Maria of Oignies

Maria von Oignies (* around 1177 in Nivelles ; † June 23, 1213 ) was a mystic , one of the first Beguines and the inspirer of Jacob von Vitry .

Maria was born into a wealthy Brabant family and married at the age of fourteen. But she persuaded her husband to abstain and, in her opinion, to lead a godly life. The couple sacrificed most of their wealth for lepers and other needy people and turned their home in Williambrouk into a leprosy hospital . Later, however, Maria left her home and moved into a hermit's cell near Oignies , where Jakob von Vitry was living in the Augustinian monastery at the time, which she greatly influenced. Since she herself had to obey the prohibition on women to preach, she instead persuaded Jacob not only to hold mass in the church, but also to introduce the congregation to the word of God by preaching. Jakob wrote her biography after Maria's early death; this work is one of the few literary testimonies to the life of the Beguines that was ever written. It also led to a temporary ecclesiastical toleration of Beginism , which came to an abrupt end with the Council of Vienne in 1311.

literature

• Ronny Baier:  OIGNIES, Maria von, saint, member of the religious women's movement of the Beguines, mystic. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 1080-1083.
• Jacques de Vitry, Vita Mariae Oigniacensis , Edition D. Papebroeck Acta sanctorum bollandiana June 23 (1867) V, 542-572.
• Vera von der Osten-Sacken, Jakob von Vitrys Vita Mariae Oigniacensis . On the origin and character of the first Beguines, (= publications by the Institute for European History 223), Göttingen 2010.