Stephanie A. Mann's Blog, page 271

Constable's "Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows"--"Dangers Past"?

Richard Cork writes about John Constable's 1829 painting of "Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows" in this weekend's The Wall Street Journal:

Widely admired by John Constable's friends as his finest painting, "Salisbury Cathedral From the Meadows" has now been saved for the U.K., bought from the children of the late Barclays Bank director Lord Ashton of Hyde. The price with tax concessions amounts to £23.1 million ($35.5 million), and the rescue package includes £15.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This dramatic canvas, now on view at Tate Britain, will travel among several major museums across the U.K.

Unlike Constable's spirited little oil sketches, the Salisbury Cathedral painting is a large, carefully designed and vigorously handled canvas he worked on for several years. When exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1831, it was accompanied by a quotation from James Thomson's poem "Summer," which refers to a "danger past" before describing how "a glittering robe of joy…invests the fields and nature smiles revived." Yet the painting is far from joyful; it is one of Constable's most turbulent images. . . .

Devoted to the Anglican Church, Constable was worried about its future. So Salisbury Cathedral is not allowed to dominate this painting in a smug, triumphant way. The largest form confronting us here is the ancient tree on the left, and it seems shaken by the impact of the storm. It may even be in danger of falling into the impenetrable darkness beyond, where a small church tower and houses look threatened by the black sky.

No wonder the dog isolated in the muddy foreground stares back at this tree. It must be wondering where the storm will strike next. Lightning flashes to the left of the cathedral spire, and the man in the wooden cart looks hunched, as if bracing himself for another apocalyptic downpour. The three horses pulling his cart through the water appear burdened by their task. Directly behind the cart, a tiny cottage is being smothered by a tangle of foliage growing over its vulnerable white wall and orange roof. As for the withered stump of a willow on the far right, it is perilously close to the water's edge.

And what were the dangers faced by the Anglican Church in 1829, that Constable should depict such a great Gothic cathedral under a cloud? Catholic Emancipation, of course. Compare the 1829 image of the cathedral (at the WSJ site) to this 1825 view, in which the cathedral is much more substantial (even though the cows in the foreground are a little distracting):

Source: Wikipedia commons This painting of "Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds", features the current Bishop of Salisbury, John Fisher and his wife on the left--the bishop commissioned the painting and then requested a copy with a brighter sky behind the cathedral.

A Tudor Biographer Reviewing Another Tudor Biographer's Book

Linda Porter and Anna Whitelock wrote biographies of Mary I, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon's daughter and first Queen Regnant of England. Now, in the current issue of the Literary Review : Porter reviews Whitelock's new book about Elizabeth's Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen's Court :

What Whitelock gives us is a new account of Elizabeth's reign, seen largely from the queen's personal perspective. It is a memorable portrait, though not one that unquestioning admirers of the Virgin Queen may find palatable. The Elizabeth who emerges from these pages is a thoroughly unpleasant woman when stripped of her undoubted statecraft. She was endlessly demanding, vacillating, self-absorbed, vain and occasionally capable of cruelty rivalling that of her father, Henry VIII. Her treatment of the women of her household does not make pleasant reading. To enter her service was, effectively, to give up your own life in order to dance attendance and cater to her every whim. Most of her women were married, but their own lives and families were always subordinated to the needs of the queen. If they became pregnant, they remained at court until shortly before their babies were due and were seldom allowed to stay away for more than a month after the birth. Ladies who married secretly or became pregnant out of wedlock felt, like poor Katherine Grey, the full force of the monarch's wrath. Their treatment grew worse with the passing years, as age withered the toothless and bald queen, despite the best efforts of her ladies to present her to the world as the red-headed vision of perfection she had been in her twenties. Even her memory began to play tricks with her after the Earl of Essex's execution. Sic transit Gloriana.

Of course, Elizabeth was not ultimately the brute her father had been. Acknowledgement of her devoted women's sufferings may often have been belated, but she could be tender and concerned for their recovery. The deaths of Kat Ashley and Blanche Parry, who had been with her since infancy, struck her hard. And Whitelock provides some nice details that allow us to see a more human side of Elizabeth. She was afraid of the dark and suffered from insomnia. Mornings were not her best time, but the whole process of dressing her and making her up provided her ladies with an intimacy simply not afforded to her male councillors. These women really did know everything about her bodily functions, dealing with such things as the lengths of linen used as sanitary towels and the special belt that held them in place. That such accessories existed at all appears to give the lie to the suspicion that Elizabeth never menstruated. It was not a topic her women would ever have talked of openly, and they, like Elizabeth, took such secrets with them to the grave.

It was this proximity to the queen and the unrivalled access it brought, rather than any financial reward, that made what to us seems like a life of self-sacrifice so attractive to high-born ladies. But did intimacy truly carry influence? Elizabeth actually reduced the size of the Privy Chamber when she became queen and made it very clear that her women were not to interfere in politics or have any political role. This did not stop everyone, from their husbands and suitors to foreign ambassadors, courting them, in the hope that they would be a means of gaining the queen's favour. The advancement of one's own family was everything in 16th-century England and the women of her bedchamber, who shared her life and slept beside her, forfeited much in pursuit of this wider goal. As Anna Whitelock notes, Mary Sidney left the court feeling aggrieved and neglected. She lost her looks and three small daughters when in Elizabeth's service, at the same trying to manage the family estates at Penshurst Place in Kent while her husband served the Crown in Wales and Ireland. It was a high price to pay for being one of Elizabeth's bedfellows.

Linda Porter's next book, Crown of Thistles: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary Queen of Scots will be in print in August--will Anna Whitelock review it?

There Be Wales on EWTN Next Week!

Here's some exciting news, received in the weekly Wings email from EWTN: a three part special on Catholicism in Wales!

When speaking of Catholic repression and persecution, Wales is not always a country that comes to mind – yet Catholics in Wales endured repression and persecution from the time of the Roman Empire through the time of Henry VIII and the Protestant Reformation. Fortunately, their faith remained strong. How is that possible – and what can we, as 21st Century Catholics, learn from them?

To find out, tune in to EWTN's original three-part documentary mini-series "Wales – The Golden Threat of Faith." (Airs 3 a.m. ET, 6:30 p.m. ET, and 11 p.m. ET, Monday through Wednesday, June 10-12.)

Filmed on location, Episode One of this beautifully filmed documentary takes you from Roman times to the Age of Saints. Watch as the Romans make a concerted effort to rid British tribes of the druids and see how Christians managed to convert both sides. Although these saints succeeded in making Britain a Christian kingdom, they would face another challenge after the Romans departed and a new wave of pagan barbarians attacked British shores. But even as these pagans pushed the British to the western fringes of their country, Catholic Celtic saints kept the faith alive by travelling the western seas, evangelizing as they went.

Episode Two takes you from the Age of the Saints to the Reformation, a thousand-year period which might be called a Golden Age for the faith in Wales. Despite many invasions by the Normans and the English, this was an age of monks, hermits, holy wells, gloriously illuminated Bibles and beautifully painted churches – as well as a population that placed the local church at the center of their lives. The beautiful Cistercian abbeys were the economic centerpieces of the country, providing care for the sick, agricultural knowledge, and a place for the people to market their goods. You'll also see that the Cistercians were also great keepers and encouragers of Welsh culture, especially literature.

The final episode takes viewers from the Reformation – with King Henry VIII's brutal oppression of the Church and the Catholic faithful – to the present day. Among other things, Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries, which reduced the Welsh to penury. Fortunately, many Catholics were protected by Catholic nobility, especially the Earl of Worcester. In the two centuries that followed, Wales, like most countries, would be affected by the many onslaughts of modernity. But today, Welsh Catholics can once again practice their faith as openly – venerating relics by saints such as their own St. Winefride – just as the faithful did during the Age of Saints.

See and share photos of this gorgeous documentary on EWTN's Pinterest page at www.pinterest.com/ewtn . Look for our "This Week at EWTN" board!

If you don't have EWTN among your cable choices, you could watch on-line here. I am looking forward to this series. (Image: Tintern Abbey)

The Norbertines in England, Pre and Post Dissolution

June 6 is the memorial of St. Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstratiensian Order also called--what a relief--the Norbertines. The Norbertines were Augustinian Canons and established monastic communities in England starting in the 12th century. Eventually, there were 48 Norbertine houses in Britain. Newhouse was the first monastery, founded in 1183. This book by Joseph A. Gribbon, recounts the history of the order in England during the late medieval era up to the suppression of the monasteries.

Since 1872, the Norbertines have re-established houses in England and this page provides a list of all the houses that Henry VIII had suppressed, with links to details.

According to this site:

Only 22 years after the foundation of the Order in 1121, the White Canons came to England to establish the first Premonstratensian Ab­bey at Newhouse, in Lincolnshire. The founder was Peter of Goxhill. Between 1143 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, our Order in England firmly established itself as part of English monastic and parochial life. Some 33 Abbeys and Priories are recorded during this period and then, as now, the main occupation of the Norbertine Canons was prayer and Apostolate in the parishes which depended on the Canons for their pastors.

Many other functions were fulfilled by our pre-Reformation Fathers. In 1200, the Abbot of Torre (Devon) was appointed King John's representative at the Papal Curia. In 1207 the Abbot of St. Radegmund (Kent) was sent as royal ambassador to Count William of Holland. Henry IV used the services of the Abbot of Alnwick (Northumberland) to negotiate with the Scottish Earl of March in 1400. The Abbot of Tichfield (Hampshire) had responsibilities for the building of Porchester Castle. England's Treasurer in 1264 was a Norbertine Prior, while a Brother Thomas was a trusted advisor to Henry III.

Many of the early Norbertines attained distinction in intellectual and ecclesiastical fields. Many of the fifteenth and sixteenth century abbots held law degrees from either Oxford or Cambridge. Abbot Makerell, took degrees at both Cambridge and Frieburg and was appointed suffragan bishop in the dioceses of York and Lincoln. Fr. Thomas Wygenhall, of the Abbey of West Dereham wrote treatises on law and moral theology. "Richard the Premonstratensian" wrote a number of theological works; while Adam the Scot, born some time in the 12th century and known to have been a member of the community at Dryburgh was ren­owned both as a preacher and a writer not only in England but also in France.

But by far the most important work of the Order before the Reformation was to be found in the parishes. In the fourteenth century the Norbertine Canons had some 150 parishes in England. The Order's contribution to the life of the Church in England is witnessed to by the number of priests who were sent to work in diocesan parishes without, however, losing contact with the Abbey or Priory to which the belonged. These close links with the parochial apostolate would be a characteristic of the Order when it returned to England in 1872 after the centuries of Post-Reformation exile. . . .

The return of the White Canons to England is the responsibility of two of the great abbeys of our Order; the abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium and the abbey of Frigolet in France.

At the request of local Catholics the abbot of Tongerlo dispatched Fr. Martin Geudens to Crowle in Lincolnshire in 1872. This mission soon grew and attracted the first English vocations to the Norbertine Order since the Reformation. The Tongerlo canons established parishes at Spalding (1875), Stainforth (1931), Moorends (1937) and Holbeach (1956). During the Chapter of Reform more emphasis was put on community rather than parochial life and so these parishes are today administered by the secular clergy. In 1889 Norbertines first came to Manchester where they lived and worked at Corpus Christi in Miles Platting. It was there that our present canonry became an independent priory in 2004. Corpus Christi Basilica was closed in 2007 and the Canons moved to St. Chad’s Church in the Cheetham area of Manchester. The community transferred to Chelmsford in 2008.

The Canons of Frigolet had first arrived on the shores of England on February 1st 1882 and were given a home in Storrington, Sussex through the benefaction of the Duke of Norfolk. In 1952 the priory of Storrington was transferred to the control of the Abbey of Tongerlo and became an independent priory of the Order in 1962. These same exiled canons of Frigolet established houses and parishes at Farnborough (now a Benedictine abbey) in 1887, Weston 1888-92, Ambleside (now the diocesan church Mater Amabilis) in 1890 and Bedworth in 1892. Storrington happily remains an active Norbertine house to this day.

The order does honor English martyrs from the era of the Dissolution, including Matthew Thomas Mackerel who was executed on March 29, 1537.

Preview of a Coming Event

  I'll update you when I know for certain in which issue of StAR it will appear (there is a plan!), but I have had an article about Pope Benedict XVI and his legacy in Catholic England accepted for publication in the St. Austin Review, published by Joseph Pearce! By the way, "The St. Austin Review is the premier international journal of Catholic culture, literature, and ideas"--and this is my first submission to them. Watch this space for more details! See the archives of this journal here and the current issue here (the table of contents and a sample article from each issue).

June 6 is the memorial of St. Norbert of Xanten, founder ...

June 6 is the memorial of St. Norbert of Xanten, founder of the Premonstratiensian Order also called--what a relief--the Norbertines. The Norbertines were Augustinian Canons and established monastic communities in England starting in the 12th century. Eventually, there were 48 Norbertine houses in Britain. Newhouse was the first monastery, founded in 1183. This book by Joseph A. Gribbon, recounts the history of the order in England during the late medieval era up to the suppression of the monasteries.

Since 1872, the Norbertines have re-established houses in England and this page provides a list of all the houses that Henry VIII had suppressed, with links to details.

According to this site:

Only 22 years after the foundation of the Order in 1121, the White Canons came to England to establish the first Premonstratensian Ab­bey at Newhouse, in Lincolnshire. The founder was Peter of Goxhill. Between 1143 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, our Order in England firmly established itself as part of English monastic and parochial life. Some 33 Abbeys and Priories are recorded during this period and then, as now, the main occupation of the Norbertine Canons was prayer and Apostolate in the parishes which depended on the Canons for their pastors.

Many other functions were fulfilled by our pre-Reformation Fathers. In 1200, the Abbot of Torre (Devon) was appointed King John's representative at the Papal Curia. In 1207 the Abbot of St. Radegmund (Kent) was sent as royal ambassador to Count William of Holland. Henry IV used the services of the Abbot of Alnwick (Northumberland) to negotiate with the Scottish Earl of March in 1400. The Abbot of Tichfield (Hampshire) had responsibilities for the building of Porchester Castle. England's Treasurer in 1264 was a Norbertine Prior, while a Brother Thomas was a trusted advisor to Henry III.

Many of the early Norbertines attained distinction in intellectual and ecclesiastical fields. Many of the fifteenth and sixteenth century abbots held law degrees from either Oxford or Cambridge. Abbot Makerell, took degrees at both Cambridge and Frieburg and was appointed suffragan bishop in the dioceses of York and Lincoln. Fr. Thomas Wygenhall, of the Abbey of West Dereham wrote treatises on law and moral theology. "Richard the Premonstratensian" wrote a number of theological works; while Adam the Scot, born some time in the 12th century and known to have been a member of the community at Dryburgh was ren­owned both as a preacher and a writer not only in England but also in France.

But by far the most important work of the Order before the Reformation was to be found in the parishes. In the fourteenth century the Norbertine Canons had some 150 parishes in England. The Order's contribution to the life of the Church in England is witnessed to by the number of priests who were sent to work in diocesan parishes without, however, losing contact with the Abbey or Priory to which the belonged. These close links with the parochial apostolate would be a characteristic of the Order when it returned to England in 1872 after the centuries of Post-Reformation exile. . . .

The return of the White Canons to England is the responsibility of two of the great abbeys of our Order; the abbey of Tongerlo in Belgium and the abbey of Frigolet in France.

At the request of local Catholics the abbot of Tongerlo dispatched Fr. Martin Geudens to Crowle in Lincolnshire in 1872. This mission soon grew and attracted the first English vocations to the Norbertine Order since the Reformation. The Tongerlo canons established parishes at Spalding (1875), Stainforth (1931), Moorends (1937) and Holbeach (1956). During the Chapter of Reform more emphasis was put on community rather than parochial life and so these parishes are today administered by the secular clergy. In 1889 Norbertines first came to Manchester where they lived and worked at Corpus Christi in Miles Platting. It was there that our present canonry became an independent priory in 2004. Corpus Christi Basilica was closed in 2007 and the Canons moved to St. Chad’s Church in the Cheetham area of Manchester. The community transferred to Chelmsford in 2008.

The Canons of Frigolet had first arrived on the shores of England on February 1st 1882 and were given a home in Storrington, Sussex through the benefaction of the Duke of Norfolk. In 1952 the priory of Storrington was transferred to the control of the Abbey of Tongerlo and became an independent priory of the Order in 1962. These same exiled canons of Frigolet established houses and parishes at Farnborough (now a Benedictine abbey) in 1887, Weston 1888-92, Ambleside (now the diocesan church Mater Amabilis) in 1890 and Bedworth in 1892. Storrington happily remains an active Norbertine house to this day.

The order does honor English martyrs from the era of the Dissolution, including Matthew Thomas Mackerel who was executed on March 29, 1537.

The Next English Coronation: Ecumenical and Diverse?

As The Telegraph proclaims: it will be "A coronation for OUR Times":

There are some things you just don’t talk about, and the crowning of the next king is one of them. It would be “impolite” to start planning a coronation while the existing monarch is still alive, I was told last week by one of those who may be involved when the time comes. Quite right, too. As the Queen prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her Coronation on June 2 1953, it is to be hoped that she will go on and on. But that’s not to say that those concerned have neglected to think about what might come next. . . .

[Talking about the next coronation, to Henry VIII especially, could be thought of as the same thing as talking about the death of the monarch--sometimes in bad taste, sometimes liable to get your head separated from the rest of your body.]

The Sunday Telegraph has learned of a major shift in attitude within the leadership of the Church, towards allowing the representatives of other faiths to participate in a coronation service for the first time. This would be a dramatic break with tradition, as the coronation has been an exclusively Christian event for 1,000 years. In the past, any such move was strongly opposed by the Church of England. There is now, however, a recognition that the next coronation will have to reflect the spiritual diversity of modern Britain in some way.

The ethnic and cultural make-up of the country has changed greatly since 1953, when the ceremony reflected the long-established notion of Britain as a nation under one God. Sixty years later, Her Majesty reigns over a nation with many gods. There are still 33 million people who call themselves Christian (including Roman Catholics, who were not represented in the service in 1953). There are also 2.7 million Muslims, 817,000 Hindus and 263,000 Jews, and many others. . . .

Dr Robert Morris of the Constitution Unit at University College, London said that:

“Essentially, the last Coronation was a straight rerun of what had gone before, over the centuries. It was an Anglican Christian service. No Popery allowed, etc. The only alteration was that the Moderator of the Church of Scotland was allowed to come on and present a Bible to the Queen. That was a big thing in 1953. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to give space to any of the other churches, let alone faiths. So they have a long way to go.”

Some of the language of the ceremony is laid down in law, such as the Coronation Oath Act of 1689, which says the monarch must swear to uphold the Protestant faith. However, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website says “the form and order of the service are ancient in origin but not immutable”.

The new Archbishop, the Most Rev Justin Welby, showed his willingness to tweak tradition in March when he changed his enthronement at Canterbury Cathedral into an inauguration without many people noticing. He will write the service when the time comes, but not without help.

The recent changes in the Succession, allowing those in line to marry a Catholic, and the first born female to succeed ahead of any brothers born later, were earth-shattering enough to the Anglican establishment. These proposals are producing Lisbon-like earthquakes:

There will be, says Dr Morris, a case for simplifying the Christian ceremony and supplementing it with other events. “There is a question of how the monarch should be seen to relate ceremonially, not only to his Anglican subjects, but also the rest of the population. There is a case for considering a series of essentially secular ceremonies, in which the monarch shows himself for acclamation to the rest of the population.”

It would also put great strain on the ties between Church, State and Crown, some of which have snapped or are snapping already. To the Church, however, there is another precious dimension to the coronation. One senior figure described it to me this week as an ordination, an act of setting someone apart for a sacred purpose.

Unusually, perhaps, in terms of her predecessors, Queen Elizabeth came to her Coronation as a woman of deep personal faith. That continues to be the case, although she is certainly not uncomfortable in multi-faith services. It was Her Majesty who reminded the Church of England in a remarkable speech last year that it is not just there to serve Christians.

“Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions,” she said. “Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.”
(Image source: wikipedia commons.)

Authors at Eighth Day Books

On Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1, I attended two book readings and signings at Eighth Day Books during the store's Spring/Summer sale. The two authors were very different, as was their path to publication and their means of publication.

The first book, by Dr. Philip Gaunt, a professor at Wichita State University and former chair of the Elliott School of Communication there, was The Blane Game:

When minds work together to save the planet, save oil, and prevent war, strange things happen. Like communication with aliens, telepathic communication, and even potential war. When Mike realizes he can hear people's thoughts it's not long until he's contacted by the U.S. government to participate in a top-secret project to contact aliens. Not knowing what's going on with him, Mike agrees. In Russia, Katrina works alongside a group of scientists who are trying to do the same. Little does either country know, they're racing to answer the same question: is communication with aliens possible? Time is of the essence in this suspenseful novel. Since both countries want to be the first to make this discovery, Mike and Katrina are pushed to their limits. After Mike makes contact with Sergei Brebin, a Russian employee, telepathically thinking he's an alien, he realizes the Russians are on the same search. The men become friends and begin to exchange information in hopes of figuring out what their countries really want from the aliens, when Brebin is killed.Realizing this covert operation may be about much more than alien communication, Mike investigates, realizing each country is out for its own greed and is willing to destroy anyone that gets in the way. Trying to reach aliens again, Mike meets Katrina. The two become friends, and realize it's in their best interest to leave their positions. Mike rushes to find Katrina and save the woman he's come to love, but can he make it to her before the Russians find out she's derailed from their plan? Find out in the Blane Game.

Professor Gaunt chose to work with Tate Publishing in Mustang, Oklahoma (and you'll not that the company website refers to the recent tornados in Oklahoma). Tate has an interesting business model:

Tate Publishing & Enterprises, LLC, is a Christian-based, family-owned, mainline publishing organization with a mission to discover unknown authors. We combine unknown authors' undiscovered potential with Tate Publishing's unique approach to publishing and provide them with the highest quality books and the most inclusive benefits package available.

Tate Publishing was formed after Founders Richard & Rita Tate published their first book with a traditional, mainline royalty publishing company. They soon found that after investing many years of their lives into their work, it was no longer theirs. The rights were now the publisher's, and the majority of the royalties were going to the publisher. That's when the Tates set out to redefine what a mainline royalty publisher should be. Remember, the most important step to get started is to submit your manuscript. In 2010, we accepted only a single-digit percentage of authors who submitted manuscripts for publication.

At Tate Publishing & Enterprises, we believe your work is just that—your work. We believe that you should make the most money from your project. You will retain all rights to your manuscript, PLUS retain the highest royalties in the business from your sales. That's the way it should be! And that's the way we do business.

Tate offers editing and creative services, etc.

The second book, by Melvin D. Epp, was The Petals of a Kansas Sunflower: A Mennonite Diaspora, published by Wipf & Stock:

Rather than pledging allegiance to the military effort as dictated by Prussian law in 1867, many devout Anabaptists deemed it prudent to become pioneers in Kansas. The year was 1876 and odd numbered sections of railroad land were being marketed by the Santa Fe across Kansas. Towns developed around train depots; local shopping became available. Marie Harder Epp was born in America to these relocated Anabaptists. She was a Kansas Mennonite farmer and also the village poet. Her poems, written for oral delivery, tell the story of life in Holland and West Prussia following the Reformation, the relocation to Kansas, and the creation of a church community on the tall grass prairies. A church was organized to focus these hard-working Germans on divine realities as they buried their dead, married their young, and dealt with the harsh prairie winds. Marie's poems also describe the changeover from buggies to cars, from German to English, and from isolation to global outreach. With time, the Anabaptists learned through cultural adaptation that they could be both staunch Mennonites and also patriotic Americans.

Wipf & Stock also has a different model (located in Oregon):

From the land of great microbrews and towering Douglas firs, Wipf and Stock Publishers is the underdog team, a ragtag bunch who arrive to work with mud still on our shoes from the weekend ride or hike. Committed to writing that honors the imagination, intellect, and heart, our model is simple yet provocative: with a list as diverse as our northwest landscape, we publish based on the merits of content rather than marketability. We have no agenda and are shamelessly unapologetic about what we like: relationships, good beer, fine books, and enough coffee to keep us moving. We work hard to bring relationships back to the focus of publishing, because we believe in the value of voice.

Wipf & Stock books, unfortunately, are very expensive (print on demand). Although I enjoyed the reading and the history Mr. Epps presented, I could not fit a $54.00 paperback book into my monthly budget!!

But, never fear, I did support my local bookseller, purchasing Marilynne Robinson's When I Was a Child I Read Books:

Ever since the 1981 publication of her stunning debut, Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson has built a sterling reputation as a writer of sharp, subtly moving prose, not only as a major American novelist (her second novel, Gilead, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize) but also a rigorous thinker and incisive essayist. Her compelling and demanding collection The Death of Adam in which she reflected on her Presbyterian upbringing, investigated the roots of Midwestern abolitionism, and mounted a memorable defense of Calvinism is respected as a classic of the genre, praised by Doris Lessing as "a useful antidote to the increasingly crude and slogan-loving culture we inhabit". In When I Was a Child I Read Books she returns to and expands upon the themes which have preoccupied her work with renewed vigor.

In "Austerity as Ideology" she tackles the global debt crisis, and the charged political and social political climate in this country that makes finding a solution to our financial troubles so challengin. In "Open Thy Hand Wide" she searches out the deeply embedded role of generosity in Christian faith. And in "When I Was a Child" one of her most personal essays to date, an account of her childhood in Idaho becomes an exploration of individualism and the myth of the American West. Clear-eyed and forceful as ever, Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our essential writers.

And, Praying To Our Lord Jesus Christ: Prayers and Meditations Through the Centuries by: Benedict J. Groeschel:

Personal devotion to Our Lord Jesus Christ is an essential component of authentic Christian spirituality. In recent decades skeptical approaches to theology and Scripture have tended to diminish our awareness of the need for personal devotion to Our Savior. This leaves people with a feeling of emptiness and isolation.

Fr. Benedict has made this anthology of profound prayers, drawn from all of Christian history, available to those who experience a hunger for devotion. Beautifully illustrated with classic art, this book will be a valuable companion for personal prayer, for times of recollection, and even for those times of critical spiritual need.

Readers wishing to grow in their devotion to Christ and increase their love for Him will find the prayers in this book helpful and inspiring. Ranging from the prayers of early Church martyrs and Fathers and including those of mystics and theologians, it provides an introduction to the Church's vast patrimony of twenty centuries of devotion to Jesus Christ. Fr. Groeschel adds his own insights throughout the book.

This book, combining profound prayers with wonderful spiritual insights and inspiring art—makes a beautiful gift for all who would seek to know and love Our Lord Jesus better. Illustrated.

In Honor of Corpus Christi @ The Morgan Library in NYC

Thanks to the Ad Imaginem Dei blog, I found out about a fascinating exhibit at the Morgan Library in New York City, focused on The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art:

When Christ changed bread and wine into his body and blood at the Last Supper, he instituted the Eucharist and established the central act of Christian worship. For medieval Christians, the Eucharist (the sacrament of Communion) was not only at the heart of the Mass—but its presence and symbolism also wielded enormous influence over cultural and civic life. Featuring more than sixty-five exquisitely illuminated manuscripts, Illuminating Faith offers glimpses into medieval culture, and explores the ways in which artists of the period depicted the celebration of the sacrament and its powerful hold on society.

The exhibition presents some of the Morgan's finest works, including the Hours of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, one of the greatest of all Books of Hours; the exquisite Preparation for Mass of Pope Leo X, which remained at the Vatican until it was looted by Napoleon's troops in 1798; a private prayer book commissioned by Anne de Bretagne, queen of France, for her son the dauphin, Charles-Orland; and a number of rarely-exhibited Missals. Also on display will be objects used in medieval Eucharistic rituals, such as a chalice, ciborium, pax, altar card, and monstrances.

This exhibition is made possible by Virginia M. Schirrmeister, with further generous support from the Janine Luke and Melvin R. Seiden Fund for Exhibitions and Publications, and from James Marrow and Emily Rose.

You can see selected images from the exhibition here and follow Margaret Duffy's detailed examination and interpretation of the exhibition on the Ad Imaginem Dei blog:

The exhibition is presented in a respectful and serious way, with wall cards and labeling providing orthodox explanations of the meaning of the Eucharist, including some words, such as transubstantiation, that are seldom heard in today’s culture. The more than sixty-five items in the show, drawn almost entirely from the Morgan’s own collections, offer views of many aspects of the iconography of the Eucharist, and go well beyond images of the Last Supper. It is organized around six themes: The Institution of the Eucharist; The Introduction of the Elevation; The Eucharist and the Old Testament; Domestic Devotion to the Eucharist; The Feast of Corpus Christi and Eucharistic Miracles. I will be discussing several of these themes in the next few days.

I don't know how many of the images might come from English sources, but it is important for me to note that before the English Reformation, as demonstrated by Eamon Duffy and others, Catholics in England were most devoted to the Holy Eucharist. As Peter Marshall notes:

Late medieval religion was profoundly sacramental, that is, it held that God's cleansing power (his ‘grace’) became available to people by being channelled through particular ritual actions, and forms of words, through special material objects and sacred places. There were seven official sacraments (baptism, confirmation, marriage, the ordination of priests, the anointing of the sick and dying, penance and the eucharist). The first five of these were essentially ‘rites of passage’, performed once to sanctify particular moments in an individual's life cycle. The other two – penance (the confessing of one's sins to a priest) and the eucharist (the ritual re-enactment of Christ's Last Supper in the ceremony known as the mass) – were endlessly repeated, serving continually to renew grace in the penitent sinner. The mass had a special place in the contemporary religious imagination. Here, uniquely, Christ became physically present among his people. Mass was said in Latin by a priest standing with his back to the congregation at a high altar situated at the far east end of the church (the chancel). He was separated from the lay people in the body (the nave) of the church by an elaborately carved semi-solid ‘rood screen’ (so-called because of the great crucifix or rood which surmounted it). When the priest repeated Jesus' words ‘This is my Body … This is my Blood’, the ‘elements’ used in the ritual ceased to be bread and wine and became the real body and blood of Christ, a daily miracle which the theologians referred to as transubstantiation. Lay people received the body of Christ in the form of a fine wheaten disc or ‘host’, but this communion was for most people infrequent, taking place usually once a year at Easter time. For the rest of the year there was greater emphasis on seeing the sacrament – at the moment of consecration when the priest elevated the host above his head, bells would be rung, candles lit and (according to later Protestant accounts at least) people would jostle with each other for the privilege of ‘seeing their Maker’. Popular belief held that people would not go blind or die suddenly on a day when they had gazed upon God.

The mass was not just an occasion for intense individual devotion, but also for the expression and restoration of social harmony. No one ‘out of charity’ with their neighbours was to be admitted to receive communion. The custom of annual confession in the week before Easter was designed to impel people to make amends to those they had wronged, as well as to clear their consciences before God. During the mass an engraved plate known as a pax (literally, peace) was passed round for the worshippers to kiss as a sign of being at peace with each other. The consecrated host was itself the most powerful symbol of unity (an idealized microcosm of the totality of Christian believers who, according to St Paul, constituted ‘one body in Christ’). On Corpus Christi, the special summer feast day of the body of Christ, the host was carried in elaborate procession through the streets of Bristol, Coventry, York and other places, a means of demonstrating, and of restoring, the social unity of towns all too given to faction and internal conflict.

And certainly after the English Reformation, especially after the great via media of Elizabeth I's reign was established, and attending Mass made illegal, and then being a priest in England being made an act of treason, the Catholic Mass was the emblem and desire of being a Catholic in England--and Catholics' desire to receive Holy Communion was so great that they would risk capture, arrest, imprisonment, torture, trial, and even execution to assist a Catholic priest (and the Catholic priest risked greatly himself of course)--but those Catholics were exceptional in that age--and would be or are in ours.

More on the Norwich Beguinage

You might have noticed the reference to beguinages in England from the earlier post today--as in, there weren't many in England. There was one in Norwich, however:

The Briton‘s Arms is a unique survival in England of a beguinage. This was the home of a small group of single women, who had devoted themselves to a life of prayer and charitable work within the community. Such institutions were very common on the Continent in the middle ages, particularly in the Low Countries, northern France and the Rhineland, but they were very rare in England. There are some references in medieval documents to small groups of women living together, in towns such as York and Ipswich.

However, Norwich is the only English city where there is definite evidence for informal female communities following a religious vow. One thing which links all these places is a strong trading connection with north-east Europe. This may have influenced Norwich merchants to support beguinages in their own city. There are references to three such communities in late medieval Norwich. They are called "poor women" or "sisters" who are "dedicated to chastity" or "dedicated to God". One of these groups is known to have lived in the churchyard of St Peter Hungate in the first half of the fifteenth century, and the Briton‘s Arms was almost certainly their home.

This is shown by several features of the building. The construction methods and the type of brick used are typical of the fifteenth century. The really telling factor is the door to the churchyard, and the unusual plan of the building, with a series of independent heated rooms. This provided ideal accommodation for a group of women living together, but also engaged in private prayer.

We have only a limited idea of how the women who lived in the beguinage passed their time. Unlike the nuns of Carrow Abbey, to the south of the city, they were not enclosed within a convent. Nuns tended to be the daughters of gentlemen and wealthy merchants, whereas the beguines were usually poorer women. They would have supported themselves through work such as spinning (the term ‘spinster‘ for a single women dates from the medieval period), as well as begging for alms. They also undertook charitable work in the local community, caring for the poor and sick. They would no doubt have worshipped in St Peter Hungate church, with easy access to the churchyard through the door in the rear wall.

Late medieval Norwich had a rich devotional and spiritual culture. There was the great Cathedral, the nunnery at Carrow, nearly fifty parish churches, and four large friaries. One of these, the Dominican Friary, stands opposite the Briton‘s Arms. At the Dissolution it was purchased by the City Corporation and made into a civic hall, as which it still serves.

There were also many anchoresses in Norwich - women who were enclosed in a cell attached to a church, and dedicated to a life of contemplation. The most famous of these was Julian of Norwich . Another anchoress, Katherine Manne, was attached to the Dominican Friary church - the arches of her cell can be seen through the gate opposite the Briton‘s Arms. Both the anchoresses and the beguines were supported by the ordinary people in the city, and played an active and important role in the spiritual life of the community.

Please note that St. Julian of Norwich and Katherine Manne are from quite different eras: Katherine Manne's tenure as an anchorite dates from the English Reformation period--she had a copy of Tyndale's English translation of the Holy Bible and of his Obedience of a Christian Man, according to Norman Tanner's history of the Church in Norwich in the late middle ages. Katherine Manne is also featured in Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England by Mary C. Erler from Cambridge University Press:

Women, Reading, and Piety in Late Medieval England traces networks of female book ownership and exchange which have so far been obscure, and shows how women were responsible for both owning and circulating devotional books. In seven narratives of individual women who lived between 1350 and 1550, Mary Erler illustrates the ways in which women read and the routes by which they passed books from hand to hand. These stories are prefaced by an overview of nuns' reading and their surviving books, and are followed by a survey of women who owned the first printed books in England. An appendix lists a number of books not previously attributed to religious women's ownership. Erler's narratives also provide studies of female friendship, since they situate women's reading in a network of family and social connections. The book uses bibliography to explore social and intellectual history.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments

Prologue
Introduction: Dinah's story
1. Ownership and transmission of books: women's religious communities
2. The library of a London vowess: Margery de Nerford
3. A Norwich widow and her devout society: Margaret Purdans
4. Orthodoxy: the Fettyplace sisters at Syon
5. Heterodoxy: anchoress Katherine Manne and abbess Elizabeth Throckmorton
6. Women owners or religious incunabula: the physical evidence
Epilogue
Appendices
Notes
Select bibliography
Indexes

See, I found someway to bring us back to the subject of the English Reformation even as I discussed the Beguines and beguinages in Belgium!