The Second Nun's Tale

St. Cecilia, the focus of the Second Nun's Tale

"The Second Nun's Tale" (Middle English: Þe Seconde Nonnes Tale) is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Told by a nun concerned only with spiritual matters, this tale tells the story of Saint Cecilia. The hagiography (saint's life) was a popular story format during the life of Chaucer. Like many of the tales told by the pilgrims, "The Second Nun's Tale" incorporates elements from Dante.

The lack of portrait for the second nun in the General Prologue has led some scholars to speculate that the tale is merely the second tale of the single nun or Prioress but this idea is not widely held. Its relationship to the subsequent Canon's Yeoman's tale is to offer a serious and worthy religious-themed story before a much more irreverent view of contemporary religious behaviour of foolish alchemists.

The plot

Having lived a life filled with extreme piety and a strong desire for eternal chastity, Cecilia's marriage to Valerian causes problems from the outset. Aside from her prayers for chastity, Valerian is unbaptized and heathen. According to Cecilia's confession to Valerian, the angel that acts as both her lover and protector is ready to end her husband's life if he loves her uncleanly or vulgarly. In an effort to prove his love and to gain the ability to see the angel, Valerian embarks on a voyage to see Urban, who would become Pope Urban I. After convincing Urban of his pure intentions, Valerian converts to Christianity and is baptized. His conversion leads to the conversion of his brother Tiburce. Once he is baptized, Valerian is able to see Cecelia's guardian angel and love her in a fitting manner.

A Roman prefect, Almachius, learns that Valerian and Tiburce are practicing Christianity, and has them summoned, telling them that they must make sacrifices to an idol of Jupiter or be put to death. They refuse and are killed, but not before they convert Almachius's officer, Maximus, and several executioners. Upon learning of Maximus's conversion, Almachius has him beaten to death with a lead-tipped whip.

Almachius then calls for Cecilia to be summoned to him. At first, his ministers refuse, having been converted to Christianity. However, he is ultimately successful in bringing her before him. He demands that she make sacrifices to the idol of Jupiter, and she refuses, calling him foolish.

Angry, Almachius sentences her to be boiled alive, but miraculously, the cauldron of boiling water does her no harm, and she sits quite comfortably in it for an entire day. At the end of the day, Almachius orders her executed by other means, and an executioner tries to behead her, but is not able to cut completely through her neck in three strokes, and is bound by law not to attempt a fourth. Miraculously, despite having her throat cut, Cecilia continues to live, preaching Christianity, for three more days.

Cecilia's Body

Throughout the story, the important of chastity is first to Saint Cecilia. She prays daily that God keep her body unspotted. After telling her husband, Valerian, hears this he respects her wishes. Almachius, a roman prefect, does not. NOT FINISHED

After learning that she is practicing christianity and her boldness, he orders her to be burned. Although she sat in a bath of flames, she sat there untouched by any of them. She was then sent to be executed by three strokes to the neck. Even with this occurrence, Saint Cecilia stills tells the Gospel to anyone that will hear her.

Despite the physical torture that Cecillia's body endures through the beating, burning, and slashing of throat, she still remains alive for three days, and is able to convert many non-believers through her preachings. Her body supports her, and does not fail her when she needs it the most. Cecilia's body is a symbol for her unwavering faith, and devotion. It refuses to give in to the pain inflicted by her oppressor, Almachius, and just like how Cecilia refuses to give in to his psychological tortures. Cecilia's body's ability to maintain its chastity can also be seen as noteworthy. Despite having been forced into marraiage to Valerian, and being punished for her chastity by Almachius, she was still able to preserve her chastity until she died. During this time, the female body was seen as one of the major sources where evil was birthed from. In "Body Symbolism in the Book of Margery Kempe," Susan Morgan states that, "medieval theologians and hagiographers viewed female sin as intrinsically bodily and sexual, emanating from within" (Morgan 426). By keeping her virginity intact, Cecilia's body was able to evade this "sin" which untimately helped her maintain her devotion, and led to her being a Saint.

See also

External links

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