"The Second Nun's Tale"

In the prologue to the tale, the Mother Superior's assistant tells us that she will speak about idleness and how it leads to Satan. What is interesting is that tale says a lot about the status of the woman telling the tale.

Instead of being just a recount of the story of St. Cecile, which is questionable, the Second Nun proves that she is a more intellectual than emotional being. Of course, women were not as highly educated as men in the Middle Ages, but that is not the question here. It seems to me that the intellectual tone of the tale mimics the typical plot of a female martyr story. Female martyrs were most commonly up against men and outargue them. This tale is set up as a response to "The Prioress's Tale"

First, at line 123, the Second Nun describes St. Cecile as, "Of Crist, and bar his gospel in hir mynde. / She vevere cessed, as I writen fynde, / Of hir preyree and God to love and drede" (SNT 123-25). St. Cecile has memorized the gospels and has no need of an intercessor between her and God. For Catholics, the middle-man of the priest is essential to communication with God. Thus, St. Cecile renders her male counterparts useless in her religious pursuits.

Again, at lines 337-343, St. Cecile is associated with the intellectual.

"That shal I tell," quod she, "er Igo.
Right as a man hath sapiences three--
Memorie, engyn, and intellect also--
So in o beynge of divinitee,
Thre persons may ther right wel bee."
Tho gan she hym ful busily to preche
Of Cristes come, and of his peynes teche, (SNT 337-43)

Two things are apparent here. First, she is associated totally with the intellect. In fact, there is no language that suggests there is some kind of emotional connection on her part. So, is it possible that this affects the emotional connection the reader makes to the tale. Second, she takes the Holy Trinity and aligns it totally with the intellect.

All this is in contradiction with the young man in "The Prioress's Tale" who is described as,

This litel child, his litel book lernynge,
As he sat in the scole at his prymer,
He Alma redemportis herde synge,
As children lerned hire antiphoner;
And as he dorste, he drough hym ner and ner,
And herkened ay the wordes and the noote,
Til he the firste vers koude al by rote.

Noght wiste he what this Latyn was to seye,
For he so yong and tendre was of age.
But on a day his felawe gan he preye
T'expounden hym this song in his langage, (516-26)

The child has no idea what he is saying (the lack of intellect), but he likes the sound of the tune so much he retains it to memory in order to sing it. There is the emotional connection to the song, albeit passive, that the Second Nun does not give to St. Cecile. It is the lack of the intellectual understanding that leads to the boy's death.

That being said, I have a few questions I have been unable to answer. First, how does the affect which tale the reader relates to? Second, what would be the reason for St. Cecile's lack of emotional connection with the gospel? Is there more than one moral to this tale? If so, what could they be?