Volume 35, Nr. 2a, June 2005 Richardton, ND 58652
A Program to Promote Scholarly Research
Among Monastics in Formation
Offered through the American Benedictine Academy
Purpose:
- To foster use of local archives in monastic communities
- To develop interest in local history and tradition
- To acquaint young monastics with the history of the community, the purposes and personalities of its founders, significant events, developments, and challenges in the community
- To encourage the collection of personal memoirs
- To stimulate interest in and study of monastic history
Project requirements:
The essay must be an historical or biographical study centered in the junior monastic's own monastery and utilizing archival material. The paper should be 2,000-2,500 words in length, typewritten or computer generated, double-spaced.
Prize:
The winner of the Junior Essay Competition will be awarded:
- A two-year membership in ABA
- A waiver of registration and hospitality fees for the August 2006 ABA convention
- A book of interest to monastics
How to participate:
Send an essay and the following information to
Br. Cyril Drnjevic, OSB
ABA Awards Chair
Mount Angel Abbey
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Phone: 503-845-3333
Email: brcyril@mountangelabbey.orgInformation to accompany essay:
- Name
- Community name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address
- Personal address (if different from above)
- Current status (pre-novitiate, novitiate, temporarily professed)
- Title of essay
All essays must be received by February 1, 2006. The winner will be announced by April 1, 2006.
The AMN has received numerous books in the last few months that deserve mention. The field of publishing has lately had much more interest in books on monastic themes and the variety of these continues to give evidence of that interest.
Cistercian Studies is a perennial provider of monastic resources and it has a new book on one of its favorite subjects, St. Bernard. Bernard's treatises On Baptism and the Office of Bishops (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Studies, 2004, ISBN 0-87907-567-8) are letter-treatises not translated for previous collections of his letters. Pauline Matarasso provides these in a smooth, well-constructed form, with Bernard's many scriptural and other references cited alongside the text.
Extensive introductory information is as long or longer than the letters themselves, with Martha Newman providing the commentary for the one on bishops. That treatise is typical of Bernard's colorful approach. He begins with comments on such things as the love of some bishops for their fancy regalia, but he focuses on the importance of their internal disposition, especially the primacy of humility.
Emero Stiegman's introduction to the treatise on baptism centers the letter in the theological debate that engendered it. He explains it as a debate among three persons: Bernard, Hugh of St. Victor, to whom he is writing, and an unknown theologian whose views are troubling Hugh. The debate is about whether one can be saved without the actual physical sacrament of baptism and Bernard's support of a broader interpretation leads, as usual with Bernard, to many other interesting musings.
* * * * * *
Aelred of Rievaulx: Pursuing Perfect Happiness (New York: Newman Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8091-4261-9) offers the scholarly analysis and insights of renowned medievalist John Sommerfeldt to the study of Aelred. The book begins with a summary of Aelred study, especially the interest in his notions of friendship. Sommerfeldt places those notions in the broader context of Aelred's overall appreciation of the inherent beauty and goodness of humanity. He shows how this basic premise forms and permeates Aelred's views on humility, love, friendship and contemplation. Every section leads to a sense of Aelred's own deep understanding and pursuit of happiness. Sommerfeldt goes to the heart of Aelred, one of the greatest of writers on love, to show how that "love of love" holds the wisdom to find true happiness.
* * * * * *
The wisdom of great teachers is the subject of several new books. Early Christianity is the subject of Oasis of Wisdom: The Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers by David G.R. Keller (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8146-3034-0). This book has the rare combination of being able to be a study text and also a spiritual work. The author describes the context in which the desert wisdom was born and shows its relevance to that time and place. Then he tackles the more difficult task of identifying how those ancient lives and some of their unusual practices have universal relevance. Patience, silence, praxis, humility and other virtues are explained in a way that makes the sayings of the desert speak more vividly to today's world. The truths of the spiritual life remain true, even as lifestyles and situations have changed over the centuries.
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To illustrate this, another book looks to the sayings and practices of contemporary monastics. Mark W. McGinnis gave a presentation at the 2002 convention of the American Benedictine Academy in which he used sketches and brief biographies of monastic elders from around the country. His work has now been published as The Wisdom of the Benedictine Elders: Thirty of America's Oldest Monks and Nuns Share Their Lives’ Greatest Lessons (New York: BlueBridge, 2005). The subtitle may be a bit presumptuous, since there are plenty more Benedictines of the same age or older than the thirty selected. It is important, too, to remember that they were selected. Any book that extols the wisdom of age needs to make clear that wisdom and age do not automatically occur together. It is equally true that there are many more wise elders who could have been just as worthy for inclusion in this book, so the wisdom of age does abound in monasteries.
The men and women who did make it into the book are a varied lot. Some have held leadership in their communities; others would consider their lives very "ordinary." They express their spirituality and their appreciation of their monastic vocation in many different ways but all show how a life of fidelity and holiness can nourish the person and inspire others. Some of the sketches of the subjects are less than flattering, some more cartoon-like, and they do not seem to contribute appreciably to the quality of the book, but perhaps they give a better sense of who these people are, for those who like such personal touches. A good photograph would have done them more justice.
* * * * * *
More voices of wisdom are contained in a book recommended to our readers by Sister Meg Funk. The book grew out of the discussions of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue group that she headed for many years. Transforming Suffering: Reflections on Finding Peace in Troubled Times (New York: Doubleday, 2003, ISBN 0-385-50782-8) was edited by Donald Mitchell and James Wiseman, OSB. It gathers thoughts on suffering by various people of faith, including the Dalai Lama, Pope John Paul II, Joseph Goldstein, Thubten Chodron, Thomas Keating and many others.
This is not a theological treatise on suffering or a psychological guide to its acceptance. It is a collection of short comments, the observations of those who have spent their lives trying to transform every event into an opportunity for holiness. The comments are divided by topics such as the meaning of the cross for Christian suffering, the practice of non-violence, the experiences of loss, pain and healing, and the acceptance of aging and death. This is a lectio collection like the teachings of the desert elders, but one that comes from many different landscapes and worldviews. As such, it reinforces the truth that those who lead exemplary lives have much in common regardless of their religion.
* * * * * *
For the more scholarly and curious student of monasticism or for the reference library, a monastic classic has finally made it into English translation: Dom Jean Mabillon's 1691Treatise on Monastic Studies (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004, ISBN 0-7618-2891-5). Mabillon was adamant in his defense of intellectual endeavors by monastics, pointing out that every person should have a love of learning and work constantly for intellectual development, even those who are strictly contemplative and not called to serve others academically or professionally. Love of learning is a recurrent phrase and theme in the text, and is meant sincerely by Mabillon.
His curriculum is massive, identifying required studies from patristics, catechism, canon law, literature, history, handwriting and more. It seems evident that more hours per day were expected to be spent in reading and study in the seventeenth century than today. Yet Mabillon is no ivory- tower intellectual. He stresses the importance of suiting all study to its audience. Those who are not as intellectually capable are not to be overburdened and those who learn must be able to communicate it to others in a way that will benefit the hearer. Such comments as these are quotable: "[Preaching should] be urged on no one who cannot do it to good purpose"; "A good catechism lesson or a simple explanation of the gospel will often do more good than learned sermons"; "Let us become as simple as need be to make ourselves understood."
This labor of Mabillon illustrates the love of learning that drove the great monastic scholar. It is obviously not a recipe for today's monastic formation, and includes many rather dense lists and Latin quotes which the translator has left intact. Mabillon's original list of disputed questions is also included and there is a vast bibliography of sources. It would certainly be a daunting course of study and, now having seen it in English, one can only be impressed by both the knowledge and the common sense advice of Mabillon.
For today's monastic teacher, there is Maria Lichtmann's The Teacher's Way: Teaching and the Contemplative Life (New York: Paulist, 2005, ISBN 0-8091-4303-8). The author is a college professor of philosophy and religion who has an obvious devotion to Benedictine spirituality. She bases the book in the concept of lectio divina and how sacred reading leads to prayer and transformation. The teacher, she claims, must not only be steeped in the subject matter, but must also "read" him/herself and "read" the students in order to really engage in the contemplative act of teaching, an act of true mutual listening.
The ladder of Guigo is part of the framework here, as is Benedictine hospitality, quotes from other spiritual writers and incidents from the author's personal experience. The book might be of interest not only to individual teachers but as a discussion starter or study text for faculties of Benedictine schools, education majors in Benedictine colleges, and anyone else who wants to place their own role as a teacher (professional or not) more concretely within a Benedictine context.
ABA 2004 Proceedings
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Offered through the American Benedictine Academy
All American Benedictine Academy members are invited to apply for this program. The grant provides funds to support projects that foster the mission of the ABA, "to cultivate, support and transmit the Benedictine heritage within contemporary culture." Grant support may be used for research, travel, or other modes of exploring and promoting the Benedictine heritage. It may also be used for travel expenses and registration fees for the purpose of presenting a scholarly paper on a monastic topic related to the Benedictine heritage at a scholarly convention. A total of $1150 is available to fund these annual grants.
Applicants must be members of the ABA. Applications will be selected on the basis of
Recipients of grants support must be willing to submit a report on the use of the grant and/or a brief summary of the topic of the scholarly paper to the ABA Board of Directors within a year from the completion of the project/presentation of the paper for which the grant was given.
Applications must be received by December 31, 2005. Recipients will be chosen by the ABA Awards Committee and approved by the ABA Board of Directors at their meeting in January, 2006. The awards will be announced immediately thereafter.
To apply for a grant please supply the following information:
Send completed grant applications to
Br. Cyril Drnjevic, OSB
Mount Angel Abbey
St. Benedict, OR 97373
Phone: 503-845-3333
Email: brcyril@mountangelabbey.org
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