The Sexual Shame of the Chaste: 'Abortion Miracles' in Early Medieval Saints' Lives

The Latin lives of three early Irish saints, Brigit of Kildare, Aed mac Bricc and Cainnech of Aghaboe, contain an unusual 'abortion miracle' motif: the saint encounters a nun who has become pregnant but, through the saint's intervention, the pregnancy miraculously disappears. The motif has been read, variously, as an archaic 'pagan' practice fossilised in a Christian text and as evidence for broader attitudes to abortion in early medieval Ireland. The question of what made this motif miraculous has not, however, been fully explored. This article reads the motif in light of a critical juncture between early medieval gender and religion: the protection and promotion of chastity in religious communities. Monastic theorists distinguished the lives of religious men and women from their lay counterparts. Chastity was a crucial mark of religious distinction. For women, it entailed avoiding the ugly toils of marriage, sexuality and childbearing - and also the symbolism of these toils. In a religious context, sexual sin was a rude reminder to individuals and their communities of the gender roles which religious orientation sought to transform. The miracle motif was one unusual response to such lapses which healed individuals and communities in the aftermath of sexual sin.