Benedict Of Nursia Research Articles

Sites of the Aesthetic Self: John Cassian and Christian Ethical Formation by Niki Kasumi Clements

Reviewed by: Sites of the Aesthetic Self: John Cassian and Christian Ethical Formation by Niki Kasumi Clements Jude P. Dougherty CLEMENTS, Niki Kasumi. Sites of the Aesthetic Self: John Cassian and Christian Ethical Formation. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020. xi + 280 pp. Cloth, $65.00 —The book opens with an account of a well-educated young man, John Cassian, and his companion, Germanus, who attempt to establish in Bethlehem a monastic community based on the asceticism of the Egyptian desert model. The middle decades of the fifth century have been described by Robert Markus as the watershed of the great debates in the Latin West about what it means to be and live as a Christian. There is ample evidence to support that judgment as we follow the writing and activity of John Cassian, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Benedict of Nursia, and Pope Innocent I. John Cassian, who lived from 360 to 436, was born in what is now Romania. A contemporary of St. Augustine (354–430), like Augustine he was led to address the issue of self-formation which in one formulation reads as follows: “In orienting oneself toward the proximate goal of purity of heart and the ultimate end of the Kingdom of God, how much is to be attributed to one’s own agency as distinct from the grace of God.” Augustine spoke to the problem in his On Grace and Free Will (426), where he stressed human fallenness and human inability. Cassian in Conferences 15, “On God’s Protection,” was thought to offer a direct response to Augustine despite its antecedent composition. Cassian’s position, which later became known as semi-pelagian, differed from Augustine’s insofar as Cassian feared that the doctrine of Augustine possessed an element of fatalism. “We must take care not to ascribe all merits of the saints to the Lord, so as to leave nothing but what is perverse to human activity. Cassian claimed that the initial step to salvation was within the power of the individual unaided by grace. God created humans with a good will, and when human effort fosters this will, God encourages its growth, and spurs it on to salvation, increasing what he himself had planted and saw arise from individual effort. According to Cassian, human progress in ascetic formation requires adaptation as well as human toil and effort. Cassian notes that divine protection goes “together not with the lazy or careless person, but with the one who labors and toils.” Cassian brought to his early works a knowledge of Egyptian asceticism and of the desert hermits. This is seen in his Institutes of Monastic Life (418) and Conferences of the Fathers (419). A third work, On the Incarnation of the Lord, was written against the heretic Nestorius at the request of Pope Leo I. That book, considered his master work, took him nearly a decade to write and appeared in 490. Without doubt his collected works were to influence the whole of Western monasticism. Benedict in [End Page 383] his Rule made Cassian’s Conferences and Institutes required reading. In the opinion of Niki Kasumi Clements, “Cassian is remarkable as a translator between Eastern and Western Christianities. He bridges geographies, languages, politics, customs and friends.” Notably, he was embraced not only in the West but by Eastern Christianity, as evidenced by the fact that his Latin texts were translated into Greek. Cassian writes about what an ascetic life looks like, materially and performatively, how it feels and is socially transmitted. He emphasizes its positive aspects—not renunciation. In writing about communal practices, he stresses adaptation and accommodation for different geographic sites and times. He recognizes how subjects are directed by desire but need to be confirmed in their ambition through practice. Commissioned by Pope Innocent I to work in southern Gaul, he established near Marseilles two monasteries, one for men and one for women. He founded and became the first abbot of the Abbey St. Victor, where he remained for the rest of his life. His foundation for women was known as the Abbey St. Salvador. Cassian was ordained a deacon by John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, around 404 and ordained a priest...

Gregory the Great as Intermediary Figure between East and West: The Eleventh-Century Manuscript Context of the Old EnglishDialogues

Eleventh-century England, especially its reform-minded clerics, exhibited both interest in and wariness toward the anchoritic aspects of the eastern ascetic tradition. This article argues that two eleventh-century manuscripts of the Old English Dialogues reflected these concerns by making Gregory the Great into a teacher of eastern asceticism through an association between the Dialogues and other ascetic texts understood as eastern, the Admonitio ad filium spiritualem and the Verba Seniorum. Doing so gave the eastern texts an unimpeachable lineage that ran through Gregory and Benedict of Nursia, and as a consequence subtly altered the use of the translatio studii such that in these manuscripts it provides justification for past texts as well as present ones. By considering these texts together instead of separately, it becomes apparent how the prefaces of the Dialogues and its accompanying eastern ascetic texts connect through shared descriptions of instruction, and consequently how the prefaces of the eastern texts make space to insert Gregory into the chain of transmission and translation from the East to England.

Sfântul Benedict de Nursia. Impactul vieții și regulilor sale asupra civilizației europene de astăzi

St. Benedict of Nursia was organizer of Western monasticism, born in 480 in Nursia – Ombria, Italy today and passed away in 547, at Monte – Casino near Rome. Influenced by the monastic rules of St. Basil the Great and spiritual conversations of St. John Cassian, St. Benedict organized Western monasticism, requiring a specific discipline and ascetic life. Rule monks, such work is called St. Benedict of Nursia is more a treatise on life than a regulation or rule. Ninth century Benedict of Aniane reformulating Rule monks of Western monasticism shifted to the sacred, to the detriment of practice or work and founded the Benedictine order. The fruit of this way of life was the birth monastery Cluny monastery, which was to play an important role in Western monastic life and papal history. Numerous Benedictine monasteries scattered around the world have played and still play an important role in the history and culture of the Church and beyond.

Behind the Abbot’s Back. Clerics within the Monastic Hierarchy

This article shows the impact of clerical ordinations of monks on monastic communities of the late antique Latin West. Its first part demonstrates how the clerical hierarchy introduced by monk-presbyters and monk-deacons challenged the purely monastic power structure - based, above all, on the abbot’s supreme authority. It turns then to three organizers of monastic life active in the sixth century - Eugendus of Jura, Aurelian of Arles, and Benedict of Nursia - who, each in his own way, ensured that the appointment of monks to clerical ranks would leave the monastery’s hierarchy intact - or even reinforce it. In conclusion, it is argued that the problems provoked by monastic clergy were alleviated by the strict separation of monastic and ecclesiastical hierarchies, which is demonstrated particularly in the Benedict of Nursia’s Rule. This, in turn, contributed to the steady process of the clericalization of Western monasticism.

The Honey of Souls: Cassiodorus and the Interpretation of Psalms in the Early Medieval West by Derek A. Olsen

Reviewed by: The Honey of Souls: Cassiodorus and the Interpretation of Psalms in the Early Medieval West by Derek A. Olsen Frans van Liere The Honey of Souls: Cassiodorus and the Interpretation of Psalms in the Early Medieval West. By Derek A. Olsen. (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press. 2017. Pp. xii, 313. $44.95 paperback. ISBN 978-0-8146-8414-6.) Few biblical commentaries in the Middle Ages were as influential as the sixth-century Explanation of the Psalms by Cassiodorus. Its author lived in an age in which educational and political institutions were being challenged at a rapid pace. Descended of an ancient noble Roman family, Cassiodorus served as statesman [End Page 562] under the Gothic kings of Italy, who had taken over from the last of the Roman emperors in the Western part of the empire. It is not clear what eventually prompted him to become a monk and transform his family estate, Vivarium, into a flourishing center of monastic learning. Unlike the asceticism of his contemporary, Benedict of Nursia, Cassiodorus' monastic vocation was found in the preservation of classical learning and the dedication to the Christian study of Scriptures. His love of the Book of Psalms may have played a major role in his conversion to the monastic life, Olsen speculates. Derek Olsen offers in this study much more than just a sketch of Cassiodorus' life and an analysis of his Psalms commentary. He gives a compelling introduction to the role and importance of the Psalms in the medieval Church. Not only were the Psalms the liturgical means to praise God; they were also regarded as a compendium to all of Scripture. Everything that was contained elsewhere in the entire Bible was referenced here in a spiritual manner. Psalms were the spiritual life-blood of early medieval Christians, and Olsen convincingly shows how their memorization and their liturgical use served as a way to overcome what he calls the "technological challenges" of the early Church: language, literacy, and the textual transmission of the Scriptures. Olsen's book details the influences on Cassiodorus' commentary: Origen, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and, most importantly, Hilary of Poitiers, and Augustine. In chapters eight and nine, Olsen takes the reader by the hand and offers some detailed samples of Cassiodorus' reading of the Psalms. But what makes this book a model approach to medieval exegesis is where Olsen takes us to the manuscripts (a ninth-century manuscript from Saint Gall, to be precise), to show how Cassiodorus' commentary techniques were embedded in the educational system of its own time. He devised an intricate system of marginal notes and signs to signify figures of speech and other allusions to the liberal arts, a system that would endure in the later medieval manuscript tradition. A chapter on the distribution and influence of the commentary concludes the book, and Olsen convincingly shows the key to the enduring success of the commentary: its adaptability to the demands of later centuries. Indeed, the reader of Olsen's book will be convinced that Cassiodorus' commentary has lost nothing of its relevance for today's Christian spiritual life, too. Olsen provides a very readable introduction to the whole world of early medieval spirituality and exegesis. The book is written in an extremely accessible yet never condescending language that clearly originates in classroom practice. If there is anything to criticize, it is a lack of references and footnotes, which have been kept to an absolute minimum. The bibliography is also rather sparse; suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter would have been welcome. These minor flaws aside, this book is a delight to scholar and layman alike. [End Page 563] Frans van Liere Calvin University Copyright © 2019 The Catholic University of America Press

Anthropology of the evangelical counsels in the school of St. Benedict of Nursia

Man is someone real and as such he is immersed in a world that is a task set to him as a person. Therefore, the whole world, as entirely coming from God, and entirely assigned to Him, is constantly bursting with its natural truth and good and, consequently, also beauty. This is an important perspective, both in the order of nature and in the order of grace, also because the synthesis and fulfilment of all values (perfections), which is personal fullness – holiness, is the ultimate reference of the human person to the Person of God. However, this perspective becomes comprehensible only in the field of the realism of the human person’s truth, goodness and beauty, related to their perfect Source, and therefore to the Truth, Goodness and Beauty of the Person of God Himself.In this sense, it can be said that God is the End of all perfections. Holiness itself is thus a specific peak of the elevation of human potentialities to a higher level of being. „Holiness, through the elevation of truth, goodness and beauty to the supernatural level, can fulfil the potential of human nature – reason and will, to their limits; and this fulfilment, in Christian thought, can only take place in visio beatifica, to which this life here and now is supposed to prepare us”. Let us add that the understanding and implementation of evangelical counsels: chastity, poverty and obedience, serve this growth in a particular way. The counsels are the evangelical factor stimulating and strengthening the work of the intellect and free will.

Weekend Monk

Weekend Monk Tom Montgomery Fate (bio) I regard monks and poets as the best degenerates in America. Both have a finely developed sense of the sacred potential in all things. -Kathleen Norris Peosta, Iowa I am a slow and bumbling pilgrim. So I couldn’t watch both the road and the pulsing blue GPS dot on my little iPhone map, and got lost somewhere near Dubuque. I’d accidentally spun the whole map upside down with my index finger, so nothing made sense. North was no longer north. I grew up just thirty miles away, but the dusty county road winding through the endless cornfields looked like a hundred others I’d traveled. And my internal compass is less reliable since I’ve grown reliant on digital ones. But finally, with a paper map, I found Monastery Road, and followed it to an asphalt lane, which led through a row of towering [End Page 169] white pines, and opened to the yellow stone entrance of the New Melleray Abbey. Like many small Iowa communities, it’s easy to miss, in the middle of nowhere, and quite beautiful––to those who can see where they are. A pamphlet for guests in a rack near the Abbey’s entrance serves as a guide for visitors. The monks describe themselves as “Christians professing the Rule of St. Benedict…” As you make your retreat at New Melleray, you will learn more about the monks, the Rule of Saint Benedict, and a life oriented to contemplative prayer. That’s partly why I had come—to remember how to pray. Not that I ever knew, but I used to practice more––in seminary, which is where I first read about the Rule of St. Benedict. In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia, an ascetic monk, who lived in a cave in Italy for three years, wrote a book of rules for monastic communities. It prescribes a life of prayer that is separate from “the world,” obedient to Christian ideals, and under the authority of an abbot. The Rule later became the guidebook for monastic life, and for fifteen hundred years, monasteries around the globe have followed it, including New Melleray. When I arrived at the Guestmaster’s office to get my room assignment, a stocky, balding, seventy-something monk was leaning on his walker and thumbing through a folder. He clearly didn’t expect me, but quickly found my reservation. “You’re in 218,” he said. “There are no keys. Meals are downstairs in the refectory after prayers.” When he asked where I was from, I mentioned that I’d taken classes at Chicago Theological Union (CTU)––a respected Catholic seminary. “We call that the Cesspool of Theological Uncertainty,” he said, smiling. Given this barb, and my own eclectic theology, I didn’t respond. For me, the “study of God” (ology theo), and religion itself, is rooted in uncertainty, in questions. After my five-minute orientation was over, I had a “What am I doing here?” moment. Was I some ridiculous wannabe monk? I wasn’t Catholic, didn’t know how to pray or cross myself or bless myself with [End Page 170] holy water, or chant psalms melodically, or bow at the right times, or anything else. In spite of this ignorance, I still wondered if I might have a spiritual epiphany of some sort during my four-day stay—as if I could schedule, and recognize, such a revelation. I thanked the Guestmaster, went to my car, grabbed my bag and books, and climbed the stairs to my “cell.” Cell. I like this word. It turns a monastery into a prison, a pilgrim into a prisoner, highlighting the isolation and suffering of monks and artists and other willing captives. Monks and artists seek to be creatively freed in their confinement, in their simple, boiled-down lives. They are not “doing time” but making it. That’s what the word poet (poetes) means: “maker.” An artist too has faith––in their search for meaning amid the mystery of creation––in how they trust and listen to the stillness. And it was still––eerily quiet. The monks took no vows of silence, yet...

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION OF THE EARLY-DAY MONKHOOD IN THE DOMESTIC RELIGIOUS PEDAGOGICAL HERITAGE (XI-XVIII CENTURIES)

The article reveals the thoughts of domestic theologians and churchmen of the times of Kyivan Rus, the Lithuanian-Polish state and the Hetmanate on the questions of Christian education in the first monasteries.The religious-pedagogical heritage of Metropolitan Hilarion, Theodosius of the Pechersk, Metropolitan Alexis, Ivan Vyshensky, Theophan Prokopovich and Dimitry of Rostov (Danylo Savich Tuptalo) has been researched. Three stages in the formation of the preconditions of scientific research on the education of monasticism were revealed. In particular, the first stage defined as X-XV centuries– was the time of the birth of interest in the problem of monastic education; the second stage (XVI - beginning of the XVII century) was the period of Christian antagonism, when the educational heritage of the founders of monasticism was discussed through the prism of confrontation of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The third stage (XVII - XVIII centuries) was the stage of appearance of the first quasi- scientific research of teachers and students of Ostroh school, Kyiv-Mohyla college and religious schools.The work analyses and generalizes the education experience of early monasticism, which was practiced by Antony the Great, Pahomius the Great, Macarius the Great, Theodosius the Great, Martin of Tours, John Cassian, Benedict of Nursia, Flavius Cassiodorus, and Gregory the Great.

ヌルシアのベネディクトゥスとアルルのカエサリウス : 六世紀の修道院における宗教教育( 宗教の教育と伝承)

ヌルシアのベネディクトゥスとアルルのカエサリウス : 六世紀の修道院における宗教教育( 宗教の教育と伝承)

Źródła posłuszeństwa konsekrowanego

W artykule przedstawiono podstawowe myśli źródłowe dla idei posłuszeństwa konsekrowanego. Analiza teologiczna reprezentatywnych reguł pierwotnego cenobityzmu chrześcijańskiego (Reguły Pachomiusza, Asketikonu Bazylego Wielkiego, Praeceptum Augustyna z Hippony, Reguły Benedykta), jak również Pism Franciszka z Asyżu oraz Magisterium Kościoła XX i XXI wskazuje na zakorzenienie idei posłuszeństwa konsekrowanego w Biblii. Dotyczy to zarówno idei posłuszeństwa wobec Boga, wobec władz wspólnoty, jak i posłuszeństwa wzajemnego. Analizowane prawodawstwo wskazuje na słowo Boga (Ewangelię) jako „pierwszą regułę życia” osób konsekrowanych. Według Asketikonu Bazylego Wielkiego, Reguły Benedykta, Pism Franciszka oraz posoborowych dokumentów Kościoła dobrowolne posłuszeństwo, w myśl Flp 2, 8 (oraz J 6, 38), jest naśladowaniem Chrystusa – uniżonego i posłusznego aż do śmierci. Różnorodność zaś norm dotyczących posłuszeństwa wypływa z konieczności zastosowania tej idei w konkretnych warunkach życia i uregulowania codziennego życia pod opieką przełożonych. Analizowane teksty wraz z odniesieniami biblijnymi stanowią inspirację dla aktualizacji idei posłuszeństwa konsekrowanego.

Martianus Capella and Saint Benedict: The critical arts of encyclopedic satire and new-old forms-of-life

Addressing the shortcomings of North America’s prevalent model of higher education, this essay hazards that two late-antique figures may provide avenues for rejuvenating the network of humanities research and pedagogy (critical/liberal/arts) in institutions of higher education (IHEs). Making a foray into examples of alternative IHEs, past and present, I move from Benedict of Nursia’s late-antique labors to more recent para-academic endeavors. Martianus Capella’s De Nuptiis is then mined for both a transitional comportment (encyclopedic satire) and two scholarly practices or ‘critical arts’ (periergia and parecbasis) that, though tangential, can be deployed productively in the meantime, as we labor among the ruins. In closing, I draft a preliminary visualization of the actor-networks within and between educational entities.

Św. Jan Chrzciciel w cieniu św. Benedykta z Nursji. Kartki z dziejów Puchaczowa

Puchaczów is a small settlement, located five kilometers away from Łęczna, east of Lublin. In 1526, King Sigismund I allowed to locate a town here (city rights suspended in 1870), leaving it under the custody of the Benedictine Friars from Sieciechów, who stayed here until the early 19th century. The parish was erected by Bishop of Cracow Piotr Tomicki in 1533. The original wooden parish church burnt down in 1623. A new church, built with the support of the Bishop of Lviv Andrzej Próchnicki, was consecrated in 1633. An initiative to build a brick-and-stone church emerged in the late 18th century, leading to the consecration of a new temple in 1786. Researchers of the history of the town can be attracted by its coat-of-arms. It depicts St. John the Baptist. On the one hand, it is different from a lot of other heraldic representations of this saint, while also being an example of a peculiar "cohabitation" of two saints on one coat-of-arms. This other patron saint is Benedict of Nursia - the patron of the family that owned Puchaczów.

The Formation of Humility Today: Lessons from the Rule of St. Benedict and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

Humility stands out as one of the foremost virtues in Christian spirituality. It counters a foundational vice, pride, and a strong psychological tendency, narcissism. It is an essential disposition for the Christian imperative of service and compassion for others. It is considered a foundational virtue since it builds other virtues like patience, obedience, and faith. It helps build mature and healthy interpersonal relationships. Humble individuals are almost always admired and respected. Despite its fundamental character as a virtue, there is still much to understand about humility especially in the context of today’s world. Many still understand it negatively, confusing it with low self-esteem and self-denigration. Many still wonder how humility is possible amid a world dominated by proud and arrogant behavior. Still, for many, humility is hardly noticed due to its quiet and unobtrusive character. Christian tradition has much to contribute to this need for greater understanding and appropriation of humility. The centrality of humility in Christian ethics is embedded in the Gospels, the very life of Jesus Christ, and His proclamation of the Kingdom of God. It is also contained in the teachings of Paul, the apostles, and the Fathers of the Church. The lives of the saints witness to humility and their works138 San Juan propagate its practice. In the history of the Church, two such saints and their respective works have emerged as classics in spiritual life—the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They were written in two different epochs of Church history, by two leaders espousing two different ways of living the Christian vocation. Yet both the Rule and the Exercises teach humility. The Rule contains the so-called “Twelve Ladders to Humility,” while the Exercises include “The Three Kinds of Humility.” This article aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of humility by reflecting on the Rule and the Exercises particularly in the context of today’s world. First, it will ask how humility is understood today, and how it could be understood more properly with the help of the social sciences and Christian spirituality. Second, it will look into how humility is understood in the Rule and the Exercises , how their writers envision the formation of this virtue, and how the two works converge given their different perspectives and contextual origins. Lastly, this article will show that these two classics of Christian literature still remain relevant to the challenge of forming humility in today’s world.

The medieval church: a brief history

The Medieval Church: A Brief History argues for the pervasiveness of the Church in every aspect of life in medieval Europe. It shows how the institution of the Church attempted to control the lives and behaviour of medieval people, for example, through canon law, while at the same time being influenced by popular movements like the friars and heresy. This fully updated and illustrated second edition offers a new introductory chapter on ‘the Basics of Christianity,’ for students who might be unfamiliar with this territory. The book now has new material on some of the key individuals in church history: Benedict of Nursia, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux and Francis of Assisi as well as a more comprehensive study throughout of the role of women in the medieval church. Lynch and Adamo seek to explain the history of the Church as an institution, and to explore its all-pervasive role in medieval life. In the course of the thousand years covered in this book, we see the members and leaders of the Western Church struggle with questions that are still relevant today: What is the nature of God? How does a church keep beliefs from becoming diluted in a diverse society? What role should the state play in religion? The book is now accompanied by a website with textual, visual, and musical primary sources making it a fantastic resource for students of medieval history.

From medieval saint to modern bête noire: The case of the Vitae Æthelwoldi

Early twentieth-century English historians read the late tenth- and early eleventh-century Vitae AEthelwoldi and saw a monster: a capricious, arbitrary bishop who beat his monks and forced an over-achiever to put his hand into a pot of boiling water. However, the authors of the Vitae, Wulfstan of Winchester and AElfric of Eynsham, had intended to glorify AEthelwold. They used the violent anecdotes to compare AEthelwold to the great monastic leader Benedict of Nursia and even to God, who ‘beats those whom he loves,’ according to Wulfstan’s citation of Hebrews 12:6. This essay traces how the cultural and social contexts of particular groups of scholars shaped these conflicting views of violence and of AEthelwold, bearing in mind Michael Camille’s exhortation to consider ‘the prism of modernity through which the Middle Ages is constructed.’

Brothers from Different Mothers—Confucius, Benedict, and Francis: The Historical Search for Humane Leadership

Ongoing global economic downturn, social and political upheavals, revolutionary changes in technology, and frightening climate change are having massive impacts on the ways people live and work. This paper examines the teachings of 3 of these leaders: Confucius, Benedict of Nursia, and Francis of Assisi, whose teachings may inform the ways in which today’s leaders motivate a workforce and deal with uncertainty. Though separated by both time and culture, these 3 men shared common biographical traits that informed their teachings and shaped their ideas about appropriate behaviors for leaders and their subordinates. Compassion, sincerity, wisdom, and trust are traits that all 3 stress as vital for leaders trying to accomplish meaningful goals in the face of adversity.

The Lord as Their Portion: The Story of the Religious Orders and How They Shaped Our World (review)

Reviewed by: The Lord as Their Portion: The Story of the Religious Orders and How They Shaped Our World Michael W. Blastic The Lord as Their Portion: The Story of the Religious Orders and How They Shaped Our World. By Elizabeth Rapley. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2011. Pp. xii, 337. $24.00 paperback. ISBN 978-0-8028-6588-5.) Elizabeth Rapley sets out to recount the story of religious “for those people for whom monks and nuns are only a distant memory, or who have never known them at all” (p. ix). This intended audience determines the mode of her presentation without footnotes or bibliography and only brief recommendations for reading at the conclusion of each chapter. She covers approximately 1500 years of history in six chapters, and includes a helpful glossary and index. Chapter 1 begins the story in the Egyptian desert; moves to St. Benedict of Nursia; and traces the Benedictine reforms through Cluny, the eremitical reforms, and Cîteaux. The beginnings of the apostolic life movements in the eleventh century, the revival of the canons regular, the origins of military orders, and an overview of monastic women concludes the chapter. Chapter 2, covering the Middle Ages from 1200 to 1500, chronicles the origins of the mendicants, focusing on the growth of the Franciscan and Dominican orders through the Black Death and the Great Schism. Rapley describes the expansion, the pastoral role in the Western Church (and conflict with secular clergy), and the missions of the Franciscan Order to the Orient through the early-fourteenth century and the crisis of the Spirituals. The Poor Clares are treated briefly, as well as the Cistercian nuns and the Frauenfrage in general. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the “Third Orders” and the Brothers of the Common Life. Chapter 3 covers the period of the Reformation and its impact on religious life. The Reformers’ critique of religious life and the turbulent history of the sixteenth century is the backdrop for the origins of the Capuchin reform and the Jesuits in particular, as well as for the Carmelite reform of Ss. Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross. The growth of new women’s orders is presented through the example of St. Angela of Merici and the origins of the Ursulines. This chapter concludes with a description of the missionary endeavors of orders in the Far East and in South America. [End Page 769] The Age of Confessionalism is the subject of chapter 4, in which Rapley describes the role of religious orders in the Catholic regions of Europe, focusing primarily on France. The attempt of religious women to move beyond the requirement of cloister imposed by the Council of Trent is portrayed with the story of Ss. Jeanne de Chantal and Francis de Sales and the foundation of the Visitation. St. Vincent de Paul and the Congregation of the Mission, St. Louise de Marillac and the Daughters of Charity, and St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle and the teaching brothers demonstrate the importance of the social ministries of charity and teaching. The reform of Armand-Jean de Rancé and the origins of the Trappists conclude the chapter. Chapter 5 focuses again on France in the eighteenth century. The suppression of the Jesuits is chronicled, as is the preference for the active social works of charity over the contemplative life by the various regimes. The founding of the Montfortian congregations by St. Louis de Montfort and the Redemptorists by St. Alphonsus Liguori are highlighted in this century of revolutions. The final chapter describes the revival of religious life in the nineteenth century. Featured here are St. John Bosco and the Salesians, St. Jeanne Jugan and the Little Sisters of the Poor, the revival of women’s communities in France, and the establishment of orders in the new world. Given the intended audience, Rapley succeeds admirably in telling the story of religious orders throughout Christian history. As she herself admits, there is much more to this story than she could include, but one learns from her work just how integral to the story of Christianity these women and men were and are who took “the Lord as...

Subiaco – Innocent III’s Version of Elijah’s Cave

In Biblical history and Christian literature alike, caves or grottoes, those works of nature,’as if cut painstakingly but elegantly in the rocks or the cliff side without any tool’, have always played their significant part. Had not Benedict of Nursia, father of western monasticism, spent three years in eremitical solitude in just such a grotto beneath Monte Taleo in the Simbruini range of the Apennines? It was no surprise then that it was to this, the Sacro Speco or Holy Cave, that Innocent III (1198–1216) came in person during the summer of 1202. Drawn to Subiaco in no small part by his reading of Book II of Gregory the Great’sDialogues, in which his distinguished papal predecessor had described Benedict’sLife and Miracles, Innocent’s visit was notable on several counts.

Benedict of Nursia, John Henry Newman, and the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University: An Approach to Christian Learning

Benedict of Nursia, John Henry Newman, and the Torrey Honors Institute of Biola University: An Approach to Christian Learning

Book Review: The Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia

Book Review: The Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia