As Lent Madness voting resumes for the week, we encounter Hadewijch and Juan Diego, two outsiders in their own unique ways. In case you're wondering about the pronunciation, Hadewijch rhymes with hate-a-witch (if you're either a Wiccan or from Salem, Massachusetts, please don't get offended).
In the only Saturday match-up of Lent Madness 2015, Molly Brant sent Swithun back to the proverbial swamp 58% to 42%. Molly will face the winner of Bede vs. Cuthbert in the Saintly Sixteen.
Yesterday, in case you missed it (and if you did, you should sign up on the home page to receive e-mails every time we post something), we shared some resources to supplement your Lenten journey. We've invited folks to add others in the comment section, not because we don't have all the answers but because we're lazy. So check out what we're calling "Lent beyond the Madness" and feel free to add to the list.
Hadewijch
In the early thirteenth century, new expressions of religion began to appear in what are now the modern-day countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. The devotions of contemplation and ecstatic mysticism began to be publicly practiced by a group of devout women known as the Beguines. Beguines were not nuns, but women who chose to lead lives of poverty and prayerful contemplation without taking formal vows. Their members were from across all socioeconomic classes; some lived alone, and others formed small groups.
Hadewijch was among these devout women. Other than her devotion as a Beguine, almost nothing is known of her life. What we do know has been distilled from her writings—collections of poetry, letters, and visions. Her writings show a proficiency in Latin and French, with a vast knowledge of both the Old and New Testaments and early Church writers, especially Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Her writings tell of a burning love for the Trinity and mystical love for Christ. In fact, her writings are filled with the theme of love, although a much more diverse sense of the word than English translations can capture. Hadewijch used various terms for love, including karitate (love of neighbor), lief (the beloved) and minne (a feminine word of the language of courtly love). Minne is used most often in her writings, as an experience of the soul in a loving, erotic relationship with God.
While almost nothing is known directly about her that can be pinned down as historical fact, her use of the images of courtly love to describe our relationship with God suggests she was nobility. She took common images of her day—love offered to a lady by a knight, the knight facing dangers to win the love of a woman, the elegant dance of honor, expressions of love, the trials faced to win the love and affection of the beloved — and used the tension, seduction, and longing particular to courtly love to express the relationship between the soul and God. Her poetry brought a holy sensuality to the usually dry theological writings of the time, which were also rife with superstition and threats of eternal damnation.
Her use of courtly love and eroticism to speak of our relationship with God did not find support in the traditional church hierarchy or in the Beguine community. From the content of letters and visions, scholars believe Hadewijch was evicted from her community and perhaps imprisoned for her expression of faith and belief. Other letters indicate she lived her last years homeless, serving the sick and dying in hospitals where she could care for those in need, sleep in a corner when possible, and pray in a chapel.
Collect for Hadewijch
Loving God, we thank you this day for the ministry and mystical experiences of your servant Hedewijch. Grant that we might each discover a language of love to speak to you, and to our brothers and sisters in faith. Give us grace to speak of love and out of love daily, to you and to the world, not counting the cost or considering the risks of speaking and loving boldly, knowing that your love perfects our imperfections, and that mercy and grace cover a multitude of shortcomings. Amen.
Juan Diego
Juan Diego is the first Roman Catholic indigenous American saint. Born in 1474 with the name “Cuauhtlatoatzin” (“the talking eagle”), Juan Diego was a member of the Chichimeca people and lived a simple life as a weaver, farmer, and laborer. When he was fifty years old, he and his wife were among the first indigenous people in the former Aztec Empire to accept baptism and convert to Christianity.
According to tradition, on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego rose before dawn to walk fifteen miles to mass. As he passed the hill of Tepeyac, he heard a woman’s voice call him to the top of the hill. There, he saw a beautiful young woman dressed like an Aztec princess. She said she was the Virgin Mary and asked him to tell the Bishop of Tepeyac to build a church on that site in her honor.
The bishop was skeptical of Juan Diego and demanded proof of the Lady’s identity. On December 12, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac and asked the Virgin Mary for proof. She told him to climb the hill and to pick the flowers that he would find in bloom. He obeyed, and although it was wintertime, he found roses blooming in the frozen soil. He gathered them in his tilma (cloak) and took them to the bishop. When Juan Diego opened his tilma, dozens of roses fell out. An image of Mary, imprinted on the inside of his cloak, became visible. Having received this proof, the bishop ordered that a church be built on Tepeyac in honor of the Virgin and thousands converted to Christianity.
This was the first Marian apparition in the New World. Additionally, Mary spoke to Juan Diego in Nahua, the Aztec mother tongue. The familiar language and comforting words of Our Lady still prompt thousands of converts to declare their faith in Jesus and love for Mary; this devotion can be seen and felt throughout much of Latin America, including roadside shrines and icons in bodegas, restaurants, and households from South Texas to Tierra Del Fuego.
Juan Diego died on May 30, 1548, at the age of seventy-four and was buried in the first chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Pope John Paul II praised Juan Diego for his simple faith and offered him as a model of humility for all Christians. On May 6, 1990, Juan Diego was beatified by Pope John Paul II in the Basilica of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, Mexico City.
Collect for Juan Diego
Almighty God, you love the least of us and reveal your glor y and blessings to those simple and seeking souls who desire the warmth and vision only you can provide.We thank you for the life and ministry of Juan Diego, who, inspired by a vision of The Blessed Virgin, helped to spread the story of Jesus’ redeeming love throughout his community and into the New World. For the beauty of roses in winter, for comforting words in our own tongue, and the grace to spread the life-changing message of the Gospel, we thank you. Amen.
Vote!
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186 comments on “Hadewijch vs. Juan Diego”
If you've seen Juan, you've seen the Mother!
(i can't believe i just said that)
I feel like a Democrat in the 1980's. No one that I have voted for has won yet. I fear that Hadewijch will meet the same fate. I sense that my bias toward mysticism is not shared. But there are all kinds of saints
and, well, I love 'em all!
I'm in the same situation. At least my pick for ultimate winner isn't in jeopardy (yet!).
Thank you Deborah for providing an actual quote from Hadewijch. Was difficult choosing today and planned to google for some insight through her writings. Have cast my vote in her favor plus will try to learn more about her writing as well in the spirit of LM.
I'm a little concerned about the group favoritism of modern day supposed saints. Guess I need to watch St. Vincent again and see how Bill Murray would fare.
This is one of the hardest:
I AM SO CONFLICTED. i mean as an image maker, and someone who chose Veronica when I was baptised, yes Diego, of course--plus the indigeiious voices problem. But as someone who has been deeply moved by medevial female mystics, plus--she wrote this You who want
knowledge,
seek the Oneness
within.
There you
will find
the clear mirror
already waiting.
Really tough choice today! I'd like to vote for both!
When we lived in Belgium, I became aware of the beguines and their wonderful spiritual writings and their lives. On entering a beguinage, even though no beguines are now present, one can still feel the quiet and peace with which their offerings of prayer permeate the atmosphere. Hadewijch, especially for new ways to express our love of God.
Community enclosure in Amsterdam and buildings in Brugge--beautiful.
Juan Diego was instrumental in one of the recurring explosions into history of the feminine face of God. It is important that the encounter he had with Our Lady was at the site where a pre-Christian, indigenous goddess was worshipped. Juan Diego's baptism also served to "baptize" that feminine deity, witnessing to the fact that God was already known and worshipped in that place before the Spanish Christianized it. A vote for Juan Diego, then, is a statement about recognizing God's feminine face, and recognizing that God is already present before missionaries.
According to Virgilio Elizondo, foremost Mexican-American RC theologian from his book "Guadalupe, Mother of the New Creation" "Juan Diego was biologically fully Indian, but culturally he was a fledgling mestizo, for he was on the way to church to learn about the new religion that the Spaniards had brought...From being a respected wise man of his people, he would become a silent learner. This would make him a despised foreigner among his own people and a mere "mission Indian" for the Spaniards. Never and nowhere would he ever again experience being a full and integral human being; never again would he have a true home. He would be a "coconut": brown on the outside, white on the inside...By accepting the new religion, Juan Diego accepted being marginated from his own people while not being accepted as a full and mature human being by those of the new religion. I am sure some of his people looked upon him, as most mestizos have been looked upon by their mother cultures, as a traitor."
Thank you for this! We always perceive people through the lens of our own times and experiences. We forget the price these men and women paid. Both Hadewijch and Juan Diego had experiences which separated them from the people of their historical time. Neither were accepted as 'full and integral human beings." Need to ponder this all a bit more to make a choice!
Thanks, Anthony. I had studied most of this, but you brought it back together for me. "La Virgen" has a similar mixed heritage in Mexico & elsewhere & is understood both as the ealy Aztecc princess speaking for the new Christian religion but also as the Aztec princess coopted by Christia missionaryies to persuade & Christianize the "natives." Rich & varied heritages indeed. Fially, I had to vote for Hadewijch, mostly because I've just read a novel about Beguines.
What's the name of the book,please? Thanks for mentioning it!
Thank you, Anthony! Fr. Anthony's new/old parish in Oxnard California, All Saints (Todos los Santos), serves a community of Hispanics who have been here for generations. But it also serves a community of farmworkers, who have come from the mountains of Mexico to pick our strawberries and lemons and avocados. These native peoples do not speak English. They also do not speak Spanish. They are mistreated by their spanish speaking neighbors and classmates, are neglected and discriminated against by courts, schools and medical providers because no one speaks their language or can access their culture. The term "oaxaqita" (native of Oaxaca state in Mexico) is regarded as a racial epithet and is banned in the Oxnard School District. The color of these indigenous peoples skins is also a subject of taunting and discrimination among non-Anglo residents.
La Señora de Guadalupe is a turning point because not only as others have said, she is a brown skinned virgin; but even more important, her Son is brown skinned, too!
http://people.bu.edu/dklepper/RN307/hadewijch.html
I am delighted to meet Hadewijch. I am drawn to her personal experience of love for Jesus.
Bill Sier's comment helped solidify my thoughts. Juan Diego was a messenger and I am a communicator—so this really hurts—but Hadewijch and her selfless devotion and actions have won my vote!
This is my first venture into Lent Madness, and perhaps I am not yet into its spirit, or moved by the Spirit. In any event, Ms. Hadewijch's position seems tenuous at best. From the brief description provided, the only knowledge of this woman comes from her own writing in the form of letters and poems. Visions are also mentioned, but they, too, presumably come to us from her written descriptions of them. In short, we have a person who has written herself into sainthood. Is there evidence that Ms. Hadewijch was more saintly than other Beguines? More saintly than countless nuns and other religious of her era? Does one earn beatification by declaring one's love of God and the Trinity? Pity the illiterate!
Our knowledge of many of the saints, the Apostles, the Fathers (and a few Mothers) of the church, comes from their writings or the writings of others about them. The written word, visual arts, and music are our only ways of communication with people of other times and places. Virtually everyone has "earned beatification by declaring one's love of God and the Trinity"! The illiterate ones have done so through the writings of others. So that is how we know Hadewijch.
Hear, hear, Lucy! The same could be said of the Virgin Mary, or of Juan Diego for that matter. I voted for Hadewijch.
This was very hard. Juan Diego's faith plus the fact that the miracle of the cloak and roses happened on my birthday almost tipped the scale in his favor. I love knowing about him and the vision of the brown-skinned Virgin and the beautiful roses will sustain me through the rest of this endless winter here in the Northeast. But Hadewijch's poetry, her mysticism, combined with her life of service to the poor and ill sealed the deal for me.
Hadewijch. Because, as Laurie Brock wrote, "Her poetry brought a holy sensuality to the usually dry theological writing of the time, which WERE ALSO RIFE WITH SUPERSTITION AND THREATS OF ETERNAL DAMNATION." That seems so very appropriate in today's world.
I am drawn to her sensuality too. And not into the damnation thing of that time.... ( and often now)
Roses in winter...don't we need them this snowy winter? Juan Diego got my vote!
Ditto.
St Hadewijch is my hero - serving faithfully and sacrificially into old age! As an old person, a 'silver surfer', she has my vote!
Seems to me that love was the motivating emotion for both these saints but Juan's impact, a lasting one to this day tipped the scale for me
Being a professional horticulturist, my vote goes to Juan Diego - especially so because he is to this day still representing his 'simple faith'.
Todd and I are in agreement! I'm sure that Hadewijche's copy of Song of Solomon was well thumbed. What an image.
GO JUAN!!
I find Hadewijch's expressions of love of God and Jesus hard to relate to. Guess
I need to read more of her writings.
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is looking down on me from the wall as I vote--for Juan, of course.
Hadewijch wins my heart!
Hadewijch it is. I admire Juan Diego and appreciate his actions in spreading the Good News in the New World. We all need to hear the words of redemption and salvation in our own language, and Juan Diego shows the way. However, Love is the universal language, and Hadewijch wasn't afraid to proclaim her love for God, even in ways that cost her the comfort of family and friends. To me, she stands as an example to all of us to boldly proclaim our love of God, despite the cost.
I embrace the Faith and profound reasoning of seven year old Martin. He believes Juan saw the Virgin, he believes in the dozens of roses blooming in wintertime. It served as proof for the building of a Church.
Thank you, Martin. I'll vote for St Juan Diego too!
The indigenous guy all the way. Go Diego ... and your native name.
Reading again the story of Juan Diego I cried again as I always do when I encounter God's love in stories such as these.
I wish I could vote for both of them (note to SEC-I didn't). I went with Juan Diego because we need more non-European saints!
These last two days have been difficult. Firstly, I went with Swithun, being a Hampshire hog. Although I knew more about Molly's brother, Joseph, than I did her.
Secondly, I went with Hadewijch having visited the Beguinage, in Brugge, Belgium. But I have also been to Tepeyac.
Hadewijch. She only had her earthly experiences and language to describe the indescribable unitive love of God. She remained faithful to her experience.