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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Rose Writes:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Why would you rely on Aaron Rench's
hagiographic view of St. Bridget over Joan's? Joan is a trained
medievalist, Aaron is a trained ?. Aaron and I had this conversation
privately about a month ago - and it was my hope that he had learned something
from it. Apparently not. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Rose, I’m not inclined to think that
your account of St. Bridget or the problem is lining up with Joan’s.
Your web link said only the following about St. Bridget:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=black face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“St. Bridget was the daughter (possibly illegitimate) of a pagan
chieftan and a Christian serving woman. From childhood, Bridget had a
reputation for generosity and hoped to become a nun. Stories that St. Patrick
baptized her are now discounted; she is said to have become a nun under St.
Mel, nephew of Patrick. She is said to have performed many miracles, often
associated with the multiplication of food or drink. She founded Cill-Dara, the
church of the oak, c. 470. She may have been a hermit whom others seeking the
monastic life joined at Kildaire. The monastery was the only double-monastery
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and became among the best-known and most powerful of monastic houses in the
country. Legends say that Ibor consecrated her a bishop, and this is one reason
cited for the power and influence that the abbesses of Kildaire wielded. When
Bridget died in the early VI Century, she was buried at Kildaire. Some say that
no man was allowed to enter the shrine to St. Bridget, which the English looted
in the time of Henry VIII.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And here is what Joan said:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'>“Do you know who Brigid was?
Maiden, mother, and crone</span></font></b></strong>. She was <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>a Celtic goddess</span></font></b></strong>;
she <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>made
the crops grow</span></font></b></strong>, she was <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>called upon to aid in
childbirth</span></font></b></strong>; the Irish still put out bowls of milk on
St. Brigid’s Day. Why? Because Brigid the Goddess had a bit of a nasty
streak – she needed to be appeased.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And here is what Aaron said:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'>“I'm sure there was a Brigid
who was a Celtic goddess, but if you recall the name of the feast at Trinity
Fest was *Saint* Brigid's Feast. That's because we were not naming our feast
after Brigid the Celtic goddess, but after a Christian medieval nun who was
known for her hospitality.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'>Me:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'>So, who has more accurately
described St. Bridget? I’d be inclined to think that Aaron did. But
doesn’t your very argument about academic sloppiness on the part of Aaron
(and therefore <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:PersonName></st1:place>)
show that even if Joan is correct, we are operating with a false, mythic view
of St. Bridget. Is hagiography heresy? Joan wants to call St. Bridget a
Crone. Well, what shall we think about that? Here’s a feminist
definition of Crone for anyone interested:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <br>
”The crone eludes precise definition. Some traditions, organizations, and
individuals variously define the crone as a woman who is either 50, 52, or 56,
post-menopausal, consciously aging, willing to acknowledge her shadow side.
Crone is a term used to describe an ancient archetype, an aspect of the triple
goddess (maiden/mother/crone), and the third phase of a woman's life. When a
woman is near, in, or past menopause, she is potentially a crone. The designation
refers to a perspective or point of view rather than a specific age or physical
event. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>A woman who calls herself crone is willing to acknowledge her age,
wisdom, and power. Through conscious self-definition, she helps to reverse
hundreds of years of oppression, degradation, and abuse aimed at old women.
Although she may prefer to be called elder, grandmother, or wisewoman, she does
not dismiss, disavow, or use pejoratively terms such as crone, witch, or hag. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The wisewoman/crone/grandmother realizes that the true meaning of these
terms, and the woman-centered traditions from which they originate, have been
obscured and distorted by patriarchal systems. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In ancient times, the crone was revered as an old woman who embodied
wisdom and knew the truth of cyclic existence. Crones cared for the dying and
were spiritual midwives at the end of life, the link in the cycle of death and
rebirth. They were healers, teachers, way-showers, bearers of sacred power,
knowers of mysteries, mediators between the world of spirit and the world of
form. In pre-patriarchical societies, women's wisdom held healing power, and
crone wisdom was the most potent of all. For nearly thirty thousand years, old
women were strong, powerful sources of wisdom. Crones were respected and honored
in their communities.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thanks!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Michael Metzler <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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