Was There a Female Apostolic Succession?

WAS THERE A FEMALE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION?

by Barry Dunford

A 19th century French researcher, Édouard Schuré, in his work The Great Initiates: A Study of the Secret History of Religions, first published in 1889, writes: "Women have a special place among Jesus' followers....Christ is the restorer and liberator of women, whatever Saint Paul and the Church Fathers may have said....Christ elevates her by restoring her mission of love and divination. The woman initiate represents the soul in mankind....that is, the power of Intuition, the loving and seeing faculty. The turbulent Mary Magdalene....became his most ardent disciple. It was she, according to Saint John, who first saw the divine teacher, the spiritual Christ, risen from his tomb. Legend has insisted in seeing in this ardent and believing woman Jesus' greatest worshipper, the initiate of the heart, and legend is not mistaken, for her story represents the entire regeneration of woman as desired by the Christ."

The spiritual role of women was also recognised in the pre-Christian Druid tradition. According to the Welsh bard, Edward Jones: "Beside the Druids, the Britons had Druidesses, who assisted in the offices of religion, and shared in the honours and emoluments of the priesthood. The Druidesses of Gaul and Britain are said to have been divided into three ranks, or classes." (The Bardic Museum of Primitive British Literature, 1802). The Rev. Richard Smiddy also writes: "It appears that females were, at one time, admitted to the order or fraternity of the Druids, and that they were appointed to fill certain offices in connexion with the oracles or suil-bheil. Hence, the name of sibyl or sibylla, of the Latins. A female of this class was called a bean-draoi, that is, 'a woman Druid'; and by the name was meant a priestess, prophetess, or enchantress....We have already seen that the suil-beal, that is, the sibyl, or oracle, was an institution of the Druids....It is stated that some of these oracles, or sibyls, uttered matters in connexion with the life of the future Redeemer." (An Essay on the Druids, the Ancient Churches and the Round Towers of Ireland, 1871). Interestingly, Dr. John A. Goodchild notes: "I have been working hard....at various old puzzles relating to the Mother-Church at Glaston....I am pretty clear of this, that from the establishment of that Church before the middle of the 1st century, a woman, always a Princess of the Royal Blood, was its Supreme Head and Nursing Mother, until she laid down her authority about the middle of the 6th century at an Irish Church Congress held under the presidency of Comgal of Bangor." (Ref. The Avalonians by Patrick Benham, 1993)

The canonical gospels of the New Testament record the presence of a number of women disciples around Jesus, especially Mary Magdalene. Could there have been a female apostolic succession which ostensibly has gone unrecorded in the official history books? In the Christian Gnostic texts Mary Magdalene is referred to as "the apostle to the apostles" and in France (ancient Celtic Gaul) she is known as the "apostle of Provence". There is also a tradition of another female disciple of Jesus called Lourda who founded Lourdes in France. Looking at the possible role of female Christian initiates within the Church of Christ, in some instances they may have been ordained under the title of Deaconess. Moreover, the Celtic female saints were often associated with holy wells and springs which could suggest a continuity with the pre-Christian Annat tradition relating to the mother Goddess Anaitis who may have been associated with lunar worship. In the ancient Pagan era the moon held priority to the sun in celtic devotion. In fact, the celtic calendar is lunar based. Interestingly, the gaelic celts saw the moon as masculine and the sun as feminine.

Examples of female Celtic Saints:

St. Etheldreda, a 7th century British saint, daughter of a British King. Married a King of Northumbria. Later became an Abbess founding a monastery at Ely in East Anglia on the site of the present cathedral.

St. Winifred (Gwenfrewi in welsh meaning radiant freda). Gwen can mean white, shining or holy. She was a niece of St. Beuno (6th century) who claimed descent from a relative of the Holy Family of Jesus. She was renowned for her healing well at Holywell in North Wales. On the seal of the cathedral chapter of St. Asaph, in Wales, she appears as an Abbess bearing a crozier which was a symbol of leadership and authority.

St. Ita (Ytha). Born in 480 A. D of noble descent in County Waterford, Ireland. She founded a monastic settlement at Killeedy (Cill Ide). She is said to have died in 570 A. D and was known as "the foster mother of the saints of Ireland", because she was a mother figure to several of Ireland's early saints, including St. Brendan. Her symbol was a cross with a heart at the centre of a small labyrinth.

St. Hilda (614-680 A. D). She was the niece of King Edwin of Northumbria. She studied the traditions of Celtic monasticism which St. Aiden brought from Iona. St. Aiden later appointed St. Hilda as an Abbess and she founded a monastery at Whitby in north Yorkshire. Archeological evidence shows that her monastery was in the celtic style with its members living in small houses for two or three people. She gained such a reputation for wisdom that kings and princes sought her advice.

St. Bega. A 7th century saint who came from County Down in Ireland to north Britain and apparently founded a small female religious community inspired by St. Aiden. Placenames link St. Bega with Cumbria, northern England, and the Scottish borders. She also associated with St. Hilda and St. Etheldreda.

St. Brigid or Brigit (453-523 A. D) who founded a monastery for both monks and nuns at Kildare in Ireland. She is said to be buried at Downpatrick together with St. Patrick and St. Columba, which clearly shows that St. Brigid was highly venerated in the early Celtic Church. It has been suggested that Kildare may have been the site of an earlier Druid seat of learning.

St. Winifred

St. Ita

St. Bridget

Like their male counterparts, all of these female saints were of royal and noble descent. Could they have been initiates of a Johannine Celtic Church? It may be of interest to note that traditionally St. John, together with the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, was at Ephesus in Anatolia, Asia Minor, where there was a major mystery temple dedicated to Artemis, a moon goddess, whom