I forgot the name of an interesting saint — help me find her again!

August 24, 2023 8:53 PM

I like reading about obscure, female saints. Ideally they’re martyrs and/or some kind of mystic too. A few weeks ago I found a new Saint to read about. I left open a bunch of tabs, planning to go back to them, but an ill-timed browser crash destroyed that dream. I’d like to find her story again. (More inside)

Here’s what I remember:

—her name was something with an M and had a complicated olde-timey spelling, like Maergy.

—she was from around the 12-14th centuries, early Catholic church times.

—she wrote considerably and was a proto-feminist leader. Her work of note was something like ‘the 14 orders.’ This major work also had an olde-timey name like maybe ‘the 14 orers.’

—usually I find martyrs the most interesting but I don’t think she was one.

—she is not Hildegard of Bingen.

—this….may not be helpful but it’s all I got: her story and devotional style reminded me of Franny of ‘franny and Zooey.’
(Which is why I put my phone down and wandered off to read and kicked off the events that led me to this question.)

Help me metafilter! I didn’t dream her up but who was she?

And also if you know any other really deep-cut spooky saints….I’m listening

posted by meowmeowdream to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I would imagine you could locate her on this list, female saints whose name starts with M, with attendant centuries.

www.catholic.org/saints/female.php?letter=M
posted by jcworth at 9:07 PM on August 24, 2023

Best answer: Margery Kempe?
posted by shadygrove at 9:12 PM on August 24, 2023

I'm pretty sure this isn't she, but Mechthilde of Hackeborn had a voice so lovely, Jesus had a special pet name for her. (That tone of that Wikipedia entry is sort of overwrought, but fun)
posted by Baethan at 9:22 PM on August 24, 2023

Best answer: Looks like you got an answer, but for future posterity you can serarch your browsers history on most modern browsers for keywords as well as limited to a specific time.
posted by chasles at 4:52 AM on August 25, 2023

If you're interested in a somewhat more recent mystical and arguably proto-feminist non-saint, I'd suggest Margaret Cavendish.

Speaking directly to your request for other saints of interest, Saint Thecla is an old family favorite. Also not a martyr! "While in the arena, she baptized herself by throwing herself into a nearby lake full of aggressive seals, who were all killed by lightning before they could devour her."
posted by implied_otter at 4:59 AM on August 25, 2023

Get thee to Caroline Walker Bynum's books! Start with Holy Feast, Holy Fast. She's a great scholar and a very accessible writer.
posted by PussKillian at 6:17 AM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

I really liked this essay about Margery Kempe.
posted by babelfish at 7:35 AM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: This is so lovely, thank you all!! So much to read and think about!

I am fairly certain the Margery Kempe is the answer but (as wisely suggested by chasles) I am going to double check my browsing history and I have no idea why I didn’t start there 😭

Thank you all again!
posted by meowmeowdream at 3:05 PM on August 25, 2023

Just in case, linking to Marguerite Porete.
posted by sukeban at 4:34 AM on August 26, 2023

For your spooky saints, we just passed the feast day of Saint Guinefort (22 Aug). Regional French folk saint, Guinefort was a greyhound unjustly accused of attacking an infant.

They're all good dogs, Bront.
posted by mon-ma-tron at 10:17 AM on August 26, 2023