I was raised by a lapsed Catholic, so most of my early experiences of that religion came from sleeping under a picture of handsome Jesus at my grandmother’s house and answering the rhetorical question, “Is the Pope Catholic?” incorrectly. In the past few years, I’ve developed a lot of curiosity about Judaism and its traditions (I highly recommend The Story of the Jews by Simon Schama, both parts, if you are, too). Perhaps because the United States is so aggressively Christian, the idea of digging into my own religio-cultural background has not appealed to me nearly as much.
I picked up The Big Book of Women Saints, by Sarah Gallick, for research into a story I am working on, not thinking I would read it from front page to last. The book, published in 2007, is aimed at Catholic readers, with each saint or blessed described, often in just one page, usually on their feast days. There is a woman for each day of the year, and a description of their “genius” – what is inspiring about them – and a Bible quote for reflection, often one associated with the woman or related to her particular suffering.
And there is a lot of suffering here. Because Gallick’s book is intended for people of faith, she shows some skepticism about some of the legends about the early saints (slaying dragons, emerging from a bonfire unscathed), but the book includes many documented historical events, like torture of Christians during the Boxer Rebellion, the Reign of Terror, and – though nothing in comparison to the atrocities suffered by Jewish people – the Holocaust. In this way, it presents a fascinatingly random sampling of historical moments, if you read it from January 1 to December 31 – featuring women having a hard time. Highly relatable, even if you’re not Catholic.
July 28, 2020