The careers of these three women illustrate in a very satisfactory way
the various channels through which the religious life of the time found
its expression. The life of Catherine of Bologna was practically apart
from the real life of her time; Catherine of Pallanza was sought out by
people who were in need of her help, and she was able to give them wise
counsel; Catherine of Genoa, representing the more practical side of the
Christian spirit, went among the poor, the sick, and the needy, doing
good on every hand. Membership in these women's orders was looked upon
as a special and sacred office whereby the nun became the mystic bride
of the Church, and it was no uncommon thing for the sisters, when racked
and tortured by the temptations of the world, to fall into these
ecstatic contemplative moods wherein they became possessed with powers
beyond those of earth. In that age of quite universal ignorance, it is
not to be wondered at that the emotional spirit was too strongly
developed in all religious observances, and, as we have seen, it
characterized, equally, the convent nun, the priestess of the mountain
side, and the sister of mercy. The hysterical element, however, was
often too strongly accentuated, and the nuns were often too intent upon
their own salvation to give heed to the needs of those about them. But
the sum total of their influence was for the best, and the examples of
moderation, self-control, and self-sacrifice which they afforded played
no little part in softening the crudities of mediæval life and paved the
way for that day when religion was to become a rule of action as well as
an article of faith.




Chapter IV