Authentic feminism started in ... 13th century Belgium

To counter yesterday's depressing revelation, a burst of light from Belgium:

Here’s another reason to travel to Belgium, if the world’s best beer and chocolate weren’t enough to draw you there already: its beautiful, well-preserved beguinages.

If feminism means a desire for independence from patriarchal authority, the beguines — a Roman Catholic laic order that began in the 13th century and branched across northwest Europe — represented, perhaps, the world’s oldest women’s movement.

I can only speculate that these women of simplicity likely experienced more fulfillment than participants in the more infamous woman’s movement centuries later. (Mary Rose Rybak)

And upon this occasion, please keep a friend of mine in your prayers. She's leaving several important professional positions in Washington DC to pursue a vocation with the Nashville Dominicans.