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"Omnis enim res quæ dando non deficit, dum habetur et non datur, nondum habetur quomodo habenda est." ("For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with others, if it is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed.") —St. Augustine, De doctrina Christiana lib. 1 cap. 1

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Wives and risk of widowhood

Started by Kephapaulos, October 21, 2020, 12:25:59 PM

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Kephapaulos

I come across an argument that young women should have a college degree just in case if they get married but are later widowed. How do we argue against that? Would St. Augustine's work about widowhood be a good reference?

Geremia

#1
Quote from: Kephapaulos on October 21, 2020, 12:25:59 PMyoung women should have a college degree just in case if they get married but are later widowed
I seem to have heard a similar argument for why women should learn how to spin, etc., in the middle ages. I don't see what's wrong with it, as long as the degree or trade is useful.
Zélie Martin, St. Thérèse of Lisieux's mother, went to school for lace-making when she was 20:
The Mother of the Little Flower: Zélie Martin (1831-1877):
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QuoteMy God, since I am not worthy to be Your Spouse like my sister [she was rejected from the convent for health reasons], I shall enter the married state to accomplish Your holy will. I beg You then, let me have many children, and may they all be consecrated to You, my God.
Having begged the Blessed Virgin Mary to show her how she could provide financially for her future, it happened that on December 8, 1851, in the midst of an absorbing occupation, she distinctly heard, as it were, an interior voice saying to her: Undertake the making of Point d'Alençon lace. She, therefore, went to a professional school, but before she had completed the course, she left, to escape the inconsiderate attentions of the director of the establishment.

Towards the close of 1853, she began on her own account the establishment of a centre for making this costly lace.