Anonymous: Vita Sanctae Marinae

This short Life, preserved among the Vitae Patrum, tells the story of Marina, who lived as a monk under the name Marinus. A layman with an only little daughter wished to enter religious life and entrusted her to a relative, then went to a monastery thirty-two miles from the city. Grieving for his child, he told the abbot that he had a son left behind, and was allowed to bring the child into the monastery, where she lived disguised as a boy. Later, falsely accused of fathering the child of an innkeeper’s daughter, Marinus does not reveal the secret but accepts the blame, living for three years in penance before the monastery gate and then raising the child left there.

Marina’s patience under false accusation, revealed only when her body was prepared for burial, made her story one of the most popular of the legends of women disguised as monks, read in both Eastern and Latin traditions. Its simple style suited monastic reading. The Latin translator and date are unknown. The narrative turns on the contrast between the monks’ harsh judgment and Marina’s silent humility, and ends with the community’s remorse when the truth is discovered.