Comparison Of Marguerite Porete And Catherine Of Siena

The concept of women’s struggle to find a place in society appears to be a relatively modern one, though in reality women have struggled with living in a time period that works against them for the entirety of history. Even throughout the Middle Ages, a period known for its suppressing and constraining ideals, some extraordinary women stood up against what was socially accepted at the time and made history in a line of work that is vastly underrepresented by women leaders: Medieval Christianity. Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Siena were two women who pushed the boundaries of the belief system in their times. These two women show simple congruencies such as, underlying theological similarities as well as astounding differences, such as their

relationship with the medieval church.
¬Life was harsh for all during the medieval period, but especially so for women who had no control over their lives. Women were subjected to being under the control of their fathers once they were born, and then to their husbands after they wed. Society was fascinated with women in the medieval period, as Bynum wrote “[Men] advised women, admired women, and abhorred women” all at the same time (p. 445). Women were blamed for plagues and droughts, and were treated as second hand citizens because they were thought to be the cause of the Fall, the cause of the creation of original sin. Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Siena were not exempt from the life subjugated under the rule of their family. In attempts to gain some control over their own lives, medieval women turned towards covenants in order to escape the transfer of power from her father to her husband. Bynum notes that many female saints made a “commitment to virginity before the age eight” (p. 408). Both Catherine and Marguerite made such commitments to their faith and specialized in one of the few careers available for women at the time. Catherine was only six when she received a vision from God and chose to commit herself to virginity and Christ (Oxford dictionary). She fulfilled her promise and took formal vows to become a nun of the Dominican order (p. 387). Similarly, Marguerite Porete also took vows of virginity, but never became ordained. Instead, she became a beguine with no formal vows.
With their experience as women who defied the expectations of society, both Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Siena had unconventional relationships with the idea of being a woman and its symbol of humanity.

A woman’s image was believed to be a clash between sin and salvation (p. 433). The dualistic nature of women, much like the dualistic nature of Jesus Christ, created a unique relationship between spiritualist and Christ. For many spiritualist, even those that were female themselves, “woman” was something that was weak and with evil nature, while “male” was what was strong and good. Beliefs such as these, trace back to the story of the fall in which Eve was the cause for original sin. Catherine of Siena notably “used woman to symbolize humanity” while also describing women, including herself, as was weak, poor maids, beggars, little girls, or despised (p 432-433). This shows a significant difference between the two spiritualists. Marguerite Porete, unlike Catherine of Siena, never equated woman as weak, and never apologized for being so. Instead, in her writings, woman was the reason of salvation. Marguerite Porete’s wrote a conversational-styled piece in which the superior being was feminine, showing her rebellion towards the idea of woman as weak, instead she depicted this female character as the goal that people should work towards

obtaining.
In her book Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite Porete narrates a conversation between the two main characters: Lady Love and Reason, in which Lady Love explains that one should not desire anything. This is because the soul should only want God, and nothing else, including food. This means to turn away all Earthly needs until all that is left is the want for God. Douglas Osto (2006) explains that food is an “ascetic theology conceived around the destruction of the human will” until there is nothing left but God. This idea of self-abnegation through fasting is not uncommon in medieval mystics. Many other mystics believed in some form of self-abnegation such as fasting. The rationality of food as a method for redemption is seen in Catherine of Siena’s writings as well.
“By the light of understanding within your light I have tasted and seen your depth, eternal Trinity and the beauty of your creation. Then when I considered myself in you, I saw that I am your image” (p. 431)
While Catherine of Siena also mentions fasting and renouncing food as a method of becoming closer with God, it is with the Eucharist that she reaches her idea of union with God as she seems women in the image of God. In both Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Sienna, they must relinquish something, may it be will or food, in order for God to fill them up completely. Even then, Catherine of Siena notes that one will always hunger for more because the soul is never satisfied.
These parallels of wanting nothing but God in them is rationalized differently between the two mystics. Marguerite Porete emphasizes more on receiving God through abandoning all that is with her until she wants for nothing else. Meanwhile, Catherine of Siena sees Christ as filling her through the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body of Christ through which Catherine of Siena sustains herself with.
Though Catherine of Siena and Marguerite Porete have vast similarities in their relationship with the need to fill themselves with Christ, their relationship with the Medieval Church could not be more different. In her writings, Marguerite Porete describes the Church as being weak, and of its clerks of being unable to understand the true method to reaching perfection. Her criticism of the Church in addition to other miscellaneous offenses in her writings such repeating “For God’s sake” caused her to be persecuted by the very “Holy-Church-Below-This-Church” in her writings (p. 314). Marguerite Porete’s defense on discrediting the Church as Holy was to explain that there is nothing within her that was not God. Her reasoning was not sufficient for the Church who deemed her claims such as “sin is nothing” to incite heretical ideas and so Marguerite Porete was executed by fire (PAGE #). After her death, the beguine movement continued, though she is better known for her influence of theologian Meister Eckhart. Aside from her contribution to Eckhart’s sermons, Marguerite Porete is relatively unknown.
Catherine of Siena on the other hand, is one of the most studied female medieval spiritualist. Unlike Marguerite Porete, Catherine of Siena maintained a relatively amicable relationship with the medieval Church; so much so, that she was later deemed a doctor of the church, a saint, and the co-patron of Italy (p.265). For Catherine of Siena, God was “the mystic body of the Holy Church” which is similar to the passage in the New Testament’s Letter to the Colossians that states that Christ is the head of the Church (PAGE #).
In addition to the vastly different relationship with the Church, Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Siena also defer in their idea of the ultimate goal and its relationship with perfection.

For Marguerite Porete, there is no doubt that perfection can be reached in this life. For her, perfection is when the soul stops desiring anything that is not God’s desire. In her book, A Mirror of Simple Soul’s Marguerite Porete adds a disclaimer that the book itself is plagued with imperfection because she had to leave the state of perfection, the state of not wanting anything, in able to write the book. In the place of perfection, Marguerite Porete places Love, or as she calls it the highest name of God. Marguerite explains that Love is the heir to God and “through the Love from the Holy Spirit” the world knew Jesus Christ (PAGE

#)
Marguerite Porete’s ideas of perfection and the ultimate goal of Love, is both similar and completely different than Catherine of Siena’s rather bloodthirsty beliefs. For Catherine of Siena, perfection could also be found in life through the first stage when she “tastes and gives birth to charity” though the true final stage of perfection is not found after death once the soul was again reunited with Christ (p. 390). The idea that the ultimate perfection would be reached after death is not uncommon for her time, though the descriptive manners in which she describes the envy she has for those who are to be executed because they will reach God before her is unique to her style. For Catherine of Siena, “suffering is a delight and pleasure is wearisome” which again portrays a form of self-abnegation through physical suffering instead of fasting (p. 391). Her rational of suffering and pleasure supports her further wishes to see prisoners “plunged and drowned” in what she refers to as “sweet blood” which she receives ecstasy from (p. 394).
It was common for female mystics to receive delight from bodily fluids as they were though as relationships with Christ. This is why many like Catherine of Siena believed so wholly in the Eucharist. Another female mystic at the time, Hadewijch, was much like both Catherine of Siena and Marguerite Porete. Hadewijch similarity to Marguerite comes from the equation of love. Though for Hadewijch, Hell is the highest name of God because one is completely indifferent as to where they are because they give it all up. In relation to Catherine of Siena, Hadewijch is also a fanatic of the Eucharist and describes about her “Oneness with the Eucharist” in her writings (Rich, 2011).
In conclusion, mystical theologians Marguerite Porete and Catherine of Siena led similar life’s through their experiences as being women defying expectations during the middle ages. Though their paths were not the same, as one was executed as a heretic and the other deemed a doctor of the church, they both used their experience as women to convey their beliefs and understandings of the world around them onto pieces of works that survived hundreds of years after they passed.