In the Company of the Fathers: The Female Martyrs
Male voices reign in the first few centuries of the Church reflecting, of course, the androcentric Greco-Roman culture in which Christianity developed. Nevertheless, it is not the case that the female voice is altogether absent from this period and its presence, though minimal, serves as a critique to the patriarchy that became normative. Nowhere is the female voice more prominent than in the martyrdom literature.
April 25, 2014