In May 1555, a broadsheet was produced in Rome depicting the torture and execution in London and York of the Carthusians of the Charterhouses of London, Axeholme, Beauvale and Sheen during the reign of Henry VIII. This single-page martyrology provides the basis for an in-depth exploration of several interconnected artistic, scientific and scholarly communities active in Rome in 1555 which are identified as having being involved in its production. Their work and concerns, which reflect their time and intellectual environment, are deeply embedded in the broadsheet, especially those occupying the groups and individuals who came to be known as Spirituali and in particular those associated with Cardinal Reginald Pole who is shown to have played a key role in its production. Following an examination of the text and a discussion of the narrative intentions of its producers a systematic analysis is made of the images. This reveals that the structure, content and intention of what, at first sight, seems to be nothing more than a confessionally charged Catholic image of the English Carthusian martyrs, typical of the genre of propaganda produced during the Reformation, is, astonishingly, dominated by the most celebrated name of the Italian Renaissance, the artist Michelangelo Buonarotti. Not only are there direct borrowings from two works by Michelangelo which had just been completed in Rome, The Conversion of St Paul and The Crucifixion of St Peter in the Pauline Chapel but many other of his works are deliberately cited by the broadsheet's producers. Through the use of a variety of artistic, scientific and historical approaches, the author makes a compelling case for the reasons for Michelangelo's presence in the broadsheet and his influence on its design and production. The book not only demonstrates Michelangelo's close relationship with notable Catholic reformers, but shows him to have been at the heart of the English Counter Reformation at its inception. This detailed analysis of the broadsheet also throws fresh light on the Marian religious policy in England in 1555, the influence of Spain and the broader preoccupations of the Counter Reformation papacy, while at the same time, enriching our understanding of martyrology across the confessional divide of the Reformation.

Santa Maria di Firenze, an ancient, venerable Benedictine abbey (called the Badia) located in the heart of Florence, is the subject of Anne Leader s new book. In 1418, 17 Benedictine monks journeyed to Florence from Padua to save one of their order's oldest houses from ruin. Realizing that reformed spiritual practice alone would not save the Badia, Abbott Gomezio di Giovanni commissioned the creation of a new cloister, to be decorated with vivid and engaging frescoes designed to motivate its residents. Leader s richly illustrated, interdisciplinary study examines the Badia during this crucial period of reform and rebirth. It reveals the renovated Badia as integral to the spiritual, political, and social life of early Renaissance Florence, as well as to the broader program of expanding Benedictine Observance throughout Italy."

Lillch discusses all aspects of stained glass produced in France during the Gothic era. As well as analysing the iconography, style and hagiography of these major works of art, Lillich also considers glaziers, specific glazing techniques, grisaille and displaced panels. The papers study regional traditions, such as in Normandy, Aquitaine, Lorraine and Champagne, and the significant developments in stained glass during the late Capetian period.

Through the lens of sensorial experience, Erika Lauren Lindgren explores the spirituality of monastic women as reflected in their writings, liturgical texts, artwork, architecture, and archival documents. Specifically, she focuses on the Dominican nuns and lay-sisters of southern Germany in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, particularly the way in which these women controlled and interpreted their surroundings and incorporated them into their spiritual and devotional practices.

Lindgren divides the monastic environment into four areas: the spatial environment, in which she considers the physical as well as spiritual requirements of the monastic community and the use of precinct space; the visual environment, in which she looks at the function of visual material in daily spirituality and the meanings given to these images; the acoustical environment and the roles of silence and sound in communal and private devotional practices; and the textual environment, in which Lindgren addresses the intersection between the visual, the acoustical, and women's utilization of texts. Brilliantly argued and intellectually rich, Lindgren's study is a remarkable examination of the connections between the spirituality of monastic women and the physical and sensual environment of the medieval monastery.

This important study of key Anglican Benedictine Communities in the first half of the 20th century provides a vital record of how the Anglican Communion dealt with an issue that was as divisive in its day as today's disputes over sexuality and women bishops, and explores the origins of the influential Anglican Papalism movement. It was the heyday of Anglo-Catholicism in the Church of England. Religious life was flourishing for the first time since the Reformation. The first shock came when the Abbot of Caldey, a flamboyant character noted for luxurious tastes, and his monks went over to Rome. Nashdom - the great Benedictine community to which Gregory Dix belonged and, in many ways, the ultimate expression of Anglo-Catholicism - threatened to do likewise over the crisis of the Church of South India where the very idea of priestly ordination and identity was being challenged. Thanks to Archbishop William Temple the crisis was averted, the monks of Nashdom stayed and the scene was set for Anglican Papalism to enter the stage. PETA DUNSTAN lectures in Modern Church History at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, and is editor of Anglican Religious Life, the directory of Anglican religious communities worldwide.

Praised in The Atlantic Monthly as an "engrossing narrative," Nuns tells the fascinating stories of the women who have lived in religious communities during some of the most tumultuous years in European history. Drawing particularly on the nuns' own words, Silvia Evangelisti reveals their ideals and achievements, frustrations and failures, and their attempts to reach out to the society around them. She explores how they came to the cloister, how they responded to monastic discipline, and how they pursued their spiritual, intellectual, and missionary activities. Indeed, nuns often found a way to contribute to their communities by creating charities and schools, while a few exceptional women made names for themselves for their artistic talents or for establishing new convents. This book features the individual stories of some of the most outstanding historical figures, including Teresa of Avila, who set up over seventeen new convents. Evangelisti shows how these women were able to overcome some of the restrictions placed on women in their societies at large. In doing so, she provides a fascinating and rarely seen glimpse into their intriguing world.

Quakerism has long fascinated historians and religious scholars, and Richard Allen's examination of the community's rise and fall in Wales holds a wealth of new insights. The prominent role played by women, the resilience of Quakers in the face of a variety of forms of official persecution, the ways that education, careers, and marriage were determined by a strict code of conduct, and the reasons for Quakerism's decline all come under consideration here. As the first scholarly analysis of Welsh Quakers, this book represents an important new contribution to our knowledge of the movement.

In the 1960s, a number of Catholic women religious in the United States abandoned traditional apostolic works to experiment with new and often unprecedented forms of service among non-Catholics. Amy Koehlinger explores the phenomenon of the "new nun" through close examination of one of its most visible forms--the experience of white sisters working in African-American communities. In a complex network of programs and activities Koehlinger describes as the "racial apostolate," sisters taught at African-American colleges in the South, held racial sensitivity sessions in integrating neighborhoods, and created programs for children of color in public housing projects.

Engaging with issues of race and justice allowed the sisters to see themselves, their vocation, and the Church in dramatically different terms. In this book, Koehlinger captures the confusion and frustration, as well as the exuberance and delight, they experienced in their new Christian mission. Their increasing autonomy and frequent critiques of institutional misogyny shaped reforms within their institute and sharpened a post-Vatican II crisis of authority.

From the Selma march to Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project, Amy Koehlinger illuminates the transformative nature of the nexus of race, religion, and gender in American society.

As the only daughter of Blanche of Castile, one of France's most powerful queens, and as the sister of the Capetian saint Louis IX, Isabelle of France (1225-1270) was situated at the nexus of sanctity and power during a significant era of French culture and medieval history. In this ground-breaking examination of Isabelle's career, Sean Field uses a wealth of previously unstudied material to address significant issues in medieval religious history, including the possibilities for women's religious authority, the creation and impact of royal sanctity, and the relationship between men and women within the mendicant orders. Field reinterprets Isabelle's career as a Capetian princess. Isabelle was remarkable for choosing a life of holy virginity and for founding and co-authoring a rule for the Franciscan abbey of Longchamp. Isabelle did not become a nun there, but remained a powerful lay patron, living in a modest residence on the abbey grounds. Field maintains that Isabelle was a key actor in creating the aura of sanctity that surrounded the French royal family in the thirteenth century, underscoring the link between the growth of Capetian prestige and power and the idea of a divinely ordained, virtuous, and holy royal family. Her contemporary reputation for sanctity emerges from a careful analysis of the Life of Isabelle of France written by the third abbess of Longchamp, Agnes of Harcourt, and from papal bulls, letters, and other contemporary sources that have only recently come to light. Field also argues that Isabelle had a profound effect on the institutional history of Franciscan women. By remaining outside the official Franciscan and church hierarchies, Isabelle maintained an ambiguous position that allowed her to embrace Franciscan humility while retaining royal influence. Her new order of Sorores minores was eagerly adopted by a number of communities, and her rule for the order eventually spread from France to England, Italy, and Spain. An important study of a medieval woman's agency and power, Isabelle of France explores the life of a remarkable figure in French and Franciscan history.

Winner, 2004 Dale W. Brown Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies

Winner, 2005 Outstanding Publication, Communal Studies Association

Co-published with the Pennsylvania German Society/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

The Ephrata Cloister was a community of radical Pietists founded by Georg Conrad Beissel (1691-1768), a charismatic mystic who had been a journeyman baker in Europe. In 1720 he and a few companions sought a new life in William Penn's land of religious freedom, eventually settling on the banks of the Cocalico Creek in what is now Lancaster County. They called their community "Ephrata," after the Hebrew name for the area around Bethlehem. Voices of the Turtledoves is a fascinating look at the sacred world that flourished at Ephrata.

In Voices of the Turtledoves, Jeff Bach is the first to draw extensively on Ephrata's manuscript resources and on recent archaeological investigations to present an overarching look at the community. He concludes that the key to understanding all the various aspects of life at Ephrata--its architecture, manuscript art, and social organization--is the religious thought of Beissel and his co-leaders.

Controversy surrounding the beatification and canonization of Edith Stein, a Catholic convert of Jewish heritage who was murdered at Auschwitz, has eclipsed scholarly and public attention to Stein's extraordinary development as a philosopher. She succeeded in extending phenomenological inquiry into the nature of person, community, and state; in analyzing the truth claims of empathic knowledge; in probing the foundations of pedagogy; and in offering a synthesis of medieval philosophy and phenomenology. Only the second woman in German history to be awarded a Ph.D. in philosophy, Stein ranks among the leading early-twentieth-century European intellectuals. She also made lasting contributions, both intellectual and practical, to women's education, freedom, and equality in Germany. The sixteen essays in this collection, written by scholars from the United States and Europe, critically examine her legacy. This volume represents the first comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis in English of Stein's life and philosophical writings. The book is divided into three sections-biographical explorations, Stein's feminist theory and pedagogy, and her creative philosophical contributions. The essays in this volume also situate Stein's life and thought in the complex historical context of early-twentieth-century Germany.

"From Monastery to Hospital "traces the origin of the late Roman hospital to the earliest groups of Christian monastics. Often characterized as holy men and miracle-workers who transformed late antique spirituality, monks held an equally significant impact on the development of medicine in Late Antiquity. Andrew Crislip illuminates the innovative approaches to health care within the earliest monasteries that provided the model for the greatest medical achievement of Late Antiquity: the hospital.

"From Monastery to Hospital "draws on some of the most vibrant areas of scholarship of the ancient world, including asceticism, the study of the body, history of the family, and the history of medicine. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of early Christianity, Roman History, the history of medicine, and Catholic, Coptic, and Eastern Orthodox history and theology. It will also be of interest to the broader field of history of Christianity, especially with its connections to charitable traditions in the church through the modern period.

Andrew Crislip is Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Hawaii.

In "Jesus in Our Wombs", Rebecca J. Lester takes us behind the walls of a Roman Catholic convent in central Mexico to explore the lives, training, and experiences of a group of postulants - young women in the first stage of religious training as nuns. Lester, who conducted eighteen months of fieldwork in the convent, provides a rich ethnography of these young women's journeys as they wrestle with doubts, fears, ambitions, and setbacks in their struggle to follow what they believe to be the will of God. Gracefully written, finely textured, and theoretically rigorous, this book considers how these aspiring nuns learn to experience God by cultivating an altered experience of their own female bodies, a transformation they view as a political stance against modernity. Lester explains that the Postulants work toward what they see as an 'authentic' femininity - one that has been eclipsed by the values of modern society. The outcome of this process has political as well as personal consequences. The Sisters learn to understand their very intimate experiences of 'the Call' - and their choices in answering it - as politically relevant declarations of self. Readers become intimately acquainted with the personalities, family backgrounds, friendships, and aspirations of the Postulants as Lester relates the practices and experiences of their daily lives. Combining compassionate, engaged ethnography with an incisive and provocative theoretical analysis of embodied selves, "Jesus in Our Wombs" delivers a profound analysis of what Lester calls the convent's 'technology of embodiment' on multiple levels - from the phenomenological to the political.

Catherine McAuley (1778-1841) founded the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831. Her letters are essential primary sources for readers interested in the life and works of this remarkable Irish churchwoman and in women's history and Irish church history more broadly. Whether McAuley is writing to family members, bishops, her solicitor, priests, lay coworkers, or Sisters of Mercy in Ireland and England, her letters reveal striking details about the church and society of her day as well as about her own spiritual convictions and unstinting personal service to poor, sick, homeless, or uneducated adults and children. The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley, 1818-1841, is a new, fully documented edition of more than 320 surviving letters written by, to, or about McAuley during her lifetime. Drawn from archives worldwide and arranged chronologically, the letters are carefully transcribed and generously annotated, with brief narratives introducing each group. In her letters as well as in those of the other correspondents, one sees a delightfully human, affectionate woman; a compassionate, persistent servant of the poor and neglected; an astute businesswoman; and an unpretentious, humorous friend. This edition of McAuley's correspondence is readily accessible to general readers and demonstrates not only her important role in the founding and amazing spread of the Mercy congregation in her lifetime (now numbering more than 10,000 members globally), but also her personal contributions to the pastoral development of the church in Ireland and England. Scholars and other readers will gain fresh insights into many prominent ecclesial leaders in the years 1828-1841, including Daniel Murray, archbishop of Dublin, and Thomas Griffiths, vicar apostolic of the London District. They will also find in these engaging letters one woman's grass-roots experience of certain social, economic, and ecclesiastical arrangements of her time and place. ABOUT THE EDITOR: Mary C. Sullivan, R.S.M., is Professor Emeritus of Language and Literature, and Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts, at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the author of numerous works, including Catherine McAuley and the Tradition of Mercy. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK: ""All those letters whose whereabouts are known have recently been tracked down, examined, verified and scrupulously edited. The Correspondence of Catherine McAuley, 1818-1841 is a work of impeccable and exhaustive scholarship. . . . This book is a very model of what such collections should be, and it could hardly have had a better editor than Mary C. Sullivan, herself a Sister of Mercy since 1950 and a distinguished academic for decades. . . . This is not the first collection of Mother McAuley's letters, but it is surely the most complete and meticulously edited.""--John W. Donohue, America ""This monograph is a magnum opus. Edited by an indefatigable scholar, it is the most complete, accurate compendium of the correspondence of Catherine McAuley. . . . This expanded treasure is, however, dwarfed by another uniquely Sullivan contribution. Not only does each of the more than three hundred entries reflect a precise rendition of documents, but Sullivan has also supplemented each with meticulously researched clarifications of the texts. This bonus provides new historical information and identifies linguistic nuances that help the reader comprehend the content and the context of Catherine's life and accomplishments. . . . For its scholarly approach as well as for what it reveals about the impact of one great Irish woman, and religious women in general, Sullivan's latest monograph deserves our careful study.""--Dolores Liptak, RSM, American Catholic Studies ""Mary C. Sullivan RSM has carefully edited and thoroughly annotated these letters. . . . Others besides Mercy sisters can be

St Benedict's Rule is a set of guidelines that has governed Christian monastic life since the 6th century. Those who live according to the Rule regard it as the bedrock of their lives and feel great affection for its author. In this book four prominent Buddhist scholars turn their attention to the Rule. Through personal anecdotes, lively debate and thoughtful comparison, they reveal how the wisdom of each tradition can revitalise the other and how their own spiritual practices have been enriched through familiarity with the Rule. Their insights are written not only for Buddhists and Christians but for anyone interested in the ancient discipline of monasticism and what it might offer a materially glutted and spiritually famished culture. This book also includes a new translation of the Rule by the former Abbot of Ampleforth, Patrick Barry.>

Dr. McNally critically examines well over 150 years of Oblate and general Catholic history in Canada's western-most province with special emphasis on the Native people and Euro-Canadian settlers. It is the first survey history of the Catholic Church in British Columbia.

In this book the renowned medievalist G.R. Evans provides a concise introduction to St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a figure of towering importance on the twelfth-century monastic and theological scene. After a brief overview of Bernard's life, Evans focuses on a few major themes in his work, including his theology of spirituality and his theology of the political life of the Church. The only available introduction to Bernard's life and thought, this latest addition to the Great Medieval Thinkers series will appeal to a wide audience of students and scholars of history and theology.

This is a study of the life, monastic writings and spiritual theology of John Cassian (c.365-430). Cassian's writings were the bridge between eastern monasticism and the developing Latin monasticism of Southern Gaul, and exerted a major influence on the Rule of Benedict and the theology of Gregory the Great.

Inspiring moments in Franciscan life where everything is transformed.

This book tells the stories of 40 hard working men and women from all walks of life who became saints by doing small things in a great way for the love of God. The author, Brother Tom-Nicholas, is a lay brother in the Franciscan th ird order and serves as liturgical assistant at St. James' Episcopal church in South Pasadena, California. He always manages to bring home the modern message of each saint in a funny yet inspirational way. From ex-lawyers and soldiers, to housewives, he rbalists, and hair-dressers, each special story has something to make you smile, maybe make you laugh, and always make you think about the simple things we can all do to make a difference. If you-'re looking for the patron saint of television, a monthly meditation series, or just a special book you can share with those you love, Calling All Saints is for you.

A Monk's Confession is the first completely new English translation of Guibert of Nogent's remarkable memoirs in over seventy years. Written around the year 1115, they offer an unparalleled look at the life of a monk in the Middle Ages. Guibert, who lived his entire life in northern France, called these memoirs his book of monodiae, or solitary songs. Many scholars consider them the first Latin autobiography in the West after Augustine's Confessions.

Readers will be stirred and surprised by Guibert's intense preoccupation with the sinfulness of his soul, his visions of demons and necromancy, and his frank struggle to come to terms with his sexuality. But Guibert is also a valuable witness to his age. In addition to his personal history, his memoirs give a brief chronicle of the abbey of Nogent--where he served as abbot for some twenty years--and a vivid account of the bloody uprising of the Laon Commune in 1112. His observations give precious insight into education, monastic life, and the beginnings of the great medieval towns.

Paul J. Archambault's translation successfully renders Guibert's Latin--at times stylish, at times rustic--into lively, modern English. He consulted Edmond-Rene Labande's authoritative 1981 Latin edition with French translation. He provides a complete introduction and annotation that help situate Guibert within the history and literature of the Middle Ages while permitting readers to judge for themselves how to interpret this fascinating voice from the past.

Burton-Christie shows how scripture was a primary source of influence on the founders of early Christian monasticism in fourth-century Egypt, and how it contributed to its original and influential spirituality.

The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis has been called `the greatest of all medieval chronicles'. Written in Normandy between 1114 and 1141, it is a detailed history of the Norman people and their conquests, full of vivid, often penetrating portraits of the lives and characters of kings and queens, lords and bishops, simple knights, and humble villagers. The chronicle gives a unique, authentic picture of feudal society during a period of rapid change in church and state which saw the emergence of the Anglo-Norman realm, the spread of new forms of monasticism, and the launching of the Crusades. Published in 1968, volume II of Marjorie Chibnall's six-volume edition of the Ecclesiastical History is now available for the first time in paperback. `a superbly edited Latin text and a unique English translation of the work of a major historian' American Historical Review `Mrs Chibnall is giving us ... her edition of a classical medieval text which will itself become a classic of medieval scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement

The book presents a Cistersian Experience in Medieval Denmark.