“Oblates in Western Monasticism”

by Derek G. Smith Whatever the outward historical form oblature has taken--and it has taken many outward forms-its first and essential reality is a commitment to the monastic tradition of prayer and its generous silence. Its second purpose, almost inseparable from the first, is to seek to share that tradition of prayer and that profound gift of silence with the whole people of God. Unless that commitment and motivation are pursued, oblates lose their reason for existence as lay affiliates of monasticism who have promised their lives to the cultivation and sharing of those ideals. His prayer and his oblation, as the oblate soon discovers if only obscurely, are formed within a role [1] in the monastic community, a role which has had a vigorous, varied and tenacious history since the origin of monasticism. There are many issues which attract one's attention when oblation is examined within a comprehensive historical view. Among them are at least these four: (1) the origin and practice of infant oblation, which quite apparently and despite its changing forms, has provided the basic definition for many (perhaps most) roles of lay affiliation in western monastic history; (2) the question of whether oblation of an infant is binding on that infant on reaching the "years of discretion"; (3) the effect of practices in the oblation of infants which have affected the development of the role of adult oblates; and (4) the relationship of lay oblation to monastic profession. These questions deserve to be treated in a comprehensive single study in English. Excellent studies of particular problems and specific periods in the history of monastic oblation have been made by European monastic scholars. [2] In English these matters have largely been treated in passim in larger works. [3] The purpose of this paper is to suggest the desirability of carrying out a historically comprehensive work in the English language on oblation and its varied influences in monastic history. [4] With the help and support of the monastic community with which I am affiliated, I hope to attempt such a work. In early Eastern and Western Monasticism, most monks were laymen. Clerics and priests were ordained from among them at the need of the. community, although a few clerics sought entry to the monastic state. Clerics from outside the community, despite the general injunction to treat a guest as if he were Christ Himself, [5] were treated with a measure of suspicion, or at least reticence. [6] Some clerics returned to the lay state before seeking entrance. [7] The norm and the practice was that the majority of those who entered the monastic life were adult laymen. Children were present in some early monasteries, if only by toleration. Children were to be found in St. Anthony's monasteries; Evagrius forbade their presence; but the Regula of both Pachomius and St. Basil not only presume the presence of children, they provide for their acceptance as child oblates. [8] Both Rules allow the child oblate a choice on their reaching the "years of discretion", either of returning to the world or proceeding to the status of monk-novice. Despite St. Benedict's general approval of the Rule of St. Basil and his commendation of it to be read by his monks (Regula Benedicti (RB) cap. 73) St. Benedict's approach to child oblation was quite different, both from his predecessors Pachomius and St. Basil, but also from his near contemporaries Saint Caesarius (AD 470-543) and Aurelian (ob.

551 or,553). [9] The Regula Benedicti (cap. 59) clearly envisions child oblation as binding for life. The oblate retains no disposition of his person, for his destiny is "stability" in the monastic community in which he was offered by his parents. There is no question of the oblate having a right or opportunity to confirm or ratify his oblation when he comes of age. De Vogue [10] argues very cogently that oblation here is a form of profession, and entails renunciation of property (and, by implication, the freedom to marry) (cf. RB caps. 32-34, 59). [11] Not only does RB's provisions for oblates differ from earlier Eastern Rules [12], they also differ from contemporary Western monastic Rules, especially the Regula Magistri (RM). [13] RM (cap. 91) provides only for oblation of children of the nobility; RB provides for oblation of children of both the rich and the poor. More significantly, RM cap. 91, in contrast to RB (cap. 59), appears to allow adolescents to reaffirm their oblation as a matter of free choice. RM also provides several alternatives for the disposition of an oblate's property. Benedict's position is upheld and affirmed repeatedly by Latin Church authorities, at least for a time. [14] But the question of the binding quality of infant oblation to monastic "stability" (and by implication poverty and chastity) became a contentious issue within only a few years of St. Benedict's death. In practice, infant oblation ceased completely only in the 12th century. Meanwhile, several synods and councils reaffirm what is essentially St. Benedict's position: e.g. the Synod of Orleans (A.D. 549), canon 19; the Synod of Micon (A.D. 583), canon 12; the IVth Synod of Toledo (A.D. 633), canons 49 and 55. A statement attributed to St. Isidore affirms the same doctrine: "In monasteriis perpetuo maneant qui a parentibus ibi traditi sunt". [15] However, the Xth Synod of Toledo (A.D. 655), canon 6, takes an entirely new approach to the subject. It declares that parents may not force their children to enter the monastic life until they are at least ten years old. Canonists of the ensuing period had a tendency to raise this age to twelve or fourteen years. [16] St. Boniface did not agree with the position of the Xth Synod of Toledo, and referred a specific question on the issue to Pope Gregory 11. The papal response was to reassert, most forcefully, the position of RB and Benedictine practice. It was upheld by Pope Gregory 111. Henri Leclerq asks whether these papal decisions invalidated that of the Xth Synod of Toledo. [17] In any case capitularies of the reign of Charlemagne show that the papal position was upheld. But by A.D. 817, under the influence of Benedict of Aniane, the capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle clearly holds that child oblation, to be valid, must be confirmed by the oblate on reaching the age of reason. A notable case of an oblate seeking to leave the monastery at the age of adolescence is that of an oblate of Fulda, who placed his case before the Synod of Mayence (A.D. 829). The Synod's decision that the Abbot of Fulda had conferred the monastic habit on the oblate by force, thereby nullifying the oblation, was vigorously contested by the abbot (Hrabanus Maurus) in his now famous Liber de Oblatione Puerorum. It is a forceful treatise in support of the norms of the Regula Benedicti. The Synod of Worms (A.D. 868), canon 22, affirms the position of Hrabanus Maurus. [18]

It is out of this debate that adult oblation seems to have evolved-gradually, and admittedly under the impact of yet other influences. By the 9th century, Celtic monasticism had substantial impact on continental practices. [19] Celtic monasticism bore resemblances to older Eastern monastic traditions and to the monasticism of Gaul under St. Martin. It was deeply contemplative and eremitical. Of particular interest here are the Penitential communities of lay men and women which were attached to local churches or monasteries. Their penitential emphasis, although distinctive, is compatible with Benedictine ideals of conversion. Community members, both men and women, dressed simply, scrupulously followed the liturgy and the daily office in the church, gave themselves to silent private prayer, and lived a frugal and chaste or continent life. According to Jean Leclercq [20], the life of these pious lay people was clearly distinguished from both monks and clerics. lt was much more like the monastic state, but was not confused with it. As Leclercq says, the Penitential State "...was a kind of third order or more precisely a secular institute, entry into which was by means of a promise described by words like conversio, propositium, professio, or religio. [21] This is clearly not oblation in the Benedictine sense, but the Celtic Penitential Communities were remarkably similar to the "prayer communities" or fraternitates from which Cluniac monasticism drew so many of its adult oblates. [22] It is worth noting that it is precisely the period in which the Benedictine Rule became almost the exclusive monastic Rule in effect in the Latin Church. Greenia [23] notes that Celtic and Eastern monastic traditions had considerable influence on the formation of lay monastic roles in this period.

The monastic familia of Cluny [24] typically consisted of monks, monk novices, and several categories of lay affiliates under oblation who lived in the cloister and wore monastic habit. Infant oblates, pueri oblati (also called nutriti), played a prominent role in the observance and discipline of Cluny, particularly as choristers. The Cluniac oblation formula [25] which has been preserved, as well as other documents, clearly show that Cluny held very strongly to the position that infant oblation was as binding once-and-for-all as adult monastic profession.

However, at Cluny, oblation could also be contracted in adulthood (i.e. over fifteen years of age), but was made according to a different formula. By the beginning of the 12th Century, infant oblation at Cluny was "conditional", in that the oblation formula included the qualification "si nutritus vellet se congregationi incorpari. [26] Young oblates were very numerous in Cluniac houses, so numerous in fact that one abbot complained that oblature brought "so many one-handed, deaf, blind, hunch-backed, and leprous infants" into monastic communities that they threatened the viability of a good number of French and German monasteries. [27] Adult oblates living in monastic habit and in cloister, as an integral part of the monastic familia, were variously called oblati conversi, oblati barbati, oblati illiterati, idiotae, and a variety of other terms. [28] In addition, there were lay assistants habited and in cloister under a form of oblation who conducted business affairs. These matricularii (i.e. enrolled in the scapular of the monastery) seem to have been drawn from the lay prayer communities fraternitates) which surrounded the monastery. Yet other names for lay people living under some measure of monastic rule in association with Cluniac houses were dati, donati, condonati, commissi, offerti, monachi laici, devotae, and traditi. The richness and flexibility of Cluniac arrangements for lay

association are well worth further study since they are as yet imperfectly understood. It must be emphasized that while the Liturgy of Cluny had undergone considerable elaboration, there was a strong insistence on silence and private prayer legitimated by references to Cassian and other early Western and Eastern monastic Fathers. [29]

Roughly contemporary with these events at Cluny [30], St. Romuald and his disciples also created an authentic monastic role for laybrothers, perhaps as early as A.D. 1012 at Camaldoli. The eremitical propensities of Camaldoli and other related foundations in Italy of this period differ from the usual cenobitic tradition of monasticism, and stand in contrast to Cluniac spirituality and practice. St. Romuald, although he had founded some cenobitic communities and reformed others, had a strongly eremitical inclination. He had particularly devoted himself to the study of Cassian. [31]

St. Romuald's laybrothers were never called "monks", unlike the "lay monks" of Eastern tradition. His laybrothers as Greenia [32] shows occupied an authentic monastic role quite clearly distinguished from that of the monk. The Rule followed by his monks and laybrothers was that of St. Benedict.

Not far from Camaldoli was the hermitage of Fonte Avellana under St. Peter Damian as prior (he always refused to be called "abbot" [33]). Like his acquaintance St. Romuald he too had an eremitical preference. He had founded some cenobitic communities and had governed others. His laybrothers' role at Fonte Avellana was likely modelled on that of St. Romuald's Camaldoli.

In the Benedictine foundation of Vallombrosa, not far from either Camaldoli or Fonte Avellana, laybrothers were also introduced. St. Romuald is known to have had an influence on this organization. St. John Gualbert, the founder of Vallombrosa, called his laybrothers conversi. Although the term had been used sporadically before, his usage became the conventional way of referring to laybrothers in oblation during medieval times. [34]

St. Bruno, with the approval and urging of his friend Pope Urban 11 introduced conversi to Chartreuse in A.D. 1084, and about the same time they were introduced to the Abbey of Hirsau in the Black Forest by the monastic reformer William of Hirsau, and to Cluny by the monk Uldaric. [35]

But these events so far described were only a small-scale and rather local experimentation in the institution of adult oblate laybrothers. It was among the Cistercians that oblate laybrotherhood was massively developed and integrated into monastic organization and spirituality. [36] Although at Cluny child oblation had fallen into disuse, it was the Cistercians who firmly decided to put an end to it." The Cistercians continued it under the milder form of receiving children for academic and musical training--the forerunner of the "petit seminaire" of Latin lands. Boys were prepared for monastic and/or clerical postulancy, and as choristers and musicians. The Cistercian reason for abolishing child oblation probably was rooted in their conviction that none should enter the cloister but professed monks and oblate laybrothers over the age of

sixteen. [38] Compared to the varied and flexible Cluniac familia, the Cistercian community was quite homogeneous. Adult oblation became of such tremendous importance to the Cistercians shown by the fact that oblate conversi often outnumbered choir monks by as much as three to one, numbering in the hundreds in the larger abbeys. [39] The Cistercian constitutional document the Usus Conversorum [40] assumes their presence everywhere within only fifty years of the foundation of Citeaux. Another early constitutional document, the Exordium Parvum (cap. XV) refers to them as conversi barbati, who are to be "treated as equals", but are not to be considered as monks. [41] Laporte [42] shows, that apart from the economic considerations that so many historians emphasize, laybrothers occur whenever there is a monastic spirituality with the "essential characteristics" of prayer penitence, obedience, poverty, and the cultivation of deep silence. However, Cluniac and Cistercian houses of the 12th century show many cases of rebellious and wayward conversi". The institution gradually diminished from this point with the general decline in monasticism after the early 13th century, with the rise of the mendicant orders, and with the first rumblings of the Protestant Reformation.

Since the 10th century, a "para-monastic" communitarian movement of lay people had been developing and becoming more visible in Western Europe. [44] It is often encountered in the proximity of reforming abbeys such as Brogne, Hirsau, and those associated with the Cluniac reform. These lay communities, to a degree anticlerical but certainly not antimonastic, attempted to follow the Christian ideal according to the monastic model. Many of these communities, but not all, fell into the neo-Manichaean heresies of Catharism, Albigensianism, etc. It is from the last word, by corruption, that the name Béguine developed. The Béguines, not in fact Albigensian, had numerous adherents in the Low Countries. While many eventually became associated as tertiaries with the Franciscans and Dominicans, the Cistercians undertook effective direction of the Béguines at the end of the 12th century. Many of the men Béghards were absorbed into Cistercian abbeys as conversi, but the number of women was so large that they could not be absorbed by the monastic houses. Béguinages, austere lay communities living a monastic way of life, became widespread and developed rapidly, especially after receiving papal approval from Honorius III in A.D. 1216. Gradually, Béguine communities formed in the vicinity of specific parish churches, with their own infirmaries, cemeteries, and horaria observed in church. A considerable number of the men were hermits. As the Béguines became increasingly urban, the Cistercians gradually yielded spiritual direction over them to the mendicant orders. They were well established by the 14th century. The Béguine spirituality was profoundly contemplative, based on its monastic models. It was primarily to the Béguines that Meister Eckhart addressed his mystical writings. Hadewijch d'Anvers and Mechthilde of Magdeburg had strong Béguine connections. [45]

As lay communities, Béguinages did not have "religious vows", but they observed chastity, obedience, and poverty, and a form of a promise of "stability" in the houses to which they were attached. Entrance to the Béguinage was through a novitiate of up to two years, after which came the clothing in the Béguine habit. [46] Theirs was a humble life of contemplative prayer, silence, and austerity. The Béguines were not Benedictines in the sense of living under the Rule, but Benedictine monasticism and spirituality had a

marked effect on their institutions. They were not the first, and far from the last, of a great series of "paramonastic" lay communities extending at least from the Celtic Penitential communities of the 7th and 8th centuries to the oblate communities of the present day.

Throughout the storms of heresies and excesses of the 13th and 14th centuries, and throughout the following Protestant Reformation there were many lay people who led lives of real monastic spiritual vitality, very often in the ambit of the monastic and religious orders but not within them. Two prominent women among them were St. Catherine of Genoa (A.D. 1447-1510), a Franciscan tertiary and most notably from our point of view, St. Frances of Rome (A.D. 1384-1440), a Benedictine oblate. [47] Frances was married to Laurence Ponziani, and she had a large family. During her marriage she became a Benedictine oblate. Seeing the misery that surrounded her palace at Trastevere, she gradually formed a group of Benedictine oblates to carry out works of mercy in that area. In A.D. 1433 she settled this oblate community in the Tor de' Specchi, a large house at the foot of the Capitol hill which the community still occupies today. The community, associated spiritually with the Olivetan monks of St. Maria Nuova, lived under the Rule of St. Benedict. After a year's probation or novitiate, the women make their oblation and promise obedience to the Mother President. A similar community, that of the Benedictine Canonesses was founded in France about the same time. As oblates, members of both communities could hold and inherit property, and they could leave and marry when they wished. St. Frances' community of oblates, while devoted to acts of mercy and charity, is also deeply contemplative. It continues to the present day, although no longer under the direction of the Olivetans. Founded in the social atmosphere of the Fonte Avellana and Vallambrosan communities, but in the 14th century, the Olivetans were a small branch of Benedictine monasticism. Their radical austerity of life brought them a challenge of possible heresy by Pope John XXII. The successful defense of their monastic observance brought papal approval in A.D. 1324. By the 15th century, during the time of their association with the Oblate Community of St. Frances of Rome, they numbered over 100 monasteries. It is of great interest that this austere, eremitically-inclined community was so active in the cultivation of oblates-not only St. Frances' Community of Oblates, but also a brotherhood of oblates for men living "in the world." Once again we find the gathering of oblates around a community which placed primary emphasis on contemplative prayer and a life of silence. That conjunction is no historical accident; it recurs repeatedly and consistently over centuries of monastic history. Maurice Laporte [48] has noted that oblates and lay associates appeared as significant in the formation of monastic communities each time there was a reform which "repudiated the spirit of embourgeoisement sustained by wealth and which recovered the authentic traditions of humility and a simple and fraternal way of life" (emphasis mine). He cites as examples the Benedictine reforms of Kastl (AD 1308), Melk (AD 1438), Bursfeld (AD 1477), and the Cistercian reforms after the Council of Trent. [49] Indeed, examples from the following centuries right down to the present day are not difficult to identify. Laporte goes on

If one seeks a definitive common characteristic in all the vocations of laybrothers, a fundamental trait is... always the consecration of a life of service... which necessarily

implies for the laybrother a spirituality founded in humility, an imitation of the hidden life of Our Lord, a certain simplicity of life similar to that of the Holy Family at Nazareth. [50]

It is a question of what lay people seek and expect to find in the monastery-and that is a life of silent, simple, humble prayer and the true familial fraternity they very often cannot find "in the world." Surely this is as true of the oblate-extern as of the oblate-intern. It appears that whenever monastic institutions have changed their priorities such that the life of simple prayer is supplanted by elaborate liturgy, by preoccupation with teaching in schools, by preoccupation with the cultivation of land and wealth, and even by the subordination of prayer to commendable works of mercy, then active monastic participation by lay people has waned.

An interesting, if somewhat aberrant example, is that of the military orders (Knights Templars and the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem) [51] "Unthinkable in the time of Charlemagne and a mere historical memory by the time of Chaucer," [52] these non-clerical religious communities of laymen began propitiously enough, leading a simple and prayerful life under the Rule of St. Benedict and the Cistercian Uses recommended to them by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (in the case of the Knights Templar) and the Rule of St. Augustine (the case of the Knights Hospitallers). Very quickly, with their rapid rise to power and wealth and the eventual subordination of their monastic practices to a frankly military organization and mentality, they had sown the seeds of their own destruction. Certainly by the 14th century, monasticism had passed into an autumn of decline and disrepute amid the drastic changes in European society following such traumatic events as the Black Death and the Hundred Years War. But societal conditions were by no means the only, or even the most important events in the decline of monasticism. Spiritually weakened by the loss of the primacy of prayer in their way of life, encumbered by elaborate liturgical developments inimical to the simplicity and humility of the traditional ethos of monastic culture, and shackled by landed wealth on the one hand and hamstrung by political allegiances to the monarchs and nobility of Europe on the other, monasticism was rapidly approaching a nadir. Accordingly, anticlerical, antisacramental, and specifically antimonastic movements had been developing in the church since at least the late 12th century. They were marked by fervent lay piety, a love for scripture in the vernacular and for preaching and prayer meetings, as well as works of mercy. Some of these lay movements, now lacking the traditional support and direction of monastic community and prayer, drifted quickly into heterodoxy and outright heresy (e.g. the Albigenses and Waldenses of France, Lombardy, and South Germany, and the Humiliati of Milan and North Italy). [53] It was in this situation of monastic decline and almost spiritual anarchy that "The Franciscan Spring" [54] reawakened the laity of Europe. The Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), in the early stages of their movements, were dedicated among other things to combatting the active heresies of their times, and to providing an alternative to the topheavy liturgical spirituality of the monasteries.

When St. Francis began his active pursuit of the evangelical life, he attached himself as a lay oblate to the church of San Damiano. As he began his preaching career, disciples

began to gather around him. "But this band of lay 'brothers' in no sense adumbrated a new Order. Possibly, at least in the beginning, they were indistinguishable from certain bands of penitents, and adopted their usages." [55] Among his followers were some clerics and priests, but from the beginning it was insisted that all follow a uniform way of life largely styled on that of the lay penitential communities to which we have referred, a form of community prevalent in 12th century Europe. In AD 1209 Pope Innocent III verbally approved their Rule and conferred on them the tonsure. The Roman authorities and the Franciscans were quite clear in their common understanding that in their case the tonsure did not mark a step towards the priesthood, but simply signified the acceptance by the Church of their new form of religious life and their permission to preach. In AD 1215 a decree of the Lateran Council demanded that all recent religious foundations adopt one of the ancient Rules (e.g. Augustinian, Benedictine, etc.). The Franciscans felt to some extent exempt from this requirement by their verbal understanding with Innocent III, and continued purposefully and self-consciously as a community following a lay way of life even after St. Francis became a deacon and despite the presence of clergy among his followers. Eventually, as in so many other cases, the Franciscans tended to become "clericalized", but have continued to assert the essentially lay nature of their organization. [56] The lay organization and lay spirituality of the Franciscan movement are explicitly non-monastic. His Third Order for lay people continuing their converted life outside the Franciscan order bears only a superficial resemblance to that of Benedictine oblates. It was much more similar to the penitential confraternities of earlier times, a mode of lay religious organization in any case undergoing a general revival in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, of which his own order in its early stages is also an example. St. Francis wrote a rule for associations of layfolk, fratres et sorores, "living in their own houses", or "continents" and "penitents" in AD 1221. [57] This, the first known rule of its kind, was the basis for his Third Order, organizationally as much a creation of the pontiffs of the 13th century as they were spiritually a creation by St. Francis. His Manuale of 1221 does not necessarily imply a direct association of lay communities with the Franciscans, except possibly in the repeated mention of the "minister" who is to supervise them and be their spiritual director. The Manuale does not specify that this minister be either a Franciscan or a cleric. The point relevant to us is that the Manuale of AD 1221 and Francis' Third Order differ from the Benedictine monastic conception in two important respects: (a) that St. Francis Third Order has a Rule of its own-St. Benedict clearly intended his oblates to live by his Rule for Monks (or at least by its principles, its "spirit"); and (b) that St. Francis' Third Order, at least in its beginnings, and thereby probably more clearly reflecting the idea of its founder, had no necessary connection with the Franciscan community as such-in contrast, oblates of St. Benedict are clearly conceived to be an organic part of the Benedictine familia [58]. These two conditions imply a very different kind of relationship between the Teachers or Masters of prayer, [59] or Spiritual Directors, [60] and those who seek spiritual teaching.

St. Dominic's Order of Preachers and St. Francis' Friars Minor were "twins at birth" although their institutes "had neither a common origin nor a common design." [61] St. Dominic began his career of preaching against heresy (especially that of the Albigensians) as a secular canon. He intended to constitute his movement of clerical followers under the Rule of St. Augustine since the Lateran Council of AD 1215 had

issued its decree on the regularization of religious orders. Under the influence of the Franciscans, however, he eventually adopted a mendicant rule. In contrast to the Franciscans, however, St. Dominic's early converts were strictly monastic in character, drawing heavily on the Uses of Prémontré. His unique contribution was to mould the monastic life towards his main aim, which was doctrinal preaching. Liturgy and all other observances were subordinated to this end. While the Dominican movement sought to preserve and extend scholastic systematic theology, it does not appear to have been the intention to subordinate spirituality and mysticism to it. In fact, however, ironically enough, the pursuit of doctrinal theology as a goal probably contributed to the chasm which opened between theology and spirituality by the 14th century, an 4 'unbelievable rupture". [62] The relevant point for us is what this rupture, this truly regrettable divorce, meant for the spiritual care of the laity. Certainly speaking from a monastic point of view, but one which we share, Jean Leclercq's [63] assessment is that the theologian became a specialist in an autonomous field of knowledge... The spiritual man, on the other hand, became a dévot who cared nothing for theology, one for whom his own experience ultimately became an end in itself, without reference to the dogmatic content to be sought in it.

There were still to be some remarkable contributions from great masters of spirituality which succeeded in maintaining a balance between what we may call "mysticism" and theology-Denys the Carthusian, Nicholas of Cusa, William of Digulleville, to cite three examples-but the polarization of theology and traditional monastic spirituality was by now virtually complete. [64] It was a situation which would hardly have pleased St. Thomas Aquinas. A century before him, Richard of St. Victor, the mystical Scot, had defined contemplation as libera mentis perspicacia in sapientiae cum adoratione suspensa ("the clear gaze of a free spirit, suspended in wonder, on the marvels of wisdom"). St. Thomas may have known that formula, but he definitely knew the more "intellectual" definition of Benjamin Major based upon it-perspicax et liber animi contuitus in res perspiciendas ("the soul's clear and free dwelling upon the object of its gaze"). One feels convinced that traditional monasticism would have laid emphasis on the words cum admiratione suspensa ("suspended in wonder"); all know that St. Thomas, so influenced by Aristotelian philosophy, laid emphasis on the mentis perspicacia ("the clear gaze of the Spirit"). [65] St. Thomas lived in an age when the rupture between theology and the "experimental knowledge of God" had not yet occurred. But one sees, in hindsight, a clear intimation of what was to come.

We have now seen some of the consequences for lay spirituality of the decline and disrepute of a monasticism which had almost lost its priceless heritage of meditative prayer in its re-ordered priorities and in its secular entanglements. We have also seen some of the consequences, for lay spirituality of what the new orders had to offer. We must now indicate briefly an important trend in spirituality which, while located outside the monasteries and explicitly anti-conventual, managed (again ironically) to preserve the essential treasure of traditional monastic prayer and to pass it on to a great extent through the laity to modern monasticism.

In the last decades of the 14th century, masters of prayer as diverse as Catherine of Siena, Gerard Groot, and the so-called "English Mystics" appeared at the same time, but quite independently of any contact with each other. Despite real differences, they were united by a combined distrust for abstract theological speculation and for traditional religious life (whether monastic or conventual). They were not, however, disdainful of the intellect; they had an appreciation of the real contributions of the Fathers, monastic writers, and the schoolmen-they turned to all of these, not for finished answers, but for authentic direction; and they were above all faithful to the community of the Church despite their feeling that the monastic and conventual orders had failed in their spirituality.

Although Catherine of Siena was a Dominican tertiary, she is reported to have said, "My cell will not be one of stone, but that of selfknowledge." [66] She was very much directed by what she called "an interior Master", and not by "a system of concepts, an arrangement of formulas, a solemn din of words." [67] Many found her self-assurance and imperious manner disconcerting- she constantly corrects and admonished her many correspondents "in the name of Christ" or "in the precious blood of Christ", and is said to have been irascible and volatile in her manner. Her notable Dialogues, and also some Letters and Prayers preserve what we know of her teaching. [68] Despite her distrust of the monastic and conventual traditions, her love of the Church pervades virtually every aspect of her Dialogues. This aspect of her work sounds a cautionary note to all who would dabble in spiritual and mystical matters without the community of the People of God, by which the Holy Spirit of God instructs, admonishes, purifies, supports, enlightens, and guides those who seek. Him. Without her deep ecclesial sense, Catherine's repudiation of monastic and conventual community could easily have led her as far astray as, for example, Margery Kempe (obiit AD 1440). [69] Jean Leclercq [70] wonders, quite justifiably, whether "she is not a case for a psychiatrist rather than a theologian"--or would have benefitted from a soundly based Master of prayer. Other contemplatives of this period were decidedly solitary or eremitical, as we see for example the Ancrene Riwle [71] an English book of contemplative piety, or the Regula Reclusorum Angliae [72], a practical instruction for lay recluses which is not only antimonastic and anticonventual, but even antiprelatical, if not indeed generally anticlerical! Composed about AD 1280, it seems to have been composed by a disaffected Augustinian canon.

The eremitical inclination of the English Mystics, with all its pitfalls and potential dangers, is also to be seen in the contemplative works of Richard Rolle (obiit AD 1349), The Fire of Love, [73] The Form of Perfect Living, [74] and the Melos Amoris. [75] His work despite the fact that he had been a Doctor of Theology at the Sorbonne, is remarkably free from scholastic theory and abstract speculative ideas. Rolle admits that contemplation is an act of intellect, but repeatedly asserts the primacy of its object and not its means or technique-its object being participation in the love of the Trinity expressed in its divine Persons and their processions, a view very close to that of the great modern insight of Henri le Saux, [76] and remarkably consistent with the ancient tradition of monastic prayer extending through John Cassian and St. Benedict. Since Rolle lived the life of an independent solitary, he seldom mentions the necessity of

spiritual guidance. His was an "interior Master", whom he quite naturally associated with the Holy Spirit. The danger here, however, is that the home of the Holy Spirit is the Church (not the individual), and estrangement from the body of the Church may entail a distorted sense of the Holy Spirit and His proper action. For example, Rolle continually draws an opposition between the two activities of loving God and loving one's brother. Accentuating the primacy of the love of God so far as to warn contemplatives that fraternal charity may distract them from the prayer. [77] Dangerously close to a repudiation of Jesus' summary of the law of love, such a conception is quite alien to the traditional monastic view of love and prayer. Rolle's comparison of the fruits of perfect contemplation to bodily sensations is also alien to the monastic view, although common enough in the later mystics.

Probably the greatest work of this period is the anonymous "Cloud of Unknowing" [78] and other related treatises. This remarkable work shows a real ecclesial sense for orthodoxy, for the role of sacrament and the fellowship of the Church and for spiritual guidance. For the Cloud, the way to God is that of love--a 'fully good and holy love' which is more balanced than that advocated by Rolle. It is a love which reached both God and one's neighbor. Contemplative love, in order to pierce the "cloud of unknowing" (a vocabulary which anticipates the "divine darkness" of St. John of the Cross) the Cloud recommends the repetition of a simple prayer-word which will penetrate the cloud of unknowing. To this extent the Cloud stands very clearly in the tradition of John Cassian and St. Benedict and of the hesychasm of Eastern Orthodoxy-the authentic tradition of early monasticism. [79] This way of prayer, "work" as the Cloud calls it, is the true opus Dei--a concept which commends it strongly to the Benedictine ethos. The Cloud's author speaks wisely of the need for Teachers in prayer to assist the budding contemplative to discern the good and evil movements of the soul; his treatise The Epistle of Discretion [80] urges the contemplative to seek wisdom in "the school of God", an idea at least broadly akin to St. Benedict's dominici schold servitii (RB 1980, Prol. 45) and to the idea of 'wisdom-as-discretion' which pervades the Rule. For the Cloud's author, only teachers of prayer grounded in the reality of the Church, its authentic traditions, and in its discipline can help the contemplative to avoid illusions and the excesses of unbridled imagination of those who "travail their imagination so indiscreetly that they turn their brain in their heads; and then as fast at once the devil hath power to feign some false light or sounds, sweet smells in their noses, wonderful tastes in their mouths, and many quaint heats and burnings in their bodily breasts or in their bowels, in their backs and in their reins and in their members". [81] True contemplative "work" can only be achieved in humble submission to God and under the direction of a teacher of prayer.

This brief diversion away from the question of Benedictine oblature to a consideration of contemplatives who have rejected monastic roles and conventions indicates a subject for further study. We note evidence of distinctive consequences for lay spirituality. Much of the written work on oblature is essentially constitutional and canonical. Regrettably, rather less attention has been given to the conceptual issues of oblate and lay spirituality within the monastic tradition.

Benedictine oblates were more or less numerous in European monasteries until about 1780. The Benedictine Order was reduced to about eight small houses in Europe; in France the monasteries and religious orders (and hence oblature) was virtually eradicated. With the revival of monasticism in the 19th century the institution of oblature was reinstated. Increasing numbers were attracted to it in Europe, England, and North America. Some appreciation of its popularity may be seen in the number of historical sketches, handbooks of instruction, spiritual manuals, and periodicals listed in the Benedictine Bibliography. [82]

It is true that the number of oblates began to decrease in the wake of post-Vatican 11 changes in the Church and in religious institutions. But there is a marked trend for oblature to be revived in communities which are open and receptive, and in which the "return to sources" advocated by Vatican II has led to a serious commitment to simple, humble monastic prayer. It is yet another example of the historical trend all have noted for oblature to be revived when monastic reform has led to a rediscovery, or rearticulation, of the ancient (generally pre-medieval) tradition which presents a prospect of a simple life of prayer lived out in generous familial fraternity. The biography of such a movement in a monastery of our time is tellingly and touchingly recorded in John Main's "Letters from the Heart". [83]

A historical review of oblature may be very helpful in the reconstruction of monastic communities. We have seen how oblature has been remarkably responsive to the spiritual needs of the times, and has always cherished the precious legacy of monastic prayer. Consider the variety of legitimate roles and functions that oblature provided in the Cluniac familia, in large cenobia, in small priories, in eremitical orders. It has shown a remarkable elasticity--not a shapelessness, but a creative response to the needs of a particular situation interpreted through a vital tradition. The Oblate may live for life in monastic communities as mortui mundo, having given himself and his property to the community without reservation (a plenus oblatus, a persona ecclesiastica). He may face the challenge of living "in the world" by the principles of the Rule in fraternal union and affiliation with the monastic community. This is the option that probably most oblates in history have taken. It allows for a diversity of accommodations to persons and situations. Perhaps it is now time to consider yet another option which has recurred in history, and may have much to offer prayerful people in our time--the creation of residential communities of Oblates of St. Benedict who may minister to their fellows in a new monasticism to a world crying out for the silent, generous prayer which it has to offer. The free and supple structure of oblature adapts well to a wide variety of religious temperament and social circumstance. It seems to present marvelous and large opportunities for the life of intensive Christian meditation and prayer; it is a rich inheritor of, and contributor to, the life of evangelical humility and simplicity envisioned by Our Holy Father Benedict, a man of God for all times." [84]

Footnotes:

1. Here we mean "role" much in the sense that it would be used in sociology--a pattern of behaviour, with a repertoire of expectations and obligations, characteristic of an

individual located in a determinate social structure. The definition is clumsy; the idea is simple-but the definition is worth noting here, since the word "role" will occur throughout this paper.

2. Of the several dozen pieces of work on oblature and lay affiliation from the monastic scholarship of the last century, the following have been found to be very useful: Paul Galtier, art. "Conversi", Dictionnaire de SpiritualW Tome 11 Partie 2, cols. 2224 ff. Paris: Beauchesne, 1949-1953; E. Adda, "Penitents ruraux communautaires en Italie au XII si&le", R~vue d'Histoire Ecclesiastique Tome XLIX ( 1954), pp. 344 ff.; Avon, "Gli oblati secolari de San Benedetto," Rivista Storica Benedettina t. XIV ( 1932), pp. 10 1 - 124; U. Berliere, Les oblats de Saint-Benoit au Moyen Age," Messager des Fideles Tome 111 (1886), pp. 55-61, 107-111, 156-160, 209-220, 249-255; J. Uttenweiler, art. " Oblaten, " Lexikon ftir Theologie und Kirche Band 7 cols. 658-659. Frei bu rg- i m- Breisgau: Herder, 1935; S. Hilpisch, art. "Conversi, " pp. 285-286. New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967; P. Galtier, "Penitents et 'convertis'," Rue d'Histoire Ecclesiastique Tome XXXIII (1937), pp. 1-26, 227-305; Th. Jijngt, "Pfrundoblaten," Benediktinische Monatshrift Band VII ( 1925), pp. 219-224; R. Verardo, "La Crisi Attuale dei Fratelli Conversi, " Vita Cristiana XIX ( 1950), 419-459. The very best studies must be considered to include the following, despite the controversy over some of their findings: K. Hallinger, "Woher kommen die Laienbriider," Analecta Sacris Ordinis Cisterciensia XII (1956), pp. 1-104; Henri Leclercq, art. "Oblat," Dictionnaire dArcheologie Chr6tienne et de Liturgie Tome XII Partie 2, cols. 1857-1877. Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ane, 1936; Maurice Laporte, art. " Freres, " Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Tome V, cols. 1193-1207, Paris: Beauchesne, 1964; Jourdain Boncluelle et JeanMarie Larose, art. "Freres: Orientations Spirituelles Actuelles," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Tome V, cols. 1227-1240. Paris: Beauchesne, 1964; Adalbert de Vogue, La Regle de Saint-Benoit Tome VI; Sources Chretiennes No. 186; S6rie des Textes Monastiques d'Occident No. XXXIX, pp. 952-977, 1356-1368. Paris : Editions du Cerf, 1971.

3. Cf. eg. David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius: A Study in the Constitutional History of the Religious Orders. Oxford, Clarendon, 1966, 18-22, 28-30 etc.; David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England 2nd. ed. Cambridge University Press, 419-420; 211-216, 348-350, 656-661; Bede Lackner, The Eleventh-Century Background of Citeaux. Washington: Cistercian Publications, 1972; Louis J. Lekai, The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality. Kent State University Press, 1977, esp. Ch. XXI, "Laybrotherhood"; T.A. Brockhaus, Religious Who Are Known as Conversi. Washington: Catholic University of America, 1946; J. Donnely, The Decline of the Medieval Cistercian Laybrotherhood. New York: Fordhant University Press, 1948. A valuable recent, though brief, article in English is Conrad Greenia, "The Laybrother Vocation in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries," Cistercian Studies Quarterly Review vol. XVI no. 1 (1981), pp. 39-45.

4. At this stage we can take no firm position on the vexed argument among certain monastic historians whether laybrotherhood evolved out of the institutions of infant oblature, or whether it was largely a new creation of the 11th century. I do in fact lean to

the former position, but it cannot be denied that very learned monastic scholars lean to the latter position (eg. K. Hallinger, Maurice Laporte, Walter Franke).

5. Cf. ef. Reguld Benedicti cap. 53.1, 7, 15. All references to the Regula Benedicti in this paper are to Timothy Fry et al., RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1981.

6. Cf. eg. RB cap. 60.

7. It is reputed that in early monastic times, clerics presented themselves for admission to monasteries as laymen. The motivation was one of humility. This also oc cured in the 11th and 12th centuries during the florescence of the institution of the conversi (cf. Greenia, op. cit., p. 44; Lekai, op. cit., 334-344).

8. Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols. 1857-1858; William Smith and Samuel art. "Oblati (Monastici)". A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. London: John Murray, 1880; de VogU6, op. cit., p. 1357.

9. Henri Leclercq, ibid; cf. also Guy de Valous, Le Monachisme Clunisien des Origines au XVe Siecle Tome I (Paris: Picard, 1970, p. 40).

10. de Vogue, op. cit., pp. 1355-1368.

11. de Vogue, op. cit., pp. 951-977 (esp. pp. 962-970), treats this question extensively. Not all would agree with his treatment of the question.

12. de Vogue, op. cit., pp. 1365-1368 makes some tantalizing contrasts between oblature in RB and in the oriental tradition.

13. as with all of his treatment of RB, de Vogue is strongly influenced by appreciation of RM-cf. eg. de Vogiid, op. cit., pp. 951-970.

14. Hallinger, op. cit.; P. Galtier, art. "Freres," cols. 1193-1207; Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols. 1857-1863.

15. Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols. 1859-1860.

16. Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols. 1857-1861; Smith and Cheetham, op. cit.; de Valous, op. cit. , pp. 40-4 1.

17. Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols. 1860-1863.

18. Henri Leclercq, op. cit., cols 1861-1867 treats the Carolingian situation in some detail. He includes oblation documents from cartularies of the period. However, Lackner's treatment of the Carolingian period-Bede Lackner, The Eleventh-Century Background of Citeaux, Washington: Cistercian Publications, 1972, pp. 1-39 is masterful.

Guy de Valous, op.cit., pp. 40-50 provides valuable background. Hrabanus Maurus, Liber de oblatione puerorum, contra cos qui repugnant inslitutis beati Patris Benedicti, is to be found in Migne P.L. vol. CVII cols. 419 sqq.; Jean Leclercq, "The Carolingian Renewal," Ch. IV, The Spirituality of the Middle Ages, London: Burns and Oates, 1968.

19. Valuable background to Celtic Monasticism is to be found in J.F.Kenney, The Sourcesfor the Early History of Ireland vol. I New York, 1929, which still stands as one of the chief sources on the subject. Cf. also Jean Leclercq, op. cit., ch's II and III.

20. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 49-51.

21. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., p. 51, citing with approval P. Galtier, "Penitents et 'convertis'," Revue dHistoire Ecclesiastique Tome XXXIII (1937), 1-26, 277-305.

22. Cf. de Valous, op. cit., pp. 44-50; José Mattoso, Le Monachisme Iberique et Cluny. Louvain: Publications Universitaires de Louvain, 1968, pp. 228-235.

23. Conrad Greenia, op. cit., pp. 39-40

24. Cf. de Valous, op. cit., pp. 27-54; Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 103-110; Bede Lackner, op. cit., pp. 40-91; an older, but still usefull source on Cluny is Joan Evans, Monastic Life at Cluny 910-1157. Cambridge University Press, 1931.

25. de Valous, op. cit., p. 42

26. de Valous, op. cit., p. 43.

27. Bede Lackner, op. cit., p. 66; It should be noted, however, that it was the same Abbot William of Hisrau (ob. 1091) who did much to give a precise status to claustral oblates, and to "secular oblates" who lived "in the world" in affiliation with a monastery. The oblation of the "secular oblate" included a promise of obedience, sometimes also of chastity, and entailed the transmission of at least part of their possessions to the monastery (Alcuin Deutsch, Manual for Oblates of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minn.: St. John's Abbey Press, 1937, p. 21).

28. de Valous, op. cit., pp. 42-48; Mattoso, op. cit., 228-235.

29. de Valous, ibid.; Mattoso, ibid. It is worth noting at this point that there was a large number of terms for child oblates, adult oblates, laybrothers, and other lay monastic affiliates. Some of the terms are synonymous, but others indicate shades of meaning which help considerably to clarify our understanding of lay roles in monastic institutions. A valuable analysis could be made of these terms, especially if they could be located in their Sitz iin Leben (to borrow a phrase from biblical criticism) rather than simply defining them in abstracto. A good start might be made with the aid of Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediae et Infirmae Latinafis (Reprint of 1883-1887 edition), Graz: Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt ( 10 vol.), 1954. We cannot even begin such an

analysis here, but the following list of terms (certainly not complete) gives some notion of the complexity: oblati, conversi, idiotae, juveneti, matricularii, oblati barbati, laici, dati, donati, condonati, fralri barbati, frati illiterati, nutriti, affiliati, addicti, servi, monachi laici, conversi, conversi barbati, conversi illiterati, relaici, adjuvae conversorum, vicarii conversoruin, pueri, infantes, adolescentiores, traditi, commissio, Deo sacratae, Deodicatae, devotae, familiares, fratres sed non inonachi, fratelli, and many others.

30. For the history of eleventh century developments other than those at Cluny, cf. eg. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 40-115; Greenia, op. cit.; Bede Lackner, op. cit., pp. 168-176; Laporte, op. cit. cols. 1195-1204; Mattoso, op. cit.

31. Bede Lackner, op. cit., p. 168.

32. Conrad Grebnia, op. cit.

33. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 117-118.

34. P. Galtier, art. "Conversi," Dictionnaire de Spiritualite Tome 11 Partie 2, cols. 2218-2224. Paris: Beauchesne, 1949-1953.

35. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 110-119; Bede Lackner, op. cit., pp. 50, 66.

36. Louis J. Lekai, op. cit., esp. pp. 334-346; Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 187-220; David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius: A Study in the Constitutional History of the Religious Orders, Oxford: Clarendon, 1966, esp. Ch. IV "The Cistercians"; Placide Deseilles, "Freres Cisterciens," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Tome V. Paris: Beauchesne, 1964.

37. David Knowles, op. cit., p. 28.

38. David Knowles, ibid.

39. Rievaulx had over 600 laybrothers-cf. David Knowles, The Monastic Order in England. 2nd. ed. Cambridge University Press, 1963; David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius, p. 30.

40. David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius, p. 29.

41. Bede Lackner, "Appendix 1, Early Cistercian Documents in Translation", pp. 442-466, in Louis J. Lekai, The Cistercians, Kent State University Press, 1977, p. 459.

42. Maurice Laporte, op. cit. col. 1201.

43. David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius, p. 33.

44. J. Van Mierlo, "Béguins, Béguines, Béguinages,- Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Tome I Partie 2, cols. 1341-1352. Paris: Beauchesne, 1949-1953; Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 353-364.

45.Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 362-363, 376-378, 379-388.

46. J. Van Mierlo, op. cit., col. 1348.

47. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 449-505; M. Monaco, art. "Frances of Rome, St.," New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1967, p. 25; P.J. Lugano, "L'instituzione delle Oblate di Tor de' Specchi, secondo; documenti," Rivista Storica Benedettina XIV (1923), pp. 272-308.

48. Maurice Laporte, op. cit., col. 1201.

49. cf also Louis J. Lekai, The Rise of the Cistercian Strict Observance in Seventeenth Century France. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1968.

50. Maurice Laporte, op. cit., 1202

51. cf. eg. David Knowles, "Twelfth Century Developments," Ch. V in From Pachomius to Ignatius: A Study in the Constitutional History of the Religious Orders. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966, pp. 31-40.

52. David Knowles, op. cit., p. 36.

53. cf. Jean Leclercq, "Lay Spirituality in the Twelfth Century," in The Spirituality of the Middle Ages ed. Jean Leclercq, Franqois Vandenbrouche and Louis Bouyer. London: Burns and Oates, 1968, pp. 243-282; David Knowles, From Pachomius to Ignatius (Ch. V1, "The Friars Minor"). Oxford: Clarendon, 1966, pp. 41-48; Willibrord de Paris, "Freres Franciscains," Dictionnaire de Spiritualité Tome V. Beauchesne: Paris, 1964, cols. 1210-1217. 54. Jean Leclercq, "The Franciscan Spring," in The Spirituality of the Middle Ages, op. cit., pp. 283-314.

55. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 288-290.

56. Useful works in considering Franciscan constitutional history and their emphasis on the lay role model may be found in: Blaze Gitzen, "The Early Capuchin Lay Brother," Round Table of Franciscan Research vol. X1 (1945), pp. 9-18; Alessandro da Ripabottoni. I fratelli laici nel pritno ordine francescano. Rome, 1956; art. " De instructione fratrum laicorum," Analecta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum vol. Ll (1935), pp. 22 ff.; Vigilio de Valstagna, "Littera de fratribus laicis," Analecta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum vol. Llll (1937), pp. 117-134; Clement of Milwaukee, "De fratribus laicis ordinis nostri," Analecta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum vol. LXXV (1959), fascicles 10-11. David Knowles, "The Friars Minor," op. cit. and Jean Leclercq, "The Franciscan Spring," op. cit. provide useful summary discussions of the

Franciscan movement, although there is great merit still in the monumental article by F. Ehrle, "Die altesten Reclactionen der Generalconstitutionen der Franziskanerordens, "Archiv flir Litteratur und Kirchengeschichte Band V1, pp. 1-138.

57. For a text of this rule, cf. B. Bughetti, ed., "Manuale Propositi Fratrum et Sororum de Penitentia in dornibus propriis existentium" (orig. AD 1221), Arch. franc. hist. Tome XIV (1921), pp. 109-121.

58. Although they are not, according to subsequent canonical decision, members of the Benedictine Order.

59. the preferred Benedictine usage.

60. the preferred usage of later religious orders, perhaps especially the Dominicans and the Society of Jesus.

61. David Knowles, "The Order of Preachers," Ch. VI in From Pachomius to Ignatius,, A Study in the Constitutional History of the Religious Orders. Oxford: Clarendon, 1966, p. 49.

62. Jean Leclercq's judgement; cf. "Laity and Clergy in the Thirteenth Century," in Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 371-372, 405-406.

63. Jean Leclercq, op. cit, p. 372.

64. Jean Leclercq, op. cit. p. 371.

65. for a discussion of St. Thomas' views from a traditional monastic perspective cf. Leclercq, op. cit., pp. 335-336.

66. R. Gautier and L. Canet. La Double Experience de Catherine Bemincasa. Paris, 1948, p. 60.

67. R. Gautier and L. Canet, op. cit., p. 247.

68. on Catherine's spirituality cf. J. Wilbois, Sainte Catherine de Sienne et L'Actualitié de Son Message, Tournai, 1948; M.S. Gillet, La Mission de Sainte Catherine de Sienne, Paris, 1946; M.H. Laurent, art. "Catherine de Sienne, "Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie EcclOsiastique Tome X1, cols. 1518-1524; A. Grion, Santa Catarina da Siena: Dottrina et Fonti. Brescia, 1953; as on other matters of medieval spirituality, Jean Leclercq's judgements are admirable-cf. op. cit., pp. 409-416.

69. Margery Kernpe's autobiography written ca. AD 1436-1438 was not discovered until 1934, cf. The Book of Margery Kempe, crit. ed. S.B. Meech and H.E. Allen, London, 1940; K. Cholmondley, M.K.'s Genius and Mystic, London, 1947; H.S. Bennett, "M.K. and the Holy Eucharist, "Downside Review vol. LVI (1938), pp. 468-482.

70. Jean Leclercq, op. cit., p. 426.

71. English editions are: TheAncreneRiwle (2 vols.) ed. M. Day, London, 1952; The Ancrene Riw1e, ed. A.C. Baugh, London, 1956.

72. "Regula Reclusorurn Angliae et Quaestiones tres de Vita Solitaria Saec. XIII-XIV, Antonianum IX ( 1934), pp. 37-84, 243-268; cf. also 1. Foster, "The Book of the Anchorite," Proceedings of the British Academy vol. XXXVI (1950), pp. 197-226.

73. Incendium Amoris, ed. M. Deanesley, Manchester, 1915.

74. Die Traktate des R.R. von Hampole "Incendium Amoris" and "Emmendatio Vitae" und deren Ubersetzung durch Richard Mysin, Leipzig, 1932, ed. E. Schnell

75. E. Arnould, The Melos Amoris of R.R. of Hampole, Oxford, 1957, cf. esp. Appendix 11, pp. 210-238.

76. Henri le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananda) Saccidananda, New Delhi, I.S.P.C.K., 1972.

77. Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love, Book 1. Ch. 111.

78. crit. ed. by P. Hodgson, London, 1944; a translation into modern English by Justin McCann, London, 1936, remains of great value; cf. also David Knowles, "The Excellence of the Cloud," Downside Review vol. 1,11 (1934), pp. 71-92.

79. cf. John Main, Word into Silence, Paulist Press, New York 1981; Christian Meditation: Prayer in the Tradition of John Cassian; Monastic Prayer and Modern Man, both published by the Benedictine Priory of Montreal; cf. also his Lettersfrom the Heart: Christian Monasticism and the Renewal of Community. Crossroad: New York, 1982.

80. crit. ed. P. Hodgson, London, 1955.

81. The Cloud of Unknowing ch. Lll, cf. also passim in ch's XLV, XLVI, XLVII, LI, LVIL

82. Oliver 1. Kapsner, ed., A Benedictine Bibliography: An Author-Subject Union List, 2 vols., 2nd. ed., Collegeville Minnesota: St. John's Abbey Press, 1962, cf. vol. 2 sec. XVI pp. 395-398.

83. John Main, Letters from the Heart: Christian Monasticism and the Renewal of Community. New York: Crossroad, 1982.

84. cf. the remarkable address delivered by Dom Andr6 Louf, Cistercian Abbot of the Abbaye Sainte-Marie-du-Mont at the Cathedral Church of Notre-Dame de Paris, December 16th, 1979, on the occasion of the 1500th anniversary of St. Benedict. An

English translation appears as "Saint Benedict: A man of God for all Times," Cistercian Studies Quarterly Review vol. XV no. 3 (1980), pp. 217-228.

This article first appeared in MONASTIC STUDIES 13, Autumn 1982. Used with permission.

The World Community for Christian Meditation www.wccm.org

3/8/03 3/8/05