On Paradoxical Womanhood

[JoanOfArc 4586]

On Paradoxical Womanhood

Written by Acolyte Ioannes Novellen

In honor of the Countess of Temesch, Lady Helena Augusta

 

An depiction of St. Emma Vladov during the Schism wars, made by Ioannes Alexios, 1847.

 

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You are an example to me wherever I go, Mother.

I cherish the values and morals you have taught me.

I love you.

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Having been born into a household as most every man has before me, I have seen this idea of a woman that does not only wear dresses, but also with plate on her person. An idea of a strange duality of a kind figure being in a warlike attitude, an idea of the 'Paradoxical Womanhood’. The idea of the Paradoxical Womanhood had never been more on display for me than it has since my birth.

My mother was knighted and made a dame within the Holy Order of Exalted Owyn, serving against the onslaught of wicked beasts and terrible heathens that distraught the Church and Orenia for several decades. "What does one truly prefer - steel or fire?" a phrase I myself had heard early in my childhood by my mother. It was the line she perpetually held to when thinking of the Lord and myself; a line that differentiates acting from not acting. You must choose between taking up a sword for yourself and letting your country burn as a result of the Deceiver's pillaging. So she did so, out of love for not only God but for me also, so I did not have to grow up in a world that did not befit a good Canonist.

While my mother eventually allowed me to leave the comfort of a peaceful dwelling in the County of Rosemoor with her, I never forgot these virtues of the Paradoxical Womanhood. I once again saw it in full display from the Seraphim Sisters, who happily defend the Lectorate within the southern Lordship. They accompany men in full plate to help assist them against the ravenous beasts that are present in the south, much like my mother did so in the north. And what fearsome women they are. A friendly spar between myself and another cost me days of soreness and a blackened face from the wounds inflicted. The Seraphim Sisters never back down from a brawl, but unlike men, whom I see do so out of bravery and courageousness, the Seraphim Sisters do it as a womanly extension of care and compassion. They protect the Lectorate from harm and trouble, so others do not have to feel the pain of death or loss.

And continuing into the tradition of the Church, the most prominent figures of this Paradoxical Womanhood is the greatest of the saints during the Schism Wars. St. Emma Vladov. A mother herself (a commonly forgotten fact that she raised the future High Pontiff St. Everard II), she was begotten by divine dreams from God, speaking of joining the fray against the schismatic. Overcome by a sense of duty and motherly protection, she left to join the war, - winning well-fought victories against the schismatics. Her son, the great St. Everard II, was even inspired by this virtue - taking up a militaristic approach to protecting those under Canondom from further divisive behavior, be it schismatic, heretic, or heathen.

So, what is the takeaway from this concept I'm shedding light on? This idea is one that I wish to show that the motherly nature of a woman manifests not only in the gentleness and tenderness of women, but also in the wrathful, yet loving, strength they bear against foes. Like the popular analogy of the mother bear, the mother bear defends her children from those who try to trespass and do them harm. Thus, we must not forsake or push off women's efforts to achieve this idea should it be the will of God to allow them to take it. Women who lack the more fragile femininity that is expected of them should be encouraged that their path was carved out first by St. Emma Vladov and that they should never stray from it if they are on it.

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O Lord, please offer your intercession onto womanfolk and please allow them to grow into those you wish for them to be. Let their children be raised by virtues of the Canon and defend the Church as their mother did, like the good St. Everard II. Let us now not forget those who came before and will come after, guiding the Canon through time. Through the prayers of the holy Exalted prophets, our Holy Mother of Peace, and Saint Emma Vladov, may the Lord have mercy on us and save us.

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[monkeypoacher 6994]

A foul look sinks into Aubergine's features as he is forced to put up a sign banning the word 'mommy' from the cloister of St. Humbert College. Sometimes as he sleeps comfortably by the hearth under his silk sheets, the word rouses him into a most disturbing awareness.

[Axelu 3691]

“I love you,” whispered the Countess of Temesch to her adult son one night as he slumbered. She had come to visit from her home in the Orenian countryside, as she usually did, and found in pertinent to remain with him until the night’s end. “You will always be my boy.” 

[_Sug 2572]

St. Jude of Cy., Doctor of the Church and Patron Saint of Scholastics, Authors, and Monasteries offers a smile at the writings of one GOD-fearing and well-written woman's viewpoints on the duality of mankind, and more specifically the nature of women of whom are the forgotten backbone in leading a proper life in the faith. "Deus Vult." Said the warrior-monk of the schism from his small and humble cottage-abbey in the skies.