Eucharistic Piety Research Articles

SACRAMENT OF EUCHARIST ACCORDING TO EXPOSITIO SYMBOLI APOSTOLORUM BY JOHANNES MARIENWERDER

The article is called Sacrament of Eucharist according to “Expositio Symboli Apostolorum” by Johannes Marienwerder. The subject of the analysis is late medieval work of Johannes Marienwerder (Jan z Kwidzyna) (1342–1417) Expositio Symboli Apostolorum (1399–1401). The theme of the Eucharist is interesting for at least two reasons. The late 14th century is the time of extremities: intensification of the postulates of Eucharistic revival and emergence of views which negated Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. References to a discussion on the subject can be found in Expositio. Second, discussing the views of Johannes Marienwerder on the Eucharist presented in Expositio can provide a supplement for studies of the eucharistic piety of blessed Dorothea of Montau. The following issues are dealt with in this paper. The first section presents the state of debate on the Eucharist in Prague circles in the late 14th century. Postulates of frequent Holy Communion appeared. There were currents negating the Catholic teachings on Eucharist in Prague at the time. The second section discusses the theology of the Eucharist as presented in Expositio.It can be described as a form of apology of the Catholic teachings on the Eucharist. Moreover, the Prologue to Johannes Marienwerder’s work contains a series of brief practical guidelines mainly concerning the celebration of the mass. One should hope that this study will be useful both to theologians and to other scholars who deal with the literary circles of the late Mediaeval Pomesania and also the pre-Hussite period.

Eucharystyczny wymiar życia i działalności sióstr karmelitanek Dzieciątka Jezus w latach 1921–1990. Część 1: Eucharystia w codziennym życiu sióstr – inspiracje i praktyka

The founders of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Infant Jesus (Congregatio Sororum Carmelitanarum Infantis Jesus), servants of God Fr. Anselm Gądek OCD (1884–1969), and Mother Teresa Kierocińska CSCIJ (1885–1946) distinguished themselves in their lives and activities with deep Eucharistic devotion. Father Anselm Gądek placed the Eucharist at the center of his spiritual life, seeing in it the synthesis of the whole life of Jesus Christ. The co-founder of the congregation, Mother Teresa Kierocińska, taught the sisters the love of the Eucharist with her word and the example of her life. She greatly appreciated the gift of the presence of Eucharistic Jesus in every, even the smallest, religious house. She often directed the sisters to the tabernacle to seek light and strength in this special place, especially in the face of various difficulties.The provisions of the own right of assembly (constitutions, custom) served to develop the Eucharistic piety of the Carmelite sisters of Infant Jesus. They placed the Eucharist at the center of the sisters’ lives, as the source from which all the perfection of childhood flows. The sisters tried to connect their whole lives with the Eucharist, which was reflected in daily participation in Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion, visitations, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Eucharystyczny wymiar życia i działalności sióstr karmelitanek Dzieciątka Jezus w latach 1921–1990. Część 1: Eucharystia w codziennym życiu sióstr – inspiracje i praktyka

The founders of the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Infant Jesus (Congregatio Sororum Carmelitanarum Infantis Jesus), servants of God Fr. Anselm Gądek OCD (1884–1969), and Mother Teresa Kierocinska CSCIJ (1885–1946) distinguished themselves in their lives and activities with deep Eucharistic devotion. Father Anselm Gądek placed the Eucharist at the center of his spiritual life, seeing in it the synthesis of the whole life of Jesus Christ. The co-founder of the congregation, Mother Teresa Kierocinska, taught the sisters the love of the Eucharist with her word and the example of her life. She greatly appreciated the gift of the presence of Eucharistic Jesus in every, even the smallest, religious house. She often directed the sisters to the tabernacle to seek light and strength in this special place, especially in the face of various difficulties. The provisions of the own right of assembly (constitutions, custom) served to develop the Eucharistic piety of the Carmelite sisters of Infant Jesus. They placed the Eucharist at the center of the sisters’ lives, as the source from which all the perfection of childhood flows. The sisters tried to connect their whole lives with the Eucharist, which was reflected in daily participation in Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion, visitations, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage and Sin by Lauren Winner

Reviewed by: The Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage and Sin by Lauren Winner Peter Feldmeier (bio) The Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage and Sin. By Lauren Winner, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2018. 230 pp. $28.00 It is virtually axiomatic that the advancement of Christian holiness, intimacy with God, and a vibrant ecclesial life require committed and disciplined spiritual [End Page 373] practices, both personally and in the shared life of the Christian community. It should also be obvious that the subjectivity of any Christian piety is necessarily fraught with potential deformations. Overly rigorous fasting, obsessive scrupulosity, and even poorly guided contemplative practices can be dangerous for the soul and the church. One needs discretion and a discerning mind to ensure what we do intentionally as Christians actually advances the Christian life rather than undermines it. But what if problematic and even dangerous perversions are intrinsically part of the Christian life, part of those very practices? This is the fundamental thesis of Lauren Winner's The Dangers of Christian Practice. Winner writes, "I will focus on deformations of Christian practices that are characteristic of the practices themselves; deformations that are somehow about the practices… I aim to consider not primarily a practice's propensity for fostering holiness (there are plenty of such accounts), but rather a practice's propensity for violence, for curvature, for being exploited for the perpetuation of damage rather than received for its redress." To advance Winner's claim that deformations are inherent in the Christian spiritual life, she uses three examples, each explored in a chapter, collectively making up the substance of her book. Her first example is the relationship between medieval Christians and Jews in Europe and the claims of Jewish host desecration, often with the miracle of the host surviving the attempted desecration. "My reading of host desecration violence suggests that the violence against Jews undertaken in the name of supposed host desecration was not incidentally Eucharistic but intrinsically Eucharistic." With great detail and solid research, Winner examines the surge of Eucharistic piety in Europe in the 13th-14th centuries coinciding with resentments concerning European Jewry. These resentments range from moneylending to Jewish rejection of the incarnation to being labeled Christ-killers. A further problematic, as she sees it, is the Jewish body of Jesus taken at the Eucharist. She asks, "How can Christians best guard against undue intimacy with Jewish bodies, while still organizing their devotional life around… intimacy with the Eucharistic/Jewish body of Jesus Christ?" The violence against Jews, she argues, "depended on the centrality of the Eucharistic symbol." Winner's next example is slave-owning mistresses in America's antebellum south. In reviewing slave-owners' diaries and examining broadly read manuals for managing a proper Christian household, we find slave mistresses determined to create a wholesome domicile that assumes the social and political givens of slavery. Here the reader discovers numerous accounts regarding "praying about slavery: asking God to give them both 'better feelings' about their slaves and slaves who are obedient." Occasional gifts, berating, and physical brutality were the three main tools slave-owning women used to manage their household slaves. Christianity itself served as such a tool. Winner shows that even mistresses who desired their slaves be devout did so primarily to promote slave docility. Slaves were catechized, for example, to pray typical daily prayers such as "O enable me to understand the greatness of my privileges, and to feel my obligations… Help me to honor my master and mistress—and to be faithful in my performance of duty to them." The central point in Winner's slave-owning example is that petitionary prayer is necessarily culturally bound and entangled in social arrangements, with all its biases and unjust conventions. [End Page 374] Winner's third and final example is Protestant baptismal practices in the U.S. circa 1900. She argues that Baptism itself necessarily holds a creative tension between strengthening family bonds and creating a new identity of discipleship that overrides biological kinship. Fundamentally, given her examples, the latter is lost to the former, so much so that Baptism was regularly understood as a family affair...

Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. Studies in Honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca

Not Sparing the Child: Human Sacrifice in the Ancient World and Beyond. Studies in Honor of Professor Paul G. Mosca

Speelman's "Melanchthon and Calvin on confession and communion: Early modern Protestant penitential and Eucharistic piety" (book review)

Speelman's "Melanchthon and Calvin on confession and communion: Early modern Protestant penitential and Eucharistic piety" (book review)

The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy by Robin M. Jensen

Reviewed by: The Cross: History, Art, and Controversy by Robin M. Jensen Diliana Angelova Robin M. JensenThe Cross: History, Art, and Controversy Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2017 Pp. x + 270, 63 color illustrations. $35.00. In this new monograph, distinguished historian of early Christian spirituality and visual tradition Robin M. Jensen offers a biography of the cross as a symbol from antiquity to the present day. The preface describes the book’s objective as “a modest attempt to cover some ground and to lead the readers more or less chronologically through some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the history of this epic symbol” (ix). To appreciate the daring of such a task, one needs to contemplate the centrality of the cross to the European imagination and the deep and often treacherous scholarly debates surrounding its varied uses as relic and symbol. Jensen has engaged with centuries of history, scholarly controversy, and visual tradition with poise and verve. The result is an elegantly written account of the most enduring symbol of Christianity. While controversy is not the author’s objective, this is a thesis-driven book and will surely stir debate. The argument unfolds over nine chapters (each titled in Latin) that organize the vast material into tidy smaller units that trace the changing meanings of the same symbol. Some of these meanings endured for centuries, while others were more fleeting. In brief, the cross symbol was born in shame (Scandalum Crucis). For different reasons Romans and Jews deemed a death on a cross deeply ignoble. Jensen traces how early Christian apologists turned the instrument of disgrace and humiliation into a symbol of glory, salvation, and eternal life, one that proved essential to Christian ritual and artifacts (Signum Crucis). Her analysis demonstrates that the cross was not simply an object but “a kind of living being” (28). Despite the positive associations (in part through Paul’s typological linking between Adam and Christ) that enabled the cross to be transformed from a “tree of death” to a “tree of life” in both mainstream and noncanonical writings, images of Christ on the cross were very slow to gain popularity (Crux Abscondita). In Jensen’s reading, the gradual acceptance of scenes of Christ’s crucifixion is more readily attributable to pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the dissemination of cross relics than to Christian teaching (76). Among the first extant images of the crucifixion, the Maskell ivories in the British Museum and the wooden doors of Santa Sabina in Rome—both dated to the 400s—depict the crucified Christ very much alive. As is well known, emphasis on the dead Christ is a later phenomenon. It became more popular in public monuments only in the tenth and eleventh centuries, a process Jensen examines in Crux Patiens, and one she attributes to medieval eucharistic piety [End Page 684] (166). Her discussion of eucharistic piety, however, focuses on the western middle ages; regrettably she omits the Byzantine image of the Man of Sorrows (Christ depicted dead on the cross with arms by his body), and with it its connections to the ritual lamentations of Holy Week (Hans Belting, “An Image and Its Function in the Liturgy: The Man of Sorrows in Byzantium,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34/35 [1980]: 1–16). The chapter on the discovery of the true cross relic (Inventio Crucis) launches the argument that frames the study. Jensen dismisses the notion that Constantine’s vision and the purported discovery of the true cross relic by Constantine’s mother contributed to the wide acceptance and dissemination of the cross as a symbol. Instead, the author credits the cross’s earlier significance (as underscored in the writings of Paul, Hippolytus of Rome, Tertullian, the Gospel of Peter, and the Acts of John, among others) for its popularization. The imperial uses of the cross as symbol and relic were, by her reading, short-lived phenomena. This conclusion partly relies on a particular reconstruction of the Augusta Helena’s association with the cross. The author doubts that the relic had to do much with Helena, Constantine, or Helena’s residence in Rome, the Sessorian Palace. (For a different reading of the relationship between the...

:Melanchthon and Calvin on Confession and Communion: Early Modern Protestant Penitential and Eucharistic Piety

:<i>Melanchthon and Calvin on Confession and Communion: Early Modern Protestant Penitential and Eucharistic Piety</i>

Melanchthon and Calvin on Confession and Communion. Early Modern Protestant Penitential and Eucharistic Piety, written by Herman A. Speelman

Melanchthon and Calvin on Confession and Communion. Early Modern Protestant Penitential and Eucharistic Piety, written by Herman A. Speelman

The Sacramental Piety of Early American Methodists: The Fluvanna Conference of 1779 Revisited

Abstract There is continuing debate over the place of the sacraments in early American Methodism and the extent to which the Methodists valued them. The Fluvanna Conference of 1779 is key to understanding early American Eucharistic piety. By analysing the American Methodists' writings, a sacramental piety that is primarily ecclesiological is discovered. This piety is congruent with one dimension of John Wesley's Eucharistic theology: that the sacraments are a marker of a true church. The American Methodists in 1779 sought the authority to administer the sacraments so they could have an independent church.

Sic vivere est devote vivere

This essay outlines the theology of “modern-day” devotion, as it can be found in the works of the Carthusian monk Henry of Coesfeld (d. 1410). This theology consists of a classical Thomist framework, infused with ideas from Brabantine and Rhineland mysticism (e.g., Ruusbroec, Suso) and Carthusian spirituality, in which contempt for the world, purity of the heart, progression in the virtues, repentance and inner renewal, Eucharistic piety, meditation on Christ’s humanity and passion, “Christiformity,” and the imitation of Christ, play a central role. While pointing at the “present-day” moral decline in the religious orders and the church, Henry’s idea of devotion relates to personal reform, a process of becoming congruent with the “ancient” examples of Christ and the saints. His theology is not anti-mystical and anti-intellectual in nature, but at the same time it warns against the pitfalls of curiosity (curiositas) and the excesses of mysticism.

Adoring and Eating: Reception of the Eucharist in the Theology of Albert the Great

Adoring and Eating: Reception of the Eucharist in the Theology of Albert the Great Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski O.P. (bio) The thirteenth century was a time of Eucharistic contrasts. Eucharistic devotion blossomed, as expressed by the emergence of the elevation of the host at Mass. Yet the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 had to command yearly communion. Mass attendance was common, but reception of the sacrament was rare. The relation between these two trends has been read with various emphases. In one reading, focus on the visible in the liturgy was largely superstitious. Emphasis on the “holy matter” made at Mass eclipsed the laity’s recognition of themselves as the body of Christ, so that receiving communion became irrelevant or frightening, something belonging to the priesthood and no longer the people.1 A contrasting reading identifies a genuine Eucharistic awe, which engendered both the desire to gaze upon Christ at the elevation as well as a (perhaps exaggerated) fear of receiving him unworthily.2 The analysis is made even more complex by further [End Page 213] considerations that need to be integrated into either reading. For example, strong penitential customs surrounding accidental misuse of the sacrament may have played a part in contributing to reluctance to receive the sacrament.3 Feudal awareness of the corporate body, which underlined the difference between people and priest, may have meant that the people found their identity as the body of Christ affirmed in their very distinction from the priest.4 Laity may have thus satisfied their genuine desire for union with Christ by making a “spiritual communion” as they saw the priest as the representative or “mouth” of the people receiving Christ.5 The writings of Albert the Great, Dominican preacher, theologian and (for a short time) bishop need to be seen against the background of this tapestry of interpretation and experience. Albert lived from around 1200 to 1280, his life spanning most of the thirteenth century in a vocation that required him to ponder and comment upon the religious practice and doctrine of his time.6 It is always illuminating to consider the thoughts of a saint on theological questions: the saints were citizens of their times, influenced by the pattern of life and thought into which they were born but with a lived experience of the light of God found at the very heart of things. Albert’s understanding of Holy Communion for the laity was touched by the practice and legislation of the Middle Ages and by his own substantial Eucharistic piety.7 [End Page 214] Albert’s theological teaching emphasizes both the substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the role of the Eucharist as food for the people of God. In his teaching on the frequency of communion he explains the reasonableness of the received Church legislation (communion once a year, minimum) while presenting a theological vision that ultimately is in tension with the practice of infrequent communion. I. Theological Works The four most important works for studying the thought of Albert on frequency of communion straddle Albert’s time of active theological work. Two date from the beginning of his theological career, and two from the end. The early works are his De sacramentis and his Commentary on the Sentences.8 De sacramentis was written during the early 1240s during Albert’s time as a Master of Theology at the University of Paris. It is significant for its emphasis on the sacramental nature of the Eucharist as food.9 De sacramentis follows the general structure of theological inquiry in Lombard’s Sentences. It complements Albert’s Commentary on the Sentences, but is much more succinct.10 Albert’s Commentary on the Sentences was begun in Paris but finished at the end of the 1240s during his assignment at the Dominican house in Cologne.11 It contains his most detailed and thorough treatment of Eucharistic theology. Some of Albert’s language about modes of receiving the sacrament shifts between De sacramentis and the Sentences commentary. [End Page 215] The two other important works are the pair De mysterio missae and De corpore domini. These were written in the 1270s, near the end of Albert...

Eucharistische Praxis und eucharistische Frömmigkeit bei Origenes

In spite of his reserve with respect to explicit statements about liturgical rites, Origen’s vast oeuvre constitutes one of the most abundant sources for the history of Eucharistic practice and piety in the first three centuries. The Eucharist, which was celebrated on the Lord’s day and probably also on Friday, was presumably preceded by a liturgy of the Word that consisted of reading of Scripture, preaching, prayer, and kiss ; the “mass-type” of Eucharistic celebration appears already to have been established. Origen also mentions thanksgiving and an epiclesis as characteristic components of the Eucharistic Prayer, which by convention was to be directed through Jesus Christ to the Father, and was referred to as the “offering (prosphora)” ; the existence of further elements remains hypothetical. The Eucharistic piety of Origen, which is literally shaped by thanksgiving and praise, is strongly Christocentric : the celebration of the Eucharist is presented quite bluntly as celebrating Passover and the Last ...

Rereading Henry Suso and Eucharistic Theology in Fifteenth-Century England

This article contributes to our knowledge of the reception of Henry Suso’s work in England by comparing the treatment of Eucharistic theology in chapter six of The Seven Poyntes of Trewe Wisdom with a newly discovered version of that chapter in Cambridge, St John’s College MS G.25. Examination of the two versions reveals that MS G.25, unusually for this text, is not written in dialogue form; it also omits significant material from The Seven Poyntes, as well as including additional matter from Suso’s Latin text. It is argued that these differences, taken together, reveal the author’s anxiety about certain aspects of contemporary mainstream Eucharistic piety, specifically his concern that believers misunderstand the nature of the sacrament and focus too readily on the visible host, rather than upon the sacramental process which it signifies. The article also demonstrates the extent to which the text’s Eucharistic doctrine is compatible with that of John Wyclif, whilst remaining unimpeachably orthodox.

Music and the Wesleys (review)

and Wesleys. Edited by Nicholas Temperley and Stephen Banfield. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. [xviii, 274 p. ISBN 9780252035814 (hardcover), $80; ISBN 9780252077678 (paperback), $25.] examples, illustrations, appendices, bibliography, index. Three generations of helped shape musical and religious life in England. As composers, performers, and pioneers, they molded as a venue for musical excellence while promoting sacred as well as secular art music. As musical figures, however, remain obscure. Per - haps this is because they operated largely in opposition to their country's principal denomination, apart from its leading musical institutions, and outside of its capital city. In a compelling collection of essays entitled and Wesleys, editors Nicholas Temperley and Stephen Banfield reassert Wesleys' place within history. They draw together disparate essays in a vision of Wesleys' musical, religious, literary, intellectual, and even entrepreneurial pursuits and influence across two countries and as many centuries. In short, they guide an exploration of John, both Charleses and two Samuels. (They also introduce, thankfully, a means to distinguish among dramatis personae surnamed Wesley.) And while they wield an editorial hand that is at times heavy-a point to which I will return-their handiwork is a welcome contribution to modest yet persistent Wesley corpus. It is certain to benefit students and scholars interested in many dimensions of Wesley studies as well as wealth of first-rate and music-making outside of England's foremost religious and musical institutions. conference Music, Cultural History and Wesleys held at University of Bristol in 2007 prompted this book, though and is not, strictly speaking, its proceedings. According to Temperley and Banfield, the [book's] emphasis has shifted in direction of greater concentration on music (p. vii). As a result, five commissioned essays supplement eleven papers delivered at conference. Additionally, John Nightingale's Cata - logue of Compositions by Charles Wesley Younger is tucked away in an appendix, further expanding scope of volume as a reference tool. Of its sixteen chapters, first eight appear under heading Music and Methodism, and consider eldest generation of well-known Wesleys; that is, brothers John and Charles. two younger generations-Charles' sons (Charles younger and Samuel) and grandson (Samuel Sebastian)-occupy second half of volume, The Wesley Musicians. In spite of its title, Music and Methodism is oriented less toward per se than hymnology, print history, and developmental stages of Methodism. These were not inclined strongly toward music. Nevertheless, John advocated impassioned corporate singing: Sing lustily and with a good courage, he once wrote. Charles fueled his brother's injunction, supplying thousands of hymn texts. In and Hymns and Hymns and Sacred Poems: Two Strands of Wesleyan Hymn Collections, Robin A. Leaver considers hymnals produced by John and Charles. Of these, A Collection of Hymns for Use of People Called Methodists (1780) and A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Lord's Day (1784) were most influential. They were not used strictly as intended, however. Lord's Day hymns enjoyed extensive use Monday through Saturday. Such off-label use veiled their separate functions: Collection of Hymns for personal use and at public meetings and Hymns for Lord's Day within service. With this distinction restored, Leaver provides a fuller picture of as it emerged as an autonomous denomination from its birthplace within Church of England. Of early Wesleyan hymnals, Hymns on Lord's Supper (1745) is among best known. In essay Eucharistic Piety in American Methodist Hymnody (1786- 1889), Geoffrey C. …

Food, Fasting, and Itinerant Nuns

Spanish nuns who traveled to Mexico and Peru during the 17th and 18th centuries brought with them their pre-conceived notions on food and fasting. They firmly believed that they could keep up their prescribed regimen of fasting according to the strict Capuchin Rule. Their own descriptions of their travels, however, prove the contrary. Journeys that took them across the arid plains of the Iberian Peninsula, the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean and the towering peaks of the Andes, proved much more challenging than they had ever imagined. Little by little, itinerant nuns had to embrace the difficult rules of the road and accept the different foods placed in front of them. They also had to modify some of their spiritual regimes such as their devotion to Eucharistic piety. Based on archival research and first person narratives, this study will use the lens of liminality to explore food and fasting in the writings of these Spanish Capuchin nuns.

Philips's 1628 Paradisus and the triumph of the Eucharist

Peter Philips (1560/61–1628) was among the first English composers to embrace the musical style of the Italianate Baroque. His Paradisus sacris cantionibus consitus, printed during his final year at the Brussels court of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, is a large collection of accompanied monodies, duets and trios, a number of them lavishly ornamented. Some of the texts he sets in this book are drawn from the common stock of post‐Tridentine devotion, but others are lengthy eucharistic meditations, unusual and at times rather overwrought. Most of these latter texts can in fact be traced to a devotional book (Hebdomada eucharistica) published a decade earlier in Brussels by one of Philips's fellow English‐speaking exiles at the archducal court, the chaplain and theologian Richard Stanihurst. Philips's musical settings, dedicated to Albert and Isabella's almoner Francis de Rye, took shape in an intense atmosphere of Baroque eucharistic piety – in the company of works such as Rubens' formidable tapestries on the Triumph of the Eucharist, commissioned by Isabella herself, and other elaborate architectural and cultural projects. In this paper, I explore the context of the 1628 Paradisus, the court culture which incited a proudly English composer (as he identified himself on all his title pages) to identify so strongly with the European Counter‐Reformation. I also reconsider the place of Philips and his music in the community of English‐speaking Catholic expatriates.

Catholic Spirituality and Religious Identity in Interwar New Zealand

Four broad but overlapping areas of spirituality can be identified in Catholic life in New Zealand in the period between the two world wars: affective devotion to Christ and the saints; active social engagement, whether in the form of charity or the promotion of Christian values; Eucharistic piety, including the extra-liturgical cult of the Eucharist alongside increased reception of the Blessed Sacrament and greater participation in the liturgy; and the intensification of lay spirituality by imitating the religious life through third orders and retreats. Catholic spirituality was dominated by the clergy and based on international models, thereby promoting a distinct religious identity. Protestant antagonism towards Catholic spirituality was limited, however, and the Church's leaders sought to avoid religious conflict, seeing secular indifference, rather than aggressive Protestantism, as the real threat to Catholic religious commitment and as the primary justification for introducing new forms of spirituality.

:Secretaries of God: Women Prophets in Late Medieval and Early Modern England

Diane Watt sets aside the conventional hiatus between the medieval and early modern periods in her study of women's prophecy, following the female experience from medieval sainthood to radical Protestantism. The English women prophets and visionaries whose voices are recovered here all lived between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries and claimed, through the medium of trances and eucharistic piety, to speak for God. They include Margery Kempe and the medieval visionaries, Elizabeth Barton (the Holy Maid of Kent), the Reformation martyr Anne Askew and other godly women described in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and Lady Eleanor Davies as an example of a woman prophet of the Civil War. The strategies women devised to be heard and read are exposed, showing that through prophecy they were often able to intervene in the religious and political discourse of the their times: the role of God's secretary gave them the opportunity to act and speak autonomously and publicly.