Which saints do women ask for intercession in Orthodoxy and Catholicism

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Anyone can pray to all the saints about anything, but there is a tradition - groups of people choose their patron. When it comes to women, it is usually the patroness. But the patrons are also divided among themselves by different women's, so to speak, groups - either in Orthodoxy or in Catholicism.

Paraskeva-Friday

One of the main patrons of women in the Russian village was considered Paraskeva, who was believed to be in charge of spinning and weaving - those two female occupations that are aimed not only at serving the family, but also at financial self-sufficiency. It was believed that this saint also forbids women to work on Fridays (one of the fast days) - at least, exactly what to spin and weave.

It was also forbidden to wash and comb your hair on Friday (probably too much like working with a floss). The same one that does not comply with the prohibitions, Paraskeva can punish: entangle her with yarn, blind and even peel off her skin. It is difficult to say which Saint Paraskeva, in the opinion of the villagers, checked the observance of Friday. Perhaps Paraskeva Polotskaya, daughter of the Vitebsk prince, who died in the thirteenth century. Perhaps one of the ancient martyrs.

In any case, scientists believe that almost the memory of the goddess Mokosh was superimposed on her image - especially considering that this goddess was associated with the earth, and on Friday men were forbidden to disturb the earth, that is, to plow.

Saint Anastasia

This saint was considered by Orthodox women to be a helper in all women's work, including - especially - pregnancy, childbirth and midwifery. They prayed to her to receive help, but sometimes the saint behaved, according to beliefs, as severely as Paraskeva: she made sure that women kept Sunday holy, not doing the usual female work on that day. That is, it was impossible not only to spin and weave, but also to wash clothes and cook: everything had to be done in advance. It was impossible to work on the day of veneration for Anastasia. It was also commemorated as Holy Week (where week is synonymous with Sunday).

It is interesting that the official biography does not tie Anastasia to women and female labor in any way. A Roman woman, the daughter of a secret Christian woman, a disciple of Saint Chrysogonus, Anastasia secretly visited the Christians thrown into prison, bringing them food and words of comfort and bandaging their wounds (by the way, healers in the villages also prayed to Anastasia as the patroness of healing). When Chrysogonus was executed, Anastasia went on a journey, healing Christians in different parts of the world. Finally, she was captured, tortured and burned at the stake.

Myrrh-Bearing Wives

Mary Magdalene and the women who came with her to the Holy Sepulcher are called myrrh-bearing wives. It was to Magdalene that the resurrected Christ appeared first and asked everyone to inform about his resurrection. A whole festive week is dedicated to the Myrrh-Bearing Wives; in the south of Russia it was called Margoskina. According to the Russian tradition, women celebrated these days as their own and made fancy - that is, they confirmed their friendship, just as men fraternized. In addition, in the south of Russia, Cossack women these days lived “topsy-turvy” - they left the farm to their husbands and went to taverns, where they were usually ordered to go.

In Margoska week, not a single Kuban Cossack dared to go to a tavern - women considered it fully entitled to ridicule him, offend or even reward him with slaps. Cossacks these days enjoyed their freedom more than really got drunk: they danced, sang fervent (aggressive, offensive or obscene) songs and, like in the north, sisters with each other. At the end of the holidays, the wives, as if nothing had happened, returned to their normal lives. Margoskina week was seen by them as legal leave and a way to let off steam for the year ahead.

According to legend, one of the myrrh-bearers, Mary Magdalene, prayed in Catholicism, unfaithful wives, asking for her intercession before Christ. It was believed that the Mother of God - who was asked for intercession of any other kind - was ashamed to ask for this.

Saint Walpurga

Due to the fact that, according to legends, on the night of the feast of St. Walpurga, witches walk on sabbaths, many also think that Walpurga was a witch. But this is the most ordinary Catholic saint, during her lifetime - an Englishwoman from a noble family. According to the official biography, from eleven to thirty-seven years old, she studied at the monastery and the Bible, and theology, so that she could preach when she ceased to be interesting to men due to her age.

On a mission, she went to then pagan Germany, where her two brothers had already preached. She became the abbess of a bisexual monastery (then such existed, although, of course, men and women lived separately) and very soon gained great influence. After her death, they began to ask for help Walpurga on the most important issues: so that pirates and a storm did not attack the sea, to prevent crop failure and hunger, but, most importantly, Walpurga began to be considered the patroness of midwives, healers, women in childbirth and the sick, especially women.

Saints Fevronia, Anna and Elizabeth; blessed laura

We are talking about the princess, the mother of the Mother of God and the wife of the prophet Zechariah. These different women became famous for long marriage and piety, therefore in Orthodoxy they pray to them, asking for peace, love and fidelity in the family. In fact, only women whose husbands practice domestic violence or cheat on them earnestly pray to them.

And the patroness of abandoned wives in Catholicism is the little Argentinean Laura Vicuña. She died at the age of twelve: she was beaten by her stepfather because of insistent requests to marry her mother, and not live in sin. Two years earlier, at a girls' school, Laura had tried to ask nuns to take her to a monastery, but she was refused; then the girl took a personal vow of poverty and chastity. Her stepfather killed her when Laura came home for the holidays.

Sometimes it seems that the most interesting saints lived in Ireland, and this is one of 6 reasons why Ireland was the coolest medieval kingdom.