Marguerite and Love

The majority of the witches’ trials and executions happened in the early modern era, with the Malleus Maleficarum — the main textbook on how to recognize, torture, and condemn witches — being published in 1486. The practice vanished in Europe after 1630, while it continued in the American colonies up to the end of the century. About 50,000 people perished only in Europe, mostly women, but in some regions, many men as well.

Even though the burning of people as witches was not a medieval practice, a special sentencing of a woman as a heretic and her consequent burning at the stake happened in Paris in the year 1310. This event may be considered a bad omen for women of subsequent centuries.

Her name was Marguerite Porete. Her inquisitors called her pseudo-mulier (fake woman) and beguine clergesse (beguine-clergy). Both expressions were intended as insults. The latter one, however, tells us that she was a leader in the beguine movement.

Between the late 11th century and the 14th century — with a long trail up to the 20th century — the name “beguines” was applied to women in Northern Europe and Italy who chose not to marry and not to enter a cloistered nunnery, but rather live a life consecrated to Love outside the boundaries of those two institutions.

The beguines were never liked very much by the majority of the male clergy. In the first place, they claimed their right to walk around wherever and whenever they wanted — an absolute first for women in the history of the West.

There are reports about Dominicans and Franciscans who entertained rapport with such groups of women and were often reprehended by their superiors for this very reason. The beguines managed to attract enough men to their way of life, and groups of “beghards” were formed and thrived.

Marguerite’s book is entitled The Mirror of the Simple Souls Who Are Annihilated and Remain Only in Will and Desire of Love. In a poetic language which is learned but is the language of the people — in her case Old French — Marguerite teaches her readers that their job is simply that of becoming one with God in love. This means that no obstacle, such as the institutional church, should be able to stop the natural growing in love of the desiring soul.

Matthew Fox summarizes it in this way: What stands out theologically in Porete is her insistence on putting Love first — ahead of rationality, ahead of legalistic games of canon law, and ahead of pastoral theology reduced to canon law and male-dominated bureaucracy that claims to operate in God’s name.*

Marguerite taught that the soul can become nothing and lose itself into the nothingness that God is. But she did not mean a lack of activity in the world. Beguines were not known at all as idle people. On the contrary, you would never lack care or go hungry if you met a beguine. Hospitals that are still in operation after hundreds of years were founded by them.

In Marguerite’s experience, from the annihilation of one’s will — which leads one astray on so many useless and unpleasant paths — courageous and bold and practical Love beyond reason emerges, which is also God.

That was too much for her accusers, who first got her book burned in front of her — purportedly so that she would stop teaching from it — and then burned her living body for refusing to stop her teaching and recant her views. I wonder why she did not do that. We would not fault her if she did. But only the one who lives in absolute Love knows what is best.

*Quote from Matthew Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Time, page 92.

Banner Image: Burning love: the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

What kind of inspiration do you receive from the story of Marguerite?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

Meister Eckhart: A Mystic Warrior for Our Time

Passion for Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart

Meditations with Meister Eckhart: A Centering Book

Meditations with Julian of Norwich

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond