Week Five - Posting Five

Ramos-e-Silva, Marcia. "Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179): “the light of her people and of her time”." International Journal of Dermatology 38.4 (1999): 315-320. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

The author of this article describes how they became to highly respect Hildegard von Bingen for her creativity and writing that benefited women during the Middle Ages. The author researched the "Women in Dermatology" which included von Bingen during this period of time and how she created works of writing and observed many different areas of life during the medieval times which also included medicine and health of women. Some of her observations about life and medicine that were discussed in the article still pertain to issues that women and society deal with today.

I liked this article because of how the author took her life and the use of her visions and said that even though they may have been caused by migraines she used these visions as a message or interpreted them to be from God. Her faith played a part in what she wrote about and how she lived out her life.

Cortés-Vélez, Dinorah. "MARIAN DEVOTION AND RELIGIOUS PARADOX IN SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ." Renascence 62.3 (2010): 178-200. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

The article discusses Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, whom had devoted her life to the Catholic church as a nun and is "regarded as the last great poet of the Spanish Baroque and the first great poet of Latin American Colonial literature." There was some conflict during the time period she lived in because was what the social norms were and how she voiced her opinions and writing in society and throughout the church. 

I learned a little bit about Sor Juana before this class when I attended a Catholic school and I was impressed them with her as a woman and as a rhetoric writer. She tried to inspire women during her time. She had been devoted to the church since her birth and was especially devoted to the Virgin Mary. This devotion of her faith and religion helped her try to make the figure of the Virgin Mary an important figure in women's lives and decisions.