Marie of Oignies
| Blessed Marie of Oignies | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1177 Nivelles, Belgium |
| Died | June 23, 1213 Oignies, France |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | church of Saint Nicholas at Nivelles, Belgium |
| Feast | June 23 |
| Attributes | protected from rain by the Virgin Mary sheltering her with her mantle |
| Patronage | against fever, women in labour |
Marie of Oignies (born Nivelles, now Belgium, 1177, died 1213) was a Beguine, known from the Life written by James of Vitry, for Fulk of Toulouse.
Marie did not live a cloistered life following an approved rule, but rather adopted a free form of devout life marked by strenuous asceticism and manual labour, as well as mystical gifts of a new kind. Marie is purported to have received many visions from God, experienced ecstasy and wept uncontrollably when meditating on the Passion of Christ. She did not eat meat, dressed in white clothes, and mortified her flesh in acts of penance.
Her life was recorded as early as 1215 by her confessor, James (or Jacques) of Vitry, His account helped gain papal approval for the Beguines.
Marie was born in the Liege diocese of Nivelles (now Belgium) in 1176. Liege was home to two other medieval mystics: Elizabeth Spalbeek and Christina the Astonishing. From a young age, Marie was attracted to the monastic life and was mocked by her parents for being such a serious and pious child. She sequestered herself from other children, preferring the solitude of prayer. The vowed religious of the Cistercian order greatly captivated her attention as they traveled by her home. Marie was born into a family of wealth. Her parents dressed her in elegant clothing, suitable for nobility; however, Marie became distraught by the extravagant luxury. She recalled scripture specifically referencing the offenses of 1 Peter 3:3 and 1 Timothy 2:9, which chastise one for wearing costly attire.
Marie was married at the age of fourteen to Jean de Nivelle, much to her parents’ disapproval. This marriage and freedom from her mother and father was a pivotal point for Marie’s spirituality – she became engulfed in a deeper passion for expressing her spirituality. In addition to emotional sacrifice of prayer and meditation, part of her devotion included physical punishment. Such pains she inflicted were sleep deprivation, sleeping on wooden planks, and wearing a tight rope around her midsection. Her belief was that the physical body was not her own and she was made to emulate a similar experience of torture that the crucified Christ endured. Through her belief that she was preserved to be God’s handmaiden, she beseeches her new husband to take a vow of chastity. In his devotion, Jean reciprocates the promise of celibacy. Marie later encountered a vision that promised “compensation for matrimony” as a reward for this celibate and child-less arrangement. Because of Marie’s privileged upbringing, she resisted a life of luxury with her husband and subsequently sought a life of poverty. Together, they nursed lepers.
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