How the Church Understands and Upholds the Rights of Women, Third Article [pp. 366-380]

the Rights of Women.37
Ventura, in his admirable work on
Woman, which has become, as it were,
a text-book for all those who are
truly interested in the theme and
history of woman's greatness, draws
attention to the fact that it was lnder the reign of Edward the Confessor- who is credited by prejudicial historians witlh " womanly " weakness,
and who, on the contrary, was such
an irrefragable proof of what the
grave and wise, influence of good
women can do-that the equality of
all men before the law was first recognized as a principle. Edward's
niece, Margaret, the wife of Malcolm,
King of Scotland, was also a most
eminent and influential princess.
Her husband, whose confidence in
her was unbounded, deferred to her
in every particular of state government, whether internal or external,
secular or religious. Their children's
education he left entirely in her
hands, and, while she carefully surrounded them with masters well
versed in all the knowledge then attainable. she was no less solicitous
for the improvement of the nation.
Butler says of her: "She labored most
successfully to polish and civilize the
Scottish nation, to encourage among
the people the useful and polite arts,
and to inspire them with a love of
the sciences.... By her extensive alms, insolvent debtors were released, and decayed families restored,
and foreign nations, especially the
English, recovered their captives.
She was solicitous to ransom those
especially who fell into the hands of
harsh masters. She also erected hospitals for poor strangers. "Her
daughter Maud, who was the first
wife of Henry I. of England, followed
in her footsteps, and was highly revered, both during her life and after her
death, by the two nations to which
her birth and marriage linked her.
Two great hospitals in London, that
of Christ Church, Aldgate, and of
St. Giles in the Fields, are due to her
munificence and foresight.
We have no space to mention
many of the Anglo-Saxon princesses
who, either on the throne or in the
cloister, swayed great political issues
and protected learning while they
shielded the virtue of their sex. We
must leave the Island of Saints for
other kingdoms whose queens were
conspicuous not only in procuring the
conversion of these realms to Christianity, but also in the territorial aggrandizement and material prosperity of the countries they governed.
Bridget, Queen of Sweden, the famous author of the most interesting
revelations ever written, was no less
remarkable personally than fortunate
in her many and distinguished children. Warriors and crusaders, holy
wives and consecrated virgins, she offered them to God in every state,
and instructed each with particular
care. A pilgrimage to Rome in
days when the journey from Scandinavia to the south was more an exploration than a safe pastime was
bravely undertaken by her in her
widowhood, and the foundation of
her order and chief monastery at
Vatzen is certainly one of the most
boldly conceived systems known to
the world. The monasteries of this
order were double, and contained a
smaller number of monks and a
larger of nuns, divided by so strict an
enclosure that, although contiguous,
the communities never even saw
each other. In spiritual matters, the
monks held authority, but in temporal the nuns governed the double
house; and in fact the monks were
only attached to the foundation in a
secondary degree of importance, and
for the greater spiritual convenience
of the cloistered women. Such subordination goes far to show how the
pretended inferiority of woman is
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