A Critical Reading of Negotiating Sanctity: Holy Women in Sixteenth-Century Spain by Ahlgren - Essay Example

25 July Critical Reading Assignment: "Negotiating Sanctity: Holy Women in Sixteenth-Century Spain" In “Negotiating Sanctity: Holy Women in Sixteenth-Century Spain”, Gillian. T, W Ahlgren provides background information on how women sought to achieve sanctity under the authority of the Catholic Church and the Spanish Inquisitors. To support his points, he mentions factors like canonization and the structure of the Catholic Church as inherently against open participation of women in religious circles; women were less educated on biblical matters while their opinions were of “lesser value” to the Church and Roman officials. This assignment provides a critical review on Ahlgren’s work based on her writing on women position in church, in Catholic Spain, during the sixteenth century. In addition, the assignment highlights arguments supporting and disagreeing with Ahlgren’s assertions. In her work, she asserts that canonization provided a significant hurdle to women in recognition of their holiness and sanctity. The church canonized fewer congregants both female and male due to pressure from protestant churches on the practice of sanctity among the Catholics. Furthermore, Ahlgren says that the revival of canonization in the seventeenth century of five saints was symbolic of the moralistic value of the process, but she seems to suggest that the lack of it undermined women’s position in the church. Sanctity is negotiable to the extent that the church determined who was worthy to be a saint through canonization. Nevertheless, she does not point out if there were consensus by the ordinary people with regards to the issue of canonization (Ahlgren 375). Additionally, Ahlgren seems to suggest that the canonization of saints enhanced sanctity since more men than women underwent canonization they achieved sanctity than women. Equating saints with sanctity is not necessarily correct; according to Kleinberg (183) saints were a cultural symbol in the medieval times. Thus, even in the sixteenth century people venerated saints, not because of their sanctity but because the society could not live up to their own hopes and beliefs. The saints provided an avenue of redemption on behalf of the society within the cult of saints rather than for their value in sanctity. The role of confessors as symbols of sanctity became more prominent in the late medieval period onwards, whilst the role of martyrs declined substantially (Kleinberg 184). Even though confessors faced numerous challenges, the fact that more men than women became recognized as confessors meant that for women negotiating sanctity became harder in a society valuing more male saints than females. The article seems to suggest that the catholic officials in Sixteenth century Spain relegated holy women into minor roles, through trials by the Spanish Inquisition. While this analogy is correct, it nonetheless paints the Spanish church as intrinsically misogynist to mention the role of Rome and the Spanish monarchy in instituting the laws governing. Similarly, the prevailing political structure and power in most of Europe constituted of monarchial systems mostly headed by male figures regardless of whether the nations were Catholic or Protestant. Cultural biases inhibited women’s position in the Church, which was not necessarily a Catholic Phenomenon but an all prevailing fact in the society at large. Ahlgren points out that, in the church’s opinion, personal and private prayer among women provided less opportunity for recognition of their sanctity. To support his point, he mentions a meeting in 1525 among some Catholics who were subsequently accused of neglecting church sacrament in favor of personal prayer; connoting that this seemed to go against church doctrine. She assumes that women chose prayer in pursuit of sanctity after failure to gain recognition in the church (Ahlgren 376). However, prayer could be a trait common among women where women had a greater role in mysticism even before the sixteenth century during the Middle Ages (Lewis 177). Prayer is a component of mysticism and the failure to mention the impact of previous writings by women depicts them as inadequate in religious matters, or only relevant for the study of culture rather than also in the study of Church history. Sanctity consisted of veneration by the public and canonization into saints (Ahlgren 378). The historical understanding of attaining sanctity is essential in supporting that sanctity occurred after approval by both the church and the community. Throughout the essay Ahlgren suggests that the church was the main determinant in negotiating sanctity for women. She writes little information about adoration in the community. Sanctity is seen as an outward manifestation reliant on the views of others as if sanctity could not be achieved in private life. Sanctity is negotiated between women and the church publicly, but there is less negotiation with the community since this depends on the society’s perception about the holy women. To Caciola (302), sanctity is socially constructed practice between the saints and the relative community. Furthermore, it is an ongoing process in which sanctity for women is a negotiated act open to intrusion and resignification. The creation of women saints requires the interaction of the saint’s actions, the social cultural context, and society’s interpretation in believing in the cult of sainthood. The essay highlighted that gender probably influenced the lack of authority among women in religious circles. Ahlgren quotes the case of Martin de Castenaga, who presents misogynist views on the religiosity of women as incapable of attaining the same value in religion unless they emulated the men. The view that mannish women stood better chances of canonization were a prevailing theme in the society even among women as espoused by Teresa of Avila (Ahlgren 381). Firstly, there is an assumption that the church’s hierarchy primarily composed of men stood against women’s role in religion. She also asserts that some religious women influenced this theme at that time, and it appears the loss of ‘feminity’ among women did not necessarily enhance sanctity. Ahlgren proposed that mannish women had better chances of attaining sanctity or being canonized, while neglecting to mention about other women who achieved sanctity without appearing mannish. There is an implied assumption that Ahlgren does not allude to the prevailing opinion that among church women possessed less sanctity than men. This is because she writes more on mannish qualities possessed by women than what was achieved when women acted womanly, to demonstrate that it was the society’s attitudes that caused this. She further points out that women were considered to be more prone to temptation, and then asserts that acquiring mannish behavior appeared to be a dogmatic construct to make it possible for women to achieve sanctity. To illustrate that sanctity was dependent on the church and society, she points out that sanctity connoted the presence of virtues like humility. There is no historical background on the role of humility in achieving sanctity to the extent that there is no precise definition or context on humility. Obedience to the religious bodies and the role of confessors influenced sanctity among religious women. Nonetheless, sanctity is negotiated to the extent that there was approval from religious authorities as evidenced by the case of Magdalena; a woman considered holy among her community but who suffered indignation after confessing during an Inquisition trial to having made contact with the devil. Calciola (303) agrees with the notion that sanctity and the underlying virtues were negotiable by stating that women saints imitated an ideal model of behavior. Holy women were considered as compelling actors in pursuit of sanctity through crafting likeable societal and cultural characteristics. Another aspect in determining sanctity among women is the issue of closeness and access to God. It is apparent that for women sanctity was less negotiable since contact with God appeared through prayers and prophecy. The evidence that sanctity occurred through agreement with the church is seen in the church’s opinion about prophetic utterances and prayer, women were accorded religious authority if they showed meekness. Prayers and prophecy were visible to the society; thus, sanctity was bargained in order to attain religious influence. Sanctity was also negotiable since the Spanish Inquisitors determined what constituted the true manifestation of Godly prayer. In addition, women had to prove that the manifestation of ecstasy emanated from God so sanctity was negotiable. In conclusion, the illustration that sanctity occured through bargaining is visible in some sections of Ahlgren’s essay. Firstly, canonization occurred under the instructions of the church where men outnumbered women. Canonization also happened after the society approved that women had achieved sanctity; however, this was negotiable since the church had the final word. The Spanish Inquisition tribunals condemned many holy women for allegedly adhering to heretic doctrines; women had to conform to a certain set standard to attain sanctity. Nonetheless, the use of personal prayer among religious women accorded them the opportunity to avoid negotiation while at the same time trying to achieve sanctity. This article provides an insight on the status of holy women, and the conditions prevailing in Spain and probably other Catholic nations. Works Cited Ahlgren, Gillian. “Negotiating Sanctity: Holy Women in Sixteenth-Century Spain.”Church History, 64. 3 (1995): 371-388. JSTOR. Web. 18 April 2012 Calciola, Nancy. “Through a Glass, Darkly: Recent Work on Sanctity and Society. A review Article.” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 38. 2: (1996) pp 301-309.JSTOR Web.20 June 2012. Kleinberg, Aviad. “Proving Sanctity: Problems and Solutions in the Later Middle Ages.” Viator, 20 (1989): pp183-205. Lewis, Getrude Jaron. “Studying Mystics: Some Methodological Concerns.” Mystic Quarterly, 10. 4 (1984): pp175-184. JSTOR. Web 20 June 2012 Read More