Noble and true are Kingsley’s words:  “We may blame those ladies, if we will, for neglecting their duties.  We may sneer, if we will, at their weaknesses, the aristocratic pride, the spiritual vanity, we fancy we discover.  We must confess that in these women the spirit of the old Roman matrons, which seemed to have been dead so long, flashed up for one splendid moment ere it sank into the darkness of the middle ages.”

Monasticism and Women

The origin of nunneries was coeval with that of monasteries, and the history of female recluses runs parallel to that of the men.  Almost every male order had its counterpart in some sort of a sisterhood.  The general moral character of these female associations was higher than that of the male organizations.  I have confined my treatment in this work to the monks, but a few words may be said at this point concerning female ascetics.

Hermit life was unsuited to women, but we know that at a very early date many of them retired to the seclusion of convent life.  It will be recalled that in the biography of St. Anthony, before going into the desert he placed his sister in the care of some virgins who were living a life of abstinence, apart from society.  It is very doubtful if any uniform rule governed these first religious houses, or if definitely organized societies appear much before the time of Benedict.  The variations in the monastic order among the men were accompanied by similar changes in the associations of women.

The history of these sisterhoods discloses three interesting and noteworthy facts that merit brief mention: 

First, the effect of a corrupt society upon women.  As in the case of men, women were moved to forsake their social duties because they were weary of the sensual and aimless life of Rome.  Those were the days of elaborate toilettes, painted faces and blackened eyelids, of intrigues and foolish babbling.  Venial faults—­it may be thought—­innocent displays of tender frailty; but woman’s nature demands loftier employments.  A great soul craves occupations and recognizes obligations more in harmony with the true nobility of human nature.  Rome had no monitor of the higher life until the monks came with their stories of heroic self-abnegation and unselfish toil.  The women felt the force and truth of Jerome’s criticism of their trifling follies when he said:  “Do not seek to appear over-eloquent, nor trifle with verse, nor make yourself gay with lyric songs.  And do not, out of affectation, follow the sickly taste of married ladies, who now pressing their teeth together, now keeping their lips wide apart, speak with a lisp, and purposely clip their words, because they fancy that to pronounce them naturally is a mark of country breeding.”