Holy Women of History – there are many. Some are familiar to us; some we’ve never heard of. However, even those we know perhaps seem rather odd: Christina the Astonishing – who floated out of her casket; early women martyrs who begged for torture and death; other women who might seem strange. Could it be that the lives of these saints were written most often by men?

It is clear that the tradition of saints often promotes and sustains a system of religious patriarchy. So what of the stories of holy women that come to us as part of our religious heritages? Are they shaped by the experience of women or are they presented with the values and virtues of patriarchy”

There are also global differences: Latin America claims saints who often shared characteristics of ancient indigenous deities. In some communities these saints are reclaimed as partners in the struggles of life.

In Africa the ancestors are extremely important. Thus a link between Christian “saints” and ancestors is important.

In Asia, a link must be made between the holy men and women of the Eastern traditions and the Christian saints. In Europe there are in places that boast of a thriving veneration of a variety of saints. In the countries where Orthodoxy is dominant there exists a whole different list of saints.

The tradition of saints often promotes and sustains a system of religious patriarchy. So are the stories of women that come to us as part of our religious heritage shaped by the experience of women or are they “pervaded with the values and virtues of …patriarchy”?

And who are these female saints? For Catholics they comprise less than 25% of total number of saints in the liturgical calendar. The least represented are married women, leading to a belief that to be female is a handicap, but to be a sexually active woman makes one almost incapable of the adjective “holy”.

This series will offer brief bios of a number of “holy women.” Some will be “recognized saints” in the Catholic calendar; some will be far from that list. However, we hope that these stories will help you connect women of today with the great crowd of women who have lived in the past.