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There is no evidence for female deacons in the West until the fifth century , about the same time, curiously, that the inscriptions about female presbyters appear. The objections to women serving at the altar, however , are from the previous century, probably under the influence of Priscillian (see chapter 8, First Synod of Saragossa). LITERARY TEXTS The two texts we have from the West both come from the end of the sixth century, and both refer to monastic women. From the fourth century, monasticism flourished in Gaul. In the course of the fifth and sixth centuries, distinguished and noble nunneries were established in the great Roman towns of Tours and Poitiers, as well as in or near other Frankish cities. The women who inhabited and presided over these houses were often aristocratic and accomplished. As a consequence, they often sought or were granted direct protection by the papacy, which left the local ordinary with only limited powers of oversight. The Letter of Gregory the Great to Respecta does not specify a title of office, and the Life of Saint Radegunda is highly legendary. Considering known practice at the time and in the next centuries, it can be assumed that Respecta’s ordination would be to the order of deaconesses, as specified in the Life of Saint Radegunda. This latter text needs to be compared carefully with the previous and contemporary condemnations of this practice by various councils and synods, given farther below. Gregory to Abbess Respecta, November 15, 5961 One of the four “doctors of the church,” Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) is often called, not without justice, “the father of the medieval papacy.” His influence on the Chapter Six WOMEN DEACONS IN THE WEST  history of the medieval church—not least by the example of his own life—can be said, with no exaggeration, to have been enormous. Among the areas in which this influence was exercised most effectively and profoundly was in his promotion of monasticism. Besides having founded seven monasteries and having been a monk himself before becoming deacon, diplomat, and then pope, Gregory also wrote the Life of St. Benedict and thus lent the saint and his Rule the considerable patronage of his name. Much of his voluminous correspondence is given over to the regulation of monastic life. As his letters indicate, Gregory was very active in granting certain privilegia to monasteries, both male and female. Here, in a letter to Abbess Respecta of the Monastery of Saint Cassian in Marseilles, Gregory, in the course of describing such privileges as he has granted to the monastery over which she presides, explains the process by which abbesses shall be selected and installed. Accordingly, to the monastery consecrated to the honor of Saint Cassian in which you are selected to preside . . . we have provided these privileges that, when the abbess of the above-mentioned monastery should die, not a stranger, but she whom the congregation has elected from its own numbers, shall be ordained (ordinetur). If she has been judged worthy of this ministry, the bishop of the same place shall ordain (ordinet) her. Some sixth century monasteries were exempt by papal action from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary. This is a case in point. Accordingly, the Saint Cassian monastery here referred to fell under the authority of Pope Gregory. Here, then, it is of interest not merely that the abbess is said to be “ordained” but that it is the pope himself who uses this language and that it is used as late as around 600. Radegunda, Deacon, Venantius Fortunatus, Life of St. Radegunda 2 Born around 540 in Treviso (near Venice), Venantius Fortunatus died around 600 in Poitiers, the city over which he had long presided as bishop. He was one of the last of the great Gallic poets and hymnists. In addition to leaving some eleven books of poetry, he provided some of the language and meter for the celebrated hymn, Pange Lingua. In addition, he wrote a poetic life of St. Martin. He also wrote a vita to commemorate the life of Radegunda (born c. 536), whose holiness so impressed him that he resolved to become a priest. In the chapters preceding the twelfth, excerpted here, Radegunda was the official queen of Clothar I (511–58); their marriage had borne no children. At the beginning of the chapter, we learn that Radegunda’s brother was killed in battle, a misfortune that, along with her marital circumstances, prompted her to...

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