I was briefly excited when reading the biography of Marie of Oignies to read about her being married and convincing her husband that they should live in poverty and care for the lepers in Nivelles and this led to her foundation of the Beguines, a lay order that did not take formal orders. Then I read that she also persuaded her husband that they should live chastely and while the Beguines are not bound by perpetual vows, they do pledge not to marry while they live as Beguines. I had thought perhaps I’d stumbled upon a twelfth-century precursor to the Catholic Worker, but only partly. It also appears that the Beguines are an extinct institution, but something like them could have a role in the modern world, I think, even with the pledge not to marry while being part of the order.
The drawing is another crummy mock-woodcut. I’m gonna keep at this until I can master faces in the negative.
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