“Many holy maidens…scorned the temptations of the flesh, despised the riches of the world for the love of the heavenly bridegroom in poverty and humility, earning a sparse meal with their own hands. Although their families were wealthy, they preferred to endure hardship and poverty, leaving behind their families and their father’s home rather than to abound in riches or to remain in danger against worldly pomp.”
The Beguines were groups of women who established Christian households dedicated to pursuing a life of spiritual growth across Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and Germany in the twelfth to the fifteenth century. They sought a middle ground between monasticism and active life in the world.
Jacques de Vitry (c. 1160-1240) as quoted by Glenn Myers in Seeking Spiritual Intimacy: Journeying Deeper with Medieval Woman of Faith (Downers Grove: IVP, 2011) 22.