Lives of female saints in the Middle Ages: Saint Godelieve

LIVES OF FEMALE SAINTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES: ANALYSIS OF "THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF SAINT GODELIEVE"

The Lives of Female Slaves in the middle Ages

Introduction paragraph

The life of saints, especially female saints in the medieval ages draws attention from scholars, art critiques, and philosophers alike. This interest draws from the rich sources of art, written texts, and artifacts in national, religious, and private collections across the globe. Analysis of these artifacts is based on scholarly dimensions of philosophy, religion, sociology, culture, literature, law, or language. Of interest for this research is the Burges' late 15th century painting, "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," for it depicts events and saints.

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The research uses this artwork as a source of information to create understanding on the lives of saints in the middle ages.

Of interest are the social and religious lives of female saints, their association to food, nurturing, holiness, and the female body. To make this analysis, a comparison is made to the 1485-1540 painting, "The Holy Family," in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is because the painting is from the same era as the "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," which also depicts these aspects of the medieval saints.

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Description of the paintings:

"The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve" from the last quarter of the 15th century, is associated with the legend of the Master of Saint Godelieve. The painting is oil on wood, 125.1 by 311cm when open, and 125.1 by 160.7cm when closed, and is on display in gallery 305 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The painting is reminisces the view to the middle ages for it is an altarpiece believed to have been commission by the Guild of the Load Bearers from Bruges of the Chapel of our Lady. The artwork is incredible for it shows the images of the saints Nicholas, Quirinis, Josse, and John the Baptist when closed, with two kneeling donors. The celebration of mass becomes visible on opening of the artwork.

The symbolic representation of gender roles, relations, the body, and sexual functions. Anthropologists identify that women and men in the middle ages had different roles in copulation, eating, reproduction, relationships, and identities. In the "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," the artist depicts men in the form of the saints Nicholas, Quirinis, Josse, and John the Baptist and two kneeling donors. They do not have food offering like Godelieve does.

Women in the medieval times held a sense of self-control, self-definition, and autonomy through their role as nurturers, prayer, and caring.

The concept of food to female saints:

According to Counihan (1999) in The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning, and Power, women in the Middle Ages participated in spiritual and religious practices with rigor, using blood, hunger, and food as dominant images in the union with neighbors and God. Written text indicates that from the 13th century, female self-expression has used food as channel. This is evident in "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve." In the second frame, one can see the maiden, Godelieve, giving and distributing food to the poor.

These women used food to assist and connect to God through the principle of giving. This is evident in "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," in the second panel where she holds a platter of food. The connection between God and food is shown in the second panel where Godelieve receives food from angles in answer to her prayers for a miracle.

For the Medieval woman, food was very important. It is indicated that the middle and Victorian ages, saw "bourgeois women use elaborate food preparation and consumption as a symbol of their social position and of love to their families."

Food was used by these women as a central focus in their identity with their families, society, and faith for they went beyond the important analogue of self.

Spirituality:

Godelieve shows that the family, society, and her faith come first for she offers food to the poor and is constantly surrounded by her family, be it her parents or sisters.

Women identified their Christ Jesus who was food during mass as the redemption of humanity. The women believed reaching spirituality was through food, since naturally they were food from their ability to breastfeed. The Medieval women associated the breast as seen in Holy mother, Mary's own breastfeeding as a Eucharistic feeding of the soul.

The painting also indicates that to the Female saints of the Middle Ages, prayer was an important element in their connection to God. In the "The life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," Godelieve makes prayer requests and offerings of food to God, that are answered by angels who bring delicacies for the poor.

Annotated Bibliography

Amy Hollywood. "Sensible Ecstasy: Mysticism, Sexual Difference, and the Demands of History (Religion and Postmodernism)," University of Chicago Press, (2002).

This article carries out an analysis of anthropological studies of the medieval times, and looks into the connection of the body, the soul and physical ascetic practices among middle ages saints. The article shows how these cultural practices influence the state of the soul. This article is important for this research for it provides a basis of the concept that food practices among medieval female saints projected their asceticism of religion.

Counihan Carole, M. "The Anthropology of Food and Body: Gender, Meaning and Power," Routledge, (1999).

This book was used as a source for it specifically focuses on the concepts of food and body to medieval saints. The book makes extensive reference to anthropologists like Bynum Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human body in Medieval Religion (1992) on medieval religious practices. Of interest for this research was the discussion on the different practices between male and female saints.

Hanson, Sarah E. "Connections Between Body and Soul: The Asceticism of Medieval Saints," The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal, (2009). 23-33. http://www.urop.uci.edu/journal/journal09/03_hanson.pdf.

The article is closely linked to the topic of he paper for it explores in depth the different perspective on the cultural and spiritual practices of medieval saints. Of interest is the exploration of the contribution of the body, soul, and food to spiritual practice especially among middle ages women.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maryann Ainsworth A., & Keith, Christiansen. "From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlands Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998).

This is a book authored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and discusses in detail the context, origin, and meaning of artwork. The main focus is the analysis of "The Life and Miracles of Saint Godelieve," the depiction of characters and their contribution to the theme of the artwork. The interpretation made by the authors of the painting are used to make an analysis of the artwork along with building the discussion.