In today’s On the Square , Kaye DeMetz gives a delightful introduction to a little-known medieval playwright, Hrosvitha of Gandersheim:
Hrosvitha’s heroines laugh even at death. Her central characters almost seem to take pleasure in sacrificing their lives for virtue. Callimachus, Dulcitius, and Sapientia portray women as martyrs for their virginity or their fidelity to the Faith. The heroine of Callimachus, Drusiana, begs for death rather than lose her virginity. God immediately grants her wish. In the end, God resurrects Drusiana, and even the villain Callimachus repents and accepts Christ.
Read the rest here . If you’re looking for some fun weekend reading, you can check out a few of her plays at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook or pick up a collection of her work from Amazon .
According the “popular baby names” feature on the Social Security website, “Hrosvitha is not in the top 1000 names for any year of birth in the last 70 years.” Tragic.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…
