Martha, Mary, and Taming Dragons
According to my Episcopal church year calendar, today is the feast of Sts Mary and Martha of Bethany. Last week we heard the famous gospel that has traditionally pitted these two sisters against each other: the active vs the contemplative, the "woman's place" vs the place at Jesus' feet. But I just found out something today about St Martha that kind of blew my mind.
Traditional images, especially from medieval times, have St Martha depicted with a dragon at her feet. Why is that? Apparently it has to do with an entertaining story out of the "Golden Legend", a medieval manuscript containing stories of the saints (aka "hagiographies"):
"Martha then went to Tarascon, France, where a monster, the Tarasque, was a constant threat to the population. The Golden Legend describes it as a beast from Galicia; a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than a horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, that dwelt in a certain wood between Arles and Avignon. Holding a cross in her hand, Martha, sprinkled the beast with holy water. Placing her sash around its neck, she led the tamed dragon through the village."
This is one of those stories that I tend to think of as "holy fan fiction" - the saints who were Jesus' original followers went on from Palestine to Europe and had all kinds of supernatural adventures, conveniently dying in Spain or France and leaving their bones in a local church where pilgrims could visit when the Holy Land itself became too dangerous to visit. But that hasn't stopped us from romanticizing stories of say, St George and the Dragon. I grew up with a picture book of that story that I loved to read again and again. Why have I never heard about St Martha's dragon story in over 30 years then?
The whole "Mary vs Martha" thing is about two very different personality types, as well as types in ministry. It can be seen as introvert vs extrovert, active vs contemplative, traditional vs nontraditional female roles. Those can be valuable, but lately I've seen more and more sermons about how these compare and contrast modes miss the point, that both ways are important.
I've felt for years now that I'm more of a "Mary" than a "Martha". I'm much more likely to sit listening to teaching than take part in active, get-your-hands-dirty work. That hasn't stopped me from trying to be more of a Martha, especially in a parish that is full of "workers". My church is very active in outreach - we feed hungry and homeless people at least four days a week. The work seems never ending, especially when you get really close to that particular ministry as I have. I took on the position of volunteer coordinating, and at times I have felt very unqualified to work in such a ministry. I've thought at times that I don't have a practical bone in my body - I love to write and "theologize", but trying to do very practical things leaves me feeling incredibly stupid more often than not. I'm not a cook, and I know very little about running a kitchen. I've been asked questions by volunteers that I have not had the knowledge to answer, and the way they look at me seems to say "aren't you supposed to be a leader here?"
This is the kind of thing that has often made me feel very out of place as a woman. I am someone who is very against the whole traditional, patriarchal system of gender roles, but it doesn't diminish the fact that not being adept at things that "women are supposed to do" makes me feel a little less-than sometimes. Maybe it's due to conditioning, but it's there all the same.
Seeing St Martha, that traditional place holder for women's roles in the household, as a tamer of dragons is super exciting to me. Because when I read the story in Luke about Martha yelling at Jesus to tell her sister to come help her, I don't see someone saying "teach her to get back in her place". I see a fiesty, powerful woman who is doing all she can to serve Jesus in the ministry of hospitality (which was hugely important in the Middle East then as well as now). And that personality carried over into the Golden Legend, where she is remembered as a woman who could tame a great beast and lead it calmly through the streets of the town it once terrorized.
Growing up in the Roman Catholic church, my favorite saint was St Joan of Arc. I grew up loving fantasy stories of knights and dragons. St Joan was the closest thing to a female knight that I could get. She didn't get to fight a dragon, but she fought for the independence of her country and for her right to follow God's call in spite of the fact that it went against the accepted role of women in her time. When I was confirmed, I chose Joan as my confirmation name. As I've gone on my spiritual journey over the past couple of years, and as I go through the discernment process for ministry now, I feel this was very fitting. Joan and Mary can both be seen as defying traditional roles in order to follow Jesus. The idea of "slaying a dragon" can be seen as fighting off evil, defying the "principalities and powers" that try to tear us away from God. Reading the Golden Legend story of Martha taming a dragon, I realized I have more in common with her than I once thought. We all face demons at some point.
Traditional images, especially from medieval times, have St Martha depicted with a dragon at her feet. Why is that? Apparently it has to do with an entertaining story out of the "Golden Legend", a medieval manuscript containing stories of the saints (aka "hagiographies"):
Taming the Tarasque, from Hours of Henry VIII , in Latin (detail), c. 1500.
This is one of those stories that I tend to think of as "holy fan fiction" - the saints who were Jesus' original followers went on from Palestine to Europe and had all kinds of supernatural adventures, conveniently dying in Spain or France and leaving their bones in a local church where pilgrims could visit when the Holy Land itself became too dangerous to visit. But that hasn't stopped us from romanticizing stories of say, St George and the Dragon. I grew up with a picture book of that story that I loved to read again and again. Why have I never heard about St Martha's dragon story in over 30 years then?
The whole "Mary vs Martha" thing is about two very different personality types, as well as types in ministry. It can be seen as introvert vs extrovert, active vs contemplative, traditional vs nontraditional female roles. Those can be valuable, but lately I've seen more and more sermons about how these compare and contrast modes miss the point, that both ways are important.
I've felt for years now that I'm more of a "Mary" than a "Martha". I'm much more likely to sit listening to teaching than take part in active, get-your-hands-dirty work. That hasn't stopped me from trying to be more of a Martha, especially in a parish that is full of "workers". My church is very active in outreach - we feed hungry and homeless people at least four days a week. The work seems never ending, especially when you get really close to that particular ministry as I have. I took on the position of volunteer coordinating, and at times I have felt very unqualified to work in such a ministry. I've thought at times that I don't have a practical bone in my body - I love to write and "theologize", but trying to do very practical things leaves me feeling incredibly stupid more often than not. I'm not a cook, and I know very little about running a kitchen. I've been asked questions by volunteers that I have not had the knowledge to answer, and the way they look at me seems to say "aren't you supposed to be a leader here?"
This is the kind of thing that has often made me feel very out of place as a woman. I am someone who is very against the whole traditional, patriarchal system of gender roles, but it doesn't diminish the fact that not being adept at things that "women are supposed to do" makes me feel a little less-than sometimes. Maybe it's due to conditioning, but it's there all the same.
Seeing St Martha, that traditional place holder for women's roles in the household, as a tamer of dragons is super exciting to me. Because when I read the story in Luke about Martha yelling at Jesus to tell her sister to come help her, I don't see someone saying "teach her to get back in her place". I see a fiesty, powerful woman who is doing all she can to serve Jesus in the ministry of hospitality (which was hugely important in the Middle East then as well as now). And that personality carried over into the Golden Legend, where she is remembered as a woman who could tame a great beast and lead it calmly through the streets of the town it once terrorized.
Growing up in the Roman Catholic church, my favorite saint was St Joan of Arc. I grew up loving fantasy stories of knights and dragons. St Joan was the closest thing to a female knight that I could get. She didn't get to fight a dragon, but she fought for the independence of her country and for her right to follow God's call in spite of the fact that it went against the accepted role of women in her time. When I was confirmed, I chose Joan as my confirmation name. As I've gone on my spiritual journey over the past couple of years, and as I go through the discernment process for ministry now, I feel this was very fitting. Joan and Mary can both be seen as defying traditional roles in order to follow Jesus. The idea of "slaying a dragon" can be seen as fighting off evil, defying the "principalities and powers" that try to tear us away from God. Reading the Golden Legend story of Martha taming a dragon, I realized I have more in common with her than I once thought. We all face demons at some point.
"I am not afraid - I was born to do this." ~ St. Joan of Arc
Artwork courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art website
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