I guess we don’t know if Valerian was a virgin or not, but if he was, I doubt the choice would precede his name if people prayed to him.
If you grew up Catholic like me you had a lot of those picture books full of saints. They were great because they were crazy and gory and exciting, and they could be inspiring too. And if you were a girl, you were probably given a lot of cards and books and whatnot about all the virgin martyrs. Saint Cecilia didn’t get it as bad (virgin onslaught-wise) as .. oh, anyone from Saint Agnes, Lucy, Agatha, Maria Goretti (yikes)- but like all the virgin martyrs, this aspect of her life is presented with a certain… fervour. Gather round girls, let me tell you what a woman should be! You’ll be told a lot of ways in which they were strong and brave, but it doesn’t change this. And so when you start questioning what’s going on in the Church’s attitude towards ladies, these virgin martyrs are among the first to go.
I was reading a bit of feminist interpretations of these women’s lives, and it was super interesting, to try and think or rethink of their stories in their own terms (as much as you can anyway, rarities like Perpetua are out there), rather than a tool to tell me what I was and was not supposed to be. I’m no theologian, I just liked coming back to something that did have an impact on me, years ago. And so here’s Saint Cecilia, because the image of her still touches my heart, I admit.
Lots of talking today! Hello how you doing
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