We continue our alphabetical romp thorough the bracket a Mechtild of Magdeburg stares down Ninian (of Nowhere in Particular). Sorry, sometimes you have to add some alliteration where it doesn't exist. Nonetheless, it's a German medieval mystic vs. a Scottish missionary.
In yesterday's action, Hiram Kano took down Lucy of Syracuse 56% to 44% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen against Emily Cooper.
Vote now!
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Mechthild of Magdeburg was a medieval mystic, a groundbreaking poet and a self-described “unruly woman of God.” Honestly, what more do you need to know?
Mechthild was born around 1207 in northern Germany and had her first religious vision at age twelve. “The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw and knew I saw all things in God and God in all things,” she wrote.
Her visions continued daily, which led Mechthild to travel to the diocesan seat of Magdeburg in her twenties to join a group of Beguines there. Beguines were one of a number of religious orders springing up at the time. Many lived together in community, encouraging one another to imitate Jesus by living lives of prayer and service in the world, but they were not officially recognized by the pope and did not take formal vows.
In her forties, her confessor, a Dominican priest named Henry of Halle, encouraged her to write about her mystical encounters, which became the spiritual classic Das fließende Licht der Gottheit, or The Flowing Light of the Godhead. Notably, Mechthild composed the seven volumes of The Flowing Light of the Godhead in the Low German spoken in Magdeburg at the time, rather than in the usual Latin of the Church. Hundreds of years before Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, Mechthild was one of the first European Christians to popularize the language of the people as language able to communicate the sacred.
The books include accounts of her experiences, revelations of the divine, devotional poems, and criticisms of church corruption so fiery that there were calls to burn her books. Some scholars believe her descriptions of heaven, hell, and purgatory may have influenced Dante’s Divine Comedy. In one of her best-known poems, Mechthild wrote: “A fish in water does not drown. A bird in the air does not plummet. Gold in fire does not perish. Rather, it gets its purity and its radiant color there. God has created all creatures to live according to their nature. How, then, am I to resist my nature? I must go from all things to God.”
Elderly and blind, Mechthild dictated the seventh and final book of The Flowing Light of the Godhead while living among a group of Cistercian sisters in Helfta, near Eisleben. It’s unclear if she officially joined the order or simply lived in their care in her final years. She died sometime between 1282 and 1294, and her writing was largely forgotten until hundreds of pages were found hidden in a Swiss monastery in 1860.
Mechthild is venerated as “blessed” in the Catholic Diocese of Magdeburg and remembered on different days in several Christian traditions, including in the Catholic and Episcopal churches.
Collect for Mechthild of Magdeburg
Draw the souls of your people into your love, O God, that like your servant Mechthild, we may yearn to be fully yours, for you know us better than we can know ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen.
Ninian
Ninian was the first missionary to Scotland and spread the gospel throughout the fourth century. The Venerable Bede records stories of a holy man named Ninian who came to the Southern Picts and brought them back to Christianity. Bede reports that Ninian had been trained in Rome and made his base of operations at a place in Whithorn—establishing the diocese of Galloway. The locals called the place Candida Casa, because the church was built of white stone, instead of wood, like most other British churches were at the time, and they were extremely impressed.
Ninian also established a monastery there, which became a major site of industry and pilgrimage. St. Aelred of Rievaulx has a slightly different story, and reports that Ninian was not a foreign missionary, but a local—the son of a Christian British chief, who traveled to Rome to be ordained and educated, and came home via Gaul, befriending Martin of Tours along the way.
Either way, Ninian’s effects are hard to deny. The lowlands of Scotland are filled with sites and churches dedicated to him. The missionary work he undertook was continued by Columba, Patrick, Bridget, and other Celtic saints. The diocese of Galloway still calls itself Candida Casa in honor of St. Ninian, and even though the saint’s story has faded into the mists of history, his impact has not.
Collect for Ninian
O God, by the preaching of your blessed servant and bishop Ninian you caused the light of the Gospel to shine in the land of Britain: Grant, we pray, that having his life and labors in remembrance we may show our thankfulness by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
39 comments on “Mechthild of Magdeburg vs. Ninian”
Since my German is sadly unskilled
I choose wordplay to honor Mechthild:
Know when you begin
The Beguine it’s a sin
Not to finish those volumes she filled.
Voting for this: "God has created all creatures to live according to their nature. How, then, am I to resist my nature? I must go from all things to God."
John Cabot, I saw what you did. (And now that song is living in my mind rent-free.)
These pairings seem to be unfair to one candidate or the other. A match up between Hiram Kano and Emily Cooper would have been a fair fight, as would a contest between the ancient martyrs Felicity and Lucy. Irenaus and Athanasius would be worthy opponents - and the list goes on. It seems that someone is handicapped each day.
I’m involving my third graders. I read the biographies and let them vote. They did not like Ninian. We shall see….
Please Update the Bracket.
The first vote I have really agonised over. Surprised to find myself voting against a beloved Scottish saint for the unruly woman of God - but how can I not aspire to be the same.
Neck and neck! I really like them both, but my roots are in the lowlands of Scotland, so I have to go with Ninian.
Besides, I do believe he's mentioned by Flute (playing Thisby in the play within the play) in "A Midsummer Night's Dream--"I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb!" (Act III, Scene 1)
A fish will not drown in the water;
A bird on the wing does not falter.
Bright gold is refined
Just as God has designed,
E’en so God inspired and taught her.
Mechthild had me at "unruly woman of God." 🙂 But that she was also "one of the first European Christians to popularize the language of the people as language able to communicate the sacred" sealed the deal for me. Thank you, Mechthild!
I had to vote for the “unruly woman of God”.
I’m always going to vote for an “unruly woman of God”.
I've always loved the name of Mechtild of Magdeburg, so I'm excited to vote for her as a mystic and fiery poet. In this summary, she also seems to celebrate the revelation of God in Creation. Makes me want to read her poems!
Having Scots ancestry makes it particularly difficult to betray my roots and vote for Mechthild, but the words “unruly woman of God” spoke to me, and perhaps will speak to other women voting here today. I, too, am a writer, of journals and poetry. Her bravery to write criticism about the church, exposing corruption, is relevant to today’s issues of the same: sexual abuse by Priests and other clergy, the treatment of Indigenous people, Bishops who have “pocketed” money and racked up wealth in their respective Dioceses… We need more people like Mechthild, that “unruly woman of God” to expose the perpetrators (religious AND political) and stop their corruption.
Gotta go with the unruly woman of God!
I do so appreciate an “unruly woman of God,” but today my vote goes to Ninian in honor of what it must have taken to live out God’s work in fourth century Scotland.
I'm unruly. Also of Scottish ancestry and destined to fade into obscurity. I'll go with with Scottish guy.
An "unruly woman of God," a poet and a brave teller of truth, writing and speaking in the vernacular -- what more do I need to know, indeed, and why has Mechthild not caught my attention before?
Mechthild, Mechthild, you take my vote and go for the halo!
(Fabulous write-up, Emily Miller!)
Mechthild's writing does sound very interesting, but .. but .. Ninian -> Scotland -> my vote .. so simple for me 🙂
Nevertheless, she persisted! I honor Ninian’s contributions to Scotland, but o to be an unruly woman of God! I have always liked the idea of the Beguines, laywomen, quasi-religious, gathering in communities. I wonder if Luther could have been possible without these independent forbears, doing theology in the vernacular. No wonder the Reformation started in Germany. Ausgezeichnet Schwester! Go Mechtild.
The world needs more Unruly Women of God, Troublesome Priests, and more committed Christians in general. I went with Ninian because of my Scottish heritage and his missionary success in what must have been challenging times and territory.
Unruly woman of God gets my vote!
While I am not a ground-breaking poet or a true mystic (although I lean toward the latter), I am a self-described unruly woman of God, so Mechthild of Magdeburg gets my vote today. My respects to St. Ninian for his work.
Attended a St. Ninian’s Church in Dundee, Scotland where our grandkids were baptized. How could I not vote for him and keep up the Celtic connection.
This was a hard one for me. I come from a Celtic ancestry, and I wanted to vote for Ninian. But the write up on Mechthild she is a self-described “unruly woman of God.” That really resonates with me.
All honor to Ninian, but today my vote goes to Mechthild of Madeburg, hands down! "An unruly woman" who wrote in the language "understanded of the people" - what's not to love, especially for an Episcopalian‽
John Cabot, brilliant as always, and you have provided the earworm of the day!
This blew me out of the water and made my decision so much easier on whom I was casting my vote. “A fish in water does not drown. A bird in the air does not plummet. Gold in fire does not perish. Rather, it gets its purity and its radiant color there. God has created all creatures to live according to their nature. How, then, am I to resist my nature? I must go from all things to God.”
I was captivated by Ninian, “a holy man” who shows up and leads the PICTs back to God. And, while the provenance of Ninian has faded, his impact hasn’t. His memory is now attached to the land. That’s just the best, he has my vote.
But I always love it when the works of an ancient person is discovered tucked in a book in some obscure library, so that has me curious about Mechthild of Magdeburg.
Great write-ups today!
Tough one today for sure, but after reading "God has created all creatures to live according to their nature"---THAT REALLY MADE ME THINK.
Answers many questions for me about creation.
My vote goes to Mechthild!