Virginia
The holidays are sadly officially over, but we are happy to be back and open the new year with style thanks to our Women's Wednesday! Our first guest of 2020 is Virginia, a young Roman woman.
Virginia was born into a wealthy patrician family, but eventually married a commoner, Lucius Volumnius Flamma, who had been consul one year before their marriage. Because of this, the other patrician women rejected her and banned her from entering the temple of Pudicitia, the goddess of modesty and a central figure in the religious life of married women. In response, far from feeling defeated or humiliated, Virginia decided to build a shrine in her own house and dedicated it to Pudicitia, inviting all plebeian women to join her in prayer. As they say, create your own solution!
"Vigirnia", illumination from the manuscript “Des cleres et nobles femmes”, ms. Spencer Collection 033, f. 35r, ca. 1450, The New York Public Library.
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