The Biographical Sketch on Genovefa - Essay Example

Biographical sketch One of the excellent resources for and scholars dealing with women’s studies and the socio-cultural, religious, and political history of early medieval society, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages by Jo Ann McNamara et al is a compelling work in order to figure out how the world has change from the ancient world and how it has stayed the same. In this work, the authors deal with the biographies of eighteen women of the sixth and seventh centuries, also called the Dark Ages, whose senses were defined by Catholic Christianity. The beginning of the narrative describes about the holy women who were aligned with the poor and the conquered against the unharnessed secular power. One of the prominent saints of this category has been Genovefa (423 – 502), a virgin of Paris in Gaul, who was born in the parish of Nanterre, Paris, as the daughter of Severus and Gerontia. “As a mediator between two cultures, a woman like Genovefa had to convince the conquering Franks that she and her God were allies worth having. At the same time, her fragility as a woman without official status in the Gallo-Roman hierarchy rendered her innocuous in the context of secular powers. Her most famous feat, the prayer marathon that warded the Huns away from Paris, inspired the besieging Franks with respect for Gallic saints.” (McNamar, et al, 4) Significantly, the miracles of Genovefa proved that the king of Heaven was quick to respond to their requests and she was able to bridge the gap between two societies and cultures. One of the most important factors that the faithful of her land noticed in her earliest years was her religious devotion and the grace that God conferred upon her. This paper makes a reflective exploration of the life of Genovefa of Paris, as narrated in the book Sainted Women of the Dark Ages by Jo Ann McNamara et al, in order to comprehend how the world has change from the ancient world and how it has stayed the same since the time of this early saint of Catholics. The life of Saint Genovefa, as narrated in Sainted Women of the Dark Ages by Jo Ann McNamara et al, has immense significance in realizing the urban roles of women in the religious matters in the fifth century. There are sparse sources narrating the life-story and the practices of ascetic women in Gaul until the sixth century, but the life of Saint Genovefa offers a convincing illustration of how women played a key role in the society and religion of the period. Genovefa was an independent virgin of Paris and it is most likely that she belonged to some noble family, in all probability Gallo-Roman rather than Frankish. When Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes first encountered the girl Genovefa in her hometown Nanterre, it was about 429 and this period witnessed the Roman Empire rapidly crumbling. There were several indications of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church was the only remaining outpost of the Roman authority. Genovefa was picked out by Germanus out of an admiring crowd as a candidate for future sainthood and the little girl gained advice from notable churchmen such as Germanus and Parisian holy men. “She moved through a wild, half-pagan countryside and lived among excitable people easily moved to excesses of admiration and hostility. In 451, she rallied the people of Paris, her adopted city, against the Huns, led by their savage king Attila. A few years later, as their intermediary with the Frankish king Childeric, she gained the right to collect food from the besieged population and moved him to pardon his condemned prisoners.” (McNamar, et al, 18) Therefore, an insightful biographical sketch of Genovefa of Paris confirms that the saint of the ancient age was a mediator between the conquered people and their rulers and she alleviated the effects of their fratricidal wars. In fact, Genovefa played a fundamental role as an advocate for the prisoners and humble people. The role of Genovefa as a sainted woman of the fifth and sixth centuries can be realized in the background of her religious life and her contribution to the faithful of the period for a saintly life in Catholic Christianity. Genovefa dedicated her whole life and her virginity to the service of God and the inspiration given by the saintly bishop of Auxerre helped her immensely in this. As aforementioned, her religious devotion and the grace of God helped her gain the admiration of her people in the earliest days of her life. It is important to recognize that the asceticism of Genovefa was not defined and regulated by any established rule and it was not bounded by the walls of any convent. In other words, the religious life of Genovefa was not served from within a community and her asceticism was not consistent with any monastic rule. The fact that Paris did not have any female monastery during her time informs why she was supposed to search for other options for her spiritual guidance. The most notable fact about the aestheticism of Genovefa has been that she developed her own model of saintly life and way of life as an aesthete. Although some of the holy women of her period found shelter and support from women who pursued a religious life in virgin households, Genovefa pursued an ascetic lifestyle independent of other religious women. “Thus, despite her consecration, Genovefa was not bound to a rule of stability or claustration… In brief, whatever the actual date of composition, this life reflects an age when a saintly woman was free, indeed constrained, to create her own models and her own way of life… Uniquely among the female saints of Gaul and Frankland, she did not originate from the conquering aristocracy, but from among the victims. She lived in a turbulent age, and she played no small role in its events.” (McNamar, et al, 18) Therefore, it becomes lucid to an insightful investigator that Genovefa was an illustration of the women of her period who wanted to lead a life of religious sentiments and aestheticism of their own. This holy woman along with her models and other sainted women of the period played a crucial role in the ultimate amalgamation of Franks and Gauls into a working community. It is of particular consideration that Genovefa lived in a turbulent age in the history of her people, and she played vital role in the events of the period, in spite of the fact that she did not originate from the conquering aristocracy unlike the other female saints of Gaul and Frankland. In a reflective exploration of the biographical sketch of Genovefa, it becomes lucid that the religious women of her period played a central role as patrons and protectors of the urban population. When one approaches the biography of Genovefa with a complete awareness of the historical context of the period, he or she realizes the important of role of women in the social condition of the period. Unlike the women of the ancient ages, the women of the sixth and the seventh centuries were given prominent roles in the social and religious life. Thus, Genovefa played a significant role in the religious life of the urban population as their patron, although she did not belong to the conquering aristocracy or instructed a household of virgins as the other upper-class Roman women. Genovefa was an important source of support and solace to the people who were entrusted to her and she was a divine person to all of them. “Among the men and women who were presented to her, twelve in her own town of Paris were seriously troubled in spirit by demons. Invoking Christ to help her, Genovefa had immediate recourse to prayer. All of a sudden the possessed people were suspended in the air: their hands did not touch the ceiling nor their feet the earth… The possessed cried out to her, that they were completely unable to walk out unless she set them loose. Genovefa made the sign of the cross over them and they were subdued.” (McNamar, et al, 18) Thus, Genovefa was given a significant role in the religious life of the people and she was treated as a saint who was blessed with the grace of God. The biographical sketch offered in the book Sainted Women of the Dark Ages by Jo Ann McNamara et al provides another compelling illustration of Genovefa’s important role in the religious and social life of the period. Genovefa enjoyed a significant relationship to the city of Paris and she was given the role as patron and protector of the urban population in the city. As her biographer mentions in the book, Genovefa organized the prayer of Parisian women during the attack of the Gaul by Attila’s army and her efforts served to dissuade the attack. Significantly, Genovefa did not encourage the citizens of the city to flee and relocate from the region. Rather, she “summoned the matrons of the city and persuaded them to undertake a series of fasts, prayers, and vigils in order to ward off the threatening disaster, as Esther and Judith had done in the past.” (McNamar, et al, 18) In this example, one comes to recognize the vital role of women’s prayer in the public urban context of Paris. This also illustrates the immense influence of Genovefa in the religious sphere of the city. Therefore, it is important to recognize that the women in Genovefa’s period were given a prominent place in the socio-cultural and religious arena of the period. In conclusion, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, through the biographical sketch on Genovefa, offers a convincing evidence of important role of women in the sixth and seventh century Paris. A reflective exploration of the life of Genovefa of Paris, as narrated in the book, confirms that the world of her period had changed considerably from the ancient world with regard to the significance of women in the society and religion. The biographical sketch of Genovefa offers convincing evidence about the life and freedom of women of the sixth and seventh centuries. Her story also illustrates how women were given vital role in the social and religious life during the period from the fall of the Roman Empire and the conversion of the invading Franks to the rise of Charlemagne’s family. Work Cited McNamar, Jo Ann, et al. Sainted Women of the Dark Ages. New York: Duke University Press. 1992. P 4. Read More