Pondering A Name

Friday, Aug. 11, 2023

A couple of weeks ago I asked a monk why he chose the name by which he is now known. That conversation got me to thinking about what name I would choose for myself if I had the opportunity.

I’ve never had strong feelings about my given name. I prefer Marie to the more common Mary, but it’s not a name that has any family connection. The Hebrew word from which it is derived means bitter – not a complimentary adjective. The only famous women with my name who immediately spring to mind are Marie Curie and Marie Antoinette, and I wouldn’t choose to emulate either. I’ve admired Madame Curie since I read about her in middle school; she was the first woman to win a Noble Prize, not to mention being the first person to win two Nobel Prizes and the only person to be awarded that prize for work in two different fields. But unlike her, I have no aptitude for science, and I have even less inclination to be a coquette like the queen who was beheaded by French revolutionaries.

Choosing Mary as a name poses a similar problem. Although there are a myriad number of saints with that name, no one of them is someone in whose footsteps I would choose to follow. Don’t get me wrong; I honor the Virgin Mother, especially as I’ve gotten older and have come to appreciate how strong of a woman she must have been, but trying to form myself to that perfect ideal would only lead to total frustration.

I have more natural sympathy for Mary Magdalene – not the reformed prostitute of popular culture but the woman portrayed in the Bible: the one whom Jesus cured of seven demons, who with his mother followed him to the foot of the cross when all save one of the male disciples fled, who was the first to see the risen Christ, who was the first to be given the task to take the Good News of the Resurrection to others. But to choose to be her namesake would mean always feeling the need to explain that no, she wasn’t really a prostitute, despite how she is depicted by Hollywood.

Among the other power hitters on the team of women saints are the four who are Doctors of the Church: St. Teresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Hildegard von Bingen. Each of them is admirable in her own way, but I wouldn’t choose to name myself after any of them. The first reason is a petty one: There already are too many Teresas and Thereses to keep track of,  Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross among them. The name Catherine evokes another doomed queen, the first wife of King Henry VIII; and Hildegard just sounds harsh to my ears.

On a more intellectual level, I very much enjoy reading Teresa of Avila’s works, and if I thought by being her namesake I could channel her spirituality I’d start calling myself Teresa in a heartbeat. The writings of the other three don’t resonate with me so much. To be fair, though, I’ve not given Hildegard a fair shake. Her Scivias is so filled with symbolism that I didn’t get very far with it, and I haven’t had the chance to read her homilies. She was the only woman in history that I’m aware of who was given permission by the pope to preach, and I’d love to hear what she said. The last time I checked her homilies were only available in the original Latin and in German translation. (An Internet search just now reveals a collection in English that was published in 2011. I’m not sure how I missed it a couple of years ago when I was studying the women Doctors of the Church, but now I’ll have to read it.)  

There are, obviously, numerous other saints to consider, but while I admire them I can’t say I’d choose to take their name. This whole thought exercise has led me to want to explore more of them, though; especially because it has served as a reminder that I can invoke the patronage of those whom I admire, even if I don’t choose to be a namesake.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.