Women, Religion, and Leadership

Women, Religion, and Leadership focuses on women from the traditional

context of women as leaders, with chapters observing various aspects of
leadership from specifically chosen religious and female leaders and going
on to examine the legacies they leave behind.
This book seeks to identify and analyze the gendered issues underlying the
structural lack of recognition for women within the Church, and to examine
the culturally constructed narratives related to these women for evidence
of their leadership despite the exclusionary rules applied to force their sub-
mission to the dominating forces. Finally, this book intends to draw out of
these women’s stories the various lessons of leadership that invoke current
relevancies among prevailing leadership paradigms.
Written by experts from disciplines as varied as leadership and communi-
cation studies to sociology, and history to medievalist and English scholars,
Women, Religion, and Leadership will prove key reading for scholars, aca-
demics and researchers in these and related disciplines.

Barbara Jones Denison is Department Chair of Sociology and Anthropology

at Shippensburg University, USA.
Routledge Studies in Leadership Research

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Female Saints as Unexpected Leaders
Edited by Barbara Jones Denison
Women, Religion, and
Leadership
Female Saints as Unexpected Leaders

Edited by Barbara Jones Denison

First published 2018
by Routledge
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Contents

About the Contributors vii

Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii

1 Performing Sanctity: Exemplary Leadership in the Lives

of Medieval Female Virgin Martyrs 1
SHARI HORNER

2 Hilda of Whitby (614–680): Unexpected Leadership by

the “Mother of Bishops” 15
BARBARA JONES DENISON

3 Clare of Assisi (1191–1253): Breaking Through Societal

Barriers for Women 33
KAREN MONIQUE GREGG

4 Catherine of Siena (1347–1380): Political Persuasion

and Party Leadership of the Intellective Mystic 56
SALLY M. BRASHER

5 Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680): She Who Bumps Into

Things and the Power of Servant Leadership 78
JESSICA HUHN

6 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821): A Proto-Feminist

Servant-Leader for the Nineteenth Century—and Today 100
DAVID VON SCHLICHTEN

7 Catherine McAuley (1778–1841): Exhibiting Mercy

Through Service and Authentic Leadership 119
PATRICK J. HUGHES
vi Contents
8 Katharine Drexel (1858–1955): Philanthropist and
Transformational Leader 134
JESSICA HUHN

9 Edith Stein (1891–1942): Empathic Leadership: Saint

Edith Stein’s Phenomenological Perspective 155
JEN JONES

10 Pauli Murray (1910–1985): A Person and Her Typewriter 178

KRISTIN PIDGEON

Index 199
About the Contributors

Sally M. Brasher is associate professor of history at Shepherd University. She

received her Ph.D. in history from the Catholic University in Washington,
DC. Her areas of interest include medieval European history, medieval
Italian history, renaissance and reformation history and gender history.
Her research includes a book on women of the Humiliati, a religious
movement in medieval Italy, and essays on women and religion in several
prominent history journals. Most recently, she has completed a book,
Hospitals and Charity, Religious Culture and Civic Life in Medieval
Northern Italy, which will be published during the summer of 2017 by
Manchester University Press.
Barbara Jones Denison is associate professor of sociology and director of
the graduate program in organizational development and leadership at
Shippensburg University. She recently edited History, Time, Meaning, and
Memory (Brill, 2011), and published “Memory and Memorization” in
Vocabulary for the Study of Religion (Brill, 2015). Her current research
is on the intersectionality of leadership and gender in the lives of religious
women, and she regularly presents her work at annual conferences of the
International Leadership Association, the Association for the Sociology
of Religion, the North Central Sociological Association and the Pennsyl-
vania Sociological Society.
Karen Monique Gregg hails from the University of Notre Dame where she
earned her Ph.D. in sociology. She is currently in a visiting assistant pro-
fessor position at Indiana University South Bend where she specializes in
the sociology of religion, gender and social psychology. She is active in the
North Central Sociological Association and in the Midwest Sociological
Society.
Shari Horner is professor of English at Shippensburg University, where she
teaches medieval literature. She is the author of The Discourse of Enclo-
sure: Representing Women in Old English Literature (Albany: SUNY
Press, 2001) as well as numerous articles on Old and Middle English
literature. Her current work looks at representations of the body and
material culture in Middle English saints’ lives.
viii About the Contributors
Patrick J. Hughes earned his Ph.D. in leadership at Alvernia University and
currently teaches leadership at the University of Baltimore. He is an active
member of the Association of Leadership Educators, the International
Leadership Association, and the Pennsylvania Sociological Society.
Jessica Huhn holds an M.S. in organizational development and leadership
and is an active member of the North Central Sociological Association
and the Pennsylvania Sociological Society. Her research interests focus
on the application of servant leadership tools in non-profits (including
religious groups) and in the direct provision of human services.
Jen Jones teaches communication, leadership, gender and women’s studies
and the liberal arts at Seton Hill University. She has published in the
journals Leadership and the Humanities and the Merton Seasonal. Her
research examines intersections among the topics she teaches through the
lens of existential phenomenology and various scholars within this tradi-
tion. She has presented her work at the International Studying Leadership
Conference, the International Leadership Association Global Conference,
and the National Communication Association Convention.
Kristin Pidgeon has a background in organizational development and lead-
ership, and in women’s history. Her research interests include intersec-
tional feminism and women’s movements of the twentieth century.
David von Schlichten is an assistant professor of religious studies as well as
the coordinator of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at Seton
Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He is an active member of
the College Theology Society and is a board member for the Blackburn
Center, a non-profit committed to reducing gender violence. In addition,
David is a student in Seton Hill’s MFA program in writing popular fiction.
Foreword

My research focus and interests from undergraduate days onward have been
in the sociology of religion. The lives of religious women in orders, as mys-
tics, or venerated as saints have always fascinated me, and I wrote multiple
times in graduate school on the sociology of contemplative nuns. By chance
and by fortune, I ended up working and teaching in the leadership studies
field as it intersects with sociology, and I pursued several projects related
to religious leadership. A few years ago, in a period when my then most
recent project had run its course, I was casting my thoughts to how women
in religious orders were often remade as “saints” for their piety, devotion or
martyrdom. What if instead of this more traditional hagiography we were
to consider the title “saint” as a metaphor for leader? What leadership les-
sons are there to be gleaned from the lives of these female saints? If religious
sanctity is understood not as the lesson in itself, but rather as the vehicle or
the enabling environment in which these women’s leadership was developed
and succeeded, then what could be learned? A second, but equally pertinent,
question can be asked about the ability of these women to overcome male
hegemony, patriarchy and domination within the Church by using various
leadership tactics unidentified in their own times but significant for contem-
porary paradigms of gender and leadership.
Readers may ask, why these saints and not so many others from the West-
ern Christian tradition? Indeed, why only women saints, and why not saints
from other Christian traditions, or from the vast number of saintly examples
in world religions representing enormous segments of world population?
The latter is answered by the same rationale behind using convenience sam-
pling in survey and similar forms of research. These are the saints chosen
by the authors involved in writing this volume, who themselves represent
diverse academic preparations from the humanities and social sciences, but
who were all educated and developed their scholarly interests solidly within
Western Christian culture. I also had a goal that this volume may provoke
some interest in studying leadership theory for those who typically read
saints’ lives for piety and devotion. The reason to select only female saints
rests in the interests we authors share in the necessary development of par-
adigms and pedagogy to further the causes of gender equity in leadership.
x Foreword
Nowhere is the need for recognition of female leaders greater than in reli-
gious structures that actively use gender to eliminate women from leadership
positions. The final chapter examines a key female leader in a Western tradi-
tion which has officially created gender equality but hers, too, is a life lesson
of leadership actions overcoming institutional discrimination.
Why study saints as leaders when there are easily so many religious
leaders of note, including women, who did not participate in groups that
use such nomenclature? Are not Mother Ann Lee of the Shakers or Aimee
Semple McPherson of the Pentecostals (to name just two examples) worth
careful attention for the study of leadership by women in religious contexts?
Indeed, these and many others would be excellent subjects for another vol-
ume. The intent here is to learn from the intersectionality of saintliness, typ-
ically defined by at least the conceptual passivity of piousness and sacrificial
acts, with the gender component of leadership as something learned and
consciously practiced. Male saints, also often martyred or otherwise sacrifi-
cially engaged in their life’s work, seem much more likely to be recognized
and canonized for their actions. Female saints, on the other hand, so often
are the subject of devotion because they were raped and slaughtered rather
than give up their virginity, forced into seclusion because of defiance or lack
of alternative life choices, or due to other ascribed, passive situations beyond
control of their own actions. The women included here were anything but
passive.
This volume seeks to provide a start to understanding the categorization
of “saint” for women as an active engagement with leadership rather than
an idolization of submissive passivity. The demonstrations of leadership in
many of these women’s lives were unexpected by the norms of their cul-
tural milieu, their peers, and sometimes even by their followers. In most
cases male authors, writing with a patriarchal agency and set of assump-
tions, completely or largely provide the historical accounts we have of these
women. It is hoped that the employment of feminist scholarship counters
this androcentric approach. Women are often overlooked in terms of their
leadership value, and it is hoped this volume provides some correction and
elucidation in contrast.
Acknowledgments

No book, especially an edited volume involving multiple authors from a

number of locations, is accomplished without the assistance and support of
key people throughout the process. My thanks go to David Varley, editor,
who first envisioned that my idea about a book intersecting the dynamic
field of leadership studies with the lives of female saints could become a real-
ity. I also wish to express my deep gratitude to all of the book’s authors, who
“bought in” to my idea and enthusiastically joined with me, first creating the
proposal and then writing chapters reflecting such significant thought and
relevance that I stand humbled. Thank you, all of you.
More thanks are due to those who assisted with proofreading, index-
ing and related copyediting work, including the leaders of that effort:
Lisa Dubbs and Alicia Carson. Your efforts went above and beyond. And,
finally, my deepest thanks to all my family and friends, but especially Janet
Hannemann, Ben Denison, Brooke Nutting, and Ross Gibson-Delasin who
listened to me talk about the leadership of female saints in general, and
about Hilda specifically, over the past few years.
BJD, March 2017
Introduction

An Introduction
For those not as familiar with the topic, the study of leadership is both as
old as human civilization and also a modern, data-driven research pursuit
that has exploded in the last few decades. Timeless texts such as Sun Tzu’s
The Art of War, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, scriptures
such as the Torah, the Bible, the Qur’an, the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, and
the writings of philosophers and scholars from numerous civilizations and
cultures all contain commentary on leadership. Many more sources speak of
leaders’ successes (or failures) and leadership traits and skills they sharpen
and employ (Wilson, 2016). Modern study of leadership is typically dated
to the mid-twentieth century, although there has been scholarly activity for
much of the past 100 years (Brungardt, 1996). The move from an indus-
trial organizational structure to a knowledge-based organizational structure
drove hard the need for expanded leadership proficiencies.
Early research such as The Ohio State Leadership Studies in the 1940s, the
Michigan Studies of Leadership in the 1950s, and McGregor’s Theory X and
Theory Y developed in the 1960s focused on using evidence-based data to
identify skills and characteristics of leadership to inform ways to improve
organizational outcomes. The first Ph.D. program in leadership was estab-
lished in 1979 at the University of San Diego; the first undergraduate
leadership studies program began in 1992 at the University of Richmond
(The Jepson School). Leadership studies has been characterized as inter-
disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, and at the 2016 Interna-
tional Leadership Association Annual Global Conference I heard it called
“trans-disciplinary.” Leadership studies programs are found housed in univer-
sities’ schools of management, education, public administration, or theology;
in departments such as sociology, psychology, gender studies, humanities, or
communication. This range of disciplines is well represented by the authors
in this volume.
Leadership studies opportunities that also exist in many other professional
and extended studies units provide targeted programs to adult learners in
the workforce. Additionally, there are a growing number of non-curricular
xiv Introduction
leadership development programs and opportunities at universities. Lead-
ership training resources exist outside the higher education environment
as well, from sources such as chambers of commerce, trade associations
and professional organizations, and community development and advocacy
groups (e.g., YMCA and YWCA groups). These groups typically do not
engage in research, however.
From the earlier leadership research studies, which focused primarily on
goals related to improved leadership in order to increase workplace out-
comes, leadership research now embraces a mandate to study a wide range
of leadership needs. These include new leader development strategies and
training tools, research on gender or other minorities and leadership, teach-
ing leadership in the global environmental sustainability crisis, developing
youth leaders, and of course the need for more basic and applied research
on the leadership process. Leadership has become commonly understood as
an interactive process, moving from one-dimensional studies of the leader
to focus on the triad of leader-follower-situation, with each seen as equally
significant components. Leadership research is published in a host of jour-
nals specific to the myriad of disciplines engaged in the study of leadership;
however there are but a handful of peer-reviewed publications specifically
identified as being in the field of leadership studies (as one would expect in
a newly emerging discipline). These include Leadership Quarterly, Journal
of Leadership Studies, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, and
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, to name but a few of
those with high impact factors. The Journal of Leadership Education pub-
lishes research on leadership learning.
The basic paradigms of leadership start with the studies that we now
identify as “great man” theories. The attempts to identify what traits were
common to leaders quickly identified things that we now know reflect gen-
der bias, cultural artifact, class, racial prejudice and institutional discrimina-
tion, and other socially constructed stereotypes. Leadership research quickly
moved from a supposition that leaders were “born” to an understanding that
leaders are “made”—i.e., leadership can be learned and is open to everyone
(Hughes et al., 2015). The expanding focus of leadership studies, moving
from traits to skills to styles to situational approaches, took into account
these issues, as well as identifying the need to develop followership skills as
an equally important component of creating leaders. More complex theo-
ries involving leaders, followers and situations emerged, from Greenleaf’s
servant leadership to Bass’s transformational leadership. There is situational
leadership, authentic leadership, emergent leadership, contingency the-
ory, empathetic leadership, and a number of theories addressing authority,
power, personality, and intelligence aspects of leadership. I have listed two
excellent resources, the books by first Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy (2015),
and by Northouse (2013) next if an overview of leadership theory is desired.
The authors of this book address leadership using a number of the pre-
vailing paradigms. They consider the intersectionality of gender to examine
 Introduction xv
the lives of selected women leaders from the seventh through the twenti-
eth centuries. Clare of Assisi teaches us about using acceptable religious
behaviors as defiant acts in emergent leadership. Edith Stein provides a path
toward deeper understanding of empathetic leadership. Kateri Terakwitha,
Elizabeth Ann Seton and Catherine McAuley educate us in the various ways
servant leadership can be successful. Hilda demonstrates the effective use of
power and authority to overcome traditional gender barriers. Pauli Murray
and Katharine Drexel provide lessons in overcoming barriers of class and
race to lead organizations and movements effectively. Catherine of Sienna
shows us the leadership power of political persuasion and the intellect. Both
Elizabeth Ann Seton and Clare of Assisi provide concrete lessons in early
feminist revolution tactics. Every one of the women leaders examined here
has more to teach than could be contained within the confines of one chap-
ter gathered together into a single book. It is our wish that reading this
volume will excite and encourage further study of gender and leadership in
the lives of religious women who broke free of traditional roles and social
barriers to do the unexpected.

Bibliography
Brungardt, C. L. “The Making of Leaders: A Review of the Research in Leadership
Development and Education.” The Journals of Leadership Studies 3 (3) 1996:
81–95.
Hughes, Richard L., Robert C. Ginnett, and Gordon J. Curphy. Leadership: Enhanc-
ing the Lessons of Experience, 8th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education,
2015.
Northouse, Peter. Leadership: Theory and Practice, 6th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage
Publications, 2013.
Wilson, Suze. Thinking Differently About Leadership: A Critical History of Leader-
ship Studies. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2016.
1 Performing Sanctity
Exemplary Leadership in the Lives
of Medieval Female Virgin Martyrs
Shari Horner

Performing Sanctity
Surely, the most famous example of young female leadership in the Middle
Ages is Joan of Arc. Joan’s story is, even today, well known: inspired by
mystical voices as a young teenager, she set out across France to seek the
dauphin, Charles VII, in order to ensure his rightful ascent to the throne.
Though she met with extraordinary success militarily, Joan was nevertheless
burned at the stake as a heretic in 1431, following a Trial of Condemnation
that was largely political in nature.1 As the trial records show (for both her
Trial of Condemnation and the Trial of Rehabilitation some 30 years after
her death), Joan demonstrated unparalleled military and spiritual leadership
in her efforts to reach the dauphin and to persuade him to grant her the
military power to lead troops to Orleans, resulting in the siege being lifted
and Charles being crowned King of France. Though she would be killed only
two years later, following a lengthy imprisonment and trial, she nevertheless
rose to what seems to us now as unimaginable power for a teenage peasant
girl in the fifteenth century.2
For a young woman in the fifteenth century, however, perhaps such power
was not unimaginable. In Joan’s trial records, she testifies that she was ini-
tially inspired to action by mystical voices speaking to her—specifically, the
voices of Saints Michael, Katherine, and Margaret. And indeed, there was
significant precedent for authoritative female mysticism in Europe in the
centuries preceding Joan’s own experiences, as Lilas G. Edwards explains,

Many women had achieved renown and respect through their tran-
scendent relationships with the divine. A range of women visionaries,
including Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, Marguerite Porete,
Bridget of Sweden and Margery Kempe, to name a few, make it possible
to see Joan of Arc in the context of a movement: a wave of popular
female mystics whose lives and visions brought them renown or infamy
in their societies.3

Other aspects of Joan’s life would have resonated deeply within the mys-
tical tradition—especially her commitment to virginity, made in response
2 Shari Horner
to her first mystical message, from St. Michael, when she was just 13 years
old. Subsequently, Joan reported at her Trial of Condemnation that she
was in frequent, often daily contact with Saints Michael, Katherine of
Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch. St. Michael was wholly appropriate
as a mystical advisor to Joan; as Edwards notes, “As an archangel and the
guardian of France, Michael symbolized both the divinity of the French
cause and Joan’s mystical link to God.”4 Thus St. Michael ensured legiti-
macy for Joan. Saints Katherine and Margaret, however, provided another
kind of model—that of the powerful female virgin martyr, fighting against
formidable opponents and facing excruciating death, with faith as their
only weapon.5
Young female virgin martyrs, including Saints Katherine, Margaret, and
Cecilia, are, in fact, the focus of this essay. While Joan of Arc demonstrated
extraordinary leadership abilities before her detractors imprisoned and
finally burned her at the stake, she was herself continually motivated by
inspiration from the saints—they spoke to her, directed and instructed her,
and provided concrete and specific models for bodily and spiritual behav-
iors. Though legendary, virgin martyrs such as Katherine, Margaret, and
Cecilia exemplified the public display of female leadership that resonates in
Joan’s own biography. The saints that Joan of Arc venerated and emulated
exemplified the same qualities that she herself displayed—youth, virginity,
intense spirituality, the ability to rhetorically command public space, the
ability to debate and triumph over large number of male scholars and clerics,
a public and graphic death, and, especially, a focus on the body to produce
meaning to audiences both within and outside of the narrative.
The lives of female virgin martyrs were among the most popular litera-
ture in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries in England.6 Featuring legendary
martyrs from the earliest centuries of Christianity, these narratives tend to
follow the same trajectory: a young woman has privately committed herself
to Christ. She attracts the attention of an older male tyrant, a non-Christian,
who desires her sexually. When she resists, claiming her vow of chastity, and
urging him to convert to Christianity, he becomes enraged and orders her
imprisonment, torture, and eventual martyrdom. There are variations; for
example, sometimes her father instigates the torture because he wants her
to marry and sometimes the methods of torture differ. In general, though,
these texts are short, graphic displays of violence done to the female body.
Except for the virgin’s imprisonment, these scenes play out in the public
square. The saint herself is assertive and outspoken, easily able to out-argue
her persecutors and convert many thousands of onlookers to Christianity.
She is impervious to torture, often finding such violence pleasurable since it
hastens her eventual death and ascent to heaven. Such narratives, therefore,
rely upon a number of paradoxes: the seemingly powerless young woman
is shown to have great power over not just her persecutors but also thou-
sands of onlookers. She produces conversion and belief through the very
thing that is supposed to be the least significant: her body. Though she
 Performing Sanctity 3
asserts repeatedly that her body does not matter in contrast to her spiritual
belief, nevertheless, the public spectacle of her tortured body is the vehicle
that allows her to dismantle the power structures imposed by her heathen
persecutors.7
The Life of St. Katherine of Alexandria was among the most popular
Lives of virgin martyrs throughout the Middle Ages, as evidenced by the
fact that more textual and visual sources survive for her than for any other
female saint (excluding the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene).8 Like all
virgin martyrs, Katherine is young, beautiful, and frankly combative. As in
other saints’ lives, the narrative frequently draws readers’ attention to her
physical body as the outward sign of her spiritual power. Katherine excels
in her scholarly ability to debate with great rhetorical sophistication, per-
suading those who disagree with her to accept her viewpoints readily. In the
early thirteenth-century version of her life, believed to have been written for
female religious recluses, she boldly confronts Emperor Maxentius when she
learns that Christians are being forced to sacrifice to his false gods against
their will:

[S]he was so inflamed with anger that she was nearly out of her mind.
She summoned as many servants as she wanted, and went over. There
she found a great crowd howling and yelling and crying in complaint
with grievous laments, who were Christians and faithful to God’s law,
but for fear of death made that sacrifice to the devil as the heathen
did. . . . After that, she armed herself with true belief, and drew the holy
sign of the cross on her breast, and in front of her teeth and tongue, and
came leaping forth all inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit . . . and
began to cry out in a loud voice.
(263–4)

Katherine’s physical and mental intensity are notable here; the passage draws
attention in particular to the ways that her bodily actions intersect with her
spiritual beliefs, as she not only marks her own body with the sign of the
cross but also “leap[s] forth” and cries out loudly. Her faith is manifested
in her physical aggression, on display for spectators within the narrative
as well as for readers. In a lengthy speech, she defends the Christians and
condemns the emperor for worshiping false idols, much to his surprise. A
later fifteenth-century version, by Osbern Bokenham, omits the long speech
but instead describes her verbal prowess: “She thus began, standing before
the temple gate, to expand her thesis with diverse illustrations, and with syl-
logisms and arguments she eloquently made her point.”9 Thus in relatively
short order, she completely overwhelms Maxentius. Drawing the sign of the
cross over her breast, teeth, and tongue has provided her with the spiritual
and verbal strength to outmaneuver him rhetorically.
In response, Maxentius summons 50 renowned male scholars to debate
with Katherine, in the expectation that they will quickly overwhelm her
4 Shari Horner
arguments. While she awaits their arrival in prison, the archangel Michael
speaks to her:

[God] promises you that he will pour into your mouth flowing waters
of wise words, which will quickly put your enemies to flight. And they
will be so amazed by your wisdom, that they will all turn to Christ and
come, through martyrdom, to the Lord in heaven. Many will turn to the
true faith through their example.
(268)

The angel thus again refers to the power of Katherine’s body (her mouth)
to predict that she will inspire many to follow her into martyrdom and
heaven, and that those martyrs will inspire others. Subsequently, Katherine is
brought before the 50 scholars, who challenge her to speak first. She does so
at great length, dismissing as empty and meaningless books by non-Christian
philosophers such as Homer, Aristotle, Plato, and others, before moving into
an extended explanation of the history of Christianity and the power that
she finds in Christ. The amazed scholars can barely summon up a few ques-
tions for her; in Bokenham’s version of the story, “All the philosophers were
so astonished by her speech that none could bring forth a word, but they all
stood as still as new-shorn sheep.”10
Unsurprisingly, the scholars’ response enrages Maxentius. He expresses
his anger at their inability to debate effectively in ways that are specifically
gendered:

What now, you wretched men, and weaker than the weak, dimwits and
deadwits? Do you not have both teeth and tongue to move? Is your
strength now so much subdued and your minds so overcome that the
might and the arguments of so meek a maiden can overmaster you all?
Ah, if fifty women--or even more!--had thrown one of you with words,
would this not be a great humiliation and sheer shame to all who boast
of learning? Now is the greatest of all shames: that a single maiden out
of her own mouth has so out-argued, tamed and tied all of you.
(273)

For Maxentius, it is shameful and humiliating for men to be not only out-
talked by a woman but also in fact rendered speechless and “tongueless”
in Bokenham’s version of this life, especially because “a single maiden” has
used her tongue to subdue theirs. The scholars, however, seem to finally
find their voice in response to his rebuke; the lead scholar acknowledges
Katherine’s superior intellect, and explains that her power comes from a
“heavenly spirit” and “no human argument” (273). In naming Christ, she
has superseded earthly power and he admits, “all our worldly wisdom went
away.” The scholars reject not just the heathen gods and false idols in favor
of Christ; they likewise reject the emperor’s earthly control over them: “And
 Performing Sanctity 5
we tell you this, emperor, and make it known, that we leave your law and
your whole belief and all turn to Christ” (273). Thus, throughout the rest of
the narrative, the balance of power shifts: as Katherine continues to convert
those around her to Christianity, including most importantly, the queen,
her power on earth increases. Conversely, Maxentius’s power declines, as
he becomes increasingly inarticulate and animalistic: he is “like a madman”
(274); he loses “power over his senses,” (275); he is “the mad wolf, the
heathen dog” (278), “on the point of insanity” (279), and “like one who
was drunk with the devil’s poison [and] did not know what to say” (282).
Katherine’s spiritual power creates lasting political change.
Following the scholars’ conversion, they are publicly burned alive, but
they go willingly and without suffering to their deaths. When Katherine
continues to refuse the emperor’s demands that she worship his gods, he
orders her to be

stripped stark naked and her bare flesh and her beautiful body beaten
with knotted scourges . . . so that her lovely body was all lathered with
blood. But she bore it lightly, and suffered it laughing. He commanded
her then to be thrown into prison.
(275)

In prison, however, the trajectory of power continues to shift when the

queen and her chief knight Porphirius visit Katherine and are themselves
converted. Porphirius, in fact, subsequently converts 200 more knights, who
“at once gave up their miserable faith, and threw away their meaningless
law completed, and turned to Christ” (277). Again, the heathens reject the
emperor’s false earthly rule in favor of Christian law and significantly, Kath-
erine and the queen gain in power over those around them as Maxentius’s
power disintegrates. In fact, it is the queen who then causes the conversion
of many more heathens when she publicly rejects Maxentius’s rule:

And many among that whole heathen people .  .  . all turned together
and began to cry out, ‘Truly, very worthy and worth all worship is this
maiden’s God, Christ, true Son of God.’ And from now on we know and
acknowledge him to be Lord and high Savior; and our filthy idols are all
accursed, for they can neither help themselves nor those who serve them.
(280)

The queen and later Porphirius and his men are soon tortured and mar-
tyred for their faith.
Katherine is next. By this point, Maxentius is out of his mind with anger
over his inability to silence Katherine and to counteract the mass conver-
sions. The public nature of their battle is everywhere apparent, as he advises
her to worship his gods or “to die so horribly that all who see it will be
appalled” (282). He orders her to be taken outside of the city and executed,
6 Shari Horner
but on her way, she soon realizes that there are “many heathens following
her wringing their hands and crying bitterly—men and women, but most
of all maidens with sad and sorrowful faces, and rich ladies letting their
tears trickle” (282). She is soon beheaded, and two miracles immediately
occur: “One of the two was that with the blow sprang out milk mingled
with blood, to bear her witness to her white maidenhood. The other was
that the angels came down from heaven and lifted her up on high” (283).
The intensely visual miracle of the white milk mingled with red blood signi-
fies purity, as the text suggests—yet in a narrative where feminine spiritual
power has transcended masculine earthly power, the image of milk surely
must suggest additional nurturing and maternal qualities, as once again the
visual reference to the saint’s physical body illuminates and exemplifies her
spiritual power.
Like the Life of St. Katherine, a text with which it is often included in
medieval saints’ lives collections, the Life of St. Margaret traces the typical
story of the beautiful female virgin martyr, and reveals a similar awareness
of the ways that the public audiences both within and outside of the text will
respond to the saint’s spiritual message.11 Both lives present graphic public
spectacles of torture. But whereas the Life of St. Katherine is concerned with
verbal and rhetorical eloquence as the sign of spiritual wisdom, the Life of
St. Margaret uses texts, rather than speech, to create authority. Such textual
authority is established early on by the narrator, who assures readers that
not only was he living at the time of Margaret’s death but also he “obtained
the documents written at the time describing all her passion and painful
death which she endured for God” (45). This reliance on verifiable written
authorities is a hallmark of this life, and in fact, Margaret describes herself
by using a documentary metaphor: she tells her persecutor, Olibrius, that
God “has placed his own seal on me and my virginity” (50–51). The Mid-
dle English verb, selen, carries a double meaning: it suggests that God has
ensured Margaret’s virginity by “sealing” or securing her body, but it also
connotes a textual metaphor: the verb selen also means using sealing wax to
seal or secure a document or letter.12 Margaret thus embodies that action, as
her body wears God’s seal. She later confirms that “God . . . has set his mark
on me, sealed with his seal” (53) and again, “My Lord has put a seal on each
of my limbs” (75) to indicate that torture will not cause her to renounce her
faith. While the verb “to seal,” selen, is used metaphorically here, it is used
elsewhere in Middle English religious literature to mean, literally, the wax
seal affixed to letters or documents. Margaret’s metaphor thus suggests that
her body is a text, or document, preserved intact by God’s seal. As Adrienne
Williams Boyarin has explained,

In these passages, Margaret’s body is a text both as she lives and eter-
nally, and it is a specific kind of text: it is the public charter of a powerful
lord who has repeatedly authorized the document by affixing his seal
to the parchment.13
 Performing Sanctity 7
Acting as a text, Margaret’s body is on display for all onlookers to read
and interpret, and she is keenly aware of this fact. In response to Margaret’s
first claim that God has sealed her body, Olibrius orders his executioners to
“Strip her stark naked and hang her up high, and flog her bare body with
biting rods” (53), as though the physical injury to her body might somehow
break through the spiritual seal. Her prayer during the torture scene reveals
her awareness of her audience: “Lord, protect me and have mercy on me;
lighten my suffering and heal my wounds so it may not appear, or show on
my face, that I feel any pain” (53). Regardless of what her face may have
shown, however, her body is still being tortured “so cruelly that the blood
burst out and ran down her body like a stream from a spring” (53), and
the onlookers have no trouble reading and interpreting the message; they
“wept for compassion and pitied this maiden” and urged her to accept
Olibrius’s offer of marriage. Margaret, however, schools her audience in
the proper way of understanding: “If my body is torn apart, my soul will
be at peace among the righteous; through sorrow and bodily pain, souls
are saved” (53).
Following prolonged public torture, Margaret is thrown into prison,
where, improbably, she encounters a dragon in her cell, who swallows her
whole. Having traced the sign of the cross on her body, however, she is
unharmed, and, in fact, the dragon’s own body splits in half to release her.
Another demon appears in her cell, and several pages of debate between
the demon and Margaret ensue before she is summoned by Olibrius back
to the public square, where again the people are gathered to watch the
gruesome torture. Finally, Margaret’s hands and feet are tied and she is
thrown into a vat of water in an attempt to drown her; at her prayer, the
ropes fall off, the earth trembles, and a dove arrives, summoning her to
heaven. After the dove speaks, “five thousand men were converted to our
Lord, and this not counting woman and children; and all of them were,
as the governor commanded, beheaded at once in Christ’s royal name”
(77). Margaret’s successful conversion of thousands in front of Olibrius
is the final straw: he orders the executioner to behead her with a sword,
which he reluctantly does, having been converted himself. The narrator
tells us that even the devils in the audience declare their commitment
to Christ, and “Very many people were converted to Christ at the time
through this” (83).
Margaret’s awareness of her own exemplary leadership in effecting these
conversions extends to her concern that future generations will benefit from
her story. We have seen her use a textual metaphor to describe the spir-
itual power of her own body; just before she is martyred, she returns to
this textual theme, anticipating that her martyrdom will become a powerful
narrative:

I beg and beseech you . . . that whoever writes a book on my life, or

acquires it when written, or whoever has it most often in hand, or
8 Shari Horner
whoever reads it aloud or with good will listens to the reader, may all
have their sins forgiven at once.
(78–9)

In anticipating the many ways that people might read or otherwise come
into contact with the “book on [her] life,” Margaret thus imagines her influ-
ence on many future publics. She expects specifically that the book of her
life will be valuable to women in childbirth: “In the house where a woman
is lying in labor, as soon as she recalls my name and my passion, Lord, make
haste to help her and listen to her prayer” (78–9). Even the heavenly dove
who escorts her to heaven confirms the power her story will have on readers
after her death:

Wherever your body may be, or any of your bones, or a book on your
passion, if a sinful man comes and touches it with his lips, I will heal his
sins for him; and no devil will remain within the walls where a written
account of your martyrdom is kept.
(80–1)

The story of Margaret’s passion will benefit sinners, but so too will the phys-
ical book—her body and bones may serve as relics, but even the book, acting
as a kind of contact relic, will provide salvific power to all who encounter it.
The textual metaphors with which her narrative began here are transformed
so that her body is not simply “like” a text; it is transformed into a book,
analogous to body and bones, that will heal and absolve all future sinners
who read or even touch it. Her words here become an object lesson in how
the female virgin martyr continues to extend her spiritual power far beyond
her death.
Like Saints Katherine and Margaret, Saint Cecilia is a virgin who has
dedicated herself to Christ.14 Her unwavering spiritual faith incites anger
and violence from her persecutor, Almachius, and she is tortured and
eventually martyred for her faith. Like the other two Lives of Saints, the
Life of St. Cecilia focuses on teaching and inspiring audiences within the
narrative and outside of it, and Cecilia herself is successful in converting
unbelievers to Christianity. While Saints Katherine and Margaret might
be classified as public performers, however, who converted thousands of
onlookers, Cecilia is a teacher, who, for most of the narrative, works
privately to convert nonbelievers and to debate with her persecutor. Her
story is focused especially on vision, as she converts heathens to Christi-
anity by leading them out of spiritual blindness into sight and belief. The
narrator begins the prologue to her Life, in fact, with an etymological
analysis of her name, which, he tells readers, signifies “a way to the blind”
or “lacking blindness,” and he explains that she was “both way and guide
to the blind by offering fuller knowledge” (141). Toward the end of the
Life, fittingly, Cecilia successfully turns the visual spectacle of her own
 Performing Sanctity 9
martyrdom into a spiritual lesson for the many Christians who witness
her death.15
Unlike most virgin martyrs, Cecilia is a married saint, though she intends
to remain a virgin.16 On her wedding night, she explains the situation to her
new husband, Valerian:

I have a lover, an angel of God, who preserves my body jealously. If he

finds that you have touched me even slightly with unclean love, intend-
ing to defoul me physically, he will be angry with you and take cruel
vengeance. . . . If he sees that you love me in perfect chastity and do not
oppress me nor pluck the flower of my virginity, then he will love you
as well as he does me, and show you his grace plentifully.
(143)

Valerian is, not surprisingly, a little suspicious of this news, vowing to have
Cecilia executed if there’s actually another man involved. He is willing to
be persuaded, but he asks for visual proof: “If you want me to believe you,
show me that angel you speak of, then I will perform what you suggest”
(143). His conversion takes place in secrecy, as Cecilia directs him to seek a
man, Pope Urban, who will prepare him to see the angel as he requests. As
Pope Urban prays, the angel appears in the form of an old man, carrying a
book, written in golden letters. Again, we are reminded that the focus of this
Life is largely pedagogical: the old man says,

“Fear not, young man, but read this written text and believe it, so that
you may be pure and clean enough to see the angel which your wife
Cecelia has promised you.” Valerian arose, looked at the writing, and
silently read.
(145; emphasis added)

The textual authority is the visual proof he needs, and he is promptly bap-
tized and returns home to Cecilia.
In fact, the episode with the book produces further physical manifesta-
tions of faith. When Valerian returns home, an angel presents the couple
with garlands of roses, so that when Valerian’s brother Tiburtius arrives, he
is puzzled that he smells roses but doesn’t see them; he has not yet experienced
conversion that leads to more powerful sight. As his brother explains the
roses “can’t be seen by anyone blinded with despair, so they are still invisible
to you and will be until you give credence to a better doctrine and are subject
to Christ’s faith” (146). Pope Urban, at Valerian’s request, quickly arranges
for Tiburtius to be converted by the angel as well, and soon “he grew so
perfect that he could see angels when he pleased and speak with them face
to face” (149). Valerian and Tiburtius go on to convert their torturers and a
large group of followers by similarly invoking the power to sight to produce
belief: “If you will promise to believe you shall see our souls go up after
10 Shari Horner
death to that joyful bliss which never ends” (151). When the two brothers
are executed after refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods, the torturer Max-
imian “swore that at that moment he saw bright angels bear up their souls
to heaven” (151). Cecilia’s role as “a way to the blind” is thus borne out in
the experience of the Christian converts.
When Almachius sends more than 40 officers to arrest Cecilia after she
buries the bodies of the new Christians, she promptly converts all 40 “and
more” to Christianity. When he finally confronts her, Almachius is no match
for Cecilia’s verbal wit, as she uses a humorous and insulting metaphor to
describe him:

It seems to me that all your power can be likened to a bladder blown

full of wind until it is firm, but anyone can deflate it, for with a needle’s
point anyone can let out the wind and slacken the firmness. That’s what
your power is like.
(152–3)

Her description of Almachius as an overly puffed up, yet easily deflated

bladder, whose “firmness” is “slackened” carries a mocking and emasculat-
ing suggestion, to be sure. But it is also a strongly visual image, illustrating
the idea that Almachius’s power is fleeting, superficial, and easily disman-
tled. Cecilia differentiates herself from her persecutor when she contrasts the
power of the seemingly small and insignificant “needle’s point” to deflate
the large but empty bladder. Similarly, Cecilia herself, although she appears
powerless, will continue to lead her onlookers to Christian belief by teach-
ing, praying, and giving orders throughout her prolonged torture.
Cecilia’s final rebuke of Almachius addresses his demands that she wor-
ship his false idols; she frames her comment by again contrasting physical
blindness to spiritual insight:

[N]ot only your inward reason is blind but even your bodily eyes. You call
a god a thing we all see is a stone. So for your own benefit, do this: reach
out your hand and prove it a stone by touching the thing you foolishly
imagine, by seeing, to be a god. Let your hand teach your eye the truth,
and then you’ll no longer be laughed to scorn as you have been before.
(154)

Cecilia here exposes a paradox: Almachius’s singular reliance on his physical

sight to perceive a god in a plain stone in fact exposes his spiritual blind-
ness. The truth, in her explanation, must be more than a simply sensory
experience; it must be accompanied by a deeper understanding leading to
spiritual belief. Because he is blind to the knowledge they all see, he orders
her tortured by being scalded in a hot bath, but it doesn’t affect her; “she
was as cheerful as if she were in a cool green arbor; there wasn’t a drop of
sweat on her” (154).
 Performing Sanctity 11
Out of ideas, Almachius orders Cecilia’s execution. Yet although the exe-
cutioner strikes her neck with his sword three times, he fails to kill her, and
the law forbids more than three blows. Though half-dead, with her neck
nearly severed, Cecilia continues to preach and to convert new Christians,
“exhorting the people she had won to Christianity to be steadfast to the
faith” (154), and distributing all her possessions to the needy. Notably, the
Christians witnessing her martyrdom gather around her while she is still
alive, using cloth handkerchiefs to soak up her blood, presumably to save it.
Thus, though Cecilia “never ceased her holy teaching” and she makes one
final speech to Pope Urban, her words are not as important as the visual
display of her bleeding body. Her wounded neck visually represents the
miracle of her extended life, and the gathered blood both associates her
with Christ and turns her body into a kind of text, “inscribed” in blood on
the blank cloths, and thus narrating the spiritual meaning conveyed by her
martyrdom.17
Katherine Lewis has argued that medieval noble women used the Life of St.
Katherine, and other virgin martyr saints, as models for ideal womanhood.
As women’s literacy increased in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, not
only did their access to books increase, but so too did their responsibilities
in raising daughters who likewise drew instruction from hagiographic exem-
plars. Copious evidence remains of books of saints’ lives that were owned by,
commissioned by, or dedicated to women readers, and even those who could
not read surely listened to the legends being recited at home or at mass. Thus
the narratives provided important inspiration for a wide audience, just as the
virgins themselves served within the texts as powerful exemplars who led
many Christians to conversion and happy death, secure in the expectation
of heaven. As Lewis suggests, “their words and conduct within the legends
provide examples of faith and fortitude, but more than this they are also
presented as the epitome of young womanhood.”18
Yet only Joan of Arc carried her identification with the early virgin mar-
tyrs to the extremity of death. As Maud Burnett McInerney has written,

Joan’s life [and] death . . . recreate in a real body, in a lived life, every
aspect of the fictional narrative of virgin martyrdom: the unassailable
but constantly assailed virginity, the irrepressible speech, the caustic crit-
icism of corrupt masculine authority. Like those historic women martyrs
of the early Church, Joan believed that her commitment to virginity
both redeemed and liberated her.19

Like Joan, and perhaps like many medieval readers, the onlookers depicted
within saints’ lives find powerful models in the actions and resistance to
power demonstrated by martyrs such as Katherine, Margaret, and Cecilia.
For audiences within and outside of the texts, virgin martyrs dismantle the
fragile power structures controlled by their heathen persecutors, and make
way for thousands of followers to emulate their behavior. Though no reader
12 Shari Horner
was expected to die for his or her faith, and Joan’s situation is obviously
unique, nevertheless the martyrs provided spiritual leadership to all those
who witnessed their resistance to torture and their disregard for a painful
death in exchange for eternal life. Above all, the focus on the public display
of the saint’s martyrdom is hermeneutic: onlookers and audiences not only
view models of holy power, but learn to read and interpret those models, as
the saint literally embodies the spiritual message she transmits.

Notes
1. Lilas G. Edwards, “Joan of Arc: Gender and Authority in the Text of the Trial of
Condemnation.” Young Medieval Women, ed. Katherine J. Lewis, Noel James
Menuge, and Kim M. Phillips (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999), 133–52,
at 136.
2. In addition to Edwards’s article cited earlier in n.1, see Nadia Margolies, “Joan
of Arc.” The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women’s Writing, ed. Carolyn
Dinshaw and David Wallace (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003), 256–66; and
Régine Pernoud, Joan of Arc: By Herself and Her Contemporaries (Lanham,
MD: Scarborough House, 1969; 1982).
3. Edwards, 137. On medieval women visionaries, see Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff,
Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986).
4. Edwards, 141. See also Charles T. Wood, Joan of Arc and Richard III (Oxford:
Oxford UP, 1988).
5. On Joan’s use of female virgin martyrs as exemplars, as well as her relationships
with the saints, see Maud Burnett McInerney, Eloquent Virgins From Thecla to
Joan of Arc (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003), 195–211.
6. See Katherine J. Lewis, “‘Lete me suffre’: Reading the Torture of Saint Margaret
of Antioch in Late Medieval England.” Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts
in Late Medieval Britain. Essays for Felicity Riddy, ed. Jocelyn Wogan-Browne,
Rosalynn Voaden, Arlyn Diamond, Ann Hutchison, Carol M. Meale, and Lesley
Johnson (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), 69–82; Sarah Salih, ed., A Companion to
Middle English Hagiography (Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2006). For a thorough
overview of the genre, see Jocelyn Wogan-Browne, Saints’ Lives and Women’s
Literary Culture: Virginity and Its Authorizations (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001).
7. For an analysis of the treatment of the saint’s physical body in virgin martyr
narratives, see Shari Horner, “The Violence of Exegesis: Reading the Bodies of
Ælfric’s Female Saints.” Violence Against Women in Medieval Texts, ed. Anna
Roberts (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1997), 22–43.
8. Karen A. Winstead, Chaste Passions: Medieval English Virgin Martyr Legends
(Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2000). The Middle English text of the Life of Saint Katherine
can be found in Seinte Katerine, ed. S.R.T.O. d’Ardenne and E.J. Dobson. EETS
supp. ser.7 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981). I am using the translation
from “St. Katherine,” in Anchoritic Spirituality: Ancrene Wisse and Associated
Works, trans. Anne Savage and Nicholas Watson (New York: Paulist Press,
1991), 259–84. Citations from Savage and Watson will appear parenthetically
in my text.
9. Sheila Delaney, trans., A Legend of Holy Women: A Translation of Osbern
Bokenham’s Legends of Holy Women (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre
Dame Press, 1992), 128.
10. Delany, trans., 132.
11. For the Middle English text and translation, see “Seinte Margarete,” Medieval
English Prose for Women From the Katherine Group and Ancrene Wisse, ed.
 Performing Sanctity 13
and trans. Bella Millett and Jocelyn Wogan-Browne (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990),
44–85. The translation will be cited parenthetically within my text. See also Lewis,
“Lete Me Suffre” (n. 6). For ways that some medieval women may have responded
to the Life of St. Margaret, see Jenny C. Bledsoe, “The Cult of St. Margaret of
Antioch at Tarrant Crawford: The Saint’s Didactic Body and Its Resonance for
Religious Women,” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 39 (2013), 173–207.
12. For a fascinating discussion of seals as tattoos in this Life, see Nicole Nyffenegger,
“Saint Margaret’s Tattoos: Empowering Marks on White Skin,” Exemplaria 25
(Winter 2013): 267–83. On seals in the Life of St. Margaret, see also Adrienne
Williams Boyarin, “Sealed Flesh, Book-Skin: How to Read the Female Body
in the Early Middle English Seinte Margarete.” Women and the Divine in
Literature Before 1700: Essays in Memory of Margot Lewis, ed. Kathryn Kerby-
Fulton (Victoria, BC: ELS Editions, 2009), 87–106, and Francesca Brooks, “The
Partible Text and the Textual Relic: The Function of Materiality And Memory
in Seinte Margarete,” STET: An Online Post-Graduate Research Journal 4 (May
2014): 1–26.
13. Boyarin, “Sealed Flesh, Book-Skin,” 87.
14. There are many medieval versions of the Life of St. Cecilia; Chaucer’s “The
Second Nun’s Tale” is surely the best-known: see The Riverside Chaucer, ed.
Larry D. Benson, 3rd ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1987). For consistency,
I will refer to Bokenham’s version in Delany, ed and trans., A Legend of Holy
Women: A Translation of Osbern Bokenham’s Legends of Holy Women (Notre
Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992), 141–55. References to this
translation will appear parenthetically in my text.
15. On the theme of sight and blindness in the Life of St. Cecilia, see Carolyn P.
Collette, “A Closer Look at Seint Cecile’s Special Vision,” The Chaucer Review
10 (1976): 337–49.
16. The tradition of chaste, married saints is not unusual in medieval narratives;
see Dyan Elliot, Spiritual Marriage: Sexual Abstinence in Medieval Wedlock
(Princeton: Princeton UP, 1995).
17. For a related argument, see Katherine C. Little, “Images, Texts and Exegetics in
Chaucer’s Second Nun’s Tale,” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
36 (2006): 103–33.
18. Lewis, 25–6. On medieval women’s reading practices, see Lara Farina, “Women
and Reading,” in The History of British Women’s Writing, 700–1500, ed. Liz
Herbert McAvoy and Diane Watt (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 142–50;
and Wogan-Browne, Saints’ Lives and Women’s Literary Culture, cited in n. 6.
19. Maud Burnett McInerney, Eloquent Virgins From Thecla to Joan of Arc (New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), 210.

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2 Hilda of Whitby (614–680)
Unexpected Leadership by the
“Mother of Bishops”
Barbara Jones Denison

Introduction
Hilda of Whitby was not always the abbess of a grand double monastery,
endowed by the royal overlord, where monks and nuns, and the surrounding
village community lived under her authority in an important coastal trading
port town. She was from the nobility of her day, being most likely the great
niece of Edwin, the king of Northumbria (Mundahl-Harris, 1981), although
other family relationships have been suggested. She was born into a pagan
household to a widowed mother. She most likely was socialized into the
Christian faith by living with her exiled Celtic mother at Edwin’s court when
the king’s betrothed arrived along with a Christian bishop to convert the
pagans at court. Certainly the intersection of political and religious intrigue
as a part of the ongoing attempts to convert the king and his court, urged on
by the bishop Paulinus, sealed Hilda’s destiny. Her leadership journey took
her from the royal courts of the aristocracy to Kent and East Anglia, then
to Wearmouth (now part of modern-day Sunderland), and next to become
abbess of the double abbey at Heretu, at what is now modern-day Hartle-
pool, on the North Sea. With the approval and bequest of King Oswy she
moved to the cliff above Whitby and established the abbey where, unbe-
knownst to her at the start, history would be made. The Christian culture of
the Saxons in Northumbria, with the evidence of both the Roman and Celtic
influenced strains competing, would create at Whitby Abbey a crucial cross-
road for the future rise of Britain as part of the dominant socio-economic
leadership of Europe in the Middle Ages and beyond. Hilda stepped out
beyond the referent power granted by her class and status, pushed further
than the strictures of prescribed gender roles governing women, and engaged
in transformative leadership to turn what seemed to be a defeat at the Synod
of Whitby into success for her abbey’s community and the surrounding peo-
ples. Her legacy of courageous action transforming followers’ lives on in the
real presence of Hilda at St. Hilda’s Priory where today’s sisters of the Order
of the Holy Paraclete carry on, and in the strong cultural memory of Hilda’s
leadership present in the lands where she lived.
16 Barbara Jones Denison
Hild, Daughter of Breguswith
In its proper Saxon spelling, and according to certain traditions in the hagi-
ography of the saint, Hild is the name of a Saxon war goddess, also closely
synonymous with “fate” and associated also with ancient Icelandic (think
Viking influence) sagas surrounding the Valkyries (Bright, 1897). At least,
the nineteenth-century veneration of Hilda (to use the more common form,
the Latinisation of Hild) commemorated her unusual name in this manner
(Lightfoot, 1891). Other scholars see Hild as certainly missing from Anglo-
Saxon records as a female name, but, while noting the similarity to the Old
Norse name of Hildr as a Valkyrie, denounce with a hearty skepticism any
suggestion that seventh century royal Saxons would name their daughter
with such intentions (Fell, 1981). It is certainly useful for purposes here to
denote how the later folklore of St. Hilda would want to emphasize her birth
and upbringing in the ways of a pagan court in order to further strengthen
by contrast the imagery of the strong leader of Christians that she became.
By the seventh century, the Romans had long left Britain behind, and
Anglo-Saxon raiders from northern Europe had pushed the ancient Britons
out of much of present-day England into modern Cornwall, Wales, southeast
Scotland, and that part of the northeast known as Northumbria (Schofield,
2001). Competing missionary activity representing the Celtic and Roman
forms of Christianity confronted the widespread pagan ways as part and
parcel of the ongoing struggle for control of the land and people. Hilda of
Whitby was born into this religious as well as political situation of conflict
involving the threat to her Saxon kingly relative, great uncle Edwin, who had
fled Northumbria in hopes of evading efforts to end his life and the lives of
those around him. One member of his refugee band was his nephew Hereric,
who sheltered with his wife Breguswith among (possibly) distant relatives
until Hereric was poisoned and left behind one daughter and an unborn
child who would be Hilda. Eventually, Edwin defeats his pursuer’s army and
takes possession of Northumbria, moving his nephew’s widow and children
with him to the reestablished royal court (Ellison, 1964).
During her childhood years, Hilda was brought up surrounded by the
pagan belief system favored by her extended royal family; little or nothing
is known of what she practiced spiritually as a young girl. In 625, King
and great uncle Edwin’s betrothed arrives, a Kentish princess whose mar-
riage contract contained the agreed-upon condition she, her retinue, and her
total entourage were free to live and worship as Christians. Accompanying
Ethelburga to her marriage and status as queen was the chaplain, Paulinus,
later to be bishop and strongly influential in his leadership role pressing the
conversion of Northumbria to Christianity (Ellison, 1964). History tells that
Edwin was “a thoughtful and resolute man” (Ellison, 1964:4); he promised
he would be willing to consider conversion to Christianity if his advisors
decided Christian appeared more acceptable than the current pagan beliefs
(Bede, 1969). He permitted Paulinus various public opportunities at court
 Hilda of Whitby 17
to explain this new belief system, and he often sat in deliberation of the
Christian way of life as opposed to his traditional pagan gods. Certainly, the
youthful Hilda, as part of the extended royal family and under the king’s
protection, would have been a participant in the Christian wonderings and
happenings at the royal court given the strong recognition given to these
ideas of the queen and her chaplain. Parables and folk legends aside of
Paulinus’s conversion attempts focused on Edwin, two historic occurrences
marked Edwin’s embrace of Christianity. The first is a failed assassination
attempt in which Edwin’s life is saved by the sacrifice of one of his noblemen,
and the other is the safe delivery by the queen of a daughter on Easter Night
in 626. The baby Eanfled, along with many of Edwin’s nobles and courtiers,
was subsequently baptized, and the following Easter Eve, 627, Edwin him-
self embraced Christianity publicly with his baptism at the wooden church
on the site of what would become York Minster. Breguswith and Hilda (and
possibly Hilda’s sister Hereswitha) joined their uncle in baptism.
Of significance here is the early connection to Easter, as celebrated in the
Celtic influenced Christianity brought by Paulinus from Kent to Edwin’s
court. The dating of Easter under the Celtic versus Roman Christian tradi-
tions would provide significant background to the mature development and
demonstration of Hilda’s leadership just decades in the future despite her
early status as orphaned female child, of noble blood but without imme-
diate family resources or power. Indeed, when just six years later Edwin
is defeated in an alliance uprising against his rule and killed, Hilda joined
Queen Ethelburga and her daughter in exile, fleeing to Kent and its Christian
stronghold at Canterbury. She likely remained there 12 years, also sharing
the hospitality of shelter from her sister’s son, now a king among the East
Angles. Her sister Hereswitha embraces the religious state and becomes a
nun, and Hilda carries out the spiritual preparation to follow her sibling
into the religious life. Her time of religious training aside, Hilda emerges
again publicly in Northumbria in 647, working with religious and political
leaders of the day such as St. Aidan (the missionary bishop who founded
the monastery on Lindisfarne Island, across from the royal fortress at Bam-
burgh) and King Oswald (Dalladay, 2016). Her journey beyond the tradi-
tional boundaries of highborn women in religious life to a transformational
leader, in the style described by Bass (1985), shows Hilda as a community
organizer and a mindful leader. She is identified as an exemplar even today
as the sisters in the Order of the Holy Paraclete attest. Hilda led her follow-
ers in such a way that she transformed them beyond their own expectations.
She was given the title “mother” which connotes birthing and traditionally
labeled female skills such as nurturing, empathy, submission, and relational
interdependency. Hilda, however, governed strongly and independently as
an authoritative leader. By the words of her biographers and from the evi-
dence of history, we know Hilda exceeded the anticipated actions governed
by defined gendered expectations of her Church, her peers, and her socio-
cultural times in order to achieve the unexpected.
18 Barbara Jones Denison
From Whence Came Hilda’s Power?
Discussions of power and authority, especially as related to the study of
leadership within social, political, religious and other types of organizations,
rarely fail to mention the important contributions of Weber to understand-
ing the complex relationship between these structures. Weber classically
defines the ideal type of power as the exercise of an individual’s or a group’s
ability to control the means by which to achieve the desired goals or out-
comes (Weber, 1964). Power can be sought, and once achieved, it can be
exercised by legitimate means; power thus achieved is identified by Weber
as authority. Power achieved by illegitimate actions, often by using physical
brute force but also possibly by forceful manipulation of social systems (for
example, economic, religious, or family institutions) is coercion, and carries
with it stigma (for all that it can be effective in achieving goals). These are
ideal types and the reality in the practice of leadership can be understood
best on a continuum of power where the best practices approach the perfect
idea of legitimated power—i.e., authority.
Weber further defines authority as being expressed in three major forms:
traditional, legal rational, and charismatic. The leadership of Hilda of
Whitby forms an intersection of all three. As a member of the royal family
brought up in the king’s household, she brought the traditional authority of
nobility and political alliance to her appointment as abbess of Whitby. The
recognition by the Church of her relevant leadership skills demonstrated in
Hartlepool granted Hilda legal-rational authority in the status she achieved;
the traditional authority would have carried her to an important religious
installation but likely would not singly elevate her to abbess. In the descrip-
tions of Hilda from her almost-contemporaneous historian, Bede of Jarrow,
we know she was highly regarded and sought after for her wisdom, sound
counsel and judgment, and strong administrative guidance (Bede, 1969).
Hilda’s wisdom extended to her support for the intellectual energy of
others. The development and work product of both her abbey at Hartlepool
and then the larger establishment at Whitby resulted in significant outcomes:
men became bishops, the poet Caedmon (who Hilda discovered, empowered
and mentored) invented vernacular Christian poetry, and an anonymous
monk under her leadership wrote the first biography of Gregory the Great
recognizing the impact of this critical church father (Colgrave, 1968). As
the available number of extant examples confirm, scholars in her abbey
demonstrated control of two different alphabets and two languages: runic
and Roman in the former, and English and Latin in the latter instance. While
that may not sound like “charismatic” authority in the modern era of global
telecommunications, social media, the internet, and inflammatory rheto-
ric, it shows that people from diverse backgrounds and social classes, from
state-leaders to bishops, missionary monks to scholars, and royal women to
the peasant tenants (Bede, 1969) all considered Hilda worthy of their fol-
lowership and allegiance. Fell (1981) notes that even relying on the meager
 Hilda of Whitby 19
evidence we have, “it is clear that she created an atmosphere of intellectual
excitement and stimulus” and that for Whitby to have been selected as the
site for the synod in 664 to settle such an important concern as the dating of
Easter “seems a significant tribute to the influence and personality of Hild,
its abbess” (99). Weber emphasizes that charisma is the quality in authority
that is not found per se in the leader but rather imbued by the followers to
an individual in a given enabling environment intersecting time, place, and
situational circumstance. Hilda of Whitby had the legitimate and rational
authority in her status as appointed abbess, but it is in the actions of those
around her who defer to her advice, instruction, and guidance, and in the
outcomes remaining even today to attest as data to the charisma of Hilda
that the quality Weber sees as charisma is defined.

The Widow? Hilda as Abbess at Hartlepool

Nothing is known of the years between Hilda’s baptism and flight into exile
with the Kentish queen, her bishop and chaplain Paulinus and her household,
and her emergence in 647 as a mature woman of 33. Her most authoritative
biographer, the Venerable Bede, says nothing about these 20 years. His ret-
icence is especially thought provoking given the amount of information he
provides about her decision to enter religious life. Planning to follow her sister
Hereswitha abroad to join a religious order at Chelles (Bede, 1969) she instead
remains in England. Accounts say she was persuaded by the new bishop of
Northumbria, Aidan, and accepted his invitation to stay and take charge of
a community in her own homeland of Northumbria (Dalladay, 2016). Aidan
was called from the Celtic establishment at Iona by the new King Oswald (who
had been raised in exile by the monks of Iona) to be responsible for advancing
the cause and spread of Christianity in Northumbria from his monastic base
at Lindisfarne. Aidan, however, did not have a native tongue for the Anglo-
Saxon language (being himself a Briton) and required interpretive services.
King Oswald acted as his interpreter at court but Aidan needed help as he
moved among the people pursuing his conversion mission (Mundahl-Harris,
1981; Dalladay, 2016; Fell, 1981, Ellison, 1964).
The weight of scholarship suggests that Hilda did not travel to Gaul as a
few sources state (Gibson, 2014). Rather, it was while waiting in East Anglia
for a ship to sail across to France and join her sister at the French convent
that Hilda received word from Aidan he needed her help among her own
people. He gave her a plot of land where she established a small house-
hold of nuns (probably at what is present-day Monkwearmouth) to help,
by their prayer and service, in the Christianization efforts underway across
Northumbria. Here, Hilda devised a religious life based on her own reading
of the Gospels and what she knew about communities of women creating
conventual life both in Gaul (where she had initially planned to live) and
among the Celts. What prompted Hilda in her mature years (at 33 she was
20 Barbara Jones Denison
an elderly woman in a time when men and women routinely died in their
30s and 40s) (Fell, 1981) to enter the religious life? All available sources
indicate widowhood preceded Hilda’s first monastic function of leadership.
First, Bede refers to Hilda as “abbess” but never virgin (Bede, 1969:236–8)
despite later hagiography naming Hilda among the virgin female saints of
the Church (Fell, 1981). Christine Fell (1981) concludes that in the early
Christian Church the female gender’s only claim to sanctity is the virginal
state, and so the assumption of a female saint’s virginity is an inevitable mis-
conception with numerous examples. The importance of marriage among
royal offspring to create and strengthen economic and political alliances
was too great to allow a royal niece the luxury of remaining unmarried until
age 33. It simply was not a viable career plan. Once married, often widowed,
women frequently moved to a later career in religious life. Bede himself tells
of many saintly women who were married in their early years and abbesses
in their latter lives (Bede, 1969). One suggestion as to his silence on Hilda’s
life during the missing 20 years considers whether Hilda may have been mar-
ried to “a pagan whom she failed to convert” (Fell, 1981:80) which would
then imply a reason for Bede’s recognition of Hilda’s preservation of her
personal faith (Bede, 1969). Regardless of what transpired during the years
unaccounted for, Hilda was of sufficient and unchallenged reputation in her
Christian piety, her personal behavior, and her public persona that she was
of value to Aidan’s missionary and conversion purposes.
Hilda and her few companions remained just about one year or so on the
“north side of the river Wear” (Bede, 1969:406) before Bishop Aidan recog-
nized her leadership, and the success of the rule she had created and imple-
mented there. He appointed Hilda to become abbess at Hartlepool, on a
headland in the North Sea located adjacent to the Tees estuary. The abbey
at Hartlepool had been founded and established by Heiu, and as the first
woman to become a nun in Northumbria, Heiu had based her abbey’s rule in
the strict Celtic fashion after that of St. Columba, which was also followed
by Aidan at Lindisfarne. We know Hartlepool was on the ancient boundary
between two warring factions of Northumbria, Berenicia and Deira, so per-
haps Hilda’s leadership role was intended as a symbol of “unity and peace”
(Dalladay, 2016:5). From a more practical perspective, Hilda’s previous suc-
cess with the small community of women she led at Monkwearmouth may
simply have given Aidan good reason to promote her to the larger double
monastery. In Hartlepool Hilda was to take charge of this community of
men and women, which had been established and expanded on the Heruteu
(island of the hart) headland for the past seven years.
Hilda sought to carry out her mandate from Aidan to help in missioniz-
ing the area; her followers were active in the external community, studying,
and spreading their message. Hilda collected a notable library and at least
one of her followers at Hartlepool, the monk Oftfor, went on to recogni-
tion and success as a bishop (Dalladay, 2016). Hilda’s assignment to lead
the abbey at Hartlepool witnessed the juxtapositioning of Celtic Christian
 Hilda of Whitby 21
traditions and culture with the Roman influenced habits and practices that
Hilda experienced growing up in the queen’s household, influenced as it
was by Bishop Paulinus. Bishop Aidan, himself from the monastery at Iona,
brought the Celtic ways to Northumbria. He remained consistently strong
in his support and preference for the Celtic practices at Lindisfarne. As
his appointee and representative, Aidan mentored Hilda in her efforts to
develop and strengthen the disciplined life in this double monastery where
both monks and nuns resided. She later used this mentoring skill set herself
to develop monks into bishops, and encourage the ox herd Caedmon to rise
up and become the father of English sacred song (Ellison, 1964). Regular
visits by Aidan, and the overall self-sufficiency of the community (suggested
by its location near fishing and arable land; also by archaeological research)
at Hartlepool resulted in Hilda moving further away in doctrine from the
Roman heritage she’d known and instead emphasizing the Celtic ways (Dal-
laday, 2016).
To be clear, there was no dispute concerning the basic tenets and theology
of the Christian faith embraced both in Northumbria and in the locations
south and east where Hilda had grown up and (presumably) lived until now.
The debates that would result in calling together the Synod of Whitby in
664 had to do with customs and practices—among which notably are those
of clerical tonsuring and of the dating of Easter—of Christians who had
been missionized and converted by those from different sources—namely,
the Celtic descendants in the faith as brought by St Columba, and mis-
sionaries sent directly from Roman sources originating both domestically
and abroad. The parties involved “were united in one faith and worship”;
nevertheless, these “sterile controversies” were “paralyzing the Northum-
brian Church” (Stenton as quoted in Ellison, 1964:9). The differences arose
because England experienced conversion to Christianity in various stages of
missionary activity that had ebbed and flowed across a period of well over
four centuries by the time of Hilda. Early Christianizing efforts in the first
two centuries were the result of missioners from the continental mainland,
and the unintended evangelism by Christianized Roman soldiers and mer-
chant traders (Ellison, 1964). In later centuries, missionaries from Europe
brought more recent customs that were transmitted directly from Rome but
altered the earlier Roman establishments. In between these two waves there
was Celtic missionary activity from Ireland to the west and Scotland to the
north, bringing a version of the old customs derived from earlier Christi-
anity that developed in Asian centers and spread with the Celtic that had
not been touched by the more recent revisions in Europe (Stenton, 1943;
Ellison, 1964). Hilda’s status and role at the Synod of Whitby, still more than
15 years in the future, looks back to this pivotal moment in her life as more
than the increase in personal leadership and responsibility. She embodied
the intersection of the competing sides as disputed, being raised with the
newer Roman expectations of Christian faith yet loyal to her native land
and people and the older Celtic beliefs and practices, which dominated and
22 Barbara Jones Denison
were reinforced by her mentor Aidan. External enabling environmental fac-
tors made significant contributions to the formation of her referent and
expert sources of power, which she used to push beyond the expectations
for leadership as limited by gender, and which combine with and strengthen
her legitimate authority as abbess to produce a more formidable leadership
presence at Whitby and in her legacy throughout the intervening centuries.
Further discussions of Weber’s ideal type of power legitimated as author-
ity divided the sources of that power into differentiated categories. In 1959,
social psychologists French and Raven wrote of power having five bases in
human expression: referent, expert, reward, legitimate, and coercive. The lat-
ter two clearly reflect Weber’s initial dichotomy pivoting on the legitimacy of
power, while the first two seemingly mirror the traditional and legal-rational
ideal types from Weber. Later, Raven would add a sixth source, which is
informational power (Raven, 1965). Theirs was an attempt to further define,
categorize, and understand the relationships between leadership success and
the associated source or sources of power. Their initial framework was even-
tually subdivided to consider added components such as social dependency,
positive versus negative power, direct versus indirect exercise of power, and
personal versus impersonal application. As social psychologists, French and
Raven recognized the social interdependence of power; their model has been
developed and advanced over decades to provide an excellent paradigm for
dissecting the nature and exercise of power in leadership.
Hilda embodies and exemplifies legitimate power, to be sure, as the
appointed abbess at Whitby, where she is the founder of the double commu-
nity at the behest of the new bishop, Finan, to establish an abbey on land
offered by King Oswy to honor his recent victory (Dalladay, 2016). Previ-
ously, Oswy and his wife, Eanfled, had consecrated to God their newborn
daughter, having promised 12 parcels of land to found religious communities
and his infant girl Aelfled to serve God if divine mercy bestowed on his army
the victory (Connelly, n.d.; Fell, 1981). Although Oswy’s sister was already
an abbess elsewhere, the baby Aelfled was entrusted to Hilda at Hartlepool
and would move to Whitby and be raised there, eventually succeeding Hilda
as abbess. There are dynastic rivalries aplenty in the family stories, and it
is worth noting that Oswy’s Queen Eanfled is, of course, the infant born to
Hilda’s great uncle King Edwin on the fateful night years before and married
to her cousin in order to unite the Northumbrian kingdom (Dalladay, 2016;
Ellison, 1964; Mundahl-Harris, 1981). Hilda as guardian for the baby girl
Aelfled provides another connection across rival dynasties to legitimate Hil-
da’s power; she has the king’s daughter in her company.
However, Hilda’s leadership moves outside the usual and anticipated
authority of noble women with royal connections. She employs the expert
power of someone who has studied and learned, who had succeeded pre-
viously in two other establishments and communities, and who had been
mentored effectively by the great Aidan. She demonstrates effective use of
referent power in the way she handles the defeat of the Celtic ways at the
 Hilda of Whitby 23
Synod. Hilda adds informational power to her tool chest; she is all too famil-
iar with both sides’ arguments having moved with relative ease between the
Roman and Celtic Christian paths in her own lifetime. She was baptized by a
Roman bishop (Paulinus), and she developed her rule and habits of religious
life under Aidan and Finan who were both bishops of Iona and thus in the
Celtic tradition. When she built her own church at Whitby she dedicated it to
St. Peter, with one of its four altars being dedicated to Gregory the Great (the
pope credited with sending the first mission to Britain)—both key figures in
the Roman tradition she learned as a girl. It is the strategic combination of
these sources for power used by Hilda that brought the Synod to her abbey
at Whitby.

The Controversy
The Synod of Whitby in 664 CE marked the end of parallel yet dissimi-
lar structural developments within Christianity (Denison, 2014). These had
tremendous socio-economic and cultural implications, given that the cele-
bration of the Church’s most holy event, the resurrection commemorated
by Easter, was dated and observed in differing ways that could be days
or weeks apart. The dissimilarities in dating Easter, tonsuring and other
practices came about over time, centuries in which the routinization of that
“new” religion Christianity took place in different locations with only the
contact and communication available at the time. As Roman Christianity
solidified its power and influence in Europe politically, socially, and eco-
nomically along with its spiritual hegemony, so too did Celtic Christianity
convert and gain control over large parts of Britain. The reintroduction of
missionary activity from the Roman branch into Britain, as described earlier,
meant not only disagreements over spiritual topics such as the dating of
Easter but also sociocultural conflicts between warring peoples. The Sax-
ons and Celts had argued political disputes and fought battles over terri-
tory and hegemony. Why would they not also fight over the implications of
their faith for social control of the communal customs, even as they shared
the underlying convictions of Christianity? After the death of the Christian
convert King Edwin, Northumbria was the scene of bitter warfare with the
new (Christian) claimant to the throne, Oswald, fighting the pagan invad-
ers (Ward, 2007). We can think this is simply a theological dispute but it is
bigger than that: religious dispute is a metaphor for political and economic
control of land, trade routes, coastal ports, and the armies that can be raised
up (Denison, 2014). The celebration of Easter had impact on trade, feasting
and fasting patterns, and the culturally important opportunity for marriages
and baptisms to be celebrated.
Ward (2007) gives an excellent and brief summary of the different meth-
ods for calculating Easter used in seventh century Northumbria. Sources tell
that both sides, the Roman and Celtic, agreed on the primacy of place for
the Easter event in Christian understanding (Bede, 1969; Mundahl-Harris,
24 Barbara Jones Denison
1981; Ellison, 1964.) which makes sense, but of course could also be post
facto glossing over of the facts. Both sides did agree to the following:

i. Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday.

ii. It must fall in the first lunar month of the year.
iii. It must be after the Vernal Equinox.
iv. It must be after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.
(Ward, 2007:1)

The difference came about over the following:

i. The calculation of XIV Nisan, the day of the Jewish Passover.

ii. Calculation of the Vernal Equinox.
iii. The calculation of the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.
iv. Differences in calculating the start of the liturgical day—Romans began
the day on the evening before, Celts began each day in the morning.
(Ward, 2007:2–3)

Which dates were observed depended on new moons, full moons and the
four-day difference in calculating the Vernal Equinox. Added to this were the
differences surrounding the start of the liturgical day. Without belaboring
the details surrounding each of these calculations, the possibilities resulting
from the differences meant that those following Roman or Celtic Christian
ways could celebrate Easter on the same day, on days one week apart, or as
far as four weeks apart (Ellison, 1964).
Each side in this dispute also represented a different component of the
socio-economic and political structures of the times. Oswald, converted and
baptized by the Celtic Christians and raised, with his brother Oswy, in the
monastery at Iona, is king in the wilder, more turbulent Northumbria. Oswy
ascends the throne after Oswald’s death in 642 and his queen, Eanflaed,
daughter of Edwin, who had fled as a girl in exile to Kent, brings with her to
Oswy’s kingdom the Roman spiritual practices. She represents a more settled,
prosperous region in the south, but brings the bloodline of Deira to Oswy’s
heritage of Bernicia—the two warring factions of the Northumbrian royal
family. She is a political treaty in human form. Additionally, Oswy’s son,
Alfrid, who had been educated by the Celts, “had come to prefer the ways”
(Ellison, 1964:14). Battles over celebrating Easter twice in the same season,
causing confusion and community strife, could factionalize the people into
two sides depending on which party of the royal couple one supported. His-
tory tells us the queen was a strong, powerful woman who may or may not
have been at Whitby for the Synod, but she was certainly held strong sway
on the Easter question (Ward, 2007). Women leaders often organize their
efforts around “gender appropriate” concerns as a means to gain permis-
sion for participation in public discourse. Women are perceived as “having
moral standing in issues of family, morality, and well-being” (O’Brien and
 Hilda of Whitby 25
Shea, 2010:46). It is easy to conclude why the queen would exert her power,
given the high-stakes topic at hand; namely, the “correctness” of religious
practice for her family and her people. It is interesting that the same can be
said of Hilda and her leadership on the Celtic side. Concern for her abbey’s
residents, and the community of those economically connected and spiritu-
ally guided by the abbey, gives her legitimate authority as a woman (also of
royal birth) to participate in such an official capacity within a patriarchal
structure like the Church. Hilda supported the Celtic Christian practices of
her patron and benefactor, King Oswy, and of her training under Aidan at
Lindisfarne. Yet she was also experienced in the Roman ways, having lived
for years in the Roman influenced Kentish court and surrounds before com-
ing back as a mature adult to Northumbria. The division between king and
queen, between not only religious factionalism as it appeared on the surface
but also between several hundred years’ of conversion, and political unrest
and violence, was real.
It was not possible for such a division to last if the united territories and
people under Oswy were to live peacefully together as Christians.

Hilda at Whitby
Hilda ruled the abbey in Hartlepool for nine years, a period of unrest marked
by war in the Northumbrian kingdoms of Deira and Bernicia, and with
Mercia. Oswy eventually became overlord of all three, giving his thanks to
the divine as we have seen by sending his infant daughter into Hilda’s care
and by giving 12 estates, 6 each in the 2 Northumbrian kingdoms, for the
founding of monasteries. One of these new establishments was on the high
cliff east of the Esk estuary, above the port of Whitby. The new foundation,
in the custom of religious houses of the time, had “separate quarters for
nuns and monks, and homes also for some of the families who wished to be
associated with the monastic life and some of them to work on the estate
of which the abbess was ‘lord’” (Ellison, 1964:7). Just as at Hartlepool, and
common in these Saxon double monasteries, the monks were the principal
worship leaders and spokespeople to the external community. The nuns led
a more enclosed life of contemplation and prayer. It is interesting that the
nuns were considered superior to the monks, likely due to their devotion to
the otherworldly and eternal tasks. Certainly, in the double monasteries, it
was an abbess who had primary authority; a senior monk led the males but
answered to the abbess. As Weatherby contests, such “experiments” with
women controlling the ruling power in various faith realms demonstrated
their superiority to men (Weatherby, 2010:475). At some point after Hilda’s
time, the fashion of double monasteries faded away, and women’s religious
orders became constricted by the male patriarchy of the church. It is male
scholars who wrote the surviving manuscripts that tell us of the Synod’s
significance and the various players’ parts, which gives even stronger testi-
mony to the leadership of Hilda. The story of Christian unification in Britain
26 Barbara Jones Denison
includes many male names, and few females. One indication of Hilda’s leg-
endary status is thus: the key players involved are depicted in the current
baptistery at present-day York Minster, on the site of Hilda’s childhood bap-
tism along with Edwin’s household. Hilda is depicted there among them.
Hilda was, at the start of her leadership in Whitby, advanced in years for
her time, being 43 years old. Nevertheless, as Bede records, she set about with
brisk energy to establish the same sort of successful and disciplined foun-
dation she had led at Hartlepool. At Whitby, Hilda’s rule became more like
the Benedictine Rule (Gibson, 2014), and emphasized the regular practice
of justice, purity, peace, and charity (Bede, 1969). Building the ties of shared
monastery culture with the increasing number of Benedictine-style estab-
lishments in Britain and abroad demonstrates Hilda’s keen acumen about
the external enabling environment and its potential impact. Planning stra-
tegically is certainly one skill of an accomplished transformational leader. It
is important to remember that monasteries such as Whitby were the main
source of not only religious comfort and succor (as churches did not yet exist
separate and outside of religious communities) but also of economic stability
and expansion. The abbey was of necessity self-sufficient and included agri-
cultural production of different crops as well as supplying the kitchens with
vegetables and honey. Being a coastal abbey it is safe to assume fishing was
part of the economic and food production. Local inhabitants labored on the
abbey’s lands (Gibson, 2014). Bede tells us that, following the example of the
early church, no one at Whitby was rich but no one there was in need, for
everything was shared (Bede, 1969). It is also likely Whitby, given its seaside
location and welcome for traders, had good communication networks with
the other coastal foundations, with the Christian strongholds in the south of
Britain, and possibly with continental Europe across the North Sea.
Early abbesses were usually of high social rank and therefore due the title
“lady.” Feudal customs aside, ascribed status as the basis for titular authority
did in no way guarantee effective leadership. Hilda’s leadership success did
not depend on her inherited, or ascribed, referent power. She demonstrated
her expertise in running a large corporate enterprise of diverse constituen-
cies. Her power was legitimated by excellent leadership and not by sim-
ply blood inheritance. The bestowing in her lifetime on Hilda of the title
“Mother” illuminates the genius she displayed throughout the initial estab-
lishment and subsequent growth of the monastery at Whitby into one of the
more significant sites of the times. Her leadership encompassed the found-
ing, construction, and workforce administration; she was project manager
and human resources director as well as CEO. She succeeded in all areas;
the abbey prospered theologically and economically so that both spiritual
and practical needs of the entire community were met. That plus her royal
ties, the abbey’s patronage from King Oswy, and her own dualistic Christian
consciousness from experiences of both the Roman and Celtic sides ensured
the historic synod had an excellent setting. Whitby Abbey could provide the
necessary creature comforts for visitors, including the king and his retinue,
 Hilda of Whitby 27
and it also housed well-trained scholars and a good library (Simpson, 2014).
Indeed, Hilda has been called by a bishop of Durham the “chief educator
of the Northumbrian Church in this, its earliest stage” in his sermon titled,
“I arose, a mother in Israel” (Lightfoot, 1890/1907:57).
Yet it is also true that the title “mother” places her squarely within the
expected, gendered sphere of women. Bede proved himself a reliable histo-
rian, but his accolade of Hilda as “mother of bishops” sits in stark contrast
to Caedmon’s fatherhood of English poetry, and Bede’s own claims of promo-
tion regarding the miracle of Caedmon (Lees and Overing, 1994). Likewise,
Bede’s own writings must be taken in the context of his conventional, patri-
archal (i.e., non-feminist) scholarship framing Hilda’s success. Under Hilda,
Whitby was a source of expansive cultural production, including “develop-
ments in literacy and education; production of manuscripts; production and
maintenance of a scribal labor force, a church bureaucracy, and personnel”
Lees and Overing, 1994:37). Female monasticism is a partnership between
ecclesiastical and royal interests; since the histories we have of Hilda are from
patriarchal structures it may seem the abbeys become a ghetto for a caste
of unmarried noble women. Hilda’s successes overcame the ghettoization
effects. She is remembered for administrative and organizational leadership
across the gendered limitations, as the transformational leader who raised
up bishops and guided kings in the dual patriarchies of church and kingdom.
Bishop Coleman, successor at Lindisfarne, was the spokesperson at the
Synod for the Celts, supported by others including the abbess Hilda. Records
show Hilda not only provided the hospitality of the abbey to both dele-
gations but also had a seat in the actual council. She is the only woman
mentioned by name as being in attendance (Schmitt and Kulzer, 1996). His
opponent was Wilfrid, a shrewd young monk initially trained in the Celtic
manners at Lindisfarne, but who furthered his studies at Canterbury in Kent
and then in Rome. At the time of the Synod, he was appointed to the abbey
at Ripon where Celtic monks had withdrawn rather than accept Roman
customs (Ellison, 1964). Ripon and Whitby are about 60 miles apart so it
makes sense that the heads of each establishment, Wilfrid and Hilda, would
be known to each other. Other church leaders on both sides attended, with
King Oswy opening the proceedings and occupying the role of judge and
arbiter. This was a personal dispute for him, as it affected his very household
given the Roman Church’s habits of his wife. It was also a political situa-
tion for which battles had been fought and lives lost, including the life of
his brother Oswald. Without examining in detail the arguments presented
as history recorded, we can quickly reach the culmination. Oswy, hearing
Wilfrid’s argument (and Coleman’s assent) that the pope in Rome was the
living successor of St. Peter and therefore had primacy of authority, dictates
that he shall not contradict St. Peter’s commands and decides in favor of the
Roman customs.
Not everyone was so effective at building a sense of consensus and suc-
cessful collaboration with fellow Christians, despite a resemblance of defeat.
28 Barbara Jones Denison
Coleman and fellow monks withdrew to Lindisfarne to reflect, and eventually
he and some colleagues retired first to Scotland and later Ireland. Hilda as
abbess had the lives of her nuns, monks, and lay community dependent on
her and her abbey’s ecclesiastical and economic leadership. Bede relates that
she was forceful but not stubborn, and gave way when it was seen as in the
best interest of all affected. She was lovable, admirable, and wise (Bede, 1969),
which suggests she saw the practical need for change even while casting her
actions in female-appropriate agency of acquiescence. She certainly acted in a
manner to demonstrate her renowned ability at governance, and changed the
habits in her community to align with Rome and Oswy’s decision at the Synod.
The abbey prospered, its numbers and strength increased, and the abbess’s
fame as a holy woman grew (Mundahl-Harris, 1981). Bede tells of Hilda’s
recognition of the ox herd Caedmon, and her acts of servant leadership to
mentor and develop his talents at writing and singing about sacred texts in
vernacular verse. Caedmon is celebrated as the “father of English poetry” and
Hilda as “its nursing mother,” whose understanding and influence brought
Caedmon’s genius “to life” (Ellison, 1964:17). In spite of the gendered label,
Hilda emerges from history as the true mentor and transformational force.
At least five subsequent bishops of the Church, including important bish-
oprics such as York and Winchester, began their careers as monks under
Hilda’s leadership and tutelage (Connelly, n.d.). Under Hilda, the abbey at
Whitby achieved “European status” as an excellent school, particularly in
theology (Connelly, n.d.:16). There, clergy were trained and children edu-
cated. Hilda saw to it that the scribes excelled at their skills as they copied
manuscripts, and so built up the famous library at Whitby. Indeed, if Bede
is read as more personal biography, which it seems to be, rather than stan-
dard hagiography, then it is clear that Hilda’s own personality traits and
emotional intelligence were key in her success as a leader. Fell states that,
although Hilda’s successor as abbess, Aelfled, required a bishop’s assistance,
that it “is a tribute to Bede’s portrait of Hild that we cannot imagine her ever
needing or welcoming such help” (Fell, 1981:86).

Hilda, Mother of Bishops

Early Christian leadership has been characterized as divided between char-
ismatic and community organizer ideal types, with the latter being linked
to the development of ideology. Key factors that enable the success of the
community organizer include social class, social standing, and the move-
ment from itinerant to resident status and the consequent stability of leaders
and followers in relationship (Horrell, 1997). Hilda is never described as
charismatic by either Bede or in the other extant historical resources; but
we can apply the Weberian idea of charisma being something imbued to the
leader by the followers to explain how Hilda used her referent power and
influence to succeed. Kings, bishops, monks and nuns, and the people of the
local community all looked to her leadership.
 Hilda of Whitby 29
Hilda was, briefly, the leader at Monkwearmouth and slightly longer at
Hartlepool, but at both locations, she was a “rising star” and transition-
ing to a more significant status. She found the culmination of her leader-
ship growth at Whitby, where she ruled and remained until her death. Her
achievement at Whitby is marked by her legacy of leader development. She
had the ascription of noble birth plus the twin pillars of Oswy’s and the
Lindisfarne bishops’ support for her power and standing. Of more signifi-
cance is the successful employment of power from her referent and expert
sources. She was known and respected by representatives of both sides in
the religious debate. She had built up first Hartlepool and then Whitby
into strong foundations. She transitioned her followers from a Celtic-style
monastic rule to the increasingly popular Benedictine-style rule found in
Roman monasteries across Europe. As the “mother of bishops,” clearly her
methods of follower development were successful; the Church would not
have gone on and raised up bishops from among those without the appro-
priate scholastic training and the politically correct views on Church teach-
ings and practices. It is somewhat ironic that the recognition of Hilda as a
strong woman leader among both men and women stems so heavily from
an artifact that reinforces the hegemonic patriarchy of the Church: bishops,
like priests, can still only be male. Yet that very fact, of a woman being the
recognized source of follower development for such men, and though it was
unexpected, speaks much to the image of Hilda as leader.
Lowder speaks of transformational leaders having a stronger focus on
intellectual development than do their servant leader counterparts. Trans-
formational leadership, Lowder says, emphasize the enhancement of cre-
ativity and innovation skills in their followers. These skills, he continues, are
the core component of a transformational leader’s focus on organizational
development. Such leaders are more willing to take risks, and act to elim-
inate ineffective processes and systems (Lowder, 2009). Scholars, bishops,
scholars, and the first-ever English poet all succeeded because of the com-
munity Hilda led. Her swift acquiescence and acceptance to the decision
at the Synod of Whitby speaks to her transformational effectiveness. She
reordered her followers to the Roman ways to encourage the increase of
the abbey in size and stature. There was no withdrawing to contemplate the
decision for Hilda; neither did she hesitate to embrace the future. History
records that the abbey was the burial place for kings and other Northum-
brian royals, which would not be so if Hilda were not in favor with  the
ruling hierarchy. The surrounding environs grew and thrived because of
their alignment with the socio-economic culture linked to Roman customs.
It is easy to speculate how the abbey on the windswept cliff and the coastal
town below would have become sidelined and stagnant if church leaders,
travelers who typically sheltered at abbeys, and traders increasingly found
the locale suspect as a minority cultural backwater. No doubt, Hilda’s rep-
utation as a holy woman included her many works of charity and service;
however, it is the transformational focus on developing the organization
30 Barbara Jones Denison
and promoting growth among the followers that is the key to analyzing
Hilda’s leadership success.
Beers identified that in times requiring change leaders respond with demon-
strating empathy and listening, active coaching, mentoring, and training,
active engagement in building new relationships, and an emphasis on the
value of new roles, creating situational identity, and reframing. Beers also
states that to support the change initiative a new reward system is installed by
the mindful leader (Beers, 1988). It is clear that, in the post-synod period, the
abbey at Whitby experienced change that emphasized not only a reframing
of the religious culture and practices, but a more significant relationship with
the hegemonic Roman Church. Money and resources flowed into the abbey
as a result. The infant princess once trusted to Hilda’s care became abbess
after Hilda’s death; surely a daughter of the ruling house would not have
been left to remain in a declining religious situation but would have moved to
somewhere with more significance. Nothing remains today of Hilda’s Saxon
abbey at Whitby but a newer, post-Norman conquest medieval abbey was
raised there, prospered, and stood until the dissolution by Henry VIII centu-
ries later. Those ruins are testimony to the strength of Hilda’s leadership and
her legacy of growth and progress throughout the ensuing centuries. Indeed,
she is typically depicted with an abbey in one hand and bishop’s crook in the
other, despite being a female barred from ordination. At St. Hilda’s Priory
in Whitby, on a hill about three miles away but still with a clear view of the
abbey remnants on the cliff, you can visit with the sisters of the Order of the
Holy Paraclete. They are the inheritors of Hilda’s monastic foundation in
her Rule, and in her example of women as strong and independent leaders.
As Sister Muriel, OHP said in an interview: “We are Benedictine, we have a
prioress but no warden. We are very democratic.” (Sister Muriel, OHP, 2016).
The recognition of that Benedictine rule sweeps us mentally back to ponder
what might have been without Hilda’s transformational effects.
Hilda’s leadership was demonstrated in her role within the Celtic dele-
gation, providing a community organizer form of leadership that created
transformational culture and, ultimately, an enabling environment that pro-
duced at least five bishops and the father of English poetry and sacred song.
Significantly, Hilda was successful in reframing the outcome and supporting
the changes by fostering connections to political power, social change, and
cultural production (Lee and Overing, 1994). The evidence of her indepen-
dent leadership action includes her public presence, consensus-building and
collaborative skills, and her political acumen (Denison, 2014). Oswy’s con-
version to Christianity may be why we can celebrate the existence of England
and English culture (Steel, 1999). Hilda is celebrated for unexpectedly cre-
ating a strong community, developing scholastic greatness, the formation
of leaders for the Church, and successful socio-economic expansion with
arguably the main politico-cultural force of the day, the Roman Church, all
due to her effective use of various power bases and her transformational
approach to social change.
 Hilda of Whitby 31
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3 Clare of Assisi (1191–1253)
Breaking Through Societal Barriers
for Women
Karen Monique Gregg

Introduction
The authors of this book have been asked to research and write about a
particular woman whose life served as an example of unexpected leadership
that led to important social change. This chapter attempts to connect Clare
of Assisi’s life to women’s lives today, approaching this from a sociological
perspective. As I consider Clare’s biographies and writings, I bracket her
unexpected leadership and accomplishments against a religious and spiritual
perspective in order to view Clare sociologically, as a woman emerging as
a leader for other women. This means that I embarked upon this study of
Clare’s exemplary leadership looking for patterns that could tell us some-
thing about what women today could do to push gender equality further,
breaking through the societal barriers that impede them from flourishing.
For example, all things being equal, women still earn substantially less in
wages than men do. Women have made great strides in securing manage-
ment positions, but they still face the invisible barrier of the glass ceiling,
which impedes their upward socio-economic, status and prestige mobility.
As a final example, consider the Equal Rights Amendment and its repeated
failure to pass as a basic call for equality between the sexes. Some femi-
nist scholars refer to these issues as the “unfinished revolution” because
progress toward equality “stalled” (Hochschild, 2012/1989; Gerson, 2010;
England, 2010). Other feminist scholars go so far as to say that we are not
only “stuck,” but also we are currently “lost” with no clear path or solu-
tions for going forward (Johnson, 2014). This notwithstanding, I proceed
with this inquiry cautiously because, as Laura Swan warns, there may be
problems when trying to project modern ideas or concepts (e.g., the stalled
gender revolution) onto historical figures (2014:18). To heed her warning,
I approach this examination of Clare in a different way. That is, what if we
reverse direction to ask, What can we learn from the historical figure of
Clare that might help nudge forward our modern ideas or concepts about
gender equality? Succinctly put, I endeavor to look backward in an effort to
move women forward.
First, I provide some of the necessary contextualization or background to
set the stage for Clare’s emergence as a leader. Who was Clare of Assisi and
34 Karen Monique Gregg
what was she like before she emerged as a leader of women? Second, I briefly
review the literature on leadership to narrow my focus on Clare’s early years
and her leadership emergence so that I can consider the expectations for a
young woman of Clare’s social status. This leads us to an explanation of
the social barriers for women embedded in the social context of Clare’s
time. Given the choices for women of her time, what path did Clare choose
and how did she go about making this choice? By examining the networks
of relationships in her life from about the ages of 14–20, I consider three
important influences and the possible impact they had on Clare’s life choices
and leadership formation: 1) her aristocratic mother, Ortolana Offreduccio;
2) the beguines; and 3) a man from her town who would come to be known
as Francis of Assisi. Throughout this examination of Clare’s life, I point to
specific strategies of action, which I call strategies of defiance, that Clare
began to employ in order to achieve the life she wanted (Swidler, 1986).
That is, I trace the transition from the good and obedient daughter to one
quite recalcitrant in her rejection of her family’s plans for her. All of this
culminates in an understanding of how she deemed it necessary to break
through the societal barriers for women of her time so that she could carve
out a new choice for herself and for other women. This is important because
it sheds light on strategies of defiance that may be relevant in our own time
for restarting the unfinished gender revolution. Examination of her life also
suggests the significance of religion as a tool to push for progress in matters
of gender equality.

Background
If one knows anything at all about Clare of Assisi, this is what is generally
known. Clare of Assisi was born to Offreduccio di Favarone and his wife,
Ortolana. She lived from 1191–1253, straddling the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, in Assisi, Italy (Mueller, 2003). Today, she is a well-known saint
in the Catholic Church and renowned as being one of the first followers of
Francis of Assisi, who is also venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church
(The Book of Saints, 2016). In her lifetime, she founded the Order of Poor
Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition.
She wrote their Rule of Life, which was the first monastic rule known to
have been written by a woman. She is also well known for receiving the
“Privilege of Poverty,” which she realized as a very real mystical experience
emulating the poverty of Jesus Christ. In art, she is occasionally depicted
holding a monstrance because it commemorates the time when she stood
up against invading soldiers of Frederick II at the gates of Assisi with only
the Eucharist as her defense (Debby, 2014). Young Catholic school children
may know her as the patron saint of television. This is because in 1958 Pope
Pius XII declared her as such based on once, when she was too ill to attend
mass due to her own self-deprivation, she reported being able to hear and
see the entire mass she was missing on her bedroom wall (presumably akin
 Clare of Assisi 35
to a television). The last information one might know about Clare is that
after her death, the order she founded was renamed the Order of Saint Clare,
commonly known today as the Poor Sisters or Poor Clares. There currently
are approximately some 20,000 sisters with 16 federations residing in over
70 countries throughout the world (poorclare.org).
Given these accomplishments and notoriety (at least in the Catholic
Church culture), the claim that Clare was a leader of women who created
social change is substantial. She clearly accomplished several remarkable
feats of leadership, especially for a woman of her time. In fact, in recent
decades, the study of her life and leadership in the religious lives of women
has come to the attention of a long list of scholars. Much of this work
specifically examines Clare’s ability to lead spiritually and religiously (see,
e.g., Brady, 1953; Bartoli, 1982/2010; Carney, 1993; Mueller, 2003; Alber-
zoni, 2004; Christenson, 2013; Debby, 2014). These previous studies tell
us that her religious leadership was used by others in the women’s religious
movement of the thirteenth century as an example setting forth a time-
less model of female sanctity (Short, 2010). This is primarily because, as
mentioned already, she was the first woman to write a monastic rule for
women. Other experts on Clare’s life assert that the most important thing
about her leadership was that she served as an example of someone who
wanted to live a life according to the Gospel (Bartoli, 1982). And for her,
this meant living a life emulating the physical and material poverty of Jesus
Christ. Still others find that her leadership and strident efforts to obtain
approval from the Catholic Church so that she and her followers could live
according to what became known as the Privilege of Poverty were nothing
less than extraordinary for a woman of her time. Despite all of this, Clare
of Assisi is not well known in the scholarly communities of either gender
or leadership studies.
This may be because prior studies have failed to connect Clare’s leadership
ability to what it means for people generally, or more specifically for women
today. Review of the literature reveals only one study that come close to this
goal. Writing in the stewardship theory genre, Till and Petrany (2013) focus
on Clare’s model of servant leadership in order to study what they call her
“ethical leadership” for the purpose of providing a model in the contempo-
rary world of business management. In so doing, they found her leadership
useful or relevant in our modern times. A somewhat different example of
what I am to do here resides in Laura Swan’s more general study of beguines,
of which she asserts, “I am convinced that the beguines have much to say
to our world today. They invite us to listen to their voices, to seek out their
wisdom, to discover them anew” (Swan, 2014:9). I take this path of discov-
ery one step further by pushing us past rediscovery and on to application
in order to discern how women today can push forward the battle for equal
rights, and may use the strategies of action that Clare employed. As Swan aptly
describes in studies such as these, “We look to the past to inform our present
as we discern the direction of our future” (2014:8). By reconstructing Clare’s
36 Karen Monique Gregg
path as she transformed into a leader for women, I hope to shed light on a
path for women today.
More to the point, by examining Clare’s behavior in this manner (looking
backward in order to move women forward), I argue that she fits into a par-
ticular genre or pattern of women leaders who create social change—those
who behave badly in order to make history. This idea stems from the famous
feminist quote, “Well behaved women seldom make history” (Ulrich, 1976).
Therefore, I situate Clare’s emergence as a leader in this pattern in order to
show what women, more generally, need to do to create social change today.
Note that while I claim the story of her emergence as a leader is rare, I do
not claim that it is wholly unique. In fact, many of the other women’s lives
under scrutiny in this book, as well as many other historical figures, could fit
this same genre of women behaving badly in order to achieve social change
(e.g., Agnes of Prague, Catherine of Sienna, Joan of Arc, Margaret Sanger,
Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and the list goes on). But for the sake of this chapter,
I narrow my focus to poor Clare to see what we can glean from her unique
intersectionality, her patterns of emergence, and her strategies of action.
And, although sources on Clare’s life are scant (records of the canonization
process, Celano’s Life, and her own four letters to Agnes of Prague), I use
them along with other writings as sources to identify a model of emergent
leadership so that others today may benefit from her example and continue
to push for social change.

Literature on Leadership
If I claim that there is something in Clare’s example of leadership that women
today could learn from, how do I situate her in the wide and varied litera-
ture on leadership? Northouse’s work examines many ways to define and
examine leadership, but settles on a definition of leadership as, “a process
whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a com-
mon goal” (1997:3, emphasis in the original). Citing both Hollander (1992)
and Burns (1978), Northouse claims that, “Both leaders and followers are
involved in the leadership process” and that “Leaders and followers need to
be understood in relationship to each other and collectively” (Northouse,
1997:3–4). Given this guideline, it is important to consider who influences
leadership development and then, in turn, who the leader influences as well.
In the ensuing analysis, I will consider who might have influenced Clare’s
emergence and how, and then briefly consider who followed Clare in her
initial attempts to break through familial social barriers.
Northouse (1997) rightly suggests that some leaders are assigned, but
others emerge. Was Clare both styles? Perhaps. The historical records indi-
cate that Clare was certainly assigned some leadership tasks by Francis of
Assisi (Bartoli, 1982), but here I am mainly concerned with Clare’s early
years and what she had to do in order to emerge as an unexpected leader.
In other words, I am going to focus on the societal barriers she faced within
 Clare of Assisi 37
her family as she experienced emergence. Emergent leaders are described as
the following:

When others perceive an individual as the most influential member of a

group or organization, regardless of the individual’s title, the person is
exhibiting emergent leadership. The individual acquires emergent lead-
ership through other people in the organization who support and accept
that individual’s behavior.
(Northouse, 1997:5–6, emphasis in the original)

It is without a doubt that Clare was construed as the most influential mem-
ber of the order she founded. All we have to do is simply consider the name of
the order. But, to be clear, in this chapter, I claim that Clare’s leadership style
fits the description of emergent leadership, but only to a certain point in her
biography. After she breaks through societal barriers expected of women of her
time, she shifts in style to a transformational leader. According to Northouse,
transformational leaders are agents of social change, which Clare definitely
was. Therefore, using what I gleaned from Northouse’s study of leadership, we
can discern a two-act play. In Act One, this approach begins as emergent and
entails leaders breaking free of social constraints in order to initiate change.
Then, in Act Two, leaders develop and carry out changes in organizations
(Northouse, 1997:142), which in Clare’s case would have been in the Catholic
Church. Although Clare had a significant impact on the Church as a transfor-
mational leader, my concern in this chapter is only with Act One. I leave my
exploration of her transformational leadership for another day.

From Obedience to Recalcitrance

To understand Clare’s emergence as a leader, we have to rely on records from
the canonization process and the writings of her biographers. From Bartoli
(1982) we learn that Clare was born in 1191 in Assisi, Italy and was the eldest
daughter in what was considered a noble family. Coming from the nobility,
she lived a privileged life with no want of food, clothing, or shelter. Despite the
privileged context of her early life, her reputation for compassion and generos-
ity was known throughout Assisi. We know this because three of the witnesses
from her canonization process, who knew her personally as she grew up, made
declarations such as these about Clare’s demeanor and behaviors in her youth:

• She was a virgin.

• Although food was in abundance, she would not eat her meals, but
asked that they be given to the poor.
• She wore rough clothing under her clothes—i.e., cloth for servants—so
she did not demand rich clothing.
• She spent much time fasting, praying, and doing other works of charity
for the poor in the town of Assisi.
38 Karen Monique Gregg
• She appeared to others to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.
• The city held her in very good repute—public opinion was important.

What can we glean from these statements from witnesses to her early life? Evi-
dently, Clare was concerned with how poor people could manage in society. It
is also clear that Clare was aware that she lived in a privileged state compared
to others in her town. So she took steps to share what she had. From the wit-
nesses’ statements we also gather that she shirked the privileges of wealth. We
also learn that Clare was aware that poor people were suffering from hunger
right outside her home. Records indicate these poor people were sometimes
as near as her front door (Bartoli, 1982). She managed to share food from
her home (and perhaps other items) with the poor through the servants in
her household, who bore witness to these acts of charity. From the witnesses’
statements we can also tell that she was devoutly religious and dedicated to the
spiritual aspects of her being. And, finally, the town of Assisi knew of her good
works. This created a persona for her that would have impact on her ability to
lead others in the new way of life she would develop for women.
Based only on these witnesses’ statements, Clare was an exemplary young
lady, albeit rather pious in nature and perhaps unusually devoted to those
less fortunate than herself. Margaret Carney, in The First Franciscan Woman,
suggests that Clare’s attitudes and behaviors growing up in the Offreduccio
household serve as clear indicators that Clare was already “evolving a ‘form
of life’ even at this early stage” (1993:31–32). In other words, according to
Carney, we see the early inklings of what she would eventually become. A
review of the literature (Carney, 1993; Herlihy, 1985) suggests that other
young girls from this time period, from comparable wealthy families, prob-
ably acted in a somewhat similar pious manner, although probably not in as
extreme or as noteworthy fashion as Clare.
Thus far in her biographical sketch, I claim that not much stands out as defi-
ant, nor particularly indicates that Clare was any kind of leader. She is fulfilling
the expectations of her role as the eldest daughter in an aristocratic household.
She is a virgin as expected by historical time and social class, so she is pure. She
has developed a good reputation so she is not a disgrace to the family name.
She is obedient and devout. In fact, records of her behavior suggest she is pos-
itively generous to others. Nothing in this description of her early life hints at
the willful, intractable, and rebellious nature that would emerge shortly as Clare
matured. This all too soon would change as the perfect storm of networks of
relationships and potent influences on her life would converge to act as a col-
lective catalyst for her leadership emergence and thereby create social change.

Social Processes and Networks of Relationships

Massey asserts, “The idea that social change is an experience differing from
what others—at an earlier time—have experienced is incomplete if it does
not examine the social processes and networks of relationships surrounding
 Clare of Assisi 39
the experience” (Massey, 2012:22). So that is the tact I will undertake here.
First, I explore the social and historical context in which Clare was embed-
ded. Then I examine some of the social processes involved with the insti-
tution of marriage, along with the dowry system, and the alternate option
of spending one’s life in a convent, in order to identify and explain some
of the social barriers that Clare, and other women like her, faced as young
women in Assisi. Next, I will briefly examine the networks of relation-
ships surrounding Clare’s experiences. That is, we will consider some of the
important social influences that affected her emergence as a leader promot-
ing social change. When appropriate, I will point to the different strategies
of action, which I refer to as acts of defiance that she employed to thwart
the expectations and political desires of her family. In so doing, I will show
that this saintly young woman, at times, engaged in some rather unsaintly
behavior in order to achieve the life she wanted.

Social and Historical Context

Experts agree that during Clare’s time, “Church and society were inextricably
bound up with one another; and in terms of landed wealth, political power,
intellectual eminence, moral prestige, and cultural influence, the Catholic
Church was a dominant presence” (Bornstein and Rusconi, 1996:1). More-
over, the pervasive ideology concerning women was one of innate inferiority
(Bornstein and Rusconi, 1996; Bartoli, 2010). As for female education, “On
the whole, girls from wealthy [Italian] families and the nobility were taught
at home by tutors. Peasants, for the most part were uneducated” (Yalom,
2001:73). This tells us it is likely that Clare had some formal education.
Bornstein and Rusconi provide a bleak description of the social context for
women in medieval Italy:

In the Middle Ages women labored under a heavy burden of insti-

tutional and ideological disabilities. They were barred from political
office, they were hampered by a host of legal restrictions, they were
excluded from institutions of higher education; [and] they were deemed
physically, intellectually, and morally inferior to men.
(Bornstein and Rusconi, 1996:1)

Indeed, Julius Kirshner tells us,

in Medieval Italy, urban women did not take oaths, did not participate
in the assemblies, and did not take part in public life. They had no access
to public places where decisions were made on the life of the community.
(2015:162)

Given all of these societal barriers, what were women of Clare’s time
expected to do? If from a wealthy background1 as Clare certainly was, women
40 Karen Monique Gregg
were expected to marry (Sensi, 1996). If for whatever reason they were not
marriage material, they were steered toward becoming a nun and joining an
existing religious order. Regardless of which path one took, Clare would have
been affected by the dowry system that controlled the women of her time.
Indeed in her book The History of the Wife, Yalom tells us that women in
medieval Europe were used as pawns in a form of social exchange wherein

marriage was the means by which the powerful made alliances and
transmitted inheritances. Fathers had the responsibility of finding the
best partners for their sons and daughters so as to ensure proper unions
and maintain their status into the next generation. Therefore, daughters
were carefully supervised and allowed little opportunity to lose their
virginity before they married, usually at an early age.
(Yalom, 2001:49)

In her work, Yalom takes special care to explain the dowry system in effect
in Italy during the time Clare lived. As explained earlier, marriage was an
arrangement handled by the family and the intention, at least in wealthy
families, was to provide benefit to both of the families in the merger. Benefits
typically included, “wealth brought in the form of a dowry by the daughter-
in-law to her husband” (Yalom, 2001:83). In fact, “Fathers were obliged by
law to ‘dower’ their daughter with a share of the family patrimony” so that
“each daughter was given a sum to take with her into the marriage” (85).
About the dowry system, Graff asserts, “It [was] a matter of state concern
that women should have secure dowries” (Graff, 2004:7).
But, Yalom claims, during the medieval period, “It became more and more
difficult for families to dower all of their daughters, and many young women
chose the convent instead of marriage as a cheaper alternative” (Yalom,
2001:87). The alternative to marriage for someone like Clare was commit-
ting oneself to a life of prayer and contemplation in one of the already
existing female religious orders. Such a commitment typically entailed living
a cloistered, silent life in a convent that may or may not have required the
deposit of a dowry. Given these choices, what happened to Clare that she
eventually sought yet another path?
Clare was part of the aristocratic and affluent Offreduccio family of
Assisi. As part of the wealthy land-owning class, Clare would have been
largely governed by the family politics, in which marriage alliances played
an important part (Yalom, 2001). Therefore, Clare’s social strata, and indeed
her sisters’ as well, would have equipped her with a dowry. Sources suggest
that Clare was beautiful, healthy, and cultured, and she was well equipped
for marriage with a generous dowry (Peterson, 1982). According to Bartoli,
two witnesses from her canonization process described her as beautiful. “In
their view, all her good breeding, her courtesy, even her loveliness could
have only one function: to enable the House of Favorone [Offreduccio] to
make a marriage alliance with some other family every bit as powerful”
 Clare of Assisi 41
(Bartoli, 1982:29). In speaking of Clare’s prospects for marriage, Bartoli
echoes Yalom’s assertions, which state this about her family: “They spoke
of finding her a husband. This is because the choice of a husband for her
was something that concerned the whole family” (Yalom, 2001:41). So we
can conclude that, given her social status, the option of marriage was the
first choice of Clare’s rich and powerful family for her. Based on the norms
of the time, her wishes would not have been considered in the matter. When
it came to this system of social exchange, in this time period, “only a truly
recalcitrant young woman would have opposed the wishes of her father or
guardian” (Yalom, 2001:51) when it came to the disposition of her family’s
desire for her to marry and the disposition of her dowry.

Defiant Act #1—Denies Proposals of Marriage

As she aged, the more recalcitrant she became. Bartoli tells us that Thomas
of Celano (Clare’s biographer) referred to Clare’s multiple refusals to marry
as “the problem of Clare’s marriage” (2010:41). Due to her beauty and good
name, her proposals were many, but the suitor who came closest to marrying
her was Ranieri di Bernardo. Alas, he too was refused because Clare had in
mind an altogether different choice for her life (Bartoli, 2010). In the idea
of marriage that developed in the medieval period (Bartoli, 1982; 2010),
although “the woman’s consent was necessary, [it] did not make her consent
in practice certain” (Bartoli, 2010:42). In fact,

in thirteenth century Italy it was practically impossible for a young aris-

tocratic girl like Clare to choose the companion of her life. One result
of the Church’s struggle [to define marriage norms], however, was that
while the woman may not have the liberty to say who she would like to
marry, she did have the liberty to refuse a husband.
(Bartoli, 1982:42)

And refuse Clare did, over and over again. In a more recent work Bartoli states,

This is exactly what happened with Clare. Various husbands were pro-
posed to her, but she had the liberty to refuse them all. The evidence
underlines that Clare was eighteen years old, which was late to marry.
Normally young women were promised in marriage while they were
children and marriages generally celebrated when they were between
fourteen and eighteen years old. If Clare, at eighteen, was not yet prom-
ised to anyone, then this means that her resistance to the matrimonial
project of the family had begun some while previously.
(Bartoli, 2010:42–43)

We get a better idea of Clare’s mindset toward marriage from the canon-
ization interviews, this from a man living in Clare’s hometown since her
42 Karen Monique Gregg
childhood: “Since the witness himself had many times asked her to be willing
to consent to this marriage, she did not even want to hear him; moreover she
preached to him of despising the world” (CanProc XVIII, 2). Clare’s repug-
nance of marriage is evident in this witness’s testimony. Her intentions to
thwart her family’s ambitions for her to “marry up” in order to create political
linkages are made abundantly clear. She was clearly not cooperating with the
wishes of her family and regarded marriage as a societal barrier preventing her
from achieving the life she wanted. With that said, we turn to the other option
to ask, Was Clare’s choice, then, to join a convent and live out her life in an
existing (and contemplative) order? Additionally, the matter of her dowry still
needs to be explained. If marriage was not on the horizon, what fate would
befall Clare’s family inheritance, which had been set aside for her to enter into
a mutually beneficial and politically advantageous marriage? To understand
her choices or ultimate aim, we must momentarily digress in order to examine
both the networks of relationships in which she was embedded and some of
the specific influences on her life and leadership formation.

Networks of Relationships and Other Influences

In what follows, I explore the effects of three main influences on Clare’s life.
First, I consider the influence of her mother, Ortolana, and the network of reli-
gious women she frequently met and traveled with and the impact they surely
had on Clare’s development as a young woman. I claim that Ortolana’s use
of religion to gain freedom in society as a woman undoubtedly served as an
example of leadership for Clare. Next, I consider the effect of the beguines, “an
informal movement of independent women who defined for themselves what
it meant to live according to the gospel” (Swan, 2014:12). Beguines were known
throughout Europe, but each region had its own colloquial names for them. In
Italy, these women were known as penitentiae, pinzochere, or bizzoche. In the
specific region of Lombardy, they were known as humiliti (Swan, 2014:12).
Beguine women recognized cultural fissures in their time and social context
that allowed them to create a new choice for women to live, one that did not
involve marriage or choosing the restrictive life of a nun. Finally, I touch on the
influence of Francis, an older man living as a recluse in the town of Assisi, who
would turn out to be the most important factor of all impacting Clare’s defiant
acts that lead to her leadership formation.

Ortolana Offreduccio: Family Influence

As Clare was growing up in the Offreduccio household, she and her sisters
would have been raised mainly in the company of women (Bartoli, 2010).
The physical structure of the typical aristocrat’s domicile cordoned off a
section exclusively for women. About her early years, Bartoli asserts:

Here, almost exclusively in the company of women, she would have

spent the early years of her life, and among these women the one who
 Clare of Assisi 43
would certainly have exercised the strongest influence on the young
Clare was her mother. Ortolana was far from being a woman of no
importance . . . she was well traveled.
(Bartoli, 2010:15)

But where did a woman of Ortolana’s generation travel in the Middle Ages?
Have we not already established the limited mobility and choices for women
at this time period in history? Ortolana, and women of similar social status,
went on pilgrimages to such places as the Holy Land. These were “traditional
pilgrimages of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries” (Bartoli, 2010:15),
meaning a holdover from the fervent religiosity of the Crusades. Indeed,
he goes on to assert that “With Ortolana’s generation .  .  . the whole of
western Christendom appeared to be seized with a collective enthusiasm for
pilgrimage-making” (Bartoli, 2010:15). The religious fervor for pilgrimages
was part of a religious evangelical awakening of the twelfth century that was
especially popular among aristocratic women and their networks of friends.
The Offreduccio home eventually became somewhat of a magnet house for
a network of women who traveled together on these pilgrimages. This net-
work would have consisted of neighbors, friends, close female relatives, and
due to necessities, may have included Ortolana’s servants. But there is no
mention of taking her daughters on these pilgrimages (Bartoli, 2010). None-
theless, I claim that Ortolana’s model of religious followership surely made
an impression on Clare.
Aside from this example, Clare would also have been socialized and
therefore influenced by her mother’s biography. The history of her gener-
ation would have included marriage, children, and eventually widowhood.
“Throughout all of these stages, Ortolana’s vitality and questing spirit
expressed themselves in the only legitimate field allowed to her by the soci-
ety of the time—religion” (Bartoli, 2010:16). Bartoli’s interpretation of this
spirit reveals a deep need for freedom that Ortolana could only get from
traveling to faraway places or by helping the poor in her local town of Assist.
Indeed,

her works of mercy and her good deeds in service of the poorest were
a concrete way of leaving the confines of the house, seeking interests in
the life of the town where poverty and mendicancy were present to an
extent never seen in preceding generations.
(Bartoli, 2010:16)

Here Bartoli seems to suggest that Ortolana had societal barriers of her
own, but she seemed to navigate them well by following the social norms of
her time: women stayed indoors, except in the service of religion. Knowing
this, she used religious fervor as her pass to freedom to do good works and
to travel. As Clare matured, she would seek other passes to freedom in her
time, but, in a similar manner to her mother, she would use religion to break
through her own societal barriers.
44 Karen Monique Gregg
In summary, as a girl, Clare would have been part of, or at least observed
others practicing, leadership and followership in the traditional female roles
available to her mother’s network of religiously empowered women. Orto-
lana must have served as a powerful role model for Clare. Make no mistake,
Clare developed into her own woman, religious and otherwise. Unlike her
mother’s generation, Clare wanted to break down the societal barriers that
separated the nobility from the poor. In other words, she did not just want to
give alms as her mother’s generation did, and her biography indicates she did
not crave freedom through pilgrimages. She wanted to do something alto-
gether different. For Clare it was not sufficient to help from afar or travel to
religious destinations. She wanted to live among the poor as the poor lived,
as she was undoubtedly learning that others, in fact, already did.

The Beguines: Cultural Influence

Peterson tells us that Clare grew into womanhood in a time of an “extraor-
dinary upsurge of experimental religious communities” (Peterson, 1982:ix).
Grundmann (1995) says that these religious movements morphed into either
religious orders or heretical sects. I believe that Clare, through her mother
and her mother’s religious network of friends, would have surely been influ-
enced by news of other women breaking through social barriers across
Europe. Of these communities, we read,

The first half of the thirteenth century saw a great demand for religious
life on the part of women who did not find sufficient outlets through the
traditional monastic channels. As a result, they fostered a whole series
of new experiments . . . Here there was an upsurging [sic] of experiences
of prayer, love, and the life of penance which were to come to their full
flowering in the great Beguinages [sic] of northern Europe.
(Bartoli, 1982:55)

No one can say for certain, but we can surmise that one of the early influences
on Clare’s emergent leadership was the beguines. Despite recent assertions
that beguines were peculiar to one part of Europe (Bornstein and Rusconi,
1996), Grundmann suggests that beguines also, “arose in Central Italy inde-
pendently of Francis and Clara, [and were] a precipitate of a general pov-
erty movement, just as similar communities formed in Belgium, France, and
Germany independently of the mendicant orders” (Grundmann, 1995:111).
He goes on to claim that Francis’s preaching and Clare’s example of living
in extreme poverty strengthened the women’s religious movement of the
Middle Ages in Italy (Grundmann, 1995).
Who were these women and what effect might they have had on Clare’s
early development as a leader? According to Swan, “the beguines began
to form in various parts of Europe [including Italy] .  .  . around the year
1200” (Swan, 2014:1). Bornstein and Rusconi describes them as “devout
 Clare of Assisi 45
laywomen who joined together to lead a pious life in common, dedicating
themselves to prayer, charity, and chastity while refusing to be bound by
formal monastic vows” (Bornstein and Rusconi, 1996:8). Remember that
Clare was born in 1191 so these women were emerging throughout Europe
during the entirety of Clare’s youth and into early womanhood. Bornstein
(1996) thinks it is also worth noting that these women did not live in specific
orders or convents. Rather, they

lived by themselves or together in so-called beguinages, which could

be single houses for as few as a handful of beguines, or, as in Brugge,
walled-in rows of houses enclosing a central court with a chapel where
over a thousand beguines might live—a village of women within a medi-
eval town or city.
(Swan, 2014:2)

These women were not choosing marriage and they were not choosing the
life of a cloistered nun. They were not committing to a holy order or taking
vows of obedience to the Church. They were not an organized movement
and they did not have a uniform religious rule to live by. Nor were they
under the influence of one main leader. In other words, they were choosing
self-leadership for lives of their own; living outside the authority of men, as
in fathers, brothers, uncles, church authorities, etc. Beguines came from all
walks of life but were most likely made up of recent widows of the Crusades,
other unmarried women, and cast offs or misfits in society (Swan, 2014).
They were women who began to experiment with new ways of religious
living that imitated “the way” of Jesus Christ by attempting to emulate the
behavior of the early apostles closely.
Interestingly, and not unlike Clare, the beguines had in common a strong
commitment to the poor and to the marginalized (e.g., in some instances
care of lepers). So if they were in possession of a dowry, they did not keep
it. Once joining a group of beguines, they gave up their dowry to the poor.
This new pattern of life for women emerged:

In the midst of a so-called first renaissance when European society was

transforming itself from a narrowly defined structure of a great many
peasants (who were mostly poor and uneducated) ruled by a small elite
of aristocrats and church leaders into a broader society with a growing
merchant class and a more sophisticated political system.
(Swan, 2014:16)

This is important to note because, amidst all of this change, beguines saw
cultural fissures whereby a new pattern of female living could emerge.
Indeed, these “[w]omen began stepping outside of the strictures and con-
fines inflicted upon them by the church and the prevailing culture, seek-
ing to express faith as they felt called to do it” (Swan, 2014:13). About
46 Karen Monique Gregg
this new pattern, Swan tells us, “These women were essentially self-defined,
in opposition to the many attempts to control and define them” (Swan,
2014:2). However, forging this new pattern of living did not go unnoticed
by the patriarchal order of the time. For example, “[p]owerful medieval men
were insulted by the presence of women living independent lifestyles and
this publicly derided them” (Swan, 2014:12). The rub consisted of the fact
that these women were “free to make their own life choices and to move
about their town or city as they wished (as long as they had a companion
with them), and women of every status . . . [were becoming] . . . beguines”
(Swan, 2014:14), essentially thwarting the traditional gender roles of wife
and mother or nun. Conversely, these women did win the support of other
women who chose the life of nuns. Nuns were “steady supporters of the
beguines” (Swan, 2014:15) and frequently loaned them land to help them
start their communities.
These women populated the urban centers and “many women began to
live this new form of life” (Peterson, 1993:58). While it is impossible to tell
for certain, I surmise that merely knowing about the beguinages throughout
Italy (and elsewhere) would have undoubtedly had some impact on Clare’s
own sense of self-efficacy in breaking through societal barriers, such as
thwarting the expectation to marry or become a nun, and in consideration
of what to do with her own inheritance (dowry). Indeed, Peterson acknowl-
edges the similarities of Clare and the beguines and puts them in the same
category by stating, “Both Clare of Assisi and the beguines as lay women
managed to create alternative lifestyles in response to their needs that were
not met by the existing institutional church” (Peterson, 1993:67). If Peter-
son’s claim is true and Clare’s needs were not being met, what role did the
next major influential person in her life play in meeting them?

Francis of Assisi: A Radical Influence

Clare’s needs appear to have been met by a strange man living in Assisi who
strongly influenced her desire to flee her family home in order to break
through the social expectations of her family. Experts on Clare assert that
she was socialized in a time period fraught with social and cultural change,
such as shifting economic forces, growing nationalism, and urbanization
(Bartoli, 1982; Peterson, 1982). In analyzing her social context, they sug-
gest that Clare would have been witness to a widening gap between the
“haves” and the “have-nots” in her small citadel of Assisi. Everywhere she
looked, she would have witnessed the rich getting richer and the poor get-
ting poorer. This no doubt had some influence on the person she wanted
to become. Swidler (1986) suggests that during times of unsettled cultural
periods such as these, there is the potential for “bursts of ideological activ-
ism” to occur, and change becomes possible. For example, Mueller (2003)
describes the wealthy youth in Assisi as making radical new choices, due to
the cultural changes occurring in Italy, to renounce their wealth in order to
 Clare of Assisi 47
pursue entirely different paths than their families expected. One example of
the youth in Assisi making this radical choice is the man who came to be
known as Saint Francis of Assisi (Chesterton, 2008).
Francis was born in a merchant family and was expected to become a
knight in the Crusades. After a brief stint fighting as a crusader, he fled,
became very ill, and returned to Assisi a changed man. He claimed to
hear the voice of God telling him to rebuild the local church in Assisi.
Shortly thereafter, he publicly shirked his family and their fortune and
declared that he wanted to follow Christ and live a life of penance and pov-
erty. This is known as his conversion moment—the turning point where
he left the secular world and devoted himself to God. After this public
display before the whole city of Assisi, he set off to live in a new way—as
an impoverished follower of Christ—and to rebuild the small church in
Assisi that was in ruins. After a time, he began to attract many followers,
including Clare of Assisi.
Clare would have been about 12 to 14 years old when she first heard
of, and perhaps met Francis. What he did before the citizens of Assisi
likely made a very big impression on her, living in such a small town. It is
exactly here that Clare’s life takes a distinct and radical turn away from
her family. Thus far, having successfully thwarted her family’s plan for her
to marry, she continues to act in ways that, for the average person rather
than one influenced by the Catholic Church, appear to be more defiant, and
other than saintly. In what follows, I will continue to point out defiant acts
that Clare employed in order to carve out the new pattern of life she longed
to live. In so doing, my intention is to bring Clare’s existential crisis to a
head. It is this critical turning point that leads her onto a path of leadership
for other women.

Defiant Act #2—Secret Meetings With an Older Man

Defiant Act #3 and #4—Runs Away From Home and Receives the Tonsure
Defiant Act #5—Gives Away Her Dowry to the Poor
Witnesses to Clare’s life tell similar stories of how, after his conversion, Fran-
cis and Clare began meeting. They developed a relationship—a clandestine
one—that was kept secret from her family. Scholars believe that Francis was
sharing his vision of the way life should be led, following the example of
Jesus Christ and in a state of poverty (Bartoli, 1982). Francis seems to have
acted in the common role of mentor to Clare. I believe that this had the
most influence of all on Clare’s leadership development because somehow
Clare musters up the courage to defy her family again and again based on
Francis’s influence.
Sources suggest that during the five years between Francis’s conversion
and Clare’s they were in close contact with one another. So after a time,
Clare chooses to follow in Francis’s footsteps and leave her family to strike
out as his first female follower (Thom, 1987). This entailed fleeing her
48 Karen Monique Gregg
family’s home in a dishonorable manner in the middle of the night, taking
vows to follow Francis (and other men who had begun to follow him), and
finally receiving the tonsure. This is known as Clare’s conversion moment.
The significance of receiving the tonsure cannot be stressed enough. This act
essentially made Clare’s choice to deceive her family irreversible. It ruined
her for any sort of social exchange in the form of a politically advantageous
marriage that could have benefited her entire family. Her family was not
only in shock, they were angry at the flagrant breach of social norms and
lack of obedience to family wishes. By meeting with Francis in secret, fleeing
her family home, and then tonsuring her hair, Clare had breached three more
very important social barriers for women of her time, all of which had been
keeping her from the life she wanted.
What happened to her dowry? Sources suggest that she gained access to it
before running away from her family’s home (Bartoli, 1982). Much like the
example of the beguines, once freed Clare immediately dispensed with her
family dowry by giving it away to the poor in the town of Assisi. This was
not what was supposed to happen with a young noble woman’s dowry. It
was supposed to be used, as stated already, to form a politically advantageous
marriage with another aristocratic family in Assisi. To her family it would
appear as if she had squandered it away without strengthening the family’s
social and political position. This would mark the fifth societal barrier that
Clare would breach in order to have the life she envisioned for herself.
Let us summarize the influences on Clare’s emergent leadership. From her
mother who took the traditional route and married, she would have observed
a model of being religious that provided freedom enough to travel. Thus reli-
gion was an outlet in society that allowed women some freedom, which Clare
may have discerned as a path out of the family expectations for her life. From
the beguines who, if she did not witness them directly in Assisi she most likely
would have heard of their activities, she garnered examples of a new way to
be religious, free from the confines of the nunnery, and free from any linkage
to men’s authority. This cultural information may have provided a source of
inspiration for Clare to innovate and carve out the kind of spirituality she
wanted, rather than adhering to cultural expectations. Moreover, if they had
one, beguines set an example of women free to do as they wished with their
dowries, which more often than not, sources suggest, was to donate it to the
poor. Finally, from Francis, Clare discerned a path out—one that did not involve
marriage, nor did it involve living in a cloistered convent. Rather, it involved
making a new and radical choice to follow him into a religious life in poverty.

Conclusions
After examining Clare’s life through her biographies and by reading what
experts on her life deduced, I began to see a pattern. It appears to me that
Clare’s example of leadership formation was “not-all-that-saintly.” If we
 Clare of Assisi 49
remove the religious jargon and any religious connotation associated with
discussions of this medieval woman, we begin to see a woman who had to
behave rather badly to get what she wanted (Ulrich, 1976):

• She does not want to marry, nor does she want the life of a cloistered
nun, even though she is intensely religious.
• She secretly meets with a radicalized man in her hometown that, if her
family had known, would have meant scandal.
• She runs away from home in the middle of the night with a band of men
to follow a radical man.
• She allows her hair to be shorn (i.e., receives the tonsure), which is
irreversible and ruins any chance of advancing her family in the social
hierarchy of her town.
• She squanders (by common societal measures) her share of her family’s
money, her dowry, by giving it to the poor.
• She does not want to live in privilege, as her aristocratic family. She
wants to live in poverty with no property whatsoever.
• She wants to follow Francis’s new way of life, emulating the poverty of
Jesus Christ.

To do all this Clare had to break a few rules or, in other words, break
through societal barriers for women of her time. She also had to defy the
institutional church that, remember, is inextricably bound up with social
and political life and extremely powerful at this time. I argue that these
acts of defiance, specifically acts that thwarted her family’s expectations
and desires for her to marry, were necessary for her to emerge as a leader
of women. Not surprisingly, once Clare left her family home, she began to
amass followers. There were obviously other women who desired a path
other than marriage or cloistered convent life. Her mother, her sisters,
her friends, and cousins, and perhaps other women in Assisi who wanted
another path, followed her leadership (Karecki, 1987). It is important to
note that to be their leader, however, she had to be the first to strike out on
her own. This required her to engage in various strategies of action, which
I call acts of defiance.
The analysis stops here because, once Clare gained followers, I claim that
it is more productive to analyze Clare’s life in terms of a transformational
leadership style (and at times charismatic in the traditional Weberian sense),
rather than as an emergent leader. The analysis of this “Act Two” will have
to be left for another time. Just because it is prudent to switch up the analysis
to a different style of leadership does not mean that Clare’s acts of defiance
were over. After leaving her family to strike out on her own as a follower
of Francis, she began to agitate for change in the institution of the Catholic
Church. Her acts of defiance shift to what I call obedient acts of defiance
working with, rather than against (as she did with her family) the Church.
50 Karen Monique Gregg
Additional ways Clare continued to engage in defiant acts in order to carve
out the life she wanted are as follows:

• She receives approval for a religious innovation known as the Privilege

of Poverty, which is essentially the Church’s authorization for the privi-
lege of living without any privileges or property at all.
• She leads women into a new religious order, which becomes known as
the Poor Ladies or Poor Sisters.
• She instructs others, such as Agnes of Prague, to ignore church officials
when they advise her in any way not to follow Christ’s example of
poverty.
• She thwarts the authority of the Catholic Church, who at the time was
attempting to standardize the monasteries and convents by creating a
standard monastic rule for women—mostly the Benedictine order.
• Incorporating the ideas of Francis, she decides to write a rule of her own.
• Persistently pushes to get her rule authorized for 40 years; when on her
deathbed, her rule is finally approved by Gregory IX. It seems she simply
would not take no for an answer.

My basic argument is that Clare’s leadership led to important social

change, but this was only possible by breaking through societal barriers
for women. So how did she do this? After examining her life, I find that she
employed two strategies of defiance: 1) overt acts of defiance against her
family’s wishes and later 2) obedient acts of defiance working within the
institutional Church. What then can women today learn from her example?

Implications
Clare’s example of leadership employing these two strategies of defiance are
not what one would expect from someone deemed a saint in the Catholic
Church. Instead, Clare’s life serves as an example of the pithy claim first
promulgated by Ulrich (1976) that “well behaved women seldom make his-
tory,” which tells us that other women throughout history were also com-
pelled to behave badly in order to break through the societal barriers of their
time. To be perfectly clear, I do not claim that Clare is unique in this regard.
Many women throughout history reach a turning point where the only way
to make progress (or, in Clare’s case, carve out the life she wanted), is to
break social norms, thwart expectations of others, and essentially behave
badly to accomplish their aims. Clearly Clare’s behavior was unexpected by
her family and her peers among the aristocratic class. What I find remark-
able is not that Clare acted in this fashion, but that her reputation and her
hagiography as passed down both fail to emphasize her recalcitrance, her
disobedience to her family, and finally her audacity to want a life different
from the choices put before her. Clare’s choices could not have been easy,
and that is the point.
 Clare of Assisi 51
In this chapter, I have looked backward so that we could look forward
on pressing issues for women of today. In so doing, I only told one part
of Clare’s overall story—her early life breaking free from the familial con-
straints and societal norms and expectations of an aristocratic woman of
her time. Her story goes on to exemplify other styles of leadership working
to create change in the Catholic Church, but that will have to be left for
another time. Narrowing our focus to her early years and the influences on
her life and choices to break through social barriers has important lessons
for women today. So what can be learned from Clare’s leadership example?
That is, how is Clare’s story of strategic defiance breaking through societal
barriers of her time relevant for women today?
If we momentarily set aside the profound influence of Francis of Assisi,
and consider the women that I claim influenced Clare the most, the beguines
and her mother, Ortolana, what do we find? We see women using religion
as a resource to carve out the lives they want. Ortolana and the other aris-
tocratic women of her time experienced a modicum of freedom by travers-
ing the world on pilgrimages, and by helping the poor in their towns via
acts of charity. Both modes of religious acts, charity and religious pilgrim-
ages, allowed them some freedom in society. The beguines were something
entirely new. They were innovators in advancing new sociocultural gender
norms bracketed within the acceptable enabling environmental confines of
religion. They roamed the cities of Europe in an impoverished state doing
good works, helping lepers and the poor. They settled down in small com-
munities wherever possible to continue their good works. These women,
varied as they may have been, were using religion as a resource to experience
freedom and thwarting the expectations for women in their time.
Clare’s unexpected leadership in her early years is indicative of both these
influences using religion as a resource. Like her mother, Clare wanted to
do charitable acts, but she took things one step further by wanting to live
among the people she helped—like the male influence in her life, Francis.
But unlike Francis and his male followers, Clare, because of her sex, had to
carve out a new way. Like the beguines, Clare was a religious innovator that
attracted followers who could form into a community unlike the cloistered,
silent convents of the time. Also like the beguines, Clare chose to do what she
wished with her dowry. While adopting bits and pieces from these influential
factors, Clare was using religion as a resource to create her desired life for
herself and for other women. Religion, as an established and trusted basic
social institution, provided the societal mechanism, resource, or cultural tool
to pursue freedom to create social change.
This chapter opened with a short reflection on some of the ways the
gender revolution for contemporary women has stalled or become “stuck”
because we cannot see a clear path forward. In order to make this analysis
useful for our time, I posited, What can we learn from the historical figure
of Clare that might help nudge forward our modern ideas or concepts about
gender equality? Consider what Johnson says about the status of women in
52 Karen Monique Gregg
this, the second decade of this millennium. Citing a string of feminist schol-
ars doing research on women, he states,

After two decades of sometimes dramatic change in the 1970s and

1980s, progress toward gender equality has slowed to a crawl since
1990. The average man working full time, for example, earns almost
30 percent more than the average woman. In spite of being a majority
among college graduates, most employed women are still confined to a
narrow range of low-status, low-paid occupations, and those women
who have made inroads into previously male-dominated professions,
such as medicine, are more likely than men to be in the lower-ranked,
lower-paid positions . . . In universities, science professors, both male
and female, widely regard female students as less competent than com-
parable males and are less likely to offer women jobs or to pay those
they do hire salaries equal to those of men. In politics, women make
up just 19 percent of the U. S. Congress and hold less than a quarter
of state legislature seats and statewide elective executive offices in spite
of being over 50 percent of the population. In families, women still do
twice the amount of housework and childcare as men, even when they
are employed outside the home.
(Johnson, 2014:4–5)

These numbers are startling considering that our star example, Clare of
Assisi, who broke through societal barriers for women in medieval Italy, did
so some 775 years ago!
If the historical leadership of Clare experienced success using religion as
a cultural tool for which to pursue freedom, how can women today do the
same to “jump-start” the stalled gender revolution? Dalton Conley tells us,

Women are more interactive in religious organizations than men, either

because they are socialized to be the more virtuous of the sexes, or
because they feel a greater need for the kind of social and financial sup-
port the church offers.
(Conley, 2015:635)

To back up these claims, he cites findings of the Pew Forum on Religion

and Public Life (2010) wherein women (86%) are found to be affiliated
with religion more than men (79%). Women (77%) have more certainty
in God or a universal spirit than men (65%). Women (66%) say that they
pray daily, more often than men (49%). Sixty-three percent of women say
that religion is very important in their lives, as compared with 49% of men.
Finally, women report (44%) more often than men (34%) attending worship
services at least weekly.
These figures notwithstanding, since the gender revolution of the 1970s
and the concomitant entry of women into the labor force, Nancy Ammerman
 Clare of Assisi 53
(2005) has observed a decline in women’s involvement in church and other
religious volunteering. Note that this may be less true in some denomina-
tions as compared with others—e.g., Evangelicals and Mormons (Glass and
Jacobs, 2005). With women spending their time and energy working, and
not volunteering in churches, perhaps something significant has been over-
looked. In the decades since the 1970s, women have forgotten that religion
can be a forum, mode, mechanism, or cultural tool in which to pursue gender
equality (albeit not within the structure of the Catholic Church’s, or many
other Christian denominations’ male leadership hegemony). According to
Bartoli (1982), Clare’s mother recognized religion as an avenue to freedom.
We can assume the beguines did too, given their religious proclivities and
innovations in freedom for women to roam the towns and thwart male
authority. Clare most likely recognized as well that religion could be a tool
for her to create the life she wanted, a life which did not include marriage,
and it did not include following in the footsteps of other women who com-
mitted their lives to the seclusion of the convents.
The lesson to be learned for today from looking back on Clare’s exam-
ple of leadership is that religion, as culture, plays a causal role in human
actions. Swidler states, “Culture has an independent causal role because it
shapes the capacities from which . . . strategies of action are constructed”
(Swidler, 1986:277). Swidler goes on to differentiate between settled and
unsettled times, but discerning which period (Clare’s or ours) one is situated
in is not always an easy task. The link to Clare’s example (and Ortolana, the
beguines, and other women in this book) entails recognizing the potential
for religion to provide, “a repertoire of capacities from which varying strate-
gies of action may be constructed” (Swidler, 1986:284). What this means for
women, especially if the decline in religious participation and volunteerism
that Ammerman (2005) notes is correct, is to return to the sacred halls of
American churches in order to jump-start the stalled revolution. Religion
and religious organizations can be used as a resource or as part of a cultural
tool kit to move the gender revolution path forward.

Note
1. Due to space limitation this analysis is limited to Clare’s social strata. Other less
fortunate women of medieval Italy are left aside while we consider the specific
circumstances of Clare.

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4 Catherine of Siena (1347–1380)
Political Persuasion and Party
Leadership of the Intellective
Mystic
Sally M. Brasher

Introduction
In the city of Siena, the much-neglected Basilica San Domenico rests quietly
in the shadow of the massive Duomo. There, one can approach a small side
chapel in which an exquisitely wrought silver reliquary holds the exposed
head of Saint Catherine of Siena. She has aged fairly well considering the
630 years that have passed since her death. One thumb rests nearby in
another silver reliquary. The remainder of her body resides inside a closed
sarcophagus in the Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva in the city of Rome.
While the exact series of events that led to the division of Catherine’s corpse
is obscure, it can be substantiated that the division reflects the desire by
both cities to claim the relics of this beloved saint as their own. It also serves
as an apt symbolic reference to the dual role she played in the religious
and political culture of medieval Italy. Her active immersion in the political
events of the day, ability to influence the great men of her age in the service
of the politically embroiled Latin Church, and advocacy for her beloved city
is reflected in the veneration by citizens of that city of her intelligent, influ-
ential leadership, as represented by her head. Her body, that vessel perceived
as all women’s bodies were as weak, frail, and corrupted by original sin, but
which she subjected to extreme asceticism in the name of ultimate spiritual
attainment, is venerated in that most holy city, Rome, as an exemplar of
pious submission and mystic vision.
Catherine Benincasa was born in 1347, the twenty-fourth child of middle
class parents in the independent city-state of Siena, Italy. Catherine’s unusual
life, from mystical visions as a tiny child, to living through the ravages of
the Black Death, to committing herself to a public religious life in defiance
of gender norms and despite the pressures of family and church, has been
the subject of scholarship on religious movements, mysticism, and women
in religious life in the Middle Ages.1 She is the exemplar of high medieval
mystics and religious activists who claimed to have a direct line to God and
whose copious good works gave them a predominant place in the religiosity
of this “age of faith.” She became an important role model for centuries of
religious women. However, her role in the political culture of the Italian city-
states has been greatly overlooked.2 In fact, Catherine played an integral role
 Catherine of Siena 57
in the political world of the Latin Church and its power struggles with the
city-states of Siena and Florence as well as with larger European empires.
She used her role as a mystic, and the language of the mystic movement to
influence the affairs of all of these states.
In her writings, Catherine professed to not be the least interested in the
politics of the day and to answer only to the “authority of God.” However,
she and her followers, who included some of the most important families in
Siena, were actively involved in a number of local and international political
intrigues. Over the course of her life, Catherine conferred with popes, kings,
bishops, dukes, civic leaders, and common citizens. She brokered peace
agreements and mediated internal civic conflicts. Her claim to only follow
the authority of God gave her a religiously legitimized political position
from which to operate at a time when the Latin Church was embroiled in
some very secular political activity. The language she employed in her effec-
tive epistolary campaign gave her a powerful tool to influence many men,
both her committed followers and great men of the age. Catherine’s role as
spiritual leader of her movement also gave her followers a protected space
in which they could advocate politically while claiming religious motivation.
In an age and place in which women were closed out of the public political
sphere, Catherine used her religiosity to influence affairs on an international
scale. Her leadership was respected, and even feared, by men within the
Church, throughout the city-states, and across the continent.

Background
Most of what is accepted knowledge of Catherine’s early life comes from
one source written by her spiritual director, Blessed Raymond of Capua.3
In 1374, once Catherine’s popularity as a mystic and devoted religious ter-
tiary was well advanced in Siena, she was called before Dominican order
leadership. The commission determined that her visions were valid and thus
needed to be supervised and recorded. Raymond was appointed Catherine’s
spiritual advisor and director.4 Raymond remained with Catherine for the
rest of her life and upon her death became her principal hagiographer. It took
him ten years to compile the Legenda Maior, the hagiographical account of
Catherine’s life written to promote her canonization. This has become the
most frequently referenced source for information about Catherine.
Raymond gives us a glimpse of Catherine’s early life with her large mid-
dle class family and the precociousness of her early spiritual experiences.
According to Raymond, Catherine had her first vision at the age of six and
had made a vow of virginity by age seven. At 15, she had a vision of a mys-
tical marriage to Christ and began to practice the asceticism that deepened
as she aged. Originally, she ate only bread, water, and raw vegetables, and by
the age of 23 Catherine consumed only the Eucharist, water, herbs, and bit-
ter greens.5 In her teens, she resisted pressure from her parents and society to
marry. According to Raymond, this included acts of self-mutilation such as
58 Sally M. Brasher
cutting her hair, not being treated for a case of the pox, and scalding herself
in a hot bath, in order to make herself less attractive as a marriage partner.
At 17, her family reluctantly allowed her to forgo marriage and lead a reli-
gious life, and she joined the mantellate tertiary order of the Dominicans.
Tertiaries were semi-religious individuals who followed an apostolic life of
service but did not necessarily live in an enclosed community.6
Raymond relates that in the early days of her religious life with the ter-
tiaries she stayed home, prayed, and learned to read while working like a
servant for her family. In1368, she experienced a “spiritual climax” that led
her to believe she should once again join the outside world.7 She began to
minister to the poor and sick in her community. According to Raymond, it
was at this point that her visions guided her toward alleviating the sickness
that was rampant in societal institutions as well as with individuals. Once
Catherine’s public reputation was established, she became much sought after
for advice. Between 1370 and 1380, Catherine authored 382 letters in addi-
tion to a well-received book, The Dialogue.8 Her visions were always central
to her writing and she used them to inform, instruct, and persuade her wide
audience.

Mystics and Visionaries

Catherine’s role as a mystic and visionary was a common feature of reli-
gious culture of the late medieval period. Earlier in the Middle Ages, women
who wished or were forced into a religious life were generally confined to
a monastery. Traditional orders such as the Benedictines and Augustinians
welcomed women as that practice solved several societal issues. Women’s
commitment to the convent provided a social service to the community,
as women religious aided the poor and the infirm. The medieval era’s fre-
quent problem of frauenfrage, the demographic gender inequity resulting
from there being more marriageable women in Europe than available men,
was answered in large part by the convent. In addition, families could deal
with the problem of too many daughters to dower through commitment
to religious life. In the early Middle Ages, the convent was a place where
women from wealthier families found some access to leadership and some
semi-public sphere activity as abbesses and teachers.9 However, by the elev-
enth century, all orders actively sought to restrict any public activity by reli-
gious women. Monastic reform efforts of the period often included forced
enclosure of members.
Beginning in the twelfth century, female religious started to explore alter-
nate ways to express their piety and gain access to the public sphere. A new
form of grassroots spirituality that gave rise to the mendicant orders of St.
Francis and St. Dominic, as well as tertiary groups such as the Humiliati,
which focused on apostolic service to the community, also initiated an age of
mysticism and asceticism.10 All of these groups were particularly attractive
to women as they allowed them to become important figures in the Christian
 Catherine of Siena 59
community outside the cloister. The phenomenon of female religious, includ-
ing mystics and visionaries, of the twelfth through fourteenth centuries
reflects both the impassioned Christianity of the age and an increased per-
ception of the specific ills of late medieval urban life. These community-based,
semi-religious groups attempted to address issues of social welfare including
income inequity, poverty, crime, and epidemic disease.
Mystics and visionaries were predominately women who claimed to receive
visions that either directed them to speak in the name of God or gave them
some lived experience of God to be transmitted to a larger audience. All
believed God had chosen them for revelation. Broadly categorized, there
were two types of mystics: affective and intellective.11 Affective mystics
tended to have more personalized visions that included ecstatic interac-
tions with Christ. Intellective mystics received literal directives targeted at
the wider world. They saw themselves as intermediaries tasked with trans-
forming divine wisdom through their visions to the men of the Church and
beyond. Catherine was among the latter. These visionaries believed they
were chosen as receptors because as women, they were perceived as weak
and inferior, and this made them ready vessels for God’s power.12 Because
women were completely excluded from participation in any ministry and
from preaching in any form, mystical visions gave women a voice, legiti-
macy, and even authority.
Intellective visionaries’ visions tended toward advising mortal men in
positions of power. Because church officials believed that these women did
in fact speak for God or Christ, they listened. Men of the Church were able
to appropriate the mystics’ messages to promote their religious and political
agendas. In a period rife with division within the Latin Church and between
church and state, a mystic whose message supported the church’s cause
was a powerful political tool. These religious women had in common the
fact that men controlled their story. Male clerics generally acted as confes-
sors or directors of these female religious. They wrote the biography of the
saintly women presented during the process of canonization, and frequently
transcribed the women’s writings. Recognizing the usefulness and power
of women mystics as agents relaying a political message, men were able to
retain their authority over the women and control the message.13

Hagiography
The written biography of saints’ lives known as hagiography became an
important genre in the religious canon of the age. As most hagiographical
writers were men, it can be difficult to hear the actual woman’s voice.14 The
process of reproducing women’s biographies featured a stylized form that
highlighted, and frequently exaggerated, the aspects deemed most relevant
to the writer’s cause. In hagiography, the purpose of the prose often obscures
the purpose of the person. Catherine’s actions are read to be in service of a
greater religious goal, which denies any agency or even self-identity outside
60 Sally M. Brasher
this role. Such a biased perspective denies the possibility that women actively
perceived and utilized their power as religious women to enact change and
influence events.15
Hagiography illustrates the complex nature of spirituality, religious activ-
ism, and gender expectations in the age of increased piety in the late Middle
Ages. It is necessary to try to differentiate the male author’s voice, the pur-
pose of the text, the language of the text as it reflects the culture of the age,
and, finally, the saint’s true voice. To understand Catherine’s lived experience
and assess her historical agency, one must view the hagiographical evidence
with great skepticism.
Raymond and Catherine’s intimate interactions illustrate the complex rela-
tionship between the saint and her hagiographer. As her confessor, Raymond
took care to portray the saint’s piety and humility. However, in addition to
being a spiritual advisor, Raymond was also very active in the Dominican
reform movement of the late thirteenth century that sought resolution to
the schism and the return of the papacy to Italy (see the following discus-
sion). In fact, Raymond became master general of the Dominican order after
Catherine’s death. In this light, Raymond’s hagiographical account could be
read as a political tract. He uses Catherine’s reportedly “reluctant” action on
behalf of the papacy as evidence of God’s support for the cause. However,
he is careful to point out that she is merely a passive vessel for God’s voice.
He also places her activity within the accepted framework of the Dominican
tertiary movement, which he claimed she joined at an early age.16
Read uncritically, Raymond’s version of Catherine’s life presents one of a
humble, pious woman, reluctant to interact in the political and social events
of her day but very effective in doing so. He takes pains to point out that
she preferred the spiritual life and was only forced to intercede in worldly
affairs at God’s insistence. He stresses her visions, and while recognizing her
presence in worldly affairs, attempts to place this worldliness in a contem-
plative context.17 He claims she thought of herself as a passive vessel for
the expression of God’s will, and that she believed God was using her for
the purpose of shaming men.18 The reality of her public activity must have
posed a challenge for Raymond the hagiographer. The genre in which he
wrote, and society as a whole, had standard expectations for the behavior
of religious and non-religious women, the central criterion of which was
their seclusion from the world of men, particularly political men. Raymond
was tasked with conveying her influence while at the same time presenting
her in an acceptable light when compared to a model female religious.19 It is
critical then to ask how much of his biography is strictly true, and how much
has he shaped or censored the narrative to meet society expectations and his
own purpose? It is imperative that one attempts to hear Catherine’s voice.
There are a few times in the hagiographical account when it is possible
that we may hear her voice without Raymond’s bias. For example, Raymond
tells us that Catherine was conflicted by her desire for service and the knowl-
edge that she was but a weak woman. But he also records a conversation in
 Catherine of Siena 61
which she tells Raymond that the Lord responded directly to her regarding
this paradox and thus alleviated her anxiety. The Lord told her that, as there
were so many men in the world who had been led astray by masculine pride,
He was sending forth a woman to counsel and shame them into submission
to a godly life.20 While Raymond reports this as evidence of this mystic’s
appreciation for her weak nature and God’s presence through her, it can
also be viewed as Catherine’s ability at manipulating gender expectations
toward acceptable activity. If one critically analyzes all of Catherine’s writ-
ings, examining her language for all possible meanings, it becomes clear she
manipulated this central concept of spiritual agency to express her authority
and to influence many.

Epistolario
While the hagiographical Legenda is informative of Catherine’s life and
practice, to get closer to Catherine’s perspective and understand the nature
of her agency and leadership it is more helpful to look at her copious body
of written letters. Raymond portrays Catherine as author as a “passive vehi-
cle for divine communication.”21 Conventionally, letter writing is seen as a
means of personal, private communication, and yet in Catherine’s era letter
writing as a rhetorical genre became the central tool of official commu-
nication. Lettered men of the age such as Petrarch and Dante, as well as
popes and monarchs all used the genre as a means of communicating ideas
to a broader audience. This was particularly true for the medieval papacy.
According to Perleman, medieval political letter writing “had as its central
goal, persuading an audience to take a specific position about some matter
external to the immediate relationship of the addresser to the addressee.”22
In the context of the political world of the fourteenth-century Italian city-
state, this epistolary culture involved a wide range of individuals whose
network of political ties, patronage relationships, and religious institutional
affiliation was complex and highly particularized.23
In the fourteenth century, letter writing was a novel mechanism of polit-
ical culture that opened an avenue for women’s inclusion as well as men’s,
as women did not have to be present when the letter was read. It could be
disseminated in public while they remained in private.24 Women’s letters
written with feminine language became a powerful tool, and Catherine was
among the first women to take advantage of this genre.
Following a recognized formula of medieval mystic literature, the rhetoric
of Catherine’s writings suggests her leadership role as spiritual mama (as
she was referred to by her famiglia or followers) gave her group a protected
spiritual space to operate outside of the social and political restrictions of
their regular lives. Caroline Walker Bynum argues that in the high Middle
Ages the language of the mystics was highly feminized to the point where the
literature portrayed God as feminine, particularly, God as mother. Women
mystics and visionaries of the era turned the idea of women’s inferiority
62 Sally M. Brasher
on its head. While remaining humble and submissive, they used the supe-
riority of their roles in areas such as childbearing and nursing to advance,
through literary reference, their authority in general. At a time when the cult
of the Virgin Mary was very popular, identifying with this spiritual mother
afforded women status. By seeing God as mother, they were elevating the
ultimate authority to the feminine.25
Catherine’s letters follow this well-known “culture of metaphorical lan-
guage,” including the feminized and even sexualized ecstatic imagery of the
fourteenth-century mystic, complete with references of symbolic marriage
to Christ. Perhaps the most famous example of Catherine’s use of mystic
rhetoric is from a letter to Raymond discussing her visit to a young con-
demned man, Niccolo di Toldo of Perugia. Di Toldo was accused of sowing
political discord in the city of Siena. Catherine relates to Raymond how she
comforted di Toldo and received a vision in which she took Christ’s place
as confessor for di Toldo. In her vision, which is redolent with images of
blood and sexual desire, di Toldo’s execution becomes a mystical marriage
between Christ, Catherine, and di Toldo. She encourages Raymond to follow
this path and join them in their ecstatic martyrdom.26 Catherine places her-
self in the story of the conversion and execution of di Toldo in such a way
that she becomes the embodiment of Christ’s spiritual being. She does this
repeatedly in letters projecting an authority based on her connection to the
divine. As we shall see, her efforts are often directed at individuals embroiled
in political intrigue. By projecting herself central to events as a conduit for
Christ’s presence, she establishes her own “political space.”27 Her use of the
epistolary genre, and her eloquent use of female mystic language, established
her political voice and gave her an entrée onto the political stage.
Catherine’s maternal rhetoric to her followers should thus be read as
stressing her role as leader. However, she should not be seen as only a spir-
itual leader. This interpretation does not account for the political value of a
group such as her followers, her famiglia.28 Politics in the medieval Italian
city-state were conducted around familial ties of patronage and social status.
If Catherine’s famiglia is viewed as a political network, then Catherine, its
mamma, can be seen as the head of a political faction—a faction that has
God as its ultimate leader.

Political Leadership
Catherine lived at a time when the papacy had been in turmoil for decades.
Through the political maneuvering of Phillip IV of France, the papacy was
removed to Avignon from 1309–1337. A succession of French popes meant
the decline of Italian political influence and the decimation of the city of
Rome. Pope Gregory XI finally returned the papacy to Rome in 1376. After
his death in 1378, however, rival claimants from Rome and Avignon created
what historians call the Western Schism, which lasted until 1417. The con-
flict involved much more than leadership of the Latin Church. The papacy
 Catherine of Siena 63
of the late medieval era was a state unto itself and as such a major player in
international political affairs throughout Europe.29
In Italy, if people engaged in governing at any level, part of their political
dealings were with the Church. At a local level, the bishop was an authority
with loyalties not necessarily aligned with the papacy and whose jurisdiction
included secular interests as well the preservation of men’s souls. The papacy
and episcopal offices were at times bitter enemies. Diplomatic missions to
handle the encroachment of foreign powers such as an impending invasion
from the French would entail navigating the path of ecclesiastical officials
in such conflict. Political and religious reformers were concerned with alle-
viating the problems posed by the schism and the political turmoil between
the city-states and with larger European states.30
Fourteenth-century Siena and Florence were powerful independent city-
states on the cusp of becoming great Renaissance powers. They were fiercely
competitive in commerce and politics and enmeshed in constant political
intrigue with the Holy Roman Empire, France, the papacy, and other pow-
erful city-states such as the militant Milan. It was also an age of extreme
religiousness and God was considered an active player in men’s political
adventures. Many supported Catherine’s belief that God’s intercession was
necessary, or at least that men needed to be reminded of God’s word in order
to make the right political decisions.
While acknowledging her political activity, most scholars believe that
Catherine’s primary role was spiritual advisor attempting to bring the
Church back into orthodoxy and to return the papacy to its rightful place.
She believed her beloved institution was in need of reform and reordering,
and that if leaders heard direct commands from God they would heed His
calls.31 In her letters to the pope and other religious figures she repeatedly
uses threats of God’s wrath alternated with reminders of His infinite mercy.32
This perspective emphasizes the role of Raymond, and the Dominican lead-
ership in guiding Catherine’s extreme piety and spiritual passion toward
assisting men embroiled in political conflict.
However, one can see the independence of Catherine’s public actions in
that she undertook her first political mission a year before being placed
under Raymond’s directorship. For several years prior to 1374, Catherine
was active in Sienese society helping the sick and mediating disputes between
Sienese families. She independently sent her first letter to Pope Gregory XI,
promoting a renewed crusade to the Holy Land. At this early stage, before
she was assigned a confessor, the pope received her letter and sent a cleric to
interview her.33 In fact, it appears the pope may have, in response to this let-
ter, instructed the Dominicans to heed the authoritative voice of this young
woman and provide her with a director to guide her pious activity.
Between 1375 and her death in 1380 Catherine traveled a great deal
and spent time in the company of powerful men. She traveled throughout
Italy, including missions to Pisa and Florence. In 1376, she was in Avignon,
attempting to reconcile the papacy and the feuding Florentines and to
64 Sally M. Brasher
convince the pope to return to Italy. She stayed with a clan of the powerful
Florentine Salimbeni family for a time in 1377, during which she attempted
to reconcile factionalism there. In 1378, she traveled to Florence and Rome
to broker peace between Guelf and Ghibelline political factions and to pro-
mote the papacy of Urban VI.34 While Catherine undertook these travels
with the hope of brokering peace, it was partisan peace she sought. She was
backing one side in the conflict by actively promoting the pope’s cause, and
not simply offering spiritual advice to men who had gone astray. She offered
political advice couched in acceptable religious rhetoric.
In order to understand the nature of Catherine’s political leadership in
this period her actions must be understood in the specific political context
of the time. Indeed, when speaking about religion and politics in Italy in the
fourteenth century, the differentiation between religious and political activ-
ity is almost nonexistent. All of Europe was embroiled in a political struggle
between the papacy, the French crown, and the politics of the individual
Italian city-states. Siena and Florence, sometimes rivals and sometimes allies,
were influential states whose local political divisions were often colored by
larger international alliances. The papacy was feeling much pressure from
some Italian political leaders to return to Italy in the 1370s. For some, hav-
ing the pope in Rome meant greater political influence and patronage at
home. Other Italian parties were suspicious of the pope’s intentions. Ruling
factions in Florence and Siena, bordering the Papal States, were afraid that
backers of the papal move were hoping to annex lands in their territory into
the Papal States. Generally, the division between parties fell between the
popolo grasso (wealthier citizens) who supported the pro-papal party and
the popolo minuto (artisans, craftsmen, small merchants) who resisted papal
claims. In addition, the papacy at the time was at war with the Visconti in
Milan, and many in Florence and Siena feared Milanese incursion into the
region.35
As the conflict involved not just secular authorities, but the very ruler of
the Latin Church, it involved clergy and ecclesiastical authorizes at all levels.
Bishops, who were traditionally engaged in regional politics, found them-
selves immersed in even greater intrigue. Even the mendicant orders whose
professed purpose was to forswear worldly issues and do good works for
the benefit of the needy became actively engaged in the conflict. In general,
the Franciscans tended to side with the anti-papal party and the Dominicans
with the pro-papal party.36 Catherine’s very active role in the Dominican
order brought her onto one side of the issue, which became the focus of her
activity and the basis for her leadership.
Catherine grew up in a tight-knit family and neighborhood community
that was intricately involved in governing of Siena. Siena had been a republic
since 1125 when it won a charter of independence. The republican gov-
erning system was complex and ever changing but was always committed,
at least in theory, to representing the interests of all citizens and avoiding
corruption. Its most successful structure was under the leadership of the
 Catherine of Siena 65
Nine. Nine different neighborhoods elected a representative to the grand
governing council.37
By 1360, conflicts among internal groups, and external issues with Flor-
ence, the papacy, and Charles the IV of France led to a decade of instability.
In 1368, Siena experienced political upheaval that resulted in four revolu-
tions over the span of four months! A coalition of old noble families rose up
against the ruling Dodici (The Twelve—the council had grown to 12 mem-
bers by this date.) They drove the coalition of bourgeois urban merchants
and master-craftsmen out of town and established an aristocratic council in
its place. In turn, they were ousted from office in a popular uprising led by a
traitorous noble family, the Salimbeni. The Salimbeni coalition government
only lasted a few months before a truly popular uprising of the popolo
minuto stormed the palace and forced them from office. This group called
themselves the Riformatori (the reformers) and they organized a truer coa-
lition government that was made up of membership from all of the groups
including those they had dispossessed. They created a 15-member council,
which included eight Riformatori, four from the Dodici faction and three
who represented the original Noveschi, or Nine. French King Charles IV
marched to Siena with troops to assist the nobles in one last-ditch effort
to overthrow the Riformatori government. The Sienese people rose up en
masse against this external affront, drove Charles’ troops from the city, and
even imprisoned the king himself.38
The Riformatori ruled for the next 17 years over what was not a par-
ticularly successful or peaceful period. The government factions were at
constant odds and the nobles, such as the ever-plotting Salimbeni family
(with whom Catherine became embroiled), created ongoing instability. It
did not help that the era also saw a plague epidemic, famine, and increased
poverty and crime. The city also became involved in the external political
conflict between the papacy and the Florentines.39 It was in this atmosphere
that Catherine developed her political sensibilities. As a woman, she lacked
the ability to engage officially in these struggles. The only avenue open to
any kind of public engagement was through religious vocation. Tertiaries
and other semi-religious groups were desperately needed to help with the
increased poverty, illness, and needs of inhabitants of the city and thus were
allowed some public activity in this sphere.40 Catherine began her religious
journey among them, but quickly she outgrew this activity and searched
for a way to act on a larger political scale. Her mystic visions, charismatic
personality, pious reputation, and family political ties gave her an entrée into
political leadership.
Some scholars have suggested Catherine’s political activity was tied to
family interest, or interests of her neighborhood rather than a larger arena,
and thus her agency could be seen as more typically gendered around home
and hearth. This perspective of Catherine’s experience misses two major
points. First, in the world of medieval Italy this is a false distinction. Family
and neighborhood were the epicenter of political power and social status
66 Sally M. Brasher
and family clans were the traditional political actors in the city-state. Alli-
ances or competitions between families were played out in the public sphere
through patronage, governmental coalitions, and political party alliances,
and even armed conflict. Neighborhood association added another layer of
political jurisdiction, and particularly in Siena, provided representation in
the republican government.41 One’s participation in neighborhood and fam-
ily could not be distinguished from politics. Catherine’s brothers were part
of the governing party ousted by the Riformatori. According to the author
of the Mirocoli, the Riformatori rounded up their enemies after the coup
and Catherine’s brothers were warned to flee to a nearby church with others.
The author reports that Catherine said, “Those who go there are not going
to survive, and I grieve for them . . . come with me and do not be afraid.”42
She then led them openly into the city where they passed their enemies unac-
costed and found shelter in a hospital. The author tells us “people bowed
respectfully to her” as she passed through the city.43 The personal loss of
her family’s political status must be seen to inform much of her subsequent
public activity.
Second, Catherine clearly stepped outside of the familial and neighbor-
hood sphere when she traveled to Avignon to visit the pope, and to other
cities she visited on behalf of the beleaguered papacy. The return of the
papacy to Rome was central to her advocacy. While this had an impact on
her familial and neighborhood status in Siena, that was not her primary
motive for action. If viewed through the lens of local Sienese, Florentine,
and papal politics of the time, her activities can be viewed as direct political
engagement, influence, and leadership.
Scholarship on Catherine tends to focus on the parallel nature of her
contemplative, aesthetic nature and active ventures into the religio-political
world.44 Raymond himself went to great pains to point out that her public
action did not deter from her “transcendent world” and that her motivation
for both paths was the desire for pure spiritual experience for her and her
followers.45 While it is possible to suggest that her primary motivation was
a spiritually reformed church and community, if you view that reform ideal
as one that is as political as it is religious and consider her visionary epis-
tolary rhetoric as a popular and effective form of persuasion, it suggests an
alternative motivation for her actions. It can be argued that she was primar-
ily of this world, not the transcendent world, yet cognizant of the fact that
a women’s only place of agency in the world was through the acceptable
methodology of the transcendent female mystic.

Famiglia
One has only to look at the individuals Catherine associated with to see that
her actions went beyond spiritual advising and religious persuasion. Most of
Catherine’s followers in Siena, whom she called her famiglia, were wealthy,
influential, and mostly young members of the popolo grasso, affiliated with
 Catherine of Siena 67
the pro-papal party in Siena and in turn the larger pro-papal faction in
Florence.46
Catherine’s letters illuminate her relationship with several Sienese sena-
tors and their families. Senators at this time were military men from outside
Siena (in order to prevent corruption) and were usually wealthy aristocrats
from the surrounding region. In 1374, one of these senator’s life was threat-
ened when he refused to prosecute leaders of a military uprising against
the Sienese government. His wife sought Catherine’s spiritual advice. While
Catherine’s letter offers spiritual comfort and has little overt political refer-
ence, it illustrates her relationship as a confessor figure to members of this
elite political group.47 Catherine’s letter to Raymond detailing her associa-
tion with the condemned di Toldo (discussed earlier) demonstrates her role
as political as well as spiritual advisor. As she ministered to this anti-government
agitator while he faced death, she also promoted this action to Raymond,
and thus her followers, as an example of extreme devotion to her cause. Di
Toldo’s greatest patron and supporter was the bishop of Perugia, a known
ally of the pope.48 Luongo suggests that the language Catherine employs in
this letter can be read as a direct reference to their shared political movement
and di Toldo’s role as martyr to the cause. As such, Catherine is encouraging
Raymond and her followers to action.49
Luongo traces the lives and political ties of some members of Catherine’s
famiglia to depict the political nature of these alliances. For example, one
of Catherine’s most dedicated followers was a wealthy wool master named
Sano di Marco. Di Marco was a member of the powerful wool guild and
a number of important confraternal groups.50 She wrote many letters to
him that were addressed not only to him but also with the request that
her message be shared with all her followers. Catherine and her followers
were deemed a subversive group during the War of Eight Saints conflict in
1377. Catherine’s letters exhort di Marco and her famiglia to stay true to
the cause. The language she uses urging him and “all the children” to follow
the righteous path of God and to be faithful to the “honor of God” can be
read as simply spiritual inspiration, however when placed in the political
context of the conflict it can be read as the battlefield encouragements of the
charismatic general.51 The core members of Catherine’s famiglia were young
men from some of the most prestigious noble families whom she called her
“bella brigata.” The noble families were all closed out of the upper levels of
the Riformatori but held lower offices such as membership on the consiglio
generale, or legislative commission. Thus they were effectively an opposition
party within the government and were often suspected of plotting against
the ruling party.52 It is apparent in the Riformati’s treatment of Catherine
as a subversive that she was more than just a figurehead or spiritual advisor
to this group. Luongo goes so far as to say that one can view this group of
Catherine’s followers as members of an association that allowed them to
assume some political agency in a way they could not have outside the legit-
imacy of this spiritual woman’s community.53
68 Sally M. Brasher
As with any good leader, Catherine depended greatly upon personal cha-
risma and she demanded personal loyalty. She was not above reprimanding
her bella brigata if she felt they were not toeing the line. In letters addressed
to Matteo de Cenni, a follower and the head of the Hospital of the Miseri-
cordia, which she instructed also be read to her famiglia, she admonishes
her followers for being weak in their will and encourages them to stay true
to the fight.54
Catherine’s most direct political participation came in her involvement in
events surrounding the War of Eight Saints, beginning in 1375. This conflict
was part of the larger contest between the papacy and anti-papal parties
but it had a very localized impact and importance. In Florence, as in Siena,
anti-papal followers controlled the government. The conflict became quite
heated when the pope “released” the English mercenary John Hawkwood
from papal service, allowing him to lead a military campaign against Flor-
ence.55 The Florentines were forced to raise money to bribe Hawkwood to
cease his attack. Siena and Pisa would later be forced to do the same. The
Florentines, furious at the perceived papal role in this action, raised the
money through an exorbitant tax imposed on clergy in Florence and wealth
from the confiscation of land from “corrupt” clergy.56
At this point Catherine became increasingly active in pro-papal lobby-
ing. If one examines her intensive letter writing action in 1375 and 1376,
one can gain a clear image of a well-articulated and well-directed political
campaign. During the papal crisis, Catherine wrote a letter to the mercenary
John Hawkwood. At first glance, the letter appears to be an invocation from
this spiritual woman to this man of violence to abandon worldly warfare
and take up arms in the name of Christ and go on crusade.57 The call to
crusade is a common theme in Catherine’s letters but has been overlooked
as simply the exhortation of a saintly woman to earthly men to set aside
their worldly disputes or her call to crusade is often offhandedly treated by
scholars as merely a curious obsession. In fact, the call to crusade had been
used as a political tool of the papacy since the first crusade in 1096. Pope
Urban II recognized that one method to deal with the growing independence
and authority of feudal monarchs and their fighting nobles was to compel
them to take up the sword for their most important overlord—the Church.
Sending kings, knights, and mercenary soldiers half way across the known
world turned out to be a very good way to assert ecclesiastical power and
to deal with devastating political rivalry and challenges to the Church.58
Catherine attempted to employ this tactic toward the same end. Many of
her letters during this time contain evidence of papal backing for this plan.
Hawkwood had been a supporter of the papacy but his independent actions
were now causing the papacy a good deal of grief as the Tuscan cities rose
against him by taking down the clergy.59 One can see the pope entreating
Catherine, in her capacity as holy woman, to intercede with the man using
a supplication to his piousness (of which he had very little) and compelling
him to take his soldiers to the Holy Land.
 Catherine of Siena 69
Unsurprisingly her entreaty did not work on Hawkwood, although he
reportedly pledged to her that he would go on crusade, and he continued
his campaign through Tuscany. Catherine next tries a letter to Bernarbo Vis-
conti, the ruler of Milan who had allied with Florence against the papacy.60
As Milan was a great military power, there was a very real threat from com-
bined Milanese and Florentine forces. The pope had twice excommunicated
Visconti for actions against the office.61 Again, read independently, the letter
looks to be a plea for peace and reaffirmation of Christian morality. Cather-
ine implores Bernarbo to recognize the ultimate authority of Christ (whose
representative was the pope.)62 She weighs in on a centuries’ old struggle
between religious and temporal powers. Just as the Crusades were intended
to strengthen the temporal authority of papacy over secular authority, the
investiture controversy of the preceding two centuries was waged between
popes and kings and emperors over who had ultimate authority. Catherine
says, “Power and authority are his, [Christ] and no one can take that power
from his hands . . . no lordship that we possess in this world allows us to
consider ourselves lords.”63 She entreats him, “I beg you, for love of Christ
crucified, never again rebel against your head.”64 She is clearly reminding
him of his place, that place which is subservient to the pope.
She also addresses Bernarbo’s responsibility to maintain God’s peace in
his own lands,

Remember that neither God nor his divine law will excuse you on the
plea of any good intention you may have. No, you will be liable to
the sentence of eternal death. Keep your own cities in peace, passing
sentence on your own subjects when they are at fault. But never, never
pass sentence on these others [representatives of the church] for they are
ministers of this glorious precious blood.65

Should he be cowed by this rhetoric she then presses on to tell him how he
can make amends for his past actions, encouraging him to now take up arms
against the Church’s enemies. Such was a true call to war at the time. “Wage
war now instead against the unbelievers, offering your possessions and your
body for Christ crucified.”66 This could be read, again, as a call for him to
go on crusade but one could also interpret “unbelievers” as any who were
siding against the Church or the pope.
She also directs her appeal to Bernabo’s wife, Regina della Scala, an
ambitious, ruthless woman in her own right. Catherine encourages her to
influence her husband’s affairs. Catherine is using a weapon wielded by the
Church since the inception of Christianity—utilizing the indirect influence
of women on the men in power. “I am certain that if charity is strong in you,
your husband can not fail to feel its warmth.”67 Catherine’s letter to Regina
is full of appeals to love—a very different tone than that applied to her hus-
band. Catherine talks of his honor and will, hoping to shame him into sub-
mission. For Regina, she appeals to women’s power of love. She uses rather
70 Sally M. Brasher
strong language for both of these very powerful individuals and her ability
to do so suggests the level of authority and respect she was able to command.
Catherine’s letter writing campaign, occurring at the moment Raymond’s
appointment as her spiritual director is approved by the pope, must be seen
as political action on behalf of the Dominicans and the pro-papal party. Such
frenzied epistolary activity suggests the Dominicans, threatened by the anticler-
ical activities of the War of Eight era, were seeking to legitimize and direct this
independent holy woman and to use her in their campaign for papal support.
In addition to writing letters, Catherine traveled during this period to
Pisa and Lucca, apparently on diplomatic missions for the pope. Both cities
were determined not to enter the dispute between Florence and the papacy.68
She was sent to bolster their convictions by giving pious exhortations to
support of the papacy. At this time, Catherine also sent a letter to Elizabeth
the Queen Mother in Hungary appealing to her to encourage her son, the
Angevin King Louis I to support the pope.69
Despite the apparent failure of her attempts to lead these warriors down
a different path, her efforts should not be viewed simply as the passionate
entreaties of a well-respected but inferior, woman, or perhaps as unwanted
advice to secular leaders from this religious woman. It is clear from her cor-
respondence with papal representatives, and even Pope Gregory XI himself,
that they frequently sought her out first for her advice and assistance, and
that her epistolary campaigns were at their request. Her reputation as a
visionary with the ear of God gave her a very real political authority. Had
she not had their respect, she could easily have been silenced.
In one letter to Gregory XI, she fairly admonishes him for his weakness
and inaction. She presents a proposed plan of action for him to address the
events that were occurring in Italy, beginning first and foremost with his
return to Italy. She says that he must not let his, “holy desire fail on account
of any scandal or rebellion of cities which you might see or hear.”70 She
expected the pope to reform the Church once there. In particular he must
weed out the, “malodorous flower, full of impurity and avarice, swollen with
pride: that is, the bad priests and rulers who poison and rot that garden”
who have become imbedded in the body of the Church.71 She clearly lays
the blame for issues in Italy on this group and is suggesting that the pope
should not punish the cities themselves, but only the leaders and clergy who
have strayed from the true path. This can be seen as a plea for leniency for
the people of Siena and Florence when the time for retribution arrives. And,
finally, she tells him it is time to call the crusade.

Up, father, no more negligence. Raise the standard of the most holy
cross . . . I beg you to invite those who have rebelled against you to a
holy peace, so that all the war might be turned onto the infidels.72

Again, the language Catherine uses is strong and authoritative and con-
veys her worldly understanding while expressing her message in acceptable
language.
 Catherine of Siena 71
Catherine was not wrong to worry about the impact of papal reprisal on
the people of Siena and Florence. The pope did institute a number of eco-
nomic measures against the cities.73 On March 31, 1376, the pope placed
Florence under interdict and excommunicated a number of leaders of the
anti-papal party.74 No Christian was allowed to trade with anyone under
such a papal interdict, so the pope’s revenge had a major impact on trade
and commerce in the merchant capital of Tuscany. At this point, some of
Catherine’s important famiglia urged her to serve as mediator between the
Florence’s government and the papacy. She wrote a letter to the Florentine
governors urging them to remember their primary allegiance as Christians,
and abandon their rebellion against their supreme leader. Meanwhile, Ray-
mond was sent to Avignon with a direct message from Catherine to the pope.
In response to the pope’s apparent request for specific advice, she cautioned
him not to “provoke the rebellious cities.” She implored him to come himself
instead of sending a mercenary army as he had planned.75
Still unsuccessful in her quest, Catherine herself traveled to Avignon in
May of 1376. Apparently, she met with the pope on several occasions and
while there, she had an audience with Louis, Duke of Anjou, and wrote a
letter to the French King Charles V. All the while, she was sending a steady
stream of letters to the Florentine government imploring them to stop their
rebellion and make peace with the pope. Catherine’s mission was delicate
as the French were not interested in the pope returning to Rome. In fact,
her piousness was somewhat suspect in Avignon and she was interrogated
by French clergymen.76 The pope did finally leave Avignon for Italy, though
how much of this was a result of Catherine’s mission is unknown. He did
not bring with him peace nor did he follow Catherine’s advice for dealing
with the Italians once there. Catherine’s leadership was limited; events often
overtook intentions. However, the scope of her activity and the respect she
was able to command suggests one must nonetheless appreciate the impact
she did have.
Catherine’s authority within her own famiglia and her perceived position
vis-à-vis her spiritual director Raymond is evident in her correspondence
with members of the community at this time. Catherine writes at least 17 let-
ters to Raymond in which it is clear from her language she sees herself as
his equal. She frequently uses the mystic rhetoric of bride/bridegroom/cleric
to identify herself, Christ, and Raymond. She never bows to Raymond’s
authority or refers to him as her director. Her one reference to his role as
her confessor is in a letter where she tells him that Christ came to her to say
that He (Christ) superseded Raymond in granting her absolution. Christ is
her ultimate authority and as only she has His ear, she is clearly superior to
Raymond. Catherine’s visions frequently conflate her person with Christ’s.
This is again typical of mystical rhetoric, but Catherine raises this rhetoric
to a fine art. In her famous letter to Raymond recounting her visit to the
condemned di Toldo, she describes how in a vision she joins the condemned
man and Christ upon the scaffolding where together the three of them shed
their blood in martyrdom, and expresses her wish for Raymond to join in
72 Sally M. Brasher
the sacrifice they have all made. Catherine brings Raymond and her follow-
ers into submission through this type of language, and exerts her leadership
and authority by emphasizing her superior piety and identifying herself with
Christ himself.
In other correspondence with member of her famiglia she employs a sim-
ilar rhetoric of spiritual leadership to encourage steadfastness in the face
of adversity. While the language is always directed toward staying strong
spiritually, it can also be read as an injunction to stay true to the political. In
her letter to Sano di Marco, she is responding to the grumblings surrounding
her political activity (rumors were being spread which questioned her pure
spiritual motives), and she encourages him to remember and remind other
followers of her authority as their mama. She reminds him of her extreme
piety and shames those among her famiglia who do not show a similar
resolve. She discredits the slander lodged against her as, “words sown by
the devil.”77 The very fact that there was such “slander” against her suggests
that at least some viewed her actions as political rather than only spiritual.

Conclusion
In the fourteenth century, Italy was embroiled in the political factionalism
of the Western schism, city-state rivalries, and international expansionist
regimes. As a woman, Catherine was naturally excluded from participation
in this male-dominated political sphere. However, she grew up in an age of
extreme religious activism at a local level and would have been acutely aware
of the challenges faced by members of urban community. She expressed a
desire to lead a religious life of service from an early age. As she matured,
she saw the needs of her community were inherently linked to politics of a
larger scale. She used women’s only acceptable path to leadership, that of an
intellective visionary, first among her followers within the Dominican ter-
tiary group, and then as an influential international diplomat and lobbyist.
The medieval intellective mystic obtained a level of independence of agency,
authority, and leadership inaccessible to any other women in the medieval
world, except perhaps a few royal women whose power and leadership was
based on birthright, not ability. Catherine was a preeminent example of the
intellective mystic who claimed authority based on her role as conduit for
the authority of God. She exhibited leadership skills through the use of her
position as mystic and religiously devout woman, and actively used this
position to act as a leader both to her immediate religious community and
also to the secular political world of the papacy, the Italian city-state, and
the imperial seats of power throughout Europe.
Through the language of the mystic, Catherine’s voice was given author-
ity. She used her visions to demand attention, respect, and, finally, obedi-
ence from her followers, her confessor, and even the pope himself. The pope
returned to Italy, and the factionalism of the Eight Saints War was settled
after Catherine’s death. Perhaps the political nature of her leadership has
 Catherine of Siena 73
been forgotten or obscured because she was not particularly successful in the
short term. Despite this, Catherine should be viewed as that very rare medie-
val figure—a woman with real authority, a leader who compelled many men
to follower her and persuaded the very highest authorities of the Western
world to listen to her.

Notes
1. See, for example, Caroline Walker Bynum, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays
on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zone Books,
1991); John Wayland Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power: Female Saints
and their Male Collaborators  (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006);
Andrea Janelle Dickens, The Female Mystic: Great Women Thinkers of the Middle
Ages (London: I.B. Tauris, 2009); André Vauchez and Daniel Ethan Bornstein, The
Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious Beliefs and Devotional Practices (Notre Dame:
University of Notre Dame Press, 1993).
2. A major exception is F. Thomas Luongo,  The Saintly Politics of Catherine of
Siena (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006). Luongo provides the first
in-depth analysis of Catherine’s role in the political affairs of Siena and was a
major source of reference for this essay.
3. Raymond of Capua,  The Life of St. Catherine of Siena (Charlotte, NC: TAN
Books, 2011), translated from S. Caterina de Siena: Vita Scritta dal B. Raimondo
da Capua, Confessore della Santa, Tradotta dal P Giuseppe Tinagli, O.P. Ezio
Cantagalli (1934).
4. Dickins, The Female Mystic, 152.
5. Ibid., 150.
6. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 172.
7. Dickens, The Female Mystic, 151.
8. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 2.
9. For information on female monasticism throughout the Middle Ages see, for
example, Penelope D. Johnson, Equal in Monastic Profession: Religious Women
in Medieval France (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991); Patricia Ranft,
Women and Religious Life in Premodern Europe (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1996).
10. H. Grundmann’s grand monograph, Religious Movements of the Middle Ages:
The Historical Links Between Heresy, the Mendicant Orders, and the Women’s
Religious Movement in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, With the Historical
Foundations of German Mysticism (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1995) still stands as the greatest guide for anyone interested in under-
standing the pan-European religious movements of the period. For more on the
apostolic movements of the period see S. Brasher, Women of The Humiliati: A
Lay Religious Order in Medieval Civic Life (New York: Routledge, 2003); W.
Simons, Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries,
1200–1565 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001); A. Vauchez
and D. Bornstein, The Laity in the Middle Ages (Notre Dame, IN: University Of
Notre Dame Press, 1993).
11. Robert Norman Swanson,  Religion and Devotion in Europe: C. 1215–1515
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 178–179.
12. Vauchez and Bornstein, The Laity in the Middle Ages, 221.
13. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 2.
14. Katherine Gill, “Open Monasteries for Women in Late Medieval and Early
Modern Italy: Two Roman Examples.” In The Crannied Wall: Women, Religion,
74 Sally M. Brasher
and the Arts in Early Modern Europe, edited by Craig Monson  (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1992), 87.
15. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 19.
16. The Mirocoli of Catherine of Siena, a lesser-known document in her canonization
proceedings written by an anonymous follower, does not contradict the basic nar-
rative of Raymond, but it does suggest a much more independent Catherine. The
author credits her with joining the penzochere (tertiary) in her mid-twenties and
suggests she was politically active much earlier. For a translation of the Mirocoli, see
Maiju Lehmijoki-Gardner, Daniel Ethan Bornstein, and E. Ann Matter, editors and
translators, Dominican Penitent Women (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2005), 87–89.
17. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 176.
18. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 8.
19. Ibid.
20. Caroline Walker Bynum,  Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender
and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: Zone Books, 1991), 39;
Katherine Ludwig Jansen, The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular
Devotion in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
2000), 276.
21. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 207.
22. Les Perelman, “The Medieval Art of Letter Writing: Rhetoric as Institutional
Expression.” In Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary
Studies of Writing in Professional Communities, edited by Charles Bazerman and
James Paradis (Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), 100.
23. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 78.
24. Lisa Kaborycha, translator and editor, A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written
by Italian Women, 1375–1650 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 21.
25. Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High
Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982).
26. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 99.
27. Ibid., 121.
28. Ibid., 123–125.
29. Joëlle Rollo-Koster,  Avignon and Its Papacy, 1309–1417: Popes, Institutions,
and Society (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
30. Daniel Philip Waley and Trevor Dean, The Italian City-republics (Harlow: Long-
man, 2010).
31. Vauchez, Laity in Middle Ages, 224–225.
32. Ibid., 225.
33. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 172.
34. Ibid., 173.
35. Marvin Becker, “Church and State in Florence on the Eve of the Renaissance
(1343–1382).” Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies (Vol. XXXVII Oct. 1962,
no. 4) 509–527; Luongo, Saintly Politics, 59.
36. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 66.
37. For a general overview of Siena’s republican government see, William M. Bowsky,
A Medieval Italian Commune: Siena under the Nine, 1287–1355 (Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1981).
38. Ferdinand Schevill, Siena: The History of a Medieval Commune (New York:
Harper, 1964), 221–223.
39. Ibid.
40. Grundmann, Religious Movements, 86–88.
41. See, J.K. Hyde, Society and Politics in Medieval Italy; The Evolution of the Civil
Life, 1000–1350 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973).
42. Lehmijoki-Gardner et al., Dominican Penitent Women, 96.
43. Ibid.
 Catherine of Siena 75
44. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 178.
45. Ibid., 19.
46. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 66.
47. Ibid., 64–65.
48. Ibid., 94.
49. Ibid., 99.
50. Ibid.,128.
51. Ibid., 131–133.
52. Ibid., 141.
53. Ibid., 156.
54. Ibid., 132.
55. William Caferro, John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century
Italy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 187–189.
56. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 157.
57. In the introduction to a translation of this letter by Vida Scudder, in a fash-
ion that is typical of consideration of Catherine’s writing by religious scholars,
Scudder dismisses Catherine’s political agency, stating it is “piquant to contem-
plate Catherine writing to that picturesque gentleman.” Catherine’s actions are
presented as a frivolous and failed attempt to convert this man of war. Vida
Scudder, translator and editor, Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters
(London: Imperium Christi Press, 2014), 82.
58. For information on the crusader movement as political ploy see, Jonathan
Phillips, Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades (New York: Random
House, 2010), 4–11.
59. Caferro, John Hawkwood, 188–189.
60. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 160.
61. Suzanne Noffke, The Letters of Catherine of Siena (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center
for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000), 67.
62. Ibid., 67–70.
63. Ibid., 68.
64. Ibid., 69.
65. Ibid., 70.
66. Ibid.
67. Ibid., 73.
68. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 161.
69. Ibid., 162.
70. Scudder, Saint Catherine, 110.
71. Ibid., 109.
72. Luongo, Saintly Politics, 166.
73. Ibid., 169.
74. Ibid., 170.
75. Ibid., 171.
76. Ibid., 173.
77. Coakley, Women, Men, and Spiritual Power, 130.

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Devotion in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
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France. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Kaborycha, Lisa. A Corresponding Renaissance: Letters Written by Italian Women,
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man, 2010.
5 Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680)
She Who Bumps Into Things and
the Power of Servant Leadership
Jessica Huhn

Introduction
Robert K. Greenleaf first conceptualized servant leadership during an essay
published in 1970; it would later become a distinguishing leadership style
(Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy, 2012). Greenleaf noted the importance of
servant leaders to be those “caring for persons, the more able and the less
able serving each other” and said this “is the rock upon which society is
built” (LaFasto and Larson, 2012:4). For someone to truly excel as a ser-
vant leader, they focus first on serving others, before completing other tasks
which then allows the individual to act as a leader. The focus of servant lead-
ers is different compared to that of traditional, transactional leaders who
are focused on leading first. A servant leader maintains the needs of those
around them before being concerned about themselves and their goals. By
doing so, the followers under the servant leader have their well-being as the
focal point. Additionally, through servant leadership emphasis is placed upon
the growth and the development of the communities influenced directly by
the servant leader (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). By putting the needs of commu-
nity first, servant leaders are immensely different than traditional leaders
and often times have lasting impacts beyond the immediate goals achieved
on the lives and communities they directly impact.
According to Greenleaf (2002; 2015), servant leaders possess ten important
characteristics, which set them apart from traditional leaders. Some charac-
teristics are directly related to the servant leaders themselves such as aware-
ness, persuasion, conceptualization, and foresight. As for the remaining traits,
they are focused around the community and individuals the servant leads.
These traits include listening, empathy, healing, stewardship, commitment to
others, and the desire to build a community (Hunter, 2004; Russell and Stone,
2002). Servant leaders are often found in situations where individuals and
communities seek a leader, but end up identifying and embracing more than
just a typical leader. Certainly, a demonstration of servant leadership in an
unexpected situation is embodied in the short life of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.
Analysis of young Kateri Tekakwitha’s life and leadership through recorded
facts will show she embodied the aforementioned traits during a time when
 Kateri Tekakwitha 79
tribal members in the Mohawk Valley and surrounding areas required a ser-
vant leader during the seventeenth century, a time when women were not
often viewed in such regard (Brown, 1958; Shoemaker, 1995; Walworth,
2016). After her untimely death, the presence and teachings of Kateri Tekak-
witha continued to remain an important aspect of American Indian culture in
the Mohawk Valley. Examining the intersectionality of gender norms and the
servant leadership exhibited by Kateri Tekakwitha provides a unique oppor-
tunity to show how her leadership extended beyond her life.

The Social Structure and Religious Beliefs

of the Mohawk American Indians
When understanding the unlikely servant leadership as demonstrated by Kat-
eri Tekakwitha, it is important to understand the social structure within the
Mohawk society during the 1600s. Within the Mohawk villages, the division
of the societal roles were firmly established for men, women and children
provided they were physically able to work. The men of the Mohawk village
were viewed as protectors and providers, whereas women were seen as beau-
tiful and fertile. Men spent the majority of their time providing for the villag-
ers through hunting trips and trading goods with other tribes. When times
of war and conflict occurred, the men fought for the safety of their villages,
giving protection to the village. They were viewed as being strong, fierce
warriors. The women of the village were expected to produce offspring and
raise children. Women spent a great deal of their time creating handiworks
necessary for the function of the village and to be used in trades. They also
provided for the village through the labor of harvesting produce. Children,
such as young Kateri Tekakwitha, also had expectations within the village.
Children assisted the women in the fields and were taught from a young age
to aid with other responsibilities that would benefit them in their later years
(Brown, 1958; Shoemaker, 1995; Snow, 1996; Walworth, 2016). It becomes
evident that due to the societal roles, Kateri Tekakwitha was expected from
early on to learn to housekeep and that she would later on marry and have
children. However, she refuted these expectations and instead delved down
a path of servant leadership.
The constant ebb and flow of missionaries in the Mohawk Valley provided
frustration for many of the tribes during the 1600s. Many of the villages were
against the introduction of new people and new religion. These tribes often
refuted the influences of Christianity in their villages, and remained strongly
opposed to its presence. Unlike Christianity, the Mohawk American Indians
were pagan, or earth and nature-centered in their beliefs. It is known that
their religious views were passed down orally through storytelling and much
was never recorded. The Mohawks focused on nature, earth elements and
living spirits (Brown, 1958; Snow, 1996; Walworth, 2016). For many in the
Mohawk Valley, the conversion to Christianity and the willingness to accept
80 Jessica Huhn
it would prove both difficult and dangerous, as young Kateri Tekakwitha
would later learn.

The Mohawk Valley and Kateri Tekakwitha’s Early Life

In the mid-1600s, deep within the Mohawk Valley, which aligns itself within
present-day New York State, the culture of the area was changing rapidly.
It was during this time that the movement of Christians desiring to spread
their faith and culture to the American Indians resulted in an increasing
presence of missionaries. The primary source of information available from
this time regarding the life of Kateri Tekakwitha was recorded by the mis-
sionaries involved directly with Kateri Tekakwitha. Much of what we know
has been passed down from Father de Lamberville and Father Cholenec in
various texts and letters preserved for the last four centuries (Walworth,
2016). For many American Indians, this presence was heavily rejected within
the Mohawk Valley and its many villages as they felt strongly opposed to
such changes for a variety of reasons including loss of their own beliefs,
while experiencing a fear of the Western world (Shoemaker, 1995). Through-
out her early years, Kateri Tekakwitha was heavily influenced by her tra-
ditional American Indian beliefs, including the Mohawk’s specific pagan
beliefs. While growing up in the Mohawk Valley, young Kateri Tekakwitha
experienced her coming of age during changing times, which would greatly
influence decisions in her later life and her role as a servant leader.
In 1656, in the Mohawk Valley, a child was born who would later be known
as Kateri Tekakwitha. Early on, she was faced with the extreme hardship that
would follow her throughout her life. Her experiences shaped her journey
through life, eventually resulting in her life’s outpouring of servant leadership
as conceptualized by Greenleaf (2002; 2015). Kateri Tekakwitha was born in
1656 to a Mohawk warrior father who was said to be active in tribal politics.
He, like many of the other villagers, was strictly against the imported Chris-
tian religion of the incoming settlers, preferring to stay loyal to traditional
Mohawk religious beliefs. Her mother, however, was an Algonquin captive.
She had been baptized as Christian by French settlers prior to being taken cap-
tive by her husband (Walworth, 2016). It can be speculated that young Kateri
Tekakwitha became interested in Christianity due to the system of beliefs that
her mother possessed, which were unlike the Mohawk pagan religion.
In 1660, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Mohawk Valley, taking
the lives of her family, including a brother. This event drastically altered the
life of young Kateri Tekakwitha forever. During the epidemic, Kateri was
infected by smallpox. She was left disfigured and almost completely blind.
As a result of the deaths of her parents, Kateri was forced to live with her
uncle (Walworth, 2016). Her uncle was also involved with tribal politics,
just as Kateri’s father was previously involved. This made it increasingly
difficult for young Kateri to live her life the way she desired, as a Christian
(Gallick, 2007) and as a servant leader. This struggle becomes more evident
 Kateri Tekakwitha 81
in the adult years of Kateri Tekakwitha’s life as it is clear, for Kateri, there is
no concept of servant leader within the Mohawk system of religious beliefs
(Walworth, 2016). By walking down a path of Christianity, this would ulti-
mately shape Kateri into becoming a servant leader. Greenleaf’s servant
leadership notes ten imperative traits servant leaders have, including: listen-
ing, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight,
stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building commu-
nity (Spears, 1996). Servant leadership occurs in its purest form when an
individual’s “primary motivation is to help others” (Hughes et al., 2012).
Throughout Kateri Tekakwitha’s short life, she demonstrated these traits
and characteristics relevant to servant leadership, providing a real world
example of leadership ability in a time where gendered expectations were
clearly established within the Mohawk Valley.

What Makes a Servant Leader?

Since Greenleaf’s publication in 1970 numerous publications on servant
leadership have appeared, and the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant
Leadership was established (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). When developing the
concept servant leadership, Greenleaf drew on his own personal beliefs and
values coupled with his corporate experience in mid-twentieth century Amer-
ica. Greenleaf, a Quaker, pulled from these teachings specific tenets of servant
leadership, which become evident in the follower-focused kind of leadership
theory he instigated (Greenleaf, 2005). Greenleaf wrote against the backdrop
of such leadership models as great man theories and scientific management,
and norms, leaving intact the hegemonic notion of men as leaders. Of the ten
traits and characteristics possessed by a servant leader: awareness, persuasion,
conceptualization, foresight, listening, empathy, healing, stewardship, com-
mitment to others, and the desire to build a community; it is important to fully
understand their relationship to Quaker spirituality as well as effective ser-
vant leadership (Russell and Stone, 2002). According to Spears and Lawrence
(2004), it is these characteristics that effectively communicate the “power and
promise” of servant leadership. Unlike other leadership styles, it is important
to note that servant leadership is focused on the needs of the followers, rather
than the gratification and fulfillment of the leader. Unlike the one-dimensional,
leader-focused paradigms dominant in Greenleaf’s day, servant leadership is
two-dimensional. Through personal action and the dedication of serving ones’
followers, a leader is born in conjunction with the action and reflection of the
followers informing the various traits and characteristics of the servant leader.

Awareness
By encompassing the trait of awareness, a servant leader has the ability to
retain an open mind, often during difficult situations. This heightened aware-
ness allows for a deeper understanding of issues, often focused on values
82 Jessica Huhn
and ethics (Russell and Stone, 2002). Both awareness and self-awareness
remain a key characteristic within a servant leader. The servant leader begins
to understand how their own feelings, behaviors and emotions can impact
their followers. Through increased awareness and self-awareness, the ser-
vant leader can take a step back to view a situation or issue (Graham, 1991;
Russell, 2001). It is through ones’ awareness and self-awareness that servant
leaders understand how their behaviors, emotions, and feelings can ulti-
mately influence their followers.

Persuasion
Unlike other leadership styles, servant leaders do not utilize authority
or power to influence their followers. Through the act of persuasion,
servant leaders are able to influence others without force or other author-
itarian approaches (Russell, 2001). Rather than using coercion, the ser-
vant leader strives to convince those around them. Through the use of
persuasion, followers become vested in the mission of the servant leader
(Russell and Stone, 2002). While developing the concept of servant lead-
ership, Greenleaf was a member of the Quakers, the Religious Society of
Friends. The concept of persuasion finds its origins similar to Greenleaf’s
own religious views (Greenleaf, 2015). A servant leader strives to mobi-
lize followers without pressure or force, rather remains dedicated to ones
followers.

Conceptualization and Foresight

Two characteristics of servant leaders, conceptualization and foresight are
rather similar to one another, but not quite. The ability to conceptualize
allows servant leaders to link present realities with future potentiality.
In doing so, the servant leader has the ability to dream and think past
day-to-day matters and surpass short-term goals, planning into the future
(Spears, 2005). Through foresight, the servant leader can develop a pro-
found sense of perception of events, actions and potential outcomes. This
allows the servant leader to contemplate and fully understand how the
past, present and future are all connected. For a servant leader, having a
deeper understanding of lessons learned in the past and one’s present real-
ities, influences the decision making and outcomes of the servant leader
(Russell and Stone, 2002). The ability to conceptualize allows the servant
leader to link the present reality of life to future possibilities, increasing
their own understanding of their actions. Through understanding how
past experiences influence not only how present reality but also the future
are connected, it allows the servant leader deeper understanding for the
purpose of decision making. For a servant leader to possess the traits of
conceptualization and foresight, it increases their own consciousness for
decision making.
 Kateri Tekakwitha 83
Listening and Empathy
In order to be a servant leader, the individual chosen to lead must have the
ability to listen to those around them, which is not common of other leader-
ship styles. By possessing the characteristic of listening, the servant leader is
able to understand fully the needs of their followers. Listening does not only
include spoken words but also unspoken cues (Russell, 2001; Spears, 2005).
In turn, servant leaders can put the needs of their followers before their own
personal needs and gains. Empathy allows the servant leader to understand
the needs, feelings, and perspectives of their followers fully. As the servant
leader emphasizes with their followers, they are able to accept their follow-
ers as individuals, in turn viewing them as unique individuals (Russell, 2001;
Russell and Stone, 2002). By possessing the traits of listening and empathy,
the servant leader has the ability to view their followers as unique individuals
and remain dedicated to the needs of their followers.

Healing
While putting the needs of their followers before their own, servant leaders
have the opportunity to heal their followers, allowing them to achieve a
sense of wholeness (Russell, 2001). Healing allows the servant leader to nur-
ture and provide wholeness in both spiritual and emotional health and over-
all wellness of their followers (Spears, 2005). Through the act of healing, the
servant leader possesses the ability to help make others whole again. Green-
leaf (2005) notes that as a servant leader is dedicated to creating wholeness
for the follower, the follower often has the same longing to become whole
again as the leader continues to heal. The characteristic of healing truly
allows the servant leader the opportunity to put their followers first.

Stewardship and the Commitment to Others

While it is known that a servant leader will lead their followers, they have
other important duties. The servant leader also serves a key role acting as a
steward for the organization or community they are involved with (Russell
and Stone, 2002). Through the act of stewardship, the servant leader holds in
trust an important thing for the betterment of society (Greenleaf, 2005; Spears,
2005). This commitment allows for the servant leader to remain devoted to
the needs of their followers while overlooking their own gain through direct
stewardship. Compared to other leadership styles, servant leadership places
emphasis on the leaders’ ability to put the needs of its followers first while
demonstrating the leaders’ commitment to others (Russell, 2001). By com-
mitting to the needs of their followers, the servant leader continues to view
each follower as a unique individual, not just a member of their entourage.
The servant leader in turn assumes responsibility in making sure the needs
of their followers are met (Graham, 1991). Unlike other leadership styles,
84 Jessica Huhn
servant leaders are often less abrasive and view their followers as individuals,
not as workers or a mere body. In doing so, the servant leader exhibits the
characteristic of commitment to others. Both stewardship and commitment
to others demonstrates the follower-focused approach of servant leadership.

Building a Community
As a servant leader, building a community remains an important character-
istic of their leadership drive. They often times are needed to provide a sense
of community among their followers. This is due to many circumstances,
possible deficiencies of leadership and needs remaining unmet within a set-
ting (Greenleaf, 2005; Spears, 2005). In many settings, servant leadership
occurs as a response of needs within a given population (LaFasto and Lar-
son, 2012). Almost as a call to arms, it becomes important to note that the
servant leader strives to rebuild a sense of community.
It becomes evident that without the aforementioned traits and character-
istics of servant leaders as defined by Greenleaf, servant leadership would be
similar to other leadership styles. These traits and characteristics allow for
the servant leader to have increased consciousness, allowing them to put the
needs of their followers first, setting apart this leadership style from other
leadership theories. Through the actions of the servant, it is then that needs
of their followers are met and they truly become a servant leader.

Kateri’s Introduction to Christianity

Scholars suggest that Tekakwitha loosely means “she who bumps into things,”
or “she who puts things into order” (Walworth, 2016; Gallick, 2007). These
meanings could possibly refer to her damaged eyesight from the smallpox
epidemic. Her aunts and uncle had no children of their own. The absence
of children in their household could have been a motivating factor for her
uncle and aunts, resulting in their decision to take in orphaned Kateri, in
addition to compassion. In these early years, Kateri Tekakwitha witnessed
times of increased tension, including massacres in the Mohawk Valley. It was
in 1667 at age 12 that she met her first missionaries. This event had a dras-
tic impact on her life, as it represents her first introduction to Christianity
besides what she may have heard from her mother. Because her uncle was
a well-respected man within the village, it is likely the Jesuit missionaries
stayed in the family cabin as they passed through the Mohawk Valley (Wal-
worth, 2016). It was at this time that Kateri Tekakwitha’s interest in Western
religion was sparked. It is hard to know exactly how much of a contribution
to her development of a servant-oriented leadership model for her life is
attributed directly to her embrace of Christianity, or instead as an outward
expression of Mohawk cultural norms or her own personality. Within the
Mohawk village, power stemmed from genetics and age, and what is consid-
ered modern-day leadership was lacking. Chiefs provided order within the
 Kateri Tekakwitha 85
village, as they worked to enforce rules and laws within the tribe. In order to
be a chief, it was established that it was passed down through the bloodline
of the chief’s mother. Elderly members of the village were viewed as wise and
respected (Snow, 1996). Nevertheless, it is from within the Christian para-
digm that Kateri lived and demonstrated the embrace of servant leadership,
and so it is there that the lesson of her leadership is shown.
During the time when the Jesuit guests stayed with Kateri Tekakwitha and
her family, she spent a great deal of time with the missionaries. She was said
to have been presented with the task of entertaining the missionaries although
in doing so she certainly deviated from what her relatives expected of her.
Young Kateri was fascinated by the teachings of the Jesuit missionaries. She
spent this time as an eager student, indulging herself in the teachings of Chris-
tianity. Kateri Tekakwitha listened intently to the missionaries and prayed
with the Jesuits, before their departure to their next destination (Gallick,
2007). It has been said that the Jesuit missionaries were led to the Mohawk
Valley to meet with Kateri Tekakwitha from a higher power. When Kateri’s
mother was dying, she prayed that the missionaries would find her daughter.
It is possible that the power of her mothers’ prayers were answered upon
the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries (Walworth, 2016). Regardless of how
the Jesuit missionaries found young Kateri Tekakwitha, it is evident that she
had an immense desire to have this particular religion in her life at all costs.
Those costs included family and tribal ties. From this time forward, Kateri
Tekakwitha began to focus less on Mohawk tradition and expectations, aside
from her daily chores. Kateri had decided to live a life devoted to Christianity.
The mantle of leadership can and often does require personal transformation.
Kateri Tekakwitha’s behavior and actions were viewed as unacceptable
by her village. She was a deviant, a social outcast in her own culture, invis-
ible to others, and unimportant in the social hierarchy and structure in
her disregard for and disobedience to the hegemony of her family and the
larger community. She sacrificed her personal sense of belonging. Her dis-
regard for her people’s traditions was viewed as an embarrassment to her
relatives. By not only listening to the Jesuit missionaries, but by follow-
ing her own heart, Kateri Tekakwitha began to demonstrate the charac-
teristic servant quality of awareness (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Awareness
is an important characteristic for servant leadership to occur. Awareness
involves the understanding of one’s feelings and values. It also includes the
understanding of the strengths and weaknesses one personally experiences
(Hughes et al., 2012). Kateri recognized that she wanted to devote her life
to Christianity and that it was the most important thing in her life. As some
time passed from Kateri Tekakwitha’s first introduction with the Jesuit mis-
sionaries, records state that in the Mohawk Valley, 151 American Indians
were baptized. This occurred between 1668 and 1669. Of the American
Indians baptized, approximately one-half were either near death, or they
were children who died shortly thereafter (Walworth, 2016). Kateri Tekak-
witha would not be baptized into Christianity until quite some time later.
86 Jessica Huhn
Addressing the Tradition of Marriage
As Kateri matured, the uncle and aunts of Kateri Tekakwitha began to
address the tradition of marriage. They felt as though she would make a
“desirable wife” to any villager. This was because she was well versed in
the expected roles of a Mohawk wife and had demonstrated competence in
completing required gendered daily tasks and chores. Young Kateri, how-
ever, was unhappy with this idea. She was content on her own and possessed
a strong desire to devote her life to Christianity, as she felt that her personal
marriage to God was her life calling (Shoemaker, 1995). Kateri Tekakwitha
knew that by marrying a Mohawk villager, she would fall into the gendered
expectations of a wife and would be forced to give up her Christian beliefs.
As soon as her family started discussing her marriage, Kateri Tekakwitha
became reclusive, isolating herself from tribal functions and events. There
were instances where Kateri refused to go to her own arranged marriages.
Despite her isolation, Kateri continued to maintain her daily activities and
obligations (Walworth, 2016). It becomes evident that Kateri Tekakwitha
continued to exhibit awareness, an important trait of Greenleaf’s (2002;
2015) servant leadership.
By refusing to accept the Mohawk tradition of her family’s desire for her
to enter into marriage, young Kateri Tekakwitha reveals an increase in the
characteristic of awareness (Russell, 2001). This is important when demon-
strating servant leadership. She firmly embraces her personal values and feel-
ings, while holding true to her beliefs (Hughes et al., 2012). Servant leaders
become aware of how their beliefs and values impact the lives of those they
lead (Russell and Stone, 2002). It was noted that during this time, she was
waiting for the right moment to declare her desire to reject the religion of her
tribe and move to accept Christ into her life (Shoemaker, 1995; Walworth,
2016). As a result, young Kateri Tekakwitha has considered what effect the
marriage to a Mohawk warrior could potentially have in the future, when
pursuing a path of Christianity. By considering the impact that the marriage
would have, Kateri Tekakwitha exhibits the traits of conceptualization and
foresight, in order to be a servant leader (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Concep-
tualization emphasizes intertwining present realities and future potential.
While holding fast to her beliefs, Kateri Tekakwitha began to understand the
importance her past, present, and future all have and how they are somehow
connected (Walworth, 2016). This falls into place with Greenleaf’s (2002;
2015) characteristic of foresight, which will remain an important intuition
young Kateri has as a servant leader.

The Introduction of Father de Lamberville

When Kateri Tekakwitha was only 18 years old, there was an increase in
the presence of missionaries in the Mohawk Valley and surrounding areas.
Despite her personal involvement with Christianity, Kateri was still viewed
 Kateri Tekakwitha 87
as a Mohawk pagan by these Christian representatives of the invading cul-
ture. One of the individuals Kateri Tekakwitha met from the missionar-
ies was Father de Lamberville (Shoemaker, 1995). Unbeknownst to Kateri,
Father de Lamberville would directly influence Kateri Tekakwitha’s life,
increasing her dedication to the act of servant leadership. Due to a foot
injury, Kateri’s mobility was limited. It has been said that she was unable to
work in the fields (Brown, 1958). As a result, she spent a great deal of time
isolated in the cabin, along with other women, often sick or elderly who
were unable to leave the village (Gallick, 2007). It was during this time that
missionaries, such as Father de Lamberville, used the absence of men to his
advantage. Father de Lamberville and others went into the cabins to preach
Christianity to the villagers. This was something that the Mohawk men were
strictly against. Records indicate that during this time, Kateri Tekakwitha
expressed her desire to be baptized; however, Father de Lamberville did not
allow it (Walworth, 2016). The reasoning behind his decision to not baptize
young Kateri Tekakwitha remains unknown, but one speculation puts forth
the idea that she was not ready to immerse herself fully into Christianity
(Shoemaker, 1995). It could perhaps have been a political strategy against
her guardian, her warrior uncle, to delay rebuke and rejection of his norma-
tive expectations for her to marry. Unlike the majority of Mohawk Valley
villagers, and despite the delaying process no matter what its causes, Kateri
Tekakwitha remained dedicated to learning more about Christianity.
As Kateri Tekakwitha’s mobility slowly returned while her foot continued
to heal, she spent less time confined within the cabin walls. At first, this
limited her time spent with Father de Lamberville; however, she soon began
attending church services. She was known to attend morning and evening
services, in addition to prayer. This was done at the suggestion of Father
de Lamberville. On Easter Sunday 1676, Father de Lamberville granted
20-year-old Kateri to be baptized into Christianity. This action fulfilled a
nearly year old request (Walworth, 2016). Throughout this time, Kateri
Tekakwitha remained aware of her desire to become a Christian and follow
her path of religion. Stories are told that on the day of her baptism, the
missionaries showered the Mohawk Valley with lavish gifts, unlike any they
have ever received before. It was at this time that Tekakwitha was given her
Christian name, Katherine (Gallick, 2007; Walworth, 2016).

Tekakwitha’s Christianity and Enduring Hostility

After the baptism, it was noted that Kateri Tekakwitha’s personality dras-
tically improved in a positive manner. Kateri once again found joy in her
life. She continued with her chores and obligations in the village, balancing
such tasks with her desire to pray and her attendance at church services
twice a day. It was at this time that Father de Lamberville felt that Kateri
Tekakwitha was headed down a path of holiness. Unlike Father de Lam-
berville, the villagers did not share the same feelings, but possessed hostile
88 Jessica Huhn
feelings about her embracing Christianity (Walworth, 2016). Kateri Tekak-
witha spent a great deal of her time helping in her village while devoting the
remaining time immersed in her newfound religion.
It becomes evident at this time that Kateri Tekakwitha continues to
exhibit foresight and conceptualization, both of which are highly important
characteristics of servant leaders (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). By her devoting
time to her religious beliefs, the attitudes of the villagers become increasingly
harsh toward Kateri, which also included her uncle and other family mem-
bers. For example, since Kateri spent every Sunday focused on practicing her
religious beliefs, her family withheld meals. This had no ill effect on Kateri
despite their wishes. Relatives and other villagers refused to address Kateri
by her baptismal name out of disrespect of her beliefs and values (Walworth,
2016). Kateri Tekakwitha endured this treatment and continued to practice
her growing Christianity in a devout manner.
Seeing there was no reaction from Kateri Tekakwitha despite their intim-
idating actions, her relatives decided to increase their hostility toward her.
This harassment continued to intensify, as Kateri still remained a Christian
and refused to revert back to pagan ways and American Indian traditions. It
becomes evident that Kateri Tekakwitha utilized foresight by realizing that
her life has been a journey, and all events of the past, present, and future
are connected (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). When walking to church, boys were
encouraged to throw stones at her. This did not deter her from going to
practice her religion (Walworth, 2016). Kateri Tekakwitha remained aware
of the path she intended to follow in her life, and did not sway.
The hostility from the villagers continued to intensify although Kateri
Tekakwitha held strong to her beliefs. Often times, drunk men in the village
not only pursued her but also were known to make threats against her life.
She did not let their advances and threats stop her from living her life the way
she felt best. Despite the acts of violence that followed her, Kateri Tekak-
witha was known to have said she would prefer death compared to giving up
her Christian beliefs (Walworth, 2016). The actions of others that she was
forced to endure increased her conceptualization, a trait of servant leaders
(Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Conceptualization for Kateri Tekakwitha involves
the amalgamation of current realities and future opportunities (Hughes et al.,
2012). It is speculated that it became clear that Kateri Tekakwitha was
aware that enduring the negative attitudes and treatment of those around
her would only strengthen her holiness in the end. Regardless of the treat-
ment she faced from her relatives and the other villagers, she was determined
to remain a devout Christian.
One day while working inside her uncle’s cabin, a younger American Indian
male entered while Kateri Tekakwitha was alone. It was at this time that her
life was severely threatened due to her Christian beliefs. The male started
to strike her with his tomahawk at full force. There was no exchange of
words, only silence and gestures between both Kateri and the young male.
It was said that he fled the cabin quickly, leaving Kateri Tekakwitha alone
 Kateri Tekakwitha 89
(Walworth, 2016). Speculation has stated that a higher power intervened,
saving young Kateri Tekakwitha.
It has been noted that there was one final incident in which relatives tried
to ruin Kateri Tekakwitha. This event occurred in the spring of 1677. At this
time, her relatives began to feel that she is lazy for attending church services
on a Sunday, rather than working. This leads her aunts to retaliate against
Kateri. As a result, her aunts decide to have a harsh conversation with
Father de Lamberville. They decide that they are going to defame Kateri
as a person, hoping that Father de Lamberville finds her an unfit Christian
(Walworth, 2016). Father de Lamberville did not believe the slanderous
nature of Kateri Tekakwitha’s aunts. Despite many failed attempts to bring
down Kateri, she continuously remained aware of her beliefs and values.
Kateri Tekakwitha held true to herself exhibiting awareness throughout
this difficult time.

The Great Escape to the Sault St. Louis

Kateri Tekakwitha realized that she can endure no more from her relatives
or other villagers, which could be considered a weakness as noted in the
awareness of servant leaders (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Kateri began to con-
template leaving the Mohawk Valley for a missionary settlement where she
could start fresh and live without hostility as a Christian. Kateri had set her
eyes on the new Caughnawaga where her adopted sister, Anastasia Tegon-
hatsihongo previously settled. Tegonhatsihongo was also a practicing Chris-
tian and Kateri knew there she would be able to live her life as Christian
(Brown, 1958; Moore, Brooks, and Wigginton, 2012). Kateri Tekakwitha’s
sister knew of the hostility in the Mohawk Valley, which increased greatly as
a result of Kateri’s profound love of Christianity. As a result, her brother-in-
law and another American Indian, Hot Ashes, set out on foot to rescue Kateri
Tekakwitha from her dangerous surroundings. Kateri Tekakwitha reached
a point where she felt unsafe in her surroundings including her cabin. As
a result, Kateri informed Father de Lamberville of her intentions to leave
the Mohawk Valley. Kateri Tekakwitha stated she would leave to practice
Christianity freely, even if it meant her own life. Prior to departing, Father
de Lamberville provided young Kateri with letters to take to her next des-
tination (Walworth, 2016). Even during the most difficult and trying times,
Kateri Tekakwitha remains aware of her beliefs and values. She continued
to practice Christianity, all while awaiting her travel to a new beginning.
Upon the arrival of her brother-in-law and his travel companion, Hot
Ashes, they prepared their escape with Kateri. As they quickly fled the area
with Kateri Tekakwitha, destined for a new beginning in Canada, they were
cognizant of their surroundings at all times. Hot Ashes, Kateri Tekakwitha,
and her brother-in-law were all fearful that her uncle would come for her
as they made their secret escape from the hostile Mohawk Valley. Once the
relatives of Kateri noticed her sudden disappearance, her uncle loaded his
90 Jessica Huhn
gun and was in pursuit of his missing niece. Unaware at first, her uncle
had previously passed her brother-in-law when returning to the cabin prior
to realizing her disappearance. During their journey, her uncle was able to
overthrow one of her escorts. Kateri hid deep in a thicket, remaining silent
until her uncle departed. Once arriving at her final destination in the fall of
1677, Kateri Tekakwitha was able to start a new life as a Christian. Kateri
provided the letters from Father de Lamberville to the fathers in Canada.
One of the letters indicated that they had received a treasure, and to guard
Kateri Tekakwitha closely as she was invaluable (Walworth, 2016). Kateri
Tekakwitha was certain that while making the voyage to freedom and a
fresh start in Canada, a higher power was looking out for her and was
pleased with her decision to leave the Mohawk Valley.

A New Beginning as a Christian in the Sault

Regardless of the threats and oppression Kateri Tekakwitha faced, she now
realized she could start fresh at the Sault St. Louis (Gallick, 2007). Anastasia
Tegonhatsihongo was also well versed in Christianity. Unbeknownst to Kateri,
Anastasia would serve as a mentor to Kateri and be one of her first compan-
ions aside from Father de Lamberville. It is said that Anastasia was the first
relative to refer to Kateri by her baptismal name. Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo
fostered the religious growth and development of young Kateri Tekakwitha
(Moore et al., 2012). The women spent much of their free time discussing and
practicing religion, when not completing chores and other tasks. The Sault
was an area that was still developing, as it was a new settlement. As a result of
increased missionary presence, the makeshift chapel at the Sault was soon to
become a beautiful stone structure (Walworth, 2016). A new beginning in the
Sault would soon awaken the servant leadership within Kateri Tekakwitha.
The conversations that Kateri Tekakwitha had with Anastasia Tegonhat-
sihongo allowed her to develop a deep relationship for the first time, which
was a new experience for Kateri (Walworth, 2016). As a result, Kateri devel-
oped two important traits of servant leaders. First by listening to Anastasia,
Kateri worked on developing the trait of listening. In servant leadership,
listening is the act of effectively listening to others. This is unlike listening
in traditional leadership where the focus lies on communicating directly to
others (Hughes et al., 2012). Engaging in such deep and intimate conver-
sations about religion and life allowed Kateri Tekakwitha to develop the
servant leadership characteristic of listening (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Next,
Kateri learned to develop empathy at this time, another necessary trait of
servant leaders. Empathy is the action of understanding the unique feelings
and perspectives that other people possess (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). By fos-
tering a deep relationship with Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo, it allowed Kateri
Tekakwitha to continue developing the traits that create a servant leader.
Unlike old Caughnawaga and the Mohawk Valley, the people of the Sault
St. Louis were friendly and hospitable. The residents of the Sault made sure
 Kateri Tekakwitha 91
the Christian converts were well cared for. They gave everything they had
in their possession to their guests. It was here that American Indian children
were taught to read and write—an activity that was frowned upon in the
Mohawk Valley (Walworth, 2016). The experiences at the Sault served as
a pivotal point in Kateri Tekakwitha’s life, providing an increase of charac-
teristics and traits necessary to excel at servant leadership (Greenleaf, 2002;
2015). By this time, Kateri Tekakwitha possesses the traits of listening,
empathy, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization and foresight, all which
are important in servant leadership.
Kateri Tekakwitha was said to have few acquaintances, as it was her life
goal to remain focused on Christianity. By limiting her interactions with oth-
ers, she was able to limit gossip and drama experienced from the villagers.
Residing in the Sault proved beneficial for her as there were often religious
conferences held by the missionaries. The conferences presented Kateri Tekak-
witha with opportunities to increase her knowledge of Christianity. Regardless
of where she was, in the cabin, fields, or the chapel it was said that she would
always be with her mentor, Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo, and a rosary clasped
firmly in her hand. Kateri Tekakwitha desired to partake in Holy Commu-
nion. However, she was not permitted to do so in her early days at the Sault
(Walworth, 2016). By relocating to the Sault St. Louis, Kateri Tekakwitha was
able to focus on Christianity freely for the first time in her life.
When illness overtook members of the village, the members of missionar-
ies were involved with praying for the individual. The villagers were focused
on the direct care of the individual in need. Both the aspects of caring for,
and praying for, the ill were something Kateri Tekakwitha was involved
with on a regular basis as she balanced her life as an American Indian and
a Christian. By praying and assisting caring for individuals in need, Kat-
eri Tekakwitha was able to develop the servant leadership trait of healing,
while continuing to demonstrate empathy (Hughes et al., 2012). In servant
leadership, healing involves the focus on the spiritual and emotional health
and wholeness of those the servant leader serves (Graham, 1991, Greenleaf,
2002; 2015). Through increasing her involvement with the missionary, Kat-
eri Tekakwitha continued to develop the necessary traits of a servant leader.
Kateri was far more advanced in her religious knowledge compared to the
other American Indians at the Sault (Walworth, 2016). With her intense
devotion and involvement in missionaries, Kateri Tekakwitha continued to
absorb Christianity with an open heart.

American Indian Traditions at the Sault St. Louis

and Holy Communion
Unlike the Mohawk Valley, which was founded on American Indian tradi-
tions and celebrated six festivals, the Sault only maintained two American
Indian festivals each year. These two traditions celebrated by the Sault were
the Planting Festival and the Harvest Festival, which were centered on the
92 Jessica Huhn
harvesting of crops. Of the ceremonies typically celebrated by the Mohawk
Valley, four were focused on planting and harvesting, the other two were for
the New Year and Thanksgiving. As the Sault maintained only two of the
six festivals, it becomes apparent that they were less focused on traditional
American Indian ways and were establishing a new way of life (Snow, 1996).
It was not until Christmas Day that Kateri Tekakwitha was permitted to
partake in Holy Communion, as per the missions. This was something that
Kateri Tekakwitha had waited quite some time to accept (Walworth, 2016),
a tangible symbol of her converted life. Kateri remained diligent in her reli-
gious studies and attended prayer five times a day. By remaining focused on
her religious practices, Kateri remained aware while she continued to focus
on empathy and listening (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Kateri Tekakwitha was
frequently seen with her mentor and adopted sister, Anastasia Tegonhatsi-
hongo. They spent the majority of their time dedicated to religious studies,
which continued to polish Kateri Tekakwitha as a servant leader.
As food supplies were increasingly scarce during the winter months, the
American Indians at the Sault established a hunting camp. This was an
annual tradition in the Mohawk Valley, with the intentions of increasing
the food supply for the village. Since Kateri Tekakwitha had previous expe-
rience with hunting camps, she was selected to accompany the men on this
journey. At the hunting camp, she spent her days caring for the hunters by
cooking their meals and preparing the animals they killed for consumption.
She also completed other chores and tried to remain by herself in order to
avoid the gossip and drama when working with the other women, and prac-
ticing Christianity (Walworth, 2016). It becomes evident that while at the
hunting camp, Kateri continued to exhibit healing as necessary for servant
leadership, as she assisted with caring for the members of the hunting camp.
She continued to exhibit the trait of awareness during the hunting camp
excursion (Russell and Stone, 2002). Throughout this time, Kateri Tekak-
witha remained diligent in her prayer and worship.
Once they departed the hunting camp, they embarked on a journey back to
the village with food supplies in tow. They arrived back at the Sault St. Louis
just in time for Holy Week which was about to begin at the chapel. Kateri
Tekakwitha had never experienced the services of Holy Week before, which
was a deeply emotional experience for her. It was said that during Easter
Sunday services, she wept tears of joy and experienced her religion deeply.
She involved herself with the entire services and events of Holy Week (Wal-
worth, 2016). It can be said that as Kateri Tekakwitha involved herself with
Holy Week, she continued to increase her servant leadership trait awareness.

Thérèse Tegaiaguenta: More Than an Acquaintance

Shortly after the conclusion of Holy Week, Kateri Tekakwitha was introduced
to Thérèse Tegaiaguenta. Thérèse Tegaiaguenta quickly became more than just
an acquaintance to Kateri. Thérèse was also baptized and remained dedicated to
 Kateri Tekakwitha 93
leading a holy life. As a result of their similarities, it became evident that Thérèse
Tegaiaguenta would quickly become a close companion of Kateri Tekakwitha.
They spent most of their time together discussing religion, although it was
said that Kateri Tekakwitha had a deeper interest in religion (Walworth, 2016).
As the two women built a lasting relationship, Kateri Tekakwitha continued
developing the traits of listening, empathy and healing while involved with
Thérèse Tegaiaguenta (Russell, 2001). Kateri Tekakwitha continued down her
path of living a holy life, increasing her skills as a servant leader.
Kateri Tekakwitha and Thérèse Tegaiaguenta soon traveled together to
Montreal. Kateri Tekakwitha had an opportunity to learn about the vari-
ous ways Christianity was practiced while in Montreal. It was while at the
French Settlement, Kateri and Thérèse were introduced to nuns. This was
the first time either of the women had such an experience. Kateri was truly
enamored by their simplistic lifestyle and deep devotions to Christianity. She
spent time with Marguerite Bourgeois and the Sisters of Congregation. Both
Kateri and Thérèse spent a night in the convent, during their travels. This
allowed the women to reconsider the way they were living their Christian
lives (Walworth, 2016). It was during this time that both Kateri Tekakwitha
and Thérèse Tegaiaguenta experienced a deeper, more devout approach to
Christianity as they witnessed at the convent.
Upon returning to the Sault St. Louis, Kateri Tekakwitha and Thérèse Tega-
iaguenta reflected upon their experiences in Montreal. Their short time at the
convent was a pivotal moment when Kateri wanted to change the way she
lived her Christian life (Walworth, 2016). It was through young Kateri’s ser-
vant leadership trait of persuasion that she decided to drastically change the
way she lived her life. The women decided that they wanted to live a similar
lifestyle to that of the nuns at the Sisters of Congregation convent. In order to
do so, Kateri recruited an older Christian woman to help, Marie Skarichions,
through persuasion to adopt a lifestyle similar to what the young women
experienced while in Montreal. Marie became a sort of vessel for Kateri and
Thérèse, allowing both women to live their lives as the nuns did in Montreal.
Without persuading Marie to live her life in such a way benefiting both Kateri
and Thérèse in their daily devotions, it is unlikely that during this time they
would have been able to practice religion so deeply and freely (Greenleaf,
2015; Russell and Stone, 2002). Marie would listen to the women and engage
in religious studies, while they resided together. It was decided that Kateri
Tekakwitha and Thérèse Tegaiaguenta would dress the same, never separate
and reside in the same cabin. They would be able to focus intensely on their
Christianity, living a lifestyle similar to that of the nuns at the Sisters of Con-
gregation convent. The introduction of a monastic lifestyle to her people took
root. It was now time that the women must seek the approval of Father Fer-
min in order to implement their new lifestyle (Walworth, 2016). It becomes
evident that during the short visit to Montreal, Kateri Tekakwitha was made
aware of the different lifestyle that the nuns of the Sisters of Congregation
convent lived while practicing Christianity.
94 Jessica Huhn
Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo, Kateri Tekakwitha’s adopted sister broached
the subject of Kateri’s marriage. This was due to Kateri’s age, and Anastasia
suggested she could marry either a villager or a missionary. For Kateri Tekak-
witha, this was not a topic of discussion. The thought of marriage left her with
disgust, since part of the reason she came to the Sault St. Louis was because
she did not want to marry in the Mohawk tribe and wished instead to live her
life as a devout Christian. By remaining unmarried, Kateri was able to devote
her life to God as she submitted fully to Christianity. Despite pressure felt by
Anastasia to marry, Father Fermin educated Kateri on the Christian view of
marriage. Unlike American Indians whose marriages were arranged, Kateri
learned that Christians had a decision on whether or not they desired to marry.
As a result, of her conversation with Father Fermin, Kateri held firmly to her
beliefs of not marrying, unlike American Indians her age (Walworth, 2016).
By remaining true to her beliefs and values, Kateri Tekakwitha continued to
present the trait of awareness found in servant leaders, as she knew what she
wanted from her life (Graham, 1991). Kateri dedicated herself to a pure and
simple lifestyle, focused on her devotion to Christianity.
On the Feast of the Blessed Virgin, Kateri Tekakwitha said vows with the
assistance of Father Fermin. Kateri declared herself a bride of God. From this
point forward, relatives and villagers no longer pushed the issue of Kateri
Tekakwitha’s marriage (Walworth, 2016). This was an important moment in
defining her awareness as she fully gave herself to God through this action
(Russell and Stone, 2002). The action of taking her vows also demonstrated
Kateri’s final desire to be a devout Christian and live a lifestyle unfamiliar
to her sociocultural roots with increased acceptance both from the Church
and those around her in her village. It was at this time that by remaining
dedicated in her belief to not marry that Kateri Tekakwitha persuaded those
around her to allow her to submit herself to Christianity, while gaining two
followers, Thérèse and Marie (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Kateri Tekakwitha
continued to present awareness by remaining true to herself while persuad-
ing those around her to allow her to remain unmarried, which is a key char-
acteristic of servant leaders.
Kateri Tekakwitha and Thérèse Tegaiaguenta found a desolate cabin out-
side of the village. It was within the walls of the cabin that the two women
intensified their dedication to Christianity. Kateri Tekakwitha continued to
intensify the level of Christianity she practiced, while in turn serving Thérèse
Tegaiaguenta. The two women took turns hitting each other with switches
as a means of showing their devotion to their religion. Kateri and Thérèse
spent a great deal of their time either praying or discussing religion at the
isolated cabin (Walworth, 2016). As a result, Kateri Tekakwitha continued
to fine-tune her traits of a servant leadership she possessed.
Through her intense relationship with Thérèse Tegaiaguenta, Kateri
Tekakwitha began to exhibit the servant leadership traits of commitment
to others’ growth and stewardship (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Commitment to
others’ growth focuses on the servant leader’s interactions with those they
 Kateri Tekakwitha 95
lead. The servant leader strives to create responsible, caring and competent
individuals through their actions (Hughes et al., 2012; Russell and Stone,
2002). Stewardship is when the servant leader possesses an organization’s
resources “in trust for the greater good” (Hughes et al., 2012: 171). Kateri
Tekakwitha maintained the resource of Christianity and kept it with her,
demonstrating stewardship (Walworth, 2016; Russell and Stone, 2002). It
becomes evident that Kateri Tekakwitha continued to increase the dedica-
tion and devotion that Thérèse Tegaiaguenta had in her life, demonstrating
Kateri’s commitment to Thérèse’s growth as a skill of servant leadership,
along with her increasing stewardship of Christianity.
Kateri Tekakwitha continued to find a balance in her life between chores and
practicing Christianity (Walworth, 2016). It becomes evident that throughout
her life thus far, Kateri demonstrated a majority of the traits necessary for
servant leadership as defined by Greenleaf. Kateri Tekakwitha developed the
traits of listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization,
and foresight. Throughout her time at Sault St. Louis, Kateri began to develop
the traits of commitment to others’ growth, stewardship and would soon
develop building community (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). Kateri Tekakwitha
continued to develop the traits necessary as a servant leader.

A Sudden Decline in Kateri Tekakwitha’s Health

Kateri Tekakwitha experienced a decrease in her personal health and
well-being. Despite the decrease in her health, she remained dedicated to both
her chores and practicing Christianity. It was evident that Kateri remained
focused on the well-being of those she served both villagers and missionar-
ies, rather than focusing on herself. Those close to Kateri maintained watch-
ful eyes on her health and well-being, just as Kateri did with those around
her (Walworth, 2016). Kateri Tekakwitha continued to fast and practice
religion. She would also complete her chores outside of the cabin. Through
her actions and dedication to both her village and Christianity, Kateri Tekak-
witha continued to demonstrate the traits and characteristics a servant leader
possesses. She worked reverently to find a balance in each realm of her life,
while building a community as she merged both realms (Greenleaf, 2002;
2015). As a servant leader, Kateri Tekakwitha placed importance on those
around her before her own personal needs were met.
When a child of her adopted sister, Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo passed
away, Kateri Tekakwitha served the needs of those around her, both relatives
and the villagers. Kateri Tekakwitha assisted Anastasia with a traditional
American Indian burial and the necessary preparations for a ceremony
(Walworth, 2016). During this time, it can be said that Kateri Tekakwitha
demonstrated listening, empathy and healing while assisting her adopted sis-
ter, Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo during this difficult time (Greenleaf, 2002;
2015). Regardless of the situation, Kateri Tekakwitha exemplified herself as
a servant leader.
96 Jessica Huhn
A sudden decline in Kateri Tekakwitha’s health resulted in a high fever.
Those closest to Kateri were concerned that it appeared as though she was
rapidly facing death. Thérèse Tegaiaguenta went to tell Father Cholenec of
their actions inside the isolated cabin. She confided in him about inflicting
one another with pain that they subjected themselves to at that time. Kateri
Tekakwitha recovered, but continued to experience bouts of fever and illness
the last year of her life. She continued to complete chores and devote herself
to Christianity, through religious conversations with Thérèse and Anastasia
(Walworth, 2016). As Kateri Tekakwitha recovered, although not 100%,
she continued to worship God and complete her chores as expected of her.
By remaining dedicated to Christianity and those around her, Kateri depicts
Greenleaf’s (2002; 2015) image of a servant leader throughout her life.
It was during Lent of 1680 that Kateri Tekakwitha’s health suddenly took
a turn for the worse, as her health continued to decline rapidly. Kateri Tekak-
witha spent much of her time confessing to Thérèse Tegaiaguenta and Father
Cholenec when she was not involved in worship. Kateri Tekakwitha remained
in the cabin of Anastasia often in severe pain. This is where Kateri Tekakwitha
spent the last of her days. Often times, visitors came to see Kateri Tekakwitha,
including the children. Kateri spent time educating the young children about
Christianity, while remaining deeply involved in her individual prayer (Wal-
worth, 2016). It can be noted that even while facing death, Kateri Tekakwitha
continued to lead as a servant. During her remaining days, it becomes appar-
ent that Kateri Tekakwitha truly did build a community, the final trait she
could possess as a servant leader (Hughes et al., 2012). Building a community
involves creating a sense of community within the people, or in Kateri’s case,
the villagers (Greenleaf, 2002; 2015). This was done through the education of
those in the village, and her constant involvement in the village throughout her
life through her day-to-day interactions. Throughout her life, Kateri Tekak-
witha worked to provide the message of Christianity to the villagers around
her through education. She also remained concerned with the needs of the
villagers, and continued to tend to them.
In the year of 1680 during Passion Week, Father Cholenec instructed the
children to leave the bedside of Kateri Tekakwitha. Movement caused her
sudden, sharp pain, and it was difficult to attend services as she normally
did. Throughout this difficult time, she continued to pray with Thérèse Tega-
iaguenta as often as she could physically handle doing so (Walworth, 2016).
Despite her illness, Kateri Tekakwitha remained aware as a servant leader
and continued to exhibit the traits of servant leaders during his time.

The Untimely Death of Kateri Tekakwitha

Kateri Tekakwitha desired to fast the Monday of Holy Week, despite the
warnings given from those close to her. The following day, Father Cholenec
brought Holy Communion to Kateri in her cabin. This is something that had
never been done in the Sault St. Louis before. Kateri Tekakwitha renewed
 Kateri Tekakwitha 97
her baptism in Christianity, as relatives and villagers took turns caring for
her. Kateri Tekakwitha passed away on April 17, 1680, at the young age of
24, a true servant leader. Father Cholenec noted that at the time of her death,
scars that disfigured her face from the smallpox epidemic disappeared. Her
face was said to have rapidly become whole, as she was miraculously healed
(Gallick, 2007). Other records indicate that at the time of her death, the
room where she passed away had a sweet odor (Shoemaker, 1995). Thérèse
Tegaiaguenta and Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo prepared Kateri Tekakwitha’s
body to be placed on wooded boards and her body covered with a blanket.
This was done in the tradition of American Indians. Villagers and mission-
aries alike came through the cabin to view Kateri Tekakwitha’s remains to
reflect and speak with God. A great deal of people spent time praying at her
side after her death. Many individuals wanted to see the change in Kateri
Tekakwitha’s scars and her change in appearance, which could easily influ-
ence converts and nonbelievers alike. For some, this would increase their
faith due to such healing. Later, two Frenchmen placed her in a wooden
coffin in a more Western tradition. Her tribal brethren would not allow her
to be buried until they prepared the earth to receive her (Walworth, 2016).
Kateri Tekakwitha, after her death, experienced customs of both American
Indians and Christians for her burial, despite her life choices to reject the
former and embrace the latter. It is apparent that she impacted the lives of
American Indians and Christians alike during her short life.

The Lasting Presence of Kateri Tekakwitha

Following her untimely death, Kateri Tekakwitha remained an important
figure for many missionaries and American Indians alike throughout the
Sault St. Louis and surrounding areas. It was only six days after her death
when Father Cholenec reported having first experienced visions of Kateri
Tekakwitha. For Father Cholenec, this was a time to reflect on the impor-
tance of the visit and the impact of Kateri’s life. Shortly thereafter, reports
were also made that both Thérèse Tegaiaguenta and Anastasia Tegonhat-
sihongo had seen Kateri Tekakwitha after her death. It was also reported
not by those close to her, but other missionaries and American Indians, that
apparitions of Kateri Tekakwitha were said to appear shortly after her death.
One of the many miracles that have been attributed to Kateri Tekakwitha
is as follows. In 1683, during an intense storm, some men were left badly
injured and reported praying to Kateri Tekakwitha. As a result, they attri-
bute their survival to Kateri (Walworth, 2016). Despite her short life, Kateri
Tekakwitha planted a lasting impression on those around her.
The relics of Kateri Tekakwitha and her cross became an important des-
tination for prayer in Canada once they were moved. In 1843, a new cross
was put in place at the site where Kateri Tekakwitha was laid to rest. It
was on July 23, 1843, when American Indians and missionaries had a cer-
emony for Kateri. Two unique groups of individuals came together for the
98 Jessica Huhn
same purpose of religion and out of respect for Kateri Tekakwitha. During
September 1884, the cross marking the resting place of Kateri Tekakwitha
was badly damaged during a storm. The missionaries and American Indians
banded together to replace the marker, during a ceremony. In June of 1888,
the Mohawk Indians had erected a stone monument at her resting place to
mark the casket (Walworth, 2016). Even after her death, Kateri Tekakwitha
unified individuals under the purpose of religion. Apparitions of Kateri
Tekakwitha are reported throughout the world, demonstrating the lasting
significance that Kateri holds to this day.
In 1980, Kateri Tekakwitha was the first American Indian to be beatified.
Kateri Tekakwitha remains a contemporary prominent figure for a diverse
group of people. She is known as the patron saint of Indians and refugees
(Gallick, 2007). For some, she provides a favorable view of Christianity, spe-
cifically for American Indians in earlier years. For others, she serves as a role
model and figure of inspiration (Walworth, 2016). Kateri Tekakwitha was
canonized on October 21, 2012. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha’s image continues
to be depicted in chapels and other places throughout the world.
When reviewing the life of Kateri Tekakwitha she spent a great deal of her
life plagued with challenges and struggles. Despite these events, they only
served to influence Kateri in a positive manner, and she continued to develop
the necessary traits to become a servant leader. Kateri Tekakwitha remained
devout in Christianity until her untimely death in 1680. Moments through-
out Kateri’s life have demonstrated the servant leadership characteristics
that she possessed, as defined by Greenleaf (2002; 2015). Indeed, by her very
embrace of death, she demonstrated various servant leadership traits if the
ensuing claims of healings and conversions are understood as building com-
munity and creating compassion and empathy for those she desired to lead
into Christianity. In a short 24 years of life, Kateri Tekakwitha developed
the necessary traits and characteristics in order to become a servant leader,
including listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualiza-
tion, foresight, stewardship, commitment to others growth, and building
community (Hughes et al., 2012). Not only did Kateri Tekakwitha serve as a
leader to the American Indians but also impacted the lives of the missionar-
ies as well. Kateri Tekakwitha was a true example of a servant leader during
her short, 24 years of life, and to this day remains an important figure and
symbol throughout the Native American and Catholic Church cultures.

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6 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
(1774–1821)
A Proto-Feminist Servant-Leader1 for
the Nineteenth Century—and Today
David Von Schlichten

Introduction
“At whatever risk, yet go forward” was the motto on the Seton coat-of-arms
that Saint Elizabeth then claimed as a motto for her ministry. As a kind of
servant-leader, she lived out this motto as she raised five children, mostly as
a widow; converted to Roman Catholicism at a time when doing so guar-
anteed that she would be persecuted and ostracized; became a nun; founded
the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph; and pioneered Catholic education
in America. Repeatedly she challenged the male leadership of the Church
and advocated for the education of girls, drawing from the works of fem-
inist pioneers such as Mary Wollstonecraft, all without rejecting her devo-
tion to Roman Catholicism. This chapter will explore how proto-feminist
education theory shaped her as a kind of servant-leader. I will begin with
an overview of Seton’s life. Next, I will explicate proto-feminist education
theory of Seton’s day. I will also explain the concept of servant-leadership,
including Deborah Eicher-Catt’s critique of it, in which she concludes that
servant-leadership reinforces patriarchal oppression. I will then consider Kae
Reynolds’s response to Eicher-Catt’s critique in which Reynolds argues that,
despite the patriarchal influence, servant-leadership is still a viable model
for feminists. In light of these two thinkers, I will propose that Seton, as a
proto-feminist servant-leader educator, unintentionally exemplifies the very
problem with servant-leadership that Eicher-Catt warns against while also
intimating a modified form of servant-leadership along the lines of Reyn-
olds’s conceptualization that offers more hope toward egalitarianism. I will
conclude by suggesting ways to apply the Setonian model to leadership today.

The Life of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton2

Throughout her short life, Seton, the first person born in the fledging United
States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, experienced tremen-
dous joys and sorrows. She was born Elizabeth Ann Bayley on August 28,
1774, in New York City, the second of three daughters. She was raised Epis-
copalian, not converting to Roman Catholicism until 1805, just 16 years
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 101
before her death at age 46. Her father was renowned physician Richard
Bayley, and her mother was Catherine Charlton Bayley, who died on May 8,
1777, when Elizabeth was not quite 3 years old. Her father then married
Charlotte Amelia Barclay, with whom he had six children. The next eight
years were somewhat painful for Elizabeth, in part because of her icy rela-
tionship with her stepmother and in part because her father was often away
from home for extended periods of time due to work. Indeed, Charlotte
and Richard had a difficult marriage that ended with a separation. While
growing up, Elizabeth received an education that was standard for girls. For
example, it was customary to teach girls a musical instrument or singing;
thus, Elizabeth learned to play the piano (throughout her life, she would turn
to music for solace). She also became fluent in French.
On January 25, 1794, at age 19, Elizabeth married William Seton, a suc-
cessful businessman. The two had five children. These years were happy for
Mrs. Seton. Financially well off, in love, and attractive, Elizabeth and Wil-
liam Seton were fashionable members of New York society. Seton enjoyed
attending balls (where she and her husband were impressive dancers) and
taking care of her children. She was also passionate about attending Sunday
worship, much more so than William, who was not particularly devout. On
Sacrament Sundays, days on which the Eucharist was offered, Seton would
rush from church to church so that she could receive the bread and wine as
much as possible.3 Her piety grew, particularly under the attention of John
Henry Hobart, a newly arrived Episcopal priest who would later try to dis-
suade her from converting to Roman Catholicism.
The joy of those years was soon wrecked upon years of hardship, starting
with William’s shipping business beginning to collapse. Although he had
integrity, William was not a particularly adept businessman; the business
had fared better under his father’s leadership. Elizabeth would often stay
up with her husband well into the early hours of the morning to try to help
him figure out how to save matters financially. Despite their efforts, by1800,
the Setons had lost their home. The family business went bankrupt. Matters
turned tragically worse when William became severely ill with tuberculosis.
In the hopes that a milder climate would aid William toward recovery, in
1803, Seton and her husband, along with their oldest child, Anna Maria,
sailed for Leghorn, Italy. Since they were sailing from New York City, where
there had been reports of a yellow fever outbreak, the Setons were quar-
antined upon their arrival in Italy for a month in a lazaretto several miles
from the city. Seton wrote movingly about these painful days of sitting by
her husband’s bedside while his health declined. By the time the Setons were
free to leave the lazaretto, it was too late. On December 27, 1803, William
died. At 29, Seton was a widow and mother of five children who had little
money and, because she was a woman, second-class status.
To make matters worse, Seton and her daughter were unable to return to
the United States immediately, in part because Anna Maria had caught scar-
let fever and was not well enough to travel. Indeed, they would not return
102 David Von Schlichten
to New York City until June 4. During that period, the new widow and her
daughter came under the care of the Filicchis, who were friends and busi-
ness associates of William. The Setons would remain lifelong friends with
the Filicchis. In fact, as Joan Barthel indicates in American Saint: The Life
of Elizabeth Seton, the letters between Seton and Antonio Filicchi point to
mutual romantic feelings that would never be realized because of Antonio
being married.4 It was while Seton and her daughter stayed with the Filic-
chis during those months after William’s death that the family introduced
the future saint to Roman Catholicism. Although puzzled and cautious at
first—for instance, Seton worried that the Roman Catholic belief in the real
presence5 in the Eucharist was idolatrous—Seton soon found herself falling
in love with the denomination.
She was so taken with it that, shortly after returning to New York, she
began earnestly considering converting. Given the widespread prejudice
against Roman Catholics in America at the time, such a conversion was sure
to lead to ostracism and other challenges for the young widow. Father Hobart
tried to dissuade her from converting, and several family members thought
she had gone insane. Some rejected her entirely, at least initially. Despite the
resistance, though, Seton became a Roman Catholic on March 14, 1805.
Antonio Filicchi attended the ceremony. Now she was a widow, a mother
of five children, poor, and a member of a widely mistrusted denomination.
Seton’s greatest challenge was securing a steady and sufficient income with
which she could care for her children. Before returning to Italy, Antonio had
tried unsuccessfully to secure financial support for her. Like many women
of her era, Seton struggled to make an adequate income through teaching
and taking in boarders, but several Protestant parents refused to send their
children to a Roman Catholic home. Rev. William Valentine DuBourg, the
president of Saint Mary’s College in Baltimore, proposed that Seton open
a Catholic school for girls there. Maryland had been founded by George
Calvert, himself a Catholic, and who had designated the colony as a safe
haven for Catholics. So then, in 1808, Seton moved her family to Maryland,
where she opened a free school.
Seton spent the rest of her life in Maryland working to help those in
need. Through the encouragement of church leaders such as DuBourg and
John Carroll (the first Catholic bishop and archbishop of the United States),
Seton decided to pursue her dream of a more religious life by taking vows
on March 25, 1809, to become a sister,6 a move that would also give her
greater authority as a woman in a church dominated by male leadership.
That summer, she moved to a 269-acre plot of land in Emmitsburg, Mary-
land, donated by a convert, Samuel Cooper; there she spent the rest of her
life. At that location, the newly formed Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph,
led by Mother Seton, established a regular community life and opened a free
Catholic school for girls. Seton spent her remaining 12 years working long
hours as a teacher, head mother of the Sisters of Charity, and minister to the
poor. She also continued the endless task of caring for her children, including
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 103
having to bury her daughters Rebecca and Anna Maria. Her own health was
frail, as well, and she finally died from tuberculosis on January 4, 1821. On
September 14, 1975, she became the first person born in the fledgling United
States to be canonized.
Elizabeth Ann Seton is often regarded as the foundress of Catholic paro-
chial education in the United States, but that is not quite correct. Catho-
lic education in general easily predates Seton’s birth. Franciscans opened
a school in 1606 at Santa Fe de Toloca (Saint Augustine, Florida), and the
Jesuits began instructing Native Americans in the north. In 1769, Father
Junipera Serra established the first of the California missions. Seton’s Cath-
olic school was a private school, funded by the Sisters of Charity, and tuition
(for those who could afford it), whereas a parochial school is affiliated with,
and often funded by, a parish.7 Further, while Catholic education for boys
preceded education for girls, Seton’s school was not the first one for girls.
The Ursuline Sisters established such a school in New Orleans in 1727. Nev-
ertheless, Seton was a pioneer in that her school in Emmitsburg was the first
free Catholic school in the United States for girls run by women religious.8

Proto-Feminism
During her years as the wife of William Seton, Elizabeth carried out her
duties as a spouse and mother; at the same time, proto-feminism, a compo-
nent of the Enlightenment that was also a reaction to it, began to develop.
Aware of how an eighteenth-century wife was to conduct herself, Seton
worked to please her husband and allow him to be the head of the house-
hold. As Barthel states, “Elizabeth was not a headstrong rebel: She knew the
language of her society; she could speak it, and she did.”9 She obeyed her
husband, although she also knew the “true language of female determina-
tion” and was willing to speak it when necessary.10
While she was being (largely) an obedient wife, other women, often at
great risk to themselves, were putting severe cracks in patriarchy, thus cre-
ating the potential for new opportunities for Seton during her later years as
the head of a religious order. Olympe de Gouges, who was in the thick of the
French Revolution, published in 1791 Declaration of the Rights of Woman
and the Female Citizen, a corrective to the seminal revolution document,
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, which declared
that all men are equal in rights but excluded women. She was executed by
guillotine during the Reign of Terror for her defiance of the regime of the
Revolutionary government.
There were also women fracturing patriarchal understandings of educa-
tion. The prevailing view in the American Colonies and Great Britain at the
time was that it was dangerous and inappropriate for girls to be educated
beyond domestic duties, in part because, the argument went, such education
would jeopardize the completion of such duties. It was also believed that
girls simply lacked the cognitive and emotional fortitude to be educated with
104 David Von Schlichten
the same rigor granted to boys. Further, women were expected to be models
of virtue for everyone in their household, especially the men, who, the logic
went, were vulnerable to the corrupting influence of the world outside the
home; girls were educated accordingly. In opposition to that understand-
ing, Englishwoman Mary Wollstonecraft published in 1792 A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman, in which she challenged the widespread notion
that women were intellectually inferior to men by insisting that the only
reason women were behind men intellectually was due to their inadequate
education. Wollstonecraft contended that, if women were given the same
education as men, they would do just as well intellectually. In fact, if they
received the same education as men, women would actually be better wives
and mothers because they would be more knowledgeable and would make
more fitting companions to their husbands. Although a tumultuous personal
life involving a couple of ill-fated love affairs would partially distract read-
ers from Wollstonecraft’s genius, many people, including Americans Abigail
Adams and Aaron Burr, praised the book.11
Sadly, Wollstonecraft died in 1797 at the age of 38 due to complications
from giving birth to her daughter and future Frankenstein author, Mary
Shelley. Seton read the book and copied a section in her notebook:

In the choice of a Husband they should not be led astray by the qualities
of a lover, for a lover the Husband, even supposing him to be wise and
virtuous, cannot long remain. Friendship and Forbearance takes place
of a more ardent affection.12

However, Seton and her husband did remain “ardent lovers”13 despite
the hardships that befell them. In her writings, Seton often refers to her
husband as “friend,” a designation that reflected the idea of “companionate
marriage,” in which a wife was equal to her husband as a friend, even if
subordinate to him in other regards.14
Also influential on the American society of Seton’s day was the work of
Wollstonecraft’s American counterpart, Judith Sargent Murray. In On the
Equality of the Sexes, published two years before Wollstonecraft’s book,
Murray argues that women are just as capable as men intellectually when
they are afforded the same education. Murray expresses indignation that,
when growing up, she was denied opportunities given to her younger brother
simply because she was a girl. As with Wollstonecraft, Murray asserts that
women only appear inferior intellectually because they have been denied
the same educational opportunities as men. If they were educated beyond
domestic skills, women would be intellectually equal to men. She also con-
tends that girls could receive such an education without it interfering with
their domestic duties.
Largely absent from these proto-feminist education pioneers is what
today we scholars would consider a feminist pedagogy, which includes chal-
lenging of hierarchical structures in the classroom and biases arising from a
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 105
patriarchal hegemony of pedagogy. It would be many years before de Beau-
voir, Freire, and hooks contributed their writings to the paradigm. Never-
theless, figures such as Wollstonecraft and Murray helped considerably to
advance the education of women and girls, and Seton took note.
In addition to being shaped by thinkers such as Wollstonecraft, Seton was
influenced by Isabella Graham, a Scotswoman who often advocated for the
rights of women. After being widowed, she opened a school for girls in New
York in 1789 when it was still considered bold to do so. Her curriculum
was acceptable enough in that it covered reading, writing, spelling, grammar,
and geography, all subjects that were deemed appropriate for girls. She was
especially attentive to the needs of the poor, particularly destitute women
and girls. Seton, just 23, collaborated with the much older Graham and
other women to form “the first benevolent organization in the United States
to be managed by women, the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with
Small Children.”15
Seton demonstrated her feminist leanings in other ways during her mar-
riage. When her husband’s business went bankrupt and he became ill, Seton
stepped up and did the “man’s work” of negotiating with creditors and
banking officials.16 So years later, when she found herself wrangling with
the male leadership of the Church, she was ready to confront them, thanks
to having read the work of influential women as such as Wollstonecraft and
having had empowering personal experiences. As the head of a religious
community, for example, Mother Seton was somewhat willing to obey her
male superior, William Dubourg. However, she was upset when he forbade
her from communicating with her mentor, Pierre Babade, a mystical kind
of priest and poet who had been a great source of guidance for Seton and
the Sisters under her care. Seton wrote to Bishop John Carroll, Dubourg’s
superior, expressing her dismay and declaring that Dubourg was “acting
like a tyrant.”17 Dubourg ended up resigning. Regretful, Seton implored the
bishop to reinstate Dubourg, but Bishop Carroll had turned the matter over to
seminary-head Charles Nagot, who replaced Dubourg with Suplician priest
John David and ordered Seton to obey without protest.18
So then, as Barthel points out, Seton and her sisters found themselves
negotiating with male leadership. Barthel explains, “Women were already
considered to be inferior to men; when that cultural stance was reinforced
by clericalism, nuns were expected only to work, pray, and obey.”19 Men
had great power over the sisters. For instance, Dubourg restricted the sisters
to receiving the Eucharist no more than three times per week.20 Seton’s new
superior, John David, wrote rules for Seton’s new school without consulting
with the sisters and indicated that he would run the community and that
Seton and the Sisters were simply to follow his orders. Seton complained
about this tyranny in letters but to no avail. She lamented to Bishop Carroll,
but his response, although empathic, called for her to obey.21 Seton would
encounter these challenges from the male hierarchy for the rest of her life;
she resisted tyranny when she could, submitted when she was forced to. As
106 David Von Schlichten
Sister Lois Sculco, S.C. of Seton Hill University, states, “Mother Seton could
work with the men but told them when she was displeased.”22 And Barthel
writes, “As more religious communities sprang up to meet the needs of the
growing American church, the women often had to choose between sub-
mission and confrontation, with submission the norm . . . Elizabeth chose
confrontation.”23
This proto-feminist orientation of Mother Seton shaped her approach to
leadership, which rejected the patriarchal emphasis on hierarchy for a more
egalitarian emphasis on servanthood.

Servant-Leadership
In a way, servant-leadership has been in existence for several millennia. Jesus
of Nazareth, for instance, in John’s Gospel, Chapter 13, washes his disciples’
feet and then urges them to wash the feet of one another. Foot washing is
certainly an act of serving that Jesus calls his followers to practice. Other
religions and ethical systems have also called people to lead with service. The
Tao Te Ching, for instance, champions the leader who is not authoritarian
but leads by being attentive to the circumstances and, at least to an extent,
yielding authority.
Nevertheless, the contemporary concept of servant-leadership is the brain-
child of Robert Greenleaf, an American and 40-year employee of AT & T
who asserted that leadership in America was authoritarian and power-driven.
In his sixties, he proposed in a series of essays an approach to leadership that
was more servant-oriented. He begins his foundational essay, The Servant as
Leader, by asking:

SERVANT AND LEADER—can these two roles be fused in one real

person, in all levels of status or calling? If so, can that person live and
be productive in the real world of the present? My sense of the present
leads me to say yes to both questions. This paper is an attempt to explain
why and to suggest how.24

He recalls that the idea for servant-leadership was born out of reading Her-
man Hesse’s short novel Journey to the East. In it, a character named Leo
accompanies a band of men on a mythical journey. He serves them through
doing chores and also supporting them through his inspiring presence and
song. Then he disappears, and the group falls apart and ends up failing to
complete their journey. Years later, the narrator encounters Leo again who,
it turns out, is the leader of the order that had sponsored the journey. Thus,
Leo is a servant-leader.25
Drawing from Greenleaf’s work, Larry C. Spears explains, “Servant-
leadership emphasizes increased service to others, a holistic approach to
work, promoting a sense of community, and the sharing of power in decision-
making.”26 Spears also gleans from Greenleaf’s writings ten characteristics of
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 107
servant-leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, con-
ceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people,
and building community. “Listening” involves, not just listening to others
but also listening to “one’s inner voice.”27 “Empathy” entails understanding
people’s thoughts and feelings, even if not necessarily endorsing them. By
“healing,” Spears means that leaders are to be a “powerful force for trans-
formation and integration.”28 Many people struggle with “broken spirits”
and have emotional pain.29 The servant-leader helps people toward whole-
ness. Awareness, which includes self-awareness, can be disturbing because
it includes being attuned to problems. “Persuasion” indicates a leadership
style that is not authoritarian but strives to build consensus. “Conceptual-
ization” entails being a visionary, seeing beyond the everyday matters to the
larger picture of an organization. The leader with foresight is able to learn
from mistakes and correctly assess the present so as to predict accurately
the future. “Stewardship” is the idea of caring for something that belongs
to another on behalf of that other, and a servant-leader is a steward of an
organization for the greater good. “Commitment to the growth of people”
means valuing people intrinsically and not just as members of a given orga-
nization. Thus, servant-leaders care about helping her or his people grow
both personally and professionally. Finally, “building community” is about
fostering, not only fellowship and unity for the larger organization but also
for smaller groups within the organization.30
Servant-leadership has enjoyed great popularity as a remedy to more
oppressive, hierarchical models of leadership. As Deborah Eicher-Catt notes,
the servant-leadership paradigm is widely regarded as a “panacea to pre-
clude corporate corruption and scandal, employee dissatisfaction, and lag-
ging company profits.”31 She also notes that servant-leadership is touted as
“genderless [her italics]”—that is, “[p]urporting to advance more wholistic
and collaborative approaches to organizational problems” and so might be
appealing to those advocating for “feminist ethics.”32
However, Eicher-Catt argues convincingly that servant-leadership actually
undermines the very goals that many leadership experts claim it helps to
advance. In her 2005 article “The Myth of Servant-Leadership: A Feminist
Perspective,” Eicher-Catt does a deconstruction feminist interpretation of
servant-leadership through “a semiotic analysis of the gendered language
and discourse that constitutes it.”33 Since the terms “leader” and “servant”
are, given the traditionally patriarchal understanding of the terms, in opposi-
tion to each other, the two terms are “mutually constraining, rhetorically.”34
Thus, when leaders try to implement servant-leadership, there is sufficient
ambiguity to the term that a leader can readily use servant-leadership to
advance a self-serving, oppressive agenda under the guise of the ostensi-
bly noble servant-leadership model. Since the qualities of leaders are often
related to patriarchal understandings of masculinity (such as hierarchy and
dominance), the “servant” component, the opposite, is related to patriarchal
understandings of femininity (such as empathy and community building). As
108 David Von Schlichten
long as essentialist, patriarchal understandings of male and female persist,
servant-leadership will actually reinforce those understandings rather than
eliminate them. Further, Eicher-Catt contends that servant-leadership per-
petuates an “organizational myth” of the ideals of leadership that, as we see
in the history of the development of servant-leadership, is actually rooted
in a Judeo-Christian understanding of leadership, which we note repeat-
edly in the work of Greenleaf (a devout Christian) and his disciples. The
Judeo-Christian tradition is itself heavily patriarchal. Thus, servant-leadership,
while appearing to be innocent and egalitarian, actually insidiously rein-
forces patriarchy.
Eicher-Catt lifts up several examples of corporations that allegedly employ
servant-leadership to demonstrate that the model simply does not bring about
the goals that so many claim it does. Indeed, she notes that there is no empir-
ical evidence that servant-leadership does what it is purported to do. Legions
of people in business simply embrace servant-leadership, granting it iconic
and reified status, without considering whether servant-leadership is truly in
accord with the ideals associated with it. More effective would be a model of
leadership that, rather than imposing such a myth onto an organization, actu-
ally seeks to help develop an approach to leadership that grows organically
out of the organization and is subject to ongoing scrutiny. She contends,

The effective leader is not a person who re-authorizes pre-given meaning

systems, however innocent and honorable they might appear. To the
contrary, we need more leaders—male and female alike—who engage,
not in sedimented speech, but in “authentic speech.”

That is, speech that arises from the situation.35 In other words, true leader-
ship is shaped by a given context and is not based on a paradigm imposed
upon that context that actually reinforces gendered oppression even while
its champions claim that it is liberating.
Eicher-Catt does indeed provide an astute caveat regarding servant-
leadership. Organizations are wise to heed her warning that servant-leadership
can actually be used by a leader simply to justify an oppressive agenda by
cloaking it in the noble-sounding language of servant-leadership. Further,
given its close ties to gendered language involving leadership, servanthood,
and Judeo-Christian traditions, servant-leadership can easily reinforce oppres-
sive modes of leadership.
In some ways, Seton’s leadership illustrated the very problems that Eicher-
Catt warns about in her article. In her devotion to working long hours to
help her students and others in need, she was every inch servant. She also
worked in collaboration with her fellow Sisters of Charity rather than des-
potically issuing orders. However, she did all of this in the context of a patri-
archal religion, Christianity. While she sometimes challenged the men over
her, ultimately she was an obedient servant of the male-dominated Church
that had at its heart a patriarchal orientation. Eicher-Catt would argue that
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 109
Seton, as a servant-leader, was restricted in the role in that she was confined
ultimately to be a servant to a patriarchal church. The Church taught that its
members, especially women, needed to be subservient to the male hierarchy,
all in the name of the noble ideal of Christianity that supposedly was passed
down from God himself.
That being said, in an article published in 2011, Kae Reynolds, respond-
ing to Eicher-Catt (and others), expresses openness to servant-leadership
even when viewed through a feminist heuristic by suggesting a difference
feminist approach as opposed to a deconstruction feminist approach, which
Eicher-Catt employs. While Eicher-Catt dismisses servant-leadership as
hopelessly patriarchal at its very core, Reynolds proposes that difference
feminism shows that, with modification, servant-leadership is still a viable
leadership model. Emphasizing the traditionally feminine ideals of caring
for others and developing partnerships, Reynolds proposes understanding
the terms “servant” and “leader” accordingly. That is, instead of thinking of
servants as self-sacrificing and leaders as domineering, Reynolds proposes:

The servant facet is defined not through placating or self-degrading

forms of self-sacrifice or self-denial, but, as Spears (2002) noted,
through [the traditionally feminine roles of] listening, healing, steward-
ship, fostering personal growth, and building community. Leading in
servant-leadership has less to do with domination and more to do with
[the traditionally masculine roles of] role-modeling, conscious initiative,
and creating an environment of opportunity for followers to grow and
thrive (Kouzes and Posner, 2003). Serving has less to do with coerced
subservience and more to do with humble, empowered, ethical activism.
As such, servant and leader are compatible. The challenge lies in manag-
ing the meaning of the terms servant and leader.36

Reynolds calls this understanding of servant-leadership “gender-integrative”

because it brings together traditional masculine and feminine behaviors vis-
à-vis difference feminism to produce a model of servant-leadership that can
effect liberation rather than deceptively perpetuating oppression. Reynolds
acknowledges the value of Eicher-Catt’s critique but then goes beyond it to
offer that servant-leadership has value when modified through a difference
feminist understanding.
As we shall see, Seton, while definitely restricted in the ways Eicher-Catt
describes, was ultimately a proto-feminist servant-leader along the lines of
Reynolds’s understanding of servant-leadership.

Seton as Proto-Feminist Servant-Leader

Seton had a pedagogical philosophy that grew organically out of her piety.
She encouraged her students to think of God as father37 and friend and dis-
couraged them from thinking of God as overbearing and judgmental. She
110 David Von Schlichten
also taught students to have faith in the goodness of Providence, especially
during difficult times. As is indicated in Provincial Annals, Seton urged her
students, “Love God, my dear children and you may forget there is a hell.”38
She also taught the students to dedicate every action to God, a dedication
that reflected the mission of the Emmitsburg community, which was to

[h]onor the Sacred Infancy of Jesus in the young persons of their sex
whose heart they are called upon to form to the love of God, the practice
of every virtue, and the knowledge of religion, whilst they sow in their
midst the seeds of useful knowledge.39

Regarding conflict among students, Seton called for “discretion and charity
of speech.”40 Pertaining to dress, Seton called for her girls to dress simply.41
Respect and equality were central principles for Seton and the Sisters of
Charity. For example, Seton readily welcomed students from a wide array
of backgrounds, such as people of different ethnicities. After consulting
with the sisters, she also allowed Protestants to attend Saint Joseph’s Free
School, despite protest from Father John Dubois, who had been designated
to oversee pastoral care in Maryland.42 In addition, she made sure that lower
income students could attend for free.
Seton’s mission was based on the tradition of Saints Vincent de Paul and
Louise de Marillac, who lived in the seventeenth century. The rule of the Sisters
of Charity was derived from the Vincentian charism,43 and Seton translated
some of the key documents pertaining to Saints Vincent and Louise so that she
could teach the sisters about Vincentian principles. She also learned from the
Daughters of Charity of France about how to instruct low-income children.
Drawing from Vincentian values, the Sisters of Charity under Seton
embraced several key principles. Of special note are the following:

• Teachers presented social concerns and the needs of poor persons

through appropriate projects so that their pupils could interiorize the
lessons for life.
• Admission procedures and curriculum focused on the needs of the pupil
and were applied with flexibility according to family circumstances.
• School culture was creative in promoting the bonds of caring and com-
passionate relationships, which would endure into adulthood.
• The school planned and provided learning opportunities to address
intellectual, spiritual, moral, affective needs, and skill development for
responsible adulthood.
• The pupil population reflected inclusivity and diversity of Catholics and
Protestants, tuition-paying and free scholars, day pupils and boarders,
along with orphans and the affluent.44

These ideals reflect a proto-feminist emphasis on openness to all people,

regardless of class, religious affiliation, or gender, as well as a focus on
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 111
relationship and attention to the individual needs to students, as opposed to
a hierarchical, one-size-fits-all pedagogy often found in patriarchy, as think-
ers such as Freire and hooks have argued repeatedly. These proto-feminist
emphases provide a helpful corrective to servant-leadership reminiscent of
Reynolds’s proposal to ensure that servant-leadership genuinely accom-
plishes what it claims to accomplish: leadership that truly rejects hierar-
chical oppression for an approach that genuinely incorporates the input of
those the servant-leader is working with.
Seton’s pedagogy featured flexibility, creativity, collaboration, and individ-
uality. She was principally concerned with shaping her students to be virtu-
ous, and she was ever attentive to the personality of each student. Regarding
discipline, she found effective withholding recreation and fruit, and often a
reward of a penny produced positive results. Kneeling was the only form or
physical punishment that was permissible at Saint Joseph’s at a time when
beating children was considered acceptable.45 Seton also emphasized team
teaching, including by involving her daughters as aides, instructors, and role
models, and she communicated frequently with parents and guardians about
the progress and problems pertaining to their children. She could be quite
direct about a child’s weaknesses, but she managed generally to be charming
and tactful, such as when she points out to a parent that he “will be disap-
pointed in [his daughter’s] Musical Talent.”46
Seton’s pedagogical practices resemble what we in the twenty-first century
can readily characterize as a confluence of proto-feminism and servant-leadership
in the manner that Reynolds describes. She is proto-feminist in her emphasis
on championing women as educators who sometimes defy their male superi-
ors and who specialized in educating girls. Granted, Seton did not invent the
idea of women opening a school for girls, and she certainly was not the only
woman to challenge the patriarchal Church that she loved but also found
frustrating. Nevertheless, Seton was just such a figure and so embodied a
kind of proto-feminism.
Her proto-feminist pedagogy is most evident in her downplaying of hier-
archy and her focus on collaboration and tailoring to the individual, and in
this regard, her leadership style was akin to the servant-leadership model of
today. Seton’s leadership resembled servant-leadership in her collaboration
with other sisters and parents/guardians and being attentive to the needs of
the individual student rather than just applying the same approach to all.
Seton listened to the people around her and worked with them, champion-
ing equality and cooperation instead of being a leader who simply dictated
orders and policies. Thus, we see in Seton’s work many of the aspects of
servant-leadership that Reynolds highlights: the focus on listening, personal
growth, community building, role modeling, and creating an environment of
opportunity for followers to grow and thrive.
Throughout her life, and even more so once she converted to Roman
Catholicism, she was especially zealous about the Eucharist, and this zeal
was related to her leadership philosophy. Although initially wary of the
112 David Von Schlichten
Church’s teaching on the real presence of Christ’s body and blood in the
Eucharist, Seton came to cherish it. For Seton, the Eucharist connected her
to Christ in an intimate way that provided strength. It was essential for her
spiritual life. Moreover, as her health declined, Seton’s zeal for the Eucharist
grew. Father Simon Gabriel Bruté de Rémur describes her intense emotion
during one of her communions shortly before her death:

Her joy was so uncommon that when I approached, and as I placed the
ciborium upon the little table, she burst into tears and sobbing aloud
covered her face with her two hands. I thought first it was some fear of
sin, and approaching her, I asked . . . “Have you any pain? Do you wish
to confess?” “No, only give him to me.”47

Bruté added in a letter to Antonio Filicchi that, in her last days, “Com-
munion was all to her.”48 The last time Seton received the Eucharist was
on January 1, 1821, three days before her death. The night before, a sister
watching over her urged Seton to take medicine to ease the pain, but Seton
refused to break her pre-Eucharistic fast. She said, “Never mind the drink.
One Communion more and then Eternity.”49
This passion for the Eucharist relates to her leadership style in that it
underscores her sensitivity and how highly she valued the sacramental expe-
rience. For her, God was undeniably present in the Eucharist. She brought
that heightened, sacramental sensitivity to everything she did. For her, the
world was full of God’s presence, and she was determined to help others
perceive that presence, as well. As Betty Ann McNeil writes, “Passionately
devoted to Holy Communion as an Episcopalian and then the Eucharist as a
Roman Catholic, Elizabeth came to understand more about other modalities
of God’s presence in life events, relationships, and persons in need.”50 Such
an understanding helped her to see how God might be incarnate or pres-
ent in the everyday people she encountered. If bread and wine can become
Christ, then where else might we encounter Christ in this world? Indeed,
Matthew 25: 31–46, which teaches that, when we minister to people in
need we minister to Christ, aligns well with the idea of encountering Christ
in something as mundane as bread and wine. Granted, the Eucharist has a
unique holiness. Even so, the Eucharist opened up for Seton a sense of the
holiness all around her. As Sister Maureen O’Brien, S.C., the Director of
Campus Ministry at Seton Hill University, states, Seton’s Eucharistic theol-
ogy reflected an “incarnational spirituality” that permeated the “whole of
her life, not just a part of it.”51
Of course, Eicher-Catt would argue that Seton’s approach was less like
servant-leadership and more like the leadership ideal that Eicher-Catt calls
for in her critique of servant-leadership, which is akin to the understanding
of servant-leadership Reynolds proposes. Eicher-Catt’s contention is that
proponents of servant-leadership may claim to be collaborative and atten-
tive to the individual needs and abilities, but, in reality, servant-leadership
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 113
undermines such ideals by perpetuating a hierarchy disguised as egalitari-
anism. Seton’s approach, Eicher-Catt would indicate and Reynolds would
agree, truly does what servant-leadership only pretends to do: a form of
leadership genuinely open to the needs and ideas of employees and cus-
tomers (in this case, students and their families). Again, Seton is advancing
this open model of leadership in the context of a larger Church that, as
Eicher-Catt notes, was hierarchical and oppressive, including by confining
women such as Seton and the Sisters of Charity, to the role of servants who
had no leadership authority vis-à-vis the hegemony of the male clergy. Thus,
Eicher-Catt’s assessment would be that an oppressive patriarchal Church
ultimately always restricted Seton, while Reynolds would contend that,
within the Church, Seton was able to achieve a genuinely proto-feminist
servant-leadership.
There is no doubt that her version of servant-leadership was shaped by
Christianity and patriarchy and so fell short of a truly empowering lead-
ership as espoused by Eicher-Catt. There is also no doubt that Seton’s
servant-leadership was seasoned by proto-feminist understandings of what it
meant to be a woman in a patriarchal Church and nation and what it meant
to be an educator. She was a servant-leader who served a male-dominated
Church, but she did so while challenging that male authority and while
focusing on compassion and a rejection of hierarchy and attention to indi-
vidual needs as an entrepreneur and educator.

Setonian Leadership for Today

At first, Seton’s principles may seem at once unrealistic and already in place.
Unrealistic may be Seton’s lack of concern about making a profit. She was
ever concerned about finances, of course, but she embraced poverty in a
nation that then and today regards accumulating wealth as one of the great
hallmarks of American success. However, Seton’s approach can challenge
leaders to focus on people over profit. She provides specific examples for
how to do so as a proto-feminist servant-leader.
For instance, Seton stresses the importance of collaboration instead of an
authoritarian, hierarchical approach to teaching. Of course, current peda-
gogical theory advocates for just such an approach. From Paolo Freire to
bell hooks to Parker Palmer, the movement in the classroom has been away
from the professor as the sole bearer of knowledge and as the dictator (how-
ever benign) of the classroom toward a model that draws from student input
and focuses on the professor learning with the students rather than being
in the teacher role only. Current pedagogy also stresses professors work-
ing with colleagues and other experts, even across disciplines, to create a
rich learning experience. Such a practice is especially germane at liberal arts
schools, which feature exposing students to multiple disciplines and fields.
This approach to teaching can be applied to other areas of leadership,
from business to politics. Instead of CEO’s, executive directors, or elected
114 David Von Schlichten
officials applying servant-leadership in such a way that creates a kind of
superficial sense of collaboration or simply reinforces the authority of the
leaders, these figures could apply a Setonian servant-leadership, which, in
pragmatic, concrete ways, strives to meet constituents where they are and
with a genuine openness to learning from and being shaped by them.
Seton’s proto-feminist servant-leadership strikes a balance between a cen-
tralized and decentralized form of leadership. In The Starfish and the Spider:
The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, Ori Brafman and Rod
A. Beckstrom propose that there are two main leadership approaches. One
is like a spider in that there is a head, such as a CEO, whose removal would
kill the organization. The other is like a starfish, which has no head per se. If
a leg of a starfish is cut off, the animal can still function and will grow back
a new leg. Similarly, some organizations are decentralized, meaning that they
have no single leader and no hierarchy. The resulting organization is more
resilient than a spider organization. Brafman and Beckstrom provide many
examples of such organizations, such as Wikipedia and Alcoholics Anony-
mous, which are successful because they are not dependent upon a single
leader or a hierarchy. Instead, anyone can participate in the organization
and thus help it to thrive. If a given leader is no longer able to be a part of
the organization, it is easy for others to step in.
Seton’s proto-feminist servant-leadership within the Catholic Church is
a hybrid of the spider and the starfish. She is part of the Roman Catho-
lic Church, which has a clear hierarchy and leadership, and she herself was
the leader of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph. At the same time, as
a proto-feminist servant-leader, she deemphasized hierarchy, challenged the
patriarchal structure of the Church at times, and focused on collaboration
and individualization when it came to the sisters and the people she cared for.
Such a model is especially germane in twenty-first century America. The
2016 presidential election exposed anew deep, systemic problems regarding
gender, race, religion, and class. In addition, since 9/11, the U.S. government
has become more centralized. Such a move is understandable but may be
ineffective when it comes to combating decentralized aggressors such as al
Qaeda52 and ISIL. The United States would be more effective against such
groups by employing a Setonian model that might include, for example,
efforts to work through grassroots organizations that can channel efforts to
help correct the systemic problems such as poverty and social injustice that
lead to terrorism in the first place.
For example, the television news magazine 60 Minutes reported an adver-
tising campaign launched in Colombia that helped bring about the end of
a civil war that ran for more than half a century. The campaign had sev-
eral components, such as messages placed among the rebels from mothers
encouraging soldiers to come home. One of the most striking and effec-
tive aspects of the campaign was hanging in rebel territory Christmas lights
with banners encouraging the soldiers to honor Christmas by dropping their
weapons and heading home. Three hundred thirty one soldiers, about 5% of
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 115
the total force, did just that.53 This kind of focus on meeting people where
they are was part of Seton’s leadership and is worthy of imitation.
For a final suggestion of how to apply Seton’s model for leadership, let us
consider “Lila,”54 an employee at a non-profit agency of about 300 employ-
ees that provides housing for low-income people. She has been frustrated
for years by the demoralizing leadership of the organization. The exec-
utive director has said that he has an “open door” policy, meaning that
any of his employees is welcome to talk with him about the agency. In
reality, he is defensive about criticism and is quick to sharply reprimand
people who complain. The executive director has told employees that, if
they are unhappy, he has “many others who can replace them.” In addi-
tion, men are in the highest (and best paid) positions while women tend
to be in positions of lower rank and pay. People of color are also not well
represented.
A Setonian model of leadership suggests the following changes. First, there
would be genuine collaboration among employees rather than a hierarchical
approach that does not allow for feedback. Lila proposed that the execu-
tive director should actually go to the employees to listen to their concerns
and learn from them. Another valuable change would be hiring women and
people of color for higher paying leadership positions and also providing
more support for those in lower positions. Seton would advocate for greater
power for women, reaching out to the marginalized, and being more collab-
orative and less hierarchical.
On the positive side, the agency’s mission of providing housing to low-
income people is certainly Setonian. That kind of outreach needs to be
extended to the employees.

Conclusion
Elizabeth Ann Seton’s leadership as an educator was proto-feminist in that it
empowered women as teachers and girls as students and was both proto-feminist
and reminiscent of the servant-leadership model in its movement away from
a hierarchical, authoritarian approach toward one that stressed collaboration,
individual needs, values, and, of course, service over being served. While Seton’s
leadership was restricted by the patriarchal society of her day, overall, her lead-
ership helped to move the United States toward a more inclusive and egalitar-
ian pedagogy and society. Perhaps leaders today can follow her example if they
have the courage and humility to do so.

Notes
1. Even though the terms “feminist” and “servant-leader” are anachronistic vis-à-
vis Seton’s lifetime, they, nevertheless, with some qualifications, can be fruitfully
descriptive of her life and work. The term “proto-feminist” is more apt for describing
Seton’s feminism, so I use it here. I do not use the term “proto-servant-leadership”
to refer to Seton because there was no nascent servant-leadership movement
116 David Von Schlichten
during her lifetime the way that there was a nascent feminist movement during
that period.
2. The section of this chapter in which I summarize Seton’s life is based on the
biographical section of an article I wrote on Seton, “The Significance of Saint
Elizabeth Ann Seton for Lutherans on the Eve of 2017,” Seminary Ridge Review
18:1 (Autumn 2015): 18–33. The biographical information for that article comes
from the following: Joan Barthel, American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Ann
Seton (New York: St. Martin’s, 2014), and Annabelle Melville’s biographical
sketch of Seton in her introduction to Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings, ed.
Ellin Kelly and Annabelle Melville (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 15–20.
3. Annabelle Melville, Introduction to Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings, ed. Ellin
Kelly and Annabelle Melville (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), 68.
4. Joan Barthel, American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Ann Seton (New York: St.
Martin’s, 2014), 95.
5. The Roman Catholic doctrine of the real presence is the understanding that,
at the moment of consecration, the bread and wine of the Eucharist literally
become the body and blood of Christ even while retaining the physical proper-
ties of bread and wine. This teaching, in Roman Catholicism, is also known as
transubstantiation. There are other denominations that believe in real presence
but do not subscribe to transubstantiation.
6. Sister Marie Celeste, S.C., Elizabeth Ann Seton A Self-Portrait: A Study of Her
Spirituality in Her Own Words (Libertyville: Franciscan Marytown Press, 1986),
128.
7. Betty Ann McNeil, “Historical Perspectives on Elizabeth Seton and Education:
School Is My Chief Business,” Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and
Practice 9, no. 3 (July 2006), 285–6. https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/cej/
article/view/701
8. Ibid., 286.
9. Barthel, American Saint, 55.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Quoted in Barthel, American Saint, 56.
13. Barthel, American Saint, 56.
14. Ibid., 57.
15. Ibid., 58–59.
16. Ibid., 138–139.
17. Ibid., 139.
18. Ibid., 140.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., 142.
22. Sister Lois Sculco, S.C., interview by David von Schlichten, November 22, 2016.
23. Barthel, American Saint, 141.
24. Robert Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader, 1970, www.benning.army.mil/infantry/
199th/ocs/content/pdf/The%20Servant%20as%20Leader.pdf
25. Ibid.
26. Larry C. Spears, Introduction to The Spirit of Servant-Leadership, ed. Shann Ray
Ferch and Larry C. Spears (New York: Paulist Press, 2011), 10.
27. Ibid., 11.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid., 11–14.
31. Deborah Eicher-Catt, “The Myth of Servant-Leadership: A Feminist Perspective,”
Women and Language 28, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 17.
 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 117
32. Ibid., 17–18.
33. Ibid., 17.
34. Ibid., 19.
35. Ibid., 24.
36. Kae Reynolds, “Servant-Leadership as Gender-Integrative Leadership: Paving a
Path for More Gender-Integrative Organizations through Leadership Education,”
Journal of Leadership Education 10, no. 2 (Summer 2011): 164.
37. Eicher-Catt would point out that Seton’s use of male language for God (which
was and is the standard practice in much of Christianity) illustrates how she was
never truly liberated from patriarchy as a servant-leader.
38. McNeil, “Historical Perspectives,” 297.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid., 298.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid., 299.
43. A “charism,” in this context, refers to the distinctive spiritual orientation and
characteristics of a religious order.
44. McNeil, “Historical Perspectives,” 300–301.
45. Ibid., 301.
46. Quoted in McNeil, “Historical Perspectives,” 302.
47. Quoted in Melville, introduction to Selected Writings, 72.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. McNeil, “Historical Perspectives,” 288.
51. Sister Maureen O’Brien, S.C, interview by David von Schlichten, October 10,
2016.
52. Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom, The Spider and the Starfish: The Unstoppable
Power of Leaderless Organizations (New York: Penguin, 2006), 142.
53. Lara Logan, “How Ads Helped End Colombia’s Civil War,” 60 Minutes,
December  8, 2016, www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-ads-helped-end-colombias-
civil-war/
54. This final example is based on an actual incident. I have preserved the anonym-
ity of the person involved.

Bibliography
Barthel, Joan. American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth Ann Seton. New York: St. Mar-
tin’s Press, 2014.
Brafman, Ori and Rod A. Becktrom. The Spider and the Starfish: The Unstoppable
Power of Leaderless Organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.
Celeste, S.C., Sister Marie. Elizabeth Ann Seton A Self-Portrait: A Study of Her Spir-
ituality in Her Own Words. Libertyville: Franciscan Marytown Press, 1986.
Eicher-Catt, Deborah. “The Myth of Servant-Leadership: A Feminist Perspective.”
Women and Language 28, no. 1 (Spring 2005):17–25.
Greenleaf, Robert. The Servant as Leader. 1970. www.benning.army.mil/infantry/
199th/ocs/content/pdf/The%20Servant%2 as%20Leader.pdf.
Kouzes, James and Barry Posner. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: John
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Logan, Lara. “How Ads Helped End Colombia’s Civil War.” 60 Minutes. December 8,
2016. www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-ads-helped-end-colombias-civil-war/.
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cation: School Is My Chief Business.” Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry
118 David Von Schlichten
and Practice 9, no. 3 (July 2006):283–306. https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/
cej/article/view/701
Melville, Annabelle. Introduction to Elizabeth Seton: Selected Writings. Edited by
Ellin Kelly and Annabelle Melville. New York: Paulist Press, 1987.
O’Brien. S.C., Sister Maureen. Interview by David von Schlichten. October 10, 2016.
Reynolds, Kae. “Servant-Leadership as Gender-Integrative Leadership: Paving a Path
for More Gender-Integrative Organizations through Leadership Education.” Jour-
nal of Leadership Education 10, no. 2 (Summer 2011):155–171.
Sculco. S.C., Lois. Interview by David von Schlichten. November 22, 2016.
Spears, Larry C. editor. Serant Leadership: A journey Into the Nature of Legitimate
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Ray Ferch and Larry C. Spears. New York: Paulist Press, 2011.
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on the Eve of 2017.” Seminary Ridge Review 18, no. 1 (Autumn 2015):18–33.
7 Catherine McAuley (1778–1841)
Exhibiting Mercy Through Service
and Authentic Leadership
Patrick J. Hughes

Introduction
In leadership, there are many styles and theories an individual can emulate.
It can be very easy to attach the style of servant leadership to those whose
leadership engagement is in the institutional setting of a religious order. It
could be said being a servant to others is one, if not the primary, central
theme of those who enter into religious leadership statuses such as ministry
and priesthood. Is it not even more so those who take formal vows and
enter the subculture of a religious order? Are there other types of leader-
ship besides servant leadership that could be exhibited by those of religious
orders? Authentic leadership is another, and for some a more significant
model of leadership used in this context. Authentic leadership is often a mea-
sure of a person’s true self. For something to be authentic, it is to be defined
as genuine, real, true to one’s personality or beliefs. Catherine McAuley and
her leadership shown toward the Sisters of Mercy provide a fine case study
demonstrating the power of authenticity.
Sullivan states in her book The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley
1818–1841 that “Catherine wrote not from a script, but from her heart—to
offer affection, to give encouragement, to cheer, to affirm the demands of
justice, to console, to incite laughter, to express gratitude, to keep playfulness
alive” (Sullivan, 2004:23). In order to gain further insight into the impact
of her leadership as authentic, this chapter takes a hermeneutical approach
of reviewing and analyzing McAuley’s writings and letters she kept so dili-
gently daily. “It begins with the leaders’ life stories which are unique to them
and more powerful than any set of characteristics or leadership skills they
possess” (George, 2007:xxxiv). Authentic leaders are able to create change
that sustains itself. To provide a more holistic approach, this discussion on
Catherine will benefit from a look into how her leadership has translated
into the current day. In essence, how has the change Catherine made through
her authentic leadership continued on through others? To this end, the
author interviewed several individuals who are currently active in, or work
closely with institutions sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, to gain a contem-
porary perspective on McAuley’s leadership and how it has had a lasting
impact on individuals and institutions. Those interviewed are in varied but
120 Patrick J. Hughes
significant roles within the present-day Sisters of Mercy: the current president
of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the vice president of
the Institute, the vice president of Mission Integration, and the vice president
of Student Services at one of the Mercy universities. All four women play a
very influential role within the Sisters of Mercy. All interviewees provided
permission to utilize statements and quotations to preserve their accuracy.
While interviews are a form of qualitative inquiry, the data collected was not
statistically analyzed for that was not the purpose of this project.
As Northouse points out, “Authentic leadership is a lifelong developmen-
tal process, which is formed and informed by each individual’s life story”
(Northouse, 2016:200). This chapter does not intend to provide a complete
picture of her life through the interpretation of her writings, letters, and par-
ticipant interviews. Rather, it seeks to explore a dynamic model of authentic
leadership via the medium of her life’s journey through examination of the
reflective letters she wrote daily (sometime to other individuals and often
simply documenting her own thoughts), the topics on which she wrote,
and the ways she can be closely related to what George and Sims (2007)
describes as being her own authentic style of leadership. As Northouse con-
tends, “authentic leadership is shaped and reformed by critical life events
that act as triggers to growth and greater authenticity” (2016:209). Before
discussing her leadership, it is important to have some understanding of
Catherine’s life story in order to provide context in which her leadership
was examined.

The Life of Catherine

The leadership of Catherine can be attributed initially to the socio-economic
and religiously challenged environment in which she found herself attempt-
ing to function, and within which her leadership emerged and continued
to develop. Catherine was born in Dublin, Ireland in the late 1700s and
lived through the mid-1800s. Ireland during this time period was struggling
with political and socio-economic tensions hidden behind the façade of reli-
gious strife between Catholics and Protestants. The culture was prevalent
to large numbers living in poverty, very few educational opportunities, and
very little opportunity for personal growth. Such conditions played a pivotal
role in the vast amount of social injustice, starvation, and fatal sicknesses.
Women in particular suffered from these social injustices brought about by
poor diet, inadequate health care, and lack of education and employment
opportunities.
The family life of Catherine can be understood as demonstrating a famil-
iar pattern of instability given the socio-economic and cultural life chances
of the time. Catherine had a brother and sister. At the age of five her father
passed away leaving only her mother to tend to the three of them. In Cath-
erine’s late teens, her mother died leaving her and her siblings with only
each other. Needing a place to stay, Catherine lived with her Protestant aunt
 Catherine McAuley 121
and uncle for a while. During this time, she would receive criticism from
her uncle regarding her Catholic religious background and beliefs. Living
in such conditions served to deepen and solidify Catherine’s spiritual beliefs
and the practice of her religion. This in turn became a catalyst in her adult
life for her daily practice of authentic leadership. It also allowed her periods
of great reflection on how to transition her beliefs into action.
At the age of 31, Catherine became the equivalent of a modern-day man-
ager of a large estate belonging to a Quaker and Protestant couple. Unlike
her earlier living experiences of poverty and unwelcome family scrutiny, this
latter living experience would be the inspiration for the beginning vision of
the Sisters of Mercy. While living on the estate, the impact Catherine would
have on the couple would be so profound that the husband would convert
himself to Catholicism shortly before his death. This is an early example
demonstrating the practice and influence of Catherine’s authentic leader-
ship. In addition to religious conversion by the husband, the couple also
bequeathed to Catherine their entire estate and finances. Catherine would
stay at the estate for a few years before utilizing the inheritance to buy what
is currently known as the birthplace of the Sisters of Mercy on Baggot Street.
Rather than use the monies for selfish means, Catherine used it to bring her
life’s work to fruition.
Baggot Street is where Catherine began her vocation of serving the poor,
sick, and uneducated. She particularly focused on women both young and
old. In its early stages of development, Baggot Street was not recognized
technically as a convent or house of a religious order; however, it would
become home to the first followers of the Sisters of Mercy. It would later
be called the “House of Mercy” (Foundress, 2010). McAuley would begin
to influence the lives of those women taken in to reside at Baggot Street as
much as they would influence her. From this point on, Catherine would fur-
ther her cause by building relationships with the bishops of the Church and
affluent people of the community. While at Baggot Street Catherine would
become the legal guardian of her deceased sister’s children. The girls would
live with her and the other women at Baggot Street while the sons were sent
to a local college to reside. Her legacy of authentic leadership within the
structure of community had begun.
Many people who lived close to and knew the work being performed at
Baggot Street were skeptical and critical of the efforts. Much of this criticism
was generated from an understanding commonly held during that time that
the type of work Catherine was doing should only be done by a chartered
religious order, a group identified and authorized by the religious hierarchy.
Such a religious authority also set boundaries and negotiated recognition
with civil authorities. McAuley had reached a pivotal point in her work
where, if it were to continue without controversy or blockade, she would
need to request and establish a new religious order. Catherine accepted the
legitimacy a formal order would bring in order to further establish the lead-
ership she envisioned pushing those boundaries larger and further.
122 Patrick J. Hughes
In 1831, Catherine and two other women would become the first Sisters
of Mercy by taking their vows. Catherine discusses those vows in her corre-
spondence, particularly letter number 12, by writing,

I, Sister Catherine McAuley, called in religion Mary Catherine, do vow

and promise to God perpetual Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, and to
preserve until the end of my life in congregation called of the Sisters of
Mercy, established for the visitation of the sick, poor, and protection and
instruction of poor females.
(Sullivan, 2004:47)

McAuley would be named to her first official leadership being appointed

Mother Superior, although as discussed later, Catherine’s leadership can be
attributed to far more than her title. Her life as an ordained Sister of Mercy
would only last ten years until her death. However, it is argued that her life
as a Sister of Mercy continues on in the heart of every Sister of Mercy who
takes the vows Catherine established, and they live their lives authentically
as she did. In the words of the current vice president of the Institute of the
Sisters of Mercy, “In my leadership I live with the awareness of Cather-
ine’s legacy and this not only informs my actions but also motivates, chal-
lenges and energizes me in my role as leader” (E. Campbell, email message
to author, April 4, 2016). In 1990, the authentic leadership of Catherine was
celebrated when Pope John Paul II declared that Sister Catherine McAuley
is venerable, which in the Catholic Church means she is worthy of the path
of sainthood. While not yet a canonized saint, Catherine’s life and words
certainly provide various examples where she exemplified the characteristics
of an authentic leader.

Authentic Leadership
In order to provide clarity, the lens of authentic leadership must be discussed.
Authentic leaders empower and serve others. Authentic leadership is often
considered an evolvement of Robert Greenleaf’s Servant leadership para-
digm. While these two styles of leadership are often viewed to be similar,
they do have significant differences. These two types of leadership share
the understanding of individuals who are very aware of ones’ self, and have
empathy toward others. However, those who exhibit authentic leadership
are said to be committed to building organizations rather than simply serv-
ing others. This means that the mission of the organization is placed first
before self. To support the authentic nature of Catherine’s leadership, the
president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy claims that, “for the sake
of mission, Catherine sought to help people, civic and church leaders espe-
cially, understand the views of one another.” (P. McDermott, email message
to author, April 11, 2016). Authentic leaders also assess the immediate or
current situation, behave more proactively because of this assessment, and
 Catherine McAuley 123
discover or create solutions to the issues at hand. In the words of the vice
president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, “Catherine’s leadership,
from my perspective, was one of modeling what it means to be responsive
to the needs of vulnerable people and to address injustices” (E. Campbell,
E., email message to author, April 4, 2016). Leaders who are authentic create
long-term goals. They are often very reflective both on their own experi-
ences and the experiences of others. The values and beliefs of the leader are
what provide grounding for their actions. Lastly, authentic leaders are not
attempting to be what another expects them to be; rather there is no sep-
aration in their mind or behavior between being a leader or one’s self. It is
because of these aforementioned reasons that Catherine is categorized as an
authentic leader rather than a servant leader based on the examples that are
provided and discussed throughout this chapter.
As Northouse (2016) points out, scholars have no one set definition for
authentic leadership, but several ways to define it and emphasize it through
different viewpoints. This section will utilize the approach that George and
Sims (2007) developed when explaining authentic leadership. Through their
research, George and Sims identified five aspects that authentic leaders
exhibit or demonstrate. In the book True North: Discover Your Authentic
Leadership (2007), they reference the following five dimensions:

• understanding their purpose

• practicing solid values
• leading with heart
• establishing connected relationships
• demonstrating self-discipline

Authentic leaders stay grounded in their values and purpose. Such lead-
ers maintain their genuineness and authentic self by joining their personal
and professional lives (George, 2003). Catherine exemplifies this thought in
every way through her life’s work. Over the next few pages, each of the five
facets of George and Sims’s model of authentic leadership will be analyzed
as they pertain to the examples Catherine McAuley and her life’s work can
provide, and the lessons to be learned. In addition, the thoughts and perspec-
tives of those interviewed will also provide support and current day evidence
to the lasting impact the leadership of Catherine had on those who continue
to follow her vision and mission.

Understanding Their Purpose

For an individual to be able to communicate and understand their purpose
can often be a challenge. To be able to articulate and live one’s purpose
requires the individual to engage in deep self-reflection and make sense
of their life experiences and how those experiences have impacted them.
Catherine recognized her purpose at a fairly young age. After her parent’s
124 Patrick J. Hughes
death, having to reside with other relatives who were anti-Catholic initially
sparked Catherine’s purpose. It was during this challenging period of her
life she sought comfort reflecting on her faith, which in the end provided
the basis for the vision and mission of her authenticity. It is these situational
characteristics that sparked her leadership. When speaking about authentic
leaders, George and Sims (2007) point out that such leaders “find their moti-
vation and passion to lead comes from a difficult experience in their lives”
(2007:8). This provides us an early example of how situations in one’s life
help develop a person’s leadership. At only 25 years old, Catherine solidi-
fied her purpose into action. The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy Associ-
ation claims it is here where Catherine “developed her merciful spirit and
grew in her personal grasp of Catholic faith and practice, her love for those
who were poor and neglected, and her determination to serve them” (Mercy
Quotes, 2010). Initial personal vision has become institutionalized, another
earmark of authentic leadership. This purpose would continue to flourish
during her time with the Quaker friends. Recognizing the profound influ-
ence Catherine had on their lives, as discussed earlier, the husband converted
to Catholicism, and eventually bequeathing the couple’s complete estate to
Catherine. Such a profound influence on others is an early example of Cath-
erine’s transformational ability to gain followers.
Transformational leadership may be another model than authentic, with
its own characteristics and criteria; however, the lines between are somewhat
fluid. By obtaining both their funds and their home, Catherine now had the
capital to begin her work. In a letter she wrote in 1838, Catherine states,
“There is very little good can be accomplished or evil avoided without the
aid of money” (Mercy Quotes, 2010). As with all types of leadership and the
process of it, authentic leadership requires and needs resources and systems
to function. While Catherine was vowed to poverty, it spoke to her under-
standing of the social systems that could and ultimately did aid her in her
endeavor. According to George, individuals who portray authentic leader-
ship “are more interested in empowering the people they lead to make a dif-
ference than they are in power, money, or prestige for themselves” (2003:12).
Despite her protestation, Catherine was appointed Mother Superior of the
Order of the Sisters of Mercy. In discussing her life, the Institute of the
Sisters of Mercy Association notes that “Daniel Murray formally installed
her as mother superior of the Sisters of Mercy, a title she refused to use her-
self, agreeing only, and reluctantly, to be addressed as Mother” (Foundress,
2010). Such an observation is evidence and testament to Catherine truly
understanding her leadership and purpose being greater than herself. Her
leadership quest was not about reaching a title or a position of authority
for self-gain. It was one of humbleness and genuine service to others. The
current day impact of such an example of leadership is evident when the
vice president of Student Services states, “In today’s world leadership is not
always positional, people rise to the position depending on the task or pro-
cess” (K. Foley, email message to author, May 9, 2016).
 Catherine McAuley 125
Practicing Solid Values
When speaking about leaders who are authentic, George and Sims assert,
“Such leaders know the ‘true north’ of their compass, the deep sense of
the right thing to do” (2007:20). It not to be suggested here that McAuley
always did the right thing, but it is argued she knew her “true north.” In her
Retreat Instructions, Catherine herself stated, “The compass . . . goes round
its circle without stirring from its center. Now our center is God from whom
all our actions should spring as from their source” (McAuley, 1952:154).
Her message is one to always be centered in your values regardless of exter-
nal situations and influences. Catherine’s deep reflective understanding of
her values was the anchor that she would use to engage in her life’s work.
As George indicates, “The test of authentic leaders’ values is not what they
say but the values they practice.” (2003: xxxii). McAuley herself echoes this
belief in Retreat Instructions to new Sisters of Mercy where she pointed out
to them to “show your instructions in your actions as much as you can”
(McAuley, 1952:154). Thus she affirms what George noted in that authentic
leader’s actions and words must be consistent to gain followership.
Throughout her journey, Catherine displayed many examples of actions
she performed that were in alignment with her values. Catherine’s mission
was to serve the poor, educate the ignorant, and help the sick. Prior to, and
upon receiving her inheritance, Catherine grew frustrated witnessing daily
the bureaucratic oppression created by the government, by church hierarchy,
and by those with wealth; abused and battered women were experiencing
its negative impact with little care and concern from their oppressors for the
victims’ suffering and strife. The inheritance provided Catherine the finan-
cial capital she needed to begin to create positive and lasting impact for such
females—a moment of recognizing the call of pushing forward her life’s
purpose into action.
Although McAuley stayed in the inherited home for six years after the
couple’s death, she “increased her social work among the poor, teaching
them religious doctrine, reading, industrial crafts, and other useful skills,
and formulating her long range plan” Foundress, 2010). While plans are needed
to outline the tasks needed to reach a goal, leaders are strategic thinkers
who create the vision for the future, and identify the networks, issues, and
resources. When discussing Catherine’s leadership, the president of the Institute
of the Sisters of Mercy asserts, “Approaching issues, concerns and planning
must be done strategically and that includes an awareness and appreciation
of who is impacted by an issue from various perspectives” (P. McDermott,
email message to author, April 11, 2016). As stated earlier, those individu-
als who are truly authentic have the ability to create long-term plans. Such
strategic leaders also are systemic thinkers. They identify and connect the
systems at play needed to make long-term plan a reality. Such a long-term
plan for Catherine came in the form of a physical space, a home. McAu-
ley envisioned a physical place where the practice of helping others could
126 Patrick J. Hughes
be performed. Through consultation of three priests, Catherine utilized the
funds from her inheritance to construct the home in an area known as Bag-
got Street in southeast Dublin. In letter number six of her correspondence,
McAuley writes,

Ladies who prefer a conventional life, and are prevented embracing it

from the nature and property or connections, may retire to the House.
It is expected a gratuity will be given to create a fund for the school, and
an annual pension paid sufficient, to meet the expense a lady must incur.
The objects that the Charity at present embraces are the daily education
of hundreds of poor female children and instruction of young women
who sleep in this House. Objects in view—superintendence of young
women employed in the house, instructing and assisting the sick poor.
(Sullivan, 2004:41–42)

McAuley used her authentic leadership strategically to identify a niche

group in helping women. This conclusion is supported by the recent actions
of the vice president of Mission Integration at one of the Mercy universities
when she states,

The Women with Children Program at Misericorida University is a

specific program which models our university’s concern for women in
need. Women are invited to participate in our mission of empowering
single mothers through educational achievement and personal growth:
working toward future professional success only a college degree can
provide  .  .  . This is a program I began in 2000, and I have seen the
successes of our women who have graduated, and honestly believe
Catherine would be proud!
(J. Messaros, email message to author, June 23, 2016)

Catherine’s vision was inspired by her values. Such values become the base
by which people build principles. Those principles guide a person’s leader-
ship. As George indicates, “Leadership principles are values translated into
action” (2003:86). McAuley’s values of service to others, building commu-
nity, addressing issues of social justice, were all encompassed in her actions
in which are now referred to as works of Mercy. There is no doubt that
Catherine’s values were grounded firmly in the teachings of her chosen faith.
However, she was always very conscious to ensure that those values were
represented in her behavior and actions. She provides a further example of
this as she instructed her fellow colleagues that “it is not sufficient that Jesus
Christ be formed in us—he must be recognized in our conduct” (McAuley,
1952:72). It is evident that Catherine wore her heart on her sleeve in so
that her heart and compassion toward others went beyond her words and
culminated in her every action. Thus it was her faith that largely influenced
her daily leadership behavior (Tobin and Tobin, 1993).
 Catherine McAuley 127
Leading With Heart
Passion is a very natural human emotion. As humans, we are passionate
about those things for which we have great concern. In his book Leading
from the Heart, Crowley argues, “To negate the heart is to negate what is
essential in ourselves- and in all whom we lead” (2011:55). This display of
passion can become infectious toward others. Others can begin to become
influenced by the exhibited passion of the leader to where now they are also
passionate. When discussing authentic leaders leading with heart George
connects it with passion. He describes it as “having passion for your work,
compassion for the people you serve, empathy for the people you work with,
and courage to make difficult decisions” (George, 2003:xxxiii). McAuley’s
passion for serving others became the very cornerstone of her legacy. Com-
passion is often developed through various means. It requires a person to
develop relationships and understand others stories. Immersing one’s self
in other environments to gain true understanding of others’ experiences is
another earmark of compassion. By doing so, an individual gains a greater
emotional connection to various cultures, issues of social injustice, and liv-
ing situations. When discussing the impact of McAuley’s leadership it is
notable that Catherine submersed herself two ways. First, she lived among
those she was helping at the Baggot House, surrounding herself with strug-
gling women, children, and sickly individuals. Prior to this, however, she
would literally walk the streets particularly in areas of those needing help so
she could observe the realities of their struggles on a daily basis. As women
joined and followed her lead, these women became affectionately known as
the “walking nuns” (Catherine McAuley, 2012).
Catherine provided us various examples in her own words and various
documents of her viewpoints on leading with her heart. In the well know doc-
ument among the Sisters of Mercy, Retreat Instructions, McAuley reminds
the followers, “If the love of God really reigns in your heart, it will quickly
show itself in the exterior” (1952:145). To further echo this point, another
quote of Catherine’s was “show your instructions in your actions as much as
you can” (Mercy Quotes, 2010). She provides a fine example of one whose
behavior and words were consistent. Catherine led with all of her heart and
wanted others to do the same, and she connected with others’ hearts through
the relationships she built.

Establishing Connected Relationships

McAuley established a very human centered approach in the way she built
and nurtured her relationships. Her letters were ways not only to reflect
but also to build relationships with other sisters and with the male clergy
whom she sought when she needed their blessings. The letters provide us
with excellent examples of the transparency she exhibited, which allowed
others to see her emotions, values and humor. As Northouse (2016) notes,
128 Patrick J. Hughes
effective relationships between leaders and followers are established through
high-grade communication, and reciprocated behaviors of respect, trust, and
commitment toward one another. Simply put by the President of the Institute
of the Sisters of Mercy when speaking about Catherine’s leadership: “Cath-
erine McAuley’s leadership included making connections . . . Catherine often
spoke of her intent to make connections (she probably used the language
of relationships) among those of differing thinking stances, differing eco-
nomic status, differing cultures” (P. McDermott, email message to author,
April 11, 2016). It could be said the transparency Catherine demonstrated
directly impacted those around her, thus building a strong bond of trust and
closeness between she and the other sisters. It is what Kernis (2003) states as
relational transparency, or the ability of a person to share their true feelings,
preferences, and intentions with others. It is through these relationships that
Catherine was able to capture each individual’s commitment to the mission,
the enacting in physical space of the vision for the Sisters of Mercy she was
attempting to establish.
She possessed an understanding that each person was their own individual
with strengths and weaknesses. In her own words, the current vice presi-
dent of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy agrees and explains the impact
Catherine had on her own leadership by stating, “Whether I am successful
doesn’t really matter . . . what is more important is the kind of consciousness
that I hope is growing within me” (E. Campbell, email message to author,
April 4, 2016). Catherine exhibited strong emotional intelligence in that
she too knew her faults and strengths she possessed. She reminds us who
study her leadership of this by stating, “Let us not feel distressed that others
know our faults. We all have our imperfections and shall have them till our
death” (Mercy Quotes, 2010). In order to build strong relationships, Cath-
erine established each connection with people to be its own special event
embracing individuality. In her instructions to those of the order she states,
“God does not bestow all His choicest blessings on one person. He did not
give to St. Peter what He gave to St. Paul nor to either what He gave to St.
John” (McAuley, 1952:182).
This very sentiment is supported by many of the individuals interviewed
for this chapter. The vice president of Mission Integration states,

My leadership style is one in which I try to empower those with whom

I work/serve to understand and believe in their gifts and to use those
gifts and talents for the betterment of the university, our students and
all of humanity.
(J. Messaros, email message to author, June 23, 2016)

The vice president of Student Services also supported this thought by

asserting,

I value what each person on my team brings and try to give each of
them opportunities and the freedom to develop. I do not make all the
 Catherine McAuley 129
decisions, whenever possible, the team makes decisions, ‘we are all in
this together!’ I have learned the importance of allowing each member
to use their gifts and I appreciate the diversity of their gifts.
(K. Foley, email message to author, May 9, 2016)

In addition, McAuley thought it very important to display respect to others

and focus on what was accomplished for the greater good, and celebrate
the accomplishments of those who do it. Catherine declared, “Let us rejoice
when good is done, no matter by whom it is accomplished” (Mercy Quotes,
2010). Interestingly enough during their interviews a few mentioned this
very type of impact Catherine has had on them. The vice president of Stu-
dent Services claimed “Most of all, Catherine has taught me that it is we,
not me that will make everlasting changes. Catherine’s most important les-
son to me is to live life to the fullest and take time to celebrate success” (K.
Foley, email message to author, May 9, 2016). Lastly, Catherine believed that
the show of respect toward others continuously rekindles the relationship
between two people. It also acts as a reminder to the individual of why they
do what they do. As Catherine asserts, “Our mutual respect and charity is
to be ‘cordial’—now ‘cordial’ signifies something that revives, invigorates,
and warms” (Sullivan, 2012:148). The relationships Catherine established
were in such a broad array from very affluent and wealthy people to those
stricken with deadly sickness and uneducated. Such an array exhibits the
importance Catherine placed on connecting not simply with people, but
their human spirit. She understood it was not her position to judge others.
Rather it was her strongly held value to embrace and follow the golden rule
of treating others the way you wish to be treated. This is no more evident
than what is given in her own words quoting scripture, when she states,
“Love one another as I have loved you,” should be engraved on our souls
and shown in our whole conduct.” (Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the
Americas, 2011:929–930).

Demonstrating Self-Discipline
By taking the usual religious vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience, Cath-
erine exhibited the great self-discipline that governed her personal life, which
then informed her life’s work. The vice president of the Institute of the Sisters
of Mercy described Catherine’s self-discipline by claiming she was a “woman
intent on addressing the needs of her time no matter what the obstacles and
the personal cost to herself” (E. Campbell, email message to author, April 4,
2016). Such vows were Catherine’s inner compass, which became the guid-
ing principles to the long-term goal of educating poor women, helping the
sickly, and addressing social injustices. Those individuals that demonstrate
self-discipline are very consistent with their behavior and communication.
Such behaviors make it easier for people to communicate with the leader and
more effective communication leads to greater trust and commitment from
followers. It reflects the old adage ‘practice what you preach.’ Catherine
130 Patrick J. Hughes
was self-disciplined enough to take time each day to reflect on and write
down her thoughts through her correspondence. Catherine utilized such
reflection time to center herself again daily to those values to which she
strongly adhered. She reminded others to do the same in her Retreat Instruc-
tions by stating, “To obtain recollection, we must entertain a great love for
silence” (McAuley, 1952:187). Her self-discipline is clearly shown by the act
of holding true to her values and that her mission was often challenged by
high-ranking clergy of not only the Catholic faith but also those of other
religious dominations. She reminds us of this by stating, “Do not fear of
offending anyone. Speak as your mind directs and always act with more
courage when the ‘mammon of unrighteousness’ is in question” (Sullivan,
2004:418). In her own thoughts the vice president of Mission Integration
supported this when interviewed by stating, “she challenged those in power
to address the issues, never doubting or backing down from her advocacy”
(J. Messaros, email message to author, June 23, 2016). While she may have
spoken very truthfully to these individuals, she practiced self-discipline not
to be offensive but to respect others while eloquently conferring her message
and thoughts. Those who exhibit self-discipline have a deeper understanding
of themselves and their emotions. Such self-discipline is what kept Catherine
focused on her vision of creating a practice of helping others.

Followership Impact
When reflecting on the thoughts of those interviewed for this chapter, it is
important to note how the various aspects of authentic leadership are men-
tioned. One participant discussed her relationship building and connecting
with others, while others discussed Catherine’s understanding of her true
purpose and mission. One of the quotes points out about Catherine’s strong
values and integrity. Another participant even referenced a current-day
example created as evidence of living out Catherine’s mission. All in some
way referred to how McAuley’s leadership was more about her practicing
a behavior rather than a formal role. The followers mentioned embracing a
set of values and connecting with those who share in those values. The fol-
lowership of authentic leaders increases when those following the authentic
leader can see themselves reflected in their leader. In essence, the followers
and leader are strongly connected through values and mission.
Thus the mission originally set forth by McAuley gained not only follow-
ership but also followers who are committed wholeheartedly to the organi-
zation’s mission. It is the faith of these followers that enables them to trust
in the vision and leadership of Catherine. Because the followers share this
common faith, they also attach strongly to one another as members serv-
ing a common purpose and mission. To further this point, Catherine had
enough self-discipline to stand by her convictions and challenge the impact
the injustices she was witnessing toward people. Her authentic leadership
influenced followers to become committed to an organizational mission that
 Catherine McAuley 131
has spanned decades and is continually exhibited by the work and behaviors
by those associated with the Sisters of Mercy.

Conclusion
Leaders are those with a vision who influence others with that vision toward
achieving a common goal. However, authentic leaders have a true sense of
self and they bear strong values; through those values, they lead with great
passion and heart. They know their true purpose and that purpose, passion,
and values are exhibited in and through their actions and behavior. Through-
out this chapter, much of the focus has been on Catherine herself and how
she, in many ways, exhibited the leader behaviors recognized as authentic
leadership. From her passion to her very value-centric life, she built lasting
relationships with whomever she became engaged. She also possessed the
discipline authentic leaders often do. As discussed throughout, Catherine
was a very values-centered person who found that center through practiced
self-reflection and did not lose sight when putting vision into action. McAu-
ley’s letters offer insight to the individual she truly was and worked daily to
be. It is a highlight of a truly authentic leader that they are always in process
and not static, as Catherine spent her life moving forward. Her passion
was influenced by, and a result of, her observations of the environment that
surrounded her. She was disciplined enough to hold true to her beliefs and
vows, and even influenced others to do the same.
When examining or discussing leaders and leadership, it is often easy to
only maintain focus on the leader. It is evident through the thoughts and
words of the individuals interviewed for this chapter, that through their
self-awareness and reflection Catherine’s authentic leadership is still pres-
ently influencing others to become authentic leaders themselves. Each indi-
vidual appears to understand their individual purpose as well as living and
behaving with the same values that McAuley demonstrated. They all hold the
similar beliefs when discussing building relationships with others, exercising
their own self-discipline, and holding true to their values while compassion-
ately serving others and pursuing solutions to serve injustices whatever those
might be. As the vice president of Mission Integration claims, “The Sisters
of Mercy continue to live her mission, no matter what part of the world in
which they live” (J. Messaros, email message to author, June 23, 2016). In
their own unique ways, these individuals described how they strive daily to
emulate Catherine’s leadership style. Although these individuals could be
viewed as followers, they have also developed into authentic leaders them-
selves by embracing Catherine’s philosophy and allowing it to influence
their own actions and behaviors.
As stated earlier in the chapter, those who are thought to be authentic
leaders are able to make sustainable change for the long term, not only
in influencing others but also often in tangible outcomes as well through
individuals strongly connected to the organizational mission. The tangible
132 Patrick J. Hughes
evidence of Catherine’s authentic leadership legacy is easily found through
the current status of the reported 11,000 Sisters of Mercy on an interna-
tional and national scale in the areas of education, health care, and issues
of poverty. The Mercy International Association, as of 2016, reports those
associated with the Sisters of Mercy are functioning within 44 different coun-
tries around the world. The Sisters of Mercy have affiliation with 87 educa-
tional institution ranging from elementary, secondary, colleges/universities,
and other educational related type facilities operating in 20 different states
in the United States as well as five countries (Healthcare, 2017). In terms
of health-care organizations in current operation, the Sisters of Mercy are
affiliated with six of the major health-care systems within the United States,
and countries throughout the world. These health care facilities provide ser-
vices such as long-term care, assisted living, and treatment and prevention
of many diseases to name a few (Healthcare, 2017).
The works of the Sisters of Mercy have evolved deeper than just serving
the poor, uneducated, and sick. They continue to expand their work on iden-
tifying and improving the symptoms or root causes of the aforementioned
social injustices worldwide. This is clearly supported by the thoughts of the
president of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy when she asserted,

We have the gifts and skills of social and theological analysis where we
can discern how and why such poverty exists and how so many social
ills (e.g., immigration, education, health care) are radically connected to
one another. Poverty is still at the heart of these societal inequities and
injustices, as it was in the time of Catherine, and making a real differ-
ence in the lives of people concretely still motivates us.
(P. McDermott, email message to author, April 11, 2016)

These words are also evidence of the purpose established by Catherine

many years ago still being pursued by her current followers. Often great
leadership of individuals is determined by outcomes like increasing prof-
its, return on investment, getting tasks accomplished, or even simple
quantification of what has been accomplished. While focusing on what
was accomplished is important, a qualitatively deeper leadership thought
should focus on how the outcome was accomplished. Outcomes and goals
can be reached but how a person is led to achieve those outcomes should be
of great importance. The authentic leadership Catherine McAuley exhib-
ited, and which is still present in the lives of the sisters and the hands
and feet of Catherine’s legacy, leaves no doubt why her vision, beliefs and
works have stood the test of time and carry on to this day. It is lessons
of leadership like Catherine’s that should be celebrated. For when leader-
ship touches our hearts like Catherine’s did, and continues to inspire those
bearing her legacy today, the change that person can make in the world
knows no bounds.
 Catherine McAuley 133
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8 Katharine Drexel (1858–1955)
Philanthropist and Transformational
Leader
Jessica Huhn

Introduction
For most of her life, Katharine Drexel had a wealthy upbringing, in a
deeply religious family. Born in 1858, Katharine Drexel bore witness to
some of the largest, most powerful movements as the United States con-
tinued to experience growth and evolve. Despite her family’s wealth, she
was exposed from an early age to her parents’ humanitarianism. Indeed,
her parents (particularly her stepmother during her formative years) took
pains to have their children recognize other, less-privileged, lifestyles. The
Drexel household expended considerable effort to show the unjust, harsh
treatment that minorities of class and color in the United States faced on a
daily basis. Katharine and her sister became aware that there was another
side of life, where people were not as fortunate as they were (Hughes,
2014). The Drexel family did not shelter Katharine and her sister from
such experiences. Together, and under parental tutelage, they spent a great
deal of time volunteering with those in need—a common activity in the
latter nineteenth century and early twentieth century for wealthy women,
both younger and older. As a result of these childhood experiences, Kath-
arine Drexel took the more dramatic leadership step beyond simply per-
forming charitable works with her female peers. She dedicated her life to
helping minorities in the United States. The seed of leadership was planted
in her early family experiences and grew in later years as she developed
and championed her vision as the transformational leader she became in
the causes of social justice. Her future years emphasized a focus committed
to assisting African Americans and American Indians in need. Following
in her family’s footsteps, Katharine Drexel became deeply and seriously
involved with the Catholic spirituality reflecting the faith in which she
was raised. In turn, this led to a life of not just performing good works
but, with significant commitment of personal resources (both vocation-
ally and financially), of also envisioning and promoting among followers
the cause of human charity and dignity which would last until her death
in 1955 (Gallick, 2007). We can look to Katharine Drexel’s experiences
and upbringing as change agents influencing her successful development
 Katharine Drexel 135
of transformational leadership skills, which in turn drastically recreated
her future status. She went from the gender-defined and privileged antic-
ipation of an heiress who would become a society wife and mother, and
instead became a leader of women engaged together in exemplary sacrifice
to achieve a vision of committed and enabling service.
Drexel used inheritance monies resulting from her parents’ deaths not
only to perpetuate philanthropy and enter a newfound religious calling
herself in 1889 but also to provide the impetus for others to change them-
selves and follow her lead in the cause of human rights for minorities.
Through the use of transformational leadership as identified by Burns
and expanded upon by Bass, Drexel strove to change the lives of Ameri-
can Indians and African Americans through self-sacrifice and her actions
as a moral agent (Bass, 1990; Burns, 1978). By motivating and mobilizing
her followers at a time heiresses married and performed charitable works
in subordination to social mores of the day, Katharine worked estab-
lishing schools, facilitating missionary work, and eventually founding
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Aristocratic women, and wealthy
women providing for charitable works, and entering convents was noth-
ing new. Katharine and her followers traded on the gendered expecta-
tion that women act in private, individual ways to provide charity. They
moved instead into the sphere of larger public and political actions, the
stereotyped domain of men, to champion an agenda of social justice.
Katharine, taking the lead organizationally and sometimes physically,
faced down obstacles such as patriarchal Church officials and the Ku
Klux Klan. Katharine Drexel personally funded a majority of her projects
during her lifetime, donating roughly $20 million of her inheritance—the
value of which would eventually be outstripped by her employment of it
for her work (Gallick, 2007).
Much of Katharine Drexel’s life has been preserved in written correspon-
dences which serve as an important source of data when researching her
life and legacy for furthering leadership (Hughes, 2014). At the time of her
death in 1955, Drexel had upward of 500 followers, and her leadership had
achieved the impressive outcomes of opening 61 schools and 145 missions
for American Indians and African Americans in need (Gallick, 2007). Cheryl
C. D. Hughes (2014:13) states that for Katharine Drexel it was indeed true
that “to be a woman, a Catholic, and a nun in nineteenth-century America
was to be thrice marginalized.” Throughout her lifetime, these defining char-
acteristics would truly make life difficult for Katharine. Indeed, while charity
was expected of those with wealth, too strong a dominant and religious
fervor for philanthropy and service was considered negatively among Drex-
el’s peers. Despite these odds working against her, Saint Katharine Drexel is
noted for the impact her transformational leadership had on generations of
American Indians and African Americans in need of assistance, and on the
expectations of women’s rightful place as leaders in her century’s (and the
next’s) ongoing battles against poverty and for civil rights.
136 Jessica Huhn
Transformational Leadership and Drexel
The development of the primary transformational leadership paradigm by
two researchers, first Burns and then Bass and colleagues (Hughes, Ginnett,
and Curphy, 2012), provides the most accurate key to the life of Katharine
Drexel. This, in turn, furthers our understanding of the resounding impact
transformational leadership has on followership. Stemming from her life
experiences, which guided her decisions to act as she did, Katharine Drexel
demonstrated the lessons of the transformational leader as identified first
by James MacGregor Burns (1978). Dominant leadership thinking prior to
Burns’ contribution were the early twentieth century trait and management
theories, followed by transactional leadership theories, emphasizing a ratio-
nal exchange relationship between leader and followers based on self-interest
(Bass, 1990; Van Wart, 2005). Transactional leadership theories, however,
came up short in failing to explain why some leaders exceed expectations,
especially measured by the successful achievement of the group. Accord-
ing to Burns, transformational leadership “raises the level of human con-
duct and ethical aspiration of both leader and led,” (LaFasto and Larson,
2012:115) emphasizing more than the mere and simple exchange between
leader and follower. Transformational leaders will fully embed themselves
into an intimate relationship with their followers. As a result, they uplift
their followers, which in turn create new leaders to continue with the vision
established by the leader. Transformational leadership emphasizes the focus
on enabling its followers primarily through behaviors and is less reliant on
traits, which is unlike transactional leadership, which tends to focus on more
individualized traits and the outcomes of causes undertaken (LaFasto and
Larson, 2012; Bass, 1990; Van Wart, 2005). Bernard M. Bass (Hughes et al.,
2012) expanded on the original concept of transformational leadership as
explained by Burns (Dvir, Edan, Avolio, and Shamir, 2002) to identify a more
varied and complex dualism between leader and follower. Of especial inter-
est in the life of Katharine Drexel is the common distinction between male
and female leadership; that male leaders are more likely to take a directive
and task-oriented approach and female leaders are more likely to be par-
ticipatory and relationship-oriented (Embry, Padgett, and Caldwell, 2008).
More recently, scholars have identified that this is not a useful construct,
and it ignores those organization-oriented behaviors of leadership that are
not gendered, and focuses on planning, risk-taking, and developing the rela-
tionships essential to facilitating change (Van Wart, 2005). Katharine Drexel
stepped out of the individual realm into transformational leadership when
she renounced the norms of wealthy society for an heiress. Through her
actions, Katharine Drexel inspired her followers, challenged male patriarchy
to change her own life, and, in turn, created leaders within her foundation,
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. These empowered sisters would carry
out the work of change first enabled by their transformational leader at
the missions and schools founded by Drexel; more significantly, they would
 Katharine Drexel 137
continue to act on the front lines of social justice and advocacy for the next
125 years.
A better understanding of Drexel’s leadership depends first on that initial
conceptualization of transformational leadership created by James Mac-
Gregor Burns. Burns was a renowned presidential biographer who shifted
his focus to understanding leadership after seeing the impact leadership had
throughout his detailed accounts of American presidents. In 1978, when
Burns first published Leadership, he laid the foundation for a new academic
focus on leadership through his dichotomizing of transactional and trans-
formational leadership. He wrote that “the transforming leader looks for
potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the
full person of the follower” (Burns, 1978:4). A later publication by Burns in
2003, Transformational Leadership: A New Pursuit of Happiness, sought
to provide ways that a transactional leader could become a transforma-
tional leader. Additionally, Burns noted that “transforming leadership begins
on people’s terms, driven by their wants and needs, and must culminate in
expanding opportunities for happiness” (Burns, 2003:230). It is evident that
the traits of a transformational leader mean ultimately focusing on the needs
of followers in order to promote change.
Since 1978, Burns’ theories of both transactional and transformational
leadership have been a key paradigm in the study of leadership and have
spilled over into other areas of research, including psychology. In his 2003
publication, Burns noted that in his original work, Leadership, the foun-
dation of psychology was in fact, missing from understanding transforma-
tional and transactional leadership (Stewart, 2006). Other theorists such
as Bernard M. Bass have since expanded on Burns’ original works, allow-
ing the transformational leadership model to continue its impact on society
as the field of leadership studies continues to expand. Various researchers,
including Burns and then Bass, Avolio, and Riggio, have studied the concept
of transformational leadership over the years. Subsequent works to Burns’
writings expanded upon the paradigm of transformational leadership and
established common characteristics found among transformational leaders.
The traits of transformational leaders as noted across the work of research-
ers include: their vision, strong rhetoric skills, their projected image, ability
to establish trust, and personalized leadership (Hughes et al., 2012).
Transformational leadership occurs when both the leader and followers
strive to uplift one another, advancing in this way to higher levels of moti-
vation and morality. Through increasing levels of morality and motivation,
transformation leadership evokes valuable change among followers (seen on
a micro level), and across social systems and settings (viewed from a macro
perspective) through the actions of the transformational leader. The trans-
formational leader will identify a collective purpose in order to rally follow-
ers and strive to enact social change. The effectiveness of a transformational
leader can be evaluated on their ability to produce social change relevant
to their collective purpose (Burns, 1978; Stewart, 2006). Transformational
138 Jessica Huhn
leaders empower transformational followers. Through their actions, and
stemming from an increase in both morality and motivation, transforma-
tional leaders and their followers truly have an opportunity to create change
within social settings.
For a transformational leader to be effective at creating change they must
possess the aforementioned skills of vision, rhetoric, image, trust, and per-
sonalized leadership; these influence their potential for motivating change
within social systems and their followers (Hughes et al., 2012). If a trans-
formational leader does not possess the necessary and characteristic talents,
it is likely that their leadership will be unsuccessful and could negatively
impact either (or both) the social system at large, or the followers. The vision
established by a transformational leader allows for followers to see the end
goals of the leader; this in turn acts as motivating inducement for both leader
and followers to remain driven to promote change. Through the transforma-
tional leaders’ rhetoric skills, specifically, they can clearly communicate their
vision with their followers. A well-defined and articulated vision strengthens
the followers’ means of seeing the end results of the vision and empowering
them toward change activity. Without establishing trust among their fol-
lowers, the transformational leader will not have the necessary support to
make the vision a reality. By maintaining a strong personal image, the trans-
formational leader can live their lifestyle on the moral high ground and in a
positive light, influencing the followers. As many transformational leaders
lead by example, it is important for them to possess such characteristics
to appeal to their followers. A true transformational leader will keep their
focus on the safety and welfare of their followers at all times. It is here, as a
result of these traits’ combination creating a unique approach to leadership,
that the transformational leader enacts personalized leadership. As a result
of the mentioned traits, it becomes evident that the transformational leader
can become an inspiration, motivating change among followers across a
variety of social settings.
Through his contributions to transformational leadership as originally
conceptualized by Burns, the research by Bass added four additional com-
ponents of transformational leadership. The four additions are idealized
influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individu-
alized attention. By adding these concepts, Bass provided the opportunity
for transformational leadership to be effectively measured. Through this
expansion on Burns’ work, Bass and Avolio established what is commonly
referred to as the MLQ, or Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. The MLQ
evaluates three leadership styles, including transformational, transactional,
and passive avoidant leadership styles (Judge and Bono, 2000). Utilizing the
MLQ, leaders are evaluated on the four factors established by Bass (1999),
in a leadership profile. When assessing the leader, they are scored higher in
some areas, and lower in others. The scores are then used to understand the
type of leader and the individual is. The MLQ remains a widely used assess-
ment tool when understanding behavior and leadership.
 Katharine Drexel 139
Bass added these four components of transformational leadership in the
hopes of better understanding transformational leadership conceptually as
well as creating the basis for the MLQ. By understanding the concepts of
idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and
individualized attention he demonstrated the importance of the followers’
interaction with the transformational leader and how key elements influence
that interaction directly (Bass and Riggio, 2005; Judge and Bono, 2000; Stew-
art, 2006). With these key elements, the transformational leader moves the
follower beyond self-interests and uplifts the followers (Bass, 1999). When
utilizing the MLQ, the aforementioned traits as defined by Bass (1990) are
used to assess for the skills of a successful transformational leader. First, the
understanding of idealized influence, also referred to as charisma, looks at
the leader’s behavior and how it influences their followers. The concept of
idealized influence focuses on the identification among the followers with
their transformational leader. Often times, this occurs by a leader possessing
a strong vision for the future and for the change necessary to attain it, which
the followers wish to imitate. By increasing idealized influence, the purpose
felt by the follower intersecting with the role model behavior of the leader
increase one’s success as a transformational leader (Bass and Riggio, 2005;
Judge and Bono, 2000). When establishing idealized influence or charisma,
the leader strives to gain the trust and respect of followers (Bass, 1990). It is
through the development of idealized influence that the followers begin to
mimic the transformational leader and the leader experiences an increase in
their followership and support.
Next, inspirational motivation involves the way a transformational leader
presents their vision to the masses with the intent of encouraging and mobi-
lizing followers. Through the presentation of one’s vision, and effective
communication by the transformational leader, the followers are challenged
to imitate, emulate and carry the vision forward (Bass and Riggio, 2005).
In order to motivate followers, symbols may be utilized to further convey
meaning and the importance of the vision’s purpose (Bass, 1990). Symbols
can be physical artifacts with symbolic meaning among the followers, and
language itself acts as a symbol system expressing shared cultural norms and
expectations. Often times the transformational leader will act in a certain
manner to increase enthusiasm among followers for the shared goals. It is
here that the vision of the transformational leader is communicated in such
a way that it motivates and transforms others to improve their followership.
Third, intellectual stimulation occurs when the transformational leader
focuses on the importance of innovations in the thoughts, ideas and actions
of their followers. The leader fosters new ways of thinking and acting among
their followers in order to grow and develop. It is here that the leader aids the
followers in becoming more creative and innovative. New ways of thinking
and acting allow the followers new ways of working toward the vision of the
transformational leader. Through the vision of the transformational leader,
the follower sees their influence within the macro level sphere, including at
140 Jessica Huhn
the level of social systems (Bass and Riggio, 2005; Judge and Bono, 2000).
With the purpose of stimulating the intellectual contributions of their fol-
lowers, the transformational leader does not criticize or correct in any public
or pejorative manner in order to maintain the morale and well-being of their
followers. In fact, uncensored brainstorming and collective interactive pro-
cesses are promoted in order to uncover the unanticipated or initially impos-
sible ideas. As the transformational leader strives to stimulate their followers
and allow for innovative ways of thinking and acting, the followers are
able to overcome obstacles and solve problems to remain driven toward the
vision and mission (Bass, 1999; Bass and Riggio, 2005). Intellectual stimula-
tion allows for the transformational leader to cultivate and foster innovative
ways of thinking within their followers, resulting in an increased drive for
successful attainment of the vision expressed by the leader.
Finally, individualized attention, also referred to as individualized interac-
tion, is the ideal-type definition of the relationship and interactions between
the transformational leader and their followers. In order to be successful,
the transformational leader remains focused on the needs of their followers
in order to uplift them and motivate them. Through their attentiveness and
focus on their followers, the transformational leader remains primarily dedi-
cated to the needs of their followers. If the followers’ needs are met, the vision
and goals will be achieved. This uniquely personal relationship promotes
continued followership (Bass, 1999). Transformational leaders often mentor
the followers, while respecting them and allowing for their personal success
and growth (often into transformational leaders themselves). The individu-
alized attention increases self-fulfillment and personal worth, allowing the
followers to continue their focus on the vision and mission (Bass and Riggio,
2005; Dvir et al., 2002). By remaining concerned with the follower in such
a personal and individualized manner, the transformational leader demon-
strates the value of each follower. This relationship between the followers and
their transformational leader allows them to both remain dedicated to their
followers’ needs and promote these individuals’ personal growth.
In addition to the key components of transformational leadership men-
tioned by both Burns and Bass, there are three important moral aspects
of transformational leaders. First is the moral character of the leader. This
remains important when gaining and mobilizing followers because followers
look for the leader behind the leadership behaviors when choosing to follow.
Second, the ethical values of the transformational leader, along with their
intent and vision, work hand in hand to not only mobilize followers but also
to increase overall followership. Finally, the morality behind the causes sup-
ported by leaders remains a key component. The morality behind the issue at
hand will influence the followers and the movement (Bass and Riggio, 2005,
Hughes et al., 2012). It becomes evident that the moral aspects needed by a
transformational leader have the opportunity to both make, and break the
followership and directly resonate with the level of impact on the followers
and toward the vision achieved by the transformational leader.
 Katharine Drexel 141
Transformational leadership is more than the sum of these components,
however. Each of these characteristics, as developed by Katharine Drexel
throughout her life, compounds with her inner-worldly asceticism to move
beyond simple charismatic leadership. She dedicates her life to her vision
(Hughes, 2014). Vision involves the overall purpose or mission, and the
capacity of leader and followers to determine collectively how to get there.
The importance of rhetorical skills allow for the transformational leader to
involve their followers. As for the leader’s image, it remains important to
gain followers and this pursuit can involve self-sacrifice while building trust
and respect among the followers. Finally, by personalizing leadership and
having a relationship connecting leaders with followers, transformational
leadership increases potential strength of the bond (Dent, Higgings, and
Wharff, 2005; Hughes et al., 2012). It becomes evident that throughout
Katharine’s life the aforementioned traits are part of her toolbox, vital to her
overall success as a transformational leader. The ways in which Katharine
Drexel mobilized her followers (Bass and Riggio, 2005) show that Drexel
embraced the characteristics, components and moral aspects of transforma-
tional leadership. As a result, she achieved leadership success as the founder
of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, and we continue to discern her legacy
through the transformative mobilization of her followers. Katharine Drex-
el’s leadership skills retain important lessons today as her proxy delegates,
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, evoke the outcomes of her leadership
throughout mission work and the continuation of those establishments for
social justice activity, including for American Indians and African Americans.

Katharine Drexel’s Early Years

Katharine Drexel was born on November 26, 1858, in Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania. Her mother, Hannah Langstroth Drexel was a devout German
Baptist or Dunkard. Hannah Langstroth maintained a simplistic lifestyle
as per her religious beliefs and despite her husband’s wealth. Five weeks
after Katharine’s birth, Hannah Langstroth passed away due to unforeseen
circumstances (Gallick, 2007). As a result of the early death of her mother,
Drexel’s grandmother remained an important figure in her early years. The
grandmother was a common presence in the Drexel household during this
time while her father decided what to do with his children. Family members
raised the Drexel daughters after the passing of their mother, as they were
quite young. Katharine’s father, Francis Anthony Drexel was an established
businessman. Francis Drexel’s presence was felt internationally in the bank-
ing industry and he was a well-known name among his peers of the time. As
a result of their father’s success, the Drexel family was quite wealthy. Despite
this wealth, the Drexel family did not live their lives in a lavish manner.
Francis Drexel was said to donate frequently to charitable causes. He was a
member of various charitable organizations’ boards, and was a well-known
philanthropist (Hughes, 2014). From an early age, Katharine Drexel learned
142 Jessica Huhn
that money was not everything. These childhood lessons would influence the
way she lived her life, promote her sense of purpose, and give her personal
tools that became apparent in the leadership Katharine Drexel exhibited
through her life’s work.
Approximately two years after the passing of Hannah Langstroth Drexel,
Katharine’s father remarried, taking Emma Mary Bouvier as his second
wife (Gallick, 2007). Katharine’s stepmother was a devout Catholic like
her husband. Emma remained a dedicated stepmother and wife, promoting
time with their family ahead of the demands placed by the strong social
life more common to the sociocultural norms of wealth at the time. Katha-
rine’s stepmother renewed her father’s Catholic beliefs, intensifying the pres-
ence of religious faith within the household. It was said from an early age
that young Katharine Drexel had two role models, “Emma and the Virgin
Mary” (Hughes, 2014:21). As a result of these role models during her pri-
mary socialization years, she was given strong examples of not only serv-
anthood but also the flawless portrayals of women in the nurturing-mother
gender role. This would serve useful in later years, as she would combine
both paradigms as leader of her religious order (Dent et al., 2005). Drexel’s
early family life fostered the importance of religion, which would remain
constant throughout her life, and is part of the external impetus acting upon
her leader development. Katharine Drexel and her sister received their edu-
cation in the Drexel home. The education provided to the Drexel children
intertwined both secular and religious education. With assistance of the
Drexel family wealth, they had an oratory built into their home, since they
were financially able to do so. This would develop the family’s Catholicism
and establish a close bond within the Drexel household. The Drexel family
was able to practice their religious devotions through individual and group
prayer. Another common practice in the Drexel family was to have their own
masses said and hold family devotions within the home, as they possessed
their own oratory (Hughes, 2014). An intense Catholicism wedded to the
strong bond of family togetherness co-existed within the Drexel home.
It is evident even by today’s measures of “branding” that Francis Drexel
remained dedicated to philanthropy within the Philadelphia and the sur-
rounding areas. Katharine’s father was on a number of boards for various
charitable organizations. He donated an immense amount of money to these
and other organizations. Even after his death, Francis Drexel remained a
noted and a well-known philanthropic name in the greater Philadelphia
region (Gallick, 2007). Emma, Katharine’s stepmother, also was involved
with her own charitable organization, the Dorcas. Emma was so busy she
required an assistant. This assistant would actively look for individuals in
need within the community, and scheduled appointments for those indi-
viduals with Mrs. Drexel. Emma Drexel would assess the individual need
in order to determine the required assistance. After assessing the needs of
the individual, the Drexels and the Dorcas would provide aid to those in
need within their community. As soon as Emma and Francis Drexel felt
 Katharine Drexel 143
the children were old enough, they were involved firsthand with the Dor-
cas through direct volunteer work within the community (Hughes, 2014)
such as heiresses were expected by societal norms to perform. The generous
actions stemming from within the Drexel household, however, went well
beyond their contemporaries’ expectations, and were yet another influence
on the decisions still-young Katharine Drexel would make later in life. Her
charitable lifestyle and giving nature, nurtured from an early age, would also
influence her personal image as one of relationship-focused, a key aspect
of leadership (Hughes et al., 2012). Throughout her life, Katharine Drexel
maintained this acquired urgency to assist those in need.
From an early age, Katharine Drexel worked hard to be a devout Catholic
like her parents (Hughes, 2014). Her religious beliefs would provide the first
aspects of her image (and the imperative moral character) as a transforma-
tional leader (Hughes et al., 2012). Catholics of that day were typically not
allowed to partake in Holy Communion before age 12; however, Drexel
desired to do so from an early age. She spent time begging her parents to
allow her this religious rite of passage, as for her, it represented being a
true Catholic. At the age of 12, Katharine Drexel took her first Commu-
nion, which was a milestone for her. Such stories of Katharine’s childhood
inner spiritual devotion provide a series of symbols useful for motivating
and transforming followers. Consider the link between this image of the
future saint and the very name of her order, Sisters of the Blessed Sacra-
ment. Katharine and her siblings also occasionally attended Sunday School,
a Protestant innovation, as there was no Catholic chapel nearby when the
family vacationed during the summer months. During a Drexel family vaca-
tion through Europe, young Katharine was heavily influenced in a religious
manner. The nine months they spent traveling involved a great deal of time
spent at places of religious importance including cathedrals and shrines,
and while attending services in these settings Katharine Drexel experienced
a heightened religious awakening (Hughes, 2014). As a sense of purpose is
one of the compounding factors for leaders and followers, it is important to
note that key sources of Katharine Drexel’s leadership are found in her life’s
journey of religion.
As early as mid-1879, Emma Drexel became ill with incurable cancer and
was hesitant to inform her family of her sickness. While taking care of her
family, Katharine wrote, “If anything happens to Mama I’m going to enter
a convent” (Hughes, 2014:42). Unbeknownst to Katharine at that time, her
words would prove prescient, and she would indeed eventually enter into
a convent. Emma Drexel passed away in 1883. Only two years later, in
1885, Francis Drexel passed away unexpectedly. As a result of her parents’
deaths, some of the family fortune was divided between the Drexel daugh-
ters. A majority of funds, however, were allocated to 29 different charities in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was during this time that Katharine began to
struggle immensely with her decision to enter a convent. She was concerned
with breaking the bond with her two sisters, and was concerned about their
144 Jessica Huhn
separation if she left to enter religious life. Her decision to enter into a con-
vent was spurned by arguments with long-time family friend and spiritual
advisor, Bishop James O’Connor. O’Connor, who traveled from his semi-
nary education and ordination in Philadelphia to become the first bishop of
Nebraska, was concerned that Katharine was avoiding her responsibilities in
life and may not have had a true vocation to a higher calling (Hughes, 2014).
Despite the opposition of O’Connor, Katharine Drexel remained dedicated
to following a path to a higher calling.

Katharine’s Calling to Follow and to Lead

Over the last 12 years of her life while pursuing her religious callings, Katha-
rine maintained religious journals documenting her trying relationship with
Bishop O’Connor. Family friendship and spiritual advice aside, O’Con-
nor represented the male hegemony of Church hierarchy and expected no
challenges to his authority from Katharine. He was wrong. Frequent let-
ters back and forth between the two parties were also preserved. The pages
within these journals are a record of the growth and development young
Katharine Drexel faced in her early days of a nascent spirituality (Hughes,
2014). Maintaining her journals and her consistent letter writing provides
an excellent record of how her rhetoric skills matured. Such skills are a nec-
essary and vital trait as a successful transformational leader (Hughes et al.,
2012). Within the pages of her journal, Katharine discussed such things as
her thoughts for remedying self-deceit and her reflections on how she devel-
oped spiritually as a Catholic over time. Catholicism is certainly the vehi-
cle by which Katharine continually advanced her own inner compass as a
leader. Katharine Drexel kept track of her resolutions for each month in the
areas of vanity, pride, attention to study and impatience. She also renewed
her resolutions to remain pure and spiritual. Katharine noted her required
steps to becoming closer with God including a strong focus on prayer and
charitable actions (Gallick, 2007; Hughes, 2014). It was within the pages of
her journals and letter exchanges that we can see Katharine’s true religious
dedication and her desire to help those in need, indicators of her embrace
of inner-worldly asceticism and the basis upon which her transformational
leadership originated. Use of Weber’s well-known ideal-type categorization
explains Katharine’s motivation thoroughly.
As Katharine Drexel continued to struggle with the decision to enter into
the convent, she made lists to better understand the life-altering decision
plaguing her. Some of Katharine’s journal focused on lists and practical
explanations for her “reasons for entering religion” and her “objections to
entering religion” (Hughes, 2014:60). At the conclusion of her list making,
Katharine had nine reasons for entering religion compared to seven objec-
tions to entering religion. Rational choice process, planning, and strategizing
are all good examples of the leadership tools she employed. Katharine also
made a list regarding marriage, “for the married state” and “opposed to the
 Katharine Drexel 145
married state” as it was a time when marriage was a societal expectation for
young women (Hughes, 2014:62). Breaking out of the gendered expectation
for a marriage befitting an heiress demonstrates another leadership step.
Through her list making, Katharine had nine reasons supporting married
life and only seven against getting married. Both the aforementioned lists
were used in a letter to Bishop O’Connor when exploring her contemplative
attitude toward entering the convent (Hughes, 2014) as a “bride of Christ”
in the traditional language of the Church.
As Katharine Drexel continued to question herself deeply regarding enter-
ing into religion or not, she had limited life choices stemming from her gen-
der (Hughes, 2014). For a young female, gender played an important part in
the opportunities available to Katharine, and marriage was an expectation
during this time. In a society where a woman could not be viewed as a leader
outside the realm of charity or religion, and a daughter was often viewed
primarily or solely as an asset by which a wealthy family could strengthen
its position through a marriage alliance, Katharine’s decision was made dif-
ficult due to pressures presenting her with limited options. Conflict existed
between internal and external forces for Katharine, between family bonds,
normative gender expectations, and her own emotional intelligence coupled
to religiosity. She was searching for her own identity within socio-culturally
accepted boundaries while being driven from within to step outside and
transform herself in the leadership image.
In 1883 at the age of only 25, Katharine Drexel, at the urging of Bishop
O’Connor, decided to partake in some of the lifestyle habits that nuns at the
convent would follow. Without knowing it at the time, she was learning the
rules of followership she would later need to understand to interact with
her own followers. Admittedly, some of these habits were rather difficult for
Katharine to complete on her own. Continued self-doubt and questioning
her own decision making would serve as an obstacle for Katharine, but she
learned in time to overcome it. Katharine Drexel and Bishop O’Connor
maintained a deep relationship during this time, mostly carried on by writ-
ten correspondences exchanged between the two parties. As she continued
to weigh the options of entering into a convent, Katharine and her sisters
traveled to Rome (Hughes, 2014), where they were granted two private
visits with Pope Leo XIII. The Drexel sisters were also given the opportunity
to attend his personal mass. Katharine Drexel spoke before Pope Leo XIII
about the disparities in the United States facing minorities, previewing the
work for which she ultimately became recognized. It turned out that both
Katharine and the pope shared a similar passion for eradicating social issues
and injustices faced by many (Gallick, 2007). Katharine also confided in
Pope Leo XIII about the struggle she faced deciding whether to embrace
religious life in the convent. The conversation between Pope Leo XIII and
Katharine would impact her life, along with her continued relationship with
Bishop O’Connor (Hughes, 2014), by providing ongoing opportunities to
further hone the written rhetoric skills necessary for global leadership prior
146 Jessica Huhn
to telecommunications and the Internet (Hughes et al., 2012). In their con-
versation, Pope Leo XIII suggested Katharine become a missionary herself,
as she was rather concerned with social issues (Gallick, 2007). Upon return-
ing home, Katharine and her sisters then traveled the United States along
with O’Connor and a Father Stephan in 1888. During this trip, a great deal
of time was spent visiting missions in the Western United States. It is during
this trip that Katharine’s dedication to the plight and cause of Native Amer-
icans was fostered, to which she also added African Americans. Additional
correspondence with Bishop O’Connor states that he encouraged Katharine
Drexel to found a new congregation that focused on both “Indians and Col-
ored” (Hughes, 2014). Her travels and the resulting correspondences would
influence her decisions later in life.
As Katharine turned 30 years old, she stated in correspondence with
Bishop O’Connor that, regardless of his opinion, she was going to con-
tinue focused on her path. It was on May 6, 1889, that Katharine Drexel
renounced her inheritance, amidst much shock and scorn from Philadelphia
society and her peers, and entered into the Sisters of Mercy of Saint Mary’s
convent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Upon entering into the convent, Kath-
arine had thought to give up her entire fortune. However, Bishop O’Connor
had other plans for her inheritance. These plans would continue the Drexel
legacy of philanthropy as her parents had once done (Gallick, 2007; Hughes,
2014). The Sisters of Mercy were more contemplative in nature. From the
time she arrived at the Sisters of Mercy convent in 1889, until the time she
took her final vows in 1891, Katharine Drexel seldom left the convent, even
missing her sister’s wedding days. The only times Katharine left the convent
were due to the deaths of her sister and Bishop O’Connor. Aside from that,
Katharine remained devout to the mission and vision, and spent this time
learning everything she could about religious life and organization at the Sis-
ters of Mercy convent. It was during her time at the Sisters of Mercy convent
that Katharine began working on her plan to establish her own congregation,
just as Bishop O’Connor suggested (Hughes, 2014). She was developing the
necessary skills to become a leader.
Upon taking her final vows, Katharine Drexel decided it would be time to
leave the Sisters of Mercy convent in pursuit of her own vision, a community
of activist women dedicated to helping the oppressed. This decision allowed
Katharine Drexel the opportunity to return home to the suburbs of Phila-
delphia. Following the recollected urging of the now-deceased O’Connor,
Katharine would continue to give back to the community just as the Drexel
family had done once before. Katharine Drexel used the family property to
establish the congregation until a more permanent location could be secured.
It was on February 12, 1891, that Katharine Drexel took “her own vows as
Mother Katharine, the founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for
Indians and Colored People,” as O’Connor had wished (Hughes, 2014:101).
By establishing her own order, it is evident that Katharine Drexel had devel-
oped the trust of her followers, building capacity for her vision through the
 Katharine Drexel 147
addition of 13 other professed converts to her order (Hughes et al., 2012).
Moving forward, Katharine Drexel would embark on a spiritual quest of
charitable acts while becoming a mature and robust transformational leader.
Regardless of her family and Bishop O’Connor, Katharine pursued the call-
ing she felt would best fit her self-image as a Catholic. This, coupled with
the dual influences of Emma and the Virgin Mary as ideal-type servanthood,
would create Katharine’s future as a transformational leader.

Mother Katharine Drexel and Philanthropy

Upon leaving the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Katharine
Drexel became focused in developing the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
for Indians and Colored People (Gallick, 2007). When Mother Katharine
Drexel established the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament convent in 1891,
there already existed 133 other Catholic orders for religious women in the
United States (Hughes, 2014). Despite this, the oppressed groups specifi-
cally targeted by the mission of the sisters were underserved. The perceived
need in Katharine’s hometown of Philadelphia and its environs was espe-
cially keen. Despite the changing socio-religious conditions of the Catholic
Church and the United States in the years to come, along with changes in the
attitudes of society about religious life that produced shrinking numbers of
nuns, the sisters of the convent persevered in their mission despite declining
numbers. Hughes (2014:142) notes the changes in their numbers just in the
short time since the new millennium:

Year New SBS Total Professed SBS

2000 6 255
2006 2 183
2012 0 124

To this day, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continue to be an import-

ant organizational presence in the greater Philadelphia suburbs with the
most recent counts numbering 104 sisters (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament,
2017). The fact that the sisters remain today an important part of the Phil-
adelphia suburbs is due to their intense involvement with the surrounding
communities. The order remains dedicated to providing to the community,
and has since founded associate Blessed Sacrament chapters in other states
throughout the nation. Many of those aided are still most often the minori-
ties largely overlooked by mainstream society. The Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament remain dedicated to challenging racism and injustices still found
in society today.
By deciding to champion the American Indians and African Americans of
the United States, as many marginalized them, Katharine Drexel decided on
148 Jessica Huhn
her vision for the sisters (Hughes, 2014; Hughes et al., 2012). Through the
assistance of her inheritance monies, Katharine Drexel went on to establish
her first mission in 1894 to serve American Indians in Santa Fe, New Mex-
ico. It was near a school that Katharine had founded in 1886, St. Catharine’s,
which was said to have problems with staffing the school that resulted in
low student enrollment. Mother Katharine personally visited the mission
and school. Upon her return to Pennsylvania, she delegated some of her own
community’s sisters to personally staff the school and oversee the mission.
When Katharine Drexel returned to St. Catharine’s in Santa Fe, there were
a total of nine students enrolled at the school. Mother Katharine had her
missionaries visit the surrounding areas to recruit children. Within a year, 84
children were enrolled at the school. St. Catharine’s school remained open
until 1999, when it permanently closed its doors (Hughes, 2014). Not only
did Mother Katharine provide the financial backing from her own funds for
her first project, she also devoted her time to ensure the school would be suc-
cessful, even after her death. This was the first of many missions Katharine
would establish for American Indians and African Americans.
Once the mission and school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, were sound in
their operation, Sister Katharine Drexel turned her focus to helping Afri-
can Americans. As a result, Katharine went to Powhatan, Virginia to a
pre-existing school for young males. Katharine planned to open a school for
young females adjacent to the established males-only institution. It was here
at the St. Francis de Sales school that the missionary sisters would further
aid the poor neighboring communities, providing them food and medicine
from their own supplies. At the same time while St. Francis de Sales was
being built, Mother Katharine Drexel was also working to develop a school
in St. Michael’s, Arizona for the American Indians (Hughes, 2014) and pro-
vided support for a pre-existing Franciscan mission already there. To this
day, Mother Katharine’s school remains staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament.
Through development of missions and schools by the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament, it is evident that the vision of Mother Katharine Drexel remained
a priority. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament continued to admit indi-
viduals into the convent. As a result, Katharine maintained trust building
with the nuns as she fostered relationships with these women. Katharine
Drexel also exhibited personalized leadership; using emotional intelligence
she would handpick the sisters to serve at the missions and schools her-
self, ensuring a proper fit (Hughes, 2014; Hughes et al., 2012). Through
maintaining her vision, building trust and personalizing leadership, Mother
Katharine Drexel remained dedicated to transformational leadership during
the early years of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
From 1900 on, Katharine Drexel was being solicited by Thomas Byrne,
who was a bishop in Nashville, Tennessee. Bishop Byrne wanted the assis-
tance of the sisters with opening and staffing a mission and school for Afri-
can Americans in Nashville; however, she was unable to meet his request.
 Katharine Drexel 149
As a result, Katharine provided one-third the financial backing needed to
start the project. In 1904, Katharine encountered Bishop Byrne out west
when they were both traveling in the area. It was then that he convinced her
to open the school he had envisioned and about which he lobbied her for
the last four years; when he could personally share his goal, it was clear it
aligned with Katharine’s own vision. Due to the racial tensions in Nashville,
Tennessee, it would truly be a difficult project for Mother Katharine and
Bishop Byrne to accomplish (Hughes, 2014). Due to his knowledge of Kath-
arine Drexel’s vision and image, Bishop Byrne knew that she was the right
person to assist with opening the school for African Americans (Hughes
et al., 2012). The majority of the Caucasian population near the location
of the school was rather adamant about the presence of a school for Afri-
can American girls in their community. Katharine had purchased a home to
start a school for African American girls, which was published in the local
newspaper due to the sale of the property. As a result, the seller of the home
attempted to annul the sale of the home to Katharine because of her pub-
lished intentions (Hughes, 2014). Despite the racial tensions and legal issues,
Katharine was determined to open the school for African American girls.
Ongoing battles continued, but Mother Katharine Drexel would officially
open the doors to the Immaculate Mother Academy on September 5, 1905.
The Immaculate Mother had 54 students at the time of its grand opening,
and it included both primary education and the first Catholic secondary
school for African Americans in Tennessee. Despite racial tensions, Katha-
rine Drexel would soon open a mission school in 1917 in Beaumont, Texas,
for African American students. In doing so, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacra-
ment were confronted by the Ku Klux Klan. The Beaumont Ku Klux Klan
had tarred and feathered supporters and parishioners, and was very resistant
to Katharine’s plans. Throughout this time, the sisters remained dedicated
to the mission and the school. In 1922, a bad storm destroyed what was
headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan. As a result, they backed down from
harassing the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (Hughes, 2014). It can be
noted that Mother Katharine Drexel and her order became a target for the
Ku Klux Klan. This was due to her vision and the image that she emitted as
a transformational leader (Hughes et al., 2012). Throughout this time, Kath-
arine remained dedicated to expanding her presence throughout the nation,
increasing the number of missions and schools for African Americans and
American Indians.
Despite Sister Katharine Drexel’s philanthropic mindset, the government
felt quite differently about her generous nature. As a result, the govern-
ment decided to revoke her tax-exempt status. This was the result of an
ongoing battle with the government over her taxes. This would become a
struggle for Katharine, as during the Great Depression, she lost approxi-
mately 35% of her income. Katharine Drexel, however, remained dedicated
to her vision regardless of the financial difficulty she faced. She continued to
help the American Indians and African Americans in need. In the 1930s, the
150 Jessica Huhn
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament became actively involved with the burgeon-
ing national social justice movement. They supported the NAACP and were
strong supporters for the equality of African Americans. Katharine Drexel
is sometimes attributed with the establishment of the first American Indian
Catholic religious order in the United States, the Oblates (Hughes, 2014),
although accounts differ in this regard. Regardless of the social climate or
obstacles, she personally faced, or her order encountered, Katharine Drexel
continued to impact the lives of minorities in need, serving as the transfor-
mational leader of her sisters and of the communities of followers around
them.
Mother Katharine Drexel remained active with the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament for 46 years, until her retirement in 1937. She was 78 years old at
the time of her actual retirement, when she officially stepped down from her
leadership duties. Katharine was plagued with various medical conditions
and had suffered a heart attack earlier. At the advisement of her doctors,
she was warned by them to slow down; otherwise, it would be detrimental
to her overall health and well-being. Katharine Drexel observed the fiftieth
birthday of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1941 (Hughes, 2014).
Even without the hands-on leadership of Katharine, the order was buoyed
by her inspiration and the legacy of her original vision (Hughes et al., 2012).
Despite her retirement as the instrumental leader of the order, Katharine
remained involved with missions and other duties when she was physically
able to do so (Hughes, 2014). At its highest point, the Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament had 551 professed sisters in 1965 within the order. From the
time of her retirement, however, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament saw
a decrease in new converts coming to the convent. These numbers contin-
ued to decrease overtime, with only 124 professed sisters in 2012 (Hughes,
2014:142). While it is true that women professing the Catholic religious life
saw a steep decrease from the 1960s onward, without Katharine’s transfor-
mational leadership after her retirement (and later death) it was difficult
for the order to maintain its vision and image while remaining successful.
As a transformational leader, Katharine had developed and mentored her
followers so that other sisters became leaders upon her departure (Bass and
Riggio, 2005). Despite the decrease in the number of professed sisters, Kath-
arine Drexel’s mission and order continues to follow her original vision, and
preserve her lasting impression on the United States and abroad.
At the age of 96, Mother Katharine Drexel passed away on March 3,
1955, after dedicating her life to her vision to assist disadvantaged African
Americans and American Indians. The leadership of Katharine allowed her
personal vision to become bigger than what just one young heiress from
Philadelphia could individually achieve. Her transformational impact on the
Sisters, her followers, exponentially increased the effectiveness of her cru-
sade against social injustice for Native Americans and African Americans. At
a time when direct assistance to minorities was frowned upon, she remained
fearless of the attitudes and actions of those around her (Hughes, 2014).
 Katharine Drexel 151
Katharine Drexel gave everything she had, including the labor of her entire
life, to benefit the lives of others. Moreover, she created lessons of leadership
still actively pursued 125 years later by the Sisters. The Sisters of the Blessed
Sacrament remained dedicated to continuing her mission and vision (Gal-
lick, 2007). Through Katharine Drexel’s vision and financial backing, the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament at their peak successfully opened 61 schools
and 145 missions. Her inheritance money provided over $20 million dol-
lars (by today’s value $555 million) to fund her projects to assist those in
need (Hughes, 2014). The missions and schools that were established by the
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament would have lasting effects throughout the
nation, with direct benefits to those educated and served but even larger
consequences in the battles for civil rights and social justice against those
wishing to continue the oppression of minorities.

Katharine Drexel: A True Transformational Leader

Mother Katharine Drexel’s life demonstrates she encompasses the char-
acteristics, components, and moral aspects that a transformational leader
possesses. As a transformational leader, Katharine was able to transform
her followers (Bass and Riggio, 2005; Burns, 1978). By having the solid
foundation to be a transformational leader, Katharine was able to mobilize
the order of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to develop missions and
schools nationwide. Despite difficulties making the decision to enter a con-
vent, Katharine was able to create a solid image of herself as a moral actor,
a leader. Regardless of the hardships, backlash, and obstacles she faced,
Katharine remained dedicated to her vision and maintaining her personal
image. Through her relationship with Bishop O’Connor, Katharine was able
to continually develop her rhetoric skills, which she employed to expand and
inspire the order to do bigger things. She was able to develop her trust build-
ing and personalized leadership (Hughes et al., 2012) by organizing the orig-
inal community of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Building trust with the
sisters would remain important in order to have them support Katharine’s
vision. Through maintaining personalized relationships with the sisters, she
would develop intimate relationships with them in the leader-follower inter-
actional framework, which would support her transformational leadership.
During her life, Mother Katharine Drexel presented the four components
for successful transformational leadership. These concrete components of
demonstrated leadership allowed Katharine to move her vision and life’s
work from individual effort to global action. Katharine Drexel possessed
the necessary moral aspects for transformational leadership, increasing her
success as a transformational leader within the Sisters of the Blessed Sacra-
ment. Throughout her hard work and dedication to aiding African Ameri-
cans and American Indians, Sister Katharine Drexel was able to transform
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament into effective followers, and some into
the next group of transformational leaders. There are three ways that leaders
152 Jessica Huhn
can transform and mobilize followers (Bass and Riggio, 2005). The first
way involves increasing awareness and task importance and value, which
Katharine would do regularly. Through the recruitment of additional sisters
for the order, she would increase the support of her vision to assist African
Americans and American Indians (Hughes, 2014). This would serve as one
way that Sister Katharine Drexel would transform followers. The second way
that Sister Katharine Drexel would transform followers is through getting
them involved with the organization’s vision instead of simply pursuing their
own goals (Bass and Riggio, 2005). Converts into the order of the Sisters
of the Blessed Sacrament would become involved with the organization and
develop core skills as team members and followers of Mother Katharine.
As a result, the sisters would follow Katharine Drexel in her vision to assist
minorities in the nation (Hughes, 2014).
The final way in which Mother Katharine would transform her followers
is through their higher-order needs, described in the expansion of Burns’
(1978) original work. These needs fall in line with Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, as the basic needs of the followers were met first (Hughes et al., 2012).
By focusing on the belonging of the sisters entering into the convent, Katha-
rine allowed for focus to occur fully on the level of higher-order needs (Bass
and Riggio, 2005). The need for self-esteem was addressed by promoting
recognition and achievement for the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Once
these feelings were established, the sisters were able to continue following
their leader. Finally, with self-actualization comes fulfillment, creativity, and
talent within the order. As Katharine remained dedicated to promoting lead-
ership and involvement for the sisters at the missions and schools, she was
in fact activating their higher-order needs (Dvir et al., 2002; Hughes, 2014).
While promoting a focus on the higher-order needs of the Sisters of the
Blessed Sacrament, Katharine Drexel succeeded in the final way in which
leaders transform followers.
While establishing schools and missions throughout the country, Mother
Katharine continuously promoted her vision of assisting African Americans
and American Indians throughout the nation. When reviewing the life of
Katharine, it becomes evident that she truly was a transformational leader
by all measures we have (Bass and Riggio, 2005; Burns, 1978). Despite the
attitudes and actions of those around her, she remained both focused and
driven to improve the lives of American Indians and African Americans,
which supported her vision. Through her devotion to Catholicism, which
created and sustained her identity, and her personal image, she exemplified
herself as a transformational leader (Hughes, 2014; Hughes et al., 2012).
Pope John Paul II recognized the important legacy of Mother Katharine
Drexel as she was beatified on November 20, 1988 (Gallick, 2007). After her
death, miraculous cures occurred including two instances where deaf indi-
viduals were cured (Hughes, 2014). As a result, Sister Katharine Drexel was
canonized on October 1, 2000. She was the second American saint (Gallick,
2007) to be recognized.
 Katharine Drexel 153
It is worth noting that Katharine Drexel did not necessarily find herself to
be successful despite her life’s work. She was once quoted as saying, “Success
is not the criterion of the spiritual life,” and she felt that success was not
necessary (Hughes, 2014:146). Regardless of what Katharine Drexel may
have felt, she was successful as measured by a variety of external standards
in the many areas of her life, leaving behind a legacy of institutions as well
as a hagiography that contributes to the pedagogy of leadership for contem-
porary scholars and practitioners. That legacy includes today’s efforts by
the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who continue to follow in her footsteps
and provide leadership to the causes of racial justice, human trafficking,
and advocacy for the poor and marginalized (www.katharinedrexel.org/
sisters-of-the-blessed-sacrament). Her transformational leadership contin-
ues its impact through the lives of generations of African Americans and
American Indians. The life of Katharine Drexel demonstrates her victory
over gender expectations, her success in turning a lifestyle of individual char-
itable acts into a movement for change spanning more than a dozen decades,
and the exemplary effectiveness of her followers, all of which were achieved
through her performance of transformational leadership.

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9 Edith Stein (1891–1942)
Empathic Leadership: Saint Edith Stein’s
Phenomenological Perspective
Jen Jones

Introduction
This chapter unifies Stein’s philosophical and spiritual understanding of
empathy from an initial examination in her dissertation to her later monas-
tic writings. Stein’s life exemplifies leadership development that ultimately
unites mind and heart. Furthermore, her phenomenological perspective
makes significant contribution to the field of leadership studies by prob-
lematizing traditional understandings of leader-centric approaches toward
leadership development. Stein provides an alternative consideration of lead-
ership that is other-oriented and emerges in human relations. In order to
arrive at this profound conclusion, the chapter begins with her foundational
account of empathy, which she wrote as a doctoral student and an atheist.
The chapter then builds upon and enriches these ideas with her later work
she wrote as a Discalced Carmelite nun. Her life ended in the horror of the
Holocaust, where, to her last breath, she embodied the empathic leadership
she had studied and contemplated throughout her life.

A Brief Background of Edith Stein

In 1891, Edith Stein was born in Wroclaw, Poland, which was then called
Breslau, Prussia, to a Jewish family. As a teenager, she showed great affinity
for intellectual pursuits whose growth accompanied her declaration of being
an atheist. Her quest for knowledge in literature and philosophy led her
to the University of Breslau, “but having read Husserl’s Logical Investiga-
tions, she transferred to the University of Gottingen,” where she ultimately
completed her dissertation, On the Problem of Empathy, under Husserl’s
direction.1 Husserl is the philosopher most credited for formulating the phil-
osophical study of phenomenology.
When Stein was tasked with proposing a dissertation topic to Husserl, she
had no difficulty because while studying Husserl’s work she noticed that he
used the term Einfuhlung, or empathy; yet, “what it consists of, he nowhere
detailed. Here was a lacuna to be filled; therefore, I wished to examine what
empathy might be.”2 Although Stein studied empathy, she often faced apathy
156 Jen Jones
and discrimination based on her gender and Jewish heritage. As a first-year
college student, she wrote the following epigram that was read aloud among
her peers and professor:

Let woman equal be with man,

So loud this suffragette avers,
In days to come we surely can
See that a Cab’net post is hers.3

As a university student, Stein joined the Prussian Society for Women’s Right
to Vote, and “in those formative years and later on she welcomed opportu-
nities to contribute to the promotion of women whenever they presented
themselves.”4 In 1918, she participated in protests about the absence of
women on university faculties to which she would later experience herself.
Stein was one of the first women in Germany to attain a doctoral degree,
yet she did not have access to the same faculty positions as her male counter-
parts. From 1919 to 1923, she, despite having graduated summa cum laude,
was unsuccessful at acquiring a university position. During this challenging
time in her life, she read St. Theresa of Avila, which spurred her conversion
to Catholicism in 1921. As an astute orator, Stein “was invited to give lec-
tures on the place of women in society, the family, and in relation to men.
She quickly became the brain trust of the Catholic women’s movement in
Germany during the 1920s.”5 Phenomenology as the study of unique human
experience of individual subjects was fitting for Stein’s interest and participa-
tion in the women’s suffrage movement and gender equality in employment.
As her faith continued to blossom, her research in phenomenology turned
toward a religious perspective with an interest in making a connection
between phenomenology and religious philosophy. Unemployed as a profes-
sor, she continued to work with Husserl transcribing and editing his work. In
this role, she faced sexism again when her interpretation of Husserl’s ideas,
which demanded her significant commitment to study, were absconded by
another of Husserl’s students, Martin Heidegger, who would also become a
major figure in phenomenology. Later Heidegger joined the Nazi party and
usurped Husserl’s position as chair at the university when Jews were removed
from their positions. Although it was beneath her esteemed qualifications, in
1923, Stein became an instructor at Teachers’ College (for women) in Speyer.
In 1932, she became a lecturer at the Catholic German Institute for Scientific
Pedagogy in Munster, which was short lived when she was also dismissed as
a result of Nazi anti-Semitic legislation.
Throughout her life, her intellectual pursuits guided her life path, and
as her interest in phenomenology and theology grew, so too accompanied
her commitment to religious life.6,7 She entered the Carmelite convent in
Cologne, and in 1934, became Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. As con-
vents became unsafe in Nazi Germany, she moved to the Echt convent in
Holland. However, she was not safe there either: “After the Catholic bishops
 Edith Stein 157
of the country courageously took a stand against the Nazis’ anti-Semitic
measures, all the Catholic-Jewish converts in Holland were deported to
concentration camps.”8 The Nazis raided Stein’s convent and sent her, and
her sister Rosa, to Auschwitz /Birkenau. At the camp, she took care of the
children who were orphaned—either by being taken from their parents and
sent to the camp or after witnessing their parents perish at the camp. A week
after leaving the convent, Edith Stein was murdered in the gas chamber on
August 9, 1942. In the moments leading up to her death, she became the
embodied vessel of empathy. She died suffering with others—drawing their
burdens into her soul—an ecstatic act of sharing. She was beatified in 1988
and in 1998 was canonized by Pope John Paul II. This pope, now himself
a saint, having witnessed the horror of the Nazi invasion in Poland, made
a major focus of his leadership on improving Catholic-Jewish relations. He
visited Auschwitz and wrote a reflection titled We Remember: A Reflection
on the Shoah. In addition, as a response to the urging of Pope John Paul II to
recognize the significance of the Holocaust, the National Catholic Center for
Holocaust Education was established at Seton Hill University, the academic
home of the author of this chapter.9

A Brief Background of Phenomenology

Phenomenology is a study of human consciousness. People, in their human
condition, experience life uniquely from their situated point of view, which
Husserl describes as the life world. As such, people constantly interpret their
world with intentionally toward ideas, objects, and other people. The world
is, therefore, experienced in a subjective rather than objective manner. Hus-
serl does not deny that an objective, or natural, world exists, but brackets,
or sets aside, this consideration since the world can never be experienced
outside of our own human existence.
As we live our lives, the intentionality we have toward ideas, objects, and
others changes. A simple yet insightful example is traveling abroad. Prior
to traveling abroad, intentionality toward a different culture has been for-
mulated by past experiences of this culture. After being immersed in the
culture, intentionality changes, or takes on new significance—both toward
the other culture and one’s own. People often describe this experience as
transformational and life changing—their perception of their world has been
radically altered through a phenomenological experience, and they are con-
scious of this change. All experience, or phenomena, offers possibilities for
change—reading a book or having a conversation with another—may open
new understanding and meaning in our lives. While we all live uniquely sub-
jective lives, through intersubjectivity, our worlds meet by encountering and
communicating with others.
Husserl’s phenomenology harkens back to Heraclitus, the pre-Socratic
philosopher, who states that we can never step into the same river twice.10
The phenomenological perspective refutes certainty in life. For example, the
158 Jen Jones
person we spoke to yesterday is not the same person today. Situations in
which we find ourselves cannot be predicted, nor decisions pre-determined.
Life is perpetually influx. This state of uncertainty may give rise to anxiety,
but with its acceptance may offer a sense of peace with the recognition that
all people are on their unique life journeys, and encountering others along
their paths offers emergent insight into their world and our own. As Søren
Kierkegaard, a predecessor to phenomenology, asserts, life involves a leap
of faith.11 For leadership studies, this approach runs counter to a domi-
nant paradigm of scientific methodology resulting in prescriptive theory that
seeks to explain and predict in order to know and define. While Stein did
not possess spirituality in her early dissertation work, phenomenology pro-
vided a groundwork that supported her journey of faith and contemplation
of empathy. Her phenomenological account of empathy offers a valuable
contribution to rethinking leadership.12
Phenomenology is an interpretive approach to understanding the human
condition, which leads to more questions rather than definitive answers.13
Stein differentiates these modes of inquiry as the science of the spirit, or
subjectivity, and the science of nature, or objectivity.14 For Stein, the science
of the spirit endeavors beyond a psychological analysis of human nature to
a cultural and spiritual realm of being-in-the-world, to which she uses the
term Geisteswissenschaften.15 Phenomenology, as the study of consciousness
from a unique subject’s point of view, presents a problem, according to Stein,
of empathy, or perceiving others’ experiences. As an example, Stein shows
that another person may express pain, which comes into one’s awareness,
but she questions whether this pain can be experienced “primordially” or
from the orientation the other person experiences it.16
Stein’s primary text on empathy is organized in three major sections. In
the first section, she contrasts ideas typically associated with empathy to
guide an understanding of inauthentic forms of empathy. The second section
analyzes the constitution of an individual as a phenomenological self. In
the final part, Stein details her conception of spiritual persons. Her disser-
tation lays a foundation for her later writings following her conversion to
Catholicism and entrance into religious life. This chapter provides detailed
hermeneutic analysis of two of Stein’s works to formulate an understand-
ing of empathic leadership. While the first text was written specifically on
the topic of empathy, her later essential writings are necessary to fill the
gap of the missing religious perspective in her original work. At the same
time, religious ideas in her later essential writings are more profoundly com-
prehended by understanding foundational ideas in her original work. This
chapter does not provide a complete account of Stein’s phenomenology, but
bringing these two texts together illustrates her spiritual development and
insight for empathic leadership.
What follows in this chapter maintains the structure of Stein’s work to
draw out important ideas most relevant to leadership. It begins with an
analysis of her dissertation, On the Problem of Empathy, which includes
 Edith Stein 159
discussion on what empathic leadership is not, what the individual is, and an
understanding of spiritual persons. Discussion then builds upon this foun-
dation with an analysis of the text Edith Stein: Essential Writings, which
includes her religious perspective of spiritual persons, dealing with stress and
anxiety, and maintaining faith. Together, these works provide guidance on
becoming an empathic leader. Stein’s continued contemplation of empathy
led her to conversion along with divine wisdom on the subject. Empathic
leadership is other-oriented and takes place in-the-world-with-others. In a
letter to her friend Sister Callista Kopf, Stein wrote,

I realized that something else is asked of us in this world and that, even
in the contemplative life, one may not sever the connection with the
world. I believe that the deeper one is drawn into God, the more one
must “go out of oneself”; that is, one must go to the world in order to
carry the divine life into it.17

This chapter is an earnest step to share her spiritual development in order to

compel our own leadership development.

What Empathic Leadership Is Not

In order for Stein to later articulate what empathy is for engendering an
understanding of empathic leadership, she first investigates what empathy is
not. As such, empathic leadership does not: know how another person feels;
analyze or judge another person; demand a response; reside within a single
individual; or imitate and associate.

Empathic Leaders Do Not Claim to Know How Another Feels

Before trying to understand another person’s feelings, Stein examines how
we experience our own. When we are in the midst of a feeling, when it is
present, we experience it subjectively. When the feeling passes and we recall
it in memory or expectation, we experience it objectively because the feeling
moves from immediate subjective experience to the subject reflecting on
the experience from a distance. According to Stein, empathy is not recalling
one’s own experiences when another person presents a similar experience.
Hence empathic leaders understand that they cannot be in another’s shoes
and cannot engage another familiar cliché, “I know how you feel.” By doing
so, they objectify their own and the other person’s experience.

Empathic Leaders Do Not Analyze or Judge

This phenomenological state is one that experiences with another without
reflecting upon it. Once reflection is engaged, as with recalling one’s own
memories, distance emerges, the current state loses the subjective present,
160 Jen Jones
and falls into objectivity. For example, Stein describes this kind of reflection,
evaluation, or judgment that occurs as moving from being present with the
expression of another person’s expression of sadness to reading into anoth-
er’s face: “I am now no longer turned to the content but to the object of it.”18
Therefore, empathic leaders need to resist an impetus to psychologize anoth-
er’s experience and simply let it be. This idea is illuminated in words from
William Wordsworth’s poem, “we murder to dissect.”19 The subjective phe-
nomenological moment is gone when our focus of attention turns to it. Ath-
letes, musicians, and dancers have an understanding of subjective experience
as “being in the zone.” This moment is lost when they start thinking about
what they are doing; the subjective turns objective. Empathic leaders also
have an understanding of being in the zone while interacting with others.

Empathic Leaders Do Not Demand

Empathy involves an “ideation,” which, according to Stein, is an intuitive
comprehension of another’s essential states.20 However, another person’s
experience is not evaluated in empathy, it is rather perceived. Stein writes
that empathy “is the experience of foreign consciousness in general, irrespec-
tive of the kind of experiencing subject or of the subject whose conscious-
ness is experienced.”21 Empathy is empathy with another, not at another.
Empathy is imperfect; only God has complete knowledge: “As the possessor
of complete knowledge, God is not mistaken about people’s experiences, as
people are mistaken about each others’ experiences.”22 Jesus did not come
to Earth to understand our human condition; he came for us to engender
our greater understanding of the infinite, albeit limited in our human form.
Stein was not religious during the time she initially wrote on empathy, but
she did recognize a conception of empathy that is beyond a psychologi-
cal account, physiological or personality trait, within the mind.23 Empathic
leaders understand that empathy cannot be demanded or called upon as a
skill or character value because the focus of attention directs back on the
self as an objective form.

Empathic Leadership Does Not Reside Within an Individual

Empathy calls a leader out into another’s experience, yet the self works
against sustaining the phenomenological encounter. This idea may be lik-
ened to being totally immersed in a movie, getting caught up in it, and then
realizing you are watching a movie. In the first account, you are looking with
the movie; in the latter, you are looking at the movie. Stein describes look-
ing with as “self-forgetfulness” yet it is not complete unity or oneness; our
human form will always have separation. Still, in empathy, “I intuitively have
before me what they feel. It comes to life in my feeling, and from the ‘I’ and
‘you’ arises the ‘we’ as a subject of a higher level.”24 This sharing does not
necessarily mean that our experiences are the same. For example, when we
 Edith Stein 161
share a feeling of joy, we may experience the joy in varying degrees. Empathy
is not the degree of how joy is felt within each person, empathic leadership
occurs in the between, not belonging to either person. Stein describes this
sharedness as “we empathically enrich our feeling so that ‘we’ now feel a
different joy from ‘I,’ ‘you,’” in isolation.25 Moreover, she writes,

a “we,” not an “I,” is the subject of empathizing. Not through the feel-
ing of oneness, but through empathizing, do we experience others. The
feeling of oneness and the enrichment of our own experience become
possible through empathy.26

Empathic Leaders Do Not Imitate or Associate

Imitation is “a witnessed gesture arouses in me the impulse to imitate it.”27
Imitation involves mimicking a gesture with an expression. As such, the
experience still resides with, or is owned by, the other person. Empathy is
also not present here because the self is merely witnessing and repeating a
gesture. The act of imitation involves viewing the other person as an object
in which to imitate, and then viewing oneself as an object in replicating the
expression. Stein argues, “This prevents our turning toward or submerging
ourselves in the foreign experience, which is the attitude or characteristic of
empathy.”28 Additionally, Stein posits that empathy is not association either.
Association is a practice of linking this to that in the form of analysis. On
the contrary, Stein asserts, “in empathy we draw no conclusions.”29 In the
practice of association, people make inferences—because a person does this,
the person must be feeling that. Association, according to Stein, “intends
to demonstrate the validity of our knowledge of foreign consciousness.”30
Association is often engaged with good intentions. For example, if someone
does not ‘seem herself’ there may be an attempt to ascribe ‘good reasons’ for
her behavior, but this practice is association, not empathy. Empathic leaders
may learn from esteemed leaders of the past or present, but do not attempt
to imitate them in a cookie-cutter like fashion. Empathic leaders are able to
learn from others and then act accordingly to their own situation. Empathic
leaders also welcome discourse with others to avoid associating and drawing
their own conclusions. Empathic leaders invite others to share their subjec-
tive experiences through dialogic communication.31

An Understanding of Individual Persons

Leadership studies often focus on leader-follower relationships or leader-
member exchanges.32 Some scholars have narrowed this focus to a study of
followership.33 Phenomenology, which is a study of subjective experience of
individuals, provides a fruitful understanding of what an individual is. From
a phenomenological point of view, an individual is an “I” that experiences
a “selfness” in contrast to another.34 A distinction is made between self and
162 Jen Jones
other because we experience the world differently: I experience myself as
I and another person as you. Additionally, the self experiences a stream of
consciousness, whether thinking about the past present or future. Others
face their own stream of consciousness based on their own unique life situ-
ation, or what Stein terms particular “experiential content.”35 We can never
step outside of ourselves; “we find ourselves bound to it perpetually.”36 Stein
uses the term “zero point of orientation” to describe this singularity of an
individual. Everything outside of the self is experienced from a distance,
but comes into the self to form an amalgamated unity in the living body.
The living body is both perceiving of and perceived by the outside world.
From this zero point of orientation, I am always here, and everything else is
always there. Empathic leaders have an understanding of how individuals
are oriented in the life world, which is considered further with the ideas of
here and there.

Here and There in the Life World

Leaders must realize that others experience the world in this manner. More-
over, according to Stein, leaders need to experience new ideas, places, and
people, so that our experience of “there” is different, which gives us a better
understanding of where another person’s “here” is. Stein writes, “Every step
I take discloses a new bit of the world to me or I see the old one from a
new side.”37 This change not only opens new ways of seeing reality but also
opens the imagination to new possibilities of consideration. Experiencing
life from a multiplicity of “theres” breaks up habituation and an insular
world-view. Stein also believes that this practice will incite a leader to feel
a stronger will to act. For example, the Blackburn Center against domestic
and sexual violence runs an annual fundraiser called “Walk a Mile in Her
Shoes” where men can actually wear a pair of high heels while participating
in the walk. This embodied experience brings about greater awareness and
action in support of the cause. Organizations also engage in this approach
by allowing their employees to job shadow other positions. Southwest Air-
lines, for example, requires its pilots to load baggage onto the plane.38 This
practice is also highlighted on the popular television show Undercover Boss
where senior executives experience life working with front-line employ-
ees. The show regularly ends with the executive in tears sharing her new
perspective of the company and its people. In all cases, the leader began
with a limited point of view, which was enlarged by exposure to alterity,
or different people, places, and ideas. As Stein asserts, we are bound to our
bodies, but we can always take our bodies along to experience something
new. As such, transformation may take place, which is possible because we
are humans.
A person, or subject, experiencing alterity is wholly different from moving
a book, or object, from a table to a bookshelf. While the previous statement
may seem like common sense, the important lesson here is to recognize that
 Edith Stein 163
others are subjects, not objects, and we must resist objectifying others if we
seek to empathize with them. Once recognizing that other people are not the
same as objects in our field of perceiving, leaders may then move to what
Stein identifies as “sensing-in” where something that was there the whole
time takes on new significance. Experiences fall into the background, which
later reach out into the foreground. For example, after participating in the
Walk a Mile event, someone who once took for granted a comment such as
“you play like a girl” may now recognize it as pejorative and may also take
action to correct this offensive speech. Stein puts this in phenomenological
terms, which is worth quoting at length:

When I now interpret it [the other person] as a sensing living body

and empathically project myself into it, I obtain a new image of the
spatial world and a new zero point of orientation. It is not that I shift
my zero point to this place, for I retain my “primordial” zero point and
my “primordial” orientation while I am empathically, non-primordially
obtaining the other one. On the other hand, neither do I obtain a fan-
tasized orientation nor a fantasized image of the spatial world. But this
orientation, as well as the empathized sensations, is con-primordial,
because the living body to which it refers is perceived as a physical body
at the same time and because it is given primordially to the other “I,”
even though non-primordially to me.39

Past experiences and encounters do not determine how people will act in
the future—phenomenology is a nondeterministic philosophy. Rather, back-
ground experience opens up new possibilities of choices and richness in
human life. This claim makes it all the more important for leaders to fully
participate in the many opportunities life affords, which expand our hori-
zons for finding meaning and purpose in life.
Empathy illuminates that the zero point orientation does not separate
individuals into lonely singular worlds (e.g., leader, follower); rather, we are
a spatial point among many and “I learn to see my living body as a physical
body like others.”40 Empathy humanizes others and the leader. Empathy
helps leaders understand that while we are all in the same world, we all see
this world differently. Seeing this world differently is inescapable, so empa-
thy helps leaders cross boundaries and through intersubjective experience
acquire knowledge of the world to which they are incapable of knowing
from their own perspective.

Signs and Symbols in Human Communication

Leadership studies is experiencing a “communicative turn” that acknowl-
edges the salience of dialogue in human interactions.41 Stein places great
value in both verbal and nonverbal communication to empathize with oth-
ers. She differentiates between sign and symbol. For example, “smoke is a
164 Jen Jones
sign of fire. Symbol means that in something perceived there is something
else and, indeed, we co-comprehend something psychic in it.”42 A sign points
us to a certain direction and “to proceed in a further context.”43 Hence, if
we see smoke, we may be pointed to a certain direction given the situation,
for example, get out the house is on fire, or the campfire is started, we
will be roasting marshmallows soon. These responses are usually automatic.
Yet Stein cautions against making assumptions about human expressions as
signs. While a frown may seem like a sign of sadness, we need to realize that
there is much more going on in human experience. Correspondingly, she also
recognizes that verbal expressions carry with them much more complexity
than words may signify. Therefore, nonverbal and verbal expressions are not
merely signs, but are symbols for multifaceted human experience.
The context of the persons involved, their zero points, as well as the situa-
tion, comes into play. An expression is always made within an experience.44
Stein writes, “From his viewpoint we comprehend, not what the words mean
in general, but what they mean here and now.”45 Yet, what words mean
or symbolize is not clear, even taking into account the context and zero
point orientation. Life is complicated, or as Martin Buber proclaims, life is
muddy.46 Stein observes, “As in every experience, deceptions are here also
possible.”47 In leaders’ interactions with others, they will make mistakes and
“[i]n order to prevent such errors and deceptions, we need to be constantly
guided by empathy through outer perception.”48 Leaders must grant grace to
themselves and others because all people will misstep, miscommunicate, and
misunderstand, without even realizing it at times. Additionally, leaders may
sympathize with others by recognizing that they have experiences similar to
our own, but empathy goes beyond sympathy to recognize that others have
experiences dissimilar to a leader’s. Phenomenology posits that people are
constantly interpreting their world. Stein adds to this assertion that it is pos-
sible for interpretations to be wrong. Empathy from another may provide
clarity and help those in the leadership relationship understand themselves
more accurately.

An Understanding of Spiritual Persons

Feelings and moods cannot be analyzed solely within the mind of a person;
the world is always involved in these states of being, which Stein identifies
as “the world of values.”49 She writes,

In joy the subject has something joyous facing him, in fright something
frightening, in fear something threatening . . . [F]or him who is cheerful,
the world is bathed in a rosy glow; for him who is depressed, bathed in
black.50

Moreover, whereas psychology is deterministic, the spiritual approach

accounts for the will to choose, to violate the inevitable, and to be creative.
 Edith Stein 165
Empathic leadership is a creative act where “a spiritual subject empathically
seizes another and brings its operation to givenness to itself.”51

The Spiritual Subject

Empathy cannot be considered detached from the spiritual subject and the
world of relationships with others. Stein describes empathy as “the percep-
tual consciousness in which foreign persons come to givenness for us.”52
Givenness takes place in a context of intersection that brings about meaning.
Empathy occurs within this spiritual context and is a shared expression that
defies the limits of what an individual can express. The Cartesian mantra “I
think therefore I am”53 does not constitute being human. The ability to think
is derived from learning language in community; therefore, being human
may more aptly be described as “I think and feel because we are.” Cartesian
science separates mind and body, and individual and other. Phenomenology
unites mind and body, and recognizes the salience of relationships.
Stein acknowledges that people experience superficial sensations, such as
warmth and pain, which are bound to the living body. However, she is inter-
ested in deeper feelings that “inundate and fill it entirely. They penetrate, or
certainly can penetrate, all levels. They have something of the omnipresence
of light.”54 These feelings are not traits or attributes localized within a per-
son, but are “poured over it entirely like a bright luster. And every actual
experience has in it something of this ‘total illumination,’ is bathed in it.”55
Thus the feeling involves something more than the self; it is something given
to the self and occurs as a complete immersion in felt value.56
While someone may experience disappointment, such as losing a piece
of jewelry, this experience is superficial because it involves an object. The
disappointment is greater when it involves a piece of jewelry that was given
by someone special and even greater when this person passes in death. Stein
describes love in a similar manner. People may superficially express a feeling
of love toward an object, but deep love is valuing another person for her
own sake, not for an ascribed reason. Stein observes that people possess a
double awareness, where they not only experience love but also may love the
feeling of being in love. Possessing this depth of love along with joy may also
prevent negative feelings such as resentment and anger from penetrating and
keep it on the peripheral. Stein asserts, “in turn, this joy progresses victori-
ously from the center to the periphery and fills out all the layers above it.”57
Empathic leaders possessing this kind of joy may be described as “radi-
ating” and Stein concurs that they possess a certain kind of luminosity. In
addition to affecting the depth negative feelings may inflict, Stein posits
that possessing a luminous depth of joy and love may also reduce the time
a negative feeling may remain, and provide a foundation where positive
experiences are felt with greater intensity. Empathic leaders are more aware
and cognitively will notice simple joys around them that nourish their spir-
its. This kind of life world varies from person to person, and can change
166 Jen Jones
through the existential engagement, or choices leaders make living with oth-
ers and in the world.

Spiritual Others
Understanding the spiritual self opens up consideration of other people as
spiritual others who are also not limited to the psycho-physical individual.
Important for Stein is that we understand spirituality in relation—“my own
person is constituted in primordial spiritual acts, so the foreign person is
constituted in empathically experienced acts.”58 What makes each person
distinct has been developed through the influence of others and circum-
stance. Stein claims that the capacities of the soul can be either cultivated
or dulled in the life world. This proclamation calls leaders to engage life and
to view this engagement as an artistic expression. Empathic leaders reflect
on their lives as a work of art partly finished. What goes into the painting
of their lives is textured with the people they meet and places they visit.
According to Stein, leaders will meet others who have “never seen a work
of art nor gone beyond the walls of the city [and] may perhaps forever be
closed the enjoyment of nature and art together with his susceptibility for
this enjoyment.”59 She describes this person’s life as a sketch, which may
never unfold into something more, or may become a phantom of contagion
from others.
Yet, Stein asserts, this kind of living should not be equated to non-existence:
“The spiritual person also exists even if he is not unfolded.”60 Viewing people
as subjects, not objects, presupposes an inherent human dignity. Empathic
leaders value another person regardless of how they may view her life’s
work of art—whether it be a sketch, something not agreeable to their own
style, or something they can appreciate. Their value exists a priori, or, in
other words, possess a universal recognition of worth before having accom-
plished anything.61 Additionally, as with works of art, leaders cannot know
the authorial intent or the context to which it emerged. The art of a person’s
life just provides a glimmer of the spirit within. Stein writes,

I consider every subject whom I empathically comprehend as experienc-

ing a value as a person whose experiences interlock themselves into an
intelligible, meaningful whole. How much of his experiential structure
I can bring to my fulfilling intuition depends on my own structure.62

Furthermore, “Only he who experiences himself as a person, as a meaningful

whole, can understand other persons.”63

Empathic Understanding
Empathy involves understanding, but understanding is not the same as know-
ing. Stein provides the example of a person who sacrifices all earthly goods
 Edith Stein 167
to faith and another who lives entirely by the acquisition of material goods.
Empathic leaders see these ways of living as different, but do not impose
a judgment on them. Empathic understanding involves having a sense of
humility. Stein observes that the great masters are those who recognize the
danger and deception of individualism that threatens leaders. In individu-
alism, the self is viewed as the standard to which others are judged.64 Stein
describes individualism as a form of hubris or self-idol, “If we take the self as
the standard, we lock ourselves into the prison of our individuality. Others
become riddles for us, or still worse, we remodel them into our image.”65
The term understanding implies humility. Metaphorically speaking, “stand-
ing under” another person is a humble position where learning about the
other person and oneself may occur. Conversely, we may imagine the con-
trary “overstanding” or standing over another in a position of dominance
and telling.66 Hence, empathy helps bring about self-knowledge followed by
self-evaluation for the leader.
Stein concludes her primary work with a question of whether this empathic
understanding can be experienced through the written or printed word. Can
empathic understanding occur without bodily presence? She resolves that
whether living or dead, the givenness of another penetrates into her. Cer-
tainly, I can say the same of her influence on me in developing this book
chapter. Even through encounters with living others, we intersect with their
past connections that shaped their lives. For example, I may have never met
my friend’s grandparent, but since he touched her spirit, I encounter his
subjectivity. This realization is also a humbling experience. Recognizing this
historical self illuminates connections with others going back to the begin-
ning of human history, and that contemporary life is part of a conversation
that began long ago. We get glimpses of this reality through figures of speech
that continue throughout the ages. For example, the meaning of “resting on
one’s laurels” is understood in contemporary times even though it originated
in Ancient Greece. Stein argues that an undertaking of these concluding
questions would be most appropriately studied through religious conscious-
ness, to which she ends her work with a final sentence, “However, I leave the
answering of this question to further investigation and satisfy myself here
with a ‘non liquet,’ ‘It is not clear.’”67,68
Following her study under Husserl, she experienced a profound con-
version to Catholicism and lived as a nun in the Carmel of Cologne, and
continued contemplating questions and ideas that originated in her disser-
tation. She became the “religious consciousness” that was foreshadowed at
the end of her dissertation. The following major section of this chapter will
articulate ideas that emerged after her conversion that provide the neces-
sary piece to formulate an understanding of Stein’s empathic leadership. For
Stein, who died a martyr of her faith, the phenomenological perspective of
religious consciousness is essential for a complete conception of empathic
leadership—at least the most complete in human life not fully known until
meeting the eternal in death.
168 Jen Jones
Spiritual Persons in Relation With the Eternal
Stein’s conversion to Catholicism followed her reading of the Life69 of St.
Teresa of Avila, which enriched her understanding of givenness with the
idea of ecstasy that goes beyond the over pouring of the spirit that she had
originally conceived in her prior work. Now, instead of empathy residing
between spiritual selves, the relation exists within divine goodness of the
one eternal Over-Be-ing.70 Leadership conceived in this manner is a radi-
cally de-centered approach. Often leadership is presented as self-centered
qualities or in traits a leader possesses. This chapter has shown that Stein
first de-centers the self with empathic relations between others. Empathic
leadership is other-centered. She now further de-centers human relations
by bringing in the eternal. As such, leaders may become aware that they are
not fully in control of their lives and relations with others. To become an
empathic leader certainly does not require someone to convert to Cathol-
icism and enter religious life as Stein did. To become an empathic leader
does not necessarily require one to believe in God. To become an empathic
leader, in terms of Stein, does involve having faith in the unknown, to not
claim to know, and to resign oneself to the unknown, which in human words
may be called light and love. Thus, while Stein uses the term “God,” readers
without a religious tradition may still follow her wisdom by recognizing an
eternal love/light that goes beyond interpersonal encounters. Stein also uses
the term “eternal” in her major work Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt
at an Ascent to the Meaning of Being.
The relationship with the eternal “elicits all harmony and all splendor
in them, and calls and turns everything to itself as to the light.”71 As such,
empathy is a salvific activity of love that brings people closer to the eternal.
For Stein, the life world she once envisioned has transformed to the divine
life where,

we relate to each other as member to member and we are all one in God,
a divine life. If God is in us and if he is love, then it cannot be otherwise
but to love one another.72

Stein differentiates this kind of love and “natural love” that people feel toward
people who are in close relation such as family and friends, where anyone
outside of this relation are considered strangers. There are no strangers in
divine life—whomever is before an empathic leader is a neighbor regardless
of whether the leader knows this person, may not like this person, or may
not feel this person is morally worthy of empathy.
Stein recognizes that engaging in empathic leadership is not an easy task
when living in the human world. She writes,

For those blessed souls who have entered into the unity of life in God,
everything is one . . . as long as we are still on the way . . . we are still
subject to temporal laws, and are instructed to actualize in ourselves,
 Edith Stein 169
one after another and all the members complementing each other mutu-
ally, the divine life in all its fullness.73

Those who understand empathic leadership may be called captains, according

to Stein, but not in an authoritative sense. Stein viewed Christ as a slave and
teacher rather than a king. As Christ associated with those society deemed
the most flawed, empathic leaders must also fail to recognize imperfections
in others. Moreover, they must object to those who condemn others for their
failed perfection. Empathic leaders are those who do not seek power, but
who surrender unconditionally to the infinite in order to be an instrument for
building a kingdom of eternal love. As an instrument, the empathic leaders’
hearts and speech are filled with the melody of love as a swelling hymn of
praise. Yet Stein does not posit this form of communication in a righteous
evangelistic sense with the goal of converting others to Christianity. Rather
empathic leaders maintain a position of humility and invite the eternal, into
their minds, hearts, and lips. They enter into discourse with others without a
goal in mind or announcement to be made. The awakening of the interior life
of others is always a possibility, but cannot be demanded. Otherwise, Stein
asserts, “It will denigrate into a rigid and lifeless lip service.”74

Resting in the Eternal

Stein actually offers a perspective contrary to the zealot evangelist with her
idea of resting in the eternal. She defines this state as “complete relaxation
of all mental activity, in which you make no plans at all, reach no decision,
much less take action, but rather leave everything that’s future to the divine
will, ‘consigning yourself entirely to fate.’”75 Stein wrote these words prior to
her conversion, which demonstrates the eternal was at play before she could
even comprehend how her life would be transformed. She continues that in
the state of resting in the eternal, a leader feels safe and free of anxiety. As a
leader continues to surrender into this state, “new life begins to fill me up,
little by little, and impel me—without any voluntary exertion—toward new
activation.”76 Here a new receptivity emerges. Here communication with
another person may fill the leader with new lifepower: “Indeed, the mere
contact with human beings of more intense aliveness may exert an enliven-
ing effect upon those who are jaded or exhausted, who have no activeness
as a presupposition on their side.”77 Empathic leaders, for Stein, rest in faith
that the positive influence they have on others does not emerge from their
ability to motivate, but from the eternal awakening light within them.
Developing into an empathic leader does not occur through traditional
training and development initiatives, or studying psychology of motivation.
Rather, Stein asserts,

I believe that is not a matter of multiplicity of attributes which we can

tackle and acquire individually; it is rather a single total condition of the
170 Jen Jones
soul, a condition which is envisaged here in the attributes from various
attributes. We are not able to attain this condition by willing it; it must
be effected through grace. What we can and must do is open ourselves
to grace; that means to renounce our own will completely and to give
it captive to the divine will, to lay our whole soul, ready for reception
and formation.78

Stein calls leaders to empty themselves while staying closely connected

whereby the soul becomes replenished. If they do not empty themselves to
rest in the eternal, she asserts that their state will be one of constant agi-
tation. Emptying involves laying all work and trouble with the eternal. As
such, “my soul will be empty of that which could assail and burden it, but it
will be filled with holy joy, courage, and energy.”79
This entering into the eternal opens the soul like a space infused with
oxygen where a small flame may ignite in glory. Resting in the eternal lights,
the soul on fire,

love burns in it like a composed flame [.  .  .] which urges my soul to

render love to inflame love in others: flammescat igne caritas, accendat
ardor proximos. [Let charity be inflamed with fire, and ardor enkindle
our neighbors].80

Where once troubles and burdens clouded one’s view, resting in the eter-
nal makes clear the next step of a leader’s path. Empathic leaders are not
afforded perfect sight of life’s journey, but through resting in the eternal,
each step will come into focus—after arriving at a new horizon, a new vista
will be opened.81

Dealing With Stress and Anxiety

Stein is not proposing a utopic view of human life. She recognizes the
drudgery of life by writing “we must contend with our own fatigue, unfore-
seen interruptions, shortcomings of the children, diverse vexations, indig-
nities, anxieties  .  .  . disagreeable supervisors and colleagues, unfulfilled
demands, unjust reproaches, human meanness” and other distress at work
and home that leads to feelings of exhaustion and feeling shattered.82 In
these moments, Stein argues that leaders must stop feeling as if they must
get to it all and stop: allow calm to set in and find peace. Their bodies must
rest, and their minds must turn their troubles over to the eternal. People
may think that they need a vacation in order to recover, yet the eternal can
rest in a single moment.83 As such, empathic leaders may continue feeling
tired as they work through the day, but their souls will be at peace. Like-
wise, Stein urges leaders to leave all the worry of what they had planned to
accomplish, but could not get to during the day. In this way, “we will be able
to actually rest, and begin the new day like a new life.”84 By turning worries
 Edith Stein 171
and responsibilities over to the enteral, empathic leaders make more room
for eternal grace.
While many seem caught up in the strain of human life, Stein argues,
“Anxiety, to be sure, is under ordinary circumstances not the dominant
mood of human life.”85 This hopeful perspective is counter to her contem-
porary phenomenologist Martin Heidegger who posited that anxiety is fun-
damental to existence.86 According to existential phenomenology, anxiety
emerges from human consciousness of freedom, or ability to choose, and
the accompanying responsibility of those choices. Yet, for Stein, anxiety is
relieved with the realization that people are not in complete control and that
the eternal is sustaining rest securely. She writes, “This security, however,
is not the self-assurance of one who under her own power stands on firm
ground, but rather the sweet and blissful security of a child lifted up and car-
ried by a strong arm.”87 Phenomenologists often discuss being-in-the-world,
but supporting and grounding this being is eternal being. Hence, according
to Stein, anxiety is foolish, “unless I tear myself loose from this sheltering
hold.”88 Infinite love is ever present. For empathic leaders, the existential
choice is to rest in it.

Maintaining Faith
Letting go of the belief that one is in full control in one’s life not only relieves
anxiety but also brings about joy. Sometimes one’s plan is revealed in a pres-
ent moment, other times, it becomes realized in hindsight. Not knowing what
is in store for life may elicit a joyful hope of what is yet to be revealed. Life is
something to look forward to even though we cannot be certain what it will
bring. Even in suffering, empathic leaders can rest knowing that some mean-
ing will be revealed. This idea does not affirm a pithy but good-intentioned
adage, “everything happens for a reason.” Rather, for empathic leaders, in joy
and sorrow, sustaining faith opens up opportunities to gain wisdom about
meaning and purpose of life.
Empathic leadership involves discernment and discretion. Stein articulates
the relationship between these two terms:

A discreet person knows, without being requested to do so, when to

refrain from speaking about something. He has a gift to distinguish
between what must be kept in confidence and what must be revealed;
when it is time to speak and when to be silent; to whom one may entrust
something, to whom one may not. All of this applies to his own affairs
as well as those of others . . . discretion signifies a gift of discernment.89

Stein argues that leaders require discretion of exceptional degree, which

involves mindful foresight, consideration, and decision making. She draws
on Genesis 33:13, for example, when Jacob exclaimed, “If I demand too
much from my herd on the way, they will all die within a single day.”90 Often
172 Jen Jones
newly hired leaders believe they need to make their mark or shake things
up by making significant changes in a short period of time. Stein suggests
an alternative approach of empathic leadership that engages moderation,
tact, sensitivity, and learning from the organization’s standard bearers. She
describes this type of leader who “knows how to ‘get along with people’
and can function like machine oil lubricating the wheels of life.”91 Yet, the
empathic leader needs to maintain a sense of faith that only the eternal can
penetrate the thoughts of the heart and the interior of the soul. Through this
humility to the eternal, empathic leaders wait and listen for moments when
their givenness may serve as a divine instrument. The eternal will also help
guide, in every life situation, the appropriate response.92
Empathic leaders exhibit flexibility of the human spirit to make fitting
adaptations to conditions. An empathic leader submits without resistance in
order to be capable of meeting any situation.93 Empathic leaders strive for
excellence, but do not force outcomes. Rather, having faith, they allow other
possibilities to emerge and wisdom to be revealed. Without faith, discretion
and discernment fall into the realm of human cleverness, which is think-
ing through a matter step-by-step by researching, dissecting, reconstructing,
comparing, gathering, concluding, and proving. Without faith, discretion
and discernment move into a myopic perspective, such as not seeing the
forest for the trees, or falling into an analysis paralysis. With faith,

the higher the wanderer [leader] climbs, the wider the range of vision
becomes, until the full panoramic view at the summit bursts forth. The
spiritual eye, enlightened by the heavenly light, peers to the farthest
reaches, blurs nothing, renders nothing indistinguishable.94

Empathic leaders are not authority figures, nor are they servants. Accord-
ing to Stein, they are guides. They possess unique insight, but see themselves
embedded within the human community and are united with others in the
depths of their hearts.95 Moreover, they exert a mysterious magnetic appeal
on thirsty souls. Without aspiring to it, they become guides of other persons
striving to the light of love; they must practice spiritual maternity, begetting
and drawing others nearer to the eternal and away from a focus of attention
on themselves.96

Conclusion
Leadership studies have a great deal to gain from an in-depth study of the
saints such as Edith Stein and others presented in this collection. Stein asserts,
“The Lord’s method is to form persons through other persons . . . [and] . . .
persons are used as instruments to awaken and nurture the divine spark.”97
Yet, because power often accompanies leadership, leaders must work against
self-deception of mistaking eternal love with one’s own inclinations. Stein
says that those called to be empathic leaders will face extraordinary tests.
 Edith Stein 173
These tests push the leader back inward to the realm of ego and hubris. To
sustain an empathic perspective, leaders must keep Stein’s basic assumption
in mind: “We are temporal creatures with limited insights living within a
world that connects to the eternal.”98 Moreover, whereas sympathy is an
internal projection of the self-imposed outward onto others, empathy is an
openness to the outward projection from others that touches the leader’s
soul and elicits an empathic response. This response has been described as
“a moral obligation to attend to all, not just those like me.”99 We study the
saints because they possessed divine wisdom. By bringing their sagacity into
leadership studies, we are invited to de-center ourselves as empathic leaders
and bring light into organizations and society, which, according to Stein, is
“especially needed in our modern era.”100

Notes
1. Dermot Moran and Timothy Mooney, The Phenomenology Reader (New
York: Routledge, 2002), 229.
2. Edith Stein, Edith Stein: Life in a Jewish Family, trans. Josephine Koeppel
(Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1986), 267.
3. Ibid., 178.
4. John Sullivan, Introduction to “Woman and Women.” In Essential Writings, ed.
John Sullivan (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2002), 94.
5. Ibid., 94.
6. Alasdair MacIntyre, Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue (Lanham: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2007).
7. Paul Ricoeur calls the influence of reading on one’s being as hermeneutic
phenomenology. Paul Ricoeur, From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics
(Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1991).
8. John Sullivan, Introduction to Essential Writings, ed. John Sullivan (Maryknoll:
Orbis, 2002), 19.
9. “Holocaust Center.” Centers and Community Programs: National Catholic
Center for Holocaust Education, accessed February 5, 2017, www.setonhill.
edu/academics/centers-community-programs/holocaust-center.
10. Heraclitus, Fragments (London: Penguin Books, 2001).
11. Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (New York: Penguin Classics, 1986).
12. These scholars propose alternative views of traditional social scientific
perspectives.
Donna Ladkin, Rethinking Leadership: A New Look at Old Leadership
Questions (Northampton: Edward Elgar, 2010).
Joanne B. Ciulla, “The Leadership Quarterly Special Issue: Leadership:
Views From the Humanities.” Leadership Quarterly 17 (2006): 678.
Joanne B. Ciulla, “Leadership Studies and ‘The Fusion of Horizons’.” The
Leadership Quarterly 19, no. 1 (2008): 393–395.
Leah Tomkins and Peter Simpson, “Caring Leadership: A Heideggerian
Perspective.” Organizational Studies 36, no. 8 (2015): 1013–1031.
13. Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method (New York: Continuum, 1999).
14. Edith Stein, On the Problem of Empathy (Washington: ICS Publications): 91.
15. Wilhelm Dilthey, Wilhelm Dilthey: Selected Works Volume I: Introduction to
the Human Sciences, trans. Rudolf Makkreel and Frithjof Rodi (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991).
174 Jen Jones
16. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 7.
17. Stein, Essential Writings, 37.
18. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 10.
19. William Wordsworth, “The Tables Turned.” In Lyrical Ballads With a Few
Other Poems (New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2009).
20. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 7.
21. Ibid., 11.
22. Ibid., 11.
23. Ibid., 12.
24. Ibid., 17.
25. Ibid., 18.
26. Ibid., 18.
27. Ibid., 22.
28. Ibid., 23.
29. Ibid., 24.
30. Ibid., 27.
31. Ronald C. Arnett, Janie Harden Fritz and Leanne Bell, “Dialogic Learning as
First Principle in Communication Ethics.” Atlantic Journal of Communication
18, no. 3 (2010).
32. George B. Graen and Mary Uhl-Bien, “The Relationship-based Approach
to Leadership: Development of LMX Theory of Leadership Over 25 Years:
Applying a Multi-level, Multi-domain Perspective.” Leadership Quarterly 6,
no. 2 (1995).
33. Mary Uhl-Bien, Ronald E. Riggio, Kevin B. Lowe and Melissa K. Carsten,
“Followership Theory: A Review and Research Agenda.” Leadership Quarterly
25, no. 1 (2014).
34. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 38.
35. Ibid., 39.
36. Ibid., 42.
37. Ibid., 47.
38. Kevin Freiberg and Jackie Freiberg, Nuts!: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe
for Business and Personal Success (New York: Crown Business, 1998).
39. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 61–62.
40. Ibid., 63.
41. These scholars recognize a connection among leadership, communication,
and existentialism. Jen Jones, “The Derivative Organization and Responsible
Leadership: Levinas’s Dwelling and Discourse.” Leadership and the Humanities
4, no. 1 (2016).
Jen Jones, “Leadership Lessons From Levinas: Rethinking Responsible
Leadership.” Leadership and the Humanities 1, no. 2 (2014).
Ian Ashman and John Lawler, “Existential Communication and Leadership.”
Leadership 4, no. 3 (2008).
42. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 76.
43. Ibid., 76.
44. Ibid., 81.
45. Ibid., 83.
46. Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim (New York: Schocken Books, 1975).
47. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 86.
48. Ibid., 87.
49. Ibid., 92.
50. Ibid., 92.
51. Ibid., 93.
52. Ibid., 96.
 Edith Stein 175
53. Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall,
1956).
54. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 100.
55. Ibid., 100.
56. Ibid., 101.
57. Ibid., 104.
58. Ibid., 109.
59. Ibid., 111.
60. Ibid., 112.
61. Ibid., 114.
62. Ibid., 115.
63. Ibid., 116.
64. See Arnett and Holba chapter “Individualism as a Misstep” in Ronald C.
Arnett and Annette Holba, An Overture to Philosophy of Communication:
The Carrier of Meaning (New York: Peter Lang, 2012), 195–110.
65. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 116.
66. Ronald C. Arnett, Janie Harden Fritz and Leanne Bell, “Dialogic Learning as
First Principle in Communication Ethics.” Atlantic Journal of Communication
18, no. 3 (2010): 111–126.
67. Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 118.
68. Hazel Barnes also ends her work, “that when all has been said on all sides, the
question remains.” Hazel Barnes, “Tragicomedy.” The Classical Journal, 60 no. 3
(1964): 131.
69. Saint Teresa of Avila, The Life of St. Teresa, trans. J. M. Cohen (London:
Penguin Classics, 1988).
70. Stein, Essential Writings, 40.
71. Ibid., 41.
72. Ibid., 42.
73. Ibid., 57.
74. Ibid., 57.
75. Ibid., 63.
76. Ibid., 63.
77. Ibid., 63.
78. Ibid., 64.
79. Ibid., 65.
80. Ibid., 65.
81. Ibid., 65.
82. Ibid., 65.
83. Ibid., 66.
84. Ibid., 66.
85. Ibid., 67.
86. Heidegger also worked under Husserl and dedicated his magnum opus, Being
in Time, to his mentor. However, after showing support for the Nazi party
and replacing Husserl as chair at the Freiberg University during the expulsion
of Jews from academia, Heidegger removed this dedication, refuted Husserl’s
ideas, and claimed his conception of phenomenology was inferior to his own.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (New York: Harper & Row Publishers
Incorporated, 1962).
87. Stein, Essential Writings, 68.
88. Ibid., 68.
89. Ibid., 74 (italics in original).
90. Ibid., 74.
91. Ibid., 74–75.
92. Ibid., 75.
176 Jen Jones
93. Ibid., 75.
94. Ibid., 76.
95. Ibid., 77.
96. Ibid., 77.
97. Ibid., 77.
98. Arnett and Holba, An Overture to Philosophy of Communication: The Carrier
of Meaning, 103.
99. Ibid., 111.
100. Stein, Essential Writings, 77.

Bibliography
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First Principle in Communication Ethics.” Atlantic Journal of Communication 18,
no. 3 (2010): 111–126.
Arnett, Ronald C. and Annette M. Holba. An Overture to Philosophy of Communi-
cation: The Carrier of Meaning. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.
Ashman, Ian and John Lawler. “Existential Communication and Leadership.” Lead-
ership 4, no. 3 (2008): 253–269.
Barnes, Hazel E. “Tragicomedy.” The Classical Journal 60, no. 3 (1964): 125–131.
Buber, Martin. Tales of the Hasidim. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1975.
Ciulla, J. B. “The Leadership Quarterly Special Issue: Leadership: Views from the
Humanities.” Leadership Quarterly 17 (2006): 678.
Ciulla, J. B. “Leadership Studies and ‘The Fusion of Horizons.’” The Leadership
Quarterly 19, no. 1 (2008): 393–395.
Descartes, Renee. Discourse on Method. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1956.
Dilthey, Wilhelm. Wilhelm Dilthey: Selected Works Volume I: Introduction to the
Human Sciences. Translated by Makkreel, Rudolf and Frithjof Rodi. Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1991.
Freiberg, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg. Nuts!: Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for
Business and Personal Success. New York: Crown Business, 1998.
Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. New York: Continuum, 1999.
Graen, George B. and Mary Uhl-Bien. “The Relationship-based Approach to Lead-
ership: Development of LMX Theory of Leadership Over 25 Years: Applying a
Multi-level, Multi-domain Perspective.” Leadership Quarterly 6, no. 2 (1995):
219–247.
Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. New York: Harper & Row Publishers Incorpo-
rated, 1962.
Heraclitus. Fragments. London: Penguin Books, 2001.
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ter for Holocaust Education. Accessed February 5, 2017. www.setonhill.edu/
academics/centers- community-programs/holocaust-center.
Husserl, Edmund. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomeno-
logical Philosophy—First Book: General Introduction to a Pure Phenomenology.
Translated by F. Kersten. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
Jones, Jen. “Leadership Lessons From Levinas: Rethinking Responsible Leadership.”
Leadership and the Humanities 1, no. 2 (2014): 44–63.
Jones, Jen. “Colloquium on Levinas, Leadership, and Ethics: The Derivative Orga-
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ship and the Humanities 4, no. 1 (2016): 38–51.
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Kierkegaard, Søren. Fear and Trembling. New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.
Ladkin, D. Rethinking Leadership: A New Look at Old Leadership Questions.
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MacIntyre, Alasdair. Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue 1913–1922. Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Moran, Dermot and Mooney, Timothy. The Phenomenology Reader. New York:
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Ricoeur, Paul. From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics. Evanston: Northwest-
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Saint Teresa of Avila. The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila. Translated by J. M. Cohen.
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10 Pauli Murray (1910–1985)
A Person and Her Typewriter
Kristin Pidgeon

Introduction
At a young age, Anna Pauline (Pauli) Murray learned that “what is often
called exceptional ability is nothing more than persistent endeavor.”1 Per-
sistence would become a guiding principle throughout her life. With dreams
of becoming an accomplished poet, Murray pursued education at the highest
levels and worked as a writer, activist, lawyer, teacher, and priest. She also
published poetry. Although one of her poems was read at a memorial service
for Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.,2 it was through her activism that she
was able to impact many lives and mentor the next generation to further
the movements that she championed. Her persistence and activist nature
drove her fight against injustice whenever and wherever she encountered it
serving as a mentor for the next generation to carry on the movements she
championed.
In the introduction to Murray’s memoir, Eleanor Holmes Norton described
the activist’s life as “a singularly wrought act of self-creation, yielding one
unusual achievement after another  .  .  . she overcame limitations imposed
on her as a black and a woman through strength of will and through sheer
toil.”3 Sadly, her achievements were not praised by the larger society due to
the double oppression she experienced as a black woman. She named this
phenomenon of double oppression “Jane Crow,” establishing herself in the
fight for racial and women’s equality before the larger movements in the
1950s and 1960s really took hold.
Historians have largely overlooked Murray’s leadership and contributions
to gains in civil and women’s rights. In order to pay respect to her contri-
butions, I utilize her language and terminology as much as possible in this
chapter. For example, when referring to people of African descent I will use
her term—Negro. She explains that the use of the proper noun “Negro”
instead of the lowercase “black” gave her a sense of dignity and agency
because she had the right to name herself.4 In her explanation, “Negro”
more accurately reflected the race, whereas “black” conflated skin color and
race and contributed to the “black-white polarization” that was becoming
more pronounced in the late 1960s.5
 Pauli Murray 179
Raised by a maiden aunt when her mother passed away and her father
was committed to a mental institution, Murray experienced the Jim Crow
south firsthand. She and her aunt lived with her maternal grandparents who
filled her with a sense of pride and a “personal identity to counteract the
effect of the stereotype that Negroes have played no significant part in their
nation’s development.”6 It was this pride in her identity and family back-
ground that provided the foundation for her leadership through activism,
which ultimately led to her being posthumously named a saint in the Epis-
copal Church in 2012. By tracing her activism, I will describe her political
and transformational leadership that grew out of her natural inclination to
servant leadership and mentorship.

Personal History
Robert and Cornelia Fitzgerald were proud hard-working North Carolin-
ians who strove to provide a safe and secure existence for their children and
grandchildren. In Proud Shoes, the book she published about their history
and how it shaped who she became as an adult, Murray explains that one
of her grandparents’ most important achievements was owning their own
home on their own land. It was so important, she explains, that they would
go without food in order to pay for the property taxes.7 Robert was a vet-
eran of the Union Army who was discharged when they discovered a bat-
tlefield wound caused him to become blind, and he married the daughter of
a slave and her owner. The Fitzgeralds saw owning their own property and
educating their family as symbols of successful living.
Robert Fitzgerald was born in Delaware in 1808 to a former slave and a
white woman who later settled on a farm they owned in Pennsylvania.8 He
was a curious child who valued knowledge and learning and persuaded his
parents to send him to the Institute for Colored Youth, which at the time
was the only secondary school for Negroes (to be consistent with Murray’s
usage) in the country.9 He suspended his studies to fight for the Union Army
in the Civil War. Fighting for the United States was an important symbol for
Robert and many of the freemen he joined with because they believed that
“the blue uniform of the United States was the greatest of all prizes to be
won, since those who wore it with honor in defense of their country could
no longer be denied the right of citizenship.”10 Although their numbers were
needed, they were not readily accepted into the ranks of the Union Army. In
fact, freemen even had to fight for the right to fight alongside the other Yan-
kee soldiers. Robert and his compatriots exhibited a boundless persistence
rivaled only by the persistence his granddaughter would show as she fought
for equal standing some 80 years later. Unfortunately, he was shot near his
left eye while transferring horses and although the wound occurred while he
was conducting an army duty, it cost him his military service.11 He did not
want to give up service to his country because he believed in the cause, but he
180 Kristin Pidgeon
also believed that if he were to fight in the uniform, he could not be denied
full citizenship rights, which were being denied to men of color at that time.
So he reenlisted in the Navy only to be discharged shortly thereafter due to
blindness caused by the previous gunshot wound.12
As a soldier, Robert encountered little combat. Negro regiments were rarely
used. However, there was an instance when he encountered a lone Confeder-
ate soldier. His regiment had suffered a recent loss when a group of Confed-
erates shot and savagely assaulted one of the Union soldiers until “his brains
were scattered over his face and head.”13 Robert’s fellow soldiers wanted to
retaliate for the brutal killing of one of their own, but he was able to save
this soldier’s life.14 While it is understandable that the Negro soldiers wanted
to treat the Confederate soldier the way one of their own was, Robert and
his fellow soldiers demonstrated servant leadership by sparing his life. His
granddaughter, Murray would embody this very same style as she fought
similar battles against racial inequality.
Servant leadership is a theory posited by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970 that
“the only authority deserving one’s allegiance is that which is freely and
knowingly granted by the led to the leader in response to, and in proportion
to, the clearly evident servant stature of the leader. Those who choose to
follow this principle will not casually accept the authority of existing insti-
tutions. Rather, they will freely respond only to individuals who are chosen
as leaders because they are proven and trusted as servants (emphasis his).”15
On the battlefield, Robert Fitzgerald was not “chosen” as a leader formally,
but his fellow soldiers respected him, and the Confederate was saved from
death. The theory of servant leadership posits that when the followers freely
give authority to the leader, the leader is more authentic and the group or
organization can run more smoothly.16 Robert Fitzgerald did not demand
leadership or force the others to follow his ideas, but his ideas and opinions
were respected which gave him authority.
Following the Civil War and the completion of his education, Robert began
his career as an educator. He was sent to rural Virginia to set up a school for
freedmen and later to Durham County, North Carolina. Again, his tenacity
was apparent and he demonstrated his enterprising nature repeatedly. What
the communities lacked in resources they made up for in a desire to learn
and pride in education, and he gave as much of himself and what material
goods he could to make sure those who desired education could get it. He
instilled the value of education in his children and his granddaughter;17 in
fact, Murray referred to education as “a household god” in their family.”18
Where Robert instilled a pride in hard work and tenacity, Cornelia reminded
her family that they were descendants of one of the great historic families of
North Carolina. The family history could be traced back to colonial set-
tlers who owned acres of timberland in the state and became well-known
philanthropists, doctors, and lawyers.19 Cornelia’s mother was hired as the
young slave girl attending Miss Mary Ruffin Smith, and she was regarded not
only as one of the most beautiful slaves but also one of the most beautiful
 Pauli Murray 181
women in the county.20 Even after Harriet, Cornelia’s mother, married a local
freeman, she remained a slave on the Smith property, where she was raped
by Sidney Smith, one of Mary’s brothers.21 When Cornelia was born, she
was raised by her aunt, Mary Ruffin Smith, who neither recognized her as
a full member of the family nor denied her existence altogether.22 However,
because Cornelia was the most intelligent and rebellious of Harriet’s children,
she quickly became Mary Ruffin Smith’s favorite.
Although Cornelia had several sisters, she was the only one fathered by
Sidney, and he took great pride in his only child. “He nurtured . . . a rebellion
against everything Negro slavery encompassed. He instilled in her that she
was inferior to nobody. He gave her pride in her Smith-Jones ancestry.”23
This pride in her ancestry and belief in her self-worth was instilled in Murray
from a young age. And the rebellious nature that became the cornerstone
of Cornelia’s personality became Murray’s drive to never back down from
a fight, and it fueled her desire to lead her community from inequality to
equal rights for all.
Both Robert and Cornelia came of age during the tumultuous time of the
Civil War and grew as adults during Reconstruction. Although Robert was free-
born and Cornelia was a slave, they both experienced similar racial injustices
and inequalities. One point that Murray makes very clearly is that both were
raised by women who embodied the strength needed to face these conflicts.

Looking back both ways from the arch my grandparents formed, I

came to a junction of the races and slavery complicated by kinship on
both sides of the hotly contested issue. At each end of the arch a strong
woman shouldered much of the burden of the conflict.24

These strong women bestowed that strength as well as pride onto their chil-
dren, who in turn passed it onto their children and their grandchild, Murray,
to be strong citizens who overcame hardships and learned to never show
their fear.
With the values of hard work, tenacity, and pride in family background
that Robert and Cornelia ingrained in the generations that followed, it is not
surprising that Murray demonstrated such strong servant leadership traits
throughout her life. As Greenleaf explains, a servant leader is dedicated to
serving others, not leading others.

The natural servant, the person who is servant first, is more likely to
persevere and refine a particular hypothesis on what serves another’s
highest priority needs than is the person who is leader first and who
later serves out of promptings of conscience or in conformity with nor-
mative expectations.25

Murray embodied this idea of servant leader even as a small child as she
cared for her grandfather. Because she helped take care of her grandfather as
182 Kristin Pidgeon
his blindness became more invasive she learned the importance of tenacity.
He never allowed his blindness to defeat him; instead, he overcame setback
after setback and achieved a moderate level of success.26 It was from her
grandfather, as she spent time with him, that she learned a great deal about
the inequalities he experienced in life. And it was from her grandmother that
she learned to stand up against these inequalities.
Although she grew up in the segregated South, Murray was not aware of
how severe the racial divide was until she and her Aunt Pauline visited her
brothers and sisters in Baltimore the summer she was nine. She explained
her childhood ignorance of the issue because

race was the atmosphere one breathed from day to day, the pervasive
irritant, the chronic allergy, the vague apprehension which made one
uncomfortable and jumpy . . . the race problem was like a deadly snake
coiled and ready to strike, and that one avoided . . . by never-ending
watchfulness.27

Murray learned the proper behavior within the confines of racial appropri-
ateness in Durham, but did not realize the rules differed elsewhere. Her first
memorable encounter with the Jim Crow south was the catalyst for lifelong
activism against class, racial, and sex inequality.
While in Baltimore, they learned that their Aunt Pauline received a mes-
sage that Grandfather Robert was gravely ill and they needed to return to
Durham as soon as they could. Due to weather conditions, they needed to
take a detour through Norfolk to get to Durham instead of a more direct
route from Washington, DC. The first injustice of the trip that recounts is
that while struggling with their baggage, Aunt Pauline slips on a wet cob-
blestone street and injures herself. In trying to find someone to help them,
Murray sees two white men sitting on a porch watching but unwilling to
offer any assistance; an offense that Aunt Pauline registered as well. After
riding in the segregated Jim Crow car—a shared baggage car—they arrived
in Norfolk late at night to an almost empty station. Murray was left alone to
watch the baggage while Aunt Pauline discussed their connection to Durham
at the ticket window across the station.

Suddenly I looked up to see a huge, red-faced white man towering over

me. After he had stared at me awhile, he scratched his head, and then
beckoned to someone. I found myself surrounded by a circle of white
faces, still regarding me intently and turning to look at one another.28

Luckily, Aunt Pauline returned to lead Murray away from the circle of men
to the Jim Crow car of the train bound for Durham. The man followed them
to the train, boarded, and stared at them for a long time before leaving the
train without a word. The problem that puzzled these men was that Murray
had been standing in the “white-only” waiting room. Because she was of
 Pauli Murray 183
mixed race descent, the men were having a difficult time determining if she
was out of place. “The incident awakened my dread of lynching, and I was
learning the dangers of straying, however innocently, across a treacherous
line into a hostile world.”29
The incident in Norfolk may have awakened fear in Murray, but it also
awakened her desire to right the wrongs of racial injustice. She later recounted
that throughout her life her “self-esteem was elusive and difficult to sus-
tain . . . I must prove myself worthy of the rights that white individuals took
for granted.”30 When she graduated from high school, she knew that she
would attend college but refused to attend a segregated school in the South.
She convinced her aunt to let her go to New York City where she enrolled in
Hunter College, a free integrated university for residents of New York City.
She describes an American History course as the “experience [that] led me to
take my first tentative steps toward activism.”31 As the only Negro student in
the course, Murray felt that the discussion of certain historical events—the
Civil War, Reconstruction, etc.—was biased but did not feel prepared to chal-
lenge the professor.32
She began to have discussions with other students about the status of Negro
students on campus and helped to propose an organization that would act as
a consciousness-raising group about Negro history for all Hunter students.33
Their plan made some of the white students uncomfortable because the cam-
pus was viewed as very inclusive and they felt that such a group was racially
divisive. Murray and Betty McDougald, other students who were part of the
planning process, met with the leaders of an active public affairs organi-
zation on campus to discuss alternatives. Ultimately Negro students across
campus voted to join with the current organization on the condition that
Negro students join the executive board and a special “study of the social
and cultural as well as the political status of the Negro” curriculum would
be added to the fall agenda.34 Initially Murray supported this joint effort but
later regretted it. She should have followed her co-presenter’s suggestion of
supporting a separate organization because of previous political infighting
within the established organization. She cited her own lack of political expe-
rience and foresight for the mistake.
Murray learned from this initial foray into activist leadership. Here, once
again, she demonstrated her aptitude for servant leadership by initially serv-
ing others who were relegated to second-class status, just like she felt she
was in the American History course. They worked together to craft a plan
that would benefit all Negroes on campus and she was chosen, with another
woman, to be the voice of that plan. In addition to being a servant leader,
Murray also demonstrates transformational leadership at this moment in
her life and continues to do so for the rest of her life. Bass’s Theory of Trans-
formational and Transactional Leadership explains that transformational
leaders “possess good visioning, rhetorical, and impression management
skills, and they use these skills to develop strong emotional bonds with fol-
lowers.”35 As a good writer with strong reasoning skills, which may be what
184 Kristin Pidgeon
drove her to law school later in her life, Murray had the rhetorical and per-
suasive skills to create a strong vision for the movement she was fighting for
at any given time. Because Murray fought for causes that she believed in, she
developed strong emotional bonds with the issues and with her followers.
It was because of her strong emotional connection to the issue at hand that
she gained leadership in the first place. In keeping with servant leadership
theory, many of these followers chose Murray out of their own ranks to be
the leader or voice of their movement. Murray’s transformational leadership
style was predicated on the servant leadership she was given from those with
whom she worked.

Putting Leadership to Work

After graduating from Hunter, Murray began working for the WPA Work-
er’s Education Project and joined the labor movement of the 1930s which
she described as having a “religious fervor” similar to that of the civil
rights and women’s movements later in the century.36 Working with the
labor movement forced her to recognize the hegemony of racial attitudes
and how those not belonging to the dominant group are forced into com-
pliance. She began to write about democracy and how the government
could work for all people, not just white people. She called on Negro and
white leaders in the South to work together to create equality for all. This
vision coupled with the familial obligation as a single woman to return
to care for older relatives gave her the idea of applying to the University
of North Carolina for graduate studies in sociology and race relations.37
Although the idea of moving to the segregated south after living in a more
egalitarian New York City was unappealing, the prospect of being closer
to family and joining her family legacy at the University of North Carolina
was attractive.
As the second Negro to apply to the university, Murray believed that she
had a reasonable chance of acceptance. She had the scholastic achievements
necessary with her transcript from Hunter College and she knew that the
subject of race relations was a significant area of study so the school should
be willing to admit a Negro. However, the university denied her application
because “members of your race are not admitted to the University.”38 Dean
W. W. Pierson explained that the state has a historic policy of segregating
and the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina would be charged
with creating a graduate school for Negro students.39
There were two events coinciding with the rejection that had given Mur-
ray hope that she would be accepted. One was a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
that if there was not a separate institution in place for a Negro student
then that student should be admitted to the white school. This ruling was
a result of a case where a Negro student wanted to attend the University
of Missouri Law School. There was not a Negro equivalent in Missouri so
the state needed to allow him to attend the University of Missouri. North
 Pauli Murray 185
Carolina did not currently have a graduate school at the North Carolina
College for Negroes in Durham so Murray believed this court ruling would
force the University of North Carolina to admit her. Additionally, President
Roosevelt was awarded an honorary degree by the university concurrently
with Murray’s application. The president praised the school as a “great
liberal institution of learning  .  .  . thinking in terms of today and tomor-
row, and not in the tradition of yesterday.”40 Murray took exception to the
president’s praise since there had not been a Negro student admitted to the
university—in fact any Negro who came to hear the speech had to sit in a
separate segregated section—and it did not appear that this would change
in the near future.
Murray would not accept the injustice so applying her transformational
leadership skills to the situation, she wrote to the president and his wife,
whom she had briefly met when working for the WPA. She explained the
ways in which her family has contributed to the education system in the
South and how important education is for Negroes to be full and contribut-
ing members of the democracy. Her grandfather, Robert, was one of the first
teachers to bring education to freedmen in the South. He started in school
in Virginia and later moved to Durham, North Carolina, where his family
settled.41 Robert’s children, Pauli’s father and aunts, became teachers in the
public school systems in North Carolina and Maryland further reinforcing
their family’s commitment to education as an important virtue.

It is the task of enlightened individuals to bring the torch of education

to those who are not enlightened. There is a crying need for education
among my own people. No one realizes this more than I do. But the
un-Christian, un-American conditions in the South make it impossible
for me and other young Negroes to live there and continue our faith in
the ideals of democracy and Christianity.42

She then pointedly asks him if everything he said at the honorary degree
ceremony “has no meaning for us as Negroes, that again we are to be set
aside and passed over for more important problems.”43
In hopes that she would receive a response, Murray sent a copy of the
letter with a note to the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. The two women began
a correspondence that continued for the remainder of Eleanor’s life. While
the private response encouraged her to be patient and “not push too fast”
for changes that are sure to be coming, Mrs. Roosevelt did include sev-
eral ideas from Murray’s letter in her next “My Day” syndicated column
in the newspaper, questioning if a citizen is really free if that person cannot
vote or is expected to live at a lower level than a neighbor just because of
who he is.44 Murray’s letters to the president and first lady demonstrate her
activist nature and her leadership on issues of inequality. She appealed to
both their humanity and their logic with well-reasoned arguments about
citizenship, democracy, and human rights. She once again proves herself as
186 Kristin Pidgeon
a transformational leader through her vision for the future. By outlining her
argument carefully and thoughtfully, she calls upon her strong rhetorical
skills to demonstrate how important is it to create equal opportunities in
education for Negro children and adults.
Murray strongly believed in the importance of one individual acting
against an injustice or for something one believes in. She called this her
theory of the significance of individual action. She described this to her
friend Dr. Caroline Ware as “one person plus one typewriter constitutes a
movement.”45 She believed that writing letters to those in certain positions
and publishing essays in various journals would shed light on these issues
in ways that could not be ignored. She also offered solutions to the prob-
lems she was describing so that the changes to be made were more obvi-
ous. Although acting alone, her actions made an impact that legitimized her
transformational servant leadership style.
Transformational leaders are forward thinking, and not only do they out-
line the problems of today but also offer solutions to create a better future.46
Richard L. Hughes, Robert C. Ginnett, and Gordon J. Curphy explain that
the vision transformational leaders have does not necessarily include large-
scale social change, but can be smaller scale change within an organization,
and is often a value-based solution.47 The vision that Murray outlined in
her letter to the Roosevelts was a legal change that would bring about social
change. She wanted education to be open to all who sought it, not just
the separate-but-equal education system that followed the Plessy v. Fergu-
son decision. These are moral arguments for her. She believed that equality
among the races is a moral necessity for both those who believed in Christi-
anity and those who believed in democracy.
Murray did not rely solely on the Roosevelts to make a difference with the
University of North Carolina. She also sent a copy of all of the documents
she exchanged with the university to the NAACP in hopes that the court
would rule in her favor. The university leaked the story to the press, and the
public was hostile to the idea of a Negro attending school with white stu-
dents.48 Murray’s identity was not initially revealed as the student who had
applied, but she and her family were both fearful that they would become
the target of violence given the public outcry against her application.49
The fight against the administration of the University of North Carolina
and the state of North Carolina forced Murray to face the reality of being
an outspoken activist for change.

I faced the dilemma of one who spearheads an unpopular struggle and

finds that whatever course one pursues is agonizing. There is risk that
one’s family may be victimized in retaliation or that one’s cause may
suffer a setback through one’s own unwise move. There is the realiza-
tion that no deep-seated injustice can be uprooted without overturning
traditions, making people uncomfortable, and becoming, oneself, the
target of angry criticism.50
 Pauli Murray 187
Her recognition of the dangers of taking on a leadership role in the fight
against racial inequality is another example of transformational leader-
ship. Transformational leaders are aware of the image that they present
to their followers. They “build trust  .  .  . through an image of seemingly
unshakable self-confidence, strength of moral conviction, personal exam-
ple and self-sacrifice, and unconventional tactics or behavior.”51 Against
the segregation laws of the University of North Carolina, Murray projected
self-confidence, even if she was not wholly confident in her abilities, and
through personal example and her personal fight, she was able to demon-
strate her moral convictions that everyone is entitled to a quality education
and that racial inequality is un-Christian and undemocratic.
Ultimately, Murray was denied admission to the University of North Car-
olina. The state General Assembly allocated funds, albeit minimal, to the
establishment of a graduate and professional school at one of the two Negro
colleges.52 And although the NAACP was searching for a similar case to
take to the Supreme Court, they determined that this case was not the “sure
thing” they were looking for. Because Murray was currently living in New
York City and graduated from Hunter College, she did not meet the resi-
dency requirement to attend the University of North Carolina, even though
she lived most of her life in the state. They refused to pursue her case, and
she had to find another avenue to pursue graduate studies. She did view
her experience as a link in the “tradition of continuous struggle, lasting
nearly twenty years, to open the doors of the state university to Negroes . . .
although unsuccessful, nevertheless had an impact on the forward move-
ment.”53 As a servant to the cause, she became a mentor/leader to those who
followed after her.

Jim Crow and Jane Crow

Murray worked for several non-profit organizations over the next few years,
most notably for National Sharecroppers Week. Her work supporting share-
croppers introduced her to several men connected to Howard Law School
who encouraged her to apply for admission to the school. She was accepted
but unsure if this was the right path until she experienced Jim Crow in
New York City at the hands of a doorman. She and a friend were attending
the funeral of one of the executives they had worked for in the Worker’s
Defense League, and they were asked to enter the building through the ser-
vant entrance rather than the front door. They refused, called the building
management, and were ultimately allowed to enter the building. This was
when she decided to enter Howard Law School to become a civil rights
lawyer.54
In addition to introducing her to well-known civil rights attorneys and
giving her the legal foundation to oppose racial inequality, Howard forced
her to recognize another form of discrimination—sex discrimination. She
described the phenomenon as Jane Crow, and as one of the only women
188 Kristin Pidgeon
in the law school (student, faculty, or staff), it became obvious that sexism
was part of the culture. “The men were not openly hostile; in fact, they were
friendly. But I soon learned that women were often the objects of ridicule
disguised as a joke.”55 She used the fact that her enrollment was a joke to
the men as self-motivation to be the best student in the class, and she suc-
ceeded in having the highest grades in each of the courses she took. This cou-
pled with some published activist writings about the lack of full citizenship
for Negro men, even though the men were fighting alongside white men in
World War II, earned her respect from her male peers.56
In true servant leader style, she did not seek but was elected to a position
of leadership because of the respect her peers had for her as she spoke her
mind outlining changes that should be made for Negroes across society. She
felt compelled to speak out due to her

own immunity from this ordeal because I was a woman made me feel an
extra responsibility to carry on the battle for democracy at home while
my colleagues were being ordered into uniform to fight for the United
States abroad.57

Even though her sex gave her an outsider status within the Howard Law
School community, her willingness to speak out on behalf of male Negroes
became her passport into the group and ultimately her platform for leader-
ship on campus.
In her second year at Howard, Murray was able to hone her leadership
skills and guide the activist natures of some female first-year students. Mur-
ray had to move into a freshman residence hall and live in a small one-room
apartment space near the stairwell. Naturally, the undergraduate students
who lived in the residence hall were curious about the female law student
in their midst, and they began to visit her and discuss civil rights issues on a
regular basis.58 When some of their classmates were arrested for disobeying
Jim Crow laws at a lunch counter, many of the students wanted to mount
a protest against these laws in Washington, DC. Another law student began
to discuss the idea of “sit-ins,” forcing restaurants to refuse to serve Negro
customers but also not allowing white customers to take the seats either.59
Led by Ruth Powell, an undergraduate student who had grown up near
Boston, the students formed a Student Committee on Campus Opinion and
asked Murray to be their legal advisor to ensure they were following univer-
sity policy.60 Based on her past experiences, Murray was devoted to “creative
nonviolent resistance” as a “powerful weapon in the struggle for human dig-
nity.”61 She helped to organize a group of students to practice sit-ins in sev-
eral restaurants around Howard University. In her role as mentor and with
her previous activism experience, Murray was aware that there was a certain
way to garner attention without alienating others. She made sure that the
students carried less confrontational signs that would appeal to “concern
for racial reconciliation” following the advice that Eleanor Roosevelt had
 Pauli Murray 189
previously expressed in correspondence with her.62 Even though she was
quick with her temper and demonstrated a tenacity that would make her
grandparents proud, Murray was beginning to demonstrate an understand-
ing of political leadership which when coupled with her servant leadership
would serve her well. In this case, her guidance and the students’ hard work
paid off. Restaurants began to open their doors to Negroes across the city.
In their book, Reframing Organizations, Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E.
Deal explain that “politics is simply the realistic process of making decisions
and allocating resources in a context of scarcity and divergent interests,”
which makes politics integral to decision making.63 The idea is that leaders
must balance their vision with their resources while working with those
who agree with them and those who oppose them. As the legal advisor
and co-organizer of the group at Howard practicing creative nonviolent
resistance, Murray had to demonstrate her ability to be a political leader.
She needed to nourish the activism of the undergraduate students she was
working with while also steering them toward methods that had a greater
likelihood of being successful.
One of Murray’s great strengths as a leader was the way she viewed every-
one she came in contact with as a mentor or someone she could gain knowl-
edge from. She asked questions and listened to her friends and colleagues
speak about their experiences. It was in this way Eleanor Roosevelt had an
impact on her, which Murray then passed on to the younger students as they
protested against Jim Crow treatment in DC restaurants. Eleanor Roosevelt
taught her that the less confrontational their actions and signs were, the
greater impact their message would have on those who needed to listen.
Although she was unaware of it, Murray was showing political leadership
by anticipating where possible problems would arise, determining who the
agents of influence were, and analyzing other strategies that could be used.64
Good listening is a cornerstone of servant leadership. Greenleaf posits that
when good leaders listen to those around them they are able to identify the
problem and intuit the solution.65 In helping to organize the sit-ins with
the Howard University undergraduates, Murray exercises both political and
servant leadership skills. In this instance, these tactics are successful.
Finding a job as a lawyer was not an easy task for Murray, even with the
added credential of a year of graduate study at the University of California.
She found that those who did not attend prestigious law schools or serve
on the law review had difficulty finding jobs, but she struggled even more
because she was Negro and a woman. She concentrated on finding law firms
that dealt with liberal issues but found that being a woman was more of
a deterrent than her race.66 A female municipal court judge gave Murray
the advice that it was not for lack of qualifications that she struggled to
find a job. It was the historic and inherent bias men in the legal field held
against women, but “if a woman has the guts to stick it out she somehow
survives.”67 Murray was able to find work as a law clerk before opening
her own practice to assist members of her race with their legal issues. She
190 Kristin Pidgeon
served those who needed her and worked to create equality through her
legal practice.
Several years later, the issue of women’s equality would consume her
energy. As a doctoral candidate at Yale, she concentrated her formal studies
on race relations in the United States with her dissertation “Roots of the
Racial Crisis: Prologue to Policy.”68 However, she concentrated her informal
studies on women’s rights and the fight for equality. Through connections
to other prominent women of the day, she was asked to serve on the Com-
mittee on Civil and Political Rights, which was part of President Kennedy’s
Commission on the Status of Women. “I look back on this experience as an
intensive consciousness-raising process leading directly to my involvement
in the new women’s movement that surfaced a few years later.”69 Coupled
with her personal experiences at Howard Law School and trying to find a
job as a lawyer, this awareness led her to one of her greatest contributions
to feminist theory and women’s history.
The committee looked to Murray for leadership in drafting a memoran-
dum advising the use of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution as
a way to legally confront state laws that allow for discrimination based on
sex. Much of the Commission was against the Equal Rights Amendment,
and Murray’s memo was an alternative action that advised litigation.70 The
Commission accepted her report and included it in their final recommenda-
tion that

the principle of equality is embodied in the 5th and 14th amend-

ments . . . Since the Commission is convinced that the U.S. Constitution
now embodies the rights for men and women . . . judicial clarification
is imperative in order that remaining ambiguities with respect to the
constitutional protection of women’s rights be eliminated.71

Murray’s work for her committee as part of the President’s Commission

on the Status of Women once again demonstrates her servant leadership. Her
peers selected her as the voice for the committee due to her expertise on the
Fourteenth Amendment and her rhetorical ability. And she was respected
because of her past record of battling against racial inequality.
Murray became very outspoken about sex discrimination in relation to
the 1962 March on Washington with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While
she and many women helped to organize, raise funds, and prepare for the
March, none of them were invited to speak at the rally or attend the meeting
at the White House later in the day with President Kennedy.72 Writing in the
Washington Post and Times Herald, she declared that

as one who has been victim of both Jim Crow and Jane Crow I can give
expert testimony that discrimination solely because of race and discrim-
ination solely because of sex are equally insulting and do violence to the
human spirit.73
 Pauli Murray 191
While Murray showed great political leadership when working with the
students at Howard for racial equality, she began to let her anger guide her
when dealing with the men in leadership during the height of the Civil Rights
Movement.
She alienated many in the movement, including friends, based on her out-
spoken nature. But she also gained many allies. And this proved to also be a
smart political move on her part. As a leader it is important to identify the
relationships that are relevant, determine who may resist the changes or call
for change, and develop relationships with those who opposed the ideals.74
Through working with the leadership of various organizations planning the
March on Washington, Murray was able to identify those who were inter-
ested in including women in the movement and those who believed that
women were “in danger” by being publicly included.75 She found that the
relationships she had development with those who opposed women in lead-
ership was not productive and so she began to speak publicly about Jane
Crow and the double discrimination women experience. She maintained
her connections with others on the President’s Commission on the Status
of Women, and this group lobbied for the inclusion of sex as a provision in
the Federal Employment Practice Committee section of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964.76
A few months later Betty Friedan contacted Murray based on some of the
speeches she had given and articles she had written about the sex discrimina-
tion she had experienced. This was another political connection and oppor-
tunity for Murray as with this connection she helped found the National
Organization for Women a year later with a group of 26 other women.77 As
had become the norm in her life, Murray was again selected for a leadership
role within the organization as one of six members named to a temporary
committee that would create the guidelines and organizational structure for
the organization.78 As both a political leader and servant leader, Murray was
very active in the inception of NOW but disagreements about the attention
to poor and minority women issues and a “lack of appreciation shown her
at meetings” would lead Murray to leave the organization less than a year
later.79 Murray’s vision for recognizing intersectionality in women’s experi-
ence with discrimination was not shared with the rest of the organization’s
leadership.
Murray’s vision of intersectionality became the defining feature of her
activism. She believed that if women worked together to increase oppor-
tunities for all women and for all races both movements would experience
significant progress. In a 1964 article, “The Negro Woman in the Quest for
Equality” published in a sorority alumni magazine, she explains, “Despite
the common interests of Negro and white women . . . the dichotomy of the
segregated society has prevented them from cementing a natural alliance.”80
Because the two groups of women had not worked together to solve the
equality problem, they were limiting their resources. And Negro women
needed to recognize that in addition to feeling the strains of racial inequality,
192 Kristin Pidgeon
they also were subjected to the same patriarchal system that white women
experienced.81 Murray was appealing to Negro women to fight for women’s
rights as they fight for their civil rights because the male leaders were not
concerned with sex discrimination.
A year after the article was published, she collaborated on a law review
article with another female attorney, Mary Eastwood, who Murray met
in her committee as part of the President’s Commission on the Status of
Women.82 Their article, “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and
Title VII,” outlined the ways in which the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments
and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act could be utilized to create equality for
women. This article was the seminal work in the area of legal recourse for
women’s rights and as such was often cited.83 These arguments were the
foundation that feminist lawyers used when advocating for women’s equal-
ity. “Analogies to race helped feminists to frame their client’s challenges to
protective laws as part of a larger struggle against segregation and inequal-
ity.”84 It was Murray’s articulation of the double indignity of Jane Crow
discrimination that led to the legal framework of the argument.
She continued to take a leadership role in her vision for the unification of
Negro and white women working together to gain equal rights for all even
in the face of much opposition from both the predominantly white feminist
movement and the relatively male civil rights movement. She identified flaws
in the two separate movements and how to make them stronger. She did
have a contingent of women who agreed with her approach and who con-
tinued to support and follow her ideals and work on behalf of eliminating
Jane Crow.85
As a more outspoken and militant Black Revolution began to emerge
she urged women not to “subordinate their claims as women to what they
believed to be the overriding factor of ‘restoration of the black male to his
lost manhood.’”86 As she faced more pressure from a small minority of
Negro students while teaching at Brandeis University, she urged those in the
movement not to reinforce the patriarchy by elevating Negro males to the
status of white males with disregard for all females. Through her service to
her university, the ACLU, and on the Commission on Women through the
Church Women United, Murray had a platform from which to challenge the
white patriarchal hegemony.87

The Church and the Finish Line

The Episcopal Church played a large role throughout Murray’s life. She was
raised in the Church, attended church services on a regular basis, and called
upon the Church whenever she was experiencing a crisis in her life. Early in
her legal career she was commissioned by the Women’s Division of the Meth-
odist Church to create a document outlining all of the state’s laws on race
and color so that staff members could be aware of what they would encoun-
ter in the various states where the Church operated. They did not want to be
 Pauli Murray 193
guilty of not following the laws.88 Initially, the group contacted the NAACP
and the ACLU for guidance, but they were unable to help with such a vast
request. A staff attorney for the ACLU recommended Murray because of a
previous article she wrote about fair employment.89 Murray was moved by
the fact that the Church, an entity she greatly respected, would entrust her
with civil rights work, and this had a lasting impact on her.90
Another event that had a significant impact on her life was the death of her
Aunt Pauline, the woman who raised her. She recounted that, “I was thrust into
a role of such awesome spiritual depth that eighteen years later I looked back
upon it as a sign clearly pointing me toward the ordained ministry.”91 Because
Murray was the only person with Aunt Pauline when she passed, Murray was
the one to administer an informal sort of last rites. In that moment of ministry,
Murray found another area in which she was able to serve others, although it
was almost two decades before she would become a priest.
In the early 1970s, Murray began to challenge the patriarchal system of
the Church. She questioned the “system of discrimination against women
within the Episcopal Church and pointed to the dire consequences if women
became so alienated that they withdrew their support from the Church.”92
The women who were part of the Church Women United shared her thoughts,
and Murray was appointed to a special commission to investigate women’s
ordination. As had been the practice most her life, Murray became the leader
and voice of a movement by being appointed by those whom she had served.
She politically identified those who could act as allies and those she would
need to persuade.
Although the General Convention denied ordaining women, they did
remove restrictions on women serving at lower levels in the Church hier-
archy.93 After the death of a close friend, Murray recognized that she was
called to minister and began three years of study in seminary. By the end of
those three years, the next General Convention decided that women could
be ordained in the ministry, and Murray was invited to celebrate her first
Holy Eucharist as a priest in the Church in Durham where her grandmother
had been baptized in 1854.94 Her life had come full circle: she became the
spiritual leader in the Church where her grandmother had begun her spiri-
tual life as a slave.
Murray passed away less than a decade after being ordained while finish-
ing her personal memoirs. She reflected,

All the strands of my life had come together. Descendant of slave and of
slave owner . . . poet, lawyer, teacher, and friend. Now I was empowered
to minister the sacrament of One in whom there is no north or south, no
black or white, no male or female—only the spirit of love and reconcil-
iation drawing us all toward the goal of human wholeness.95

She had been recognized by the National Council of Negro Women as one of
the 12 women of the year in 1945. She was given this distinction because of
194 Kristin Pidgeon
“the selfless devotion and contribution . . . to the humanities and to the cre-
ation of a better life for all people.”96 Through her own hard work and per-
sistence, she became a friend and confidant of Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2012,
she was included in the list Holy Women, Holy Men: Commemorating the
Saints making her a saint in the Church. While Episcopal saints are not ele-
vated to the same status of Catholic saints, they are meant to serve as sources
of ongoing inspiration for church members.97
Even though she played a significant role in the social history of the twen-
tieth century, she remains largely on the periphery of the historical record. A
respected women’s historian, Patricia Bell-Scott explains Murray’s absence
from the annals of history (until recently) as a result of her “politics, temper-
ament, and resolve to be herself,” which frequently alienated family, friends,
and those who could be political allies in her struggles for equality.98 Mur-
ray was much more forward than her predecessors in both the civil rights
and women’s movements. She did not hesitate to contact authority figures
directly, sometimes with a vehemence that overshadowed her message. She
was a passionate individual who strongly cared about those she was fighting
for but sometimes misjudged the appropriate political path to take. As a
servant leader, she did not engage in self-promotion.
I believe her lack of personal promotion also contributed to her lack of
historical recognition. As a student at Howard Law School, she wrote a civil
rights thesis for her final class addressing the lack of equality in the land-
mark Plessy v. Ferguson case. She argued that this court ruling has the goal
of keeping the Negro in a place of lower social and economic standing, and
she cited sociological and psychological data to prove her point.99 She shared
the paper with some friends and submitted it to her professor, and then she
entered the next stage in her life. Nineteen years later, she discovered that
this paper became one of the foundational documents cited in the argument
that won the Brown v. Board of Education case. One of the friends who
had commented on her paper prior to submission had remembered it when
working for the NAACP and used it to prepare their arguments.100 No one
asked her permission or gave her credit for the role she played in one of the
most important Supreme Court cases in history. That her leadership was not
noted in this instance could be explained by her tangential relationship to the
NAACP at that moment. Perhaps she had offended someone else working on
the case and that person failed to notify her. Perhaps the male attorneys did
not deem it necessary to consult a female colleague on the use of her work.
Most likely, her absence from mainstream history is a combination of all of
these and other factors yet to be discovered. However, the importance of her
leadership during a tumultuous time in America’s history cannot be denied.

Notes
1. Murray, Pauli, Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage (New York:
Harper & Row Publishers, 1987), 63.
 Pauli Murray 195
2. Ibid., 378.
3. Ibid., ix.
4. Ibid., 71 and 402.
5. Ibid., 403.
6. Murray, Pauli, Proud Shoes: The Story of An American Family (New York:
Harper & Row Publishers, 1956), x.
7. Ibid., 25.
8. Ibid., 58.
9. Ibid., 102.
10. Ibid., 114.
11. Ibid., 130.
12. Ibid., 133.
13. Ibid., 145.
14. Ibid., 145.
15. Greenleaf, Robert K., The Servant as Leader (Indianapolis: The Robert K.
Greenleaf Center for Student Leadership, 1970), 3.
16. Ibid., 3.
17. Murray, Proud Shoes, 186. Murray recounts meeting one of the surviving stu-
dents from her grandfather’s Virginia school. This man attributed his adulthood
success to the things he learned in Mr. Fitzgerald’s classroom many decades
before.
18. Ibid., 34.
19. Ibid., 35.
20. Ibid., 38.
21. Ibid., 43.
22. Ibid., 46 and 48.
23. Ibid., 51.
24. Ibid., 69.
25. Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader, 6.
26. Ibid., 25.
27. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 36.
28. Ibid., 37–38.
29. Ibid., 39.
30. Ibid., 106.
31. Ibid., 85.
32. Ibid., 85.
33. Ibid., 86.
34. Ibid., 86.
35. Hughes, Richard L., Robert C. Ginnett, and Gordon J. Curphy, Leadership:
Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006), 423.
36. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 105.
37. Ibid., 108–109.
38. Ibid., 115.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid., 110.
41. Proud Shoes, 185–186.
42. Bell-Scott, Patricia, The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship:
Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Struggle for Social Justice (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 2016), 27–28.
43. Ibid., 28.
44. Ibid., 30.
45. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 242.
46. Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience,
412.
196 Kristin Pidgeon
47. Ibid., 413.
48. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 117.
49. Ibid., 120.
50. Ibid.
51. Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience,
415.
52. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 125.
53. Ibid., 128.
54. Ibid., 181.
55. Ibid., 183.
56. Ibid., 188.
57. Ibid., 185.
58. Ibid., 202.
59. Ibid., 203.
60. Ibid., 205–206.
61. Ibid., 149.
62. Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady, 115.
63. Bolman, Lee. G. and Terrence E. Deal, Reframing Organizations: Artistry,
Choice, and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 2003) 181.
64. Ibid., 207.
65. Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader, 8.
66. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 271.
67. Ibid., 271.
68. Ibid., 347.
69. Ibid., 347–348.
70. Ibid., 349–350.
71. Ibid., 352.
72. Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady, 322.
73. Ibid.
74. Bolman and Deal, Reframing Organizations, 208–210.
75. Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady, 324.
76. Ibid., 326.
77. Ibid., 329–330.
78. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 368.
79. Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady, 330.
80. Lerner, Gerda, Black Women in White America: A Documentary History (New
York: Pantheon, 1972), 595.
81. Ibid., 599.
82. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 348.
83. Ibid., 362.
84. Mayeri, Serena, Reasoning from Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights
Revolution (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2011), 30.
85. Ibid., 37, 39.
86. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 416.
87. Ibid., 417.
88. Ibid., 284.
89. Ibid.
90. Ibid., 287.
91. Ibid., 302.
92. Ibid., 418.
93. Ibid.
94. Ibid., 433.
95. Ibid., 434.
 Pauli Murray 197
96. Ibid., 265.
97. Staff, Duke Today, “Pauli Murray Named to Episcopal Sainthood.” Duke
Today. July 14, 2012. https://today.duke.edu/2012/07/saintmurray (accessed
October 5, 2016)
98. Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady, xiv-xv.
99. Murray, Song in a Weary Throat, 254.
100. Ibid., 255.

Bibliography
Bell-Scott, Patricia. The Firebrand and the First Lady. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2016.
Bolman, Lee G. and Terrence E. Deal. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice,
and Leadership. Third. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003. men/hwhm2013ad
dendum1.pdf (accessed October 5, 2016).
Greenleaf, Robert K. The Servant as Leader. Indianapolis: The Robert K. Greenleaf
Center for Servant Leadership, 1970.
Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist
Thought. New York: The New Press, 1995.
Holy Men, Holy Women: Celebrating the Saints. September 2013. www.church
publishing.org/siteassets/pdf/holy-women-holy-men/hwhm2013addendum1.pdf
(accessed October 5, 2016).
Hughes, Richard L., Robert C. Ginnett, and Gordon J. Curphy. Leadership: Enhanc-
ing the Lessons of Experience. Fifth. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2006.
Lerner, Gerda. Black Women in White America: A Documentary History. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1972.
Mayeri, Serena. Reasoning From Race: Feminism, Law, and the Civil Rights Revolu-
tion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011.
Murray, Pauli. Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family. New York: Harper &
Row, Publishers, 1956.
Murray, Pauli. Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage. New York: Harper &
Row, Publishers, 1987.
Staff, Duke Today. “Pauli Murray Named to Episcopal Sainthood.” Duke Today.
July 14, 2012. https://today.duke.edu/2012/07/saintmurray (accessed October 5,
2016).
Index
Adams, Abigail 104
Aelfled 22, 28
affective mystics 59
African Americans 135, 147–53
Agnes of Prague 36
Aidan of Lindisfarne, Saint 17, 19, 21,
22, 23, 25
Almachius, provost of Rome 8, 10–11
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
192, 193
American Indians 135, 147–52
American Indian traditions 91–2
American Saint: The Life of Elizabeth
Seton (Barthel) 102
Ammerman, Nancy 52–3
Anglo-Saxons 16, 19
anxiety 170–1
authentic leadership: characteristics
122–31; demonstrating self-
discipline 123, 129–30; establishing
connected relationships 123, 127–9;
followership impact 130–1; leading
with heart 123, 127; practicing solid
values 123, 125–6; understanding
their purpose 123–4
authority 18–19, 22, 69
awareness 81–2, 107
Babade, Pierre 105
Baggot Street 121, 127
Barthel, Joan 102, 105
Bartoli, Marco 37, 41, 42–4
Bass, Bernard M. 136–40, 183
Bayley, Catherine Charlton 101
Bayley, Elizabeth Ann see Seton,
Elizabeth Ann
Bayley, Richard 101
Beckstrom, Rod A. 114
Bede, Venerable 18, 19, 20, 26–8
Beers, M. 30
beguines 35, 44–6
bella brigata 68
Bell-Scott, Patricia 194
Benedictine rule 26, 30
Benedictines 58
Bernardo, Ranieri di 41
Blackburn Center against domestic and
sexual violence 162
Bokenham, Osbern 3
Bolman, Lee G. 189
Bornstein, Daniel 44–5
Bourgeois, Marguerite 93
Bouvier, Emma Mary see Drexel, Emma
Mary
Boyarin, Adrienne Williams 6
Brafman, Ori 114
Brandeis University 192
Breguswith 16
Bridget of Sweden 1
Brown v. Board of Education 194
Bruté de Rémur, Simon Gabriel 112
building community 107
Burns, James MacGregor 36, 136–40,
152
Burns, Lucy 36
Burr, Aaron 104
Byrne, Thomas 148–9
Caedmon 18, 21, 27–8
Calvert, George 102
Carney, Margaret 38
Carroll, John 102, 105
Catherine of Siena: background
57–8; birth and early years 56–8;
The Dialogue 58; direct political
participation 68; epistolario
61–2, 67, 70; famiglia 62, 66–72;
hagiography 59–61; influence of
200 Index
1, 36; introduction 56–7; political
leadership 62–6; primary role as
spiritual advisor 63–4; pro-papal
lobbying 68; role as a mystic and
visionary 58–9, 72
Catholic Church 34–5, 37, 98, 100, 114
Catholic schools 102–3
Cecilia, Saint 2, 8–11
Celtic Christianity 20–1, 23–5
Cenni, Matteo de 68
charisma 28, 139
Charles IV, King of France 65
Charles V, King of France 71
Charles VII, King of France 1
Cholenec, Pierre 80, 96, 97
Christianity: Cecilia’s success in
converting unbelievers to 8; Kateri’s
commitment to 96–7; Kateri’s
introduction to 81, 84–5, 87–9, 91;
martyrs from 2; missionary activity
16, 21, 23; Mohawk American
Indians and 79; mystics and
visionaries of 59; Oswy’s conversion
to 30; practiced in Montreal 93;
spread in Northumbria 19
Church Women United 192
Civil Rights Movement 191
Civil War 179–80
Clare of Assisi: background 34–6; birth
and early years 34–5, 37–8; cultural
influence 44–6; defiant acts 34, 41–2,
47–8, 50; denies proposals of marriage
41–2; family influence 42–4; gives
away her dowry to the poor 47–8;
introduction 33–4; leadership style 35,
36–7, 48–50; main influences on life
42–8; monastic rule for women 35;
networks of relationships surrounding
34, 39–42; radical influence 46–7, 51;
receiving “Privilege of Poverty” 34;
runs away from home and receives
tonsure 47–8; secret meetings with an
older man 47–8; social and historical
context 39–42
Colmne of Lindisfarne, Bishop 27–8
Colombia 114
commitment to others 83–4, 94–5, 107
Committee on Civil and Political Rights
190
communication 163–4
community building 84, 107
community organizers 28, 30
conceptualization 82, 107
Cooper, Samuel 102
Correspondence of Catherine McAuley,
1818–1841, The (Sullivan) 119
Crowley, Mark C. 127
Curphy, Gordon J. 186
Daughters of Charity of France 110
David. John 105
Deal, Terrence E. 189
Declaration of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen 103
Declaration of the Rights of Woman
and the Female Citizen (Olympe de
Gouges) 103
della Scala, Regina 69
demands 160
Dialogue, The (Catherine of Siena) 58
Dodici (The Twelve) 65
Dominic, Saint 58
double monasteries 25
Drexel, Emma Mary 142–3
Drexel, Francis Anthony 141–2
Drexel, Hannah Langstroth 141–2
Drexel, Katharine: birth and early
years 141–4; calling to follow and
to lead 144–7; canonized 152;
death 135, 150; enters convent 146;
establishes her own order 146–7;
introduction 134–5; legacy 135,
151–3; philanthropy and 147–51;
retirement 150; as transformational
leader 151–3; transformational
leadership and 136–41
Dubois, John 110
DuBourg, William Valentine 102, 105
Eanfled, Queen of Northumbria 22, 24
Easter 17, 19, 21, 23–4, 92
Edwards, Lilas G. 1–2
Edwin, King of Northumbria 15–17,
22–3
Eicher-Catt, Deborah 100, 107–9,
112–13
Eight Saints War 72
Elizabeth, Queen Mother in Hungary 70
emergent leadership 37
empathic leadership 159–61, 171–2
empathic understanding 166
empathy 83, 90, 107, 160
epistolario 61–2
On the Equality of the Sexes (Murray)
104
Equal Rights Amendment 33, 190
Ethelburga, Queen of Northumbria
16, 19
 Index 201
Eucharist 34, 105, 111–12 15; at Monkwearmouth 19, 20, 29; as
evaluation 159–60 mother of bishops 26–30; power
of 18–19; at Whitby 25–8;
faith 171–2 widowhood 20
famiglia 62, 66–72 Hildr 16
Feast of the Blessed Virgin 94 History of the Wife,The (Yalom) 40
feelings 159 Hobart, John Henry 101
Fell, Christine 20 Hollander, E. P. 36
feminist pedagogy 104–5 Holy Communion 91, 92, 96, 112, 143
Fermin, Father 94 Holy Week 96
Filicchi, Antonio 102, 112 Homer 4
Finan of Lindisfarne, Bishop 22, 23 hooks, bell 113
Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt Hot Ashes 89
at an Ascent to the Meaning of Being Howard Law School 187–90, 194
(Stein) 168 Hughes, Cheryl C. D. 135
First Franciscan Woman, The (Carney) 38 Hughes, Richard L. 186
Fitzgerald, Cornelia 179–81 Humiliati 58
Fitzgerald, Robert 179–81 Hunter College 183, 184, 187
followership impact 130–1 Husserl, Edmund 155–7, 168
foresight 82, 107
Fourteenth Amendment, U. S. idealized influence 138–9
Constitution 190 imitation 161
Francis of Assisi, Saint 34, 36, 46–7, 51, Immaculate Mother Academy 149
58–9 individualized attention 138–40
frauenfrage 58 inspirational motivation 138–9
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor 34 intellective mystics 59, 72
Freire, Paolo 113 intellectual stimulation 138–40
French, John R. P. 22 Iona 19–23
Friedan, Betty 191
Jane Crow 187–92
gender revolution 33–4, 51–3 “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex
George, Bill 123–5 Discrimination and Title VII”
Ginnett, Robert C. 186 (Eastwood & Murray) 192
God’s seal 6–7 Jesus Christ: affective mystics and 59;
Graham, Isabella 105 Catherine identifying herself with 72;
Greenleaf, Robert K. 78, 80–1, 98, 106, Catherine on ultimate authority of
122, 180, 181 69, 71; Catherine’s call take up arms
Gregory the Great 18, 23 in name of 68; Catherine’s symbolic
Gregory XI, Pope 62, 70–1 marriage to 57, 62, 71; Cecilia’s
Grundmann, Herbert 44 execution and 11; Clare of Assisi
emulating poverty of 34–5, 45, 49;
hagiography 59–61 Drexel as bride of 145; empathy and
Hartlepool Abbey 18, 20–2, 25 160; Eucharist and 111–12; Francis
Hawkwood, John 68–9 of Assisi emulating poverty of 47;
healing 83, 107 Kateri’s acceptance of 86; Katherine’s
heart 123, 127 belief in 4–5; Margaret’s commitment
Heidegger, Martin 156 to 7–8; McAuley’s faith in 126;
Henry VIII, King of England 30 servant-leadership and 106; Seton’s
Hereswitha 16, 19 dedication to 110; viewed by Stein as
Hesse, Herman 106 slave and teacher 169; virgin martyrs
Hild 16 and 2
Hilda of Whitby: as abbess at Hartlepool Jim Crow 182, 187–92
20–3, 29; birth and early years 16–17, Joan of Arc 1–2, 11–12, 36
37–8; controversy 23–5; introduction John, Gospel According to 106
202 Index
John Paul II, Pope 122, 157
Johnson, G. Allan 51–2
Journey to the East (Hesse) 106
judgment 159–60
Julian of Norwich 1
Katherine of Alexandria, Saint 1, 3–6,
8, 11
Kempe, Margery 1
Kennedy, John F. 190
King, Martin Luther, Jr. 190
Kirshner, Julius 39
Kopf, Callista 159
Ku Klux Klan 135, 149
Lamberville, Jacques de 80, 86–7, 89
leadership: authentic 122–31; charismatic
28; community organizers 28, 30;
emergent 36–7; empathic leadership
159–61, 171–2; literature on 36–7;
political leadership 62–6; power and
22; servant 35, 78, 81–4, 90, 94–5,
106–9, 181; Seton’s model for 109–15;
social change 35–6; transactional 137,
183; transformational 29–30, 124,
135, 136–41, 183–7
Leadership (Burns) 137
Leading from the Heart (Crowley) 127
Legenda Maior (Raymond of Capua)
57, 61
Leo XIII, Pope 145–6
letter writing 61–2, 67, 70
Lewis, Katherine 11
listening 83, 90, 107, 189
Logical Investigations (Husserl) 168
Louise de Marillac, Saint 110
Louis I, King of Hungary and Croatia 70
Lowder, Tim M. 29
Luongo, F. Thomas 67
McAuley, Catherine: authentic leadership
of 122–32; demonstrating self-discipline
129–30; establishing connected
relationships 127–9; followership
impact 130–1; introduction 119–20;
leading with heart 127; legacy 131–2;
life of 120–2; practicing solid values
125–6; purpose 123–4; Retreat
Instructions 125, 127
Margaret of Antioch, Saint 1, 6–8
marriage 86, 94
martyrs 1–12, 62, 67, 71–2, 167
Mary Magdalene 3
Massey, Garth 38
Matthew, Gospel According to 112
Maxentius, Emperor of Roman
Empire 3
Maximian 10
McDougald, Betty 183
McDougald, Murray 183
McInerney, Maud Burnett 11
McNeil, Betty Ann 112
Mercy International Association 132
Michael, Saint 1, 4
milk 6
miracles 6
Mirocoli 66
Mohawk American Indians 78–9
Mohawk Valley 79–81, 89
Mueller, John 47
Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire
(MLQ) 138–9
Muriel, Sister 30
Murray, Daniel 124
Murray, Judith Sargent 104
Murray, Pauli: absence from annals of
history 194; application to attend
University of North Carolina
184–7; correspondence with Eleanor
Roosevelt 185–6, 189; death 193;
as doctoral candidate at Yale 190;
Howard Law School 187–90,
194; incident in Norfolk 182–3;
introduction 178–9; “Jane Crow
and the Law: Sex Discrimination
and Title VII” 192; labor movement
involvement 184; “The Negro Woman
in the Quest for Equality” 191–2;
personal history 179–84; President’s
Commission on the Status of Women
190–2; Proud Shoes 179; putting
leadership to work 184–7; role of
Episcopal Church 192–4; “Roots of
the Racial Crisis: Prologue to Policy”
190; sex discrimination 187–92; vision
of intersectionality 191
mystics 58–9
“Myth of Servant-Leadership: A
Feminist Perspective, The” (Eicher-
Catt) 107
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) 150, 186,
187, 192, 194
National Council of Negro Women 193
National Organization for Women
(NOW) 191
National Sharecroppers Week 187
 Index 203
“Negro Woman in the Quest for proto-feminism 103–6
Equality, The” (Murray) 191–2 Proud Shoes (Murray) 179
North Carolina College for Negroes Provincial Annals (Seton) 110
185 Prussian Society for Women’s Right to
Northouse, Peter Guy. 36–7, 120, 123 Vote 156
Norton, Eleanor Holmes 178 purpose 123–4
Noveschi (Nine) 65
Raven, Bertram 22
O’Brien, Maureen 112 Raymond of Capua, Blessed 57–8,
O’Connor, James 144–7 60–3, 66–7, 70–2
Offreduccio di Favarone 34, 38, 40 reflection 159–60
Offreduccio di Favarone, Ortolana 34, Reframing Organizations (Bolman &
42–4 Deal) 189
Olibrius 6–7 relationships 123, 127–9
Olympe de Gouges 103 Retreat Instructions (McAuley) 125,
Order of Saint Clare 35 127
Order of the Holy Paraclete 15, 17, 30 Reynolds, Kae 109, 113
Oswald, King of Northumbria 17, 19 rhetorical skills 141
Oswy, King of Northumbria 15, 22, Riformatori (the reformers) 65–6
24–5, 26, 29, 30 Roman Catholicism 100–1, 111–12,
114, 142–3
pagans 16 Roman Christianity 21, 23–4
Palmer, Parker 113 Roosevelt, Eleanor 185, 189, 194
papal interdict 70–1 “Roots of the Racial Crisis: Prologue to
Passion Week 96 Policy” (Murray) 190
Paul, Alice 36 Rusconi, Roberto 44–5
Paulinus of York, Bishop 15, 16–17, 19,
21, 23 Saint Catharine’s school 148
persuasion 82, 107 Saint Francis de Sales school 148
Peter, Saint 27 Saint Hilda’s Priory 15
Peterson, Ingrid 46 Saint Joseph’s Free School 110–11
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Saint Mary’s College 102
Life 52 Salimbeni family 65
phenomenology 157–9 Sanger, Margaret 36
Phillip IV, King of France 62 Sculco, Lois 106
Pierson, W. W. 184 segregation 184–5
Pius XII, Pope 34 selen 6
Planting Festival 91 self-discipline 123, 129–30
Plato 4 Serra, Junipera 103
Plessy v. Ferguson 194 Servant as Leader, The (Greenleaf) 106
political leadership 62–6 servant leadership: authentic leadership
Poor Clares 35 and 122; awareness 81–2, 107;
Poor Sisters 35 building community 84, 107;
popolo grasso 64, 66–7 characteristics 78, 81–4, 106–9; Clare’s
popolo minuto 64, 65 model of 35; commitment to others
Porete, Marguerite 1 83–4, 94–5, 107; conceptualization 82,
Porphirius 5 107; dedication to serving others 181;
Powell, Ruth 188 empathy 83, 90, 107; foresight 82,
power 18–19, 22, 69 107; “gender-integrative” 109; healing
President’s Commission on the Status of 83, 107; history of development
Women 190–2 of 108; listening 90, 107; listening
Privilege of Poverty 34 and empathy 83; model of 112–13;
On the Problem of Empathy (Stein) “organizational myth” of 108–9;
155, 158 patriarchal at core 109; persuasion
204 Index
82, 107; proto-feminist 109–13;
stewardship 83–4, 94–5
Seton, Anna Maria 101, 103
Seton, Elizabeth Ann: birth and
early years 100–1; canonized 103;
conversion to Catholicism 102;
hardship 101–2; introduction 100;
life of 100–3; marriage 101; model
for leadership 113–15; pedagogical
practices 110–11; proto-feminist
orientation of 103–6; as proto-
feminist servant leader 109–13
Seton Hill University 112
Seton, Rebecca 103
Seton, William 101–2, 103
sex discrimination 187–92
sharedness 160–1
Sims, Peter 123–5
Sisters of Charity of Saint Joseph 100,
102–3, 108, 110, 114
Sisters of Congregation 93
Sisters of Mercy 119–32
Sisters of Mercy of Saint Mary’s 146
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament 135,
136, 143, 146–53
Skarichions, Marie 93
Smith, Mary Ruffin 180–1
Smith, Sidney 181
social barriers 34, 39–40
Society for the Relief of Poor Widows
with Small Children 105
Spears, Larry C. 106
spider leadership approach 114
spiritual others 166
spiritual persons 164–6
spiritual subject 165–6
Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable
Power of Leaderless Organizations,
The (Brafman & Beckstrom) 114
starfish leadership approach 114
Stein, Edith: brief background of 155–7;
conversion to Catholicism 156, 168;
on dealing with stress and anxiety
170–1; death 157; dissertation on
empathy 155; empathic leadership
159–61; on empathic understanding
166–8; on empathy 159–73; Finite
and Eternal Being: An Attempt at
an Ascent to the Meaning of Being.
168; on here and there in the life
world 162–3; introduction 155;
on maintaining faith 171–2; On the
Problem of Empathy 155, 158; on
relationship with the eternal 168–72;
on resting in the eternal 169–70;
sent to Auschwitz/Birkenau 157;
on signs and symbols in human
communication 163–4; on spiritual
others 166; on spiritual subject 165–6;
on understanding of individual
persons 161–2; on understanding of
spiritual persons 164–6
Stein, Rosa 157
stewardship 83–4, 94–5
stress 170–1
Student Committee on Campus
Opinion 188
Sullivan, Mary 119
Swan, Laura 33, 35, 44–5
Swidler, Ann 53
Synod of Whitby 21, 23
Tao Te Ching 106
Tegaiaguenta, Thérèse 92–5, 96, 97
Tegonhatsihongo, Anastasia 89, 94,
95, 97
Tekakwitha, Kateri: addressing tradition
of marriage 86, 94; apparitions of
97–8; birth and early years 80–1;
canonized 98; death of 96–7; great
escape to Sault St. Louis 89–90;
infected by smallpox 80; introduction
78–9; introduction of Father de
Lamberville 86–7; introduction to
Christianity 84–5; involvement with
Holy Week 92; lasting presence of
97–8; new beginning as Christian in
Sault St. Louis 90–1; resting place
97–8; social structure and religious
beliefs of Mohawk American Indians
78–9; sudden decline in health 95–6;
Thérèse Tegaiaguenta and 92–5; visit
to Montreal 93
Teresa of Avila, Saint 156, 168
texts 6–7
Thomas of Celano 41
Tiburtius 9
Toldo, Niccolo di 62, 67
torture 6–7
transactional leadership 137, 183
transformational leadership 29–30,
124, 135, 136–41, 183–7
Transforming Leadership: The Pursuit
of Happines (Burns) 137
Trial of Condemnation 1
Trial of Rehabilitation 1
True North: Discover Your Authentic
Leadership (George & Sims) 123
 Index 205
Ulrich, Laura Thatcher 50 Virgin Mary 3, 142
University of Missouri Law School virgin martyrs see martyrs
184 Visconti, Bernarbo 69
University of North Carolina 184, vision 141, 186, 189
186–7, 189 visionaries 58–9
Urban I, Pope 9, 11
Urban II, Pope 68 “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” 162
Urban VI, Pope 64 Ward, Benedicta 23
Ursuline Sisters 103 Ware, Caroline 186
U. S. Constitution 190 War of Eight Saints 68
U. S. Supreme Court 184, 187 Weatherby, Georgie Ann 25
Weber, Max 18–19, 22, 28
Valerian 9 We Remember: A Reflection on the
Valkyries 16 Shoah (John Paul II) 157
values 123, 125–6 Western schism 62, 72
Vincent de Paul, Saint 110 Whitby Abbey 15, 18–19
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, A Wollstonecraft, Mary 100, 104–5
(Wollstonecraft) 104 Wordsworth, William 160
virginity 20 WPA Worker’s Education Project 184