This exploration of Benedictine spirituality provides the perfect introduction to Saint Bendict and his Rule. Each chapter begins with the teaching of Benedict himself, understood in historical and cultural context. Columba Stewart then traces the way communities have interpreted and practiced Benedict's teaching since he first wrote his Rule in the sixth century.

A translation of the biography written by Pope Gregory the Great, this official biography is also known as the Second Book of Dialogues. It is the earliest and thus the most valuable biography of St. Benedict.

When St. Benedict wrote his little rule for beginners in the fifth century, he could not have known it would shape the lives of religious men and women for more than fifteen hundred years. Offering instruction on prayer and community life, Benedict's Rule espouses the values of humility, prayer, and hospitality that have marked the lives of Benedictines throughout the ages. Benedictines are those persons who commit themselves to the Rule of Benedict, and have been popes and widows, scholars and mystics and lay people from many religious traditions, including Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans. They have lived in monasteries and ashrams, in busy urban centers, and in desert hermitages. Dedicated to God and the practices of the Liturgy of the Hours and monastic life, Benedictines have made significant contributions to chant, theology, and the preservation of spiritual works of literature and scholarship. Represented here is the work of major Benedictine figures throughout the ages, beginning with Pope Gregory's account of the life of Benedict and arriving at recent statements by the Conference of Benedictine Prioresses on conflict in the world. Along with the Rule, the writing of these Benedictines remains as relevant today as in any age. Laura Swan, OSB, writer and spiritual director, holds graduate degrees in theology and spirituality. She is a member and former prioress of Saint Placid Priory in Lacey, Washington, and is the author of Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today (Christian Classics, 2005).

You want insights for living? Look to people whose understandings have been practiced for fifteen hundred years. Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica, his twin sister, established a flexible pattern that has adopted, adapted, challenged—and outlived—myriad cultures. Their sons and daughters today, who devote their time and talents to the “school for the Lord’s service” launched by the Rule of Benedict, demonstrate a whole range of options that are accessible to anyone. It is a mistake to think that “forsaking the world” is the Benedictine option. Options (plural) are, instead, “for the sake of the world.”

"Presents a pictorial history of the community in Covington and Villa Hills, the schools and hospitals where the sisters worked, and the familiar faces of those who were a part of it all"--Page 4 of cover.

Thomas Merton's two series of Pre-Benedictine Monasticism conferences form both a supplement and a sequel to Cassian and the Fathers, the first volume of Merton's conferences for novices to be published in the Monastic Wisdom series. Part One not only includes fresh insights on such leaders of early monasticism as Anthony, Pachomius, Basil, and Cassian, but also considers long overlooked key figures like Martin of Tours, Shenoute of Atripe, Melania the Younger, and the pilgrim nun Egeria. In Part Two, Merton, writing at a time when little attention was generally given to these significant but neglected sources, extends his investigations of early monastic life to the Syriac tradition. These conferences, or lectures, edited from Merton's own typescripts, make available his keen observations on the earliest phases of Christian monasticism, and also provide important background material for a number of his essays, among them "From Pilgrimage to Crusade" and "Rain and the Rhinoceros".

Publisher description: In this book the monks of St. Meinrad recount the tradition of Catholic prayer. In the early chapters they explore prayer chronologically, from Old Testament psalms, New Testament models, and early church theologies, through the period of the Counter-Reformation. The central chapters look at prayer in the communal contexts of the Mass, the Liturgical Year, and the Liturgy of the Hours. Final chapters shed more light on particular topics that deepen our understanding of the Catholic imagination and the place of prayer in the lives of the faithful.

This field-tested guidebook presents Benedictine spirituality and monastic spiritual practices as a source of wisdom and practical guidance for Christian formation today.

The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality is a collection of essays by Camaldolese monks, nuns, and oblates. After an introduction by Michael Downey and an overview chapter on Camaldolese Benedictine history and spirituality, three chapters center on the Benedictine aspects of spirituality, such as liturgy, lectio divina, and Word/Wisdom of God. The book focuses on Camaldolese sources, eremitical/cenobitical dialectic, and solitude, followed by chapters on Camaldolese ecumenical and interreligious involvement, as well as oblate spirituality. The concluding chapter comments on Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality in a post-Vatican II context.