The First Woman Cardinal of the Catholic Church IV The final chapter
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The First Woman Cardinal of the Catholic Church. III
Melissa Tawn
INTRODUCTION: While each story in this series is independent of the
others, it is highly recommended that one read the first two stories, in
order to understand how Cardinal O'Connor transitioned and became the
first woman cardinal of the Catholic church.
A few weeks after the taping of Mary-Anne Cardinal O'Connor's interview
with the BBC, which was never broadcast, Cardinal Leone, the Vatican
Secretary of State, summoned the cardinal to his office. Cardinal
O'Connor was sure that the interview would be the topic of the
conversation, but was surprised that Cardinal Leone asked a completely
different question.
"Are you familiar with maid Fanchea of Leinster?" he began.
"Fanchea of Leinster was a medieval Irish holy woman -- not to be
confused with St. Fanchea of Killeaney," replied Cardinal O'Connor, "She
too is widely regarded as a saint, though never officially canonized by
the Church. In particular, many young Irish teenage girls pray for her
intercession to help preserve their virginity in the face of possible
sexual of assault. Many young girls have taken to wearing a medallion
with her image as a talisman against the possibility of violation, when
they attend rock concerts or other such events at which they feel their
innoncence to be at risk. Why is she of interest?"
"The Irish church requested her canonization over five hundred years
ago," replied Cardinal Leone, "but the process was never completed.
While there are plenty of affidavits regarding miracles ascribed to her
intercession and - as you said - in preserving young girls from unwanted
sexual assault, and while the belief in her holiness is widespread in
parts of Ireland, there is a problem because, quite frankly, we have
absolutely no evidence that she ever actually existed. Now, for various
reasons, the Holy Father has decided to reopen the canonization
proceedings and push for their completion, as a gesture to the Irish
people."
"It would not have anything to do with Fanchea Meehan, the former Irish
foreign minister, being elected President of the European Commission,
would it?
"The Vatican has many interests in maintaining good relations with the
institutions of the European Union," replied Cardinal Leone, and
chuckled. "In any case, the Holy Father has requested that you head an
investigatory committee which will travel to Ireland to try and find
further documentation proving the actual existence of the maid Fanchea
of Leinster, which may allow us to proceed with her canonization."
"Now surely that is a convenient way of getting me out of Rome, and away
from television cameras," remarked Cardinal O'Connor.
"Perhaps," smiled Cardinal Leone, "but, after all, you are a famous
scholar and expert on the medieval church, as well as being the only
member of the College of Cardinals fluent in both Medieval Latin and
Gaelic. We need somebody with a high profile to head the committee, and
you are the natural choice, since you are both Irish and ... (and here
Cardinal O'Connor noted that the Secretary of State paused for just a
split second) a woman. The truth be told, your name came up for this
project several months ago, so let us just say that the recent ?
unfortunate incident ? helped hurry the decision a bit."
"Who will be the other members of the committee?" asked Cardinal
O'Connor.
"I suggest Father Edward Laffey and Sister Elizabeth Dwyer, both of the
Pontifical Institute," replied Cardinal Leone. "They are acknowledged
experts on medieval Irish manuscripts and I know that you have worked
closely with them in the past. Of course, if you wish, you can insist on
someone else."
"They are certainly a good team," replied Cardinal O'Connor. "I am quite
satisfied with them."
It took a month for the team to assemble and make the necessary
preparations. They made arrangements to work in the rare document
section of the library at Trinity College, Dublin, and hired several
graduate students to help them gather and organize the materials. By the
time they arrived in Dublin, the students had assembled for them all
known manuscripts which might be somehow related to the time and place
of maid Fanchea of Leinster.
After four months of very hard work, however, frustration began to
replace hope. The kingdom of Laigin (Leinster) was very old, dating back
to the second century AD, and had a long written tradition. Many
medieval manuscripts and chronicles written in Leinster exist, and all
of them were checked and rechecked. But there was no mention of Fanchea
at all, until over a hundred and fifty years after the traditional date
of her death. Even then, she is not mentioned directly, but the
chronicler merely records the fact that many people seek her
intercession as a saint and holy woman. There is a definite possibility
that he was really referring to Fanchea of Killeaney, but became
confused over the dates of her life. Several reliable chronicles and
other documents from the time she was supposed to have lived exist, but
they do not mention her at all.
Then, late one night, a break came. Cardinal O'Connor was returned to
the shelf a beautiful 12th-century copy of "Felir?", a poetical work on
the saints of Ireland written by St. Aengus in the 8th century and
copied may times since then, when she seemed to sense that one of the
covers seemed a bit thicker than the other. Using calipers, she
confirmed that this was indeed the case. (Later, thinking back over the
matter, she wondered if her ability to feel such a small difference in
width was itself almost a miracle, and just perhaps may have been due to
some divine intervention.) Carefully, she slit the leather of the
binding with a razor blade and, sure enough, hidden in it was a folded
sheet of vellum, covered in miniscule writing. With growing excitement,
she carefully unfolded the sheet, put it under a magnifying glass, and
began to read it, writing down a translation from the Gaelic into modern
English as she went along.
"It is God's will that my eyes cloud over and soon I will no longer be
able to use my pen. May He be merciful and allow me, poor Fanchea, time
to relate the true story of my life, and then may He have pity on my
entrapped soul.
My father, whom I never knew, was a soldier in the service of king
Diarmait mac Enna Mac Murrough in his wars against the high king
Tairrdelbach mac Ruaidri Ua Conchobair. He also worked a small farm when
there was no fighting to be done. My mother bore him three healthy sons,
and then, over a period of ten years, five more children - two boys and
three girls - were born, all of whom died before they reached their
third year. I was her last child. Shortly before my birth, my father was
called to the fighting yet again, and he took with him the three
brothers I never met, the oldest to learn the trade of war and the
younger two to act as grooms and arms bearers for some of the lords, as
a way of preparing their future. She never saw them again, for they all
perished together in a terrible battle, or so she was told.
Though I was born with the body parts of a boy, my mother was determined
that I would never be taken from her to go to war, and so she raised me
as a girl, and gave me the girl's name of Fanchea. On nights of a full
moon, she would gather up special herbs and other odd and mysterious
plants, soak them in the urine of a pregnant mare, and then bake the
result into little cakes which I ate three times a day for all of my
life. As a result this, and of her constant prayers for the intercession
of the Virgin, I grew up as fine and pert a lass as you will find in the
kingdom. Though I still had those parts between my legs, they were as
small as those of a boy of five. My breasts were nearly as large as
those of my mother, and my voice remained as sweet and pure as hers. In
all things, and especially in my soul, I was a lass and thought of
myself only as such, even allowing that I be deformed down where a girl
most exhibits her femininity.
My mother raised me in extreme piety and impressed on me the importance
of modesty and preserving my modesty and virginity at all costs. When
the boys tried doing to me as they do to all of the girls, I fended them
off and did not allow them to see that, between my legs, they would not
find what they expected, though like any other girl, at times I rather
desired that they overcome my defenses. The Holy Virgin also preserved
me, for at many a time she gave me courage to say nay to a boy to whom I
would have gladly said yea, and to put fear in the hearts of boys who
would impose their will on other girls.
All this my mother did so that I would never be called to go to the
fighting, but as fate would have it, the fighting came to us. When I was
but 15, and away in the fields, the soldiers came to plunder our crops
and burn our farm. My blessed mother tried to defend herself from them,
and was most cruelly slain on the spot.
When I came back at dusk, they took me and, finding me comely, were
prepared to take their pleasure upon me. But, in answer to my prayers,
the Holy Virgin interceded on my behalf and positioned herself between
me and the soldiers. As the captains rode on their horses towards me,
the horses fell unto their knees and bowed their heads to her in prayer,
throwing their riders. Then, as the soldiers rose up and bared their
swords, the hilts turned red hot and they dropped them with a cry.
Indeed, they must have seen the image of the Virgin for just an instant,
for they fell on their knees and begged her forgiveness at their evil
thoughts. Then they, very gently, escorted me to their commander,
relating to him what had happened.
It was decided that I be taken to the camp of their lord, the Welshman
Robert Fitz Stephen, and they treated me like a highborn lady along the
way, careful not to touch my person or even come too near me, for they
feared me greatly. Robert Fitz Stephen was a mighty warrior and
lieutenant of the great justiciary Hugh de Lacy. He feared neither man
nor God, nor did he fear the Virgin. He laughed at their story and said
that if they did not touch me nor disturb my virginity, it was only to
save me for him, and indeed I was a truly comely lass worthy of his
personal attention.
At his direction, the ladies of his court bathed me, arrayed me in fine
garments and dressed my hair. But the Virgin was with me and made them
not see those parts which I had to hide, and they thought me nought but
a girl and told me all stories about what to expect in lord Robert's
bed, which they had all experienced. And, indeed, while part of me
wished to share a bed with this most manly man, all the while I prayed
in my soul for salvation.
Again, the Virgin took pity on me and sent to me one of the soldiers, a
comely young man himself of no more than 16 years, who was to guard me
but, instead, offered to rescue me. When I nodded in what he took to be
agreement, he brought me secretly the clothes and arms of a man of war
and, together, we left the encampment, supposedly on a mission to hunt
rabbits for our lord's supper. Instead, he lead me to a road along which
I made my escape. He was a good and well-meaning boy, and mightily
handsome as well, and daily I pray that he came to no harm for what he
did.
Hiding by day and walking by night, I managed after a long trek to reach
the sanctuary of the monastery at Tallaght, which was a most holy place,
having been the home of St. Maelruain and St. Aengus many centuries ago.
The monks again had pity on me and took me in, giving me the clothing
and cell of one of the brothers who had passed away just the day before.
I was called by his name and found it my lot to have to disguise myself
as a male. And so, for the remainder of my days, I lived as a monk whom
all of the other monks believe to be a maid, though I alone knew that I
had, underneath my shift, male parts with which I was mistakenly born.
The monks of Tallaght helped spread the rumor that I had been martyred
by the men of Robert Fitz Stephen for refusing to lie with him and,
while that not be the literal truth, it is what most certainly would
have been my fate had I remained in his camp. Since I had a fair hand, I
was put to work in the monestary scriptorium, copying and binding old
manuscripts, in one of which I will hide this confession. May it be the
wish of God, that the person who finds it pray for my soul."
Cardinal O'Connor smiled as she reread Fanchea's account, and shed a
tear for Fanchea's poor tormented soul imprisoned in a tormented body.
She would need to tidy up her translation, of course, but she was
confident that Ireland would soon have a new saint. The others on the
committee were, however, less sure. "So Fanchea was really a man,"
remarked Father Laffey when he read the document. "That kills his
chances of sainthood, I am afraid. We certainly can't have a male saint
who went around dressed as a maid."
"How a person dresses is certainly not a critical factor," replied
Sister Dwyer. "Remember that St. Joan of Arc dressed routinely in men's
clothes."
"That is true," replied Father Laffey, "but she never claimed to be a
male, nor is she considered a male saint. Here we have a case of a saint
who not only dressed as a woman but claimed to be one as well, even
when, at the end of his life, he lived as a monk. Moreover, we have the
additional complication that Fanchea of Leinster is widely adored as a
woman and his intercessions are that of a female saint. It would hardly
do to tell the young girls who look to the protection of Fanchea, that
he was really a man."
"And it would be wrong to do so to," replied Cardinal O'Connor, "for in
my eyes, as I believe in the eyes of the Lord, she was really a maid.
The fact that Fanchea's body had ?male parts', as she says, has nothing
to do with her soul, which is most assuredly female. There is surely
nothing in her account to suggest that, even at the end of her life, she
considered herself anything but female, nor that the monks among whom
she lived did either. Moreover, Robert Fitz Stephen and his soldiers
certainly acted towards her as though she was a female, and the miracles
the Holy Virgin performed to preserve her innocence are those that would
only be done for a female. Certainly you are not accusing the Holy
Virgin of being unable to discern her 'real' gender. On the contrary, by
protecting her the Virgin is quite definitely asserting Fanchea's
fundamental femininity."
"We are aware of the theological arguments you have put forth in your
recent book," countered Father Laffey, "but you will admit that they are
- to say the least - somewhat controversial. They are hardly material on
which to base a canonization."
"This is more than a theological argument," replied Cardinal O'Connor.
"We must also listen to the faithful. Generations upon generations of
young girls have asked for the intercession of Fanchea of Leinster to
save them from sexual assaults, and many have been answered. Are we to
tell them that their faith was misplaced because we are more interested
in the body parts of the maid Fanchea than in the nature of her soul? In
any case, it is not the job of this committee to decide these points.
Our purpose was to find evidence of her actual existence, and that we
have surely done. Let us make our report on that point alone, and let
the postulator-general carry on from there."
On that the committee members, after long arguments, finally agreed.
Their final report merely stated that they had come across a manuscript
in Fanchea's own hand, stating that she had been abducted by the
soldiers of Robert Fitz Stephen, brought to him, and later escaped,
hiding out in a monestary disguised as a monk. All reference to her
"body parts" was omitted. A copy of the manuscript (but not the full
translation) was attached to the report, of course. Cardinal O'Connor
was rather doubtful that anyone at the Vatican, save the three members
of the committee, was capable of deciphering it.
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