Written by Till God Will – Mary Ward through her writings– Edited by Gillian Orchard (IBVM )
Supporting books and articles:
- Mary Ward: First Sister of Feminism by Sydney Thorn
- “There is No Such Difference between Men and Women that Women May Not Do Great Things.” How Do the Words of Mary Ward Illustrate the Struggles of Women in the Catholic Church? Dissertation by Poppy Pender Cudlip ( Trinity Dublin)
In Till God Will, Mary Ward (1585-1645) recounts her life and calling through her own words and letters, describing how she pioneered active, unenclosed religious life for women during the era of Catholic recusancy.
She was supported by her companions and certain priests Fr Roger Lee and Fr John Gerard who saw in Mary, not only a devout woman of God- she was in receipt of several graces/ divine insights- but also a determined and strong woman who was insightful and strong advocate for women’s and girls’ education.
According to her letters, she made several trips to Rome to request formal recognition of her order—a female Jesuit order following the same Rule. Although schools were established in continental Europe and a covert educational network for girls was created in London, the Pope, influenced by both the Curia and the English clergy who were against Mary, possibly because they were fearful, she would make matters worse in England, ultimately declined her request, leading to the closure of these establishments.
We gleaned from the pages that Mary was not a well women and had bouts of sickness, yet she would not give up her mission. Her declining health was affected by her imprisonment in Munich, being labelled a heretic, and house arrest in Rome, where she lived in relative poverty, but all the while determined to educate young women.
The narrative relates that eventually the Pope showed some sympathy for Mary, but not her request for recognition of the order, and a very weakened but determined follower of God, was allowed to leave Rome to return to England. Anxious for her institute in Germany, Munich, we read of her arduous journey to that country before her companions brought her back to Yorkshire amidst civil unrest. Though they found refuge at Heworth with the Thwing family, Mary never recovered and died there, encouraging her companions with: “Cherish God’s vocation in you- let it be constant, efficacious and loving.”
As the book is laid out in a thematic way, it became a little difficult to follow Mary’s narrative sequentially. However, after we discovered a timeline of key events, which is readily available in any search engine, we were better able to plot her journeys and to appreciate the key turning points in her understanding of God’s Will for her.
There are some notable accounts of her spiritual experiences, or glory moments, which illuminated that she was not to be of the enclosed life but was to find God in the ordinary. This she discerned more fully from an intellectual vision which was granted to her when she was combing her hair upon hearing the words “Glory, glory, glory”, spoken words which were not of this world.
If there is one standout vision/ glory moment, which confirms Mary’s spirituality as well as the nature of her vocation, it is the vision of the Just Soul. Without going into this in great depth, she touches on the notions of justice and freedom and gives herself the answer that “these are the traits she finds attractive and evident in apostolic spirituality, and which despite wanting that learning, judgement and other parts that men have, she has no doubt that members of her company may also gain true wisdom and ability to perform all such other things as the perfection of the Institute exacts of us.”
In her letters to Fr John Gerard, she expands her understanding of justice in the most eloquent way “that we be such as we appear and appear such as we are”. When exercising justice, integrity must be at the root of this form of holiness.
Throughout the book we are given some beautiful and inspiring quotes, which although now over 300 years old, are still as relevant in their counsels today. The title of Poppy Pender Cudlip’s dissertation is inspired by one of those quotes “There is No Such Difference between Men and Women that Women May Not Do Great Things.” Indeed, in reading Poppy’s thesis alongside Mary Ward’s own writings, we were given a more wholesome picture of Mary Ward against the background of Catholic recusancy which illuminated further the remarkability of this determined and God filled Yorkshire woman.
While the book reading was essentially focused on Till God Will, we did find ourselves wanting to learn more about recusancy and about the wider continental religious environment, which impacted Mary’s mission.
For this we were supported in our reading by Sydney Thorne’s book, Mary Ward: First Sister of Feminism. Sydney gives us a page turner of an academic text which thinks it is a novel. Expertly researched, he leads us into a continental world and gives us a better appreciation of Mary’s determination and her strength to undergo physical hardship to execute God’s Will- she crossed the Alps several times, de-touring to avoid the plague, which added extra miles, all in the hope that her Jesuit apostolic order would be recognised by the Pope.
Perhaps Sydney’s book title which references feminism is a misnomer because there is no real mention of feminism or its principles, but we didn’t think that the extracted passages from the book we examined lacked anything because of this. He gets across his point that Mary Ward was remarkable in the fact that she was a woman who stood up for her principles and who advocated education for women. Significant is that in Mary Ward’s time there would have been no notion of feminism at all, but to appreciate what she achieved, one must see her as a woman of her time.
In his concluding chapters Sydney refers to where Mary Ward is buried- in an Anglican church yard at Osbaldwick near Heworth with the epitaph “To love the poor, persevere in the same, live, die, and rise with them was all the aim of Mary Ward who having lived 60 years and 8 days. Died 30th January 1645”.
In his last chapter Sydney charts the progress of the order up to the present day. Mary herself was recognised by the Pope in 1909 as the founder of two institutes IBVM and CJ. and today there are 200 schools worldwide. The papal Bull of Suppression, we were surprised to learn, still stands, which is probably an oversight as Mary Ward has been deemed Venerable, and is certainly on the way to canonisation.
For most of the book club readings we were joined by Sister Ann Stafford CJ who gave depth to our discussions. From her we learned so much about Mary’s influences during Catholic recusancy, the sufferings Mary Ward went through and the horror that she had to undergo as the Bull of Suppression of the Institute which labelled her heretic was pinned to notable Catholic places of worship. Thank you, Sister Ann, for these insights and for so many others.
Without a doubt Mary Ward was a remarkable woman who was steadfast in her faith and dedication to her mission. Her teachings continue to serve as a source of inspiration for Catholic women worldwide, highlighting the significant impact of embracing one’s vocation.
Written by Jacintha Bowe