A Benedictine Reader shares the treasures of the Benedictine traditionthrough the collaboration of a dozen scholars. It provides a broad and deep sense of the reality of Benedictine monasticism using primary sources in English translation. The texts included are drawn from many different genres and originally written in six different languages. The introduction to each of the chapters aims to situate each author and text and to make connections with other texts and studies within and outside the Reader. This second volume of A Benedictine Reader looks at Benedictine monks and nuns from many angles, as founders, reformers, missionaries, teachers, spiritual writers and guides, playwrights, scholars, and archivists. In four centuries, they went from Bavaria to North America and Africa, from England and Spain to Australia, adapting to new environments. Committed to the liturgy by their profession, they played an important role in the liturgical renewal that culminated at Vatican II. Rooted in God, church, and their surroundings, they showed remarkable resilience in the face of wars, confiscations, suppression, and exile. Their impact has been deep and stabilizing, and their story is a microcosm of the history of the church in modern times.

Table of Contents:
Contents Dedication and Epigraph    ix Preface    xi      By Maureen M. O’Brien Contributors    xiii Introduction    xvii      By Hugh Feiss, OSB Acknowledgments    xxxiii I. Sixteenth–Seventeenth Centuries    1. Saint-Michel de Bois-Aubry, Jacques Bienassis, and Religious Toleration    3           Introduction by Pamela Park and Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected and translated by Pamela Park    2. Fray Pedro Ponce de León, OSB (ca. 1508–1574), and Education of the Deaf    27           Introduction by María Pilar Alonso Abad           Text selected and translated by María Pilar Alonso Abad    3. Augustine Baker, OSB, Recusant Benedictine: Sancta Sophia/ Holy Wisdom    39           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    4. Dame Gertrude More, OSB (1606–1633): Selected Prose and Poetry    55           Introduction by Jacob Riyeff           Texts selected by Jacob Riyeff      5. Faremoutiers and the Benedictine Revival in Seventeenth-Century France    79           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected and translated by Hugh Feiss, OSB    6. The Abbey of Saint Walburg: Devotion to Saint Walburga during the Thirty Years War    101           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Texts selected and translated by Hugh Feiss, OSB    7. The Congregation of Saint Maur in the Seventeenth Century: Claude Martin, OSB, The Practice of the Rule of Saint Benedict    123           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected and translated by Hugh Feiss, OSB    8. Catherine Mechtilde de Bar, OSB (1614–1698), Founder of the Benedictine Nuns of the Institute of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar    147           Introduction by Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB           Text selected and translated by Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB II. Eighteenth Century    9. Martin Sarmiento, OSB (1695–1772), Benedictine Scholar during the Enlightenment    167           Introduction by Julia McCoy           Text translated by Julia McCoy    10. Benedict Michael Pembridge, OSB (1725–1806), and the English Benedictine Congregation, 1688–1795    185           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    11. Maurus Lindemayr, OSB, The Marriage Contract (1770)    209           Introduction by Alkuin Schachenmayr           Text selected and translated by Alkuin Schachenmayr   III. Nineteenth Century    12. The Abbey of La Trinità, Cava dei Tirreni: Archive of a Millennium    233           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Texts selected and translated by Hugh Feiss, OSB    13. Abbot Prosper Guéranger, OSB (1805–1875), Solesmes, and The Liturgical Year    265           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Texts selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    14. Abbot Maurus Wolter, OSB (1825–1890), and the First Fifty Years of Beuron    283           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    15. Father James Ambrose Cotham, OSB (1810–1883), Monk and Missionary    305           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Texts selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    16. Abbot Rosendo Salvado, OSB (1814–1900), Founder of New Norcia Abbey in Western Australia and Missionary to the Aboriginal People    329           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected by Hugh Feiss, OSB    17. Abbot Boniface Wimmer, OSB, Benedictine Founder in North America    353           Introduction by Joel Rippinger, OSB           Text selected by Joel Rippinger, OSB    18. Saint Walburg Abbey, Eichstätt, Bavaria, and the Founding of the American Benedictine Women’s Communities (1806–1881)    359           Introduction by Ephrem Hollermann, OSB           Texts selected by Ephrem Hollermann, OSB      19. Father Ignatius Lyne (1837–1908): Monasteries in the Church of England    381           Introduction by Greg Peters           Text selected by Greg Peters    20. John Henry Newman (1801–1890) and the Benedictines    401           Introduction by Owen Cummings           Texts selected by Owen Cummings IV. Twentieth Century    21. Saint Ottilien and Tutzing and Their African Missions, 1883–1906: The Travel Diary (1905) of Abbot Norbert Weber, OSB    419           Introduction by Hugh Feiss, OSB           Text selected and translated by Hugh Feiss, OSB    22. Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB (1858–1923): Spiritual Guide    445           Introduction by Joel Rippinger, OSB           Texts selected by Joel Rippinger, OSB    23. Father Virgil Michel, OSB (1890–1938): Liturgy and Social Justice    457           Introduction by Joel Rippinger, OSB           Texts selected by Joel Rippinger, OSB Index of Subjects    467 Index of Persons    481 Index of Locations    491