The nun, the bishop, and the viceroy! OH MY!

Though I am not one to readily criticize the Holy Catholic Church, I found the movie we watched in class relatively disturbing, especially with the Church’s treatment toward a nun with intelligence. One might try to point out the bishopric ordering the burning of books as something to find disheartening, but that barely registered. Instead, in the story the nun, who was incredibly intelligent and a brilliant poet, is only allowed to commence with her work because of the protection of the viceroy and his wife. There is an implication of a homosexual attraction between the nun and the viceroy’s wife, but that is inconsequential for her persecution. Rather, she is seen as a threat because of her poetry, which it could be argued contains certain heresies. Also, there is a part where she interprets the sacred scriptures and writes book contrary to some Portuguese theologian the bishop loves. In his zealotry, the bishop wages a misogynistic war against the nun.  The final scene we observed in class revolved around the nun working with the poor and her previous confessor, the person to whom she gave confession, told her she was now in her proper place. She had been humbled and was supposedly working how the Lord would want her to work. This movie gave a long narrative concerning the patriarchal bigotry within the Church.

I find the whole scenario disturbing because she was not a threat to the Church, yet they persecuted her. In fact, she was most likely an asset to the Holy Church, and they failed to see because she was a woman. I feel it is important to point out all the women in Biblical history first that has shown God believes them capable of aiding Israel/the Church. Tziporah, Deborah, Esther, Ruth, Judith, and Mary all influenced Judeo-Christianity for the better. However, where my criticism of the Church comes is when they referenced St. Theresa of Lisieux, one of three female doctors of the Church. This saint was known for praying and working and finding God in the little things. To me, it appeared that the Church only accepted women when they knew their place and did not challenge authority. This is antithetical to the ideas of the Church, but geopolitical chauvinism took hold that prevented them from seeing the usefulness of female leaders. The nun in the movie offered a rare gem of brilliance that the Church should have cultivated. Instead, they let their agendas get in the way. This leads me to the conclusion that patriarchy lasted so long because men were unwilling to give up power. It had nothing to do with their sex as much as it had to do a select class of people trying to maintain their monopoly on control of the society.