AP

Review of Rachel Ciano and Ian J. Maddock, 10 Dead Gals You Should Know, Fearn: Christian Focus, 2023.

Beginning with Mary, the mother of Jesus, this book covers ten women across the history of the Church. I should confess that the title does nothing for me – the use of American slang detracts from the book’s presentation. The content, however, is much better.

Mary is dealt with most biblically, as one who is favoured and blessed but not to be unduly exalted (note Luke 11:27-28 and Mark 3:21). The martyrdom of Perpetua at the age of 22 in Carthage in A.D. 203 in Carthage is a story of courage and cruelty. The young Christian even had to help the young gladiator who botched his first attempt to cut Perpetua’s throat. The claim that Irenaeus was a martyr who perished in 202 is late, and apparently not known by Eusebius of Caesarea, and must be regarded as doubtful.

            The medieval period is represented by Catherine of Siena, a semi-literate woman who wrote to Pope Gregory XI as ‘babbo’. Catherine lived at the time of the Great Schism (1378-1417) when there were two, and at one stage three, popes. She urged an immediate return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome. Evaluating her has its difficulties. She was born in 1347 in Siena in Italy, the 23rd child of Giacomo and Lapa Benincasa. After surviving the plague, she received a vision of Jesus in 1354. At seventeen she contracted a bout of pox which left her disfigured. This delighted her as it made marriage less of a possibility.

Her life calling, it seemed, was in extreme asceticism – she became a ‘divine anorexic’. In 1368 she had another vision of Jesus. This time He placed a ring on her finger and said to her: ‘There! I marry you to me in faith.’ The invisible ring was made of Jesus’ foreskin! She threw herself into works of charity, and ministered to Andrea, a fellow Sister of Penance, who had breast cancer. Catherine drained the sore and drank the pus. Not surprisingly, she often vomited, and was promoted by the Dominicans as one who lived solely on the eucharist.

More visions follows, including one of Christ opening her heart, removing it, and replacing it with His own. In April 1375 she received the stigmata, visible to her alone. On 29 April 1380 she died, aged 33, an emaciated wreck. Her last words were rather more inspiring: ‘Father, into Your hands I commit my soul and spirit.’ This was perhaps the most inspiring part of a rather bizarre life.

From the Reformation period, the nine-day queen, Lady Jane Grey, who followed Edward VI, was forced to watch the execution of her husband, Guildford Dudley on 12 February 1554, and was then executed herself. Jane had thought that Mary was the rightful heir, and she (Jane) was not the people’s choice. A student of the Greek New Testament and a correspondent with Henry Bullinger, she declared on the scaffold: ‘I trust to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by no other means.’

Other women in these ten studies include Anne Hutchinson who emphasised grace to the point of teaching antinomianism, and also went on to claim immediate divine revelation. After protracted disputes in 1636-1638, she was excommunicated from the Puritan church at Boston. In the next century, Anne Dutton wrote hymns, treatises and letters. The great George Whitefield recalled: ‘Her conversation is as weighty as her letters.’

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon was used to finance evangelical causes including Trevecca College which was opened on 1768, rather surprisingly with the Arminian John Fletcher as the first principal. Her influence was deep and much appreciated. King George III is reputed to have said: ‘I wish there was a Lady Huntingdon in every diocese in my kingdom.’ From the nineteenth century we have another influential, but also contentious, figure, Catherine Booth. As Catherine Mumford, she wrote somewhat over-vigorously to her soon-to-be Salvation Army co-founder husband, William Booth, on the subject of equality in marriage. In 1859 she followed this up with Female Ministry, or Woman’s Right to Preach the Gospel where she misinterpreted Galatians 3:28, and said that 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 was contrary to the example of Jesus. She and William enjoyed a happy marriage, had 8 children, and sought to right many wrongs in society. But Catherine’s views on women’s ministry have had long-term deleterious effects on the Church.

Gladys Aylward and Corrie ten Boom round off the ten studies. The tiny Gladys Aylward battled a limited education, rejection by the China Inland Mission, and the brutality of the Communists in China. Her story is told in the 1957 film, ‘The Inn of Sixth Happiness’, but she regarded the movie with disdain. More appropriately, her engraved tomb in Taiwan was in English and Chinese, and concludes with John 12:24. The story of Corrie ten Boom is rightly well-known as an example of Christian compassion and courage in helping Jews escape Nazi tyranny in World War II. It is a story worth re-telling.

The testimonies of men are a mixture, and so we would expect the same from women. Catherine of Siena is interesting, but sad when it did not need to be. The delusions of fourteenth century Catholicism are not mild. Her namesake, Catherine Booth, was saner, but needed a stronger anchorage in Scripture as the Word of God.

– Peter Barnes