Speaking in Tongues, Pierced or Otherwise

"It is also said, 'A woman's tongue is her sword,'" I countered, " 'and she does not let it rust.'"

"' Maids should be mild and meek, swift to hear and slow to speak,'" said Agnes.

"'Be she old or be she young, a woman's strength is in her tongue,'" said I.

Agnes pointed her nose at me. "'One tongue is enough for two women.'"

Having run out of sayings to argue with, I pushed her and she sat hard in the eel pie.

-- Catherine Called Birdy, Karen Cushman

As the inestimable Catherine contests, one tongue is never enough for one woman. This is especially true in the Convent, where it is the vogue to speak three languages and the minimum to speak two.

This curious multiplicity of polyglots is good for the ears but bad for the soul. Sisters sharing cells with International Nuns can testify to the miraculous nature of Skype conversations at odd hours. Your cellmate usually chats with you about eighteenth-century literary revolutions in English, but switches to Hindi in order to converse with her mother about new sneakers.

International Nuns may find their Speaking Gifts natural. The Domestic Nuns must compete, through education if not through culture. Speaking only one language fluently -- that is, by not placing into a 201 level your first year -- is the same as not being blessed by the Spirit of Success at all.

The Holy Spirit of Success is that innate gifting of each Wellesley Sister that allows her to commune with Success. The Holy Spirit reveals Itself through perfect SAT scores, the ability to accomplish all one's homework in three hours once a week, and through the speaking of multiple languages. The last is the most common gifting, however, and without it one feels rather mute. Worst of all, the unolingual Sister questions whether Success has met with her at all: is she a Spiritless nun?

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. - 1 Corinthians 12: 7-11, ESV