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St Monica (on the pillar) 1464-65 Fresco Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano

By Michele Chronister, Catholic Exchange, August 27, 2020

Michele Chronister is a wife, and mother to three little girls and one little one in heaven. She received her BA and MA in theology from the University of Notre Dame (’09 and ’11).

I was recently sharing a story about one of my daughters with my spiritual director. As children of two parents, with five theology degrees between them, my daughters are especially prone to curiosity and conversation about theological topics. In sharing one of their beautiful little moments of wonder in spiritual direction, this dear priest told me, “Michele, that is spiritual motherhood. You are being a spiritual mother to your daughters, not just a biological one.”

Although I have felt drawn to spiritual maternity of seminarians and priests, it hadn’t occurred to me that I could be both a biological and a spiritual mother to my daughters. But in that moment, I realized that he was right.  …