The spirituality of the Desert Mothers

How to Enroll?

Participation in the course requires completing two steps:

1. Pay the fee of 30 Euros at the following link:
2. Complete your registration at the following link:
   

ATTENTION: Use the same email address for both steps (payment and registration). Enrollment grants access to live or recorded classes and a certificate from the Universidade Lusófona, upon successful completion of the assessments.

About the Course

In the 4th and 5th centuries, breaking away from city life, many Christians sought greater spirituality by living as hermits in the deserts of Egypt, Israel, and Syria. During a period when the Church began to align with the imperial power of the Roman State, and the blood of martyrs was replaced by theological discussions in Councils, men and women sought a life in the deserts that was closer to original Christianity. The men became known as the Desert Fathers or Abbas, and the women as the Desert Mothers or Ammas. Although female hermits were more numerous, the increasing emphasis on male leadership in the Church led to the preservation of ascetic and mystical texts produced by the Fathers, to the detriment of the teachings of the Desert Mothers. Despite this, many of the teachings of the Desert Mothers, written in the form of apothegms, have been identified today. In them, they teach us how to experience a personal relationship with God in a simple and direct way, shaped by the habitual practice of solitude, silence, prayer, and fasting, cultivating humility and obedience. In this course, we will explore the lives of more than twenty of these Desert Mothers, whose voices were silenced for a long time, learning from them how the rich spirituality of the desert can still be relevant to the challenges of the 21st century.

Who is This Course For?

Everyone is welcome in this course: curious individuals, general scholars and those interested in the history of Christianity, students and teachers of religious studies and theology, religious leaders in general, pastors and laypeople involved in religious/ecclesiastical fields, pastoral agents, educators, and community leaders.

Are There Any Prerequisites?

There are no prerequisites for taking the course, only the willingness to learn and openness to dialogue with other participants.

When Does It Start?

The course starts on April 5, 2025. It lasts for 4 Saturdays, ending on April 26.

How Do the Classes Take Place?

Classes will be held live on Saturdays at 3:00 PM (Brazil) / 6:00 PM (Portugal) via the Zoom platform. Each class will last 1 hour for lectures, followed by 30 minutes for questions and discussions.

Classes will be recorded and made available on the course page for student access.

How is the Evaluation Conducted?

The evaluation is organized into two stages:

• Completion of exercises for each class (4)
• Submission of a brief learning report at the end of the module, between 1 to 3 pages.

The final course grade will be weighted as follows:

• Exercises – 40%
• Final Report – 60%

The course ends on April 26, 2025.
The final report must be submitted in PDF or DOC format by May 10, 2025.

Course Program:

Class 1: The emergence of desert spirituality.
Summary: The spiritual significance of the desert and the socio-historical context of the search for ascetic life by men and women in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Class 2: The teachings of the Desert Mothers.
Summary: Stories and apothegms of the Desert Mothers from the 4th and 5th centuries.

Class 3: The teachings of the Penitent Desert Mothers.
Summary: Stories and apothegms of the Penitent Desert Mothers from the 4th and 5th centuries.

Class 4: Desert spirituality in the 21st century.
Summary: How to practically apply the teachings of the Desert Mothers today.

Suggested Bibliography:

ALMEIDA, Rute Salviano. Vozes femininas no início do cristianismo. Viçosa: Ultimato, 2021.
AQUILINA, Mike. Witness of Early Christian Women: Mothers of the Church. Our Sunday Visitor, 2014.
AQUILINA, Mike and Christopher Bailey. Mothers of the Church: The Witness of Early Christian Women. Our Sunday Visitor, 2012.
AQUILINA, Mike and Christopher Bailey. Madres da Igreja – o testemunho das cristãs primitivas. São Paulo: Loyola, 2018.
AZEVEDO, M.F. Gonçalves de (trans.). Os Padres do Deserto. Lisbon: Estampa, 1991.
BESEN, José Artulino. Pais e Mães do Deserto – atletas de Deus. Florianópolis: Mundo e Missão, 2006.
COOPER, Kate. Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women. New York: The Overlook Press, 2013.
EARLE, Mary C. The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices From the Women of the Wilderness. Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Pub., 2007.
KADEL, Andrew. Matrology: A Bibliography of Writings by Christian Women from the First to the Fifteenth Centuries. New York: Continuum, 1995.
KELLER, David G. R. Desert Banquet: A Year of Wisdom from the Desert Mothers and Fathers. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2011.
MILLER, Patricia Cox. Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts. The Catholic University of America Press, 2005.
MONTEIRO, José Luis de Almeida (Ed.). Pequena Filocália. Prior Velho: Paulinas, 2017.
NOUWEN, Henri. O caminho do coração – a espiritualidade dos Padres e Madres do Deserto. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2014.
OLAÑETA, José J de (Ed.). Apotegmas de las madres del desierto. Barcelona: Limpergraf, 2006.
PEDRÓS, María Sira Carrasquer. Madres Orientales: Matrología I: Antropologia, Prehistoria, Historia. Monte Carmelo, 2008.
PETERSEN, Joan M. Handmaids of the Lord: Contemporary Descriptions of Feminine Asceticism in the First Six Christian Centuries. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1996.
SWAN, Laura. The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women. New York: Paulist Press, 2001.
WARD, Benedicta. Harlots of the Desert: A Study of Repentance in Early Monastic Sources. Cistercian Publications, 2006.
WHITE, Caroline. Lives of Roman Christian Women. London; New York: Penguin, 2010.

Meet the Professor:

Lidice Meyer Pinto Ribeiro holds a Postdoctoral degree in Anthropology and History from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of São Paulo and a Master’s degree in Ethnobotany from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro/National Museum, Brazil. She is a professor in the Master’s program in Religious Studies at Universidade Lusófona de Portugal, at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Portugal, and at the Open University of Psychology and Self-Knowledge in Brazil. She is also a researcher at the Global Studies Chair at the Open University of Lisbon (CIPSH). Additionally, she is a member of the Institute of Contemporary Christianity (ICC), the Portuguese Society for the History of Protestantism (SPHP), a reviewer for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and several international academic journals.

For over 20 years, she worked at the Presbyterian University Mackenzie in São Paulo, Brazil, coordinating postgraduate programs in Theology, Philosophy, and Pedagogy, and teaching in the Master’s program in Religious Studies, as well as undergraduate Theology and other courses. She has been a commentator and consultant on religion and anthropology topics for social media, TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines. In Brazil, she has participated as an interviewee or consultant in various special programs on television networks such as Bandeirantes, Record, Globo, SBT, Cultura, and Brasil.

In recent years, she has dedicated herself to Biblical Anthropology, with a particular focus on the study of women in the Bible and Christianity, offering various courses on this subject. She has published books and articles in the fields of religion, history, anthropology, and ethnobotany.

She has conducted research in Rome (Vatican Secret Archives, Historical Archives of Propaganda Fide, and Gregorian University), Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the United States, and Brazil. Her most recent book: Cristianismo no Feminino, published by Mundo Cristão.

Web-page: www.lidicemeyer.pro