Women in beliefs and sources of European culture.

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'Listen to my HERstory'

Europe was a woman ... In Greek mythology, she was famous for
her extraordinary beauty, she gave birth to two sons: Minos and
Radamantys. Enchanted by the beautiful landlady, the god Zeus
kidnapped her and lifted her to the largest Greek island - Crete.
When the name of the mythological heroine was first used to
name our continent, it is not known. But she was certainly female.
We would like to emphasize this fact when discussing other
important women of our common continent.
We dealt with the topic: "Women in beliefs and sources of
European culture". We hope that our joint work - this multimedia
presentation, will inspire you to deepen your knowledge and
search for new curiosities about women.

The Virgen de la Peña is the patron saint of the island of Fuerteventura. It is found enthroned in the
Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Peña located in the Valle de la Vega de Río Palmas (Betancuria)
Legend said that on a spring night Father Fray Juan de San Torcaz went out to look for medicinal
herbs and, seeing that he was slow to return, San Diego went looking for him. He asked some
shepherds about the friar and they told him that they had not seen him, but that there had been
strange lights that night, and among them one of extraordinary brightness, that were moving
towards the Barranco de Malpaso. San Diego and the shepherds went to the place and spotted
Father San Torcaz's hat, inside a pool of water, which was located under a very steep rock, the friar
was, at the bottom of the pool, bent on his knees with her rosary around her neck.

One of the shepherds jumped into the
water to get Fray San Torcaz out, and he
got him out unscathed and totally dry.
The friar told San Diego and the
shepherds that heavenly music and rays
of light were coming out of a nearby
rock. Without wasting time, they went
looking for tools to break the rock, but
the efforts did not yield any results and
the tools were dented. Then, Saint
Didacus showed the part of the rock
that should be hit, when hitting at that
point the rock broke and, inside, they
found a white image representing the
Virgin Mary with her son in her arms.
Celebration: September (3rd Saturday).

The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candle (Spanish: Virgen de Candelaria or Nuestra Señora de
la Candelaria), popularly called La Morenita, celebrates the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife,
one of the Canary Islands (Spain). The center of worship is located in the city of Candelaria in
Tenerife. She is depicted as a Black Madonna. The "Royal Basilica Marian Shrine of Our Lady of
Candelaria" (Basilica of Candelaria) is considered the main church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in
the Canary Islands and she is the patron saint of the Canary Islands. According to a legend recorded
by Alonso de Espinosa in 1594, a statue of the Virgin Mary, bearing a child in one hand and a green
candle in the other (hence "Candelaria"), was discovered on the beach of Chimisay (Güímar) by two
Guanche goatherds in 1392. This was before the Castilian conquest of the island of Tenerife (the
island was not fully conquered until 1496). One of the shepherds tried to throw a stone at the
statue, but his arm became paralysed.

After the appearance of the Virgin and
its iconographic identification with this
biblical event, the festival began to be
celebrated with a Marian character in
the year 1497, when the conqueror
Alonso Fernández de Lugo, celebrated
the first Candlemas festival dedicated
especially to the Virgin Mary,
coinciding with the Feast of
Purification, on February 2. She was
declared patroness of the Canary
Islands in 1559, by Clement VIII (and
principal patroness in 1867 by Pope
Pius IX).[1] The Virgin of Candelaria is
widely petitioned to pray for the
protection against epidemics, plagues,
droughts and volcanic eruptions.
Celebration: her feast is celebrated on
February 2 (local) and August 15 (the
patronal feast of the Canary Islands).

St Mary
The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of
Poland (also translated as Our Lady,
Queen of Poland or Blessed Virgin
Mary, Queen of Poland) is an honorary
title for Mary, mother of Jesus, used by
Polish Catholics. Christians commonly
refer to her as the Virgin Mary, in
accordance with the belief that the
Holy Spirit impregnated her, thereby
conceiving her first-born Jesus
miraculously, without sexual relations
with her betrothed/husband, until her
son Jesus was born. Poland is a
predominantly Catholic country.
Although there may be somewhat
fewer observant Catholics nowadays,
most Poles still regularly go to mass,
confession and partake in communion.
Many also honour the saints.

Mary is believed as the Patron and Protector of Poland. The Black Madonna of
Poland, is a very famous painting of the Blessed Virgin holding the Child Jesus. Under
this title, Mary is the Patron and Protector of Poland. Since the face of Mary is very
dark, she is referred to as the Black Madonna. The picture follows the traditional
form of an icon. Mary gestures toward Jesus, directing the attention away from her
and pointing to Jesus as the source of salvation. The picture is located in
Czestochowa- the city in the south of Poland, the place of pilgrimage and top tourist
destination. Another place of worship of Mary is Mary’s Basilica in Cracow. After the
Wawel Cathedral, St. Mary’s Basilica is the most important church in Cracow.

St Jadwiga
Saint Jadwiga was the queen of Poland from
1834. Jadwiga became the queen of Poland at
age 11. When she was 12, she married the
Lithuanian prince Jagiełło. Her life was very
short – she died in childbirth at age 25. Over
the years of her reign the girl became famous
for her kindness and generosity. Jadwiga
knew four languages: Polish, Hungarian,
French and Latin. She was educated in music
and the fine arts. Jadwiga donated money to
the construction of churches, hospitals and
dormitories for students. The cult of Jadwiga
started in the 15th century, just after her
death. People used to worship her, as a sign
of gratitude to the saint they brought chains,
rings and other jewellery to churches and
hung them. Icons with her image were
created on the walls. The Catholic Church
canonised her in 1997. Saint Jadwiga is known
as the patron saint of Poland.

St Barbara
Saint Barbara, known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara,
was an early Christian Greek saint and martyr. In Poland Saint Barbara is the patron
of miners. Her Feast Day is 4th December. On Saint Barbara’s Day, Poles celebrate
faithfulness, feminine beauty, and miners. In fact, this holiday is also referred to as
Miners’ Day! Miners' band, dressed in traditional uniforms, march through the towns
in Silesia in Poland rousing residents from their beds and before attending church for
a celebratory mass. According the story, a young woman named Barbara lived in a
tower, where her father locked her away.

She was interested in Christianity.
One day, her father came home
and discovered that she had made
three windows—representing the
Holy Trinity—in the bath he had
been building. Barbara admitted
to him that she was now a
Christian. Her father was angry
and beat her before handing her
over to authorities, as Christianity
was illegal where they lived at the
time. Her father wanted to behead
her, but he was struck down by
lightning. Today, Saint Barbara is
portrayed as a prime example of
genuine Christian faith and as the
patroness of miners.

SAINT PARASCHEVA
Saint Parascheva was born in the village
Epivat in Eastern Tracia, at the beginning
of the XIth century, in a family who
believed in God. Then, by the age of 15,
she dedicated herself to the monachal life.
Currently, she is recognized mostly by the
Orthodox Churches from Romania, Greece,
Bulgaria, Russia and Serbia. Saint
Parascheva’s relics were brought to Iasi in
1641, during the reign of the ruler Vasile
Lupu, and they were exposed in the Church
of the Three Hierarchs (Trei Ierarhi
Church). People also call her Saint Friday.
Saint Parascheva is considered the
Protector of Moldavia and Bucovina, being
the most popular of all the Saints whose
relics are in Romania. Christians believe in
the miraculous powers of the relics.

Every year, on the celebration of Pious Saint Parascheva, the shrine with her relics is
carried out of the church and they are exposed on the esplanade of the Metropolitan
Cathedral. Over a million persons come every year, from our country and from
abroad, to worship Saint Parascheva’s Relics.

Saint Parascheva’s Dedication Day – 13 October and
at the same time, the Feast of the Metropolitan
Cathedral in Iasi, has become, these last 15 years, an
important Christian manifestation for the region of
Moldavia. On this occasion arrive in Iasi, in
pilgrimage, about 1 million pilgrims, most of them
waiting for hours in a line which covers 2-3
kilometers in order to reach the relics of the Saint
and pray. Generally, on the 12th of October the holly relics are brought out of the
church and they are exposed on the esplanade of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Then, on
the 13th of October, the feast day, a procession is being organised on the streets
nearby. During the last years, besides the relics of Saint Parascheva, there have also
been brought here the relics of other important Saints such as: Saint Ioan Gura de Aur,
Saint Nectarie of Eghina and those of Saint Andrew. After the procession, the reliquary
is exposed again in the courtyard of the Metropolitan Cathedral in order to allow the
pilgrims to pray. Also, after the Feast’s religious service, the City Hall of Iasi organizes a
lunch for the pilgrims, where they serve traditional meals.

St. Philothea (Philofthea) of Argesh was born in Trnovo, the old
capital of Bulgaria, around 1206. Her father was a farmer. Her
mother died when Philothea was still a child, and her father
remarried. The child was often punished by her stepmother, who
accused her of being disobedient, and of giving their possessions
away to the poor. Her father chastised her for this, but Philothea
continued to attend church and do good to others, just as her
mother had taught her. As she grew older, she was adorned with
the virtues of prayer, virginity, and almsgiving. St. Philothea
would bring food to her father, who was out working in the
fields. However, not all of the food would reach him because she
would give some of it to the poor children begging in the street.
When he complained to his wife that she did not prepare enough
food for him, she replied, “I send you plenty of food. Ask your
daughter what she does with it.” Becoming angry with
Philothea, her father decided to spy on her to see what happened to the food. From a place of
hiding, he saw her giving food to the poor children who came to her. In a violent rage, he took
the axe from his belt and threw it at the twelve-year-old girl, hitting her in the leg. The wound
was mortal, and she soon gave her pure soul into God’s hands. Her father was filled with fear and
remorse, and tried to lift his daughter’s body from the ground, but it became as heavy as a rock.
He then ran to the Archbishop of Trnovo to confess his sin and explain what had happened. The
Archbishop and his priests went with candles and incense to take up the martyr’s body and bring
it to the cathedral, but they were also unable to lift it.

The Archbishop realized that St. Philothea did not
wish to remain in her native land, so he began to
name various monasteries, churches, and cathedrals
to see where she wished to go. Not until he named
the Monastery of Curtea de Argesh in Romania were
they able to lift her holy relics and place them in a
coffin. The Archbishop wrote to the Romanian
Voievode Radu Negru, asking him to accept the
saint’s relics. The Archbishop and his clergy carried
the holy relics in procession as far as the Danube,
where they were met by Romanian clergy, monastics,
and the faithful. Her relics were then carried to the
Curtea de Argesh Monastery and she is
ommemorated on the 7th of December. Many people
have been healed at the tomb of St. Philothea located
in a small chapel in the belltower behind the
monastery church. Those who entreat her intercession
receive help from her. Each year on December 7 there
is a festal pilgrimage to the Monastery, and people
come from all over Romania. The relics of St.
Philothea are carried around the courtyard in
procession, and there are prayers for the sick.

St. Theodora of Sihla (born c. 1650, Vânători-
Neamț, Neamț) is a Romanian Christian
Orthodox saint, commemorated on August 7.
Born during the reign of Vasile Lupu, the
daughter of the chief armourer of Neamț Citadel,
the boyar Ștefan Joldea. In her youth, she was
married off against her will. Being childless, both
she and her husband decide to embrace
monasticism, he withdrawing to Poiana Mărului
monastery under the name Elfterie, and she to
Vărzărești. Foreign invasions prompt her to
retreat into the Buzău Mountains (she is said to
have also passed through the woodland
hermitage Fundătura), where she lives for nearly
a decade (her name is mentioned in an
inscription on the altar stone of the woodland
hermitage at New Agaton). From here she goes
firstly to Neamț monastery, where she is guided
towards Sihăstria hermitage, in the Neamț
mountain. With the guidance of Sihăstria's
abbot, and with the blessing of the hermitage's
egumen, she ascended the mountains to become
an anchorite in the Sihla wilderness. The word
"sihlă" means thick forest of young trees.

Theodora initially lived in a cottage in a rocky part of Sihla, left
to her by an elderly monk. Oral tradition recounts that nuns
fleeing from foreign invasions came across the saint's cottage,
who relinquished it to move into a cave, even more remote than
her initial abode. She spent the rest of her life here. After her
death, the body of the St. Theodora remained in the cave in
which she had spent the greater part of her hermitage. The
knowledge of her life and death is said to have reached her
husband, who left Poiana Mărului and came to spend the last
decade of his life at Sihăstria, close to his wife's resting place.
Around 1725, Sihla monastery was founded in her memory. She
remained buried there until circa 1828-1834 when, during the
Russian occupation of the Romanian Principalities, she was
translated to Lavra Pecerska in Kiev. The Romanian writer
Calistrat Hogaș wrote about her in his book "Pe drumuri de
munte"("On mountain paths"): ,,Beautiful St. Teodora, the
anchorite legend of these places, appeared in my imagination as
a second Mary of Egypt, her life haunted by the same
misfortunes. St. Teodora had also cast off, perhaps, the
intoxicating pleasures of the world, contenting herself, at last,
with the damp crevice of a rock, instead of the gilded palaces
where luxury and indulgence reigned...” The Synod of the
Romanian Orthodox Church proclaimed the canonization of St.
Theodora of Sihla on June 20, 1992, establishing her
commemoration on August 7.

The Stone Gate is best known as a votive chapel with the image of the
Mother of God of the Stone Gate. Namely, in the great fire that broke out on
May 31, 1731, the image of the Mother of God, which had previously stood
above the city gates, was found intact and undamaged in the midst of fire
and ashes, and only the frame burned. In the same year, the painting was
placed in a baroque altar in the recess of the Stone Gate passage.
In Croatia, every town / village has its
patron saint (religious) whom the citizens
respect. Our Lady of the Stone Gate,
patroness of Zagreb (capital), whose
feast is celebrated on May 31.

Saint Barbara , (grč. Αγία Βαρβάρα) a Christian saint, virgin and
martyr, protector of miners and good deaths, one of the
Fourteen Holy Helpers in distress. According to legend, she was
the daughter of Dioscorus, a wealthy purple merchant and
nobleman in the city of Nicomedia in Asia Minor. She captured
attention with her beauty, intelligence and simplicity. Her father
wanted to marry her to a rich suitor. As she was beautiful, he
kept her as a jewel and before he went on a long journey, he
locked her in a tower with two windows. When he returned, he
found a third window broken on the tower, and on the threshold
he hated the sign of the cross. Barbara bravely confessed to him
that she had done both: three windows, to remind her of the
mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, and the cross, to remind her of
redemption. She secretly converted to Christianity, under the
influence of Deacon Valentine. The father, who was a hard
pagan, was furious with anger, when she wanted to convert him
to Christianity, he wanted to kill her. She miraculously managed
to escape to the mountains and hide in them, until she was
betrayed by a shepherd. She was imprisoned and tortured, but
her wounds miraculously healed each time. She was sentenced
to death. By court order, her father personally beheaded her.
Shortly afterwards, he was struck by lightning and died.
Together with Barbara, the martyrdom was endured by St.
Julian of Nicomedia. The undecomposed foot of St. Barbara is
kept in the parish church in Vodnjan.

Saint Agneza , protector of all engaged couples. she wanted to live a clean and chaste life. One day
another suitor appeared, this time the son of an influential Roman prefect. A proud young man, he
was sure that Agnes would marry him, especially because of his high status. She turned him down
twice. This angered his father who quickly informed the local authorities that Agnes was a Christian.
Initially hindered by Roman law (which did not allow the execution of virgins) all attempts to harm its
purity failed. A new verdict was handed down and officials sentenced her to a cruel death. The city
was shocked by the news of the execution of such a precious little lamb and it is believed that her
death contributed to the end of Christian persecution.

Women in beliefs and sources of European culture.

Women in beliefs and sources of European culture.

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