St. Zélie Martin

After celebrating St. Monica as a valiant mother here a few weeks ago, let’s look at the life of another “Mother Saint”—St. Zélie Martin, mother of the Little Flower. In addition to raising her daughters and running the household, St. Zelie made Alençon lace, a trade which required patience, attention to detail, and love. She brought these same qualities to every task in life. When sorrows and crosses appeared, and there were many, she heroically turned them into victories which bore such beautiful fruit in the form of her daughters’ vocations.

Katherine Johnson: Hidden Figure

It’s been about a year since the film Hidden Figures came to theaters, and ever since I saw it, I’ve been meaning to write a bit about these remarkable women here on the blog. The movie is based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and mainly focuses on three black women and their struggles and triumphs while working for NASA. It is set in the early days of the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement. I will mainly focus on Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who worked on calculations for trajectories, launch windows, and emergency back-up plans for many NASA missions. She was a hard-working and confident woman, and while she worked to achieve and equal footing with her male co-workers, she also valued her role as a wife and mother.

St. Monica, Valiant Mother

Patroness of Mothers, Wives, Conversions and Alcoholics

“She spoke little, preached not at all, loved much, and prayed unceasingly.”--St. Augustine

The saying that “behind every great man is a great woman” is possibly no truer than in the case of the great Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, and his mother, St. Monica. Without St. Monica’s countless prayers, tears, and sacrifices for her wayward son, we may never have had this great theologian. It is mainly through St. Augustine’s writings that we know the story of his mother and her heroic patience and valiant generosity which brought about so many conversions during her own life, and which still bears fruit today though the writings of her son.

She's often portrayed in what we would consider a religious habit, but it was the standard garb for widows at the time.

An Epiphany Post

The painting that inspired the composer.

Since the Feast of the Epiphany is just around the corner, I thought I’d tell you about a woman from an opera about the Three Kings. If you’re not familiar with Amahl and the Night Visitors, I invite you to check it out. It’s quite short (less than an hour), and in English. Here’s a link where you can watch the original TV broadcast of the opera on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlg81twKXbY

Basic story overview: Amahl is a crippled shepherd boy. His father has died and even after selling almost all they have, his mother doesn’t know how they will make ends meet. One night three royal visitors stop at their home on their way to Bethlehem. Amahl’s mother does her best to make them comfortable, gathering wood and asking her neighbors to bring food for her guests. While the kings sleep, the mother stares at all the gifts they are taking to another child they spoke of. She stares at the gold and thinks of how even a coin or two could help Amahl. 

And We're Back!

Happy 2018!

After a bit of a hiatus while working on another project, it’s time to get back to the Valiant Woman Project. I have so many inspiring women I want to tell you all about! So tune in on Thursdays for more stories of valiant women from history, literature, Scripture, and more.