Jenna Landry
The Story written by Jacques de Vitry about The Life of Mary of Oigines is a biography of woman living in a monastery. Jacques de Vitry was monk living under the Rule of St. Augustine who had heard of Mary of Oigines because she had lived in a nearby house of Beguines, which was an order of women who took no formal vows but dedicated their lives to piety and devotion. These women took care of the sick and preformed other duties around the area. According to Jacque, Mary lived a very passionate life devoted to Christ and was compared to other ascetics like Antony and Simeon the Stylite. Each short chapter written by Jacque detailed a different act of pious devotion to God but more specifically Jesus. Mary is described as someone who wanted to stay away from crowds and pray intently. However, there are many chapters that discuss her “greater flood of tears, sighs and sobs” (406) and “a constant outburst of tears [that] gushed forth from her eyes both day and night and ran down her check and made the church floor all muddy” (406). She had many violent outbursts of emotion as her way of showing her love for Christ while she prayed. Chapter 22 discussed her cutting out a large piece of flesh and buried it in the ground after she was gravely ill and was forced to eat meat and drink wine. By cutting out her skin she was repenting because she had felt so guilty for eating the meat and drinking the wine while she was sick. After this act she was referred to likes of Antony and Simeon because she lived with worms in her body like they did after committing acts of asceticism over the body. The later chapters mention that after her death “that she would fly up to heaven without going to Purgatory” (407) because she lived her life so perfectly on earth. Mary is also described to have visions of Jesus and angels during the sacrament of Communion and having close encounters of Jesus like holding him like a baby.
The Life of Mary of Oignie represents as very pious woman who would do anything she needed in order to feel close to God. Her acts were seen as extremely ascetic even in her own time. However, she seemed to be put upon a pedestal by her biographer especially when he said that she passed Purgatory and went straight up into heaven. In his eyes, she lived her life in a perfectly pious way. Her outbursts were necessary for her and she did so to better communicate with God. Some people did not understand her need for emotional outbursts, like the Priest who rebuked her for crying too much then faced the wrath of God after Mary prayed to him. Because of her emotional ways of praying, Mary was able to be in very intimate relationship with Jesus in seeing him during the Eucharist and even holding Jesus like a baby. According to Jacques, Mary was vision like a mother figure to Jesus because she cared for him like her own child and doing anything to remain in his presence.
The Story written by Jacques de Vitry about The Life of Mary of Oigines is a biography of woman living in a monastery. Jacques de Vitry was monk living under the Rule of St. Augustine who had heard of Mary of Oigines because she had lived in a nearby house of Beguines, which was an order of women who took no formal vows but dedicated their lives to piety and devotion. These women took care of the sick and preformed other duties around the area. According to Jacque, Mary lived a very passionate life devoted to Christ and was compared to other ascetics like Antony and Simeon the Stylite. Each short chapter written by Jacque detailed a different act of pious devotion to God but more specifically Jesus. Mary is described as someone who wanted to stay away from crowds and pray intently. However, there are many chapters that discuss her “greater flood of tears, sighs and sobs” (406) and “a constant outburst of tears [that] gushed forth from her eyes both day and night and ran down her check and made the church floor all muddy” (406). She had many violent outbursts of emotion as her way of showing her love for Christ while she prayed. Chapter 22 discussed her cutting out a large piece of flesh and buried it in the ground after she was gravely ill and was forced to eat meat and drink wine. By cutting out her skin she was repenting because she had felt so guilty for eating the meat and drinking the wine while she was sick. After this act she was referred to likes of Antony and Simeon because she lived with worms in her body like they did after committing acts of asceticism over the body. The later chapters mention that after her death “that she would fly up to heaven without going to Purgatory” (407) because she lived her life so perfectly on earth. Mary is also described to have visions of Jesus and angels during the sacrament of Communion and having close encounters of Jesus like holding him like a baby.
The Life of Mary of Oignie represents as very pious woman who would do anything she needed in order to feel close to God. Her acts were seen as extremely ascetic even in her own time. However, she seemed to be put upon a pedestal by her biographer especially when he said that she passed Purgatory and went straight up into heaven. In his eyes, she lived her life in a perfectly pious way. Her outbursts were necessary for her and she did so to better communicate with God. Some people did not understand her need for emotional outbursts, like the Priest who rebuked her for crying too much then faced the wrath of God after Mary prayed to him. Because of her emotional ways of praying, Mary was able to be in very intimate relationship with Jesus in seeing him during the Eucharist and even holding Jesus like a baby. According to Jacques, Mary was vision like a mother figure to Jesus because she cared for him like her own child and doing anything to remain in his presence.