Reading Notes: Women Saints Part B
Bibliography
"Saint Martha" from The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis, Read it here
Compared to Part A, I thought the readings from Part B were much more enjoyable, probably because the stories were closer to what I originally thought stories about women saints would be like. Although the women saints from the stories in Part A were very passive and meekly accepted their torture and death, the women in Part B seemed more heroic to me. These women communicated truthfully and clearly, and did impressive things like influence the architecture of buildings, bring people back from the dead, and even slay a dragon.
With this in mind, the story that I enjoyed the most from this reading was the story of Saint Martha. Saint Martha is the sister of Mary Magdalene, and this story talks about what Martha did after Jesus went back to heaven. Martha travelled to France to spread the word of God and while there she performed miracles, one of which was killing the dragon Tarasque. Through the power of God, Martha overpowered the dragon and held the dragon still while the townspeople stabbed him.
Besides this impressive feat, in the story Martha also lives a pretty disciplined and strong life by by only eating once a day and praying hundreds of times a day. This discipline obviously found favor with God, as he allowed Martha to perform another miracle.
Some time after slaying the dragon, Martha was preaching to some townspeople and there was a man who wanted to hear what she was saying so badly that he tried to swim across the river, but he drowned. The townspeople brought him to Martha, who was then able to revive him and bring him back to life. All of this is to say that Martha was a pretty impressive and amazing woman who in my mind, definitely deserves the title of Saint.
"Saint Martha" from The Golden Legend edited by F. S. Ellis, Read it here
Compared to Part A, I thought the readings from Part B were much more enjoyable, probably because the stories were closer to what I originally thought stories about women saints would be like. Although the women saints from the stories in Part A were very passive and meekly accepted their torture and death, the women in Part B seemed more heroic to me. These women communicated truthfully and clearly, and did impressive things like influence the architecture of buildings, bring people back from the dead, and even slay a dragon.
With this in mind, the story that I enjoyed the most from this reading was the story of Saint Martha. Saint Martha is the sister of Mary Magdalene, and this story talks about what Martha did after Jesus went back to heaven. Martha travelled to France to spread the word of God and while there she performed miracles, one of which was killing the dragon Tarasque. Through the power of God, Martha overpowered the dragon and held the dragon still while the townspeople stabbed him.
Besides this impressive feat, in the story Martha also lives a pretty disciplined and strong life by by only eating once a day and praying hundreds of times a day. This discipline obviously found favor with God, as he allowed Martha to perform another miracle.
Some time after slaying the dragon, Martha was preaching to some townspeople and there was a man who wanted to hear what she was saying so badly that he tried to swim across the river, but he drowned. The townspeople brought him to Martha, who was then able to revive him and bring him back to life. All of this is to say that Martha was a pretty impressive and amazing woman who in my mind, definitely deserves the title of Saint.
Saint Martha, as illustrated in a Flemish illuminated manuscript.
(Image source: Wikimedia)
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