Today, feast of St. Mary Magdalene...who was delivered of 7 devils, who was there at Calvary with Mary who first delivered our Savior to us, and who first announced the Gospel to the apostles themselves...we consider the great women of our time.
In Catholic life there is ever the quiet, humble primacy of woman. Masculinity...in all its glory (think St. Joseph) as gentle strength, serenity, humility, chastity, loving authority, filial loyalty, reverence, prudence, detachment, decisiveness, intellectual clarity, stability, ferocity, boldness, tenderness, generosity...is always at the service of the Madonna and child.
Most Significant Catholic (-Friendly) Women Thinkers of the 20th Century
1. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross): classical synthesis of wisdom and holiness.
2. Adrienne von Speyr: extraordinary mystic who collaborated with Balthasar.
3. Simone Weil: eccentric, dizzyingly intuitive and creative mystic.
4. Hannah Arendt: secular, Jewish, moral genius.
5. Elizabeth Anscombe: stalwart, brilliant Catholic disciple of Wittgenstein.
6. Caryll Houselander: another tormented, sensitive, eccentric, intuitive, spiritual genius.
7. Dorothy Day: radical politically and Catholicly.
8. Catherine Dougherty: wise, holy servant of the poor.
9. Flannery O'Connor: surprising, serendipitous, ironic Catholic fictional genius.
10. Sigrid Undset: profound historical novelist.
11. Ida Gorres: little known German theologian esteemed by Joseph Ratzinger.
12. Raissa Maritain, spouse of Jacques.
13. Alice von Hildebrandt, spouse of Dietrich.
14. Maisie Ward, spouse of Frank Sheed.
15. Carmen Hernandez (partner of Kiko in Neocatechumenal Way)
16. Ruth Carter Stapleton, charismatic healer of memories.
17. Katherine Kuhlman, charismatic preacher/healer.
18. Anne Morrow Lindberg, Gift of the Sea.
19. Rachel Carson.
Notice: almost all of the above were engaged in some way as protagonists against Nazism.
Many worked closely with male partners. Some as spouses: Dougherty, Ward, Maritain and Hildebrandt). Day partnered with Maurin; Speyr with Balthasar. Stein, Arendt, and Anscombe were the best students of arguably the greatest philosophers of the century: Husseryl, Heidegger and Wittgenstein; and yet they developed entirely distinctive philosophies of their own as feminine, Catholic, intuitive-moral-wise in contrast to the spiritual superficiality of their mentors.
Most Significant Catholic Women Mystics of the 20th Century
Prime criterion here is not personal sanctity or intensity of mystical phenomena but rather providential impact of revelations and manifestations on the Catholic Church.
1. St. Faustina for revelation of the Divine Mercy
2. Fatima Seers: Saints Jacinta and Francisco and Venerable Lucia.
3. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta for her 40 year dark night.
4. Adrienne von Speyr for her mystical experiences and theological collaboration with Balthasar.
5. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: mystic, theologian, virgin, martyr.
6. St. Gemma Galgani, extraordinary mystic/stigmatist.
7. Conchita Cabrerra, Mexican mother.
8. Robin Marthe, French paralytic stimatist.
9. Therese Neuman, German stigmatist.
7. Seers of Medjugorje, controversial apparitions of Mary
8. Maria Esperanza Biancini, Venezuela stigmatist.
9. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity.
10. Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, of Bayonne NJ.
Greatest 20th Century Women Catholic Servants of the Poor
1. St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta
2. St. Maianne Cope
3. St. Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini
4. St. Mother Katherine Drexel
5. Dorothy Day
6. Catherine Doherty
7. Madaleine Delbrel
8. Rose Hawthorne
9. Mother Mary Joseph (Maryknoll Sisters)
10. First nine Sisters of Life (NYC 1991)
11. Mother Elvira Petrozzi (Comunita Cenacolo of Italy)
12. Chiara Lubich of Focolare
20th Century Virgin Martyrs
Clarification: the classic Roman virgin-martyrs died in defense of their virginity, like St. Maria Gioretti. However a virgin who dies in witnessing to Christ is also a virgin-martyr, like St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. All these are highly venerable.
1. St. Maria Gioretti
2. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
3. Sisters and others martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
4. Sisters and others martyred under Communism.
5. Sisters and others martyred under Nazism.
6. Sisters and other martyred by Jihadism across Africa and Asia.
7. Missionary sisters and laywomen (4) killed in El Salvador (19800 who worked for poor and similar.
8. Innocent women who have suffered violation due to the sexual revolution
9. Countless innocent women who, often silently, suffer violence against their bodies.
10. Blessed Karolina Kozka (1914, Polish), Blessed Anna Kolesarova (Slovak 1944), Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock (Brazilian 1931), Blessed Antonia Mesina (Sardinia 1935), Blessed Benigna Cadoso da Silva (1941 Brazilian)...all died defended chastity.
Women on more than one of these four lists: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (3), St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2), Adrienne von Speyr (2), Dorothy Day (2), Catherine Doherty (2). That is your all-star team!
Significant Catholic (-Friendly) Women Thinkers Alive Today 2026
In random order.
Tracey Rowlands
Angela Franks
Eve Tuschnet
Heather King
Mary Healy
Janet Smith
Mary Ann Glendon
Mary Eberstadt
Patricia Snow
Mary Harrington
Camille Paglia
Amy Coney Barrett
Abigail Favale
Maureen Dowd
Peggy Noonan
Alyssa Finlay
Margaret McCarthy
Helen Alvare
Inez Murzacu
Diane Traflet
Elizabeth Moberly
Stacey Stasoncos
Anne Widdecombe (recently murdered in England)
That is over 50 women of the last century and 20 writing and thinking today.
Aren't we blessed?
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