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| Artist, Patricia Banker |
This paper explores the ways in
which 21st-century women could benefit from the example of St.
Gobnait, a powerful woman whose use of power was beneficial to the religious
community she founded, the wider community she served, and to St. Gobnait
herself.
Introduction
In an article titled, Eight Ways of Looking at Power, author
Stacy Schiff asks the question, “Women and power: Is there a more incendiary
combination of words in the English language? Drinking and driving? Teenagers
and sex?” To which she provides the
following response, “A woman can never be too rich or too thin, but until very,
very recently, she could be too powerful, for which–if she wasn’t smart enough
to camouflage herself–she paid the price.”[1]
As history attests, powerful women
were rarely tolerated for long. The Apostle to the apostles, Mary Magdalen was
labeled a prostitute, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, countless women of
the Victorian era were deemed “hysterical” in societal efforts to diminish and
silence them.
In the long history of female
powerlessness, St. Gobnait of Ballyvourney is a notable exception. What little
is known of St. Gobnait’s life indicates she was a powerful woman who wielded
power in multiple forms. She
demonstrated personal power when as a young woman she set out to forge her own
destiny in a strange land. As a leader she exercised the power to organize,
unify, and guide her community. In her role as protector, she asserted her
power in self-defense, providing a vulnerable village with a 7th-century
version of homeland security.[2]
In the following pages, I will
examine St. Gobnait’s use of power, attempting to extract lessons about power
for today’s women, lessons hidden in the story of a powerful woman.
St.
Gobnait’s Power
It requires intelligence, maturity,
and wisdom to identify and apply the form of power most likely to produce a
favorable outcome. Evidence suggests that St. Gobnait was aware of the varied
forms of power available to her, and chose among them with a keen eye toward
attaining specific objectives.
An analysis of her life’s story
indicates that St. Gobnait relied primarily on three categories of power: personal
power, an individual’s inner strength or power to persist toward a goal; the power
of leadership, that of a leader capable of organizing and inspiring those
around her; and the power of force, the threat or use of violent force, in
defense against certain destruction.
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Personal Power
In the beginning of St. Gobnait’s
story, we see a young woman who possesses an immense amount of personal power. In
one version of Gobnait’s early history, she leaves the pirate ship she’d been
traveling on with her father at the urging of an angel and journeys alone in a
strange land. In an alternate version, she is said to have crossed the sea to
escape a danger to her welfare.[3]
Could St. Gobnait’s demonstration of
personal power inspire today’s woman to travel alone, move to a new city, or
even discover an unexplored part her hometown? How many opportunities for
growth do women miss because they chose not to access the personal power that saw
St. Gobnait through the difficulties, anxiety, and fear inherent in striking
out alone into the unknown?
St. Gobnait’s journey began with a
vision. She was to find the spot where nine white deer were grazing, and there
found a monastery. Initially, she came upon three white deer, and further along,
she spotted six white deer. She did not stop at these places. Almost good
enough wasn’t good enough for St. Gobnait. She continued in her quest until the
nine white deer finally appeared.[4]
In contrast, how many women of
today give up or give in before their visions become reality? The
justifications are many, and include the religiously inspired idea that women
are selfish if they pursue their goals, and should be satisfied merely to
support the goals of others, largely the goals of men. St. Gobnait models a different set of values.
She brooks no distractions, and tenaciously seeks that place in the world that
is rightfully hers.
The Power
of Leadership
Some leaders are born women. –Geraldine
Ferraro, attorney, politician, and vice presidential candidate
St. Gobnait set to work establishing a
self-sufficient community, one that required physical labor, a base of
knowledge and technical skill that allowed the women to maintain livestock,
produce food and crafts, and practice beekeeping. The community of women did not seek male
know-how or labor to provide for them, and yet, they produced such abundance
they were able to share the fruits of their labor with the larger community.[5]
Traditional religious teaching
would have women believe that self-sufficiency is unfeminine and unimportant,
as if a truly Christian woman wouldn’t bother with the man’s world of work,
particularly work with a monetary compensation attached to it. And yet, St.
Gobnait demonstrated otherwise. Could the women have prospered under male
leadership? Likely, they would have been relegated to more ‘feminine” work,
excluded from opportunities to perform the “masculine” work of community
organizing and decision-making.
The
Power of Force
Above all, be the heroine of your life,
not the victim." Nora Ephron,
writer, director, and journalist
writer, director, and journalist
St.
Gobnait is easily her era’s version of Wonder Woman. When the community was threatened with armed
assault, she repeatedly trained her weapons (swarming bees and an agate bowl)
on the enemy until they were defeated, ensuring the continued peace and prosperity
of the monastery and surrounding village. Surely, there were men living in the area and
yet, it was the superior power and strength of a woman, St. Gobnait who was
relied upon to ensure the security of the land.[6]
An
essential aspect of St. Gobnait’s choice to use force is that she used it only
in self-defense, but use it, she did. When
a woman is imprisoned for using deadly force against an attacker, jailed for
defending herself against a violent spouse, or convicted of adultery when
raped, society’s message to women is that they must submit to men, whatever the
consequences. It is St. Gobnait who says otherwise, demonstrating a woman’s right to defend herself.
Power used in the service of self-defense takes many forms. Would a woman like St. Gobnait tolerate those experiences so common in the lives of today’s women? How would she handle being interrupted when speaking? Belittling comments passed off as humor? Receiving a lower salary than her male counterparts? We do not have such details of her life. However, we can safely assume that a woman, who single-handedly defeats an armed enemy force, would likely protect herself and the women around her with equal fierceness, whatever the source or substance of the threat.
Conclusion
It is not often that a story from a distant era with so little detail could yield enlightened and practical guidance for the current age. St. Gobnait provides a model for women and men of the responsible and beneficial use of power in the service of humankind.
The society founded, nurtured, and protected by St. Gobnait was one in which the gifts of women were leveraged, ensuring each woman the opportunity for productive work, membership in a self-sufficient and peaceful community, and the opportunity to contribute to the larger world. St. Gobnait’s wise and judicious use of power made this possible.
What can today’s women learn from St. Gobnait about power? Perhaps her most important lesson is that power matters. Power should not be denied women, nor should women avoid the opportunity to wield power for their personal benefit or the benefit of society as a whole.
Power used to persevere toward a goal (personal power), to organize and inspire others toward a goal (leadership) and to defend those targeted by violence and injustice (the power of force), belong in the hands of those who would use such power wisely. St. Gobnait tells us that some of those people are women.
[1] Stacy Schiff Eight Ways of Looking at Power http://www.oprah.com/money/8-Ways-of-Looking-at-Power-Women-and-Power
[2] Oliver, Regina Madonna & Meehan, Bridget Mary, Praying with Celtic Holy Women. (Liguori/Triumph Publishing, Liguori, Missouri 2003)
[3] Ibid.(73-75)
[4] Ibid.(73-74)
[5] Ibid.(75)
[6] Ibid. (75)
(Paper submitted for Global Ministries University Course on Holy Women in the Early Celtic Tradition by Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan)
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