Margaret Prioress and Mystic
Margaret of Oingt was one of the many women living during the Middle Ages who turned to mysticism to become closer to God. Mysticism, unlike scholasticism, takes a direct approach to God using sensory perception, not reason. For this purpose, it allowed women to identify with God on a very personal and spiritual level. This is significant to Margaret's rationalism for writing her visions in a time when women had such a trivial amount of power in the intellectual community; she did not write her visions for others to learn from, but rather as a personal form of worship to God. In her compositions Margaret describes herself as having almost no importance or authority in matters of the church, and this is why her work was graciously accepted as valuable in her time. Because she disclaimed possession to any understanding of reason, the church believed that her writing was given to her directly by God through prophetic visions. This was the only way that she could have any authority to record her thoughts, because in her time women were seen to have no understanding of reason, and were therefore incapable of understanding knowledge. Although she was a prioress of a Carthusian convent, she still had to adhere to the regulation
Like many female mystics, Margaret wrote in the third person to describe her visionary experiences, to avoid blasphemy and charges of heresy by the church. Because literacy was so unattainable to most women in the Middle Ages, especially Latin, writing was a source of empowerment for female mystics, even though some just dictated their visions to others to write down. It is interesting that people in the Middle Ages found that mysticism did not rely on reason, even though they accredited it to corporeal awareness. It would seem to make sense that one's own perceptions would be the greatest form of reason. This is why the church accredited the mystics' visions as coming directly from God, and not the mystics' own thoughts. In reality, however, did the mystics themselves believe that their experiences were from God, or were they using the authority given to them by the church to advance their own assertions? By analyzing Margaret's writing, it seems almost clear that she believed God communicated with her. Her persuasive declarations of love for Christ are expressed with sincere devotion, as well as inner conflict, and her words depict a women of great power and courage, who by expressing her visions made it possible for female mystics gain authority and prominence in the Middle Ages. The intimate level upon which Margaret identifies with God is strikingly clear in the many ways she addresses Him in her meditations. As a nun, Margaret renounces her earthly family and vows a symbolic marriage to Christ. In a sense, Christ becomes her lover as well her entire family. At times she describes her love for Christ with language that borders along the lines of being erotic. When she thinks of his body lying on the cross, she describes her heart as "being on fire." In one of her letter speaks of kissing Christ while he lies on her bed. And when she addresses him she declares "when I see you on the cross, I want to be despised and disfigured for your love; and even more, I want to be able to die for your love and for the salvation of those that you so lovingly set free." It was prevalent for nuns to speak of the lord with such passion. In actuality, they vowed to love n
Some common words found in the essay are:
God Mysticism, Jesus Christ, Middle Ages, Saint Beatrice, Lord Margaret's, female mystics, middle ages, Margaret Oingt, identify god, women identify god, describe hell, reason church, understanding reason, love christ, worship god, women identify, scholastic approach,
Approximate Word count = 1476
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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