Encounters with Medieval Women: Mary of Egypt
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Mary of the Desert
I think what's striking about this story by comparison with many other lives of female saints from the Middle Ages that had a similar kind of popularity is that it's a very kindly story in a way. This is a woman who commits terrible sin and she does go through torments but she finds redemption and she's not completely fallen. She's able to transition from her life of sin into this path of asceticism and to become a figure of great authority. And there's something really comforting about the idea that an audience in the Middle Ages would be presented with an image of a woman like that that wasn't so explicitly misogynistic. I love that.
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