Female Doctors of the Church

If you are like me, occasions like International Women’s Month bring to mind a vast number of women and the work they are about in the world: religious Sisters, moms, doctors, counselors, artists, professors, scientists, volunteers, mentors, coaches, aunties, grandmas, etc. One of these groups that has been of particular interest to me for a long time is the female Doctors of the Church.

Of the thirty-seven total Doctors of the Church throughout history, four are women. 

On one hand, I wonder if it is the hidden nature of women’s spiritual lives throughout history that explains why we have yet to discover (more than four) women whose gifts and depths of insight have significantly contributed to the spiritual life. On the other hand, the obvious invitation is to get to know these women and their unique lives that contributed so much to the faith of the Church, so that we can celebrate them and learn from them how to best embrace our own gifts and callings. As C.S. Lewis points out in his book Mere Christianity: “How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been: how gloriously different are the saints” (source). 

Saint Hildegard of Bingen // Germany 1098-1179 // Feast Day September 17

Saint Hildegard was a Benedictine Abbess. She is remembered for the vast number of talents and gifts she possessed and shared with her community and beyond. In her lifetime she was a poet, pharmacist, artist, mystic, theologian, and composer. In fact, she wrote the largest number of medieval chant compositions in existence. She was devoted to the Holy Spirit and received many visions from Jesus. Her primary writings are collected in Scivias, the title meaning, “know the ways of the Lord.” 

Toward the end of her life, Hildegard and her community faced deep suspicion after allowing a young man who had been excommunicated to be buried in the cemetery at their convent. Although he had received final Sacraments and reconciled with the Church, her community was placed under an interdict, where they were denied the Eucharist until just a few months before Hildegard’s death. Pope Benedict declared her a Doctor of the Church and canonized her as a Saint as recently as 2012, more than eight hundred years after her death.

Saint Catherine of Siena // Italy 1347-1380 // Feast Day April 29

Saint Catherine was a Dominican tertiary, who is remembered best for her role in mediating a conflict between popes on the brink of schism. For this reason, she is very often depicted with a ship on her shoulder in acknowledgment of her faithful support and intervention in preventing further conflict. In her lifetime she began a monastery, served the poor, traveled, promoted church reform, and wrote hundreds of letters, as well as a book, The Dialogue.

Saint Catherine experienced a mystical marriage to Christ at age twenty-one, at which point she received encouragement to move out of the isolation of her cell in her parents’ home and return to living life in community with her family. She began a life of caring for the poor and those who were ill. Additionally, she received the stigmata, although it was only visible to her. She died at the age of thirty-three and is the patroness of Europe and Italy, people persecuted for their faith, miscarriage, nurses, illness, and fire. 

Saint Teresa of Avila // Spain 1515-1582 // Feast Day October 15

Saint Teresa of Avila lived during a tumultuous time in the Church—the Reformation. Her story is unique because rather than extreme piety that drew her to the convent, it was her rebelliousness instead that motivated her family to send her to a convent. For years she lived among the community of women of marginal spiritual fervor or commitment. It wasn’t until years later that she began to receive visions of Jesus prompting her to become more and more His own, that she began to cooperate with the calling she had been given. With great opposition from the women in her community and beyond, Teresa began to reform the Carmelite order that had become so lackadaisical over the previous years. 

Teresa was supported in her efforts of Carmelite reform by her friend Saint John of the Cross, who wished to see much of the same in his male counterparts. She is remembered for her wit and good cheer—a quote widely attributed to her is “May God protect me from gloomy saints.” Icons of Teresa often include a heart and arrow, due to her heart pierced by the love of Christ, as well as a book representing her writings (The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle). She is the patroness of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers. 

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux // France 1873-1897 // Feast Day October 1

Saint Thérèse’s story is likely familiar to us for two reasons. First, she is the most modern of our group, and second, her invitation to the ‘“little way” can make the spiritual journey feel far less daunting. Following her sisters into religious life, Thérèse received a special dispensation from her bishop after receiving approval from the pope to enter the Carmelite convent at the young age of fifteen. There she lived a life of prayer, resolving to become a saint through her little way of small acts of love and sacrifices for others as her daily offering to Jesus. Instructed by her mother superior (her older sister Pauline) to collect her thoughts, Thérèse wrote The Story of a Soul, her autobiography.

Thérèse died at the age of twenty-four from tuberculosis. Knowing she was dying, Thérèse proclaimed from her deathbed that she intended to spend her time in heaven “doing good upon earth,” and that she would “let fall from heaven a shower of roses.” Although she entered a cloistered convent, Thérèse became the patroness of missions and florists because her simple and profound pursuit of Jesus reverberated through the Christian world through a daily giving of small acts of love.

Take heart

Often when we read stories of the lives of the Saints, it can feel daunting to hope that we could emulate the mystical or dramatic circumstances within which these individuals lived. But take heart! The good news is that we are not called to emulate their lives specifically, only to be inspired by them. The call for you and me is to bring our gifts and talents, our whole selves, to the time and place where we have been called and to trust God with the rest.

About Katie Cassady

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Katie Cassady is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. She is a wife and mom to three little girls in Denver, CO. Steeped in theological reflection, beekeeping and motherhood, she is appreciative of any and all wisdom she can glean from those living intentional lives of faith. Find out more about her here. Read all of Katie's posts here.