A POWERFUL FEMALE MENTOR:
St. Christina of Markyate and Geoffrey of St. Albans
by Kristen West McGuire
Our 12th century heroine, Christina of Markyate, dreamt in Technicolor, with visions beginning in girlhood. The story of her life has an unmistakably medieval flamboyance. (The historical sketch will show the gory details of her early trials.) She had a notable devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it wasn’t a quiet piety. Her imitation of Mary skewed toward the dramatic, outflanking and destroying enemies by the sheer magnitude of her talents, emboldened by her faith.
Christina was seen as a prized possession by her Anglo-Saxon family, who hoped to marry her off advantageously with a Norman aristocrat. Beautiful, passionate, intelligent and obstinate, she defended her vow of virginity in theological and legal terms, in addition to traditional prayers and asceticism. Christina’s character was a unique blend of Marian piety and manly prudence.
Christina’s story might never have been told without her best friend and patron, Geoffrey de Gorren. Ironically, he was the conniving and worldly French abbot of St. Albans. After the two shared a mystical vision of heaven, Geoffrey was convinced that Christina’s intercession was crucial to the eternal salvation of the monks entrusted to his care.
Geoffrey’s monks at St. Albans were not so sure. Rumors swirled about Christina. At the time Geoffrey met her, she was a recluse, in her own hermitage bequeathed to her by her spiritual mentor, Roger. Her unorthodox “novitiate” was directed by this elderly ascetic, who took her in when she fled from her conniving family. He tested her resolve with severe penance. By day, she hid in a small storage room attached to Roger’s chapel, curled up in order to fit, and locked in, let out only once a day to urinate, and subject to extreme temperatures.
After four years of near constant prayer, Christina was ready to be set free, legally and spiritually. Through it all, Christina credited the comforting visions of Blessed Virgin for her endurance. However, it is just as true that her male patrons enabled her cherished independence.
Christina attracted other Anglo-Saxon women, founding a Benedictine enclosure near St. Albans Abbey. Abbot Geoffrey diverted resources to the nuns, provoking grumbling among his monks. When Geoffrey commissioned the St. Albans Psalter for Christina and her nuns, the expensive gift may have shocked the monks, who withdrew the abbey’s funding of Christina’s group immediately after his death in 1147.
A treasure of medieval literature, the St. Albans Psalter is prized as a window into the linguistic effects of the Norman Conquest. It includes miniatures of the life of Christ in which there are many women depicted, and the Alexis Quire, a story of chaste St. Alexis in both Latin and French, thought to be a language tutorial for Christina. The psalter includes several depictions of the adulation of Geoffrey and some of his frères for saintly Christina.
Although temporally dependent on the monks, Christina was her own spiritual maverick. Did Christina need Geoffrey? More than once in history, a male patron has provided the “street cred” for a woman to exercise leadership. She had the gravitas to make the monks quiver, one way or another. It could be called oppression to be so dependent upon a man for legitimacy.
Every era provides its own challenges for leaders. All of Christina’s early experiences prepared her to lead others to a strong and pure love of Christ. Her story is a testimony that God will not abandon those who trust in His Mother. Christina of Markyate should be the patroness of women unafraid to trust their leadership skills and experience.