Female Preaching in the Late Medieval Franciscan Tradition

119 Franciscan Studies 62 (2004) FEMALE PREACHING IN THE LATE MEDIEVAL FRANCISCAN TRADITION1 Although a lot of fine scholarship has been devoted to Franciscan women – a term with which I designate both the Poor Clares and the women partaking in or affiliated with the tertiary movements – it still holds true that many historians associate Franciscan history and Franciscan studies first and foremost with the struggles and vicissitudes of Francis of Assisi and his male followers. It remains necessary to reassert with some emphasis the importance of the women in this history, and to come to terms with the at times rather tumultuous and strained relationship between the men and women inspired by the Franciscan ideal of evangelical perfection throughout the centuries. In this essay, I would like to draw attention to a phenomenon within the female branches of the Franciscan movement that has been marginalized by male medieval spokesmen for the order, as well as by many modern scholars devoted to its history, namely the magisterium vocis of Franciscan nuns and tertiary sisters. By this I mean the structured and authoritative vocal and written expression of women in the realms of religion and Christian faith, both within a homiletic context and beyond. The marginalization of this phenomenon is backed up by the traditional mistrust of the female voice within the Catholic church throughout its history. As we all know, Christianity arose in societies with distinct patriarchical structures. Although it would seem that, from a gender-point of view, the very early Christian communities were more egalitarian than much of their surroundings, especially in the GrecoRoman world, early male spokesmen for the Church held palpable patriarchical and even misogynist views regarding the role of women in matters pertaining to pastoral care, mission, and priesthood. Already the Pauline letters to the Romans and the Corinthians exhibit a tension when they comment on the sanctioned roles of women 1 This essay is a reworked version of the lecture given on July 19 2004 at St. Bonaventure University, as part of my activities as the Joseph A. Doino Visiting Professor of Franciscan Studies for the academic year 2003-2004. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for the support of and the convivium with faculty and staff members of the Franciscan Institute, its students and numerous other people that I happened to meet during my stay on- and off-campus. 120 BERT ROEST in the budding Christian community. On the one hand, these letters acknowledge and praise the activities of Christian women. They are depicted as caretakers of house churches, as deacons, and co-workers of the travelling missionaries (Rom. 16,3; 16, 6-12 & 15, and 1 Cor. 15, 10). These passages seem to imply that the very fact of adopting the Christian faith is gender-transforming, and obliterates the natural weaknesses associated with the female sex by the ruling philosophical, medical and legal discourses of the time. Comparable opinions were voiced by John Chrysostom, who dwelled in his Homilies on Romans 30 & 31 on the important role of women as apostles and preachers.2 On the other hand, the author of the Pauline letters was unyielding in curtailing the public voice and the sacramental office of women. We all know the infamous dictum “let women be silent in the church” (1 Cor. 14, 34; cf. also 1 Tim. 2, 12). As soon as Christian theology came up to speed, between the third and the fifth century, this Pauline dictum was encased in the patristic exegetical and theological narratives. Time and again, patristic authors such as Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, and Jerome, were surprised by the ascetic prowess, the wisdom and endurance of their Christian sisters. Nonetheless, time and again they reiterated existing gender stereotypes, and subscribed to the Pauline view that women should not aspire to the role of religious teacher.3 This is not the place to chart the unfolding of this theological tradition, which still finds official support within the Catholic church, witness Canons 766 and 767 of the current Codex Iuris Canonici, and the papal position on these matters expressed in recent years. Suffice it to say that influential patristic authors such as Ambrose, Jerome and Augustine unambiguously...