Bold Foremothers of our Faith

January/February 2010

by Stacy Kitahata

Evangelical Lutheran Worship commemorates three bold women of faith in January and February. These women lived boldly in faithful perseverance and courageous conviction. They inspire us to consider the ways that we can live boldly in our daily lives.

I came to write this article not so much because of my own bold womanhood, but because of the interest I had shown in the woman who is commemorated on February 25, Deaconess Elizabeth Fedde. I had been encouraged to incorporate her into a sermon for a conference of presidents of Synodical Women’s Organization. Wanting to oblige, I planned to include a passing reference to her as a bold woman to illustrate the theme I would address.

But a little Internet research on her drew me in. Like a sleuth following clues, I became fascinated by this little-known Norwegian woman who was bold indeed. She, like many other unrecognized women, offered herself in service with compassion for the sake of the good news—and despite the resistance of some of the men around her.

We commemorate these bold women in January.

January 21 Agnes of Rome (c. 291–304) Virgin martyr

The first bold woman of our calendar year is Agnes of Rome. She was martyred around the year 300 at the age of 13 for refusing to be married to a pagan. Her steadfast courage in the face of unspeakable cruelty led many to seek to learn more about the faith themselves, and the cruelty of executing such a young girl led many others to call for the end of the Emperor’s persecution of Christians in Rome.

The name Agnes is derived from the Greek, meaning chaste, pure, and sacred. It is similar to the Latin agnus, which means lamb. An old custom of presenting two lambs at St. Agnes’ Church in Rome on January 21 continues today. On Holy Thursday each year, these lambs are shorn and their wool woven into palliums, the liturgical garment given to certain new bishops.

January 27 Lydia, Dorcas, Phoebe Witnesses to the faith

With the church across the world, we commemorate the witness of Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe, co-workers with the apostles. These New Testament women have vision, faith, and boldness. We commemorate them together because they stand out, among men and women, as examples of the emerging movement that became known as Christianity.

Open your New Testament to read what is recorded about them. Though the words are few, the mere fact that they are mentioned at all suggests that their participation was significant. Here are a few highlights.

Dorcas is from Joppa, not far from Jerusalem (Acts 9:36-42). Dorcas is the Greek version of the name Tabitha. Dorcas is referred to as a disciple and described as “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” The Greek word translated as devoted here describes a burning or bursting forth, a genuine passion. She fell ill and died, and was raised again by Peter. The account of this miracle and the testimony of the widows who shared in her ministry multiplied the believers. Her witness continues today in the many Dorcas Societies dedicated to similar works of caring service.

Lydia of Phillipi in Macedonia (Acts 16:11-15, 40) gathered a prayer group so well-known that it caught the attention of Apostle Paul and his companions visiting the far-flung communities of faith. Lydia is described as “a dealer in purple cloth.” Purple dye was expensive and such fabric was popular among the nobility; it suggests that Lydia was a successful businesswoman. She and her whole household were baptized and are considered the first European converts to Christianity. Lydia immediately opened her home and insisted that Paul and the others receive her hospitality. After their release from prison it was to Lydia’s house that Paul returned (see Acts 16:40).

Phoebe of Cenchrea, near Corinth (Romans 16:1-2), is referred to by Paul as sister and deacon of the church. This designation of deacon is also applied to male church leaders. In the next verse, Paul describes her as benefactor, a protector, someone with responsibility to lead. Phoebe, whose name means light or brightness, is recognized as one of the important leaders of the growing church in Paul’s time. Her mention is evidence of women religious leaders serving from the very first days of Christianity.

From the foundation of the biblical women Dorcas, Lydia, and Phoebe, we are affirmed in our callings in social ministry, the world of business and commerce, and in the pastoral and administrative work of the church, as well as other avenues that offer opportunities to live and serve boldly.

February 25 Elizabeth Fedde (1850-1921) Deaconess

The bold woman we remember in February brings together many of these qualities in her own historic ministry. In 1883 Elizabeth came to Brooklyn, New York, at the urging of her brother-in-law who was serving as a lay minister with the Norwegian Seaman’s Mission. The idea to ask a Lutheran deaconess to assist with the health-care needs of the increasing population of destitute and suffering Scandinavian immigrants in New York came from Harriet Börs, wife of Christian Börs, the Norwegian consul—clearly a bold woman herself.

For 13 years, Elizabeth recruited and trained women to care for the urgent needs of the sick and suffering. She developed an ambulance program that served all people and established the Norwegian Deaconess Home and Hospital. This was both a training ground for deaconesses and a center that served the physical and spiritual needs of the community. The hospital continues today as the Lutheran Medical Center.

Elizabeth and her deaconess sisters began similar programs in Minnesota, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. They did this with no support from the deaconesses in her home country of Norway. That group did not accept any responsibility to support her work since she had been invited directly, not through their auspices.

We celebrate the life of this bold deaconess on February 25. I encourage you to research her yourself because there is so much more to her story.

Little Company of Mary

As I scratched my first notes for this article, my father peered over my shoulder. I thought this writing project might be the perfect task for the hours that I sat with him and my mother, both in their 80s, as they dozed in the afternoons. “What are you doing? Writing a journal?” he asked me.

I recounted highlights of Elizabeth Fedde’s ministry, her medical social work, and her intrepid faithfulness in difficult circumstances at the end of the 19th century. My father nodded sympathetically and said, “That sounds like the sisters of Little Company of Mary.”

The hospital in the neighborhood where I attended high school and where my parents and sister still live carries the unusual name of “Little Company of Mary.” It is so familiar to us that we don’t notice it anymore, but I have had people say to me, “What an odd name. What is that supposed to mean?”

My father described an encounter with an elderly nun during one of his visits to the hospital. He is very sociable and I was not surprised to hear that he struck up a conversation that led to an interesting story. As it turns out, like Lutheran Medical Center in New York, our own local hospital began with a woman who was called by her faith to provide health care and assistance to those living in poverty.

Mary Potter was born in 1847 and spent a sickly childhood in Surrey, England. She was not deemed strong enough for a religious vocation but nonetheless she deepened her devotion. She discerned a calling to gather a group of women to join her in caring for the dying. Mary Potter saw this ministry as a reflection of Mary the mother of Jesus and the little company of women who accompanied Jesus at the foot of the cross.

In January 1877, Mary Potter asked her bishop to affirm such a ministry. Over time, she established a community of women dedicated to her vision of caring for the sick and dying. Later they extended their ministry to teaching basic hygiene and child care, visiting those in prison, assisting the poor, and providing aid to anyone who called at their convent. Before long, there were “blue nuns” serving the sick in England, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, and Rome.

After his wife was cared for by the sisters while on a trip abroad, a civic leader in Chicago invited the Little Company of Mary to bring their ministry to Chicago, which eventually resulted in the building of a hospital in January 1930. From Chicago, sisters went to California to establish what became the Little Company of Mary hospital in my parents’ community. Given that there are two historic moments in January related to the Little Company of Mary I want to recognize them—and the unnamed nun who boldly told their story to my father.

Telling the stories

Bold women who tell their stories invite the more bold women to tell their stories. Many of the boldest women do not have a day of commemoration. Most bold women live out their radical love and life-changing faith without fanfare or recognition. You are, no doubt, one of those very women.

A friend once gave me a bumper sticker that reads, “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History.” That line comes from an article by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a graduate student in history. Researching Puritan women, she found that their bold and amazing lives were recorded in the texts of sermons delivered at their funerals and retained by pastors and preachers. Ulrich opened her essay "Virtuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735" with these words:

Cotton Mather called them “the hidden ones.” They never preached or sat in a deacon's bench. Nor did they vote or attend Harvard. Neither, because they were virtuous women, did they question God or the magistrates. They prayed secretly, read the Bible through at least once a year, and went to hear the minister preach even when it snowed. Hoping for an eternal crown, they never asked to be remembered on earth. And they haven't been. Well-behaved women seldom make history.*

While I was invited to write because of Elizabeth Fedde, I accepted the invitation because of a bold woman of January I know personally. My mother was born on Agnes Day, January 21. Naoye Helen Kitahata is one of the many bold women whose life is a collection of endurance and small victories, moments of accomplishment and long stretches of laundry, meals, and hard work, and occasional disappointments. January 2010 will see her 83rd birthday if the ailments that are stealing away her memories do not take her away entirely. Although she has not made history herself, she has participated in history. She leaves a legacy of boldness in her children and in the people who have known her. For her and for all women who serve and sacrifice silently, let us live more boldly and create new histories that are tributes to their lives.

Stacy Kitahata comes from a long line of bold women. She lives in Seattle with her husband, and teaches intercultural studies at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, Wash.

*Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Virtuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1688-1735," American Quarterly, XXVIII (1976)