ABSTRACT
During the long millennium encompassing the Middle Ages in Europe (AD 450-1500), there were many pathways to holiness.1 There was a range of pathways to sanctity, from the full sacrifice of martyrdom, heroic asceticism, and voluntary exile at one extreme to the exercise of benevolent, charitable, and administrative power by influential bishops, abbots, and secular princes at the other end. Performance of miracles, usually healing the sick and infirm, but also abatement of storms and fires, and turning back of enemy armies, constituted one important class of evidence for a person’s holiness. Other categories of public acts that were perceived as evidence of holiness included notably generous charity (an activity usually limited to those of the very wealthy who chose not to continue to accumulate goods exclusively for themselves and their family), proximity to and support for an even greater saint (often, but not limited to the female relatives of male saints, such as Scholastica (d.543), the sister of Benedict of Nursia), and a life dedicated to celibacy (often but not limited to married persons, since celibacy in a religiously professed person, while admirable, was expected).
