Female Martyrs in Medieval Christianity

Female Martyrs in Medieval Christianity

The persecutions of Christians by Rome under Marcus Arelius condemned many innocent souls simply because they no longer chose to soley worship the cult of the emperor. Instead they placed their faith in a new religion which stressed the importance of love, charity, hope, temperance, courage, and fortitude. Many of the Christians during the 2nd century AD, such as Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua and the marytrs at Lyons, upheld these christian virtues without regard for their lives. What was even more countercultural than disobeying Roman law by practicing christianity and martyrdom was the fact that many of these brave souls were women, a section of society at the time that held few rights and priveledges and were legal made inferior to men. The female Martyrs at Lyons and Sts. Pertetua and Felicitas therefore not only made a grave statement about the strength of their faith, but they also helped to mold christianity's later years.
Medieval Christianity was extremely conservative, treating women as second-class citizens in their community, and not willing to accept its female members as equals to its male members. In the Old Testament women were instructed by the word of God:
"Unto the woman he said,... thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee". Genesis 3:16
And in later biblical texts, namely those in the New Testament, offer similiar instruction for Christian women:
"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing" 1 Timothy 2:11-15.
Despite these limits opposed on women in the Christian community, Blandina at Lyons and Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas acted as is expected of men, if not more boldly, when faced with the doom of religious...