The Influence of the Cult of the Virgin on Women's Roles in Religious Life

by Joelle Mellon (Used with permission of author)

   Contemporary historians generally agree that the Cult of the Virgin greatly influenced the roles the Church permitted women to play in medieval religious life. What they do not agree about is whether this cult benefited women or relegated them to an even more inferior position. Mary Condren (1989) argues in The Serpent and the Goddess that, in the eyes of those in power in the Church, Mary's perfect sinlessness made all earthly women seem tainted by comparison. In the essay "Matre Donante", however, Kate Greenspan (1990) puts forth the idea that women who identified themselves with the Virgin were able to obtain their own unique path to power and mystical union with the divine.

   Condren (1989) states, "The Virgin Mary was an impossible ideal for ordinary women. Her virginity made their sexuality problematic, casting them in the role of Temptress to men: symbols of Eve." (pp. 165-166). She adds that medieval women who wished to identify themselves with Mary instead of Eve had to torture themselves to transcend their own sinful bodies. Pious women during this time, imitating the suffering of Christ, inflicted terrible pain on themselves. One common self-torture ritual they performed was to strip themselves naked and flagellate themselves until blood was drawn, then pour hot, melted wax into their wounds. Many church leaders preached that these sufferings provided tangible evidence of the holiness of these women and endeared them to Mary. One priest ordered a novice to kick the future saint Veronica Giuliani in the mouth, to make her more pleasing to God (pp. 169-170).

   Greenspan (1990), however, contradicts this interpretation of the influence of the Cult of the Virgin on medieval women's spiritual roles. She argues that women who truly identified themselves with Mary were, in fact, spared from having to experience physical pain in the service of God. According to Greenspan, in order to be identified with the Virgin, a woman in the middle ages had to have, or at least claim she had, a vision of Mary in which the Holy Mother allowed her to hold the Christ Child (pp 26-28). Greenspan states:
The Virgin's gift of the Christ Child's embrace was seen to confer Marian identity and function upon the visionary, placing her on the path to mystical union that contrasted dramatically with the more familiar way through imitato Christi ... in which the visionary saves as Christ saves, through an inner conformity born of suffering as he did. Union achieved through the Virgin's gift of the Christ Child's embrace did not require a journey through physical pain. Rather, it was with desire, delight and joy that the mystic received the Holy Child (pp. 26-28).

   Greenspan (1990) states that once a woman had had such a vision of Mary, she was perceived both by the laity and the clergy to be an effective mediator between heaven and earth, like the Virgin herself. As such, she was often asked to intercede with God through her prayers on the behalf on somebody in need. Because they were identified with the Virgin, visionary women were given a unique position of power in the medieval Church (p. 27). After all, they could always refuse to mediate if they were displeased.

   Like the roles of earthly medieval women, Mary's role during the middle ages was an ambivalent one. She was perceived as being powerless, the humble handmaid of the Lord. Yet, at the same time, she was the mediatrix capable of sparing damned souls from the torments of Hell. Regardless of how much or little power the medieval Church officially considered her to have had, it cannot be denied that both the laity and the clergy in the middle ages felt a strong love for their Heavenly Mother. Indeed, many people during this time chose to address their prayers to her, rather than to any member of the Holy Trinity.
Lady, pray thy Son for me,
tam pia
that I might come to thee,
Maria

Beseech Him with mild mood
That for us all hath shed his blood
In cruce
That we might come to him
In Luce

Well he knows he is thy son
Ventre quem portasti;
he will not deny thee thy boon,
Parvum quem lactasti
-- Anonymous, excerpts from "In Praise of Mary", 1250

   The Virgin Mary was perceived by Christians of the middle ages as being directly and personally involved in human affairs. In Miracles of Mary: Apparitions, Legends and Miraculous Works of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Michael S. Duram (1995) writes that by the eleventh century, she was credited with performing a diverse catalog of miracles. She returned lost fortunes, cured the sick, restored severed body parts, and saved women from being raped (p. 147). She was believed to have bestowed holy gifts upon mankind (most notably the rosary), and it was felt that she frequently appeared to female saints to inspire them and offer advice. Although grateful for all these intercessions, the love many medieval people felt for the Virgin stemmed more from their strong belief that she would plead with Jesus to spare the souls of even the blackest of sinners from the torments of hell. In Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion, Hilda Graef (1963) states that according to thirteenth century theologian Conrad of Saxony, "she prevents her Son from striking sinners; for before Mary there was no one who dared thus hold back the Lord" (p. 291). Marina Warner (1976 / 1983) argues in Alone of All her Sex: the Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary that the Virgin's intervention, "transforms [Jesus] ... from the God of justice to the God of mercy" (p. 316). Because of this, quite understandably, many people in the middle ages chose to pray to Mary, the "merciful mother" for their salvation, instead of the judgmental, intimidating, God.

   In The Hours of Catherine of Cleves and The Hours of Simon de Varie, the patron of each book is portrayed having a personal audience with the Virgin. (Catherine is saying, "O Mother of God, remember me." in Latin.) Although physically larger than her supplicants, she is depicted as a gentle and benign figure, smiling and holding her baby. In his book, Hail Mary?: The Struggle for Ultimate Womanhood in Christianity, Maurice Hamington (1995) writes that St. Bernard of Clairvaux, an influential twelfth century theologian, believed that Mary's maternal characteristics made her more approachable than any of the incarnations of the Holy Trinity. St. Bernard felt that such approachability made her the perfect mediator for mankind (p. 96).

   In the middle ages, Mary had a reputation for leniency toward sinners, no matter how terrible their sins. Such mercy is demonstrated in the medieval legend of Theophilus, who committed the "ultimate sin" of selling his soul to the devil. According to Marina Warner (1976 / 1983), this was one of the best loved tales of the middle ages (p. 323). Emile Male (1958) states in The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France in the Thirteenth Century that it is the only one of the Virgin's many legendary miracles to be depicted in sculpture or stained glass in medieval cathedrals. Its importance to religious consciousness of the time is also emphasized by the fact that it appeared in so many cathedrals. The story is carved at Lyons and Notre Dame in Paris, and is portrayed in stained glass at Chartres, Laon, Beauvais, Troyes and Le Mans (p. 260).

   As retold by Warner (1976 / 1983), it seems to be a precursor of the story of Faust, in which Theophilus, the archdeacon of the bishop of Ardana in Cilicia begins to long for worldly power. Driven by the devil, he seeks out a Jewish necromancer and signs away his soul in return for riches and success. He receives them but cannot enjoy them because of his great remorse about his compact with the devil. Theophilus prays to the Virgin to help him, and she appears to him in a dream. She returns the deed he had signed in blood, telling him that she has wrested it from the devil himself, and he is pardoned. When Theophilus wakes, he finds the deed beside him in his bed (p. 323).

   Such mercy is by no means limited to Theophilus. The middle ages abounded with similar tales in which Mary spares an utterly unworthy sinner from hell. According to Graef (1963), twelfth century theologian Anselm of Canterbury urged, "let him who is guilty before the just God flee to the tender Mother of the merciful God" (p. 214). Marina Warner (1976 / 1983) states:
The more raffish the Virgin's suppliant, the better she likes him. The miracles' heroes are liars, thieves, adulterers, and fornicators, footloose students, pregnant nuns, unruly and lazy clerics, and eloping monks. On the single condition that they sing her praises ... and show due respect for the miracle of the Incarnation wrought in her, they can do no wrong (p. 325).
   Hilda Graef (1963) writes that twelfth century Biblical scholar Eadmer believed that even Christ the Judge becomes partial when the name of Mary is invoked by a sinner. He felt that calling on the Virgin could bring salvation more quickly than appealing to Christ directly. Graef states that according to Eadmer: “Her Son is the Lord and Judge of all men, discerning the merits of the individuals, hence he does not at once answer anyone who invokes him, but does it only after just judgment. But if the name of his Mother be invoked, her merits intercede so that he is answered even if the merits of him who invokes her do not deserve it (p. 216)”.

   The role of Mary as an intercessor with Christ is depicted explicitly in The Hours of Catherine of Cleves in this image of the Crucifixion. Here, the somewhat complex, hierarchical mediation process is shown. Catherine pleads with the Virgin to pray for her. Mary exposes her breast, dripping milk, and asks Jesus to be gracious to Catherine for the sake of His mother, whose breasts nursed him. In turn, Christ asks, in the name of his wounds, for the Father to spare Catherine. God the Father answers Jesus that this prayer has been heard with favor. Mary Condren (1989), explains in The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Ancient Ireland, why Mary's exposing of her breasts encouraged her Son to show mercy: “Just as the ancient goddesses calmed the wrath of warriors by showing their bare breasts, so too Mary could be counted upon to remind God that she had once nursed him and the milk of her breast could now dissolve his wrath. ... God may well be pure spirit, but Mary would soon remind him of his human origins, showing him her breasts, reminding him of how he had suckled”(p. 162).

   According to Hamington (1995), many theologians and popes of the middle ages argued that Mary's influence over Jesus was demonstrated in the Bible, specifically in John 2:1-11 (pp. 91-92). This is the story of the wedding at Cana that Jesus attended with his mother, where He performed his first miracle. At this wedding, there was not enough wine. Mary said, "They have no wine." and Jesus replied, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.". Despite His reluctance, however, He performed the miracle of turning water into wine to please her. Hamington writes that according to medieval Biblical scholars, this story signified: “As a mother, she had power over her son, even when he did not wish to comply. Mary made Jesus perform his first miracle against his better judgment, and she could therefore persuade Jesus to judge sinners kindly”(p. 92).

   In his essay, "The Marian Interpretation of the Song of Songs in the Middle Ages", P. Fidelis Buck (1980) states that medieval theologians felt the Song of Songs in the Bible also expressed Mary's mediator role for mankind. (Many Biblical scholars in the Middle Ages believed that the entire Song of Songs refers to the Virgin.) Jesus was generally considered to be the "head" of the Church, and the Song of Songs especially mentions the neck of the bride in Canticles 4:4 and 7:4. Mary was therefore thought to be the Church's "neck" and Christians the body. The medieval scholar Thomas of Perseigne argued that this arrangement clearly indicates Mary's role as an intercessor -- she is the neck joining divinity and humanity. He added that, as air is breathed in and out through the neck, through her mediation, mankind's interior devotion is presented to God, and God's mercy is transmitted to man (pp. 94-95).

   Hamington (1995) writes that Catholics in the middle ages were taught that Mary had secured an agreement from Jesus that He would always heed her prayers on behalf of sinners (p. 95). But certainly the belief in her ability to intercede with her Son was based on something far deeper and more touchingly human than this covenant. Out of love for her and in gratitude for her being His mother during His time on earth, Jesus would refuse Mary no request. According to Warner (1976 / 1983), "Christ cannot find it in His heart to refuse His Mother" (p. 316). Perhaps above all else, it was this human aspect of Jesus and, to an even greater extent, Mary that inspired passionate devotion to Christianity.
Jesu, sweete, be not wroth,
Though I n'ave clout ne cloth
Thee on for to fold,
Thee on for to folde ne to wrap,
For I n'ave clout ne lap;
But lay thou thy feet to my pap
And wite thee from the cold
-- Anonymous, 14th century

My child is outlawed for thy sin,
Mankind is better for his trespass;
Yet pricketh my heart that no nigh my kin
Should be deceased, o son, alas!
--Anonymous, 14th century

   The medieval predilection for thinking of Mary as a merciful intercessor on the behalf of mankind led to a popular conception of her as a human, approachable figure. In The Devotion to Our Lady, Hilda Graef (1963) writes of the Virgin in the middle ages:
Mary was now becoming more "human", so to speak, she was seen as a woman sharing all the joys and sufferings of women. If God, even the incarnate God, her Son, was still felt to be in some way remote from men, because he was a divine Person, Mary was wholly human, wholly a mother, smiling at her child, weeping over him when he had died (p. 40).

   According to Mother of God by Lawrence Cunningham (1982), medieval art reflected this shift from the Byzantine-age perception of her as the lofty "queen of heaven" to a much more accessible version of her as human and motherly. Cunningham states: “We need only compare the ethereal and hieratic Virgins of Italo-Byzantine art with the mature frescoes of Giotto to see the difference. Gone (or increasingly more rare) are the golden backgrounds and the distant visions of the Theotokos [God-bearer]. Instead, we find human and palpable figures of the Virgin: a real woman who has just given birth, or a real mother, struck dumb with grief, standing near her dead son, who has been horribly executed”(p. 67).

In the late medieval era of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the Black Plague was sweeping through Europe, the humanization of the Virgin movement manifested itself strongly in the cult of the Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrows). This image from the very early sixteenth century Masters of the Suffrages Book of Hours shows the traditional sorrows of Mary, surrounding a representation of her with her heart pierced with a sword. According to Lawrence Cunningham (1982), the seven sorrows are: 1) Mary presents the infant Jesus at the temple, and the prophet Simeon predicts that her heart will be pierced with a sword. 2) She is forced to flee to Egypt with her husband and Child to escape the murderous wrath of Herod. 3) She loses her Son at the temple in Jerusalem. 4) The Virgin sees Jesus crushed and bruised by the weight of the Cross. 5) Mary stands vigil at the Cross as Christ suffers and dies. 6) The dead body of Jesus is laid in her arms. 7) She follows His body and watches as it is put into the grave, and the tomb is sealed. (p. 126). Marina Warner (1983) argues that people of the middle ages felt that because Mary had suffered, she could empathize more with the misery of humans on earth. Warner states: “The cult of the Mater Dolorosa stressed her participation in mankind's ordinary, painful lot, and so although the Black Death restored a degree of majesty and terror to the personality of Christ the Judge, the Virgin herself retained the common touch. Her sorrows became a commonplace of medieval preoccupations (p. 216)”.

   Despite all the emphasis on the Virgin's humble humanity and her role as a merciful, approachable mediatrix, medieval man somehow simultaneously maintained a strong belief in her role as the exalted queen of heaven and earth. It was generally felt that the Virgin was richly rewarded for her earthly suffering by God, especially after her death. She was crowned by Jesus and given a place beside him on the celestial throne. To men in the middle ages, she was simultaneously an earthly mother and a being second only to God in the heavenly hierarchy. It is partly this duality of her nature, which has made the study of Mariology so complex and fascinating throughout the ages.

   According to the popular medieval bestseller, The Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Voragine (1298 / 1941), the resurrected Jesus' love for his mother was so great that He appeared to her before anyone else. Voragine states:
It is the common belief that Our Lord appeared first of all to the Virgin Mary. The Evangelists, it is true, do not speak of this; but if we were to take their silence for a denial, we should have to conclude that the risen Christ did not once appear to his mother (p. 221).

   Hilda Graef (1963) states that, according some of the popular literature of the middle ages, Mary asked Jesus at the time of this appearance to her to "preserve her body from the fury of the Jews so that she [should] not suffer any ignominy" (p. 261). Marina Warner (1976 / 1983) writes that another popular medieval belief about this meeting was that, when it occurred, Mary requested that Jesus visit Mary Magdalene and reassure her that He was not really dead. Warner adds that one scholar in the middle ages, Maria de Agreda de Jesus, argued that this visit was an extraordinary honor to Mary because during it, Christ united so closely with her that He penetrated into her body and she into His (p. 231).

   Another honor that Mary was thought to have been given while she was still on earth was that, along with the apostles, the Holy Spirit descended upon her on Pentecost. Some artists showed the Holy Spirit manifesting Itself as tongues of flame, others portrayed It as the same dove that appeared over the head of Jesus at His baptism. This representation of the event from The Hours of Simon de Varie is one variation on an image that appeared in many manuscripts throughout the middle ages. Marina Warner (1976 / 1983) comments about this recurring depiction of Mary on Pentecost: “In iconography of medieval Christendom and later, she often holds center stage, both at the Ascension and at the gift of tongues; a towering figure, she becomes the very embodiment of Mater Ecclesia, brimming over with grace and power of the Spirit, and before whom the apostles sometimes kneel in awe”(p. 18).

   The image from the Hours of Etienne Chevalier looks like it might be an annunciation scene, but Mary is obviously old. In fact, the angel in it is not announcing the conception of Jesus, but Mary's impending death, offering her the sacred palm that was to be carried in front of her coffin. It was generally felt that God intended this announcement of death by an angel as a great honor to Mary. According to de Voragine (1298 / 1941) the angel greeted her with reverence and said, "'three days hence thou shalt be called forth from the body, because thy Son awaits thee, His venerable mother!'"(p. 450).

   These, however, were only small honors, compared with what people of the middle ages believed she was given by Jesus after her death. As this image from The Hours of Etienne Chevalier demonstrates, it was generally thought that Mary, like Christ, was bodily assumed into heaven after she died. According to Hamington (1995), this belief was based on the idea that because her body was not corrupted by original sin, it also could not be corrupted by decay. Her purity had disassociated her from the material world to such an extent that even her body was not subject to its natural laws (p. 20). Hilda Graef (1963) states that an eleventh or twelfth century treatise attributed to St. Augustine supported the idea of Mary's assumption. The writer of this treatise argued that since Jesus had honored his mother by preserving her virginity in the Immaculate Conception, it was logical to believe that he would save her body from decay (p. 223).

   De Voragine (1298 / 1941) writes in The Golden Legend that Christ summoned her from her tomb by saying, "'As thou hast not felt the plague of sin in carnal dealings, so thou mayst not suffer the corruption of the body in the grave'" (p. 454). He adds that St. Thomas, who had previously doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead, refused to believe that Mary had been assumed. As Christ had, Mary supplied him with physical evidence to assuage his doubts. De Voragine states, "Suddenly the girdle wherewith her body had been begirt fell unopened into [St. Thomas'] hands, that so he might understand she had been assumed entire" (p. 454).

   The page from the Master of Evert Zoudenbalch Book of Hours depicts the next honor believed to have been bestowed on Mary -- her coronation in heaven. This representation of the scene is particularly exceptional, since it shows all three members of the Trinity crowning her, instead of only Jesus, which is more usual. It is interesting to note that the incarnation of the Father is the only being in the picture other than Mary who wears a crown. Her coronation was certainly accepted as fact by most medieval theologians. They repeatedly referred to Mary in terms of royalty. According to Hilda Graef (1963), twelfth century Biblical scholar Godfrey of Admont called her "the mistress of the world, the queen of heaven and the empress of the angels" (p. 248). Buck (1980) mentions twelfth century theologian Rupert of Deutz's belief that passages in the Song of Songs name Mary "queen of the saints in heaven as well as of kingdoms of the earth, possessing by right the whole kingdom of her Son" (p. 82). Buck adds that in the same century William of Newburgh argued for Mary's right to be crowned with Jesus because she shared in his labors and suffered with Him (p. 91).

   After Mary was crowned, it was believed that Jesus enthroned her next Him to rule, as this representation of the event from The Hours of Simon de Varie shows. The somewhat erotic imagery inherent in the portrayal of Mary and Jesus in heaven enthroned beside each other was certainly not missed by medieval scholars. It was commonly believed that the Song of Songs designated Mary the Bride of Christ and the spouse of Jesus. Certainly also remarked upon, however, in the medieval era, was the question of whether her position at the right hand of Christ was meant to imply that Mary may have become the equal of her Son after her death. Hilda Graef (1963) states that many theologians did not feel this was likely, such as the thirteenth century scholar Albert the Great. Nonetheless, he certainly believed it was proper to venerate her as a queen. Graef explains that according to Albert, "every knee, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth bows before her" (p. 278). On the other hand, Graef adds, the medieval theologian Eadmer certainly felt that such equality was a possibility. She paraphrases him: “[Eadmer] asks himself how Christ could bear to go to heaven first and leave his mother behind; perhaps, he thinks, because the heavenly court would not have known who to greet first (p. 217).”

   Despite some disagreement on this matter, however, at least one thing was certain in the medieval mind. Honors were given to Mary by God because of her exceptional purity and goodness during her life on earth. Perhaps to provide people with a model of behavior to aspire to, throughout history, Mary's sinlessness has always been strongly emphasized. It was believed that of all women since the beginning of the human race, only Mary truly pleased God.
Ne had the apple taken been,
The apple taken been,
Ne hadde never our Lady
A been heaven's queen.
Blessed be the time
That apple taken was!
Therefore we may singen
"Deo Gratias!"
Anonymous, 15th c.

   In the middle ages, Mary was thought to have two primary virtues -- her obedience to the will of God and her perpetual virginity. In this era, it was not enough simply to believe in the immaculate conception of Jesus; people also bore a strong conviction that Mary remained a virgin all her life, despite being married.

   Marina Warner (1976 / 1983) states that it was generally believed in medieval times that Joseph was chosen by God to be Mary's husband partly because he was too old to have intercourse with her (p. 27). According to Jacobus de Voragine (1298 / 1941), Joseph was so old that he was reluctant to marry the teenaged Virgin. De Voragine states "to [Joseph] it did not seem fitting that a man of his years should take so young a maid to wife" (p. 524). This depiction of the marriage of Mary and Joseph from The Hours of Etienne Chevalier, indeed, portrays her as a young girl and him as an elderly, white-bearded man old enough to be her grandfather.

   This image shows Mary, holding the infant Jesus, in the company of her mother (St. Anne), her two half-sisters (also named Mary) and their children. Although this piece does not, at first glance, seem to be referring to the purity of Mary, it is actually a subtle defense of her perpetual virginity. According to Warner (1976 / 1983), the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all contain references to the "brethren" of Jesus, which caused some doubt about his mother's virginity after His birth. To keep these passages from discrediting her purity, it was sometimes argued that Biblical mentions of Christ's brethren referred to his cousins, shown here (p. 23). Warner states that according to the medieval bestseller The Golden Legend:
St. Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary, was married twice before she married Joachim, Mary's father, and by each of her former husbands had a daughter called Mary. These other Marys, the sisters of the Virgin, in turn had children, who were Jesus' "brethren". Popular northern paintings of the fifteenth century ... portray these numerous relations assembled together (p. 23).
This piece also shows the three women standing in a walled garden, a common metaphor for virginity.

   This depiction of Mary from The Hours of Catherine of Cleves also portrays her in a "garden enclosed". The inspiration for this metaphorical imagery came from the "Song of Songs". According to Buck (1980), both St. Jerome and Epiphanius in the fourth century argued that Canticle 4:12 of the "Song of Songs" referred to the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God (pp. 76-77). Buck writes: “St. Jerome (342-420) ... comments on Cant 4, 12: 'My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.' He writes: 'Because it is closed and sealed, it has a likeness to the Mother of the Lord, both mother and virgin.' ... Epiphianius (315-403) quotes the same text of Cant 4,12 when he addresses Mary in a homily to her praise 'Hail Mary, full of grace, gate of heaven of which the prophet declared: This gate shall remain shut' ... (Ezek 44, 2). Of this gate speaks also the the prophet in the "Song of Songs" when he exclaims: 'A garden enclosed ... a fountain sealed up. The holy and exalted girl Mary remained a virgin' (pp. 76-77).

   The banderole in this very symmetrical image of Eve and the Virgin Mary from The Hours of Catherine of Cleves proclaims: "Eve authoress of sin, Mary authoress of merit." Mary was widely regarded as "a second Eve" in the middle ages. According to Marina Warner (1976 / 1983), this was because St. Paul had declared Jesus the new Adam. Later theologians simply took this one step further, arguing that Mary could be considered the "new Eve" and could undo the damage to the world that Eve had done (p. 59). This idea seemed to be popular with female medieval Biblical scholars, perhaps because they sought an alternative paradigm of womanhood to the sinful Eve, whose flawed daughters women were frequently reminded they were. Hilda Graef (1963) mentions that the remarkable Hroswitha of Gandersheim, a tenth century Benedictine nun, referred to Mary as "the one hope of the world, the glorious mistress of heaven, who restores to the world the life the virgin Eve had lost" (p. 204). Graef adds that in the later fourteenth century, St. Bridget, speaking as Mary, wrote "'As Adam and Eve sold the world for one apple, so my Son and I have redeemed the world as it were with one heart'" (p. 309).

   Medieval women were told they could not hope to entirely cast off the sinful nature they had inherited from Eve, but Mary provided them with an ideal to strive toward. Some women during this time chose to renounce worldly ways as much as possible in order to become more like the Virgin Mary. They took vows of chastity, entering convents as nuns, to emulate her life as a virgin. This freed them from the rule of husbands, the dangers of childbirth, and the demands of children. In this environment, they could be educated, and some became scholars in their own right. Mary's purity ultimately led to her being crowned as queen of heaven and earth, and remaining a virgin also allowed women of the middle ages to have a path to power.