While many people are born as “border dwellers”, Agnes DeWitt seizes an opportunity to forge a new identity for herself in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. Born as and identifying as an average woman for a large part of her life, she takes on the persona of a priest, Father Damien Modeste, and plays this part for the remainder of her life. However, even though she takes on the role of Father Damien, Agnes still retains her female identity, and she never sacrifices one for the other. She takes on male attributes without sacrificing her female attributes and takes on attributes of a priest without sacrificing the natural human tendency to “sin”, especially when she engages in a sexual relationship with Father Wekkle. Agnes DeWitt maintains the characteristics of a border dweller by straddling the rigid divisions between gender, religion, and identity as she simultaneously plays the role of both Agnes and Father Damien. Before Father Damien’s death, Agnes lived as Sister Cecilia, a nun who taught music. However, Agnes only lived as Cecilia for six months before she decided to take on the persona of Father Damien, a persona that she inhabited for the rest of her life. Therefore, Agnes technically lived as three separate identities, yet she rarely referred to herself as “Cecilia” when she became Father Damien. This calls into question how important an identity Sister Cecilia is to Agnes if she could switch into the priestly role of Damien so quickly. Agnes herself describes Cecilia as “…emptied. Thinned…” (Erdrich 14). However, when Agnes becomes Father Damien, she claims, “She transformed herself each morning with a feeling of loss that finally defined as the loss of Agnes” (Erdri... ... middle of paper ... ...weller by his refusal to link any gender to any religion; he determines that a person is an amalgamation of genders and religions. Although these people known as border dwellers are not typically accepted in their societies, Father Damien finds Little No Horse to be a safe haven for him as he questions his identity. As Agnes states near the end of her journey, “Here it was –the reason she’d been called here in the first place” (Erdrich 309). She equates her time on the reservation to a spiritual self-discovery that absolutely needed to take place for her to determine that she was in fact a border dweller. This awakening is crucial to her character development because despite entering the reservation as a priest intent on reforming the Ojibwe, Agnes learns more from their religion and enacts certain aspects of it in her everyday life until her death.
The pain she causes herself is Mariette being the vessel of God’s grace. Mariette’s intention to suffer displays a severe ambition and pride that she has a calling for a higher purpose. This purpose is also explored through Mariette’s experience with the stigmata. Mariette suddenly appears with the wounds of Jesus Christ, and Hansen creates a disturbance of power between female and male relationships to Christ. Mariette has been chosen above the male figures of the Church, and she shares in the appearance and bleeding of Christ wounds. Hansen connects female reproduction to Christ suffering. This ideology fits with Mariette because she has the capacity to perform the transfiguration of Christ, bringing the Grace of God to the World. This feminization of Christ allows Mariette to have a deeper connection with Him and reinforces the idea she has been chosen. Mariette’s intimacy in Christ’s pain is her desire to be more than just a sister, and even more than a Saint. Mariette associates His wounds with her own wounds, thus taking His ability to redeem as her having this capability too. Hansen uses Mariette’s relationship with Christ to draw on the theological formulation of Christ’s wounds as female reproduction. This idea challenges the notion of power within the priory and Roman
every done, and she had personal challenges to face. She left behind children, just to make them
St. Clare of Assisi took prayer and her religion seriously. Though she was thought to marry, which was a formal family tradition, she
... then has become one of the most popular Saints in the Roman Catholic Church.
In Saint Marie (1934) Marie is only fourteen years old and is trying to find her identity and sense of importance. Even though she is half native american and half white, she doesn’t feel like she is fully accepted into either community. In order to find her calling, she believes she can prove herself good enough to be accepted into the Sacred Heart Convent and even become a saint. Even though she wants to become part of the Catholic religion she isn’t very religious herself: “I had the mail-order Catholic soul you get in a girl raised out in the bush, whose only thought is getting into town.” Her goal is not necessarily to become religious, rather it is used as a pathway to achieving acceptance in the white community. Marie tells this story a few years later looking back on it. Back then she thought highly of the convent, but when she is older she describes the convent in the book as “Humble, ragtag, out in the middle of no place. Where God had only half a hand in the creation.” She realizes that its a kind of place for nuns that lose their mind or don’t get along anywhere else. As the story progresses, it proves to be true. Yet at first, she has so much faith and trust in Leopolda simply because she was different from the other nuns. She thinks the reason is while the other nuns didn’t keep track of ...
Paul’s infatuation with Agnes seems to have caught his mother by complete surprise. Their seven years in the village seemed to only strengthen her belief that Paul was a great man worthy of the praise and admiration that others bestowed upon him. It seemed the perfect fit for both of them “for they were so happy in the little village that seemed to her the most beautiful in all the world, because her Paul was its saviour and its king” (Deledda 31). If not for the mother’s need to protect Paul, his affair with Agnes may have continued on longer. Her devotion to her son and to God could not go on silenced however. Paul’s feelings of guilt forced him to see his error and to quite seeing Agnes in order to serve only God. “He was a priest, he believed in God, he had wedded the church, and was vowed to chastity” (Deledda 57). His love toward Agnes did not dissipate however and he sought to find ways to forget about her.
was for her son to become a priest and to bless her with his own hands. But,
The nun is an interesting character to say the least. She, above any other, tries fervently to uphold her title as a befitting figure and does so
Moreover, Therese was not always a nun or a saint, she was a normal girl, yet her spark to become a nun began when she was fifteen. She wanted to become a nun to give herself completely to Jesus; however, Therese was rejected because of her age. Although her age was a problem,
She has quasi-magical powers, seduces the monk Ambrosio, and eventually is fully allied with Satan. From the moment she enters the monastery in male disguise as Rosario, she is portrayed as breaking the boundaries of sexual and gender conventions. The initial attraction of Ambrosio to Rosario flirts with themes of homosexuality. When Rosario is revealed as Matilda, her character continues to break conventions, such as the masculine exclusivity of the monastery and the role of women as subordinate and passive in sexual matters.
She is the patron of nurses and can be helpful when you pray to her. For example, a month ago I fractured my ankle and the doctor said I would be out for around six weeks. I prayed for her to help the pain and swelling go away. Also, I prayed to Saint Catherine, to not be out for the full six weeks, so I could go back to cheer and not miss any important national competitions. Besides being helpful she is inspiring to me, of her abilities to resist temptations and her devotion to God. One time my dad told me to only have water because it was late at night. However, I had been desperately craving iced tea all day and thought I “had” to have it. So I opened the door and took out the iced tea, but before I poured it in, I thought about my decision. I remembered how my saint was able to pray to God to help her resist her temptations. Therefore, I placed the iced tea back in the fridge and accepted water instead like my dad suggested. As a result of having thoughts to disobey my dad, I prayed to God like Catherine did for help. Saint Catherine lived a life dedicated to God in the real world (reality). It is encouraging to me that she was able to live a life fully devoted to God and not have any distractions, doubts, or fears holding her
“Her twin, the murky depths of the river, the past, all conspire to claim her. And they do” (Gardner, 2004).
Her increased participation within PLAYS becomes the turning point of her descent into the belief that she was once Queen Mary. As she learns more, Marla’s point of view reveals she is no longer pretending. She became convinced she is one with the deceased Queen’s experiences and
When Helena was born she was very weak and the people around doubted she would even live. Therefore, before the baby was even 24 hours old a baptism was held. Helena’s aunt, a young child, was asked to stand in as a godmother. During the ceremony, the child became restless and knocked over a candle without anyone noticing. The priest performing the baptism suffered severe burns when his robe caught fire. The people at Helena’s baptism saw this as a sign. She was nicknamed Lyola because her grandparents and servants thought she had powers. (6)
‘…all the world desires her; /From all corners of the earth they come,/ To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint:’ (Act II Scene vii)