Citation
The Impact of Marian Devotion on Christian Arab Women

Material Information

Title:
The Impact of Marian Devotion on Christian Arab Women
Series Title:
18th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Creator:
Petrelli, Brittany
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Center for Undergraduate Research
Humanities
Genre:
Conference papers and proceedings
poster ( aat )

Notes

Abstract:
Marian devotion in orthodox Christianity extends at least as far back as the fourth century AD. Since then, the lives of countless Christian Arab women have shown various ways in which women have used their devotion to Mary to be virgins and mothers, to gain control of their bodies and lives, and to gain government and church recognition for their works. The virginity which Mary embodies reaches beyond the contemporary physically-oriented definition of virginity to a spiritual endeavor of chastity and faithfulness. Women, such as Saints Bertanoba and Veronia, have attained what could be seen as a militancy in their commitment to sexual purity by choosing suicide over giving in to men's unchaste demands. Consecrated religious women have been inspired by Mary to establish religious congregations, to challenge hierarchies within the patriarchal church and society, and to act as mothers to those with no one to care for them. Married women, too, look to Mary in their prayers for fertility and in their efforts to raise a virtuous family. Mary has empowered Arab women and inspired them to take active roles in their own lives. ( en )
General Note:
Research Authors: Brittany Petrelli - University of Florida
General Note:
University Scholars Program
General Note:
Faculty Mentor: Sarra Tlili - Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Florida

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Source Institution:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
Copyright Brittany Petrelli. Permission granted to University of Florida to digitize and display this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.

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The Impact of Marian Devotion on Christian Arab Women Brittany Petrelli Dr. Sarra Tlili Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of Florida, Gainesville FL Resisting Social Propriety Every August, thousands of people visit the monastery of Dronka the final resting place of the Holy Family in their exile to Egypt on the Festival of the Virgin Mary. Outside the monastery, women are shameless in rubbing and kissing the breasts and womb of a statue of Mary, praying that they will find a husband or conceive. Being shameless seems a contradiction to religious piety, but through it, women find empowerment by putting their desires of motherhood ahead of social propriety. By trusting the intercession of Mary, these women are faithfully virgins seeking fulfillment from and in the paradox. A Militant Virginity Bertanoba was kidnapped and being forced to marry a king when, through a faithful prayer, she was empowered to live out her Christian faith in a seemingly militant way. She prayed asking God to accept her sacrifice so that, through her virginity, she might be a true disciple to the pure Virgin Saint Mary. Soon after, she threw herself into a fire and died prioritizing spiritual purity over life While it may seem that Bertanoba was a victim of idealization as she strove for the Virgin's supposed perfection, her sacrifice was an agentive choice by which she devoted her virginity both physically and faithfully to God. Manipulating the Hierarchy Once a nun had a vision of Mary asking her to build an altar in the convent's garden because it was a place she had rested with her son, Jesus, while in Egypt. The (male) patriarch who would have the final say in the matter did not give the nuns permission to build the altar After receiving a vision of Mary, he rescinded thus augmenting the nuns' decision making and land altering authority. Mary 's role as a mother (by her resting in Egypt to save her son's life) empowered women by giving them room to manipulate the hierarchy and negotiate more authority for themselves. A New Understanding of Virginity From 1980 to 2003, Olga Yaqob sought to care for those hurting from the wars in her native Iraq by providing food to the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and attending to prisoners. In 1993 she began the Love Your Neighbor movement to bring Christians and Muslims together to serve the poor in their community. In 1995, she established an Assyrian Catholic community the Marth Maryam Sisters Missionaries of the Virgin Mary. In doing so she also established within herself a paradox by taking a vow of chastity (assuming both physical and spiritual virginity) and by taking on the title "Mother." As Mother Olga, she became a spiritual mother for the women of her community as well as continuing to be an active spiritual motherhood to the poor of Iraq. Spiritual Motherhood Although in the modern context the word "virgin" is typically understood in a physical sense, for some premodern societies it also had clear spiritual connotations. In Catholic and Coptic theology, the Virgin Mary is undoubtedly a physical virgin and she acts as an example of and a segue to the spiritual virginity consisting of chastity and faithfulness. Virginal motherhood a seemingly paradoxical state which Mary the mother of Jesus, the Virgin embodies. At first glance it wo uld seem nothing short of miraculous to imitate such a woman. Yet since at least the fourth century AD, devotion to Mary as both virgin and mother has been present and has bee n a source of empowerment for Christian Arab women. Women have been able to gain control of their bodies and lives along with government and church recognition for their wo rks by simultaneously being virgins and mothers in imitation of Mary.