), 14-1- 4-2, discusses Cicero's rhetorical uses of the pulla
(which could have been black or grey), and the sordes, or a toga that had been
smeared with ash or dirt. She claims that donning the sordes could also be inter-
preted as an act of political protest.
75. Shelley Stone, "The Toga: From National Costume to Ceremonial Cos-
tume," in The World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante, 15.
76. Markus, End of Ancient Christianity, 165.
77. Scholars have provided a variety of explanations for the conversion of
Roman women to a life of radical renunciation. For a summary of the historio-
graphical traditions, see Bloch, Medieval Misogyny, 8Iff.
78. Jerome, Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae, CSEL 55(2).306-51. Jerome wrote
the life after Paula's death (4-04-CE) and dedicated the epitaphium to her daughter
Eustochium.
79. Katharina M. Wilson and Elizabeth M. Makowski, Wykked Wyvesand the
Woes of Marriage: Misogamous Literature from [uvenal to Chaucer (Albany, N.Y.:
SUNY Press, 1990), 27.
80. Cited by Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, Women)s Life in
Greeceand Rome (London: Duckworth, 1982), 134-.
81. For a discussion of Iuvenal and the reversal of the Roman matron topos,
see Wilson and Makowski, Wykked Wyves, 21-34-.
82. Sulpicius Severns, Vita S. Martini, SC 133- 35. For a detailed discussion
of Sulpicius, see Clare Stancliffe, St. Martin and His Hagiographer: History and
Miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), 15ff.
83. Raymond Van Dam (Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul
[Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985], 137) argues that Martin's life is
transitional because later episcopal hagiographers modified Martin's image from
that of "iconoclastic innovator and prophet" to that of miracle worker, monk,
bishop, almsgiver, missionary, and healer.
84-.Sulpicius Severns, Dialogorum libri II, SC 133-35. English translation
by Bernard M. Peebles, The Dialogues of Sulpicius Severus, Fathers of the Church
Series 7 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 194-9), 161-251.
85. Sulpicius Severns, Dialogorum libri II, 1.23.
86. Sulpicius Severns, Dialogorum libri II, 1.23; translation from Peebles,
Dialogues of Sulpicius Severus, 193.
87. Van Dam, Leadership and Community, 127ff.
88. Sulpicius Severns, Vita S. Martini, 9; translation from F. R. Hoare, "The
Life of Saint Martin of Tours," in Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints) Lives from
Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. Thomas F. X. Noble and Thomas
Head (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 12.
89. Sulpicius Severns, Dialogorum libri II, 1.24.
90. Constantius of Lyons, Vita Germani episcopi Autissiodorensis, MGH
SRM 7.24-7-83. English translation by F. R. Hoare, "Life of German us ofAuxerre,"
in Soldiers of Christ, ed. Noble and Head, 77-106.
91. Including those at Arles, Poitiers, Tours, Chelles, Nivelles, Faremoutiers,
Maubeuge, Laon, Metz, Pavilly, and Marchiennes.
164 Notes to Pages 25-29

92. "Aliqua de sororibus vidit supra murum milia milium daemonum in spe-
cie caprarum adstare; ubi sancta dexteram beatam cum signo crucis elevavit, omnis
illa multitudo daemonum fugata nusquam conparuit": Baudonivia, D e Vita Sanctae
Radegundis Liber II, 18 (MGH SRM 2.390); translation from Jo Ann McNamara
and John E. Halborg, with E. Gordon Whatley, eds. and trans., Sainted Women of
the Dark Ages (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992), 100.
93. Venantius Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 34 (MGH
SRM 2.375). Translation from McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted
Women of the Dark Ages, 84.
94. "Et ostendit civitatem Dei altissimi et duodecim sedes apostolorum ex
auro gemmisque rutilantes": Vita Saldaberga abbatissae Laudunensis, 26 (MGH
SRM5.65).
95. "Post nocturnas et matutinas vigilias una soror de locis monasterii cum
se sopori dedisset, mysticam ostendit ei Deus visionem quasi sanctae memoriae
B. Aldegunda adstetisset ante altare in loco Sacerdotis et oblationes Missales mani-
bus in calicem fregisset": Vita Aldegundis, abbatissae Malbodiensis, 25,Acta Sane-
torum Belgii selecta 4 (Bruxelles: Matthaei Lemaire, 1783-1794), 323. McNamara
and Halborg, with Whatley (Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 235) discuss this
mystical event (251n. 59).
96. Vita S. Burgundofarae, 19. The life is an extract from the seventh-century
Vita S. Columbani abbatis discipulorumque eius, Liber II, by Jonas of Bobbio
(MGH SRM 4.130-43). McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women
of the Dark Ages, 161,discuss this passage.
97. Vita Genovefae, 6 (MGH SRM 3.217).
98. [o Ann McNamara discusses early medieval women's charity and power
in "The Need to Give: Suffering and Female Sanctity in the Middle Ages," in Im-
ages of Sainthood in Medieval Europe, ed. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Timea
Szell (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991), 199-204.
99. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 25.
100. See Magdalena Elizabeth Carrasco, "Spirituality in Context: The Ro-
manesque Illustrated Life of St. Radegund of Poitiers," Art Bulletin 72 (1990):
414-35·

Chapter 2

I. Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1952),xi. For a discussion of the transmission of biblical texts in the early
medieval West, see Patrick McGurk, "The Oldest Latin Manuscripts of the Bible,"
in The Early Medieval Bible, ed. Richard Gameson (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1994), 1-23.
2. For the early Judaic and patristic interpretations and the impact of urban-
ization on Hebrew spirituality, see Carole Meyers, Discovering Eve:Ancient Israelite
Women in Context (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), chaps. 4 and 5; Brown,
Body and Society, 94-96; Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York:
Random House, 1988); and Miles, Carnal Knowinq, chap. 3.
 Notes to Pages 29-33 165

3. Augustine, De civitate Dei (City of God), 14.17, CC 47.437. See Brown,

Body and Society, 416.
4. Discussed by Wayne Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World
of the Apostle Paul (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1983), 88, ISS. Meeks
notes that the "garments of skins of the original couple" refer to their physical bod-
ies in contrast to their garments of light or their "image of God" (ISS). See also
Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966),96.
5. For a discussion of the change from subsistence hill farming to metropoli-
tan opulence, see Meyers, Discovering Eve, chaps. 3-8.
6. Mircea Eliade (The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion , trans.
Willard R. Trask [New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1987], 135) argues "all
ritual nudity implies an atemporal model, a paradisal image."
7. Sulpicius Severns, Dialogorum libri II, 1.17.
8. Bloch, Medieval Misogyny, 41. Classical rhetoric similarly connects the
opulence of women with urban decadence. The Roman historian Livy (Ab Urbe
Condita, 34.Iff) used the luxuria muliebris as the antithesis of masculine Republi-
canism; see Alexander Hugh McDonald, ed., Titi Livi ab Urbe Condita, Scriptorum
Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis 5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965), I73ff.
9. "Iezebel" may be a Hebrew perversion of a Phoenician name which
was connected with the worship of the fertility God, Ba'al. Like Iezcbel, Solo-
mon's "old wives" influence him to worship the cult of Ba'al's consort, Ashe'rah
(I Kings 11.4).
10. For example, in the fourth -century vita of Ambrose of Milan (Paulinus,
Vita Sancti Ambrosii, nff, in M. S. Kaniecka, ed. and trans., Vita Sancti Ambrosii,
Patristic Studies 16 [Washington D.C.: Catholic University Press, 1928]; English
translation also available in F. R. Hoare, The Western Fathers [London: Sheed and
Ward, 1954], 149-88) the empress Justina is Iezebel to Ambrose's Elijah.
II. Hairstyles are associated in scripture with the following attributes: physical
strength (Judges 16.19); spiritual vows (Numbers 6.5; Acts 18.18); depravity (I Peter
3.3; Revelation 9.8); sexual attractiveness (Song of Songs 4.1); contrition (Isaiah
3.24; Jeremiah 7.29; Micah 1.16); mourning (Luke 7.38; John 11.2); ritual purity (Le-
viticus 10.6; Numbers 6.5; Ezekiel 44.20 ); impurity (Leviticus 13.3-4); and earthly
hierarchies (I Corinthians 11.6, 14-15; I Timothy 2.9; I Peter 3.3).
12. See Schussler- Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, chap. I, for a discussion of the
historiography.
13. Because late antique and early medieval church writers attributed all of the
Pauline epistles to the apostle himself, the contested authenticity of particular let-
ters is not a crucial issue here. For discussions of the dating and authorship of the
letters, see Meeks, First Urban Christians, 7-8; and Robin Lane Fox, The Unautho-
rized Version:Truth and Fiction in the Bible (New York: Knopf, 1992), 130-36.
14. Schussler-Fiorenza discusses the various interpretations in chap. 6 of In
Memory of Her. See also Meeks, First Urban Christians, 88-89, ISS.
IS. Douglas, Purity and Danger, 55.
16. Most scholars agree that 1-2 Timothy were not written by Paul, and that
1-2 Peter were not written by the apostle Peter.
17. For a discussion of the archaeological evidence for Paul's descriptions of
male and female hairstyles, see Cynthia L. Thompson, "Hairstyles, Head-coverings,
166 Notes to Pages 33-37

and St. Paul: Portraits from Roman Corinth," Biblical Archaeologist 51(1988): 99-
115.Thompson proposes that Paul refuses to allow men to cover their heads because
this was the practice of contemporary Roman pagan cults. She also suggests that
first-century Roman women could choose whether to veil or not, and that Paul is
upholding the Iudeo-Syrian custom of veiling, perhaps even while in the home. See
also Mathews, Clash of the Gods, 126.
18. For a discussion of this passage and its gender implications, see Bernadette
Brooten, "Paul's Views on the Nature of Women and Female Homoeroticism,"
in Immaculate and Powerful: The Female in Sacred Image and Social Reality,
ed. Clarissa Atkinson, Constance Buchanan, and Margaret Miles (Boston: Beacon
Press, 1985), 75-78.
19. See Ben Witherington, Women in the Earliest Churches (Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1988), 90-104,257 n. 76.
20. Brooten, "Paul's Views on the Nature of Women," 78. See also Gillian
Cloke, This Female Man of God, 26-27.
21. In Revelation 9.8, the plague-bearing locusts possess women's hair.
22. Although the rhetoric of I Timothy 3.2-4, 3.12 appears to be directed
at pastoral men, I Timothy 3.12 and I Timothy 5.3ff contain possible references to
pastoral women.
23. From Colish, "Cosmetic Theology."
24. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri (Ch. I); De cultu feminarum (Ch. II), in
CC 1.343-70. De virginibus velandis, in CC 2.1209-1226. English translation of
De habitu muliebri and De cultu feminarum available by Edwin A. Quain, "The
Apparel of Women," Rudolph Arbesmann, Emily Joseph Daly, and Edwin A.
Quain, trans., in Disciplinary) Moral) and Ascetical Works, Fathers of the Church
40 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1959), 117-49. English translation of De
virginibus velandis available by S. Thelwall, "On the Veiling of Virgins," in The
Ante- Nicaean Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325,
4, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Buffalo, N.Y.: Christian Literature
Publishing Co., 1890), 27-37. Tertullian also wrote a treatise on the sacred vest-
ments of the Hebrew high priest (de Aaron vestibus) which unfortunately has not
survived.
25. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 1.2. Bloch in Medieval Misogyny (40) dis-
cusses this passage in terms of women's covetousness of fashion.
26. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 1.2; translation from Quain, "The Apparel
of Women," 118.
27. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 2.1.
28. The exact meaning of r Corinthians 11.10is unclear. Biblical exegetes have
interpreted this passage to be indicative of the angelic order of the universe and that
the veiling of women's heads supports the divine hierarchy.
29. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 3.1.
30. Tertullian, De cultu feminarum, 7.2; and De virginibus velandis, 7- 8, 15.
31.Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 1.3;translation from Quain, "The Apparel
of Women," 118.
32. Cyprian, De habitu virginum, 5, PL 4.439-64. English translation by An-
gela Elizabeth Keenan, "The Dress of Virgins," in Treatises, ed. Roy J. Deferrari,
Fathers of the Church 36 (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1958), 31-52.
 Notes to Pages 37-39

33. Cyprian, De habitu virginum, 5; translation from Keenan, "The Dress

of Virgins," 35.
34. Cyprian, De habitu virginum, 5.
35.Jerome, Epistle, 22.3 2.
36. "Solent quaedam, cum futuram virginem spoponderint, pulla tunica earn
induere et furvo operire palliolo, auferre linteamina, nihil in collo, nihil in capite
auri sinere re vera bono consilio": Jerome, Epistle, 128.2.
37. Although clearly, as Suzanne Wemple notes in Women in Frankish Society
(142), the difference between episcopal legislation and actual practice could be quite
extensive.
38. "Mulier, quamvis docta et sancta, viros in conventu docere non praesu-
mat": Ancient Statutes of the Church (475), canon 37, CC 148.172; and "Sancti-
monialis virgo, cum ad consecrationem sui episcopo offertur, in talibus vestibus
applicetur qualibus semper usura est, professioni et sanctimoniae aptis": canon 99,
CC 148.184. Also, "Viduitatis servandae professionem coram episcopo in secre-
tario habitam imposita ab episcopo veste viduali indicandam": Council of Orange
(441), canon 26, CC 148.85. Pope Gregory the Great ordered the wives of the major
orders to wear dress that was symbolic of their commitment to God, Registrum
Epistularum, 9.197, MGH EPP 2.185-86; cited by Wemple, Women in Frankish
Society, 132.
39. "Sanctimoniales, quamlibet vita earum et mores probati sint, ante annum
aetatis suae quadragesimum non velentur": Council of Agde (506), canon 19, CC
148.202. See also Council of Epaon in Burgundy (517), canon 38, CCL 148(A).34.
40. "Hie Bonifatius constituit ut nulla mulier aut monacha pallam sacratam
contingere aut lavare aut incensum ponere in ecclesia nisi minister": L' Abbe L.
Duschesne, ed., Le Liber Pontificalis: Texte, introduction et commentaire I (Paris:
E. De Billard, 1955),227; and "Hie constituit ut monacha non acciperit velaminis
capitis benedictionem, nisi probata fuerit in virginitate LX annorum": Liber Ponti-
ficalis, 1. 2 39 .
41. "Non licet mulieri nudam manum eucharistiam accipere," and "Non licet,
ut mulier manum suam ad pallam Dominicam mittat": Council of Auxerre (561-
60 5), canon 36 and canon 37, CC 148(A).269. For Anglo-Saxon parallels, see the
seventh-century Theodore's Penitential, 7.1, in John T. McNeill and Helena M.
Gamer, eds., Medieval Handbooks of Penance: A Translation of the Principal Libri
Poenitentiales and Selectionsfrom Related Documents (New York: Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1938).
42. Council of Gangra, canons 13 and 17, in E. J. Percival, trans., The Seven
Ecumenical Councils, Library ofNicene and Post- Nicene Fathers 14 (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Eerdmans, 1977), 93, 97, 99. Peter Brown (Body and Society, 288-99) dis-
cusses Gangra's condemnation of cross-dressing. See also Elm, Virgins of God, 108ff,
for a discussion of the historical background of Gangra.
43. Theodosius, Theodosiani Libri XVI (Codex) cum constitutionibus Sirmon-
dianis et legesnovellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 16.27.1, ed. Theodor Momm-
sen and P. M. Meyer (Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1905). English translation by
Clyde Pharr, The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969).
44· Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 32- 33; English translation in The Lausiac
168 Notes to Pages 39-40

History of Palladius, trans. Robert T. Meyer, Ancient Christian Writers 34 (West-

minster, Md.: Newman Press, 1965), 92-96.
45. Caesarius of Arles, Regula Virginum, SC 345. For a discussion of the
women's community and the Rule by Caesarius, see William E. Klingshirn, Caesar-
ius of Arles: The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 117-24. Klingshirn also discusses the
foundation at Arles, 104- 10.
46. Venantius Fortunatus referred to Caesarius's rule as sweet as a vestment of
linen; see Dom Georges Marie, "Sainte Radegonde et le milieu monastique con-
temporain," in Etudes Merovinqiennes: Actes de [ournee de Poitiers Ier-3 Mai, I9S2
(Paris: Editions A. et J. Picard, 1953),224. Caesarius himself used the image of wool
and linen to signify the flesh and the spirit ("Lana carnale aliquid significat, linum
spiritale"); Caesarius of Arles, Sermones 139.2, CC 103.572.
47. For the text and detailed analysis of the rule, see Maria Caritas McCarthy,
The Rule for Nuns of Caesarius of Arles (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University
Press, 196o). McCarthy suggests that Caesarius probably used Augustine's rule and
Cassian's Institutes as sources for his own rule (8). See also Adalbert de Vogue, "La
Regle de Cesaire d' Arles pour les moines: un resume de sa Regle pour les moniales,"
Revue d'Ascetique et de Mystique 47 (197 1): 369-406.
48. Definition of bombycine in McCarthy, Rule for Nuns, 45. The ban on
mixed yarns parallels Kosher restrictions on mixing fabrics.
49. Other early medieval women's rules contain similar stipulations. See the
seventh-century rule of Donatus of Besancon, Regula ad virgines, PL 87.273-98;
and the late sixth-century rule of Leander of Seville, Regula ad virgines, PL 72.873-
94. For a translation of Donatus's Regula, see [o Ann McNamara and John Hal-
borg, "The Rule of Donatus of Besancon: A Working Translation," VoxBenedictina
2 (April/July 1985): 85-107; 181-203. In the East, Basil's rule emphasized women's
involvement in textile production and a unique "female dress"; see Elm, Virgins
of God, 72tf.
50. In the Vita Genovefae 6 (MGH SRM 3.217), the bishop Germanus of Aux-
erre gives the young Genovefa a copper coin inscribed with the cross to replace the
customary opulent adornments of her sex, and another woman comes to Genovefa
and asks the holy woman to "change her clothing." For a recent analysis of this text
see Martin Heinzelmann and Joseph-Claude Poulin, Les Viesanciennes de sainte Ge-
nevieve de Paris: Etudes critiques, Bibliotheque de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes IVe
Section Sciences Historiques et Philologiques 329 (Paris: Librairie Honore Cham-
pion, 1986). See also the tenth -century life of Rictrude of Marchiennes (Vita S. Ric-
trudis, 15,AS, May 12.84) for a detailed sermon on the eschatological dress of women.
51. For example, Gregory of Tours (Gloria Confessorum, 16, MGH SRM
1.2.306-7) recounts the legend of the transvestite holy woman Papula.
52. Christ left his linen garments in the empty tomb to be discovered by the
apostles, just as Elijah abandoned his hairy mantle before ascending into heaven.
53. Vita S. Austrebertae virginis (eighth century) 6, AS February, 10.417; and
Vita S. Glodesindae (mid-ninth century) 10, AS July, 25.204. For datings of texts
and textual history, see McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women of
the Dark Ages, 137, 304.
54. The veiling of women has recently been interpreted to have many social,
 Notes to Pages 4-0-4-3 169

economic, political, and theological meanings. See Leila Ahmed, Women and Gen-
der in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni-
versity Press, 1992), 14-- 15; and Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1986), 10. Both Ahmud and Lerner note that ancient Me-
sopotamian veils indicated the sexual, social, and economic status, as well as the age,
of the wearer.
55. Vita S. Glodesindae, 10, and Vita S. Austrubertae virginis, 12.
56. Vita S. Rusticulae (seventh century [?]) 19, MGH SRM 4-.34-7. For a later
woman saint who has a braided hair relic, see the twelfth-century vita and acta
of Hildegard von Bingen, which claim that the saint's hair miraculously heals the
sick and survives a church fire (Gottfried and Theodoric, Vita S. Hildegardis, 4-1,
PL 119-20; Acta Inquisitionis de virtutibus et miraculis sanctae Hildegardis, 5,
PL 197.136-35).
57. David Herlihy, Opera Muliebria: Women and Work in Medieval Europe
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990), xiii.
58. Herlihy, Opera Muliebria, 13. Herlihy also discusses the classical meta-
phors (rzff ),
59. Tertullian, De cultu feminarum, 13.7.
60. "Deus mulieribus dedit texturae sapientiam": Ambrose, Exameron, 5.9.11;
quoted in Herlihy, Opera Muliebria, I. See also Jerome, Epistle, 128.1; and Sidonius
Apollonaris, Ephithalamium, 15.126ff; cited by Herlihy, Opera Muliebria, 19-20.
61. Caesarius of ArIes, Sermones, 139.6, CC 103.574--575. The sermon contains
Caesarius's exegesis on Proverbs 31, the "good wife."
62. Benedict of Nursia, Regula Sancti Benedictii, 55.
63. Vita S. Hesychii is part of the Passio S. Romani, in Hippolyte Delehaye,
"S. Romain martyr de Antioch," Analecta Bollandiana 50 (1932): 269-70; cited
by Herlihy, Opera Muliebria, 8. There are, however, examples of male saints who
weave, particularly desert hermits who wove baskets, palm leaves, and even linen;
according to Palladius (Historia Lausiaca, 4-1), the monks of Nitria wove linen.
Weaving was, according to Herlihy (Opera Muliebria, 3, 7-8), an occupation for
male slaves in Roman Egypt and the Mediterranean. The desert inversion of work
roles reflects perhaps both an economic reality and the world upside down motif
of the vita Christi.
64-. For a discussion of the public humiliation of the two male saints, see
John Boswell, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe (New York: Villard Books,
1994-), 14-8.
65. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae) Meretricis, 14-.
66. Melania's vita is replete with examples of charitable deeds (Gerontius,
Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, SC 90).
67. Gregory of Tours, Gloria Confessorum, 104-.
68. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 30.
69. Vita S. Chrothildis reginae francorum, 12 (MGH SRM 2.34-6-4-7). The
text is a Carolingian redaction (late ninth or tenth century) of an earlier Merovin-
gian legend.
70. Vita S. Eustadiolae viduae, 3, in the life of Saint Sulpicius of Bourges,
AS June 8.131-33. The text is probably early eighth century (see McNamara et aI.,
Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 106).
170 Notes to Pages 4-3-50

71. Rufinus, Historiae Ecclesiasticae,1.7-8, PL 21.475-78. See also E.D. Hunt,

Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire AD 312 -460 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1982), 44.
72. For the karakallion as slave's hood, see Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 46.3.
73. Holum, Theodosian Empresses,26.
74. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 17, 19.
75. Sulpicius Severus, Dialogorum libri 11,2.6.
76. Vita S. Austrebertac virginis, 10, AS February, 10.2.421.
77. For a discussion of the "housekeeping saint" topos, see Wemple, Women
in Frankish Society, 171.
78. Discussed by Kuryluk, Veronica and Her Cloth, 18ff; and Mathews, Clash
of the Gods, 61-63.
79. Craig S. Farmer, "Changing Images of the Samaritan Woman," Church
History 65.3 (1996): 365-375, traces the exegetical tradition concerning the Samari-
tan woman, from patristic authors to Protestant commentators.
80. Boswell (Same-Sex Unions, II) discusses John 4.4-30, and its use of the
ambiguous Greek, aner/andros. See also Haskins, Mary Magdalene, 26-28; and
Mathews, Clash of the Gods, 138.
81. For a discussion of this passage, see Haskins, Mary Magdalene, 16-20.
82. Frederick Paxton, Christianizing Death: The Creation of a Ritual Process
in Early Medieval Europe (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990),21.
83. Discussed by Haskins, Mary Magdalene, 21-23.
84. Augustine, De civitate Dei, 1.13. Monastic rituals, liturgical performances,
and even architectural structures symbolically represent the special relationship be-
tween faithful women and Christ's resurrection. Carolingian liturgical plays recre-
ated the passion and resurrection, and monks assumed the role of the mourning
Marys. The grave slabs of high medieval English nuns often contain images of the
three Marys at Christ's tomb. Archaeologists have suggested that the double-story
refectories of English nunneries may represent the "upper room" (Acts 1.13) where
female disciples and male apostles stayed after Christ's death. And the sacred space
of medieval monastic churches may have been gender-ordered, with the women's
place located to the north as symbolic of the place where the Virgin stood at the
cross. See Paxton, Christianizing Death, 64, and Gilchrist, Gender and Material
Culture, 31, 166, 135ff, for the evidence of high medieval English nunneries.
85. Egeria, Itinera, 24.9-10. See also Gary Vikan, "Pilgrim in Magis' Cloth-
ing: The Impact of Mimesis on Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art," in The Blessingsof
Pilgrimage, ed. Robert Ousterhout (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990),100.
86. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 58.
87. Jerome, Epistle, 108.9. Later Frankish hagiographers emulate this motif.
For example, nuns of the double monastery of Clion kiss every place where Martin
had slept, stood, or sat and distribute the straw of his bedding (Sulpicius Severus,
Dialogorum libri II, 2.7), and Monegund of Tours "prostrates herself on the
ground as though humbly to lick the Lord's footprints" (see Gregory of Tours,
Liber vitae patrum, 19.1, MGH SRM 1.2.287).
88. For Helena's procurement of the lignum crucis, see Ambrose, De obitu
Theodosii oratio (395 CE), CSEL 73(7).371-401. Borgehammar (How the Holy Cross
 Notes to Pages 50-52 171

Was Found) details the development of the Helena legend. Gregory of Tours also
cites the legend, Decem libri historiarum, 1.34-;In Gloria Martyrum, 5.
89. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 16. Baudonivia high-
lights Radegund's procurement of the lignum crucis both because of the Christo-
logical importance of the relic and because of its imperial associations. See Raymond
Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, N.J.: Prince-
ton University Press, 1993), 30-4-1.
90. Paulinus of Nola, Epistle, 31.1, CSEL 29(1).268; and Gregory of Nyssa,
Vita Sanctae Macrinae, 30, SC 178.24-0-4-2. See also Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage,
129 , 134-·
91. Vita S. Rusticulae, 8, 12.
92. Holy women wash and dress the body of Lupicinus (Gregory of Tours,
Liber vitae patrum, 13.3), and in the vita of Anstrude, the holy woman buries the
dead (Vita Anstrudis abbatissaeLaudunensis, 4-, MGH SRM 6.68). In many saints'
lives, women safeguard the relics of holy men. For example, Gregory of Tours re-
counts that a pious woman kept the sandals of the martyr Epipodius of Lyons (Glo-
ria Confessorum, 63); the holy woman Meratina collects the turf at the tomb of
bishop Gallus, puts it in her garden, and cures the sick with the tea she makes from
it (Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 6.7). See also Gregory of Tours, In Gloria
Martyrum, 13, 30, 54-, for Frankish women who collect the relics of male saints. For
a detailed discussion of the early medieval rituals of burial, see Megan McLaughlin,
Consorting with the Saints: Prayer for the Dead in Early Medieval France (Ithaca,
N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1994-), chap. I, "The Burial of the Dead."
93. Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 5.21.
94-. See Patrick Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the
End of the First Millennium (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994-),51-
73, for details of women's role in preserving familial memoria and mourning the dead.
95. Clearly, devotion to the dead body of Christ is not a uniquely female trait.
Male saints similarly visit the biblical sites of the passion and crucifixion and nurture
relics of the holy cross. When hagiographers choose to focus on women's role in the
cult of the holy dead, their textual portraits evoke the pious care of Christ's body
by the women at the tomb.

Chapter 3

A portion of this chapter was published in a different version in Sewanee Me-

dieval Studies. I should like to thank Susan Ridyard, editor, for her permission to
reprint it here.
I. Similarly, the fourth -century Emperor (and Pontifex Maximus) Julian
ordered his Roman priests not to display their sacred dress in public. See Julian,
Letter to a Priest, trans. W. C. Wright, in The Worksof the Emperor Julian, 3 vols.,
Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1913-1923),
I: 332-35. Cited by Judith Lynn Sebesta and Larissa Bonfante, eds., World of Roman
Costume, 4--5.
172 Notes to Pages 53-57

2. For a detailed discussion of sanctified material culture in Hebrew sacred

writings, see Rabbi Shalom Dov Steinberg, The Mishkan and the Holy Garments,
trans. Rabbi Moshe Miller (Jerusalem: Toras Chaim Institute, 5752 [1992]). For the
symbolic garments of ancient Hebrew priests, see Moshe Greenberg, Lessons on
Exodus (New York: Melton Research Center Publications, 1974), 328-46.
3. Jerome, Commentaria in Ezechielem prophetam, PL 25.427-44.
4. "Sancta sanctorum," from Council of Tours (567), canon 4, CC
148(A).178. There exist several editions of early church councils. For the entire cor-
pus, see [oannes Dominicus Mansi, ed., Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima
Collectio, 31 vols. (Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1960), hereafter
cited as Mansi; for the Gallic corpus, see Charles Munier, ed., Concilia Galliae, a.
3I4-aso6, CC 148, and Caroli De Clercq, ed., Concilia Galliae, aSII-a.69S, CC
148(A). For a French translation of the church councils, see Karl Joseph von Hefele
and Henri Leclercq, trans., Histoire des conciles dJapres les documents originaux,
26 vols. (Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1907-). For an English translation, see Karl Jo-
seph von Hefele, Conciliengeschichte. English, 5 vols. (New York: AMS Press, 1972).
For the papal decrees, see Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis. English translation by Ray-
mond Davis, The Book of the Pontiffs, Translated Texts for Historians Latin Series,
vol. 5 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1989).
5. See the General Council of Toledo (633), canon 41, and the fourth coun-
cil at Braga (late seventh century), canon 6, Hefele and Leclercq, Histoire des Con-
ciles, 3.623, 657.
6. Although the Hebrew Bible provided the foundation for later Christian
conceptualizations of sacred vestments and objects, Christians did not attempt to
emulate the intricate vestments of the Hebrew priests until the advent of the Otton-
ian and Capetian sacral monarchies. See Percy Schramm, Kaiser, I(jjnige und Papste,
2 vols. (Stuttgart: Anton Hiesemann, 1968), 1.75.
7. Wool causes the body to perspire, and therefore it is unclean: "They shall
not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat" (Ezekiel 44.20 ).
8. For a discussion of artistic depictions Jesus' dress, see Mathews, Clash of
the Gods, 28, 38, 101.
9. Also noted by Mathews, Clash of the Gods, 180. Mathews (123ff) discusses
artistic representations of Christ's hair.
10. John R. Clarke, "The Warren Cup and the Contexts for Representations
of Male-to-Male Lovemaking in Augustan and Early [ulio-Claudian Art," Art
Bulletin 75 (1992), 290. See also Sebesta and Bonfante, eds., World of Roman
Costume, 7.
II. On the toga, see Shelley Stone, "The Toga: From National to Ceremo-
nial Costume," in World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante, 13-45; Janet
Mayo, A History of Ecclesiastical Dress (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1984), 12-
13; Jane Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society (Bloomington: Indiana Uni-
versity Press, 1986), 129; and August Friedrich von Pauly and Georg Wissowa, eds.,
Paulys Real-Encyclopddie der classischenAltertumswissenschaft, 60 vols. (Stuttgart:
J. B. Metzler, 1895-1953), Band VIA, s.v, "toga," 1651-60.
12. Theodosius, Theodosiana Libri XVI, 14.10.1-4.
13. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, 11.3.184, in M. Fabi Quintiliani Institu-
 Notes to Pages 57-59 173

tionis Oratoriae Libri Duodecim, ed. M. Winterbottom, Scriptorum Classicorum

Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970),690.
14. For Quintilian on rhetorical performance, see Fritz Graf, "The Gestures
of Roman Actors and Orators," inA Cultural History of Gesture: From Antiquity to
the Present Day, ed. Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg (Cambridge: Polity
Press, 1991), 36-58. See also Stone, "The Toga: From National to Ceremonial Cos-
tume," in World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante, 17.
15. Quintilian,Institutio Oratoria; 11.3.131.
16. Serious men must allow the toga to fall to the middle of the shin: "Pars
eius prior mediis cruribus optime terminatur." Insane men wrap the toga around
their left hand or gird themselves with it. Effeminates throw the bottom of the
garment over their right shoulders. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, 11.3.139ff.
17. Tertullian, De Pallio, CC 2.733-50. English translation by S. Thelwall
available in Ante-Nicaean Fathers, 4.5-12. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria; 11.3.131,
139ff.A sixth-century writer also deals with symbolicmale garb; see Germanus of
Paris, De Vestimentis, in Ordo Antiquus Gallicanus: Der gallikanische Messritus des
6. [ahrhunderts, ed. Klaus Gamber, Textus Patristici et Liturgici 3 (Regensburg:
Verlag Friederick Pustet, 1965), 21-23.
18. Mayo, A History of Ecclesiastical Dress, 11-12. A number of scholars have
noted that late antique ecclesiastical vestments derived from the tunics of Roman
women and elderly men; see Marjorie Garber, VestedInterests, 212.
19. The Council of Gangra (340-345), canon 12, in The Seven Ecumenical
Councils, trans. Percival, 97, castigates false ascetics who wear the pallium. Peter
Brown discusses the social messages behind Gangra's decrees on spiritual dress and
hairstyles; see Body and Society, 288.
20. Tertullian, De Pallio, 5.
21. The following discussion is indebted to Marcia Colish's article on "Cos-
metic Theology."
22. Colish, "Cosmetic Theology," 5. See also, Mathews, Clash of the Gods,
126, and Sebesta and Bonfante, eds., World of Roman Costume, 5-6.
23. Klingshirn (Caesarius of Arles, 97-104) details the circumstances sur-
rounding the Gallic Council of Agde (506).
24. The Council of Paris (post 614), canon 2, CC 148(A).287, states that
altars can be consecrated only in churches where there are relics of saints. The cibo-
rium is a dome suspended above the altar and supported by columns, see Liber
Pontificalis, 1.262, 312, 324, and 375.
25. "Altaria vero placuit non solum unctione chrismatis sed etiam sacerdotali
benedictione sacrari": Council of Agde (506), canon 14, CC 148.200. Also, "Altaria
nisi lapedea crismatis unctione non sacrentur": Council at Epaon (517), canon 26,
CC 148(A).30; and "Ut altaria alibi consegrari non debeant nisi in his tantum eccle-
siis, ubi corpora sepulta": Council of Paris (post 614), canon 2, CC 148(A).287.
26. "Basilicas hereticorum, quas tanta execrationem habemus exosas, ut pol-
lutionem earum purgabilem non putemus, sanctis usibus adplicare dispicimus. Sane
quas per violentiam nostris tulerant, possumus revocare": Council of Epaon (517),
canon 33, CC I48(A).33.
27. The Council of Laodicea (mid-fourth century), canon 19, PL 56.717,
174- Notes to Pages 59-61

states that only those who offer sacrifice are allowed to approach the altar; and the
Council of Toledo (675), canon 13, Mansi 11.145-146,decrees that no possessed
person may officiate at the altar.
28. Council of Lyons (567), canon 4, CC 148(A).202.
29. "Hic constituit ut sacrificium altaris non in siricum neque in pannum
tinctum celebraretur, nisi tantum in lineum terrenum procreatum, sicut corpus
domini nostri Iesu Christi in sindonem lineam mundam sepultus est: sic missas
caelebrarentur": Liber Pontijicalis, 1.171.
30. Liber Pontijicalis, 1.271, 276, 285, and 343.
31. "Observandum, ne pallis vel ministeriis divinis defunctorum corpuscula
obvolvantur": Council of Clermont (535),canon 3, CC 148(A).106; and "Ne oper-
torio dominici corporis sacerdotes unquam corpus, dum ad tumulum evehetur,
obtegatur et sacro velamine usibus suis reddeto, dum honorantur corpora, altaria
polluantur": Council of Clermont, canon 7, CC 148(A).I07; also, "Non licet mor-
tuis nee eucharistia nee usculum tradi nee de vela vel pallas corpora eorum involvi":
Council of Auxerre (561-565), canon 12, CC 148(A).267.
32. Liber Pontijicalis, 1.220, 230, and 232.
33. Council of Vaison (44 2), canon 3, CC 148.97; also, "Quoniam non opor-
tet insacratos ministros licentiam habere in secretarium, quod Graeci diaconicon
appellant, ingredi et contingere vasa dominica": Council of Agde (506), canon 66,
CC 148.228.
34. "Ne ad nuptiarum ornatu ministeria divina praestentur et, dum inpro-
borum tactu vel pompa saecularis luxuriae polluuntur, ad officia sacri mysterii vi-
deantur indigna": Council of Clermont (535),canon 8, CC 148(A).I07.
35.See Robin Lane Fox in Pagans and Christians (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1987), 504. For linen as the signum of Christ's burial, see the Liber Pontiji-
calis, 1.171.
36. Liber Pontijicalis, 1.118.
37. "Hic ex praecepto beati Petri suscepit ecclesiae pontificatum guber-
nandi, sicut ei fuerat a domino Iesu Christo cathedra tradita vel commissa": Liber
Pontijicalis, 1.123.
38. The Liber Pontificalis (1.375and 383) claims that certain popes gave the
ambo to important churches. Mathews (Clash of the Gods, 113-14) discusses the re-
lationship between the cathedra and episcopal power.
39. Klingshirn (Caesarius of Aries, 151- 59), details the awesome nature of
the sacred space of the basilica of St. Stephen in Arles. See also Mathews, Clash
of the Gods, 94ff.
40. Mayo, History of Ecclesiastical Dress, 20-21.
41. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 8.5.
42. "Hic constituit sacerdotes et levitas ut vestes sacratas in usu cottidiano
non uti, nisi in ecclesia": Liber Pontijicalis, 1.154.
43. "Qui et constituit ut quicumque de fidelium martyrem sepeliret, sine
dalmaticam aut colobium purpuratum nulla ratione sepeliret, quod tamen usque
ad notitiam sibi devulgaretur": Liber Pontijicalis, 1.159.
44. "Hic constituit ut diaconi dalmaticas in ecclesia uterentur et pallea linos-
tima leva eorum tegerentur": Liber Pontijicalis, 1.171.
 Notes to Pages 61-62 175

45. See Klingshirn, Caesarius of Aries, 99-100.

46. "Hic constituit ut si quis desideraret in ecclesia militare aut proficere, ut
esset lector annos XXX,exorcista dies XXX,acolitus annos V, subdiaconus annos V,
custus martyrum annos X, diaconus annos VII, pres biter annos III, probatus ex
omni parte, etiam et a foris qui sunt, testimonium habere bonum, unius uxoris
virum, uxorem a sacerdote benedictam, et sic ad ordinem episcopatus accedere":
Liber Pontijicalis, 1.171-72. Later church councils, such as Braga (563), canon 20,
underscored that laymen must rise through the orders until they reach the office of
bishop (sacerdotium). The Council of Orleans (533), canon 16, CC 148(A).101, de-
nies ordination to the uneducated (sine literis); and the Council of Orleans (538),
canon 6, CC 148(A).116-117, dictates the appropriate ages for ordination. See also
Klingshirn's discussion of the Council of Agde (506), Caesarius of Arles, 99 - 100.
47. The Council of Toledo (633), canon 28 (Hefele and LeClercq, eds., His-
toire des Conciles, 3.623) assigns rank by dress and material objects. The bishop wears
an orarium, ring, and staff; priests wear the orarium and planeta; deacons wear the
orarium and alb; and subdeacons carry the paten and chalice. This same council
(canon 39) emphasized that seating in the choir was by rank.
48. The Council of Agde (506), canon 20, CC 148.202, declared that all cleri-
cal dress must be under the supervision of superior officers of the church ("Clerici
qui comam nutriunt, ab archidiacono, etiam si noluerint, inviti detundantur; vesti-
menta vel calceamenta etiam eis nisi quae religionem deceant, uti vel habere non
liceat").
49. The Council of Laodicaea, canon 22 and canon 23, PL 56.717.
50. Liber Pontijicalis, 1.177.
51. "Monacho uti orarium in monasterio vel cyanchas habere non liceat":
Council of ArIes (511), canon 20, CCI48(A).10. The cyanchas were a kind of bar-
barian boot; see Mayo, History of Ecclesiastical Dress, 21.
52. The Council of Agde (506), canon 27, CC 148.205, decreed that bishops
must approve all new convents and monasteries. The Council of ArIes (511)contains
several canons which place abbots and priests under the control of the episcopacy.
For example, canon 22, CC 148(A).II, states that no monk may build a cell without
the permission of either the bishop or abbot. Also, "Abbates pro humilitate reli-
gionis in episcoporum potestate consistant": Council of ArIes (511),canon 19, CC
148(A).10.
53. The Council of Macon (581),canon 5, CC 148(A).224.
54. For a discussion of the pallium, see Paulys Reai-Encyclopadie, Band
XVIII(3), S.v. "pallium," 249-254; and Mayo, History of Ecclesiastical Dress, 13,
19, and 161ff.
55.For a discussion of the paenula, see Norma Goldman, "Reconstructing
Roman Clothing," in World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante, 229.
56. Hilary of ArIes, Sermo de vita sancti Honorati, 35(PL 50.1268-69), claims
that threads from the saint's vestments performed miracles.
57. "Ut episcopus sine palleo missas dicere non praesumat": Council of
Macon (585),canon 6, CC 148(A).224.
58. For an overview of the rhetorical uses of hairstyles, see Robert Bartlett,
"Symbolic Meanings of Hair in the Middle Ages," Transactions of the Royal His-
 Notes to Pages 62-64

torical Society 4 (1994): 43-60. See also Conrad Leyser, "Long-Haired Kings and
Short-Haired Nuns," Medieval World 3/4 (1992): 37-42.
59. Gregory of Tours, In Gloria Martyrum, 27. See Fernand Cabrol and
Henri Leclercq, eds., Dictionnaire d)archeologie cbretienne et de liturgie (Paris: Le-
touzey et Ane, 1903-1953), 2.2.2997. Both Hebrew and Roman cultures used shorn
hair to symbolize humility. The ancient Hebrews shaved the head as a sign of rep en-
tance, and the Romans shaved the heads of manumitted slaves.
60. The Venerable Bede, Historia ecclesiasticagentis Anglorum, ed. Bertram
Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, Oxford Medieval Texts Series 3 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1969), 25.
61. Stephanus, Vita Sancti Wilfrithi episcopi, 6, in The Life of Bishop Wilfrid
by Eddius Stepbanus, ed. and trans. Bertram Colgrave (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 1985), 14. The Latin reads, "formulam in modum coronae spineae
caput Christi cingentis." Colgrave notes (12) that the vita of the Anglo-Saxon her-
mit, Cuthbert, contains the same passage. See also Bede, Historia ecclesiastica, 5.21.
62. There are several such combs extant. At the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London, there are two liturgical combs, one from the Carolingian period and the
other from the twelfth century. In the collected treasures of Durham Cathedral,
Durham, England, there is an eighth -century Anglo-Saxon comb. The historians of
material culture at the Victoria and Albert Museum suggest that the combs were
used to symbolize the order of the divine universe.
63. Peter Lasko, "The Comb," in The Relics of Saint Cuthbert, ed. C. F.
Battiscombe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956),336-56.
64. Peter Brown, "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Anti-
quity," Journal of Roman Studies 61 (1971): 80-101.
65. Brown, "A Dark Age Crisis: Aspects of the Iconoclastic Controversy," in
Society and the Holy, 300.
66. Brown, "Dark Age Crisis," in Society and the Holy, 281.
67. "tulit pallium de collo eius et duxit in cubiculum; expolians eum induit
eum vestem monachicam et abscondit eum": Liber Pontijicalis, 1.293.
68. Similarly, the Carolingians emasculated the last Merovingian king by
shaving his head and dressing him in a monastic habit; see Einhard, Vita Caroli, I,
MGH SCR 2.443; "Gens Merovingorum, de qua Franci reges sibi creare soliti erant,
usque in Hildericum regem, qui iussu Stephani, Romani pontificis, depositus ac
detonsus, atque in monasterium trusus est, durasse putatur."
69. Thomas F. X. Noble details the secular responsibilities of the Bishop of
Rome in The Republic of Saint Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680 -825 (Philadel-
phia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984), 9-12.
70. Megan McLaughlin, Consorting with Saints, 106.
71. "Non licet mulieri nudam manum eucharistiam accipere": Council of
Auxerre (561-605), canon 36, CC 148(A).269. Klingshirn (Caesarius of Aries, 155)
discusses Caesarius's sermons concerning the washing of the hands and the wrap-
ping of women's hands in cloth.
72. For detailed discussions of sixth-century legislation, see Wemple, Women
in Frankish Society, and Brian Brennan, "'Episcopae': Bishops' Wives Viewed in
Sixth-Century Gaul," Church History 54 (1985): 311-23.
 Notes to Pages 64--65 177

73. For example, Council of Clermont (535), canon 13, CC 148(A).I08;

Council of Tours (567), canon 13,CC 148(A).I80-18I; and Council of Macon (581-
583), canon 3, CC 148(A).224.
74. "Germanitatis affectu": Council of Clermont (535), canon 13, CCL
148A.I08. For a discussion of early medieval hagiographical representations ofspiri-
tual marriage, see Elliott, Spiritual Marriage, 68-73.
75. "In domum serpentem includere pro veste": Council of Tours (567),
canon 10, CC 148(A).I79.
76. "Illud quoque rectum nobis visum est disponere, ut, quae uxor subdi-
aconi vel exorcistae vel acoliti fuerat, mortuo illo secundo se non audeat sotiare
matrimonio. Quod si feceret, separetur et in coenubiis puellarum Dei tradatur et
ibi usque ad exitum vitae suae permaneat": Council of Macon (581), canon 16,
CC 148(A).246.
77. Wemple (Women in Frankish Society, 136) also cites the eighth-century
Bavarian Code (MGH Legum Sectio 1.5.2.284-85) which accuses defiled women of
causing plagues and famines, thus disrupting the divine order of the universe.
78. The Council of Laodicea (mid-fourth century), canon II, PL 56.716,
abolishes the female presbyters and elders. The Council of Nimes (394), canon 2,
CC 148.50, forbids women from ministering.
79. "Nihilominus impatienter audivimus tantum divinarum rerum subiisse
despectum, ut feminae sacris altaribus ministrare ferantur; et cuncta quae non nisi
virorum famulatui deputata sunt, sexum cui non competit exhibere": Pope Gelas-
ius, Epistolae et decreta, 9.26, PL 59.55.
80. Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 140.
81. For the ordination of women deacons, see the Council ofNicaea (325),
canon 19, Mansi 2.675-678. On the dismantling of the office, "Diaconae omnimo-
dis non ordinandae: si quae iam sunt, benedictioni quae populo impenditur capita
submittant": Council of Orange (441), canon 25, CC 148.84; "Foeminae, quae
benedictionem diaconatus actenus contra interdicta canonum acceperunt, si ad
coniugium probantur iterum devolutae, a communione pellantur. Quod si huis-
modi contubernium admonitae ab episcopo cognito errore dissolverint, in com-
munionis gratia acta penitentia revertantur": Council of Orleans (533), canon 17,
CC 148(A).IOI; and "Placuit etiam, ut nulli postmodum foeminae diaconalis bene-
dictio pro conditionis huius fragilitate credatur": Council of Orleans (533), canon
18, CC 148(A).I01. See also Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 140.
82. Gilchrist (Gender and Material Culture, 20) notes, however, that nuns
do appear in the historical record as sacristans.
83. Council of Laodicea (mid-fourth century), canon 45, PL 56.719.
84. "Ut laici secus altare, quo sancta misteria celebrantur, inter clericos tam
ad vigiliis quam ad missas stare penitus non praesumant, sed pars ina, quae a cancellis
versus altare dividitur, choris tantum psallentium pateat clericorum. Ad orandum
et communicandum laicis et foeminis, sicut mos est, pateant sancta sanctorum":
Council of Tours (567), canon 4, CC 148(A).I78. See also Robert A. Markus, "The
Cult of Icons in Sixth-Century Gaul," Journal of Theological Studies 29 (1978): 155.
85. "Non licet mulieri nudam manum eucharistiam accipere": Council of
Auxerre (578), canon 36, CC 148(A).269; and "Non licet, ut mulier manum suam
 Notes to Pages 65-67

ad pallam Dominicam mittat": Council of Auxerre, canon 37, CC 14-8(A).269.Ca-

non 4-2,CC 14-8(A).270,states that all women must bring a dominicale (a cloth with
which to wrap the hands) to communion. Wemple (Women in Frankish Society, 14-2)
cautions that this was not always carried out in the seventh century, particularly by
nuns who made the linen pallia and often assisted at eucharist services.
86. "Hie Bonifatius constituit ut nulla mulier aut monacha pallam sacratam
contingere aut lavare aut incensum ponere in ecclesia nisi minister": Liber Pontiji-
calis, 1.227.
87. Gilchrist, Gender and Material Culture, 109.
88. Henry Ansgar Kelly, The Devil at Baptism: Ritual, Theology,and Drama
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985),207ff.
89. "Oracio super ancillas Dei quibus conversis vestmenta mutantur": in
Gelasian Sacramentary; no. 792, in L. C. Mohlberg, L. Eizenhofer, and P. Siffrin,
eds., Liber Sacramentorum Romanae Aecclesiae ordinis anni circuli (Cod. Vat.
Reg. Lat. 316/Paris Bibl. Nat. 7193,41/56), Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Documenta, fon-
tes,4- (Rome: Herder, 1960). For exorcism, see Gelasian Sacramentary; nos. 293-
97. Women are linked to the Body of the Church through God and Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel; men are led through the Holy Spirit. See also Peter Cramer, Baptism and
Change in the Early Middle Ages, c. 200-1150(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1993), 151.
90. Pope Symmachus constructed a matroneum at St. Paul's in Rome; see
Liber Pontijicalis, 1.262.
91. See Thomas Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople: Archi-
tecture and Liturgy (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971),
130-34.
92. Gregory of Tours, Gloria Confessorum, 26. The most distinguished de-
sert fathers denied women access to the space around their cells, pillars, or caves.
John of Lycopolis only blesses men through the window of his tiny cell. He speaks
to women disciples in dreams (Rufinus, Historia Monachorum in Aegypto, 1.7).
93. Sulpicius Severus, Dialogorum libri 11,2.12.
94-. Possidius, Vita Augustini, 26, PL 32.55.
95. Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 2.1; 4-.36; Gloria Confesso-
rum, 31, 74, 75, 77·
96. Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, 3.
97. For a discussion of the chlamys, see Mayo, History of EcclesiasticalDress,
14-,20-21; Sabine MacCormack, Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1981),180, 250-52; Ann M. Stout, "Jewelry as a Sym-
bol of Status in the Roman Empire," in World of Roman Costume, ed. Sebesta and
Bonfante, 83-84-; and Mathews, Clash of the Gods, 101.
98. Vulgate reads "chlamydem coccineam circumdederunt ei." After the
crucifixion, the Roman soldiers divided up Jesus' garments and cast lots for them
(see Psalm 22.18: "They divide my clothing among themselves, and for my clothing
they cast lots").
99. Sulpicius Severus, Dialogorum libri 11,2.3.
100. Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, 10.
101. Sulpicius Severus, Dialogorum libri II, 1.23.
 Notes to Pages 68-71 179

102. Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, 19.

103. See Goldman, "Reconstructing Roman Clothing," in World of Roman
Costume, ed. Sebesta and Bonfante, 231- 32.
104. Constantius, Vita Germani, 4.
105. Sulpicius Severus, Dialogorum libri II, 1.17.
106. Gregory the Great, Dialogorum libri IV, 2.1.
107. Vita S. Martini, 10; Vita Hilarii Arelatensis, 8.
108. "Is constitutus in ecclesia, tractante episcopo, vidit, ut ipse postmodum
loquebatur, angelum ad aures episcopi tractantis loquentem ut verba angeli populo
episcopus renuntiare videretur": Paulinus, Vita Sancti Ambrosii, 17 (Kaniecka, Vita
Sancti Ambrosii, 56). The hagiographical physiognomy of holy men is as vague as
that of Christ. Ambrose's hagiographer describes the bishop as the transfigured
Christ whose face reveals the Holy Spirit. The vague descriptions of Christian saints
invert the complex physiognomical treatments of classical emperors and public men.
109. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum , 12.3; and Gloria Confessorum, 20
and 38. See also Giselle de Nie, Viewsfrom a Many-Windowed Tower:Studies of
Imagination in the Worksof Gregoryof Tours (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987), chap. 3.
110. "Cappa autem huius indumenti ita dilatata erat atque consuta, ut solent
in illis candidis fieri, quae per paschalia festa sacerdotum umeris inponuntur": Greg-
ory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 8.5 (MGH SRM 1.2.246). Gregory describes this
particular cape as the kind reserved for Easter celebrations because it was decorated
with linen bands in memory of Christ's resurrection.
III. "palleolis vel reliqua ministerii ornamenta": Gregory of Tours, In Gloria
Martyrum, 65 (MGH SRM 1.2.82).
112. Paraphrase of Georges Duby, William Marshal: The Flower of Chivalry,
trans. Richard Howard (New York: Pantheon, 1985), 15. Duby uses the motif of
changed dress to symbolize William Marshal's conversion to the ascetic life of a
Templar.
113. Douglas, Purity and Danger, 10-II.
114. Geary, BeforeFrance and Germany, 134.

Chapter 4

I. See also Mark 1.12-13 and Luke 4.1-13.

2. Parallel texts in Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.1-18; and John 1.6-8, 19-28.
3. The desert corpus exists in a variety of manuscript forms and languages,
including Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, Old Sogdiam, Armenian, Greek, and
Latin, and its popularity in the West is attested by the number of extant copies
housed in early medieval monastic scriptoria. E. A. Lowe, CodicesLatini Antiqu-
iores:A Paleographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Prior to the Ninth Century (Ox-
ford: Clarendon Press, 1934), cites over twenty extant manuscripts and fragments of
the desert corpus produced in monastic scriptoria in France, Italy, Rhaetia, Switzer-
land, Germany, and Spain. For the textual traditions of the desert corpus, see
Gould, Desert Fathers on Monastic Community, 1-25; Rousselle, Porneia, 138-40;
and Philip Rousseau, Ascetics and Authority in the Ages of Jerome and Cassian
180 Notes to Pages 71-75

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978). For the translation of Rufinus, Historia
Monachorum in Aegypto, see Norman Russell, trans., The Lives of the Desert Fathers,
Cistercian Studies Series 34 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1980 ); for
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa ==Histoire des moines de Syrie, see R. M.
Price, trans., Theodoret ofCyrrhus: A History of the Monks of Syria, Cistercian Studies
Series 88 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1985); for the Apophthegmata
Patrum, see Benedicta Ward, trans., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Cistercian
Studies Series 59 (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1975); for Palladius,
Historia Lausiaca, see Robert T. Meyer, trans., The Lausiac History of Palladius,
Ancient Christian Writers Series 34 (Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1965); and,
for Athanasius of Alexandria, Vita Antonii, see Robert C. Gregg, trans., The Life of
Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York:
Paulist Press, 1980).
4. See Brown, Body and Society, chap. II.
5. Rufinus, Historia Monachorum, 7.2; translation from Russell, Lives of the
Desert Fathers, 69.
6. Theodoret ofCyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 2.2.
7. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 18.4.
8. Gouba (pit); Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 13.2; Price, Monks
of Syria, 101.
9. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, I.
10. In Theodoret ofCyrrhus's Historia Religiosa (6.10-11), a Syrian holy man
tames wild lions and wild crows feed him.
II. A. J. Festugiere, Les moines d'orient 4(1) (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1964),
19, note to line 242, says that self-immurement in tombs (necrotaphioi) had already
been part of a pre-Christian Egyptian religious practice.
12. Apophthegmata Patrum, Ammonas, 30; translation from Ward, Sayings of
the Desert Fathers, 25.
13. Apophthegmata Patrum , Antony, 27.
14. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 48.3.
15. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 43.1.
16. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca; 11.4, 18.4, 42; Rufinus, Historia Monacho-
rum, 13.7.
17. Apophthegmata Patrum, Arsenius, 42.
18. Russell (Lives of the Desert Fathers, 132 n. I, under IX Amoun) notes that
"large serpent" (megalou drakontos) was another way of saying the devil.
19. Rufinus, Historia Monachorum, 9.1; translation from Russell, Lives of the
Desert Fathers, 80.
20. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 27.1; translation from Price,
Monks of Syria, 177·
21. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, Prologue, 9; translation from
Price, Monks of Syria, 7.
22. For a discussion of women as salvific forces in human history, see Harvey,
"Women in Byzantine Hagiography," 36-59. This article greatly influenced the fol-
lowing discussion.
23. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca ; 5.1; translation from Meyer, Lausiac His-
tory, 36.
 Notes to Pages 75-79 181

24. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 5.2; translation from Meyer, Lausiac History,
36-37.
25. Athanasius, Vita Antonii, 10; translation from Gregg, Life of Antony, 39.
26. Gregg discusses the aktina photos (saving light) in Life of Antony, 136 n. 24.
27. For the entire episode, see Athanasius, Vita Antonii, 8-1I.
28. Theodoret ofCyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 27.3.
29. See Harvey, "Women in Byzantine Hagiography," 42.
30. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 31, 60, and 67.
31. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Historia Religiosa, 29 - 30.
32. The phrase "icon of repentance" is from Ward, Harlots of the Desert, 26.
33. For the textual tradition, see Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Har-
vey, eds., Holy Women of the Syrian Orient (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1987),40-41,186-87; and Pierre Petitmengin, Pelagie la Penitente. Brock and Har-
vey (41 - 62) translate the Syriac version which is based on the Greek life; and Ward,
Harlots of the Desert, 66-75, translates the Latin text. See Brock and Harvey, Holy
Women of the Syrian Orient, 2-3, for a discussion of the historical value of the vita.
Gillian Cloke, This Female Man of God, 193-94, discusses Pelagia's vita. Subsequent
references are to the Latin Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, PL 73.663-72.
34. For example, an eighth-or ninth -century edition of the Latin vita found
at Chartres fuses Pelagia's vita with the Life of Melania the Younger; see ElizabethA.
Clark, trans., The Life of Melania the Younger, Studies in Women and Religion 14
(New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1984), 3, 178 n. 24.
35. See Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legend, 2.23I.
36. In Apophthegmata Patrum, John the Dwarf, 16, an elderly hermit informs
Abba John that, "you are like a courtesan who shows her beauty to increase the
number of her lovers." See Ward, Harlots of the Desert, 60.
37. Brock and Harvey (Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, 40) note that some
historians have mistakenly identified the legendary Nonnus as a fifth -century Bishop
ofEdessa.
38. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 2.
39. "Ecce subito transiit per nos prima mimarum Antiochiae; ipsaque est
prima choreutriarum pantomimarum, sedens super asellum; et processit cum summa
phantasia, adornata ita, ut nihil videretur super ea nisi aurum et margaritae et lapides
pretiosi; nuditas vero pedum eius ex auro et margaritis erat cooperta ... ": Vita S.
Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 2, PL 73.664.
40. The Latin Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis (I) claims that the bishops hid their
faces in their scapulas, or tabards worn over habits (see Mayo, History of Ecclesiasti-
cal Dress, 171). In the Syriac vita (6), the bishops merely avert their eyes.
41. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Me retricis , 3.
42. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 3. In the Syriac vita (8), Nonnus beats his chest
and soaks his hair shirt with tears.
43· Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 3; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 68.
44. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 4.
45· Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 4; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 68.
46. Vita S. Pelaqiac, Meretricis, 9. Christianity provided the avenue through
182 Notes to Pages 79-83

which actresses could legitimately abandon their profession. The Theodosian Code
dictates that "actresses were not allowed to leave their profession unless they con-
verted to Christianity." See Theodosiani Libri XVI, 15.7; cited by Clark, Women in
Late Antiquity, 29-30. For a discussion of the female diaconate, see Cloke, This
Female Man of God, 205-11.
47. Vita S. Pelaqiae,Meretricis, II.
48. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 12. In the Syriac version (vita, 41), Nonnus
gives Pelagia his chiton. In the gospel of John (19.23), Jesus wears a seamless shirt or
chiton.
49. The hagiographer describes the shrine as "in modica cellula undique cir-
cumclusa, et parvam fenestellam habuerat in pariete"; Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis,
14, PL 73.670.
50. James claims that he could not have recognized the former prostitute:
"Quomodo enim poteram cognoscere illam, quam antea videram inaestimabili pul-
chritudine, iam facie marcidam factam prae nimia abstinentia? Oculi vero eius sicut
fossae videbantur": Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 14, PL 73.670.
51. "Sanctum corpusculum": Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 15, PL 73.670.
52. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 15. Reference to Matthew 6.19-20.
53. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 15; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 74-75.
54. Vita S. Pelaqiae,Meretricis, 14; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 74.
55. See Clark, Women in Late Antiquity, 129; Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy
Fast, 290-91; Salisbury, Church Fathers and Independent Virgins, 109-10; Ward,
Harlots of the Desert, 63; Patlagean, "L'Histoire de la femme deguisee en moine,"
597-623; Anson, "The Female Transvestite in Early Monasticism," 1-32; and Gar-
ber, VestedInterests, 213-17.
56. Salisbury, Church Fathers and Independent Vir;gins, 110.
57. Acts of Paul and Thecla, 40, in New Testament Apocrypha 2, ed. E. Hen-
necke and W. Schneemelcher, trans. R. Mel. Wilson (Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1965). The Greco- Roman romantic toposis discussed by Clark, Women in An-
tiquity, 31.
58. For a detailed history of the Christian exegesis on the Song of Songs, see
E. Ann Matter, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval
Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990).
59. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 4.
60. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 7.
61. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 7; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 70.
62. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 8.
63. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 14.
64. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 2; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 67.
65. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, 8; translation from Ward, Harlots of the Des-
ert, 71.
66. Tertullian, De habitu muliebri, 1.2.
 Notes to Pages 83-87

67. Vita S. Pelaqiae, Meretricis, II.

68. Discussed by Ward, Harlots of the Desert, 63.
69. Jerome, Vita Pauli, PL 23.17-60. For the textual traditions of the Lift of
Mary of Egypt, see Paul Harvey's forthcoming article, "Mary the Egyptian: Sources
and Purpose," 25 mss pages (I should like to thank Professor Harvey for sharing his
essay with me). Dembowski, La Vie de Sainte Marie I)Egyptienne, 21-22; and Salis-
bury, Church Fathers and Independent Virgins, 69. Albert Siegmund (Die Uherlie-
ferung der griechischen christlichen Literatur in der lateinischen Kirche his zum
zwolften [abrhundert [Munich -Pasing: Filser-Verlag, 1949], 269) discusses the
Latin translation from the Greek by Paulus Diaconus Neapolitanus, whose pro-
logue to the vita is dated c. 876-877. In the prologue, Paulus states that he prepared
a translation of Mary of Egypt's vita much earlier for Charles the Bald. Subsequent
references are to Paulus Diaconus's Latin translation, Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiaciae,
Meretricis, PL 73.671-90. Sophronius's text is in PG 87(3).3693-726.
70. For example, in Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, 34.6, an angel instructs Abba
Piteroum to journey to the women's community at Tabennisi to witness the hu-
mility of a spiritual mother who resided there. At Tabennisi, Piteroum visits with
each of the sisters, but finds no saint among them. Finally, he asks to see the mad
woman of the community, who binds her head in rags, eats crumbs, and joyously
performs the most vile tasks. When the female lunatic comes before him, the abba
falls down at her feet exclaiming: "Bless me!" The nuns are shocked by the holy
man's obsequious behavior, and they caution him not to embrace the insane woman.
"You are the ones who are touched!" he replies "This woman is a spiritual mother";
translation from Meyer, Lausiac History, 98.
71. Harvey, "Mary the Egyptian: Sources and Purpose," 6.
72. Discussed in McKitterick, Carolingians and the Written Word, 24 I ff.
73. Voragine, Golden Legend, 1.227-29.
74. Brown, Society and the Holy, 166-95; and Markus, End of Ancient Chris-
tianity, 157-211.
75. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae) Meretricis, 22; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 53.
76. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae) Meretricis, 19; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 50.
77. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 7; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 41.
78. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 4; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 39.
79. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 10; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 42.
80. Theodoret of Cyrrhus (Historia Religiosa, 6.7-8) asserts that Abba Sy-
meon the Elder had to convince two pilgrims that he was a man and not a demon.
81. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae) Meretricis, II; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 44.
82. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae) Meretricis, 12.
83. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 15; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 46.
184 Notes to Pages 87-93

84. Paul Havery ("Mary the Egyptian: Sources and Purposes, 6 -7) discusses
how iconophiles used Mary's conversion by an icon of the Theotokos during the
iconoclastic controversy of the eighth century.
85. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 16; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 47.
86. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 19; translation from Ward, Harlots
of the Desert, 50.
87. See also Exodus 15.24, where the unfaithful Israelites ask Moses, "What
shall we drink?"
88. Discussed by Cloke, This Female Man of God, 215-16.
89. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 24-25; translation from Ward,
Harlots of the Desert, 54.
90. Vita S. Mariae Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 20.
91. For the work of Francesco Traini, see Millard Meiss, "The Problem of
Francesco Traini," Art Bulletin 15(1933): 97-173. Later medieval depictions of Mary
of Egypt show the holy woman with long hair. This may be due to the fact that
Mary's vita had become closely associated with that of Mary Magdalene, who was
portrayed with flowing tresses.
92. Miles (Carnal Knowinq, 142-44) argues that the female nude was too
erotic to illustrate spiritual strength but that the male nude personified commit-
ment, extraordinary spiritual vitality, physical control, and order. Mary of Egypt's
nudity (mentioned by Miles, 64) clearly depicts the female body as having obliter-
ated sensuality. On Christian nudity, see also Brown, Body and Society, 313-17. Sal-
isbury (Church Fathers and Independent Virgins, 70) argues that this ex-prostitute's
rejection of the clothing of a harlot would have been scandalous in Roman society,
which was governed by strict codes of dress according to occupation.
93. In the Sumerian Epic ofGilgamesh, the harlot figure represents urban civi-
lization, while in the Pentateuch and books of the prophets harlots signify sinful
Israel. For a discussion of the harlot-saint topos, see Ruth Mazo Karras, "Holy Har-
lots: Prostitute Saints in Medieval Legend," Journal of the History of Sexuality I
(199 0 ) : 3-3 2.
94. Edith Wyschogrod (Saints and Postmodernism, 13) argues that the imitatio
Christi is "an unrealizable imperative" because Christ's perfection cannot be dupli-
cated by humans. Paul's vita operates similarly as an unrealizable imperative.
95. Vulgate reads "Nigra sum, sed formosa .... Nolite me considerare quod
fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol."
96. Vulgate reads "caput autem eius, et capilli erant candidi tanquam lana
alba, et tanquam nix."
97. Origen (185- 254 CE) in his exegesis on the Song of Songs, interprets the
nigra sum sedformosa text as an allegory of the pristine church. See Origen, The
Song of Songs, 2.1. English translation by R. P. Lawson, Origen: The Song of Songs
Commentary and Homilies, Ancient Christian Writers Series 26 (Westminster, Md.:
Newman Press, 1957), 91-92. Origen extols the beauty of the Bride of Christ, or the
Church, who is "dark and beautiful, 0 Ye Daughters of Jerusalem." She is the mir-
ror opposite of the indulgent daughters of earthly Jerusalem, who find her ugly and
"despise and vilify her for her ignoble birth; for she is baseborn in their eyes."
 Notes to Pages 96-97 I8S

Chapters

I. Eusebius of Caesaria, Vita Constantini, 3.47, PG 20.1105-8. English

translation by E. C. Richardson, "The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine,"
in Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. I (Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Eerdmans, 1961),481-559. An Italian translation is by Luigi Tartaglia, Euse-
bio di Cesarea Sulla Vita Di Costantino (Naples: M. D'Auria, 1984). Tartaglia (147
n. 110-II) discusses the title Augusta and the coins minted in her honor. Borgeham-
mar (How the Holy Cross Was Found) details the development of the Helena legend.
See also Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 32-33.
2. Brown (Body and Society, 146) notes the usurpation of clerical roles by
ambitious women: "Some women, however, edged closer to the clergy: conti-
nence or widowhood set them free from the disqualifications associated with sexual
activity."
3. See Salisbury, Church Fathers and Independent Virgins, 89-96; Eliza-
beth A. Clark, "Early Christian Women: Sources and Interpretations," in That
Gentle Strength, ed. Coon et al., 29; Brown, Body and Society, 344-45; Rosemary
Ruether, "Mothers of the Church: Ascetic Women in the Late Patristic Age," in
Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in theJewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Rose-
mary Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979),88-
94; Jo Ann McNamara, "Muffled Voices: The Lives of Consecrated Women in the
Fourth Century," in Distant Echoes:Medieval Religious Women, vol. I, ed. John A.
Nichols and Lillian Thomas Shank (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications,
1984), 11-29; and Jill Harries, "'Treasure in Heaven': Property and Inheritance
Among Senators of Late Rome," in Marriage and Property, ed. Elizabeth M. Craik
(St. Andrews: Aberdeen University Press, 1984), 54-70. See Cloke (This Female
Man of God, chaps. 6-7) for the social implications of "Christian motherhood."
4. See Peter Brown, "Church and Leadership," inA History of Private Life:
From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, ed. Paul Veyne, trans. Arthur Goldhammer
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987), 279.
5. Holum (Theodosian Empresses, 29-30) emphasizes that women could
not hold office or be in the Senate nor could they wear the senatorial toga and
emblems of office. See also Theodosius, Theodosiana Libri XVI, 6.4.17.
6. See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 24.
7. See Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society, and Cloke, This Female
Man of God, chap. 7.
8. Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 72. See also E. D. Hunt, "Hadrian and
Helena," in The Blessingsof Pilgrimage , ed. Robert Ousterhout (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1990 ), 67.
9. On the conversion of imperial ideology to Christian doctrine, see Holum,
Theodosian Empresses, 24ff. He focuses on the transformation of the classicalvirtues
of eusebia, tapeinopbrosyne, philanthropia, and philandria. Elm (Vir;gins of God,
ooff) analyzes the eastern vitae of patrician women.
10. On Eusebius's comparison of Constantine and Helena to Christ and
Mary, see P. W. L. Walker, Holy City, Holy Places (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1990), 188.
186 Notes to Pages 97-99

II. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, I.28ff.

12. See Robert A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theologyof
St. Augustine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), +8-50. Markus
notes that Eusebius "applies messianic categories to the rule of the Roman Emper-
ors" and that Constantine's reign represented a "culmination of God's marvellous
saving work" (+9). See also Mathews, Clash of the Gods, l+ff, and Anthony Kemp
(The Estrangement of the Past: A Study in the Origins of Modern Historical Con-
sciousness[Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991], 17) for Constantine as a "divine
deliverer. "
13. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.10.
1+. See Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 2+; and Ernest Hello, Physiognomies
des Saints (Paris: Librairie Acadernique Didier, 1900),258.
15.See Robert L. Wilken, The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian Lit-
erature and Thought (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1992), 98. For a
detailed discussion of the post-Eusebian legends of the inventio crucis, see Jan Wil-
lem Drijvers, Helena Augusta: The Mother of Constantine the Great and the Legend
of Her Finding of the True Cross (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992).
16. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.33.
17. See Hunt, "Hadrian and St. Helena," 67. See also Holum, Theodosian
Empresses, 18+-85, for the Empress Eudocia's pilgrimage to Palestine in +38 CEo
18. Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was Found, I. The feast day for the
inventio crucis is May 3rd.
19. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.+2.
20. Cyril, Catecheses,PG 33.830; Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, +1-51,
CSEL 73(7).393-398; Paulinus of Nola, Epistle, 31, CSEL 29(1).267ff; Socrates,
Historia Ecclesiastica, PG 67.9-8+2; and Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, PG
67.8+3- 1630.
21. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.+1-+7. See discussion by Wilken, Land
Called Holy, 88ff.
22. See Walker (Holy City, Holy Places, l+ff) for a discussion of the impact of
the conversion of Constantine on the physical landscape of Palestine. Walker main-
tains that by the mid-fourth century, the major named places of Christ's life had
been identified and had become pilgrimage sites.
23. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.+3.
2+. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.++.
25. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.++. Eusebius provides a long list of titles
(Vita, 3.+3, PG 20.1103): "Helena Augusta, religiosi imperatoris mater religiosis-
sima, piae devotionis."
26. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.+6-+7.
27. Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage, 51;and Hunt, "Hadrian and St. Helena,"
75ff.For a discussion of the political travels of the imperial family, see Helmut Half-
mann, Itinera principum: Geschichteund Typologieder Kaiserreisen im Riimiscben
Reich (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1986).
28. Hunt, "Hadrian and St. Helena," 76.
29. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 3.+7.
30. Borgehammar (How the Holy Cross WasFound, chaps. 2-3) reconstructs
the "Jerusalem tradition" surrounding the events connected with the Constanti-
 Notes to Pages 99-103

nian refashioning of the Holy Land. Drijvers (Helena Augusta, 95ff) also discusses
the earlier work of Gelasius of Jerusalem (Church History [c. 390 ]), which Drijvers
argues is the oldest account of Helena's discovery of the true cross.
31.For a detailed discussion of Cyril's contribution to Holy Land pilgrim-
age, see Walker, Holy City) Holy Places; see also Wilken, Land Called Holy, 119-20.
32. Cyril, Catecheses, 4.10, 10.19, 13.4.
33.Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, 41-51 (CSEL73[7 ].393-398). Borge-
hammar (How the Holy Cross Was Found, 60) gives the date of the public reading of
the oratio as February 25, 395.
34. Borgehammar (How the Holy CrossWasFound, 60-66) details Ambrose's
version of the legend. He notes that the Theodosian court treasured the image of
Helena and that Theodosius's wife, Aelia FlaccilIa, was the first empress after Helena
to receive the ti tie Augusta.
35.Author's translation of "IlIa quasi sancta dominum gestavit, ego crucem
eius investigabo. Illa generatum docuit, ego resuscitatum. Illa fecit, ut deus inter
homines videretur, ego ad nostorum remedium peccatorum divinum de ruinis elev-
abo vexilIum": Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, 44 (CSEL 72[7 ].394).
36. Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, 46.
37. Author's translation of "Visitata est Maria, ut Evam liberaret: visitata est
Helena, ut redimerentur imperatores": Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, 47
(CSEL 73[7].396).
38. Ambrose, De obitu Theodosii oratio, 48.
39. Melania gave Paulinus a "partem particulae de ligno divinae crucis":
Paulinus, Epistle, 31.1 (CSEL 29[1].268). English translation by P. G. Walsh, The
Letters of Paulin us of Nola, Ancient Christian Writers 36 (Westminster, Md.: New-
man Press, 1967), 2.125-33. Borgehammar (How the Holy Cross Was Found, 66-71)
discusses Paulinus's Epistle 31, noting that Melania the Elder may have been the
major source for his rendition of the legend.
40. Author's translation of "Qui princeps esse principibus Christianis non
magis sua quam matris Helenae fide meruit": Paulinus, Epistle, 31.4 (CSEL
29[ 1].271).
41. Paulinus, Epistle, 31.5.
42. Socrates, a Constantinopolitan lawyer, extended Eusebius'sEcclesiastical
History, and Sozomen elaborated on the work of Socrates. The vita of Helena is in
Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, 1.17, and Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 2.1-2.
English translation of Socrates is by A. C. Zenos, Library of Nicene and Post-
Nicene Fathers 2.2.1-178; English translation of Sozomen is by C. D. Hartrauft,
Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 2.2.179-427.
43. Socrates, Historia Ecclesiastica, 1.17.
44. Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, 2.2.
45. Holum, Theodosian Empresses, 25-26.
46. See Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage, 172.
47. Jerome, Epistle, 108. Latin text in CSEL 55(2).306-51. English translation
in Maenads, Martyrs) Matrons) Monastics: A Sourcebook on Women)s Religions in
the Greco-Roman World, ed. Ross S. Kraemer (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988),
127-68.
48. For a discussion of Jerome's epitaphium and his relationship with Paula,
188 Notes to Pages 103-106

see J. N. D. Kelly, Jerome: His Life) Writings) and Controversies (London: Duck-
worth, 1975), 273-82; Martin Heinzelmann ("Neue Aspekte der biographischen
und hagiographischen Literatur," 27-44) discusses the relationship between Chris-
tian hagiography and the classicallaudatio funebris.
49. Author's translation of "Quis inopum moriens non illius vestibus obvo-
lutus est": Jerome, Epistle, 108.5 (CSEL 55[2].310).
50. Jerome, Epistle, 108.5.
51. For example, Helena, Egeria, Melania the Elder, and Poememia.
52. Jerome, Epistle, 108.7. The Roman historian Dio Cassius (Histories 67.14)
claims that Domitilla was banished to Pandateria after having been accused of
atheism and Judaism. Leclercq (Dictionnaire d)archeologie chretienne et de liturgie,
vol. 4[2],1401-04) notes that Domitilla was the granddaughter of the emperor
Vespasian and that she had married Domitian's cousin, Titus Flavius Clemens.
53. "Longum martyrium duxerat": Jerome, Epistle, 108.7 (CSEL 55[2].312).
54. Jerome, Epistle, 108.7.
55. "Asello sedens profecta est": Jerome, Epistle, 108.7 (CSEL 55[2].312).
56. For Paula's tour of the Holy Land, see Jerome, Epistle, 108.9-13.
57. "prostataque ante crucem, quasi pendentem dominum cerneret, adora-
bat": Jerome, Epistle, 108.9 (CSEL 55[2].315).
58. "Ingressa sepulchrum resurrectionis osculabatur lapidem, quem ab ostio
sepulchri amoverat angelus, et ipsum corporis locum, in quo dominus iacuerat,
quasi sitiens desideratas aquas fide, ore lambebat": Jerome, Epistle, 108.9 (CSEL
55[2].3 15).
59. See Gary Vikan, "Pilgrims in Magis' Clothing" in Blessings of Pilgrim-
age, ed. Ousterhout, 97-107; and Markus, End of Ancient Christianity, 151.
60. Vikan ("Pilgrims in Magis' Clothing," 100) describes the Holy Sepul-
cher as a "living icon of the resurrection."
61. Jerome, Epistle, 108.14.
62. Jerome, Epistle, 108.28.
63. Jerome, Epistle, 108.29.
64. Here Jerome echoes his earlier depiction of Flavia Domitilla's long mar-
tyrdom at Pontia: "mater tua longo martyrio coronata est" (Epistle, 108.31, CSEL
55[2].349 ).
65. Jerome, Epistle, 108.33.
66. There has been a recent explosion of literature on Roman women. For
detailed bibliographies, see Peter Garnsey and R. P. Saller, The Roman Empire:
Economy) Society)and Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 126-
47; Beryl Rawson, The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press, 1986); Beryl Rawson, Marriage) Divorce) and Children in
Ancient Rome (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Veyne, ed., A History of Private
Life; and Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Mother (London: Croom Helm, 1988). For
Christian motherhood, see Cloke, This Female Man of God, chap. 7.
67. "Laudo nuptias, laudo coniugium, sed quia mihi virgines generant": Je-
rome, Epistle, 22.20 (CSEL 54.170).
68. Author's translation of "Romae praetulit Bethlem et auro tecta fulgentia
informis luti vilitate mutavit": Jerome, Epistle, 108.1 (CSEL 55[2].306).
 Notes to Pages 106-109

69. Jerome, Epistle, 108.28.

70. Jerome, Epistle, 108.9.
71. Jerome, Epistle, 108.4, 31.
72. Jerome, Epistle, 108.26.
73. Jerome, Epistle, 108.10.
74. Jerome, Epistle, 108.6.
75. According to Dixon (Roman Mother, 65-66), "convention insisted that
the bond between mother and child was a fundamental one which had little to do
with legal technicalities such as agnatic vs. cognate relationship. The dissolution of
the marriage between parents did not exonerate mothers of the duty to provide for
the children of that marriage from there own estates." See also her chap. 3, "The
Maternal Relationship and Roman Law," 41-47. Dixon notes (42) that Roman
women were under no legal obligation to leave their estates to their children.
76. Jerome, Epistle, 108.5, 15, 30.
77. Jerome, Epistle, 108.16-17. Roman satirists ridiculed women who squan-
dered familial wealth. See Veyne, ed., History of Private Life, 75.
78. Jerome, Epistle, 108.15.
79. Jerome, Epistle, 108.9.
80. "Omnis inopum multitudo matrem et nutricium se perdidisse clama-
bant": Jerome, Epistle, 108.29 (CSEL 55[2].348)
81. For other Roman women's funeral eulogies, see Lefkowitz and Fant,
Women)sLife in Greeceand Rome.
82. Author's translation of "Cuncta largita est exheredans se in terra, ut
hereditatem inveniret in caelo": Jerome, Epistle, 108.6 (CSEL 55[2].312).
83. Jerome, Epistle, 108.20.
84 Author's translation of "Viduae et pauperes in exemplum Dorcadis ves-
tes ab ea praebitas ostendebant": Jerome, Epistle, 108.29 (CSEL 55[2].348)
85. Jerome, Epistle, 108.27.
86. Jerome, Epistle, 108.23-26.
87. Jerome, Epistle, 108.15.
88. "Ossibus mortuorum": Jerome, Epistle, 108.17 (CSEL 55[2].328).
89. Dixon, Roman Mother, 222.
90. Roman funerary inscriptions contain similar descriptions of the ideal ma-
tron. The funeral eulogy for the first-century BCE matron Murdia, for example,
praises her modesty, propriety, chastity, obedience, woolworking, industry, and
honor; see Lefkowitz and Fant, Women)sLife in Greeceand Rome, 139.
91. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1.57-59, in Titi Livi ab Urbe Condita, ed.
McDonald, 1.57-59. Augustine (De civitate Dei, 1.19) refutes Livy's presentation of
Lucretia as the ideal matron because she committed suicide.
92. For the Greek text of the vita with a French translation (Denys Gorce,
Vie de Sainte Melanie), see SC 90. For both the Greek and Latin texts of the life
and an Italian translation of the Greek vita, see Mariano del Tindaro Rampolla, ed.
and trans., Vita Melaniae Junioris. Santa Melaniagiuniore) senatrice romana: do-
cumenti contemporanei e note (Rome: Tipografia Vaticana, 1905). For the English
translation, see Clark, Life of Melania the Younger. Clark disagrees with Rampolla,
who argues that the Greek text is the earlier of the two. Clark discusses the genre of
190 Notes to Pages 109-112

the vita (153-70) and provides an extensive discussion of the Greek and Latin texts
and the manuscript traditions (I - 24). There exists an eighth-or ninth -century
manuscript of Melania's vita that intersperses the Roman matron's sacred biography
with that of the harlot-saint, Pelagia (see Clark, 3, 178 n. 24). Subsequent citations,
unless otherwise noted, are to Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, SC 90.
93. Palladius, Historia Lausiaca; 46, 54. Clark (Life of Melania the Younger,
83-92) provides a detailed examination of Melania's family: Melania the Elder
was a member of the gens Antonia; Melania the Younger's mother, Albina, was
of the Ceionii Rujii clan; and Melania's husband, Pinian, belonged to the Valerii.
The elder Melania established two monasteries in Jerusalem between 378 and 380
(Clark, 116).
94. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, Prologue.
95. Clark, Life of Melania the Younger, 85.
96. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 5.
97. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 6. Elliott (Spiritual Marriage, 55-
56) discusses Melania and Pinian's sexual renunciation.
98. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 8.
99. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 9.
100. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 10. As Clark notes (Life of Melania
the Younger, 100-101), Severus was probably within his legal right to attempt to
control the couple's finances because they were both still minors.
101. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, II. Serena was the wife of Stilicho
and mother-in-law of the Emperor Honorius; see Clark, Life of Melania the
Younger, 101-2.
102. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 12.
103. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 15-17.
104. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 18. Clark (Life of Melania the
Younger, 190 n. 24.) notes that the Latin life supplements this lavish description by
claiming that the estate supported four hundred agricultural slaves. Clark also be-
lieves that this particular property could be the couple's Sicilian or Campanian es-
tate (99).
105. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 18.
106. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 19.
107. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 19.
108. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 20. Augustine addresses several
letters to Melania, Pinian, and Albina; see Epistles, 124, 125, and 126, CSEL 44(2/
3).1-18.
109. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 21-22.
110. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 22-24.
III. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 32. The Syrian Father, Baradatus,
similarly constructed a small wooden prayer chest; see Theodoret of Cyrrhus, His-
toria Religiosa, 27.2.
112. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 29, 32.
113. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 35.
114. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 35. Gorce (Vie de Sainte Melanie,
194 n. I) notes that all of the churches kept poor registries and categorized different
levels of poverty.
 Notes to Pages 112-116 191

115. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 37. Gorce (Vie de Sainte Melanie,
197 n.a) says that the liquidation of Melania's property in Spain occurred after the
Roman restoration of the province, c. 419.
116. "Hos andra": Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 39, SC 90.198.
117. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 40. Melania's cousin was the
daughter of Laeta who had married Toxotius, the son of Paula and Toxotius. Je-
rome wrote his Epistle 107 to Laeta on the subject of "little Paula's" Christian edu-
cation. See Gorce, Vie de Sainte Melanie, 204 n.r; and Clark, Life of Melania the
Younger, 243 n. 72.
118. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 40.
119. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 41.
120. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 41-47.
121. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 48.
122. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 49.
123. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 50-55. Clark (Life of Melania the
Younger, 129) and Gorce (Vie de Sainte Melanie, 224-25 n. I) detail Volusian's bi-
ography. See also Cloke, This Female Man of God, 183.
124. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 52. Gorce (Vie de Sainte Melanie,
227 n. 3) discusses this rather unusual "miracle" and cites the Theodosiana Libri
XVI, 8.5.1.4, for the legal technicality involved.
125. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 59-6I.
126. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 54-57. See Cloke, This Female
Man of God, 184.
127. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 58.
128. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 63.
129. For the date of Melania's death, see Clark, Life of Melania the Younger,
140.
130. "Andra prophetikon charisma": Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris,
34, SC 90.190.
131. Clark (Women in Late Antiquity, 115-16) discusses Melania's ascetic
clothing.
132. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 69. See also Clark, Women in Late
Antiquity, 116.
133. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, II.
134. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 31.
135. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 62.
136. Hunt (Holy Land Pilgrimage, 138) states that the 120,000 solidi is the
equivalent of approximately 1,700 pounds of gold. The Greek text of the life says
that the 120,000 gold coins was Pinian's income, but the Latin text claims it be-
longed to Melania (see Clark, Life of Melania the Younger, 95). Clark (96) also
points out that the wealthiest senators possessed incomes of approximately 4,000
pounds of gold. Hunt notes that Melania's liquidation of her estates in the West
was "carried out in the 'teeth' of the Gothic raids" (139) with the calculated purpose
of preventing them from falling into Alaric's hands. The correspondences between
Augustine of Hippo and Melania, Pinian, and Albina suggest that the Roman saints
chose to leave North Africa not on account of spiritual reasons but because of the
threat of a Vandal incursion; see Augustine, Epistle, 126. Augustine suggests that it
192 Notes to Pages 116-120

was Pinian who worried about the Vandal menace, and that when Melania inter-
jected that it was also the climate that made them want to abandon Thagaste, Pinian
silenced her.
137. Brown (Cult of the Saints, 34- 35) discusses the "privatization" of the
holy in late antique North Africa. Cloke (This Female Man of God, 173) notes late
Roman aristocratic women privately control the church in a manner reminiscient
of the later medieval practice of Eigenkirchen, or lay dynastic control of church
property.
138. Clark (Life of Melania the Younger, 189 n. 6) notes that the Latin version
of the vita adds that Melania bribed her father's eunuchs not to report that she
spent the entire night in prayer while she was pregnant.
139. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 52.
140. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 17. Augustine (De sancta virgini-
tate, 9, PL 40.400) warns wealthy women that riches do not guarantee salvation:
"Quid enim si aliqua mulier dives multam pecuniam huic bono operi impendat, ut
emat ex diversis gentibus servos quos faciat christianos; nonne uberius atque nu-
merosius quam uteri quantalibet feracitate Christi membra gignenda curabit? Nee
ideo tam en pecuniam suam comparare muneri sacrae virginitatis audebit." Peter
Brown has argued that the male ecclesiastical hierarchy's reliance on the financial
support of patrician women such as Melania was simultaneously imperative and em-
barrassing; see Brown, "Church and Leadership," in History of Private Life, ed.
Veyne, 279.
141. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 38. Palladius's Historia Lausiaca
(58.2) also contains an instance where Melania tries to give five hundred gold coins
to the hermit Dorotheus.
142. Gerontius, Vita S. Melaniae Iunioris, 38, SC 90.198. Clark (Lift of Me-
lania the Younger, 53) translates this as a "spiritual ruse." Gorce (Vie de Sainte Me-
lanie, 199) translates the Greek as "un subterfuge tout spirituel." Cloke (This
Female Man of God, 178) discusses this unusual passage.
143. Brown argues that women remained marginal figures within the eastern
ascetic experience because "the life of the 'brides of Christ' always lay a little to the
one side of the great myth of the desert that had given new meaning to male asce-
ticism in Egypt and elsewhere" (Body and Society, 262).
144. For example, in Palladius's Historia Lausiaca (35.14-15), a wealthy
woman, Poimenia, visited Abba John of Lycopolis. The great abba warned her not
to travel to Alexandria, but she ignored his advice and continued on to the me-
tropolis. When her entourage landed at Alexandria, they were attacked by thieves
who "cut off the finger of a eunuch; another one they killed; not recognizing the
saintly bishop Dionysius, they doused him in the river. After they had wounded all
the other servants, they insulted and threatened Poimenia"; translation from Rus-
sell, Lausiac History, 103.

Chapter 6

1. See Proverbs 31.10-31; 1 Kings 17.8-13; 2 Kings 4.8-10; Mark 1.30-3 1;

Matthew 8.14-15; Luke 4.38-39; Acts 9.36-41, 16.14-15·
 Notes to Pages 120-122 193

2. Author's translation of "Languidis autem et caecis non cessabat ipsa ci-

bos cum cocleare porrigere, hoc praesenti bus duabus, sed se sola serviente, ut nova
Martha satageret donee potulenti fratres laeti fierent conviviis": Fortunatus, De
Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber J, 17 (MGH SRM 2.370).
3. For an overview of Merovingian hagiography, see Paul Fouracre, "Mer-
ovingian History and Merovingian Hagiography," Past and Present 127 (199 0): 3-
38. Fouracre asserts that the Merovingian period produced more saints' lives "than
in any other comparable period in the post-Constantinian church" (9). See Graus,
Volk,Herrscher und Heiliger im Reich der Merowinger; Io Ann McNamara, "A Leg-
acy of Miracles: Hagiography and Nunneries in Merovingian Gaul," in Women of
the Medieval World, ed. Julius Kirshner and Suzanne F. Wemple (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1985), 36-52; Friedrich Prinz, Askese und Kultur: vor- und friihbenedik-
tinisches Miincbtum an der Wiege Europas (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1980), 75-86; and
Heinzelmann, "Neue Aspekte der biographischen und hagiographischen Litera-
tur," 27-44.
4. Wemple (Women in Frankish Society, 28) argues that Frankish legal, nar-
rative, and archaeological sources all point to the domestication of women's sanc-
tity in the West.
5. See Paxton, Christianizing Death, 47. For monasticism in early Francia,
see Friedrich Prinz, Fruhes Miinchtum im Frankenreich (Munich: R. Olden bourg ,
1965), particularly 19-117; Eugen Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich
(Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1988); Eugen Ewig, Spatantikes und frdnkisches Gal-
lien, 2 vols. (Munich: Artemis Verlag, 1976-1979); Joachim Werner and Eugen
Ewig, Von der Spatantike zum Friihen Mittelalter: Aktuelle Probleme in historischer
und archaologischer Sicht (Sigmarigen: Jan Thorbecke, 1979); Ian Wood, The Mero-
vingian Kinqdoms, 4S0 -lSI (London: Longman, 1994), 181-202; and Van Dam,
Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul.
6. See Fouracre, "Merovingian History and Merovingian Hagiography," 3-
4, 9, 10; and Wood, The Merovingian Kinqdoms, 1, for a discussion of the terms,
"Merovingian," "Francia," and "Gaul." See also Prinz, Friihes Monchtum im Fran-
kenreich, 489-93.
7. Such Gallo-Roman aristocrats included Honoratus of Arles, John Cas-
sian, and Victor of Marseilles; see Wood, Merovingian J(ingdoms, zzff
8. Marmoutier is located approximately two miles from Tours. Martin lived
in this "Gallic desert" with eighty disciples. Liguge is approximately five miles from
Poitiers. See Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, 7, 10. For a discussion of the geo-
graphic sites connected with the Life of Martin, see Sharon Farmer, Communities of
Saint Martin: Legend and Ritual in Medieval Tours (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1991), chap. I.
9. For the history of women's monasticism in France, see Penelope D.
Johnson, Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women in Medieval France (Chi-
cago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).
10. Geary (Before France and Germany, 43) cites the women associated with
Caesarius's rule. For a detailed discussion of the rule, see Vogue, "La Regle de Ce-
saire d'Arles pour les moines," 369-406. For a discussion of the social and eco-
nomic aspects of the regula, see Io Ann McNamara, "A Legacy of Miracles," 40.
For a general discussion of the women's rule, see Klingshirn, Caesarius of'Arles, 117-
194 Notes to Pages 122-124

24; Wood, Merovingian Kinqdoms, 182; Donald Hochstetler, "The Meaning of

Monastic Cloister for Women According to Caesarius of Arles," in Religion, Cul-
ture, and Society in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Thomas F. X. Noble and John J.
Contreni (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute Publications, 1987), 27-40; and
Prinz, FriihesMiincbtum; 76-84.
II. Wemple (Women in Frankish Society, 154ff) discusses the origins of
women's monasticism in Gaul; McNamara ("A Legacy of Miracles," 36-52) exam-
ines the social world of the Merovingian convent, as does Jane T. Schulenberg,
"Strict Active Enclosure and Its Effects on the Female Monastic Experience, 500-
1000," in Distant Echoes,ed. Nichols and Shank, 1.51-86.
12. Janet Nelson, "Queens as Iezebels: The Careers ofBrunhild and Balthild
in Merovingian History," in Medieval Women, ed. Derek Baker (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1978), 31-78.
13.McNamara, "A Legacy of Miracles," 40-41.
14. Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 2.43, and Gloria Confesso-
rum, 89. See the late ninth- or early tenth-century vita of the queen, Vita S. Cbrot-
hildis reginae francorum. The Carolingians present the queen as the Augusta of
Gaul and the mother of the Frankish peoples. For Chlotild's patronage of the cult
of Genovefa, see Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, 24.
15.For Chlotild, see Gregory of Tours, De virtutibus sancti Martini episcopi,
7; for Papula, see Gregory of Tours, Gloria Confessorum, 16;for Ingitrude, see Greg-
ory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 5.21, 9.33, 10.12; and for Ultragotha, see
Gregory of Tours, De virtutibus sancti Martini episcopi, 1.12.See also McNamara
and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 52-53.
16. Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, 3off. See also McNamara, "A Leg-
acy of Miracles," 39.
17. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, ed. Bruno Krusch, MGH SRM
1.2.211-94. English translation by Edward James, Gregory of Tours, Lives of the Fa-
thers, Translated Texts for Historians Latin Series I (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1986). Krusch believed that Monegund's vita (Liber vitae patrum, 19) was
composed prior to 587. Gregory of Tours also included an abbreviated version of
Monegund's life in his Gloria Confessorum, 24.
18. Geary (Before France and Germany, 124) points out that thirteen out of
eighteen bishops of Tours had come from Gregory's family. Prinz (FriihesMiinch-
tum, 37) discusses the cult of Monegund within the larger context of the spread of
the veneration of Saint Martin.
19. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.2.
20. McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark
Ages, 51.
21. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.1.
22. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum; 19.1.
23. James (Lives of the Fathers, 120 n. 4) states that the basilica at Evena was
built by Bishop Perpetuus of Tours (c. 460-490). Medard died c. 557/558.
24. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.2.
25. "Quas vulgo mattas vocant": Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.2
(MGH SRM 1.2.288). See also Benedict of Nursia, Regula Sancti Benedictii, 55.13;
 Notes to Pages 124- 127 195

James (Lives of the Fathers, 124 n. 9) says that a charter of rojr records the existence
of this small community. After that, all trace of Monegund's establishment disap-
pears, but her relics were transferred to St.vPierre-Ie-Puellier.
26. Sulpicius Severus describes the ex-soldier Martin's new spiritual weapons
as healing with prayer and oil; see Vita S. Martini, 16.
27. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.1; and Constant ius of Lyons,
Vita Germani episcopiAutissiodorensis, 3.
28. Bynum discusses this traditional feminine imagery throughout Holy Feast
and Holy Fast.
29. "Ad stabulum medicinae caelestis": Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae pa-
trum, 19, Prologue (MGH SRM 1.2.286).
30. Author's translation of "hauriretque de fonte sacerdotali, quo possit ad-
itum nemoris paradisiaci recludere": Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum., 19, Pro-
logue (MGH SRM 1.2.286).
31. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.1.
32. Kelly (Devil at Baptism, 111- 12) discusses the use of salt and oil in early
baptism and exorcism.
33. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.4.
34. Kelly, Devil at Baptism, 116-17.
35. See Van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles, 102.
36. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.3; translation from James, Lives
of the Fathers, 123.
37. "Sanctum Martinum antestitem pastorem magnum": Gregory of Tours,
Liber vitae patrum, 19.4 (MGH SRM 1.2.289).
38. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.4; translation from James, Lives
of the Fathers, 124.
39. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19, Prologue.
40. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.4.
41. Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.4.
42. McNamara ("A Legacy of Miracles," 41) discusses Monegund's spiritual
transformation from independent ascetic to mother of a community at Tours.
43. For the textual and manuscript tradition, see Bruno Krusch's introduc-
tion to Fortunatus's and Baudonivia's vitae (MGH SRM 2.358-64). Krusch dates
Baudonivia's text between 609 and 614. Gregory of Tours includes Radegund in his
hagiographical accounts of Christian confessors in the Liber in Gloria Confessorum,
104. There exists an extensive secondary literature on the life and cult ofRadegund
of Poitiers. See Wood, The Merovingian Kinqdoms, 136-39; Van Dam, Saints and
Their Miracles, 30ff; Isabel Moreira, "Provisatrix optima: St. Radegund of Poitiers'
relic petitions to the East," Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993): 285-305; Car-
rasco, "Spirituality in Context," 414- 35; Cristina Papa, "Radegund e Bathilde: mo-
dele di santita regia feminile nel regno merovingia," Benedictina 36 (1989): 13-33;
Sabine Gabe, "Radegundis: sancta, regina, ancilla. Zum Heiligkeitsideal der Rade-
gundisviten von Fortunat und Baudonivia," Francia 16 (1989): 1-30; Wemple,
Women in Frankish Society, 181-85; Peter Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 27-28; Graus, Volk, Herrscher
und Heiliger im Reich der Merowinger, 4°7-10; Louise Coudanne, "Baudonivie,
 Notes to Pages 127-129

moniale de Sainte Croix et sa biographe de sainte Radegond," Etudes merovingien-

nes:Actes des[ournees de Poitiers (Paris: A. et J. Picard, 1953), 45-51; Etienne Dela-
ruelle, "Sainte Radegonde de Poitiers, son type de saintete et la chretiente de son
temps," Etudes merovingiennes: Actes des[ournees de Poitiers (Paris: A. et ]. Picard,
1953), 64-74; D. Tardi, Fortunat: Etude sur un dernier representant de la poesie
latine dans la Gaule merovingienne (Paris: Boivin et Cie, 1927); and Rene Aigrain,
Sainte Radegonde verSS20-s87 (Poitiers: Editions des Cordeliers, 1917).
44. Smith, "Female Sanctity in Carolingian Europe," 13, notes that Fortun-
atus's vita was one of three that circulated widely in medieval Europe. Radegund's
cultus also experienced a "renaissance" in the eleventh century, both in France and
in England. For a discussion of the late eleventh-century Poitiers illustrated vitae of
Radegund see Carrasco, "Spirituality in Context," and "Sanctity and Experience in
Pictorial Hagiography: Two Illustrated Lives of Saints from Romanesque France,"
in Images of Sainthood in Medieval Europe, ed. Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Szell, 33-
66; as well as Emile Ginot, "Le Manuscrit de sainte Radegonde de Poitiers et ses
peintures du onzierne siecle," Bulletin de la Societe Francaise de Reproductions de
Manuscrits Ii Peintures 4 (1914-1920): 9-80.
45. For the life of the Italian poet, see Brian Brennan, "The Career of Ve-
nantius Fortunatus," Traditio 41 (1985): 49-78. Brennan (78) states that Fortunatus
had become bishop of Poitiers by 594. See also Judith W. George, Venantius For-
tunatus: A Poet in Merovingian Gaul (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992). Prinz (Frii-
hesMiinchtum; 485) asserts that Fortunatus's Radegundisvita established a new type
of dynastic saint's life which fused nobility and holiness, and that this model would
influence subsequent portrayals of medieval saints.
46. Prinz (Friihes Miincbtum, 157-58) discusses Radegund's contribution to
Frankish monasticism.
47. Gregory of Tours, Decem libri historiarum, 3.4; Fortunatus, De Vita
Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 2. •
48. McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley (Sainted Women of the Dark
Ages, 71 n. 33) note that Athies later became part of Radegund's Morgengabe.
49. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 2.
50. "Manu superposita, consecravit diaconam": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae
Radegundis Liber I, 12 (MGH SRM 2.368).
51. Fortunatus neglects to discuss the foundation of the institution of Holy
Cross. McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley (Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 79
n. 66) believe that Fortunatus found the whole affair "too unfavorable to King
Chlotar."
52. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 24.
53. See McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark
Ages, 81 n. 71.
54. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 2. Karen Io Torjesen,
("Reconstruction of Women's Early Christian History," in Searching the Scriptures,
ed. Schussler- Fiorenza, 294) discusses architectural and artistic depictions of women
ministering the eucharist at the table. See also Dorothy Irvin, "The Ministry of
Women in the Early Church: The Archaeological Evidence," Duke TheologicalRe-
view 2 (1980), 76-86.
55. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 5.
 Notes to Pages 129-132 197

56. The text reads two sestaria. McNamara et al. (79 n. 67) say that one ses-
tarius is approximately a pint.
57. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,25.
58. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 22. Similarly, Ger-
manus of Auxerre (Constantius, Vita Germani episcopi Autissiodorensis, 4) and
Monegund (Gregory of Tours, Liber vitae patrum, 19.2) slept on ascetic bedding.
59. "Quia non essent persecutionis tempora, a se ut fieret martyra": Fortun-
atus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,26 (MGH SRM 2.373).
60. Radegund sites in England and Austria are often associated with baths.
61. Kelly (Devil at Baptism, 116-17) provides a theological interpretation of
each of the rituals: the anointing of the ears means that holiness comes from the
word of God; the anointing of the nostrils allows the catechumen to breathe in the
Christian life; the anointing of the breast results in a "pure heart"; the naked body
of the catechumen signifies the death of the flesh; the three immersions in water
symbolize the trinity and the resurrection of Christ on the third day; and the re-
clothing of the Christian in white linen parallels the transfiguration of Christ.
62. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,18. Carrasco ("Spiritu-
ality in Context," 424- 25) discusses the liturgical images from the Romanesque
illustrated life of Radegund.
63. For a discussion of the Germanic Raubehe, see Wemple, Women in
Frankish Society, 12- 14, 33-35.
64. "Tantum ne Christo vilesceret": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegun-
dis Liber 1,5 (MGH SRM 2.367). Elliott (Spiritual Marriage, 41, 66) discusses "the
alleged incompatibility of prayer and normal conjugal relationships" as well as the
hagiographical motif of married women who heroically attempt to preserve their
vows of chastity.
65. See Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 136-43; and McNamara et al.,
Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 75 n. 53.
66. Elliott (Spiritual Marriage, 79 n. 108) observes that Medard may have
hesitated to consecrate Radegund because repudiation of a spouse was "a male
prerogative. "
67. They may have also implied that the independent Radegund was a
whore, though the Latin is a bit obscure concerning this point. "Ut praesumeret
principi subducere reginam non publicanam, sed publicam": Fortunatus, De Vita
Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,12 (MGH SRM 2.368).
68. "De qua regi dicebatur, habere se pot ius iugalem monacham quam re-
ginam": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 5 (MGH SRM 2.367).
69. "Hoc etiam praemeditans cum Samuele parvulo clerico gerebat": For-
tunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,2 (MGH SRM 2.365).
70. Domnolenus is referred to as a tribunus fisci: Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae
Radegundis Liber 1,38 (MGH SRM 2.376).
71. For the detailed accounts of her charitable donations, see Fortunatus,De
Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 13, 14, 17. In fifth-century Ireland, the missionary
Patrick returned the jewelry placed on his altar by zealous women in order to
protect his reputation as a celibate holy man. "Virginibus Christi et mulieribus re-
ligiosis, quae mihi ultronea munuscula donabant et super altare iactabant ex orna-
mentis suis et iterum reddebam illis et adversus me scandalizabantur cur hoc
 Notes to Pages 132-134-

faciebam": Patrick, Confessio, 4-9, St. Patrick: His Writings and Muirchu/s Life, ed.
A. B. E. Hood (London: Phillimore, 1978), 32.
72. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 10-11. Radegund's
prayer destroys the chains of the prisoners at Peronne in imitation of Acts (12.7),
where an angel miraculously frees the Apostle Peter from prison.
73. "Mutata veste": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 12
(MGH SRM 2.368).
74-. "Conposito, sermone ut loquar barbaro, stapione, camisas, manicas, cof-
ias, fibulas, cuncta auro, quaedam gemmis exornata per circulum, sibi profutura
sancto tradit altario": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 13 (MGH
SRM 2.369). McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley (Sainted Women of the Dark
Ages, 76 n. 55) discuss the rather puzzling word stapione and conclude that it may
be slang for "dressed for stepping out." For a discussion of the queen's aristocratic
dress, see Herlihy, Opera Muliebria, 39; Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Franken-
reich, 79; Lina Eckenstein, Woman Under Monasticism: Chapters on Saint-Lore and
Convent Life Between A.D. sAO and A.D. ISOO (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1896), 54-ff; on Merovingian dress in general, see Phyllis Tortora and Keith
Eubank, A Survey of Historic Costume (New York: Fairchild Publications, 1989),
67ff; Edith Ennen, The Medieval Woman, trans. Edmund Iephcott (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1989), 50-51. See Wemple (Women in Frankish Society, 4-7) on the ar-
chaeological evidence for Merovingian women's aristocratic clothing and jewelry.
75. "Mox indumentum nobile, quo celeberrima die solebat, pompa comi-
tante, regina procedere, exuta ponit in altare et blattis, gemmis, ornamentis men-
sam divinae gloriae tot donis onerat per honorem": Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae
Radegundis Liber I, 13 (MGH SRM 2.369).
76. "Ergo casu dum glomus, quem sancta filaverat, perpenderet de camera,
veniens sorix, ut tangeret, ante quam filum incideret, mortuus in morsu pependit":
Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 30 (MGH SRM 2.374-). Meyer
Shapiro (" 'Muscipula Diaboli': The Symbolism of the Merode Altarpiece," Art
Bulletin 27 (194-5): 182-87) points out that a mousetrap is symbolic of the crucifix-
ion. According to Augustine (Sermon 263 in PL 38.1210), the cross is a mousetrap
for the devil. Radegund therefore may be using her spindle symbolically to "catch
the devil." For the spindle as symbolic of women's chastity, see Herlihy, Opera Mu-
liebria, 1-12. The book of Leviticus (11.29), early medieval church legislation, and
hagiographical texts all portrayed mice as unclean. For example, the holy woman
Glodesind's body was defiled by a mouse; see the ninth -century Vita S. Glodesin-
dae, 17.
77. Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, 2.
78. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 19. Fortunatus uses the
diminutive form for all the utensils-little knives, little drinking vessels, and little
napkins.
79. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 8.
80. Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber I, 17.
81. The female hagiographer notes in her preface that she will focus on those
events not covered in the vita by the Bishop Fortunatus. "Non ea quae vir aposto-
licus Fortunatus episcopus de beatae vita conposuit iteramus": Baudonivia, De Vita
Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, Prologue (MGH SRM 2.378).
 Notes to Pages 134-136 199

82. Brown (Society and the Holy, 222-50) details the western episcopacy's
arbitration of saintly power through its control of relics and shrines. Baudonivia's
Radegund fits Brown's model for a pastoral saint of early medieval Gaul. Eugen
Ewig ("Die Merowinger und das Imperium," in Rheinisch- WestfiilischeAkademie
der Wissenschaften [Dusseldorf: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1983], 28) discusses Rade-
gund's relationship with the eastern empire vis-a-vis the procurement of the relic of
the holy cross.
83. E. Gordon Whatley ("An Early Literary Quotation from the Inventio S.
Crucis: A Note on Baudonivia's Vita S. Radegundis [BHL 7049]," Analecta Bol-
landiana III [1993]: 81-91) asserts that Baudonivia's vita includes the earliest
reference to the inventio north of the Alps. He also argues (89) that Baudonivia
eliminates the male roles from the original Helena legends and emphasizes the em-
presses's independent actions.
84. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, I.
85. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 7.
86. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 2. On Martin's de-
struction of a pagan shrine, see Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini, 13.
87. Fortunatus writes several poems about Radegund and the wood of the
cross. For a discussion ofRadegund and Fortunatus's poetry, see George, Venantius
Fortunatus, 161-78.
88. "Quod fecit illa in orientali patria, hoc fecit beata Radegundis in Gallia":
Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 16 (MGH SRM 2.388).
89. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 16, 23. For a discus-
sion of the conflict between Radegund and Bishop Maroveus, see Van Dam, Saints
and Their Miracles, 30-41; and Wood, Merovingian I(ingdoms, 138-39.
90. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 18.
91. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 26, 28.
92. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 8.
93. Baudonivia, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber II, 10.
94. Vita S. Balthildis, 18, ed. Bruno Krusch, MGH SRM 2.482-508. For a
textual commentary, see Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, Late Merovin-
gian France: History and Hagiography) 640 -720 (Manchester: Manchester Univer-
sity Press, 1996), 97- 118. Fouracre and Gerberding believe that the Vita (A) was
written c. 690.
95. Wood (Merovingian Kinqdoms, 139) refers to Balthild as "the most influ-
ential queen of the seventh century." Fouracre and Gerberding (Late Merovingian
France, 102) argue that Balthild was probably from a royal Anglo-Saxon back-
ground and not a lower-class one as her hagiographer maintains.
96. For discussions of her church reform, see Wood, Merovingian I(ingdoms,
198-202; Eugen Ewig, "Das Privileg des Bischofs Berthefrid von Amiens fur Corbie
von 664 und die Klosterpolitik der Konigin Balthild," Francia I (1973): 62-114, esp.
106-114, on Balthild's Klosterpolitik, See also Prinz, Friihes Miinchtum, 136-37,
274-75, 293, 520. Prinz believes that Balthild played a direct role in the development
of Benedictine-Columbanan monasticism in Merovingian Gaul. Nelson ("Queens
as Iezebels," 69) and Ewig (112) argue that Balthild may have been responsible for
the acquisition of the famous Martin capella for the royal relic collection.
97. Vita S. Balthildis,«.
200 Notes to Pages 136-138

98. For the Hausherrschaft model, see Janet Nelson, "Queens as [ezebels,"
52,60,74.
99. See, for example, Stephanus, Vita Sancti Wilfrithi episcopi, 6 (c. 710). See
also Wood, Merovingian Kinqdoms, 139, 199.
100. Balthild's hagiographer suggests (Vita S. Balthildis, 10) that the nuns
were not immediately convinced of the validity of Balthild's ascetic vocation. Nel-
son ("Queens as Iezebels," 51-52) believes that Balthild's forced exile at Chelles
corresponded with her son Chlotar's "coming of age." She also argues that Bal-
thild's retirement demonstrates the "precarious position of a queen-mother in
seventh -century Francia" (52).
101. Nelson, "Queens as [ezebels," 46.
102. Vita S. Balthildis, I. For Erchinoald, see McNamara and Halborg, with
Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 269 n. 24; and Horst von Ebling, Proso-
pographie der Amtstriiger des Merowingerreiches von Chlotar III, 6I3) bis Karl Mar-
tell) 74I, Beiheft der Francia 2 (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1974), 137-38.
103. Vita S. Balthildis, 3. Nelson, "Queens as Iezebels," 47.
104. Vita S. Balthildis, 4.
105. Vita S. Balthildis, 6-9. The cults included those of Saint Denis, Ger-
manus, Medard, Peter, Anianus, and Martin. Nelson ("Queens as Iezebels," 69)
points out that these were almost all of the major cultic sites of seventh-century Gaul.
106. Vita S. Balthildis, 10. Bertilla is a saint in her own right; see Vita Bertilae
abbatissae Calensis, MGH SRM 4.534-46; and McNamara and Halborg, with
Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 280-88. For the date of Balthild's holy
retirement, see Nelson, "Queens as [ezebels," 51. According to Nelson (69) the
abbess and nuns were originally from Jouarre.
107. Vita S. Balthildis, 16.
108. Vita S. Balthildis, 3; translation from McNamara and Halborg, with
Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 269.
109. See Nelson, "Queens as Iezebels," 46.
110. Vita S. Balthildis, 4 .
III. Vita S. Balthildis, 4. Ewig (Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich, 157)
describes Genesius as a "grand aumonier," See also, Nelson, "Queens as [ezebels,"
47·
112. Vita S. Balthildis, 8. For the parallel text in the life of Radegund, see
Fortunatus, De Vita Sanctae Radegundis Liber 1,13.
113. Her sons are Chlotar III, Childeric, and Theuderic; see Vita S. Balthildis,
5. Nelson ("Queens as [ezebels," 50-51) discusses Balthild as a peacemaker.
114. Vita S. Balthildis, 7. See McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted
Women of the Dark Ages, 271 n. 34.
115. Vita S. Balthildis, 10. For Sigobrand, see McNamara and Halborg, with
Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 273 n. 46; Nelson, "Queens as Iezebels,"
70; and Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich, 159.
116. Nelson, "Queens as [ezebels," 61-63.
117. Vita S. Balthildis, II; translation from McNamara and Halborg, with
Whatley, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 274.
118. Vita S. Balthildis, 13.
 Notes to Pages 138- 14-1 201

119. "Ut vera monacha": Vita S. Balthildis, 19 (MGH SRM 2.507).

120. Also discussed by Wemple, Women in Frankish Society, 67.
121. See Nelson, "Queens as Iezebels," 50-51.
122. Vita S. Chrothildis reginae francorum, 6; translation from McNamara
and Halborg, with Whatley, 43. Gregory of Tours (Decem libri historiarum, 2.29)
also emphasizes Chlotild's role in the conversion of the Franks. The image ofChlo-
tild as the mediatrix gratiae for barbarian tribes is reproduced in other famous early
medieval histories, including Bede's Historia ecclesiaticagentisAnglorum.
123. Stephanus, Vita Sancti Wilfrithi episcopi, 6; translation from Colgrave,
Life of Bishop Wilfrid, 15.
124. Colgrave (Life of Bishop Wilfrid, 154 note to Vita, 6) contends that Bal-
thild may have been present at the execution and, because she was an Anglo-Saxon,
she spared Wilfrid's life. See also Wood, Merovingian Kinodoms, 201; and Nelson,
"Queens as [ezebels," 63-66. All three of these sources note that Stephanus con-
fuses the figure of Dalfinus, who was the count of Lyons and brother of the arch-
bishop Aunemundus. Colgrave (Life of Bishop Wilfrid, 154) points out that at least
one ninth-century manuscript edition of the text names Brunhild (Brunechild) as
the persecuting queen.
125. William Trent Foley (Images of Sanctity in Eddius Stepbanus's Lift of
Bishop Wilfrid) an Early English Saint 's Life [Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press,
1992], 32-33) argues that Stephanus sets up Dalfinus and Wilfrid as father and son
to parallel them with Abraham and Isaac. He further believes that Wilfrid's desire
for martyrdom is a hagiographical recreation of Abraham's attempted sacrifice of
Isaac, and that Wilfrid, like Isaac, is spared so that he can serve as the redeemer of
Northumbria, just as Isaac, according to Christian exegesis, is the Hebrew redeemer
of Israel. Foley also points out that Balthild's persecution of the holy Wilfrid fore-
shadows his later tribulations at the hands of the Northumbrians.
126. Similarly, Procopius of Caesaria's Anekdota vilifies the sixth-century Byz-
antine empress, Theodora. See Averil Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), chap. 5, "Procopius and Theodora."
127. The eighth-century life ofBalthild's abbess, Bertilla ofChelles (Vita Ber-
tilae, abbatissae Calensis), similarly promotes the cloister and its monastic regula.
McNamara ("A Legacy of Miracles," 36-52) discusses the financial realities of
women's communities and the necessity of promoting the posthumous cults of
sanctified nuns.
128. "Reliquid sanctum exemplum sequentibus humilitatis et patientiae,
mansuetudinis et plenissime dilectionis studium immoque infinitae misericordiae
astutaeque prudentiae vigilantiam et confessionem puritatis": Vitae S. Balthildis, 16
(MGH SRM 2.502-503); translation from McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley,
Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, 276. The vita Genovefa (Vita S. Genovefae, 15)
contains the stereotypical virtues of the female saint: faith, abstinence, patience,
magnanimity, simplicity, innocence, concord, charity, discipline, chastity, truth,
and prudence (see McNamara and Halborg, with Whatley, Sainted Women of the
Dark Ages, 24-25 n. 26). The author ofGenovefa's life claims that these precepts of
feminine piety are from the Shepherdof Her mas) Booki , Similtude, 9.15.
129. Discussed by Carrasco, "Spirituality in Context," 414-35.
202 Notes to Pages 144- 152

Conclusion

I. Vulgate reads "Itaque cum recubuisset ille supra pectus Iesu, dicitei: Dom-
ine, quis est?" (John 13.25).
2. Haskins, Mary Magdalene, 43.
3. David Anderson, translator, St. John of Damasus, On the Divine Images:
Three Apologies Against Those Who Attack the Divine Images (Crestwood, N.Y.:
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1980),46, 105-6.
4. See Elliott, Spiritual Marriage, 247.
5. Duane J. Osheim, "The Place of Women in the Late Medieval Italian
Church," in That Gentle Strength, ed. Coon, Haldane, and Sommer, 83-84.
6. On separate spheres for women in the nineteenth century, see Carroll
Smith-Rosenberg, "The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations Between
Women in Nineteenth-Century America," Signs 1 (1975): 1-29.
7. On the role of women in voluntary reform organizations, see Anne Firor
Scott, "On Seeing and Not Seeing: A Case of Historical Invisibility," Journal of
American History 71 (1984): 7 - 21. For the religious context of nineteenth-and
twentieth-century reform, see John M. Mecklin, The Passingof the Saint: A Study of
a Cultural Type (Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1941), and Elizabeth Anne
Payne, Reform, Labor, and Feminism: Margaret Dreier Robins and the Women)s
Trade Union League (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988), 180-84.
8. Louise Roberts, "Samson and Delilah Revisited: The Politics of Women's
Fashions in 1920S France," American Historical Review 98 (1993): 657-84.
9. Vita S. Maria Aegyptiacae, Meretricis, 14; translation from Ward, Harlots of
the Desert, 45.
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 Index

Aaron, 53 episcopal authority, 70; lessons for Chris-

Abdolius, Abba, 73 tians, 147-48
Abstinence. See Asceticism Athanasius of Alexandria, 7, 15- 16,73,75, 159
Acts, book of, 3-4,4 1, 44, 50, 53, 95, 104, n·30
107 Athies, 127-28
Acts of Paul and Thecla, 10, 80 Augusta, the. See Helena, Empress
Adam, 17, 29,30,35-36,73; New, 80; Old Augustine of Hippo, 21, 29, 49, III, II7, 190
and New, 72 n.rox, 191-92 n. 136, 192 n. 140; and
Agathon, Abba, 73 women, 66; on the cross as a mousetrap,
Agde, council of, 61 198 n. 76
Ahab, King, 31 Austrasia, 136
Alaric, III, 191n.I36 Austre berta, 44
Albian, II3 Auxerre, council of, 65
Albina, II2
Aldegund of Maubeuge, 25 Babylon, 29
Alexandra, Amma, 75; and the Virgin Mary, Bacchus, 43
76 Balthild, xv, 120, 135-41, 148, 199 n.95, 199
Alexandria, 87, II4 n.96, 200 n.roo, 200 n.roo, 200 n.II3, 201
Altar, xviii, 59-60; cloth(s), 65, 69, 121;male n.I24, 201 n.I25, 201 n.I27; as a female
servants of, 52,64,80; sanctification of, bishop, 140; as Iezebel, 136, 139-40; phi-
54; servant( s) of, xiii, xix, 53, 60, 63, 83, lanthropy of, 139. See also Life of Balthild
148; space of, xiv, 148 ofChelles
Alypius ofThagaste, III, II7 Baradatus, Abba, 76
Ambrose of Milan, 42, 98, 101- 2, 165n.ro, Barnabas, apostle, 73
179 n.rox, 187n.34; and Helena, 100. See Basil of Cae sarea, 7-8, 21, 50
also Oration on the Death of Emperor Theo- Baudonivia of Holy Cross, 7,127,134-35,159
dosius (De obitu Theodosii oratio) n.29, 171n.89, 195n·43, 199 n.82, 199 n.83
Amiens,67 Beaufort, Margaret, 149
Ammonius, Abba, 73 Benedictine Rule, 42, 161-62 n. 61. See also
Anchorite(s). See Hermit(s) monastery
Animia, 131 Benedict ofNursia, 68-69,161 n.52
Antioch, 104 Bernadino of Siena, 151
Antony, Abba, 7, 16,73,75-76,88-89,91 Bertilla of Chelles, 137- 38
Apostolic poverty, 96 Bethany, 120
Aquitaine, 23, 121 Bethlehem, 22,98-99,102-7,109, II3,
Arian heresy, 7 II8-19
Aries, 121 Bishops, 5,9, II-I3, 23- 26, 35, 37-4 0,59-61,
Arsenius, Abba, 73 63-70,78, 83, 105, III, II7, 121,123,126,
Asceticism, xiv, 16-18,21,26, 30, 37, 63, 139,141, 174 n.3 8, 175n.47, 181n·4 0, 199
68, 72-73, 83, 96, 104-5, 108-9, II4, II7, n.82; and Melania the Younger, II4; and
122, 126-29,132-33,138, 146, 149; and Pelagia of Antioch, 81
clothing, 59; and the desert, 15,72, 74; and Blanche of Castile, 149
222 Index

Burgundofara of Faremoutiers, 25 Constantine V, Emperor, 63

Burgundy, 136 Constantinople, 20, 63, 102, 109, 1I3,1I8, 121
Byzantine. See Byzantium Constant ius of Lyons, 68
Byzantium, 7, 63, 66, 152, 149 Convent. See Monastery
Corbie, 136
Caesaria of Saint Jean, 39 Cosmetic theology, 36-41,50,80,96,
Caesarius of Arlcs, 39,42, 122, 128, 169 n.6I, 103, 1I9, 121,132,134; and Melania the
176 n.7I; Rule of 141, 168 n.45, 168 n.46, Younger, 1I5-16; and Paula, 108; and Pela-
168 n.47, 193n.lO gia of Antioch, 82; in the nineteenth cen-
Candes, 127 tury' 151;of males, 56
Canonization, 4 Cronides, Abba, 73
Carolingian. See Gaul Cross-dressing. See Transvestism
Cassian, John, 16, 122, 193n.7 Crucifixion. See Jesus Christ
Catecheses.See Cyril of Jerusalem Curbio, 137
Cave of the Nativity, 98, l0S Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, 63
Charity. See Philanthropy Cyprian of Carthage, 37
Charles the Bald, King, 9, 84, 183n.69 Cyra, Amma, 17- 18
Chartres, 123- 24 Cyril of Jerusalem, 98-100, 187n.31
Chelles, 135-40
Childebert, King, 139 Dalfinus, Bishop, 139
Chlotar, King, 127, 131,200 n.roo David, King, 42
Chlotar III, King, 136 Decem libri historiarum. See Gregory of
Chlotild, Queen, 43, 122, 135,138-39, 141, Tours; Histories
194 n.I4, 201 n.I22 De Pallio. See Tertullian
Christ. See Jesus Christ Desert, 18;image of the, 17, 71-77; spiritu-
Christian gospels. See John, gospel of; Luke, ality of the, 71;women of the, 74-75
gospel of; Mark, gospel of; Matthew, Deuteronomy, book of, 33, 38
gospel of Dialogues. See Severus, Sulpicius
Chrysostom, John, 21 Didymus, Abba, 75
Cicero, 20, 162-63 n.74 Dio Cassius, 188n.52
City of God. See Augustine of Hippo Domesticity, xvii, 22, 26, 35,41-44,50, 102,
Clement, Pope, 60 133-35,137-38,140-41,147-48, IS0-51
Clerical celibacy, 64 Domitian, Emperor, 104
Clermont, 69 Domitilla, Flavia, 104, 188n.52, 188n.64
Cloister. See Monastery Domnina, Amma, 18-19
Clothing, xv-xvi, 13,18,22; and Easter, 60- Domnolenus, 132
61; and Germanus of Auxerre, 66-70; and Durham, 63
Martin of Tours, 66-70; and Radegund,
132;biblical, 29-36; ecclesiastical, 61-62; Early Middle Ages, period of, 154 n.a
female, 36, 53;liturgical, 70; male, 52-70; Easter, 100, 179n.IIO
monastic, 42, 63; of the apostles, 55- 56; Ecclesia,xix, 3, 33- 35,95,
of Hebrew priests, 52-56, 172n.z, 172n.o; Egeria, 49, 188n.51
of Melania the Younger, lIS; Roman, 57, Egypt, 7, II, IS, 17, 19, 21,23- 24,27,3 0,39,
173n.I8; toga, 20-21,56-57. Seealso 71-72,74,78, 85, 87, 91, 103-5,107, IIO,
Transvestism II2, 1I7-18, 121,146
Clovis I, King, 122 Elias, Abba, 72-73
Clovis II, King, 136- 38 Elijah, xxi, I, 2, 5, II, 13- 15,19, 30-3 1,33, 38,
Constantine, Emperor, xvi, 50, 97-98, 100- 41,56, 64, 69-72,95, 140, 168 n.52; and
104, 1I9, 139, 146, 185n.ro, 186 n.I2, 186 Martin of Tours, 24; and Mary of Egypt,
n.22; as Christ-like, 99. Seealso Helena, 84-85; and Radegund of Poitiers, 127,
Empress 129, 132
 Index 223

Elisha, 1-2,5,13- 14,16,3 0,64, 85, 95 35,140-41,149-50; Carolingian, 6, 84,

Emmaus, 104 149, 152;Merovingian, 6, 24-26, 120-41,
Enoch, book of, 37 145, 150
Ephiphanius, Bishop, 104 Gelasian Sacramentary, 66
Epictetus, 36, 58 Gelasius, Pope, 65
Episcopacy. See Bishops Gender, 14, 25; and liturgy, 65; boundaries
Episcopal hierarchy. See Bishops of, xxi, 124; cross-, xviii-xix, 15;cultural
Epistle 31. See Paulin us of Nola construction of, xx, 103, 140, 145;hierar-
Epitaphium Sanctae Paulae. See Jerome; Life chy, 129; imagery, 91; images of piety and
of Paula; Paula faith, 143; responsibilities of, 17;reversals,
Erchinoald, 136 - 37 89; sacred, xviii, 93; transgression, 151
Esvres, 123,125 Genesis, book of, 34, 37, 72
Eucharist, 12, 25, 27, 61, 64-65, 70, 124, 128, Genesius of Lyons, 136-37
140, 161n.50, 196 n.54; and priestly power, Genovefa of Paris, 25, 122, 168 n.50, 201 n.I28
60; salvific importance of the, 89 George, 138
Eudocia, Empress, 1I3, 1I5,186 n.I7 Germanus of Auxerre, 24-25, 124, 128-29,
Eusebius of Caesaria, 97- 100, 108, 185n.ro, 134, 168 n.50; and clothing, 66-70
186 n.I2, 186 n.I5, 186 n.25, 187n.42 Gerontius, xv, 109-19,132,146-47. See also
Eustathius, Abba, 73 Life of Melania the Younger; Melania the
Eustochium, xv, 103-6,108,163 n.78, Younger
Eutychian, Pope, 61 Gibbon, Edward, 5, 158n.I6
Eve, xiii-xv, xvii-xviii; 18-19, 29-30,35-37, Glory of the Martyrs, 8, 122-23. See also
4 0-4 1,7 2,75,77,82,94,101,145-46,162 Gregory of Tours
n.68; and Paula, 108; expulsion of, 13; Glossolalia, 64
negative attributes of, 150; the New, 80 God of Israel. See Yahweh
Exaltation of the Holy Cross, festival of Golden Legend, 84. See also Jacobus de
the, 87 Voragine
Exodus, book of, 3,41, 52- 54,56,59 Golgotha, 100, 148
Exorcism, 16-17,26,64-66,76,79,83, 1I4- Gregory of Nazianzus, 7-8
15,124 , 126, 128, 131,133,135,178n.89; and Gregory of Nyssa, 7-8, 21, 50
Constantine, 97 Gregory of Tours, 8, II - 12,43, 66, 69, 122-
Ezekiel, book of, xxi, 5, 25,52-54,5 6, 94, 139 26,131,141, 147, 157n.z, 160 n.40, 160
n.47, 170-7 1, n.88, 171n.92, 179 n.IIO,
Faremoutiers, 136 194 n.I7, 194 n.I8, 195n.43. See also Glory
Female deacons, 34, 65, 79, 127, 131-3 2,134, of the Martyrs; Histories; Monegund of
177n.8I, 197 n.66, Tours
Female spirituality, 151- 52 Gregory the Great, Pope, 68, 161n.5I, 161
Feminist historians, xix-xx, 19-20, 143 n·52, 167 n·38
Flaccilla, Empress, 100
Fontanelle, 136 Hagia Sophia, 66
Fortunatus, Venantius, xvi, 6, 126-29,131- Hagiography, xix, I, 5-6, 9-10, 24- 25, 30,
35,168 n.4 6, 196 n.44, 196 n·45, 196 n·5I, 40-41,43,49-51,66,68-72,88,96,102,
197 n.62, 197 n.64, 198 n.78, 198 n.8I, 199 108, 120-21,128, 133,140-41, 143-52;
n.87. See also Life ofRadegund; Rade- and domestic service, 26; and eroticism,
gund of Poi tiers 81; and imperial ideology, 97; and philan-
Frankish. See Gaul, Merovingian thropy' 96; as evidence for trade, 158n.I7;
audience for, 7; inheritance of, 150-51;
Gallo- Roman. See Gaul inversions in, 18; lessons for Christians,
Gangra, council of, 38, 58, 167 n.42 147,152; shaping of, 145;Syrian, 76; works
Gaul, xv-xvi, II-I2, 23-24, 27,30,38-39, on, 156n.r, 158n.I8. See also Sacred fic-
44,59-61,65-69,120-22,124,126, 132- tions; Vitae
224 Index

Hair, 133;cloth, lIS, 129; shaved, 33-34, Israel, 28-32,40-41,53-54,71, 128, 139, 145
39,176 n·59; shirt(s), 30,40,68-69; Israelites. See Israel
style(s), 32,53,60,62,70,165 n.II, 175-76
n.58; tonsure, 62-63. Seealso Asceticism Jacob, 73
Harlot-saint, xiv-xv, 28,77,86,94; toposof Jacobus de Voragine, 77, 154n.6
the, 184 n.93 James, 78-79
Hebrew Bible. See Deuteronomy; Enoch; James of Nisibis, Abba, 72
Exodus; Ezekiel; Genesis; Kings; Leviti- Jericho, 79
cus; Numbers; Pentateuch; Proverbs; Jerome, xv-xvi, 8,16,20-22,25-26,38,
Revelation; Song of Songs; Torah; 4 2,53,5 6, 89, 91, 105, II4, II9, 132, 159-60
Zechariah n.3I, 163n.78, 187-88 n.48, 188n.64; and
He brew priesthood, clothing of, 52- 56. See Mary of Egypt, 84; and Paula, 103-9. See
also Levite priests also Life of Paula; Paul the First Hermit
Hebrews, epistle to the, 3 Jerusalem, 3, 27- 28, 32, 43, 50,79- 80,83-
Helena, Empress, xv-xvi, 43,49-50,96, 84, 87, 99-100,102-5,109,113, II8, 125,
IIO, II3-I5, 132, 134-35, 146, 148-50,170- 128, 135;and Helena, 97; the New, 98
71 n. 88, 185n.r, 185n.ro, 186-87 n.30, 187 Jesus Christ, xx-xxii, 2,7,13, 15-19,21,26,
n.34, 188n.5I, 199 n.83; legend of, 95-103, 30,32-33,37,40-47,49-50,52-53,55,
n8-I9; philanthropy of, 139. Seealso Con- 59-62,65- 67,69-73,75-7 6,81-86,88,
stantine, Emperor 93,95-97,101,104-8, no, II4-I6, II8-
Henry VII, King, 149 20, 127, 129, 131,133,137-3 8,141, 143-49,
Hermanfred, 127 151,156n.28, 157n.j, 157n.ro, 168 n.52, 170
Hermit( s), xiv, xvii, II, IS, 17, 71-7 2, 85, 94, n.84, 179 n.I08, 185n.ro, 186 n.22, 197
II2, II7, 127,145; and martial vocabulary, n.6I; and asceticism, 74; and Constantine,
74; female, 18 98; and gender, ISSn.20; and Helena, 98;
Herod, 56, 143 and Pelagia of Antioch, 79; as a model, 89;
Hesychius of Antioch, 42-43 as New Adam, xviii; body of, 102; cloth-
Hildegard of Bingen, 154n.I4, 169 n.56 ing of 55-56,58, 172n.8, 174 n.35, 178n.98,
Histories, II. Seealso Gregory of Tours 182n.48; dead body of, 171n.85; feminiza-
Holy Cross, convent of the, 128, 134- 35 tion of, 14; hair of, 172n.o; life of, 13;
Holy cross, relic of the, 50,99-105, rro, 135 passion of, xvii, 4, 48-49,51,99,125; per-
Holy Land, xiv, 49, 51,87,94,98-99,101- fection of, 184 n.94; resurrection of, 56,
4, 107, 109, II3, II6, 132, 134, 179 n.IIO. Seealso Messiah
Holy Nativity, feast of the, II3 Jezebel, 31-32,87,140; meaning of name,
Holy Sepulcher, 49,105,109, II2 165n.o
Holy Spirit, xviii, I, 3-4,25,64,69,71,83, Job,5,I24- 25
100-101 John, Abba, 73
Honoratus of Arles, 193n.7 John Colombini, 149
Honorius, Emperor, III, 190 n.IOI John, gospel of, 30, 46, 48, 120, 156n.28
Hume, David.v, 158n.I6 John of Damascus, 149
John of Lycopolis, 178n.92, 192 n.I44
Iconium,73 John the Baptist, xxi, 1-2,13, 16, 67, 71-72,
Iliad, the, 104 85; as the "New Elijah," 55;clothing of, 55
Imitatio Christi, 9-10, 13,20, 23, 83, 131, 145 John the Baptist, church of the saint, 87, 89
Ingritrude, 50,122 Jordan River, xiii-xiv, 2, 77, 79, 85- 87,89,93
Institutio Oratoria. See Quintilian Jordan Valley, 71
Ireland, 10 Judah, 139
Irene, Empress, 149 Judea, 62
Isaiah, book of, 31,37; daughters of Zion to- Julian, Abba, 72-73
pos, 31-32, 37, 40, 77, 83, 145-46; rhetoric Julian, Emperor, 171n.I
of, 146 Julian the Martyr, church of, 78
 Index 225

[umieges, 136 Macedonius, Abba, 72

Jura, 121 Macon, council of, 62, 64
[uvcnal, 22, 163n.8 Macrina.yo
Madonna. See Virgin Mary
Kings, book( s) of, 41, 52, 104 Marana, 17- 18
Marcarius of Alexandra, 72
Labarum, 103 Mark, gospel of, 2,45-46,48-49,156 n.28
Laodicea, council of, 61, 65 Marmoutier, 69,121
Laon, 122 Maroveus of Poi tiers, 135
Late Antiquity, period of, 154n.a, Marriage, xiv, xix, 40, 66, 86, 106, 123,129,
Lazarus, 48, 101, 120, 133 131,152;of Melania the Younger, IIO, II4;
Lerins, 121 spiritual 177n·74;
Letter to Atticus. See Cicero Marseilles, 121- 22
Levite priests, 53- 54; clothing of, 56 Marshall, William, 179 n.II2
Leviticus, book of, 59 Martha, sister of Mary, 41, 43-44,48, 104,
Liber Pontiftcalis, 60 II9- 20, 127, 133-34,141
Liber vitae patrum. See Gregory of Tours; Martin of Tours, 8, 10, 23-25,43-44,50,
Monegund of Tours 121-26,128-1 29,131-34,147, 163n.83, 170
Libya, 87 n.87, 195n.26; and clothing, 66-70. See
Life of Antony. See Antony, Abba; Athana- also Severus, Sulpicius
sius of Alexandria Mary. See Virgin Mary
Life ofBalthild ofChelles, 138-40 Mary Magdalene, xvi, 5, 14, 44, 49, 66, 77,
Life of Martin of Tours. See Severus, 88, 143, 161n.57, 184 n.91
Sulpicius Mary, mother of James, 49
Life of Mary of Egypt, xx-xxi, 9-10, 88, Mary of Egypt, xiii-xv, xvii, xx, xxi, 9-10,
91, 93, 148-49, 183 n.69. See also Mary 43,71,77,84-94,146-50,152,154 n.6, 183
of Egypt; Zosimas n.69, 184 n.84, 184 n.91, 184 n.92; and the
Life of Melania the Younger, 109, II4, II8-19. Song of Songs, 93; and the Virgin Mary,
See also Gerontius; Melania the Younger 85, 91; as Eve, 86, 91; extreme asceticism
Life of Monegund. See Gregory of Tours; of, 85. See also Life of Mary of Egypt;
Monegund of Tours Zosimas
Life of Paula , 21,103-6,108, II4, II9. See Mary of Egypt: An Icon in Music and Dance,
also Jerome; Paula 149, 160 n.45. See also Tavener, John
Life of Pelagia the Harlot, 80, 82-84,91. See Mary, sister of Martha, 48
also Pelagia of Antioch Mass of Saint Gregory, 12
Life of Radegund of Poitiers, 6, 127, 133,135, Matthew, gospel of, 3,46,48-49,55,88,
137,141. See also Fortunatus, Venantius 156n.28
Life ofSymeon Stylites, 19. See also Symeon Maxentius, 97
Stylites Medard of Noyon- Tournai, 127, 131,134,
Lignum crucis. See Holy cross, relic of the Medard of Soissons, 123,125
Liguge, 121 Melania the Elder, 43, 50, 101, 109, 187n.39,
Limnaeus, Abba, 73 188n.51, 190 n.93, 190 n.rox; and Amma
Livy, 165n.8, 189 n.91 Alexandra, 75
Logium, 136 Melania the Younger, xv, xvi, xxi, 43, 49,95-
Lorenzetti, P., 89- 90. See also Traini, 96,109-19,125,128,132,138, 146-48,15 1,
Francesco 169 n.66, 189-90 n. 92,190 n.93, 190
Louis IX, King, 149 n.rox, 191n.II5, 191n.II7, 191n.129, 191-
Lucretia, 109, 189 n.91 92 n.136, 192 n.138, 192 n.140, 192 n.141.
Luke, gospel of, xxii, 2, 41,44-45,48-49, See also Gerontius; Life of Melania the
77, 81, 143, 156n.28 Younger
Luxeuil, 136 Menstruation, 45, 144
226 Index

Merovingian, xv-xvi, 24-26, 120, 132,134- Papery, Dominique, 149

35, 137,140-4 1, 145; bishops, 69; church, Paris, 138-39
8; councils, 65; dynasty, 121-22; hagio- Patrick, 197 n.71
graphy, 122; sanctity, II. See also Gaul Paul, epistles of, 32-35, 165n.13
Messiah, xviii, 46-47, 93. See also Jesus Paula, xv-xvi, xxi, 21-23,26,49,95-96,
Christ 103- 9, 118- 19, 114 , 146, 148-49,163 n.78,
Metz, 122 187-88 n.48, 188n.56
Michael, Archangel, 73, 129 Paulinus of Nola, 101-2
Milvian Bridge, battle of, 97 Paul, apostle, 3, 8, 16, 17, 32-35,37-38,40,
Misogyny, xix 44-45,55, 62, 65, 73, 110, 115,119,135,144,
Monastery, 18, 39, 85, 113,121,127- 28, 133, 165n.16, 165n.17; on marriage, 125
137,151;of Melania the Younger, 112 Paul the First Hermit, 8, 89, 91, 103, 183
Monasticism, 121-22, 129,137, 139 n.69, 184 n.94. See also Jerome
Monegund of Tours, xv, 120, 122-26,140- Pelagia of Antioch, xv-xvi, xxi, 71, 77-84,
4 1, 147, 170 n.87, 194-95 n.25, 195n.42; as 93-94,146-47,154 n.6, 181n.34, 182
eucharist celebrant, 140; vita of, 194 n.17. n.48; and cosmetic theology, 82; as Eve,
See also Gregory of Tours 82; as the Virgin Mary. See also Life of
Moses, 3, 15,33,62,7 1-7 2,85,89,184 n.87 Pelagia the Harlot
Mount Horeb, 71 Pentateuch, 14, 28, 30
Mount of Olives, 79, 82, 98, 112,118 Peter, apostle, xx, 41,60,62,107,163-64
Mount of the Ascension, 98, 113 n.16; basilica of, 122
Musonius Rufus, 36, 58 Philanthropy, xiii-xiv, xvii, 19, 22, 4 1, 43, 84,
Mystics, late medieval female, 151 122, 145, 150-51, 164 n.98; and hagiogra-
phy, 96; civic, 97; inappropriate, 115-16; of
Nathan, 14 Helena, xvi, 97-99; of Mary of Egypt, 94;
Nehemiah, 3 of Melania the Younger, 109-12, 115-16,
Neustria, 136 118-19; of Paula, 103-4, 106-9; ofRade-
New Testament. See Acts, book of; John, gund, 128, 132, 134
gospel of; Luke, gospel of; Mark, gospel Phocas, martyrion of the saint, 49, 113
of; Matthew, gospel of; Paul, epistles of Phoebe, 34
Nicetius of Lyons, 69 Piamoun, Amma, 43, 76
Nitria, 105, 112 Pinian, Valerius, 43, 110-14,116-18,190
Nonnus, Bishop, 78-79, 81-83, 181n.37, 181 n·93, 190 n.94, 190 n.rox, 191-92 n.136.
n.42, 182n.48 See also Melania the Younger;
North Africa, III, 116- 17 Severns
Numbers, book of, 89 Poitiers, 6, 50, 121-22, 128
Procopius of Cae saria, 201 n.126
Olympias.ura Protestant reformers, 151
On the Dress of Virgins. See Cyprian of Proverbs, book of 41, 50, 119
Carthage
On the Veiling of Virqins. See Tertullian Quintilian, 57-58, 173n.14
Oration on the Death of Emperor Theodosius
(De obitu Theodosii oratio), 100, 102. See Radegund of Poi tiers, xv-xvi, xxii, 6-7,24-
also Ambrose of Milan 27,43,5 0,120,122,126-3 8,140-4 1,147-
Origen, 184 n.97. See also Song of Songs 49, 151, 171n.89, 195n. 43, 196 n. 44, 196
n.46, 197 n.62, 197 n.66, 197 n.67, 198
Pachomius, Rule of, 39 n.72, 198 n.76, 199 n.82, 199 n.87, 199
Palestine, 77. See also Holy Land n.89, 200 n.1I2; as a female-Christ, 128;
Palladius, 16,75-76 as a Merovingian Helena, 140. See also
Pammachius, 20-21,56,106 Baudonivia of Holy Cross; Fortunatus,
Papacy, 4, 38, 61, 137,174 n.38, 176 n.69 Venantius; Life of Radegund of Poitiers
 Index 227

Ravenna, 46 Sophronius of Ierusalem, 84

Revelation, book of, xiii, xxii, 29,31,37,83, Sozomen, 98, 102, 187n.42
85,93,99 Spinning, 50; biblical, 41-44
Rhone Valley, 121 Stephanus, 139-40, 201 n.125
Romana,79 Stephen I, Pope, 61
Rome, xv-xvii, xxii, 4,8-9,20-25,27,29, Stephen, protomartyr, 3-4, 113
31, 38-39,43-44,51,56-58,61-63,67- Stilicho, 190 n.ror
69,95-97,99-100,103-10,114-15,118, Stoics, 36,50,58
133,137,146, 149, 152 Subiaco, 68
Rufinus, 16 Suetonius, 103
Rusticula, 50 Symeon Stylites, 11-12, 19,66. See also Life
of Symeon Stylites
Sacred biography. See Hagiography; Sacred Symeon the Elder, 183n.80
fiction( s); Vitae Symmachus, Pope, 178n.90
Sacred fiction(s), xv-xvi, xxi, xxiii, 17,19, Syria, 10-II, 15,17-19,26-27,71-74,77,
40, 66, 81, 84, 94, 109, 118,143, 146, 148, 110, 112,146, 152
152. Seealso Hagiography; Vitae
Sadalberga of Laon, 24-25 Tabennisi, monastery of, 39, 78, 112
Saint Jean, monastery of, 39 Tavener, John, opera by, 149, 160 n.45
Saix, 128 Tertullian, 37,42,57-58,83, 166 n.24; De
Salome, 49 Pallio, 58; on female clothing, 36; on veil-
Samaria, woman of, 46-47,49,82,104, ing, 36-37
144-,170 n.79; and Mary of Egypt, 93 Thagaste, 112
Samson, 34 Thecla, 8o
Samuel, 6, 14, 127, 132 Theodora, Empress, 201 n.126
Sanctity, Christian, xviii, 4,9; female, xiv, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, 19
xxii; Merovingian, II Theodosian Code, 181- 82 n.46
Saturninus, 69 Theodosius, Emperor, 100, 187n.34
Saul, King, 84 Theotokos,87,91,149. Seealso Virgin Mary
Self-abnegation. See Asceticism Thomas, apostle, 144-
Self-mortification. See Asceticism Topoi, 10; biblical, xv; literary, 8; of de-
Seneca, 36,58 pravity, xxi
Serena, Empress, III, 115,190 n.ror Torah, 29
Serge, 43 Touraine, the, 123,126-27
Severns, 110-11,190 n.roo. Seealso Pinian Tours, 121,123-25,127
Severns, Sulpicius, 8, 23-24, 30, 67,70,133, Tours, council of, 64-65
163n.82, 195n.26. Seealso Martin of Tours Toxotius, 104, 106
Sheba, queen of, 80, 125 Traini, Francesco, 89-90. Seealso Loren-
Sidonius of Apollonaris, 42 zetti, P.
Silverius, Pope, 63 Transvestism, 38, 40, 43, 78, 162 n.67; inter-
Silvester, Pope, 61 pretation of, 80
Sinai, 71 Tripoli, 113,116
Sixth Satire. See Iuvenal
Socrates, 98, 102, 187n.42 Ultragotha, Queen, 122, 135,138-39, 141
Soissons, 127
Solomon, King, 54,80,125,165 n.o Veiling, 33-34, 37-38,40,50,115, 127, 129,
Song of Songs, xiii, 18, 77-78, 80-82, 182 135,165-66 n.17, 168-69 n.54
n.58, 184 n.97; and Mary of Egypt, 93; and Vermandois, 127
Origen, 184 n. 97 Vespasian, Emperor, 188n.52
Son of God. See Jesus Christ; Messiah Victor of Marseilles, 193n.7
Son of Man. See Jesus Christ; Messiah Vienne, 121
228 Index

Virgin Mary, xiv-xvi, xviii, 18, 77, 82, 87-88, Vita Monegundis. See Gregory of Tours;
91,93-94,102,119, 145, 170 n.84, 185n.ro; Monegund of Tours
and Amma Alexandra, 75-76; and Helena, Vita Paulae. See Jerome; Life of Paula;
xvi, 99-1°3; and Mary of Egypt, 85;as a Paula
symbolic altarpiece, xviii, 155n.16; as the Volusian, 113- 15
Second Eve, 162 n.68; virtues of, 150 Vulfoliac, 11-13
Vita Christi, 8,10,14-15,60, 147
Vita Constantini, 97-99, 146. See also Con- Wilfrid of York, 62, 139
stantine, Emperor; Eusebius of Caesaria;
Helena, Empress Yahweh, 2-3,29-33,41,52-54,59,71-72,
Vitae, xv-xvi, xviii-xx, xxii-xxiii, 1-2, 5-10, 77, 80, 95
12-13,15-16; Merovingian, 6. See also
Hagiography; Sacred fiction( s) Zechariah, book of, 100, 113
Vita Martini. See Martin of Tours; Severus, Zion. See Israel
Suplicius Zosimas, xiii-xiv, xxi, 85-89,91,93,146-47,
Vita Melaniae. See Gerontius; Life of Me- 149, 150, 152.See also Life of Mary of
lania the Younger; Melania the Younger Egypt; Mary of Egypt