Female Christian Mystics

WHS connected with Female Christian Mystics. A Mystic is “a person who has a direct experience of the sacred, unmediated by conventional religious rituals or intermediaries". Such persons should be widely recognized as such preferably by having been Canonised or Beatified (or be on the road for the latter). Excluding persons already having their own “Connection” e.g Joan of Arc.

Religion and Belief

Connected Sites

Site Rationale Link
Assisi Saint Clare was born in Assisi. "As a teen, she heard Francis preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio at Assisi. Inspired by his words and knowing that marriage was rapidly approaching, Clare went to Francis and asked him to help her to live after the manner of the Gospel." Clare and her sister Agnes "remained with the Benedictines until a small dwelling was built for them next to the church of San Damiano, which Francis had repaired some years earlier. (...) Other women joined the sisters (...) San Damiano became the centre of Clare's new religious order, which was known in her lifetime as the "Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano". (...) By 1263, just ten years after Clare's death, the order had become known as the Order of Saint Clare."
Auschwitz Birkenau Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - a.k.a Edith Stein (1891-1942). Murdered in a gas chamber there as being of Jewish race albeit a converted Catholic.
Avila St Teresa of Avila (1515-82). Various sites within the core area of Avila.
Ephesus Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824, Beatified in 2004). Has been credited (controversially) with identifying the Site of the House of Virgin Mary when recounting her “visions”.. She “had never been to Ephesus, and indeed the city had not yet been excavated; but visions contained in The Life of The Blessed Virgin Mary were used during the discovery of the House of the Virgin Mary, the Blessed Virgin's supposed home before her Assumption, located on a hill near Ephesus, as described in the book “Mary's House”. In 1881 a French priest, the Abbé Julien Gouyet, used Emmerich's book to search for the house in Ephesus and found it based on the descriptions.” This location is included as location 4 within the Ephesus inscription although it is 7kms away. In the AB evaluation ICOMOS stated that “The House of Virgin Mary continues as a pilgrimage site, but the degree of authenticity is unclear. and wanted it excluded together with Crit vi. Neither happened!
Ferrara Saint Catherine of Bologna "was raised at Niccolo III's court as a lady-in-waiting to his wife Parisina Malatesta and became lifelong friends with his natural daughter Margherita d'Este (...) In 1426, (...) Catherine left court and joined a lay community of beguines (...) In 1431 the beguine house was converted into the Observant Poor Clare convent of Corpus Domini, which grew from 12 women in 1431 to 144 women by the end of the century. Catherine lived at Corpus Domini, Ferrara most of her life from 1431 to 1456, serving as Mistress of Novices. She was a model of piety and reported experiencing miracles and several visions of Christ, the Virgin Mary, Thomas Becket, and Joseph, as well as future events, such as the fall of Constantinople in 1453."
Paris, Banks of the Seine Marguerite Porete, a French-speaking mystic of the 13th and 14th century, was "burnt at the stake for heresy [at the Place de Grève] in Paris in 1310 after a lengthy trial".
Rome (St) Catherine of Siena (1347-80). The Church of Sta Maria sopra Minerva - “Saint Catherine of Siena is buried here (except her head, which is in the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena). Beyond the sacristy, the room where she died in 1380 was reconstructed here by Antonio Barberini in 1637”
Siena (St) Catherine of Siena (1347-80). Her head and right thumb are in the Basilica San Domenico.
Upper Middle Rhine Valley (St) Hildegarde of Bingen (1098-1179). She founded the monastery of Eibingen in 1165 which lies within the boundaries of the WHS. “Eibingen preserves the treasure of relics assembled by Hildegard, including the heads of Saint Gudula, Saint Bertha of Bingen, Saint Valerian, and Saint Wipert besides one arm of Saint Rupert of Bingen and Hildegard's own remains.” (Wiki).
Val d'Orcia In the year 1377, the stay at the Rocca di Tentennano of Saint Catherine of Siena is documented. She came here to reconcile the two branches of the Salimbeni family who were fighting each other relentlessly in a fratricidal struggle. The Saint remained a guest at the Rocca where, according to legend, she miraculously received the gift of writing: upon awakening from a sleep, she took the pen in her hand and began to work on the Dialogo della Beata Provvidenza, one of her most important compositions.

Suggestions?

Do you know of another WHS we could connect to Female Christian Mystics?

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A connection should:

  1. Not be "self evident"
  2. Link at least 3 different sites
  3. Not duplicate or merely subdivide the "Category" assignment already identified on this site.
  4. Add some knowledge or insight (whether significant or trivial!) about WHS for the users of this site
  5. Be explained, with reference to a source