5. Gendering the saints

Abstract

Historically, men have always received greater public recognition for their sanctity than women. Why were women under-represented among those venerated as saints? The church is historically a patriarchal institution and the abiding sense that sainthood is a male distinction meshed with other historically patriarchal discourses of the family, and of medical and philosophical knowledge. ‘Gendering the saints’ explains that despite these difficulties, the road to sanctity for women was not impassable. It discusses the contexts in which different varieties of female sanctity emerged and flourished and considers three portraits of female sanctity—Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Mother Teresa—women who shared a name, but found their own distinctive paths to sainthood.