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VOLUME 6 NOI/EMBER, 79S7
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois
http://archive.org/details/dominicanmonasti06unse
DOMINICAN MONASTIC SEARCH
VOLUME 6 NOVEMBER, 1987
DOMINICAN MONASTIC SEARCH Is published by the Conference of the Nuns of the
Order of Preacher-, of the United States of America. The Conference Is an organ-
ization of Independent monasteries whose purpose is to foster the monastic contem-
plative life of the nuns In the spirit of Saint Dominic.
PRESIDENT
Sister Mary of Cod, O.P. (North Guilford)
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sister Mary Catherine, O.P., Coordinator (Elmira)
Sister Mary Martin, O.P. (Summit) Sister Mary of Jesus, O.P. (Bronx)
Business Management: Sister Mary of the Immaculate Conception, O.P. , ,.
Sister Marv of the Sacred Heart, O.P. (Wes+ Springfield)
DOMINICAN MONASTIC SEARCH is a spiritual and theological review written by
the nuns. Its purpose is to foster the Dominican monastic contemplative life by
the sharing of insights gained from study and prayer. It is published once a year
as a service to the nuns. It is also available to the wider Dominican Family and
others ucon request, from whom a donation of $8.00 to aid in the cost of printing
would be appreciated, when possible.
Contributions to this review should be researched and prepared with concern
for literary and intellectual quality. Manuscripts submitted should be clearly
typed, single spaced, on one side of the paper only. The deadline for manuscripts
is October 1st of each year. Minor editing will be done at the discretion of the
editors. If major changes are desired, these will be effected in dialogue with
the authors. The editors, in consultation with the Conference Council, reserve
the right to reiect inappropriate manuscripts, though reasons will be given to
the authors with courtesy and encouragement. The Open Forum section is offered
to those nuns who would like the opportunity to express their ideas briefly and
informally, and to encourage dialogue among the nuns on spiritual subjects. Each
separate contribution to Open Forum should be limited to approximately 500 words.
All book reviews and poetry should be sent to Sister Mary of Jesus (Bronx) .
Open Forum contributions should be sent to Sister Mary Martin (Summit) . All
other articles should be sent to Sister Mary Catherine (Elmira) .
CONFERENCE OF NUNS OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
All Rights Reserved
'Mother of Contemplation"
Photo of ceramic by Brazilian
artist, Claudio Pastro
(The Dominican nuns in Brazil
are asking him to design the
chapel in their new monastery
"poor and beautiful.")
tabu of contents
Editorial 1
Pilgrim Virgin, Pilgrim Church 3
Sister Mary Emily, O.P. (Lufkin)
'In the Name of Sweet Mary" 7
Sister Mary Jeremiah, O.P. (Lufkin)
Courtyard Scene (Poem) 14
Sister Mary Regina, O.P. (West Springfield)
Mary in the Incarnation and the Signs of the Times 15
Sister Virginia Mary, O.P. (Summit)
Sign of Hope 22
Sister M. Giuseppina, O.P. (Marino, Italy)
The Rule of St. Augustine for Today 27
Sister Maria Agnes, O.P. (Summit)
We Hail Thee (Poem) 37
Sister Mary Rose Dominic, O.P. (Summit)
Poetry: Speech Framed for Contemplation 38
Sister Mary Elizabeth, O.P. (Newark)
The Sun (Poem) 55
Sister Mary Martin, O.P. (Summit)
Address to the Presidents of the Federation of Spanish Dominican Nuns . .56
Jean Jerome Hamer, O.P.
First Glimpse of Mother Maria Teresa 61
Sister Mary of the Holy Cross, O.P. (Buffalo)
The First Constitutions of the Dominican Sisters of Montargis 72
Raymond Creytens, O.P.
BOOK REVIEW
The Sweet Voice of the Turtledove - Sister M. Giuseppina, O.P. ... 89
Sister Mary Jeremiah, O.P. (Lufkin)
EDITORIAL
The Blessed Virgin Mary has held a prominent place in the tlieology and
devotion oh tlie Vomlnlcan Order bln.cz tts foundation. One oh the earliest
expressions oh tlvU devotion was the Salve Rcgina 6ung in procession to her
altar. Tlxls beautiful antliem ha* retained Us place at the end oh Nig lit Prayer
night up to tlie present, and It still hat, tlie power to draw heAvon hrom the
hearts oh all Vomlnlcan*, a* we ai>k Mary at tlie doting oh each day to "*how
us the bleated hruit oh your womb, Jesus." These \<W voord* epitomize oust Vomln-
lcan Marian tlieology and devotion: it Is Mary, above all, who leach us Into the
mystery oh Clirlst.
Pope John Paul IT hah recently exploded tills Ionian theology at great length
A.n great depth, and with deep personal love in his lastest encyclical Redemptorl*
Mate*. In a concluding pottage oh tlie document tlie Pope tell* u* that Ills reason
hon proclaiming the present Marian yean. is "to emphasize the special presence oh
the Mother oh God In the mystery oh Clirlst and Ills ChuAch."
In order to honor this Marian Vear we oac dedicating this l**ue oh DOMINICAN
MONASTIC SEARCH, In pant, to Marian tliemes. Qua hirst aAtlcle attempt* to *um-
maAize Pope John Paul' 6 encyclical In teAmi> oh tlie *pMXual journey oh Mary and
oh tlie ChuAch, a journey leading us tliAough Christ, in the Spirit, to the Father.
In the second aAtlcle we look at Marian devotion h*-om a pcAtlculaAly Vomlnlcan per-
spective as it is hound In the teaching oh St. Catherine oh Siena. Our thlAd article
explain*, again* t tlie background oh the two papal encyclical* Vive* In Mlserlcordla
and Redemptoris Mater, tlie theme oh the mercy oh God revealed progressively in Holy
Scripture and exempllhled In the heart* oh Je*u* and Mary understood a* special
Sign* oh God'* mercy In today'* world. There i* an intervening poem which is
revlete with hidden Girl* to logical and Marian symbolism. Our hinal contribution
on Mary, again h^om tlie Vomlnlcan perspective, i* a translation oh a chapter h^om
a recent book on Vomlnlcan lihe by an Italian Vomlnlcan Uun.
The tf-cve remaining article* are concerned with a variety oh topic*. There Is
an exploration oh the spirituality In the Rule oh St. Augu*tlne. Thl* Is hollowed
by a description oh the contemplative orientation underlying the poetry oh Gerard
Manley HoplUns, some oh whose poems are published hor liturgical use In our present
breviary. Then we look at two translation* wlilch are somewhat related In topic.
The ji**t Is a very pertinent address given last year at a meeting oh tlie presidents
oh the Spanish Federation* oh Vomlnlcan Hun* by Jerome Cardinal Hamer. The second
<u the prehace and hir*t chapter oh a biograplilcal sketch oh Motlier Teresa Maria
oh the monastery oh Olmcdo In Spain. Our concluding paper, a commen-
tary on the Constitution* oh Montargi* {1250), i* a tran*latlon h^om the French
originally published In Archlvum Fratium Praedicatorum In 1947, but oh timely
Interest In view oh the recent revision and promulgation oh our Constitution*.
Two more poems and a book review complete our presentation.
We hope that tills 1987 issue oh VMS is, at least In part, a small contribution
in honor oh the Marfan Vear, under the guidance oh Pope John Paul II, witli an
implicit prayer to the Mother oh God and our Mother to "show us the h^ait oh your
womb, Jesus" during our present spiritual journey and at the end oh our earthly exile.
Sister M. Catlierlne, O.P.
Elmlra
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-2-
FILGR1M VIRGIN, HI.GRIN CHURCH
Sister Mary Fmily, O.P.
Lufkin, TX
lope John Paul II issued his sixth encyclical, Red em pt oris M^ter,
on March 25, 19^7, feast of the Annunciation. This extraordinary letter
is heavily threaded with the concept of the pilgrim and the journey aspects
of the Mother of the Redeemer and the Church.
In the introduction to this encyclical the Koly Father focuses
attention on the Fauline, "fullness of time."(l.) This reference to one
of the major pleroma passages in scripture has a definite bearinr on his
entire message. The Greek word plerom is translated as plenitude and
fullness. (2. ) This plenitude is contained in its fullness in the Redeemer.
Christ, because of his plenitude of Godhead, has brought grace and
salvation through his life, death and resurrection. Thus, pleroma is
shared with us, not by nature as it is in Christ, but by participation in his
fullness according to our response to this gift.
Through the conception and birth of lory's son, the Incarnation,
the "fullness of time" graces our world. This "fullness of time" is
inaugurated by the coming of the Redeemer. Yet, Mary, the bright "morning
Star" precedes the arrival of the Father's gift of plenitude in Christ.
The Pope expresses it in this way:
For just as this star (Stella Matutina), together with
the "dawn" precedes the risinr of the Son, so Mary from
the time of her Immaculate Conception preceded the coming
of the Savior, the rising of the "Son of Justice" in
the history of the human race. (3.'
So it is that Mary of Nazareth begins her pilgrimage in the fullness
of her Son as a kind of forerunner, though certainly the grace of her
Immaculate Conception and that of the Annunciation are ultimately
dependent upon her Son from whom all plenitude is dispensed. Vatican II
adds an additional nuance:
The Father of rrercies willed that the consent of the
predestined mother should precede the Incarnation, so
that just as a woman contributed to death, so a woman
should contribute to life.(/*.)
It is precisely this "fullness of time", the coming of the Son
of God, which designates "the hidden beginning or the' Church's journey".
(5«) Here too, Mary is a forerunner, since she goes before the people of
God throughout Christian history as a model and guide. The Holy Father
writes:
-3-
Strenrthened by the presence of Christ, the Church
journeys through time toward the consummation of the
3 res and roes to meet the Lord who comes. Put on this
journey. .. she (the Church) proceeds along the path
already trodden by the Virgin Mary, who 'advanced in
her union with her son unto the cross'. (6.)
Since Mary is to be model and guide to the Church in its journey to
the kingdom, the Holy Father defines with clarity and precision Mary's
fullness of grace, fullness of faith and fullness of motherhood. ' ,
Mary is addressed by the angel at the annunciation as "full of
grace". The Church has always interpreted this phrase literally.
Mary, through a special and uniaue privilege from God, has been free
and preserved from sin, both original and actual, from the moment of
her conception. God performed this wonder because he foreknew her
integrity and because he wanted the eternal Son of God, who is the
"pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty" ( 7 .) , to be born of the sinless
virgin of Nazareth. Thus the humble lowly maiden was filled with grace
so that she might be prepared to be mother of the God Man in the "fullness
of time". And as the Pope explains, this election was ordained by
God before thecreation of the world, because God has "blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places". (8.)
The Holy Father elaborates:
This is a spiritual blessing which is meant
for all peoples and which bears in itself fullness
and universality ('every blessing' ). (9. )
We may rightly conclude that Mary is "full of grace" not only because
of the dipTiity of her Son whom she bore, and the integrity that was hers,
but also, this gift of "fullness of grace" was given her for "all people",
and the effect extends over the entire horizon of salvation history and
into eternity. It is through this history in time, and on into eternity that
the pilgrim virgin of grace precedes the Church.
This rift of'fullness of grace" is bestowed on her through the
power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God, who empowers her with grace,
sustains her in this grace throughout her journey to the fullness
of her destiny and ours. In this, the Fope says, she "remains a sign of
sure hope"(10), and with that reminder, we think again of the Pontiff's
reference to Mary as "Morning Star". That star offers a sign of hope
for the day to come.
Mary's journey in haste to Ain Karim, nestled in the mountains,
"guides us in the footsteps" of our understanding of Mary, the pilgrim
virgin. The Holy Father recalls to us the greeting of Elizabeth to
her cousin Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb]". (11. ). Then another heavy note is struck, "and
blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of
what was spoken to herfrom the Lord". (12.)
-4-
Both these texts reveal an essential Marioloeical
content, namely the truth about Mary, who has
become really present in the mystery of Christ
precisely because she has believed. (13 . )
Mary is the threat woman of faith in the scriptures. In
these same scriptures we see Abraham as the father of faith. Mary's
role for those who believe the thinrs revealed by God is kin to that
of matriarch.
Mary's "obedience of faith" during the whole
of her pilgrimage will show surprising similarities
to the faith ofAbraham. Just like the Patriarch
of the people of God, so too Mary, during the
pilgrimage of her filial and maternal fiat, "in
hope believing against hope". Especially during
certain stages of this journey the blessing granted
to her "who believed" will be revealed with
particular vividness. To believe means 'to
abandon oneself to the truth of the word of the
living God. (ih. )
Mary did abandon herself. She went from strength to strength in
her "pilgrimage of faith": first at the annunciation, then in her visit
to Elizabeth and her trips with Joseph and their child to Jerusalem
for the purification ceremony and to observe Passover. In their
flight into Egypt to save the life of the "King of the Jews", their
son, Mary kept maturing in her faith. As her son "advances in wisdom
and grace before God and man"(l5.)> to begin his "journey to Jerusalem",
Mary also travels with him, all the way to the summit of the cross.
The Pope expresses these thoughts succinctly:
If as "full of grace" Mary has been eternally present
in the mystery of Christ, through faith she becomes
a sharer in that mystery in very extension of her earthly
journey. She "advanced in her pilgrimage of faith"
and at the same time, in a discreet yet direct and
effective way, she made present to humanity the
mystery of Christ. And she still continues to do so.
Through the mystery of Christ, she too is present
within mankind. Thus through the mystery of the son
the mystery of the Mother is also made clear. (16.)
Pope John Paul desires that we, along with John the disciple, hear
Jesus say to us, "behold your mother". Before Mary became the physical
mother' of her son, she became spiritual mother by accepting him in her
heart. In her journey of faith and grace Mary hears and heeds the word
spoken to her. She "hears the word of God and keeps it in her heart"
and ponders it day and nirht. She is like that biblical tree "planted
near running water, that yields its fruit in due season" . (17. ) The fruit
Mary yields is the fruit of her womb, Jesus. She experiences
Motherhood completely, and she roes before us in complete openness to
the Word.
-5-
Because of this unioue affinity with the Word, the Pope highlights
the events of the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee. Here Mary becomes
a mediatrix in a natural way, though her son produces supernatural
effects. It is natural for a mother who notices something her son can
fix to approach him for the job. Mary, as a good mediatrix, turns to
her son, Jesus, to inform him, "They have no wine" .(IB) The point here
is not that Jesus worked a miracle, but that Mary his mother mediates
between the wine stewards and her son. In like manner Mary mediates
with himfor the needs of her spiritual children in grace. She does
this "not as an outsider, but in her position as Mother". And
simificantly, it is she who has once again traveled on before us in
a particular capacity, this time in grace.
In the second major part of the encyclical Pope John Paul places
the Mother of God at the center of the rilgrim Church in a different
way. Instead of extolling her qualities and virtues specifically, he
focuses on her assistance to the Church as the Mother who has gone before
us into heaven. This assistance in plory has its roots in all the
mysteries of Mary, with the event of Fentecost as the launching event,' and
the prelude. It is by reason of her personal graces and privileges that
Mary stands out in high relief in the upper room with Peter and the
apostles on that anointed day of Fentecost. "In the upper room Mary's
journey meets the Church's journey of faith". (.21)
She did not receive the apostolic mission given the apostles, but
she was present as a witness to all the great events in the life of her
son. She was a "unique witness to the mystery of Jesus, that mystery
which before their eyes had been disclosed and confirmed in the cross
and resurrection"* (22.) The apostles, knowing of her "long journey
through faith", found in her a support for their own. And Mary, "who
figured profoundly in the history of salvation. .. summons the faithful
to her son and his sacrifice and love for the Father". (23.)
It is precisely in this ecclesial journey or
pilgrimage through space and time, and even more
through the history of souls, that Mary is present
as one who advanced on the pilgrimage of faith,
sharing unlike any other creature in the mystery of
Christ. (24.)
The faith of Mary, says the Holy Father, always precedes the
"pilgrim people of God" down through the centuries. Thus we find
the world-famous shrines of Marian devotion as an outstanding reminder
to pilgrims of her maternal care and her desire to deepen their personal
faith in God.
Ecumenism in our own day is prominent in the prayer and desire of the
pilgrim Church as we march forward into the future.
Mary is a sign of hope for unity because of her
"obedience of faith". At the present stage of her
journey, therefore, the Church seeks to rediscover
the unity of all who profess thier faith in Christ in
order to whow obedience to her Lord, who prayed for
this unity before his passion. (25. )
-6-
The Church has always modeled herself on Mary's ^o'lme1-, This is
certainly true of our tine a? we stand on the threshold of the third
millennium of Christianity. The Virgin full of rrace ushers us into this
new era in her Son, who is the way of grace and fullness for the pilgrim
Church. We arereminded by the Second Vatican Council that the Queen of
heaven is not unmindful of the trials and tribulations of our time,
and that Mary's mediation continues in the history of the Church and
the world.
...Mary by >-er maternal charity, cares for the
brethren of her ?on who still iourne^ on earth
surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until
they are led to t^eir harry homeland . (26)
And so the encyclical ends; yet/ like Christianity itself, its message
cannot end. We are a rilprim Church looking to the pilprim virgin who
poes before us. We have one calling and one hope from God, and we press
forward in the direction God has called us to experience that pleroma
as Mary experienced it in her son. We will fall short of what
she experienced, but the rrace that comes from him and is mediated
through the Mother of the Redeemer will nevertheless be freely given to those who
will reach out to the source of grace and share her experience proportionately.
The Pope, inhis concern for all the Churches and for all the
peoples of the world, explains a way to move toward this future of fullness
of grace.
Mary is deerly rooted in humanity's history,
in man's eternal vocation according to the
providential plan which God has made for all
eternity. (27. )
NOTES:
1. Gal. h:L
2. Robert C. Broderick,
The Catholic Fncycloredia ,
(Our Sunday Visitor, Inc. ,
Huntinpton, Indian^, 700),
p. ^77.
3. Pods. John^Paul II
ReafcirH-Tis Mater, No. 3
U. ibid, No. 1 "
5. Lumen Gentium. No. 56
6. ibid," 5P
7. Wis. 7:25
B. Eph. 1:3
9. Redemrtoris Mater, No. 8
10. ibid, No. 11
11. cf. Lk l:4C-42
12. Lk. 1-45
13. Redemrtoris Pater, T!o. 12
U. ibid, No. Ik
15. Lk. 2:52
16. Redemrtoris Mater, No. 19
17. Is. 1:3
IP. Jn. 2:3
19. Redemptoris Mater, No. 21
20. ibid, Mo. 23
21. ibid, no. 26
22. ibid ( same No. )
23. Lumen Gentium. No. 65
2U. Redemptoris Mater. No. 25
25. ibid, No. 35
26. Lumen Gentium. No 65
27. Redemptoris Mater. No. 62
-7-
"IN THE NAME OF. . .SWEET MARY"
Sister Mary Jeremiah, OP
Lufkin, Texas
Catherine of Siena is generally considered a predominantly
Christological saint. Jesus Christ penetrates her every thought, word
and action. But the corollary, the less emphasized complement to her
total dedication to Jesus is her unfailing devotion to Mary his Mother.
Catherine's commitment to Mary is like a deep underground spring which
flows silently, yet continually, to nourish and vivify her spiritual
development.
Mother of the Redeemer, the recent and magnificent encyclical of
Pope John Paul II, could well be an elaboration of Catherine's under-
standing of Mary. Catherine sees her in relation to the great mysteries
of Christ's conception, birth, passion, death and resurrection. It is
especially in her participation in the sacrifice of Calvary that Mary
reveals her greatness and maternal relationship to the redeemed as well
as to the Redeemer.
Time and space do not permit a thorough examination of Catherine's
experiences and writings regarding Our Lady, an analysis of which would
fill a book. Blessed Raymond's Life of the saint recounts many stories
including the observation that the most constant words from Catherine's
lips as a child were the "Hail Mary." Her consecration at the age of
seven was entrusted to Mary, Queen of Virgins. Catherine always considered
the guidance and friendship of Raymond of Capua as a special gift from
her heavenly Mother.
Catherine speaks of Mary several times in the Dialogue and even
begins the book by recalling that it was at a Mass on "Mary's day" that
the eternal Father responded to her four petitions for mercy. Mary, as a
solicitous mother, knows how to gift her children. Not only did she give
Raymond to Catherine, but in obedience to the Father, she gave Dominic to
the world to spread the Word of truth.
/Dominic/ was a light that I offered the world
through Mary and sent into the mystic body of
holy Church as an uprooter of heresies. Why
did I say 'through Mary'? Because Mary gave
him the habit - a task my goodness entrusted
to her.
Mary is the bait God uses to save souls and show them his mercy. God
the Father assures Catherine that no one will be lost who loves and
reverences Mary, the gentle Mother of the only-begotten Son.
Mary is mentioned in a number of Catherine's Prayers . One of the
most powerful is Prayer XI in which Catherine addresses Mary of the Feast
-8-
of the Annunciation, 1379. Our Doctor of the Church proclaims Mary as an
"alter Christus" by applying to her images she usually associates with
Christ, for example, "peaceful sea", "fire", "temple of the Trinity",
"bait", "book" and "bearer of mercy". This prayer is a catherinian
litany of marian devotion. At the same time it expounds the doctrinal
aspect of Mary's role in the Incarnation and Redemption.
These are merely brief references; the reader can consult the Life,
Dialogue and Prayers for more examples and further insights. In the
remaining pages, I would like to present several of Catherine's Letters
because they are not readily available in English. Almost 400 letters
are extant. All but five of these begin with the words, "In the name of
Jesus Christ crucified and of sweet Mary," This alone speaks of
Catherine's abiding love for the Mother who is never far from her Son.
Letter 144 to Monna Pavola of Fiesole contains a short summary of
Catherine's understanding of Mary in the economy of salvation. Monna
Pavola was a venerated abbess who had been the spiritual director of
many fervent souls, including the saintly Giovanni Columbini, the founder
of an Order near Siena. Catherine begins this letter by sharing her
contemplative love for Mary expressed in beautiful imagery. She then
concludes by mentioning some practical things to do.
Her theme comprises the two- fold mystery of Incarnation and Redemp-
tion. We sometimes separate these two mysteries of faith, yet Catherine
sees them as one reality, the complete expression of God's love for sinners.
Catherine always places Mary in a collaborative role next to her Son, and
the Mother and Son are never in conflict. The Mother is always subordinate
to her divine Son, yet ahe is also free in fulfilling her unique role in the
work of salvation.
Catherine loves the image of Mary as the fertile soil, the good
field in which the seed of the Word of God is sown. The Word is grafted
into our humanity through Mary. The warmth of the sun, the Spirit-Love
burning within Mary's heart, enables the seed to germinate and bring forth
its flower and fruit. "0 blessed and sweet Mary, you have given us the
flower of sweet Jesus. "^ Then immediately Catherine sees the Redemption
as the full- flowering of the Incarnation. She says that this flower comes
to full term and brings forth its fruit when it is placed "on the wood of
the most holy cross. "*
When Christ was born, the shell surrounding the seed-kernel remained
in the earth, in Mary. Catherine says this shell was the will of the Son
of God. Through the imagery of gardening, Catherine proclaims that the
wills of Jesus and Mary are one. This explains Mary's role, her effective-
ness and the honor due her. She bears within her heart the same thirst
for the honor of God and the salvation of souls that impelled Jesus to run,
like a lover, to the disgraceful death on the cross. Mary was so united
with Jesus that, if there had been no other way, she herself would have
put her Son on the cross to fulfill the Father's will.
-9-
Because of Mary's absolute union with the will of God there is no
need for us to worry that she will be an obstacle to or distraction from
Jesus. On the contrary, Mary is the perfect disciple, showing us the way
to Jesus, helping us to follow him. Mary leads us to Jesus. She desires
only the full accomplishment of the divine will.
Catherine continues this Letter 144 by pointing out that Mary is not
just the Mother of Jesus confined to an historical time and place, but
she continues to exercise her maternal mediation throughout the course of
time and in every human soul. Catherine's words are as valid today as we
approach the end of the second millennium as they were in July, 1378.
Keep in mind, 0 my dearest Sister, and never let
it leave your heart and memory and soul, that
you and all your daughters have been offered and
given to Mary. Therefore, beg her to present
you as a gift to sweet Jesus, her Son. She will
do it as a sweet and kind mother, and a mother
of mercy. Do not be ungrateful or unappreciative.
Every human being redeemed by the blood of Christ was given to Mary
at the cross: "Behold, your Child". . ."Behold, your Mother" (Jn. 19:26-27).
Therefore, each person belongs to Mary and can rely upon her motherly
intercession. This belonging to her is intensified by the profession of
religious vows or by a personal consecration. Catherine is writing to
religious women and wants them to rejoice always in the remembrance of
Mary's intercession for them. Mary is continually offering her children
to God, standing beside them during their personal "Calvaries" to unite
them to the pierced Heart of her Son.
Catherine's vision of Mary's role is primarily one of maternal
mediation and co-redemption, consequently, Catherine's favorite title of
Our Lady is Mother of Mercy. She is the Mother of Mercy is two ways.
First, she is the true mother of Jesus Christ, mercy incarnate. It is
precisely the crucified Christ who is the sign par excellance of God's
mercy and love. Second, Mary is a merciful mother because this best
describes the qualities of her own immaculate heart and mind.
Union with Mary leads to full availability for the service of God
and neighbor. Thus, Catherine concludes her letter to Abbess Monna Pavola
by encouraging her (and all subsequent readers) to struggle daily to
acquire virtue and to be ready to serve the Holy Father in whatever way he
needs, even to the point of "dying for the holy Faith. "'
Catherine did not confine sharing the fruits of her contemplation with
similarly devout people. Without apologizing for her beliefs, she wrote
the same Gospel message to believers and non-believers alike. The two
following letters are addressed to a Jew and a prostitute respectively. In
both cases she uses Mary as the primary example, or to use Catherine's
words, "bait", to draw them to Jesus Christ. These two letters are special
treasures because they reveal Catherine's undaunted and tender concern for
■10-
those not yet united with Jesus and his Mother.
Letter 15 is addressed to Consiglio, a Jewish usrer from Padua. His
work had brought him to Siena where Catherine probably met him. In this
relatively short letter, Catherine mentions Mary by name five times. Why?
Perhaps it is the ancient image of the "daughter of Zion" or the import-
ance of the mother in a Jewish family. I believe it is also a simple
example to illustrate the phrase "to Jesus through Mary."
Her greeting is more elaborate, more jubilant than usual. She
replaces "In the name of Jesus Christ crucified and of sweet Mary" with
"Praised be Jesus Christ crucified, son of the glorious Virgin Mary."
Again, unlike her practice in other letters, Catherine uses a similar
expression of praise to close the letter. "Praised be Christ crucified,
and his swost Mother the glorious Virgin Mother holy Mary." Thus,
Catherine opens and closes this message to her Jewish friend with phrases
reminiscent of the ancient Jewish blessing, "Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel..." For Catherine, Mary is the most exalted woman of Israel, the
fulfillment of the Virgin-Mother imagery of the Daughter of Zion.
The Mother and Son are inseparable. Mary brings the long-awaited
Messiah to her people. Through Catherine, Mary pleads for her Jewish
people. Catherine, for her part, cannot seem to refer enough to Mary,
including her is almost every mention of Christ. "Most beloved and
dearest brother redeemed like myself by the precious blood of the Son of
God, I unworthy Catherine, write to you, constrained by Christ crucified
and by his sweet Mother Mary. I beg you... to receive the Grace of holy
baptism."8
Although Consiglio is not a Christian, and we do not know for certain
if he ever became one, Catherine seeks to woo him to love Christ by using
expressions of warm solidarity. 0 dearest brother in Christ Jesus open
your eyes..." "How sweet and kind is our God..." Catherine does not
consider herself better than this non-Christian as indicated in the greeting
recorded in the previous paragraph. On the contrary, she knows Christ has
united himself to all of humankind through his Incarnation and freely
offers his redemptive blood to everyone. Catherine seeks to lead this Jew
from the "law of Moses founded on Justice... to the new law given by Christ
crucified, the gospel life founded on love and mercy."
Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. They are united forever to
bring forth the life of Christ in souls. Where the Spirit is, there is
Mary with her motherly concern. Where Mary is, there is the Spirit, "the
Lord and giver of life." Catherine unites the Spirit and Mary in their
desire to bring eternal life to Consiglio. "Make no more resistance to
the Holy Spirit who calls you and do not despise the love that Mary has
for you, nor the tears and prayers that have been offered for you."1^ A
remarkably beautiful and moving statement! Mary loves this person. She
loves every person before he or she has accepted Christ. Like the Trinity
to whom Mary is so closely united, she takes the initiative in loving.
Truly a mother, she is the first to love the unborn child long before the
infant is aware of his or her mother. Together with the Holy Spirit, Mary
-11-
has conceived a tremendous love for Consiglio and labors to bring forth
the image of her Son in his soul.
Catherine is a faithful disciple of Jesus and Mary and so there is
no one excluded from her loving care. A man once came to Catherine
brokenhearted by the wayward life of his sister who had become an "outcast"
of society. Some scholars speculate that he had heard of Catherine's
success in converting Niccolo di Tuldo before his execution, and so had
recourse to Catherine to convert his sister from a life of sin. You may
remember that Catherine preceded Niccolo to the place of execution and
prayed for mercy through Mary. The saint recalls that she called on
Mary because "I wanted this grace, that at the moment /of death/ she
would give him light and peace of heart, and that I would see him reach
his goal. "11
Catherine takes upon herself the man's sorrow and writes his sister,
a prostitute in Perugia. Catherine is very blunt in making the woman face
her situation. "It seems that you act like a pig wallowing in the mire
for you are covered with filthy mud. You have made yourself a servant and
slave of sin. You have taken the devil for your lord, and serve him day
and night. "1* Our mystic continues with other images to try to awaken the
prostitute's conscience, then she directs her words to the most tender
emotions of the latter' s heart. Everyone yearns for love and Catherine
offers the woman two models: the Blessed Mother and St. Mary Magdalen.
Run to that sweet Mary who is mother of
compassion and of mercy. She will lead
you into the presence of her Son. On your
behalf she will show him the breast with
which she nursed him and move him to bend
down to show you mercy. You, as a daughter
and servant redeemed by the blood, will
then enter the wounds of the Son of God.
There you will find such an ineffable
charity that it will consume and burn up
all your miseries and defects. *
Catherine is confident that Mary's motherly intercession will be
victorious for anyone who goes to Jesus through Mary. Jesus longs to
show his mercy to the world and he refuses his mother nothing. Mary does
not draw people to herself, but she leads them to Jesus and she especially
brings them to his pierced heart. Catherine knows this to be true from
her own experience. On at least one occasion, Mary had obtained graces
for her from Christ's side.14
Catherine ends her strong, yet tender, appeal to the prostitute of
Perugia in a manner different from all her other letters. After her usual
closing of "Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love", she adds the delicate words, "Mary
sweet Mother." It seems she desires to place this unfortunate woman once
more into the loving care of the Immaculate Heart of her Merciful Mother.
Both this letter and the one to Consiglio reveal Catherine's absolute
confidence in Mary to embrace those who appear to be the farthest away and
-12-
to carry them to the loving heart of her Son.
Blessed Raymond of Capua was famous for his devotion to Our Lady and
wrote a popular commentary of the "Magnificat." Some scholars believe that
it was actually St. Catherine who fostered his devotion and inspired him
to write about Mary. Raymond was not ashamed to acknowledge Catherine as
his spiritual "mama." One of the most noted characteristics of her
personality was her spiritual motherhood. In fact, this quality was so
outstanding and unusual that it is almost unparalleled in the history of
spirituality.
She had an extraordinary gift to captivate the hearts of people of
every social strata by her spiritual presence and lead them to Christ.
When this young illiterate woman called prelates and professors, nobles
and common people her "beloved children," they spontaneously responded
"dearest mama." Her disciples would even call themselves "caterinati"
meaning "en-catherined," one charmed or possessed by Catherine. Scholars
have sought to explain her spiritual power and influence, but most are
forced to admit it is a supernatural reality emanating from her profound
spiritual life.
In the light of the present work, I would like to suggest that her
vast and fruitful spiritual motherhood was a consequence of her deep
union with Mary, the spiritual Mother of Heaven and Earth.
There seem to be three stages in Catherine's devotion to Mary:
1) early childhood when she concentrated on vocal prayers and explicit
acts of devotion; 2) the time of seclusion in her cell and early apostolate
when she meditated upon the mysteries of faith and began her works of
service; 3) her mystical life during the last years of her life in which
union was so deep as to surpass description. The more profound Catherine's
union with Mary becomes the more interior and subtle we find it.
Pope Paul VI in proclaiming Catherine of Siena a Doctor of the Church
called her, "the mystic of the Incarnate Word... the mystic of the Mystical
Body of Christ, that is, of the Church." These very phrases find their
fullest expression in Mary, Mother of the Word and Mother of the Church.
It was St. Catherine's profound love for Mary which opened her to
the transforming action of the Holy Spirit to become such an extraordinary
spiritual mother and totally faithful spouse of Jesus Christ.
-13-
NOTES
St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Sr. Suzanne Noffke, OP
(New York: Paulist Press, 1980), chapter 158, p. 337.
2Ibid. , cf. chapter 139.
3St. Catherine of Siena, Le Lettere, collected and notes by Niccolo
Tommaseo, ed. by Piero Misciatelli in six volumes, (Florence: C/E Giunti -
G. Barbera, 1940"), Letter 144, Vol. IV, p. 282.
4Ibid.
5Ibid. , p. 283.
Cf . , Pope John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia.
70p. Cit. L 144-IV-285.
8Ibid. , L 15-11-49.
9Ibid. , p. 50.
10Ibid.
nLetter 273-IV-176.
12Letter 276-IV-182.
13Ibid. , p. 184.
*4Cf . , Johannes Jorgensen, Saint Catherine of Siena, trans. Ingeborg
Lund (New York: Longmans, Green § Co., Inc. 1938) pp. 31-32.
■^Pope Paul VI, "Proclamation for a Doctor of the Church," L'Osservatore
Romano , English edition, 42(133) October ,5 1970, pp. 6 5 7.
-14-
COURTYARD SCENE
Amidst our stony limestone walls
The winter lumbers in.
Announced by lightning near the dawn
While snowfall feathers thin.
A breathless sight, so rich to see
As roofs mount high with white,
Yet still and peaceful like a sleep
As dawn breathes forth from night.
The frosty winds swirl round and round
Our Lady's shrine set deep;
A paradox, amidst the calm
Some swirling spirits' sweep.
The little trees blow with the blow
And humbly lend their twigs
To dress in lacy holiday,
To sway to nature's jig.
See what I have done for you
Within the night's slow watch
The gift of dawn, white tumbled break
A vision near, while yet far off.
Sister Mary Regina, O.P,
West Springfield, Mass.
-15-
MARY IN THE II-? CARNATION AND THE SIGNS OF THE TIMgS
Sister Virginia Mary, 0. P.
SUMMIT
(This v,as originally a talk given at Solemn Chapter for Feast of
the Incarnation of the Lord, March, 1987. It has been expanded
to Include themes especially relevant to the Marian Year.)
"I find myself so unworthy and ill-equipped to speak of this
mystery that I don't know where to begin or where to end. If men
did not require some stimulation to live a good life, it would
be better to adore this mystery in silence, for it almost seems
a lessening of such great mysteries to try to describe them In
human language." These are not my own words but those of our
Erother in St. Dominic, Fray Louis of Granada. (1) He expressed
well the inadequacy of human language for '-explaining divine
mysteries, so my own attempt will be replete with such limitations
I would like to call this simply a sharing on the two most impor-
tant aspects of this mystery of the Incarnation and the special
meaning they have for our own day.
First, we know that the motive of the Incarnation was that
of LOVE and MERCY and that this is what characterized our Savior's
whole life and mission. Scrloture abounds with passages which reveal
these attributes of God from the beginning of Genesis when the
Savior "was promised, to Exodus, "when after the people had revolt-
ed and broken the first covenant in the desert, God had revealed
Himself to Moses, passing before Him and crying, 'the Lord, the
Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anrer and abounding
in steadfast love and faithfulness'. (Exodus 34:6) This was~an in-
itial revelation of the meaning of the mysterious name of YAHW'EH,
the aspect of His nature which He chose to make known first to
man, the impression which He wished to be most deeply engraved upon
man's heart.' (2) When the people turned away again He sent
the prophets to call them back,
__• --and in their preaching they asso-
ciate mercy with eloquent Images of God's love; for the Lord loves
Israel with a love of unparalleled preference and choice, a love
like that of a husband. For this reason In His mercy He forgives
her sins including infidelity and betrayal. The Lord saw the
wretched state of His enslaved people, and hearing their cry and
seeing their affliction, He determined to set them free. In this
saving act of the Lord the prophet could see both His love and
compassion at work. This, then, Is the basis for the security of
the people as a whole and each of its members: the divine mercy
upon which human beings can call in every adversity. (3)
Isaiah 42:1-4, the first ''Song of the Servant',
describes the Lord's messenger who will fulfill His plan for the
earth, a mysterious figure, whom most modern exegetes consider to
-16-
be an Individual: "Behold My servant whom I uphold... I have put
My spirit upon him... he will brinr forth Justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or lift up his voice... a bruised reed he will
not break and a dlir.ly burning wick he will not quench..." in other
words, he will bring the rr.ercy and gentleness of God. These
are the qualities of his essential nature which God had
revealed. In the New Testament Luke is the evangelist of God's
mercy and he alone fives us the inaugural sermon of Jesus in the
syna£0£ue at Nazareth, making this the keynote of Jesus' whole
mission: " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... He has anointed
me to preach £ood news to the poor... to proclaim release to the
captives... recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
thDse who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord. ' * (4) He sou£ht out the sinners, the outcasts, the seemingly
hopeless . Even thou£h He showed His Just anrer and uttered harsh
words at times , all was the overflow of his love and mercy in order to
bring his people to repentance and to new life in God.
In his encyclical, Dives in Misericordia,Pope John Paul ill writes:
In and through Christ, then, God" also becomes especially
visible in His mercy. Not only does He speak of it and explain it
with the aid of comparisons and parables but, above all, He embodies
and personifies It. He himself is, in a sense, the mercy of God.
Those, therefore, who look for and find this quality in Him have
God made visible to them in a special way as the Father who is
'rich in mercy'. What is special about true mercy is that it
discerns, fosters and elicits food from all forms of evil in the
world and in human beings. Thus, understood, mercy is the central
teaching in Christ's message and the power that explains His work. (5)
The Pope shows how the outlook of many today, more than in the
past, reveals resistance to a God of mercy, an attempt to deny him
and to remove him from their hearts and from their lives. In these
times this mystery of the God of mercy becomes a special appeal
to the Church. People are in need of it even if at times they do
not realize It. (6)
The second aspect of this mystcry of thD Incarnation is
the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Soiritual writers have
always sai^ that she was prepared for this very special moment
through h°r great integrity :;her "purity , faith. hcr openness In
ever-' way to the power of the Holy Soirlt working in her, an open-
ness to the Word of God through reading, listening, observing, and
above all. her great charity. lf (7) Mary was one of
the 'Poor of Yahweh ' , that faithful remnant in
Israel which grew out of the Old Testament experience of God's
action towards his people and the way he had taught them to respond.
The attitude and response called for was one of humility, obedient
surrender, faith and trust. Mary personified these virtues in an
outstanding way, and God had decreed to show her his favor in a
manner far beyond human comprehension.
-17-
In Mary God always took the initiative, and she was able to
believe with a faith similar to that of Abraham that out of her
inviolate'virginity he would bring into the world the Word Incarnate
who is Life itself. Mary is the one whom God sets before us
to be our model, our guide, and especially our Mother. She is
closer to us than we realize. She who was and is the
Holy Spirit's perfect instrument to bring about the reign of
peace and love of Christ (8) desires nothing- more than to co-
operate with Him in forming within each an "incarnation of the
Word--to be another humanity wherein he may renew his mystery",
as Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity so eloquently expresses it.
Mary was the one on whom Blessed Elizabeth gazed in order to live
her religious life effectively by meditation on and assimilation
of the Divine Word. ;,3he is the living incarnation of a lovln'
faith and she seeks to conform to herself the soul that contem-
plates the divine source in order to transmit to her and through
her to the entire world the beneficent graces of salvation. " ,^
At the Annunciation Mary was told hy the angel that her child
would be called Son of the Most High because of the overshadowing
of the Holy Spirit. As a true contemplative adored and obeyed.
She opened her heart to the Spirit and conceived her Son and also
his mystical members. She is the woman in whom the life of the
Trinity is carried on, the woman who, through her existence, com-
pels the divine mystery of the three Countenances to shine forth
and be manifest. After Christy Mary is the contemplative par-
excellence. She is the
./.paradigm of apostolic activity in the
Mystical Body, blending contemplation and action in authentic
prayer without favoring one over the other, so that the two were
expressions of the one same love in her heart. They are so unit-
ed in her that they constitute one exemplary reality for anyone
who, like her, is able to be present to the world with all Its
problems by the simple fact of being completely possessed by God. (10)
What is being asked of us today? We know very well that
God has specific designs upon the world. To quote Pope Paul VI:
....so great are the needs and perils of the present age, so vast
the horizon, of mankind drawn toward world co-existence and power-
less to achieve it, that there is no salvation for it except in
a new outpouring of the Gift of God— the Creating Spirit, to
renew the face of the earth. (11)
We have now entered upon a special Marian Year and Pope John
Paul II has issued a new encyclical, Redemotorls Mater, in which
he beautifully points out that, "from the very first moment the
Church 'looked at' Mary through Jesus just as she 'looked at'
Jesus through Mary." (12) An official comment made when
the encyclical was introduced expressed the reason for it in
•this way: the Pope sees the Marian Year as not Just another
Jubilee Year in her honor; that far from being a mere sentimental
devotion it is meant to direct the Church as a dynamic impulse
toward the future with, in, and through Mary, Mother of the Re-
deemer, Mother of humankind and Mediatrix of divine grace, whose
Intercession is special and extraordinary. He wishes to inter-
pret the signs of the times in the light of faith and offer
-18-
directlves for the Church and for humanity. He links together
two scriptural passages which seem to have little in common:
chapter 3 of Genesis, (the Proto-evangellum ) , and chapter 12
of Revelation. This last book speaks expressly of the "sl^n
of the Woman'who, at a determined moment of history, will rise up
above it, to reconcile heaven and earth from that moment on-
wards. This sign of the woman is the si£n of hope. Within
our present historical moment the "sign of the Woman" is the
essential "sign of the time". On the path indicated by this
sign in the person of Mary we proceed in the footsteps of hope
towards Christ, the Lord of history. (13)
This Marian Pope asks us to deepen our awareness of her
presence in the mystery of Christ and of the Church as Vatican
Council II teaches, for by our knowledge of her and of the role
she plays we will be more disposed to allow the Holv Spirit
to prepare us for the eschatological Day. The life and work of
Jesus Christ and his mother are indissolubly bound toqether. (14)
We find all this confirmed in the statements of his predecessor,
Pope Paul VI, especially in his Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis
Cultus :
The development of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,
which We desire, is an indication of the Church's genuine
piety. This devotion fits... into the only worship that
is rightly called "Christian" , because it takes its origin
and effectiveness from Christ, finds its complete expres-
sion in Christ and leads through Christ in the Spirit to
the Father. (15)
Pope John Paul II has entrusted nations everywhere to the Immacu-
late Heart of Mary to further the reign of Christ, and he prayed:
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the
world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power
of merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it trans-
form consciences. May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all
the light of hope. (16)
The world needs to know more than ever that its God is a God of
love and mercy. This is his message for it today as he makes clear.
We are constantly exhorted to take refuge in His Heart, "for the
Church most fully proclaims and venerates God's mercy when she
does so, and when v.e approach Christ in the mystery of His Heart
we are able to contemplate most fully this central reality which
is at the same time especially accessible at the human level: I
mean the revelation of the Father's merciful love which it was
the main purpose of the Son in His Messianic mission to bring. M
The Pope also reminds us that when Christ revealed .the, loving
mercy of God, He required his followers to make
love and mercy the inspiring force in their lives. '(17)
This is the power humanity needs and He alone is its source.
"Come to me with Your sweet power, Your power that knows no
eventide." (18)
Near the end of Redemptor Homlnls the Holy Father writes;
Prayer above all is needed for the Church's success and I ask
-19-
that it be intense, with Mary and the disciples in the Upper
Room in Jerusalem, awaiting the new Advent, the new Pentecost. (19)
The new Advent is here — the "Great Marian Advent" being proclaim-
ed in the Church to the year 2000. (20) Each day God becomes
Incarnate for us. "Ee born in us, Incarnate Word..." (Caryll
Houselander) To quote John Paul II arain,
. .As the Church carries
on the magnificent work of implementing the Second Vatican Council-
a work in which we rightly see a nev* phase in the self-realization
of the Church in response to the needs of our time- she must be
constantly guided by the consciousness that in this work she may
not turn in upon herself. I raise ray voice in prayer that at
this point in history, the love which is in the Father may once
again be revealed and may, through the power of the Son and the
Holy Spirit, manifest its presence in the contemporary world and
prove mightier than any evil, sin, and death. This I pray for
through my intercession of her who still proclaims 'mercy .. .from
age to age . ' (21)
NOTES
(1) Summa of the Christian Life, Vol. 3, Trans, by Jordan Auraann, O.P.
(St. Louis: Herder & Herder, 1954-58) See Chapter 5, "A Work
of Mercy and Love."
(2) Henry Wansbrough, Scripture for Meditation. ""The Incarnation"
(New York: Alba House 1975)
(3) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Dives in Hlserlcordla . (English
Edition of L'Osservatore Romano, December 9, 1930) ,
Section 111, 4
(4) Isaiah 61: 1-2. This paragraph is based on Wansbrough.
(5) Dives in Mlserlcordla, Section I, 2: IV, 6
(6) Same. Section I, 2
(7) Laurence Justinian, St.., Sermon 8, Feast of the Purification
of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
(8) This is the teaching especially of Sts . Louis de Montf ort and
Maximilian Kolbe. See True Devotion to the Elessed Virgin,
( Eayshore , N .Y . ,Montfort Publications 1985) and H. Mantiau-
Eonamy, Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit, (Liberty-
ville, Illinois: Franciscan l-'arytown Press 1977.) St. Maximilian
Kolbe's basic discovery was:""ary the Immaculata is the
chief visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit's presence
in the Church, and the universal Instrument of the Spirit's
mission to unite all men to Christ our Savior." This book
-20-
is the best source in in£lish so far on the Saint's teaching".
(9) Luigi Eorriello, O.C.D., Spiritual Doctrine of Flossed Eliz-
abeth of the Trinity. Trans, by Jordan Aurr.ann, 0 .P . [New York:
Alba House, 1986)
(10) Same
(11) Gaudete in Domino, VII, 1975. This was also quoted in a
most interesting book, The Spirit and the Erlde Say Come,
(AMI Fress, Asbury , N.J., 1951 ) , by Gerald J. Farrell, M.M.,
and George W. Kosicki, C.S.B. It deals with the working
of the Spirit in Mary and her promise of the triumph of her
Immaculate Heart and why they believe it will be accomplished
shortly .
(12) Section II, 26
(13) It is interesting to note that these themes in Genesis and
Revelation on the battle between the Woman and the forces
of evil have surfaced in a particularly notable way in the last
century. She cane with a saving message in her appearances
to St. Catherine Laboure in 1S30 and gave her the miraculous medal
which contained the Inmaculate Conception ejaculation (reminiscent of Gen-
esis 3). Thus she preceded the most powerful firce of evil
to come upon the modern world: Marxism expressed in atheistic
communism which was inaugurated in 1848 with the "Communist
Manifesto.* She warned humanity of its sins in 1849 at
LaSalette. In 1854 the DorTa of the Immaculate Conception
was proclaimed. In 1858 she declared at Lourdes, "I am the
Immaculate Conception.'1 Then followed a series of notable
apparitions: Pontmain (1871), Pellevoisln (1876), Knock (1879),
Fatlma (1917) in the year of the Russian Revolution. Four
days after the miracle of October 13, St. yaximilian Kolbe
founded his "Kniphts of the Immaculata" to combat the forces of
evil under her patronage in order to bring about the reign of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. In 1932-3 3be caTe to ceaurain£, to Ranneux (1933).
In 194-5 Pope Pius XII proclaimed our Lady of Guadalupe "Patron-
ess of the Americas". She appeared here as the "Immaculate
Conception and the Woman Clothed with the Sun." In 1947 came
the appearance at Tre-Fontarme , Italy, where she said, "I am
the Virgin of Revelation." Thousands of Christians and "'oslems
watched the apparitions at Zeitoun, Cairo, in 1968. There
is £reat evidence to support the visions at Garabandal (1961),
Nicaragua, (1981), and I-'edupor Je , (1981 to the present), but
they need further processing by Church authorities. She has also
inspired the founding of the "Legion of Mary", the "Blue Army",
and other organizations to work for her cause.
(14) "Since devotion to the Mother of God is part of our Faith
and not merely a pious addition, it follows that her name
should be constantly on our lips and love of her consistently
in our hearts. At the same time that devotion should be
authentic, devoid of pious exasperation and theologically
based." (James Cardinal Freeman, Archbishop of Sydney, at
the Karion Congress in Sydney, Sept., 1976).
-21-
(15) Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, Feb. 2,
1974. Introduction
(16) John Paul II, Act of Entrustment of the World to the Immac-
ulate Heart of Mary, March 25, 1984
(17) Dives In Mlserlcordla , Sections VII, 3; II, 3
(18) John Paul II, Homily of the Installation Mass, (English
Edition of L'Osservatore Romano, October, 1978).
(19) A reference to the Holy Father's frequent Marian talks.
(20) Mission of the Immaculata Bulletin, (Libertyvllle, Illinois:
Franciscan Marytown Press, October, 1986). The Holy Father
recently said, "the Marian Year is being celebrated during
the period of preparation of the Church and of humanity for
the year 2000 from the birth of Christ. If the first coming
was preceded by Advent, now too we feel the need for a new
advent. If during the first Advent there shone on the hori-
zon of Salvation history the Morning Star which precedes the
rising of the Sun of Justice and Grace-— .Mary , before the
coming of Christ— it must now shine once again. .. (Homily
given at Mass at the Shrine of Jasna Gora in Poland, June, 1987)
(21) Dives in Mlserlcordla, Section VIII, 15
-22-
SIGN OF HOPE *
Sr. M. Giuseppina, OP
Holy Rosary Monastery
Marino, Italy
"In his eyes I have found peace." (Sg of Sg 8:10b)
"The Church's reflection today on the mystery of Christ and on her own
nature has led her to find at the root of the former and as a culmination of
the latter the same figure of a Woman: the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ
and the Mother of the Church... As in every home, the figure of a Woman, who
in a hidden manner and in a spirit of service watches over the Family and
carefully looks after it until the glorious day of the Lord." (Paul VI,
Mar ial is Cul tis , Introduction)
Here is the figure of a woman, very humble and silent, who does not seem
to have accomplished more that what is common to every woman: to be a mother.
This person is with Christ at the center of the Church, at the center of a
history marked by God's presence and the history of human salvation.
Catherine spoke of this woman, a young mother from the common people:
"Mary, redemptrix of the human race, because you bore in your flesh the Word
who redeemed the world .. .Mary , the fruitful earth,... you bore the fire hidden
and veiled under the ashes of your humanity."
These are surely bold and unique images, but ones that reveal a reality
from which every person draws life. It is a reality which no on can fail to
consider, much less we Dominicans who spread abroad the light that comes from
the "fire" which is Christ. We are announcers of the Word who is Christ.
The necessary presence of Mary is a presence of hope, not a project of
vague aspirations, but of life. It is a lived and living presence of gentle
strength. Peguy writes of this difficult virtue with poetic imagery: "Eternity
in the hollow of your hand." Eternity is the ultimate and definitive beatitude,
the indestructible vision and possession of God. Hope is the eternity of a
saved humanity reconciled with God by Christ. This eternity was offered to
human beings from the hands of Mary. Her motherly hands had carried Christ,
the Mediator, the Savior.
The first sign of hope, the first announcement of a new humanity, is
Mary the Mother. And she, with Christ, is the distinctive sign of the
Dominican Family.
When we are more distanced from the juridical expression of "Order", we
will reacquire more fully our true and primitive dimension of Family. We will
find ourselves necessarily gathered around this gentle figure of the young
woman who is the Mother of Christ. We are consecrated to the Word of God so
that he might be pondered, praised and proclaimed.
*This article is Chapter 28 of The Sweet Call of the Turtledove (Naples: Editrice
Domenicana Italiana, 1987). and translated by Sister Mary Jefemiah, O.P. (Lufkin)
See book review on p, 73
-23-
This is neither a novelty nor a fad. It is what was living in the
spirit of St. Dominic. Therefore, it is at the source of our life as a
Family that, from the fullness of the contemplation of Christ-Truth, we
find the strength for the apostolate, for evangelization.
An ancient document (The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic) relates
that when St. Dominic wanted to teach his brethren to pray he sometimes
told them: "The Magi, these three holy kings, found the Infant with Mary,
his Mother .. .Now, we too, must find the God -Man with Mary." The Word of
God, the reason for our being preachers, is Christ still living and active
in history and in the life of every person. His presence is living as the
presence of His Mother is living and active. This feminine presence was so
dear to St. Dominic that he wanted to perpetuate it in time. He associated
the hidden, humble, silent, but attentive and loving life of the nuns to
the work of preaching. Like Mary they keep vigil, like Mary they pray, like
Mary they intercede, like Mary they are a sign of hope because they are a
proclamation of salvation.
This presence cannot be missing from the Dominican Family. It is not
accidental, added by chance. It is a necessity of life just as a mother is
necessary in the life of every human family, just as a Mother was mysteri-
ously necessary in the life of Christ the Savior. We who are already collab-
orating in the work of the apostles of our tine make the spirit of this Mother
relive in the spirit of service, vigilant love, goodness that follows and
protects at every step, that shares every pain, every difficulty as well as
every success. As Mary accepted Christ who is the gift of God (and she did
not stop at this), so we, although in the monastery, are not just to accept
him but to make a gift of ourselves at the same time, just as Mary made a
gift of herself to God, to Christ, to all people. The way of new hope
opened by Mary bears the sign of the Cross. She continued on to the Cross
in silence, offering her Son, the dearest and most intimate part of herself,
to the Father.
Enclosure, silence, poverty, suffering peacefully accepted, joyously
welcomed in body as well as in spirit: these are essential parts of our
Marian and Dominican life as nuns.
The penitential moment of our life as nuns and as Dominicans goes beyond
a "practice of mortification". It is lived in the certainty of faith.
In the introduction to our book of Constitutions we read: "Look at the
Cross of Christ, which one of our first friars called the Book of Charity, in
it are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It is the Cross that
introduces us into the mystery of God in which one never ceases to search and
which is the source of our apostolate. It is the contemplation of the Cross
of Christ that will make you authentic Dominican nuns."
Will we be there alone?
"Near the cross was the Mother of Jesus. There is our place, in the act
of interceding for the salvation of all."
-24-
With Mary. It is important for us nuns to-be-with-Mary . Peguy again
writes of her (I don't believe the citation will be annoying):
To her who intercedes,
The only one who can speak with the authority of a mother...
To her who is infinitely rich.
Because she is also infinitely poor...
To her who is infinitely great.
Because she is infinitely small.
Infinitely humble.
A young mother
To her who is all Greatness and all Faith.
Because she is also all Charity.
To her who is all Faith and all Charity.
Because she is also all HOPE.
(the portico of the mystery of the second virtue,
pp. 46-47)
She taught us this boundless hope on Calvary when she offered with Christ
the "evening sacrifice so that from then on no one would miss the last call of
evening, and each sheep would find the gate of the sheepfold, each person the
Father's house".
Our evening song addressed to her who is "our hope" is not only a nice
Dominican tradition, a peaceful way to close the day. It is an authentic act
of faith in her, because she always stirs up hope, because she always inter-
cedes for us. Because even if it is night, she helps us to guide people to
the Father. She,
the Mother of the Good Shepherd...
To her who intercedes
Because she is blessed among women.
(Ibid., pp. 50-51)
y^je, truly
"bisBBsd. xb jel}F uiijn belt^UEd"!
alj^Be uwrdja,
japaken by Elizabeth after tlje Annunciation,
Ijsre at tljc font of tl)E (Crnjaja
jBEra tu re-eclja uiitlj jaupreme eluquencE
Jrom iljE (TrnjajB,
tljat ijb to Bay from tlje uery IjEart
nf tljE myjatsry of Redemption,
tljere radiates and fipreadja nut
tlje prospect nf tljat blessing of faitlj.
-27-
THE RULE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE FOR TODAY
Sister Maria Agnes, O.P.
Sunmit
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO: A Biographical Sketch
Every student of Church history knows Augustine of Hippo, the greatest
of the fifth century founders of Christian Europe. It was Augustine who made
a definitive synthesis of ancient culture, Platonic philosophy and Christianity.
This was to become normative for the whole Middle Ages and, in many ways, for
the Church of all ages.
Augustine was student, teacher, scholar, theologian, writer, preacher,
bishop, administrator, contemplative, monastic founder and saint. His life
covers that period when the old Greco-Roman world was crumbling before the
onslaught of barbarians. This is well described in his philosophical work,
The City of God, by which he traces God's ruling hand in human history.
Augustine was born in Tagaste (now Souk-Ahras) in North Africa (the modern
Algeria) on November 13, 354. By that time, the Church was spreading among
the pagans. Augustine was not baptized as a child and he did not become an
active Christian during his youth. His father, Patricius Herculus, was a
pagan. Augustine's mother, Monica, was instrumental in the conversion of both
father and son to Christianity. The moving account of Augustine's conversion
is recorded in his Confessions.
North Africa was then a western province of the old Roman Empire. Hippo
(the modern Bone), was just across the Mediterranean from Rome. Augustine
grew up, lived and died in a Latin culture. At the age of 12, he studied
grammar and literature in Madaura, a town south of Tagaste. He studied
rhetoric in Carthage (now Tunis), at the age of 17. For nine years in
Carthage, Augustine became involved in Manicheism. (1)
In 383, Augustine went to Milan after a brief sojourn in Rome. In Milan,
he taught rhetoric and there met a group of scholars who introduced him to
Platonic philosophy. Milan was the bishopric of Ambrose who baptized
Augustine on April 14, 387.
Augustine returned to Africa in 388, became a priest in 391 and then
bishop of Hippo from 395 until the time of his death. Administration,
ecclesiastical discipline and religious controversies made heavy demands on
his time as bishop. The Church of Roman Africa had a troubled history from
the very beginning. There were Roman persecutions in the second and third
centuries, Donatism in the fourth, and Pelagianism in the fifth century.
The Arian heresy was brought to Africa by the Vandals who came from Spain in
the fifth century. (2)
Augustine died before the siege of Hippo ended fatally, on August
28, 430.
-28-
HIS MONASTIC VISION
Augustine had great influence on monasticism. First of all, the Sacred
Scriptures formed his life of prayer, study, writing and preaching. There
was the passion for truth in his intellect, enduring and practical love in his
heart. For Augustine, the heart is God's altar and the source of wholeness
in a person. (3) It is also a battlefield where God's mysterious actions meet
with the human person's free decisions. The heart determines the human
personality. Augustine's spirituality was rooted in love, united to faith
and hope and perfected in wisdom (2 Tim 1:13). In the realm of theology,
Augustine drew on Neoplatonic philosophy in order to explain the gradual move-
ment of the human person from the material to the spiritual, and from the
temporal to the eternal. He gave the same formation to his followers.
Before his conversion, Augustine, in the company of his mother and some
friends, made a quasi-monastic retreat in Cassiciacum, near Milan, during the
part of the year 386 and until his baptism in 387. They formed one household
and shared their possessions in common. After Monica's death, Augustine
returned to Africa and established his first monastery in the parental home.
For three years he and his followers lived for God alone in prayer, fasting
and good works, while meditating on the Scriptures day and night. He founded
another monastery in Hippo after his priestly ordination. As bishop, he
established a monastery of clerics in his episcopal residence. This house
became a formation center for monks and bishops. The monastic practices in
Augustine's monasteries were the traditional ones: silence, communal and
personal prayer, humility, penance, poverty, celibacy, obedience and service,
but the emphasis was always on unity and love. (4)
LETTER 211: A MESSAGE ANCIENT AND NEW
In 423, Augustine was asked to serve as peacemaker for a convent of nuns
which he had founded in Hippo, and over which his sister had been superior for
almost 25 years. After her death, conflict developed between the nuns and the
new superior. Augustine wrote them a letter in which he recommended, above all
things, a shared vision, focused on God. The unique value of this letter lies
in the realism and wisdom with which Augustine considered the human condition
through faith, hope and love.
Augustine gives the message of Jesus in its full biblical sense. All the
precepts in this letter are resonant of Luke 6:27, "To you who are listening
to me, I say, love!"; and the brief commentary on John 13:35, "By this all men
will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another". In
Jesus, the human person loves God and is loved by him. Love of God is
inseparable from love of neighbor. In loving the other, one loves the Lord
himself since all together form one body, Christ. This love expresses itself
in humility, poverty, service, mercy, forgiveness, authority, obedience, and
the multiple nuances of friendship like trust, welcome, gentleness, respect
and generosity. (5) Love, by its very nature, is totally demanding.
-29-
No Christian community ever reaches perfection here on earth. In the
gospels we can learn with what kindness Jesus admonished his disciples in
their jealousies, quarrels, prejudices and wrong ideas on who he is. Pride,
greed, envy, anger and disobedience can disfigure the beauty of community
life, but the gospel proclaims that love has the first and the last word.
For Augustine, the monastic life is already giving witness to this quest
as the nuns journey to God in oneness of mind and heart; it is precisely
for this reason that they have come to live together. (6)
The message of Letter 211 is ancient and is rooted in Scripture. It
is new and has living permanence because the spirit of Jesus renews and
re-creates new hearts (2 Cor 3:6). Letter 211 was to become the basis for
the famous Rule of St. Augustine. (7)
THE RULE IN DOMINICAN MONASTIC LIFE
St. Dominic and the early friars chose the Rule of St. Augustine for
their life and mission. To this Rule, the Dominicans added particular
customs and observances. The Dominican nuns, founded in 1206, adopted the
same Rule, then already revised, in 1257. The particular charism of
Dominican monasticism is formulated in the Book of the Constitutions of the
Nuns of the Order of Preachers. (8)
The Rule is divided into eight short chapters. In this paper, four
basic themes will be drawn up. We shall leave out those elements that are
limited by a particular cultural context, and select those that are rooted
in Scripture and have perennial value. The Rule offers a message to a world
that is caught up in the pursuit of affluence, sex and power. This message
is proclaimed in silence through the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience. The daily rhythm of monastic life - liturgical and private
prayer, solitude and community, enclosure and hospitality, silence and
chapter, study and prayerful reading, work and leisure - points to the
primacy and unity of God.
1 VOLUNTARY POVERTY AND COMMON LIFE
"Among you there can be no question of personal property. Rather, take
care that you share everything in common — Those who owned possessions in
the world should readily agree that, from the moment they enter religious
life, these things become the property of the community." (9)
Love begins with sharing what one has: material goods, productive skills,
knowledge and talents. Non-ownership and the sharing of goods are the first
steps in cleansing the inside of the cup (Mt 23:36). It is an outward sign
of the unity in love which is described in Acts 4:32. Voluntary poverty is
the freedom from the domination of created things. It is also the art of
using things in a spirit of joy and tranquillity, for what is joy if not the
giving up of all that one has in exchange for that pearl of great price
(Mt 19:10-11)?
-30-
A nun, however i has given nothing to God and to the community unless
she has given herself. When St. Paul writes of the generosity of the
Christians in Macedonia, lie observed that "first they gave themselves to
the Lord" (2Cor 8:5). Poverty involves interdependence and service of one
another. It also means experiencing need and limitation and allowing oneself
to be carried by others. (10)
The contemplative finds Christ hidden in her daily chores as well as in
special projects that demand intellectual culture. In poverty of heart she
seeks Christ everywhere, like the bride in the Song of Songs, "I found him
whom my soul loves" (3:4). In work, the spiritual is perceived in poverty,
humility and love after the example of Christ who said, "As you did it to
one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). In her
daily work, therefore, the nun is imaging the poor Christ (Mt 13:55).
Although Jesus warns us against too much anxiety about productivity and the
consumer mentality (Mt 6:25-34), he has appreciation and love for human work.
Jesus sees in every type of work an aspect of the human person's likeness to
God (Jn 15:1). Augustine and other monastic writers have pointed out that it
is better for monks and nuns to earn their livelihood by their labors and thus
share the lot of the poor rather than wholly depend on alms and donations.
To be fully supported by public alms belong to the feeble and disabled.
Over and above these considerations, the primacy of the human person over
material goods is the consistent teaching of the gospel and the Church. The
nun must be made to understand that in her daily work, she is earning her keep.
This awareness is extinguished when a person is made to feel that she is a
mere instrument of production. (11) The intention behind all this is that no
one in the monastery shall seek her own advantage in work. Everything is to
be done for the common good. When hopes, efforts and goals are shared, work
brings unity of mind and heart. (12)
Humility is linked with poverty. The humble person recognizes the fact
that she has received all from God (1 Cor 4:7). The person who truly seeks God
is both poor and humble (Zeph 2:3). Pride, the source of all sins, is deeply
entrenched in human nature. Pride, according to Augustine, militates
against all good works; it demeans the giver and the gift loses its value. (13)
The most generous deed is not always a sign of true Christian presence.. If
a person gives away all that she has and distributes her property, but has no
love, her deed has no value (1 Cor 13:3). A person is neither her possessions
nor her generous act but her true self, her being.
2 THE GIFT OF CONSECRATED CHASTITY
The first book in the Bible gives the blessing for fertility (Gen 1:28)
as well as the charter on marriage (Gen 2:24). The marriage blessing was
not revoked after the Fall. Human salvation was promised through childbirth.
This was fulfilled in Mary, the perfect virgin who was so completely mother
that the virgin Messiah was born of her alone. Before Mary's time, however,
Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekicl, David and Solomon developed the theme of spiritual
marriage between God and Israel, and then between God and the human soul.
The fruits of chaste love are even more manifest in the gospel. An example
-31-
of this is Anna who consecrated the chastity of her widowhood in prayer,
fasting and vigils for the sake of Jesus (Lk 2:36-37). Christ himself gave
celibate love a deeper meaning, "Not all men can receive this precept, but
only those to whom it is given" (Mt 19:11-12).
The celibate, then, is called by name. Consecrated chastity is both a
gift and a renunciation. Its true motive is to image Christ by belonging
completely to him. With Christ, the religious will not be lonely for the
Father is also with her (Jn 16:32). She has the fellowship and love of her
Sisters in the community. Through friendship and reciprocal love, the nuns
grow in fidelity to this love for Christ. (14)
Augustine, who had painfully experienced in himself the demands and the
limitations of human nature could thus give this practical advice: "You cannot
say that your inner attitude is good if with your eyes you desire to possess a
man, for the eye is the herald of the heart". Elsewhere, Augustine refines
this point: "Look upon the beauty of your lover... let him who was fastened to
the cross be securely fastened to your hearts". (15) This choice certainly
involves a sacrifice which affects the very depths of the human personality.
For this reason, commitment by vows is to be guided by prudence, maturity and
above all, by faith. Here is Augustine again: "God does not command the
impossible but tells us to do what we can, and pray for what we are not able,
and he will help us to accomplish it". God alone is the master of his gifts.
No one else more than Augustine has taught the importance of humility in the
faithful keeping of the vow. He recommends prayer "lest this gift be
plundered by pride". (16)
The Rule also exhorts with resepct to modesty in dress and behaviour.
The nuns are not to be concerned with externals in order to attract attention.
However, no one can underestimate the significance of clothes in terms of
necessity, modesty, protection, hygience, femininity and identity value for
religious women. (17) Clothing protects the private and interior life of a
person (Gen 3:21). The Dominican religious habit expresses the type of life
lived in the Church and in the community (Dt 21:10-14) as well as the history
of that life. It is also a visible sign of consecration to Christ.
Augustine gives practical advice on the care and discipline of the body.
(18) In Scripture, the flesh signifies the human person in a state of finite-
ness and fragility (Jn 1:14). When regarded as the dominating principle of
life, the flesh can tyrannize the person with its prerogatives and demands
(Rom 7:25). It is in Christ and with Christ alone that the human person can
conquer sin and death with that very flesh (Rom 8:3).
The body in itself is the visible expression of the human person, a
member of Christ (Rom 6:15), the temple of the Holy Spirit (Rom 6:19) and
will rise again to immortality (1 Cor 6:14). For these reasons, the religious
is destined to give glory to God by means of her bodiliness through prayer,
fasting and good works in chaste love (Rom 6:20). These aspects of her
identification with Christ are at the heart of her vow of chastity.
-32-
AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE
Authority is fundamental in religious life. Authority comes from God,
and it is given in view of the common good (Rom 13:1). The Prioress, first
among equals, is at once leader, friend and companion. The Rule presses this
point, "Your superior must not think herself fortunate in having power over
you but in the love with which she shall serve you". (19) This is an echo of
Paul's teaching: "We are gentle among you, like a nurse taking care of her
children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share
with you not only the gospel of Christ but also our own self because you have
become very dear to us" (1 Thess 2:7-8).
Unity depends on the quality of leadership and on the Prioress1 own loving
obedience to Christ. The Prioress devotes herself to the Sisters in order that
they in turn might be able to give themselves wholly to Christ, to the Church
and to the Order in a life of contemplation. Both she who commands and she
who obeys are following Christ, in the context of dialogue coming from the same
source, God's will (Jn 4:34). The Prioress and the Sisters meet regularly for
discussion, discernment and decision. The Prioress, who ordinarily presides at
these meetings, unifies the insights and opinions of the Sisters before making
a decision. She, being the least of all, bears the whole burden of the group's
unified action when she makes the final decision. The Sisters, therefore, owe
their Prioress respect and loving obedience because of the great responsibility
entrusted to her. (20)
The Prioress herself should give example of fidelity to the ideals of
Dominican contemplative life (Titus 2:7). She should counsel and direct those
who violate these ideals, and the Sisters must be docile to prudent and whole-
some direction. The right motive for correction is compassion for the sinner and
the imperfect. The ultimate persuasion lies in the love of Christ, because he
alone can comfort the human heart and confirm it in every good work. (21)
Christ is not only the Lord to whom obedience is due; he is also the Son
who obeys his Father and by his obedience redeems the world (Jn 4:34). Christ
obeyed his Father by submitting to Mary and Joseph, to the spiritual and civil
leaders and the circumstances of his earthly life. Christ is the example of the
religious who vows obedience to God; "If you would be my disciple, deny yourself,
take up your cross and follow me" (Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23).
Hebrews 13:17 is the typical text on obedience to superiors; "Obey your
leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as men
who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for
that would be of no advantage to you". Without faith and love, obedience is a
dead weight. The obedience of Jesus enables the religious to find the will of
the Father in the depths of her heart, in Sacred Scripture, the Rule and
Constitutions, through her superiors, the community and in human events. (22)
Through obedience the religious surrenders to the community her exclusive claim
on self. She is freed from inner compulsions by yielding to the judgment of
another or of others.
-33-
The Rule also describes the field of tension between danger and
authority; "The higher the position a person holds, the greater the danger
she is in". Obedience, therefore, is an act of love for oneself and an act
of mercy towards the superior. Authority and obedience go hand in hand in
the context of faith and mutual love. (23)
PRAYER AND COMMUNITY
"Persevere faithfully in prayer at the hours and times appointed" .
Two of the four marks of the early Church bore on fidelity to prayer.
"They devoted themselves to the Apostles' teachings and fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and the prayers". (24) The Apostles also prayed at the
specified times, namely, the sixth and ninth hours.
The psalms were prayed and lived by Jecus. Anyone who is formed by
the praying of the psalms will receive the true good from God, and with that
good, she receives God himself. The Rule states this meaningfully; "When
you pray to God in psalms and songs, the words spoken by your lips should
also be alive in your hearts". (25) The monastic community is also a
eucharistic community which meets daily to celebrate, to share the one cup
and the one bread that forms the members into one body. (26)
Much of the nun's prayer, however, is experienced in solitude, after the
example of Jesus who freguently went out into quiet places to pray to the
Father in his heart. Personal prayer is not an isolated experience. The
content of all prayer is a love relationship with a person who was, who is
and who will always be faithful, the God of love. In prayer, the nun puts
her desire before God (Ps 3:9). Desire itself is prayer, says St. Augustine,
and if desire is continuous, the prayer becomes unceasing. (27) The leitmotif
of the nun's prayer is rooted in diverse situations of human life. The
contemplative considers the purpose of God's plan, his kingdom, and the
fulfillment of his will. A contemplative ' s own inner search for God must
coincide with the world's search for peace, justice and love. Through her
intercession, the nun enters into human history while her whole being is poised
toward eternity. (28)
Living attitudes of prayer come from the heart. In the heart, all
counterfeits are unmasked. The contemplative risks her heart to meet the
radical demands of community life (Jer 30:21). Prayer is united to mercy and
forgiveness. One must be able to say that she forgives from the heart whenever
she prays the Our Father. (29) Fasting, also joined to prayer, is an act
of humility before God. True fasting is the fasting of faith, the absence
of the beloved and the ceaseless search for him (Song of Songs 5:6-8).
Scripture also says that the Christian must bear in his own body the pains
and sufferings of Christ and thus give witness to his life. The person who
fasts does not put her trust on the flesh but on Christ's passion, death and
resurrection. Like prayer, fasting is inseparable from caring and sharing.
There is no denying the fact that the community and the world outside give
the social dimension for experiencing God in one's personal prayer. Active
works of love like almsgiving are a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to
God (Col 3:23-24). Through this sacrifice, the world becomes part of the
nuns* unbroken prayer (I Thess 5:17).
-34-
The final challenge of the Rule is to live out the monastic life faith-
fully. A closing remark on fidelity can be drawn from Augustine's Sermon
on I John 9.9. He links the desire for spiritual beauty with the joy of
contemplative and lived prayer. We shall come to possess spiritual beauty
by loving Christ who surpasses everyone in beauty. In her life, the nun is
imaging Christ, who, for the sake of others became a man of sorrows, without
looks of beauty to attract human eyes (Is 53:2-3). Likewise, the religious
shall come to possess beauty by fidelity to him because love is the beauty
of the soul. Augustine, therefore, urges the consecrated religious:
"Walk confidently in Christ* walk, do not stumble, do not fall, do not
look back, do not stop on the way, do not take another path".
NOTES
(1) The Manicheans were followers of Manes, a Persian (third century A.D.^
who taught a religion which claimed two supreme deities, the god of
good and the god of evil, in radical opposition to each other.
(2) Donatism was a schism in the North African Church based on the belief
that sacraments conferred by unworthy ministers are invalid.
Pelagianism held that original sin was not transmitted through Adam
and that personal salvation is possible through human effort alone.
The Arian heresy claimed that the Son of God was not of the same
nature as God the Father, which means that Jesus Christ is not truly
God.
(3) The City of God, 10.3
(4) Confessions, 6.14; Possidius, Life of St. Augustine, Bishop, 3.5,11;
Augustine, Sermon 355; See Pierre Mandonnet, St. Dominic and His
Work, p. I98f.
(5) Echoes of Mk 28:33; Mt 18:35; 25:40; Jn 17:21; Rom 12:5-10;
Gal 5:15; Eph 4:1-6; I Cor 13:1-13
(6) Rule, 1.1
(7) Mandonnet, pp. 195-290
(8) See Simon Tugwell, Early Dominicans, pp. 456-465
(9) Rule, 1.3 & 4; cf. 2 Cor 8:9; Mt 8:20; See Adaptation and Renewal
of Religious Life, 13
-35-
(10) Rule, V
(11) John Paul II, On Human Work, 71
(12) Rule, V.2; See Augustine, On the Manual Labor of Monks, 25.32
(13) Rule, 1.7; cf. John Cassian, Institutes. IV. 35
(14) Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 42
(15) Rule, IV. 3-5; Augustine, On Holy Virginity, 16.55
(16) Of Nature and Grace, 43.50; ®n Holy Virginity, 43.51
(17) Rule, IV. 1-3
(18) Rule, III.l
(19) Rule, VII. 3; A paraphrase of Lk 23;25-26 and of Mt 25;28;
cf. Gal 5; 13
(20) Rule, VII. 4
(21) Rule, IV. 10; cf. 2 Thess 2:17
(22) Echoes of Phil 2:5-8; cf. 2 Cor 8:9; See Dogmatic Constitution
on the Church, 42; Also Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, 14
(23) Rule, VII. 4; See the text alluded to in Sir 30:24
(24) Rule, II. 1; The typical texts are in Acts 2:14, 42, 46; 4:24; 10:9;
Col 4:2
(25) Rule, II. 3; cf. Mt 26:30
(26) Cf . I Cor 10:16-17; See Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 12
(27) Sermon 80.7
(28) See the text alluded to in Mt 9:35-38
(29) Rule, VI. 1 S, 2; an echo of Wis 12:19
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
St. Augustine. The Rule of St. Augustine, trans, by Raymond Canning,
intro. and commentary by Tarcisius J. van Bavel. London: Darton,
Longman and Todd, 1984.
Chabannes, Jacques. Saint Augustine, trans, by Julie Kernans. New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1962.
Leon-Dufour, Xavier, ed. Dictionary of Biblical Theology. New York:
Seabury Press, 1973.
Mandonnet, Pierre. St. Dominic and His Work, trans by Sr. M. B. Larkin.
St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1944.
Tugwell, Simon, ed. Early Dominicans. New York: Paulist Press, 1982.
-37-
WE HAIL THEE
We hail thee on this joyous day,
Oh Mary, flower of Israel,
On which the Word of God took flesh,
And came within thy womb to dwell.
We greet thee in thy setting forth,
Thy cousin Elizabeth to greet;
How fair thy youthful virgin form,
Thy lightsome step, thy hastening feet.
Thou bearest on thy joyful way,
The Savior blest, Immanuel ,
Whose advent brings redemption's day,
And springtide unto Israel .
The earth in festive robe adorned,
Rejoicing greets her hidden Lord,
By whom the lot of man forlorn,
To primal grace shall be restored.
Elizabeth now hears thy voice,
And by the Spirit's light divine,
Proclaims anew thy blessedness:
The grace and glory which are thine.
When lo! her child as yet unborn,
Reveals the Bridegroom's presence nigh:
John leaps within his mother's womb,
To greet the Son of God most high.
He is himself the herald sent,
This very Bridegroom to proclaim,
And now, with bonds of nature rent,
Still voiceless, he tells forth His name.
And then, thy heart like tuneful lyre,
Breaks forth in strains of sweetest song;
Enkindled by the Spirit's fire
It echoes through the ages long.
We too, this canticle shall sing,
To magnify the Lord with thee;
To whom alone be glory given,
Both now and in eternity.
Sister Mary Rose Dominic of Jesus, O.P
SUMMIT
-38-
POETRY: SPEECH FRAMED EJR CONTEMPLATION
St. Mary Elizabeth, O.P.
Monastery of St. Dominic
Newark.
Incredible as it sounds, some two thousand classified articles and books
have been devoted to the poet Gerard Kanley Hopkins and his work. '• Vfoy, then,
am I daring to add to this formidable corpus? All these learned folk had some-
thing to say, some new light to shed on this remarkable man, whereas I, a
recent convert to Hopkinsianism have nothing new to contribute. In fact, it is
not my aim to be original, but only to Introduce the poet's work to those who
have not yet come across it, I have acquired information which I long to share
with others, in order to brine; them also into the orbit of this great spirit-
ual poet, whose genius has been slowly, but surely, coming to the fore. "Hopkins'
position as a major figure in English literature seems secure. "% declares the
Catholic Encyclopedia, a sober witness, not given to hyperbole.
Gerard's output was comparatively small, but the depth, intensity and
richness of his work, especially his later work, brings him into the class of
Milton and Shakespeare, according to some;
His necessarily circumscribed experience in religious life enabled him to
reach and express a unique Catholic and overwhelming vision of God, and of
creatures in relation to God, that greater poets cannot match. "^
I hope, within the limits of this article, to explain briefly some of the
characteristics of style that render him a somewhat difficult poet to understand
at first sight. Then I hope to divide his poetry into sections, corresponding
to the various periods in his life, showing the influences brought to b^ar on
him at these times as they reveal themselves in his work. And finally, I will
try to explain in some measure the seven Hopkinsian poems printed in our brev-
iaries, appendix ^. Not all our libraries are equipped with the complete
edition of the poems, but all have breviaries. As far as possible, I will let
Gerard speak for himself. His own explanations need no commentary.
Rhymes and Chimes
Explanations of technicalities are generally tedious. But since we want to
get full enjoyment from and thorough understanding of this poet, we have to take
a look at certain elements in his style that might otherwise be daunting.
In the first place, Gerard is known for what he called 'sprung rhythm'.
What is this?
The conventional, common rhythm for conventional, common poets is measured,
or scanned, by 'feet* of two or three syllables, with the stress on the first
syllable:
Then my hpart with pleasure^ fills
And dances with tfie daffodils. (Wordsworth. The. Daffodils.')
(two syllables: one strong and one weak)
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/ o j s o j / j j ' . j
Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for '£. riband t°o stick in his coat. (Browning, The Lost Leader?)
(three syllables: one strong and one weak)
For the most part these rhythms are mixed, and this conventional method
was the way Gerard usually wrote in his early days, that is, until 1875 » the
year of new development. After his long self-imposed silence, he burst forth
into his masterpiece", 'The Wreck of the Deutschland', in the new sprung rhythm.
What had happened? He tells us himself:
I had long had haunting my ear the echo of a new rhythm which I now real-
ised on paper. To speak shortly, it consists in scanning by accents or
stresses alone, without any account of the number of syllables, so that a foot
may be one strong syllable or it may be many light and one strong, I do not
say the idea is altogether new,,, but no one has professedly used it and made
it the principle throughout , that I know of, u_
It is the nearest to the rhythm of prose, that is, the native and natural
rhythm of speech, the least forced, most rhetorical and emphatic of all
possible rhythms, combining as it seems to me ... markedness of rhythm and
naturalness of expression, 5
An attentive reading aloud of the following will make this clearer:
Thou mastering me
God! giver of breath and bread;
World* s strand, sway of the sea;
Lord of living and dead;
Thou hast bound bones and veins in me, fastened me flesh
And after almost unmade, what with dread,
Thy doing: and dost thou touch me afresh?
Once again I feel thy finger and I find thee.
WD Stanza 1
We are listening to a creature crying passionately to God in
suffering. Putting it in another way we could say that Gerard's poetry
...is based on speech rhythms rather than on written forms, capturing the
sound as the ear hears words, more than the eye responding to the printed word.
h
A further individual mark of Gerard's poetry derives from his study of
the Welsh bards of antiquity. Not for nothing had he learned the difficult
Welsh language. He was intrigued by the word sounds, the 'chimes* achieved' by
these ancient masters. He studied their techniques, or rather, series* of tech-
niques, and it was thus that he discovered methods of forming speech -sounds,
Gerard describes his discovery thus t
...certain chimes suggested by the Welsh poetry I had been reading. . .and
a great many more oddnesses that could not but dismay an editor's eye. /
These chimes consisted largely of internal rhyming, or rhyming within the
lines of verse, also alliteration of consonants, often combined with the
former;
For I greet him the days I meet him, and bless when I understand, WD
(internal rhyming)
And I fled with a fling of the heart to the heart of the host, WD
(Alliteration)
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For how to the heart's cheering
The down-dugged ground -hugged grey
hovers off... " WD 26 (Both)
(Dawn begins to break after a terrible night)
Stroke and stress that stars and storms deliver
That guilt is hushed by, hearts are flushed by and melt. WD 6
(Adversity purifies the soul) (Both)
Another 'oddity' is the way Gerard piled up words to stress an idea, as we see
here in The Golden Echo:
. . .0 why are we so
haggard at the heart, so care-coiled, care-killed, so fagged,
so fashed, so cogged, so cumbered,
When the thing we freely forfeit is kept with fonder care.
It sometimes happens, too, that a line is ' rove over', that is, the line
is concluded on the subsequent line;
And what is Earth's eye, tongue, or heart else, where
Else but in dear and dogged man?
Ribblesdale
Gerard was always seeking for just the right word. If he could not find
it he would resort to dialect words, unfamiliar words, new compounds strange to
the ear and even words of his own fabrication. This has led readers to inter-
pret his meaning in various ways. His verse cannot be tripped lightly off the
tongue, still less can it be glanced through by the eyes. It needs to be
thought about, prayed about. What is the poet saying? What is the Spirit
saying to me, to the world, through him? Here is an example of the theologi-
cal depths he can reach in a few words :
Now burn, new-born to the world,
Double-natured name,
Ihe heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, maiden-furled
Miracle-in-Mary-of- flame,
Mid-numbered he in Three of the thunder throne'. WD 3^
So much for our all too brief survey of the techniques of his verse, and
the origin of that musical quality of his poems to which his soi-disant
'oddities' contribute. Now let us look at two words that he himself coined and
which are important for a deeper understanding of his thought. These words are
'inscape' and 'instress'. There are many definitions of these two terms and
these vary according to the philosophical leanings of the definer. But they
'ire not merely philosophical terms -
(They) are relevant as religious concepts as well, for they suggest the
modes in which the divine presence can be sensed, g
Inscape
For Gerard, everything had an individuality of its own, in and through
which God's presence could be discovered:
(inscape) is a distinctive character (almost a 'personality') given by
the Creator to a particular species of rock, tree or animal. Each separate
species, through its inscape, reflects some fractional part of God's all-
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inclusive perfection. c]
(O
"All the world is full of inscape.",, Gerard says in his Journal, Inscape
is discovery of God in all things. , This is not limited to nature, but can
also be experienced in a piece of music, a work of art, a situation, or
even changing patterns such as cloud formations (about which Gerard wrote a
good deal). Any created process can reveal the hidden Presence. As a practi-
cal example of inscape, Gerard confided to his Journal:
One day when the bluebells were in bloom, I wrote the following: I do
not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than the bluebell I have
been looking at. I know the beauty of the Lord by it. Its inscape is mixed
of strength and grace. (18?o) tj
In 1873 we find this lament:
The ash tree growing in the corner of the garden was felled. It was
lopped first: I heard the sound and looking out and seeing it maimed, there
came at that moment a great pang and I wished to die and not see the inscapes
of the world destroyed any more. H
In the same Journal in 187*+, we read: *
As we drove home the stars came out thick: I leaned back to look at them,
and my heart, opening more than usual, praised our Lord, to whom, and in whom
all that beauty comes home . I 3
Ins tress
Instress is precisely what happens when Gerard experiences inscape, A
relationship is established between him and the object. His mourning for the
felled tree is genuine. It arises from a sensitivity to the death of this
living thing. There is a communication between himself 'and the tree, a power
which moves him profoundly.
A good glossary of Hopkinsian words describes instress as 'the forceful
impression made on a beholder by the inner energies of a thing's being. If- A
good summing up of all this is contained in the following:
By virtue of inscape and instress, things can be said to have meaning and
value, and so they can remind everyone of the goodness of God. They reveal
to us a universe laden with meaning. 1 5"
Nature was a sacramental to Gerard.
THE POETRY OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS
General Remarks
I It might seem from the foregoing that Gerard's poetic vision was an un-
clouded one, in which nature was an inexhaustible source of continuous rev-
elation of God, This was not so. Gerard was sensitively aware of evil in
the world. He confronted it daily during his pastoral experience among the
immigrants in the slums of Liverpool and Glasgow, Evil lurchs in the heart of
humankind. This truth, however, drew Gerard to what he already knew was
the key to the spiritual life: sacrifice, especially the sacrifice of obedi-
ence. Herein Jesus was his model. Novrhere does this appear so strongly as
in his reluctance to publish his work. He never wished for praise or fame.
None of his poems were published in his lifetime, apart from one or two little
-42-
pieces that appeared in the ffonth. the Jesuit periodical of the English Prov-
ince. When a well-meaning friend offered to publish his poems for him, he
replied :
When a ran has given himself to God's service, when he has denied him-
self and followed Christ, he has fitted himself to receive from God a special
guidance. . .This guidance is conveyed partly by the action of other men as his
appointed superiors, and partly by direct light and inspirations. If I wait
for such guidance about anything. . .about my po.'try for instance, I do more
wisely in every way than if I try to serve my own interests in the matter. If
you value what I write... much more does our Lord. And if he chooses to avail
himself of what I leave at his disposal, He can do so with a felicity. . .which
I could never command... To live by faith is very hardj nevertheless, by God's
help, I shall always do so. IG
More briefly he says to his close friend Robert Bridges:
When I say I do not mean to publish, I speak the truth. '7
II Gerard felt, even then that English was deteriorating. This explains the
use, at times, of archaic language, the disappearance of which was, to him, a
loss to the English language i-
f'l am learning Anglo-saxon', he writes to Bridges,"and it is a vastly
superior thing to what we have now, it makes one weep to think what English
might have been/ 1%
III The gift of poetry , or any other outstanding gift, should draw the mau
into a deeper relationship with the Lord, but in many poets we do not see the re-
flection of their gift in their lives. Many religious poets who preceded Ger-
ard were just that- religious poets - and there it ended. But with Gerard we
do see spiritual growth as his genius matures.
Hopkins' life was a continuous substantial progress towards perfection.
He believed this, he lived this, this is what he wrote. lS
IV Gerard insists that his poems be read aloud.
Repeatedly and most insistently he implores and pleads with his friends
to read and reread his verse and read it aloud, read it with the ear and
declaim iti £&
(His verse) is, as living art shouUbe, made for performance, and its
performance is not reading with the eye, but loud. leisurely. poetical (not
rhetorical) recitation. £\
Hence the title of this article. 3Q
Tne Early Period (1860-1975)
Some writers ignore the earliest poems as mere experiments. It is true
they are not Gerard's mature work, though thern are some gems that point the
way to a greater future. They cover a wide spanj the schoolboy period, the
Oxford undergraduate, his conversion and reception into the Church and the
seven silent years of formation in the Society of Jesus, i.e. until two
years before his ordination. These were big changes in Gerard's life and they
are reflected in his writing. There are twentyseven completed poems in this
period, of which two thirds are religious.
One of the characteristics of these early poems is the variety of stanzaic
-43-
pattems Gerard used by way of experiment. Some of these he abandoned, others
he returned to later. His first notable poem ''The Escorial", written in I860,
shows a dependence on Spencer and Keats. George Herbert was a major influence also,
and continued to be during his Oxford experience. Two gems written at this
time deserve mention: "Heaven-Haven" and "The Habit Of Perfection'1, Space obvi-
ously precludes my going into all these early poems, so I am selecting those
that reflect his turning to the Church.
See How Spring Opens With Disabling Cold - June I865
The poet is regretting his past youth and its little spiritual fruit. He
has been so long in discovering:
, . . that threshold
Which should ere now have led my feet to the fold...
His previous convictions hold him back and he compares his spiritual life
to a poor harvest and concludes with:
...Therefore how bitter, and learnt how late, the truth.
Let He Be To Thee As The Circling Bird - October,' 1865
Although a year had yet to elapse before his reception into the Church,
this poem, like the previous one, reveals a certainty of where the truth, and
his ultimate destiny, lie. In the previous poem he was an untilled field; here
the metaphor is music. He has found pleasure in bird song:
...And every praised sequence of sweet strings,
And know infallibly which I preferred,
The authentic cadence was discovered late...
...I have found the dominant of my range and state...
The Halfway House - October, 1865, the same time as the above.
It is interesting to note here Gerard's devotion to the Eucharist and his disaffec-
tion with the Anglican view of a merely symbolic presence of Jesus Christ in
the bread and wine.
...My national old Egyptian reed gave way;
...Hear yet my paradox: Love, when all is given,
To see thee I must see thee, to love, love...
...You have your wish, enter these walls, one said:
He is with you in the breaking of the bread.
Seventeen months earlier, Gerard had written to his schooltime friend,
E.H.Coleridge, grandson of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as follows:
The great aid to belief and object of belief is the doctrine of the Real
Presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Religion without that is sombre,
dangerous, illogical, with that it is - not tok speak of its grand consistancy
and certainty - loveable. Hold that and you will gain all Catholic truth. ^
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jtonduin (not Yet) - Lent 1366.
A beautiful poem, written about i.even months before his reception into
the Church, shows that the struggle was still going on. He is utterly
dependent on God, to be led by him.
... Oh, till Thou givest that sense beyond,
To show Thee that Thou art and near
Let patience with her chastening wand
Dispel the doubt and dry the tear;
And lead me childlike by the hand;
If still in darkness, not in fear...
Tne Habit Of Perfection
This section would not be complete without some further mention of this
poem, referred to on page 6, Tne paradox of the discipline of the senses
openiag the soul to 'the uncreaigd light* is worked through skillfully and
with beauty.
Tne Middle Years I. The Wreck Of The Deutschland 1875-1376
Gerard dpstroyed his -ooems before entering the Society of Jesus, ^ an act
which he referred to in his Journal as 'the slaughter of the innocents*.
Until the end of 1875 » therefore, silence ensued. This silence was terminated
at the suggestion of his Superior that he write 'something' about the five
Franciscan Nuns, exiles from the Falk laws, who were drowned on December 7, 1875 t
As a consequence there flowed from his pen the thirtyfive stanza ode which we
know as "The Wreck of the Deutschland".
As a poem it is out of context in the Victorian era from which it sprang.
Here was something quite off the beaten track: the introduction of sprung rhythm, the
'chimes' and speech sounds of the Welsh bards, the internal rhyming and
alliteration of consonants and all the other 'oddities 'we met with in the sec-
tion 'Rhymes and Chimes', It is a difficult poem, Intellectually and emotion-
ally, a poem that has to be lived rather than read, and not to be lightly tossed
aside. Small wonder then that Gerard's two poet friends, Robert Bridges and
Coventry Patmore could not understand it. Two editors, to whom it was sent,
refused it out of hand! Our pluralistic age, however, finds it easier to digest,
W.H.Gardner, in his Introduction to the third edition of the poems, speaks thust:
This work peals out like a massive overture at the beginning of this man's
all-too-brief opera, ^
'*R\e Wreck of the Deutschland" is not simply a poem about a shipwreck, Itis
a drama of God and man, of suffering and triumph, of a journey like that which
each of us must make - fraught with pain, disaster, frustration and suffering,
by means of which we come to experience the paradox of God's mastery over our
lives, and of his love, I will sum up the poem briefly.
Stanzas 1-11 These first eleven verses describe the poet's own experience: we''
ao not know to what he is referring, but it seems to have been a time of crisis,
of temptation, of deep suffering, of conversion. He writes:
-45-
...I did say yes
0 at lightning and lashed rod:
Thou heardest me truer than tongue confess
Thy terror, 0 Christ, 0 God;
Thou knowest the walls, altar and hour and night
The swoon of a heart that the sweep and the hurl of thee trod
Hard down with a horror of height;... Stanza 2
God's finger touched him and he "fled with a fling of the heart to the
heart of the Host*' knowing that only in Christ is all redemption. But there
must be a going down into the tomb, a purification, in order that there may be
a rising to new life. In a letter to Bridges > Gerard states:
...what refers to myself in the poem is all strictly true and did all occur;
nothing is added for poetical padding... 26
Stanzas 12-24 - recount the shipwreck in all its stark reality.
. . .Wiry and white-fiery and whirlwind- swivelled snow
Spins to the widow-making unchilding unfathering deeps...
Stanza 13
Man is not in control of his life. Helpless and powerless, he must turn to
God who alone can lead him through the most excruciating circumstances to his
ultimate destiny. When man is at his most desperate, if he clings to God, hope
will be kindled. A Sister demonstrates this. In her extremity she calls out:
"0 Christ, Christ, come quickly!" In the frenzy of the storm and the panic on
board the ship, she bears witness to a hope which transcends all the horrors
and darkness. Christ is her all, nothing can separate her from him. Her vi-
sion is clear. Her cry is not only her own but for all who are suffering.
It is the nature of gift to bestow, so her call to God becomes the call of
all around her, an invitation for them to hand over and submit their lives to
God. 37
Stanzas 25-35 - further reflections on the Sister's cry:
•••Is it love in her of the being as her lover had been? St. 25
He contrasts the nun's cry with the "We are perishing" of the disciples
of Jesus on the lake. Hers is a cry, not of despair but of faith :-
...They were else-minded then, altogether, the men
Woke thee with a we are perishing in the weather of Gennesareth.
Or is it that she cried for the crown then,
The keener to come at the comfort for feeling the combating keen?
Stanza 25
The poet enters into the confusion of the struggle and finds the answer to
the nun's cry. It is Christ himself, in whatever way he may make himself known.
... Ipse, the only one, Christ, King, Head,,. Stanza 28
He comes striding over the waters of tumult, the triumphant Lord. He is
the Lord of this wreck, the master of living and dead.
... Ah! there was a heart right!
There was a single eye... Stanza 29
The poet remembers that the following day is the feast of the
-46-
Immaculate Conception and he sees the tragedy in a new light. Mary, the woman who
was conceived without stain of sin is an image of this woman whose brief agony would
bring forth Christ, the fruition for the other passengers as well as for the world.
... is the shipwrack then a harvest,
Does tempest carry the grain for thee? Stanza 31
All suffering in Christ is redemptive, no matter who we are, where we are, or in
what circumstances we may be. Like the nun we enter into the paschal mystery and
help to make it effective for all the world.
The final stanzas conclude the poem with a -nrayer, heavily loaded with
metaphor. He addresses the nun, baptized in the sacrificial waters, begging her
to intercede for his country and for all pilgrims still journeying towards the
kingdom. He prays that Christ may reign in the hearts of his countrymen and that
their 'dimness' may be transformed into the radiance of his glory. Then, indeed,
the 'shipwrack' will be a harvest and the tempest 'carry grain for thee,'
(I am indebted to Sr. C.M.O.P. for the insights and for much of the material in
his section on this.)
The Middle Years II 1677-1330
This period, the post-Deutschland period, includes Gerard's last year of
theology, his preparation for the priesthood, His initiation into parish work
as a preacher in London, a brief interlude as sub-minister (bursar) at St, Mary's
College, assistant pastor at St. Aloycius' Oxford and various other Darishes.
Changes were rapid and of short duration. It was a very rich and fruitful time
for the poet. The year 1377 brought forth ten sonnets, and the Oxford period produced
six more, all of the highest quality. Almost all were nature poems reflecting Gerard' sj
sacramental view of nature, through inscape and ins tress, drawing men to God.
The Incarnation is his principal theme, as he sees it reflected throughout
the whole of creation. 'Ipre' (Himself) is to be perceived in the everchanging,
yet constant, creational scene. Sometimes this is Instressed in imagery, some-
times it has to be sought for and gleaned from the poet's obscure wording, but
the pattern is there. The world is God's good news to man.
As early as 1877 » five months before his ordination we find Gerard writ-
ing to Robert Bridges that he is 'very tired, yes, a thousand times and yet a
thousand times tired ' r ° Two years later he refers to surgery. He continues
over the years to confide to his friend that he feels 'so fagged,' 'much jaded'
in a 'state of weakness', 'always jaded,' always tirod'. During the Dublin
period this was intensified as we shall see later. The duties of his state were
absorbing, full of difficult and harassing nroblems. His priestly consecra-
tion and his functions as a priest were his primary concern and every detail
demanded by them was scrupulously discharged. Poetry took second place. His
life was :
...a dramatic record of a man (and a priest) caught up in a dialogue with
God about the things of God.,, \jq
Add to this a sensitivity to ill health, and a highly strung nature, and
we can conclude that many of his poems were born in suffering.
It is difficult to pick out certain poems for comment from this very rich
section. Obviously the throe printed In the breviary must take first place.
Then 'The Windhover* ,for its sheer excellence, cannot be omitted. All these
I
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were written in 1877.
(Breviary:. Appendix 4)
The grandeur of God is inherent in his creation. It blazes forth in sud-
den brilliance like silver foil being shaken. Gerard explains his meanings
All things are charged with love, are charged with God, and, if we know
how to touch them, give off sparks and take fire... ring and tell of him. 3o
This is also manifested in a slow way$ like oil oozing from a crushed
olive*, but all men do not recognize God. They live as if in a treadmill. Money-
making has seared, bleared, smeared their sight, and nature is barren like
winter, unfeeling.
Yet there is hope. Nature has a source of renewed life in herself, 'fresh-
ness deep down things*. There is a sunrise in the 'brown brink eastward'. The
word 'brown' here means brightness, from the Old English *brun' . And the Holy-
Spirit still broods creatively over the earth, like a mother bird over her
eggs, to initiate new life and salvation,
... Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
Pied Beauty (Breviary; Appendix 4)
This is also a sonnet, but a 'curtal' or short one, only ten and a half
lines instead of the conventional fourteen.
It is a prayer of praise from beginning to end. The images Gerard uses
are unconventional. The word Pied itself, or variegated, two-colored, indi-
cates something unusual, a breakthrough. The Victorian era saw the rise of
the industrial revolution; similarly, the machine age tended to produce a uniformity
of thought patterns in the social order. The poet breaks through this with a
world of diversified effects that would not at once be recognized as beautiful:
'couple-colored skies, "a brinded cow', that is, one in which brown is streaked
with another color, 'rose-colored trout ' falling chestnuts that break open to
reveal 'fresh fire coal,' birds' wings, the land pieced out patchworkwise,
fishing tackle that no one ever before considered beautiful! So much variety!
Such strong imagery', Gt, Thomas said change presupposes the Unchangeable,
which is the climactic peak of the sonnet,
...He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change.!
Praise him.
The Nay Magnificat (Breviary- Appendix k)
There is not much to say about this simple little poem, 'a popular piece',
as Gerard called it. It was written at Stonyhurst College, where Gerard was
stationed for the summer months to coach students in classics for university
entrance. It was a May custom in the college for students to write poems in
honor of Mary, These were placed before the statue of the Blessed Virgin.
The Fathers subsequently judged the poems they thought suitable for publica-
tion, Gerard's poem did not pass. The stanzaic pattern was unusual and the
sprung rhythm was not understood by the judges, who thought it all too odd,3<
The poet himself found 'something displeasing' in the poem but does not speci-
fy. It may be of interest to note that the custom of dedicating the month
of May to the Blessed Virgin was comparatively new In England, It was intro-
duced by an Italian priest, Fr. Aloysius Gentili in 1840.
-48-
Th e Windhover. - To Christ Our Lord
This is said to be one of Gerard's greatest poems. The poet himself
referred to it as '...the b^st thing I ever wrote.' 02_
It is a complex sonnet with depths of meaning. So complex is it that
commentators, while unanimous as to its excellence, differ widely about its
actual meaning. To do the sonnet justice in a short summary such as this is
nearly impossible. I can only offer a. few thoughts gleaned from many
widely differing interpretations.
There are three levels of meaning here. In the literal sense there is
a real bird, a kestrel, that is, a small falcon, blue grey above and russet
red beneath. Shakespeare knew the bird under the name' coys trill' . The
poet watches the bird, swooping, gliding, soaring with the upbeat of its power-
ful wings, overcoming the prevailing wind in a joyous ecstasy of mastery and
independence:
.. .striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind...
Some commentators see no more than this, a nature poem, beautifully ex-
pressed with all the characteristic Hopkinsian vivid imagery, tenseness, power
and originality. But we must note the subtitle; 'To Christ Our Lord'. This is
the second level. While the eyes of the poet are on the bird's flight, his
heart is concerned with a new depth :
...Brute beauty and valor and act...
are as nothing compared with 'my chevalier'
, ,,oh, air, pride, plume here
Buckle I . . .
( buckle means grapple, engage in combat)
All the elements which caused the poet such wonder and joy with the bird
reinterpret the struggle in a different sense. The bird's powerful mastery
of the elements becomes Christ's victory, his supremacy over all the powers of
evil ranged against him, his triumphant conquest of sin and death, disease and
diabolical powers.
...ANT) the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, 0 my chevalier!...
The thiri level of understanding refers to the poet himself. Within his
heart he experiences a call to which he responds. He has given his whole being
to the Lord who now calls him to a still deeper level of discipleship. There is
nothing spectacular, but:
... No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine. . .
His lowly role is linked with Christ: "Through poverty, through labor,
through crucifixion his majesty of nature more shines' ?3 Gerard's crucifixion
was to be his increasing bad health:
-49-
,. .blue-bleak embers
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
Fall, gall (suffering) in Christ leads to the gold-vermillion, the colors
of majesty in the Kingdom to come.
The Middle Years 111 1881-1883
Few poems were written during this period. Gerard made his tertianship
at this time and voluntarily renounced the writing of poetry in order to give
himself wholly to the works of the spirit. In the Fall of 1882 he returned to
Stonyhurst College to teach classics. It was at this time that he wrote the
beautiful poem 'The Blessed Virgin Compared With The Air We Breathe'. The
original title was 'Mary, Mother Of Divine Grace, Compared To The Air We Breathe*
This is, alas, too long to reproduce and its theological richness would re-
quire an article of its own.
Gerard speaks of great fatigue in 1883 and felt his poetic vein was running
out. This was far from being the case as we shall see.
The Dublin Period 188^-1889
In February 188^+ Gerard was appointed to University College, Dublin, as
lecturer in classics and examiner for students all over the country. In 1885
he entered into a period of spiritual desolation. The work in the University,
heavy as it was, combined with his continual fatigue and ill-health, a spiritual
aridity that descends! upon him, the sense of being abandoned by God and without
hope on account of his sinfulness, all plunged him into the deepest depress-
ion and misery. All was darkness and frustration. This was 'my winter world'.
He writes to Bridges of 'that coffin of weakness and dejection in which I live'.
"The six sonnets of desolation'composed during this year form a series. There
are no titles, but the first lines bear witness to the intensity of the poet's
suffering. I have put them into their logical order, which may not be their
chronological order. This cannot be traced. Some critics add a further sonnet
to this group, 'Spelt from Sybil's Leaves*which was written the year before.
Some see this poem as merely a description of evening closing into night. Two
of the best commentators, however, recognize the sonnet as autobiographical .
FTvening to night is symbolic of the judgement where two states alone matter:
•black, white; right, wrong; ' And the closing lines certainly suggest hellr
...Where selfwrung, self strung, sheathe-and shelterless, thoughts
against thoughts in groans grind.
'Spelt' is hard-grained wheat and the Sybil is the same prophet who
appears with David in the opening lines of the Dies Irae, linking biblical
and pagan prophecies :-
That day a day of wrath
Shall reduce the world to ashes
As do testify David and the Sybil. (Dies Irae)
36
Though they may not all agree as to the exact meaning of these seven
.sonnets, • even the most severe critics of the Jesuit have had to grant that
here is his greatest poetry', SC?
-50-
To Sqoti The Stranger
This is a straightf orward sonnet. Gerard's family were separated from him
by religion. His sense of isolation is outlined in a colloquy with Christ:
. . . Father and mother dear
Brothers and sisters are in Christ not near
And he my peace my parting, sword and strife...
England, his 'wife', whom he loves dearly, has disappointed him. As her
empire grows, it becomes more and more unchristian. Pleading would be useless;
she would not listen. His treasure, the Catholic faith, is hoarded and
unheeded. He loags to share this faith with those dearest to him, family,
friends, his fellow countrymen, but they do not want to receive what he so much
desires to give.
At this time he was in Ireland, a 'third remove* among strangers. It was not that
he did not receive kindness but that what he most wanted to say was somehow thwarted,
leaving him unheard, unheeded and lonely, Mariani styles the poem 'a personal
talk between the poet and his God,' ^J
I Wake And Feel The Fell Of Dark (Breviary: Vol. 1)
Here the darkness is deeper!
... What hours, 0 what black hours we have spent
this night! ...
He knows there are more to come before light dawns. His 'hours' are
years, his whole life. He cries out to God, but his cries are like dead let-
ters sent to a beloved and never destined to be delivered, for God lives far
away and he cannot contact him. St, John of the Cross says that one of the
greatest tortures of the soul:
...is the thought that God has abandoned it, of which it has no doubt; that
he has cast it r.way into darkness as an abominable thing... the shadows of death
and the pains and torments of hell are most acutely felt, that is, the sense
of being without God, 3^
The 'self yeast' of the spirit has become a sour dull dough. All is bit-
terness. He compares his state with that of the souls in hell.
... The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.
No Worst, There Is None
This is the most terrible of all these sonnets of desolation. The dark-
ness is complete i
... Pitched past pitch of grief...
'Pitch' here means the highly strung stressed self. There is no question of
light being delayed, light had gone entirely) and there was more suffering:
...More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring...
The poet cries to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter: '...where is your
comforting?' And to Mary, our Mother: '...where is your relief?' He
comes close to desuair. This was surely the sonnet that he wrote of to
-51-
Bridges as having been 'written in blood, '~q Was he crying out against the
world domination of sin, or perhaps the effects of sin in the words:
...My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow, , , ?
He likens himself to a man clinging to a cliff, or a steep mountainside.
He must hang on or fall:
... 0 the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there...
Only his entire submission to God can keep him holding on. A fall
would be despair. But:
... Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.
There will be an end to these pains and desolation; sleep brings a tempo-
rary respite and is an image of death which ends all suffering.
Carrion Comfort
Here the poet is in dialogue with himself. His will is firmly linked
with Christ, but the self that seeks relief - "carrion comfort'- is urged
on to despair:
...Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee;...
The sonnet begins in this way.
Even in this extreme desolation which wrings from him the cry:- 'I can
no more,' he quickly adds: 'I can.' He can hope, he can choose to be with
Christ. He has free will. He will not untwist the strands of his humanity
that bind him to Christ. He has kissed the rod, submitted to Christ, and he
is totally in God's hands. He remembers the joy and consolation he experi-
enced at the former time when he kissed the rod:
...my heart lo! lapped strength, stole joy would laugh, cheer,, .
But now! Whom should he cheer? Christ who has flung him down from
heaven? Or himself who dares to wrestle with God? The memory of the joy he
received on that other occasion supports him now as he once more wrestles
'With God,
...That night, that year
Of now done darkness I wretch lay wrestling with (my God I) my
God,
Patience, Hard Thing
Patience is a hard and difficult thing. To attain it we must pray for it
and to pray for it is to ask for battles and interior conflicts, weariness,
renunciation, struggle and implicit obedience*
Patience, hard thing! the hard thing but to pray,
But bid for, Patience is! Patience who asks
Wants war, wants wounds; weary his times, his tasks;
To do without, take tosses, and obey.
The hard won patience is precisely the fruit of these struggles. Like
ivy, it grows slowly, covering our past wrecked endeavors:
-52-
,, .Natural heart's ivy, Patience masks
Our ruins of wrecked past r>urpose...
Dur hearts rebel, we must 'bruise' then, asking God to bend our rebellious
wills to himself. The sonnet noves between two polps, severity and sweetness.
In the last three lines the war, wounds, prating and bruised hearts give way to
the sweetness of honey in the comb:
...And where is he who more and more distils
Delicious kindness? - He is patient. Patience fills
His crisp combs, and that cones those ways we know,
Vy Own Heart Let Me Have "ore Pity On (Breviary: Vols. I, II, III)
This, the last of the sonnets of desolation, shows the poet risiag from
the depths of his misery to a God who is smiling again, though this upward
movement does not really get under way until the last three lines. He realizes
he must be kind to himself, something we all have to learn at some point in
our journey to God. He refuses to live with a tormented mind: ' With this
tormented mind tormenting yet.* He casts round for comfort, but cannot find it,
any more than a blind man who thirsts for water ' in all a world of wet. ' In
the sextet he gives himself some good advice to call off disturbing thoughts and to
leave comfort foot-room:
...let joy size
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile
's not wrung, see you; unforeseen times rather - as skies
Betweenpie mountains - lights a lovely mile.
The word 'betweenpie' has puzzled commentators. 'Pie' means variegated
color, and'between' belongs to the 'mountains', so God's smile is a colorful
break in the sky between somber mountains. Applying this to the spiritual
torment Gerard has been through, we can infer that he now enjoys a sunny
breakthrough between the dark mountains, lighting up his way - a lovely mile.
Thou Art Indeed Just ( Breviary : Vols I, II, III and IV)
This poem was written four years after the seven sonnets we have been
considering, and only three months before his death on June 8, 1889. I have
only included it for special mention because the compilers of appendix 4 of
our breviary evidently considered the sonnet important, since it appears in
all four volumes, a compliment granted to no other poem!
The theme here is from Jeremiah 12:1 Gerard writes to Bridges that the
poem should be read 'adagio molto* (with great stress). if-C The poet's prob-
lem, and the prophet's also, is that God is just, yet sinners prosper in all
their doings, while all he does ends in disappointment. He is God's friend,
yet:
... Wert thou my enemy, 0 thou my friend,
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me?...
'The sots and thralls of lust' i.e. the wicked, thrive better than he does
whose life is spent in God's cause. He notices the abundant and lavish beauty
of spring. The birds build, but he builds nothing. Try as he will, not one
good work can he do. He begs the Lord:
... Send my roots rain.
-53-
Gonclusion
This brings us to the end of our survey of a selection from Gerard
Hanley Hopkins' seventy five completed poems. If his output was small by com-
parison with some other poets, his work must be judged less by ouantity than
by quality. He is a religious poet of the highest calibre. Some regard him
as a mystical writer, particularly with respect to the 'sonnets of desolation'.
There is little in the whole of English lyrical poetry that touched so
convincingly that darkness preceding dissolution, when the soul, stripped
to its essential self, must finally confront its Creator,,. A vision of a dark,
rarely visited spiritual plateau has been translated into religious poetry
of a very high order, *M
May the example and prayers of Gerard Manley Hopkins help those in spirit-
ual desolation to cling to the Lord in naked faith and win through to the
joyful death that was his.
NOTES
1, MacKenzie, Norman H. A Readers Guide to Gerard Hanley Hopkins . p9.
2, Hopkins, Gerard Manley. New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. P 146.
3, Ibid, p 146. ~.-. —.-—-—--■—.— ....
4, The Correspondence of Gerard Manley Hopkins and Richard Watson Dixon.
Abbott. 2nd revised edition. 1955. #3 p 14. Oxford Univ. Press.
5, Letters of Gerard Man ley Hopkins to Robert Bridges . Abbott. 2nd
Revised Eiition 1955. #37 P 551 Emphasis mine. Oxford Univ. Press.
6, Private notes of W.L.T. With permission.
7, Op. cit. Letters to Dixon, #3.pl5.
8, Walhout, Donald, Send My Roots Rain, p I56. Ohio Univ. Press. I98I.
9, Op, cit. Mackenzie. p233.
10. The Journals and Papers of Gerard Manley Hopkins. 1937. p 230.
11. Ibid, p I99.
12. Ibid, p 230.
13. Ibid, p 254.
14. Schoder, Raymond V, SJ. An Interpretive Glossary of Difficult Terms in
the Poems, in Immortal Diamond ed, Norman Weyland, Sheed and Ward
19^9.
15. Op. Cit, Walhout. p I58.
16. Op, cit. Letters to Dixon. #22 p93.
17. Op. cit. Letters to Bridges #53 p 66.
18. Ibid. Letter 93. P 163
19. Lowell, Robert. Hopkins* Sanctity. The Konyon Critics. Gerard Manley
Hopkins. New Directions. 1973. P 9*.
20. Peters , W.A.M. SJ. Gerard ran ley Hopkins, A Critical Essay. 2nd Ed. 1970.
Basil Blackwell and Johnson Reprint Corp, .
21. Op. cit. Letters to Bridges. # 143. p246. Emphasis mine.
22. Op. cit. Journals and Papers. Lecture Notes: Poetry and Verse, p 289.
23. Mariani, Paul. L. Commentary On The Complete Poems of G.M.H. Quoted
from a letter of Hopkins to E.H.Coleridge on P 28.
24. Op. Cit. Journals and Papers, p I65,
25. Gardner, W.H, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, 3rd Ed, Reprint, I96I. pxviii,
26. Op. Cit, Letters to Bridges. #37. p 47.
-54-
27. Private Notes S.F.
2C. Op.Cit. Letters to Bridges. #30. p 3?.
29. Op. Git, Mariani. p xviii.
30. Sernons and Devotional Writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, ed. Devlin, O.U.P.
1959. Quoted by Peter Milward, S..T. A Commentary on the Sonnets Of G.M.H.
31. 0o. Cit. Letters to Bridges . #58. p 77. p 5.
32. Ibid. Letter 61. p. 85.
33. The Notebooks and Papers of G.M.H. p 26^. Quoted by Raymond V. SchoderfSJ.
on the article "What Does The Winhover T\ean?"Fron Immortal Diamond,
3^. Op. Cit. Letters to Bridges. # 127. p? 21^,215.
35. Translation. St. Dominic's Missal.
36, Pick, John. Gerard Man ley Hopkins, Priest and Poet, p JA4,
37. Op. Git. Mariani. p 213.
38, Op. Cit. Pick, p 145- 1^. Quoted from St. John of the Cross. ( No refer-
ence given),
39. Op. Git. Letters to Bridges. #129. P 219.
40. I Did. #170. P 303.
^1. Op. Cit. Mariani. p 317.
-55-
THE SUN
The Sun
is ninety-three million
miles from the earth
Yet it warms
each tiny seed
into life and fruition.
The Sun shines
ceaselessly,
without faltering, without dimming,
Untouched by earth's
clouds and darkness.
If ever it ceased to shine,
each tiny seed
and every living creature
would die.
God's love is a Sun
infinitely above us
Yet holding each
in intimate embrace.
He loves ceaselessly,
without faltering, without dimming,
Untouched by storms
of human passion,
Undeterred by darkness
of human sin.
If ever he ceased to love,
each tiny seed
and every living creature
would cease.
Why do we speak
as if the Sun
did not shine
today?
Sr. Mary Martin, O.P.
Summit
-56-
ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENTS OF THE FEDERATION OF SPANISH
DOMINICAN NUNS
Jean Jerome Hamer, O.P.
On April 7 , 1986, at a meeting of the federal presidents
of the monasteries of Spain and of superiors representing unfed-
erated monasteries, the Cardinal prefect of the Congregation for
Religious and Secular Institutes, Monsignor Jean Jerome Hamer, 0. P.,
delivered the following address.
Sisters :
It is a pleasure to greet you and through you, all the nuns of
Spain, of this nation whose monasteries have given so many saints
to the Church.
I am happy to greet you as prefect of the Congregation for
Religious and Secular Institutes, authorized in the name of the
Holy Father to promote the consecrated life in the world and more
particularly, in the contemplative life. I speak on behalf of the
Holy Father, who, as Head of the Church, is also our first reli-
gious superior and spiritual teacher.
In addition, it is a pleasure to greet you in my capacity as a
Dominican religious, a friar preacher, which I am with fervor and
conviction. The Dominican ideal, that which attributes so much
importance to the contemplation of the mystery of God, draws me
close into solidarity with each of you.
Today I want to speak to you of the Church's esteem for your
religious contemplative life. To this end, there is no better way
than to remind you of the teachings of Vatican II concerning
Perf ectae Cari tatis //7, "The Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal
of the Religious Life."
"Those institutes that are entirely ordered towards contem-
plation, in which their members give themselves over to God
alone in solitude and silence, in constant prayer and willing
penance, will always have, no matter how pressing may be the
needs of the active apostolate, an eminent place in the mysti-
cal body of Christ, whose "members do not all fulfill the same
function" (Rom. 12:4). They offer to God an excellent sacri-
fice of praise, and with abundant fruits of holiness, they
give splendor to the People of God whom they inspire by their
example and enlarge by their hidden apostolic f rui tf ulness .
Thus, they are a glory to the church and a fount of heavenly
graces . "
These are profound affirmations. I wish to underscore simply
two principles:
-57-
-The contemplative religious life holds a privileged
place in the church, in spite of the urgency of the works of the
active apostolate.
-This life has a concrete-even secret-apostolic
f ruitfulness.
Eut these affirmations, an expression of our faith in the
mystical body and in the communion of the saints, are based on a
precise vision of the nature of the contemplative life. It is a-
bout the life of those institutes in which the members "devote
themselves to God alone in solitude and silence, in constant prayer
and willing penance."
Thus, with these four words the Council has wished to describe
your life: solitude, silence, prayer and penance. These are in a
certain way four characteristic works of your monastic life.
This does not mean that we are speaking of four unrelated ac-
tivities. On the contrary, a strong bond unites them. One among
them, prayer, is the crown; the others are supportive. Take, for
example, solitude: this is separation but also nearness. It allows
you to stand at a distance from the world you have left, but at the
same time you walk towards a new reality. You do not go backwards.
Conversely, you move on towards a more exclusive service to the
Lord, towards a more intense prayer.
Then, the other activities of which the Council speaks, all
indispensable, are organized for you around one only: constant
prayer. Certainly all Christians worthy of this name pray and know
the importance of prayer. However, caught up by the concrete
realities of daily life, they cannot dedicate to prayer the place
and time that you can. They cannot make prayer a primary occupation
It is enough to compare the schedule of one of your working days
in the monastery with that of a Christian who lives in the world.
The principle organizor of your day is the predominance of prayer.
Prayer itself has various exercises: the Liturgy of the Hours,
mental prayer, lectio divina, personal prayers .. .but always it
continues being 'prayer.' I have no intention of giving you here
a definition of prayer. I would simply meditate with you on some
reflections of Saint Augustine which go to the heart of the matter.
Saint Augustine wishes to confront the question: Do we pray because
the Lord does not know what we need? He answers: "This may seem
strange if we do not understand that our Lord and God does not ex-
pect us to make known our needs and desires to Him, since certainly
He cannot be unaware of them, but He intends that, through prayer,
we increase our capacity of desiring in order to make ourselves
more capable of receiving the gifts He prepares for us. His gifts,
in effect, are tremendous and our capacity to receive them is small
and insignificant." (Letter to Proba , 130)
-58-
Therefore, to pray, is to fully open our hearts to God, to
stimulate our desire. And this can have only one objective: a
blessed life united to the Lord our God. Prayer in this manner
is a great beginning of our hope. We hope in God and everything
leads us to Him. There is nothing individualistic in this;
neither is it an evasion. If we hope for a blessed life for our-
selves and for others, we desire that all existence and indeed,
the whole world be organized in function of this fundamental hope .
For a Christian, the desire for God is the beginning of brother-
hood among men, of justice and peace. Our humanity is founded in
God.
If the role of prayer is to increase our desire for God, we
will understand sufficiently how this prayer has to and must
change us continually. Prayer must lead us to a state of prayer,
a permanent situation of needing God. Prayer would make little
sense if we limited it to the time provided by our conventual
schedules and to those times we dedicate under the title of private
prayer. It must be prolonged throughout life. On the other hand,
let us have no illusions: this spirit cannot be maintained without
regularity - and very often - by moments of prayer. As Saint
Augustine reminds us: "Extraneous preoccupations and works weaken
in us even the desire for prayer: it is for this reason that at
fixed hours, we go apart in order to redirect our spirit to the
task of prayer. Vocal prayer summons us again to the object of our
desire . "
The monastery is the place where one lives this presence of
God. Everything there is seen in view of this function. Solitude
and an atmosphere of silence, sustained by the common desire to
safeguard them and to eliminate noise and distraction as much as
possible. Penance, well understood, calms and frees us. "There
is no other way to life and true interior peace than the way of
the holy cross and daily mortification." This is the teaching of
the Imitation of Christ (II, 12, 3) and of all the spiritual
masters. The priority given to constant prayer confers on the
life of the contemplative religious a profound unity in spite of
the diversity of elements. The monastery is a school of desire
for God. It is the privileged means whereby this yearning is alive
and on fire.
These four characteristic activities of the contemplative life
are experienced in the monastery for religious who have given them-
selves totally to the Lord by the profession of the evangelical
counsels. These four words thus give a concrete form to your
interior oblation and to your life in community.
Perhaps some of you will be surprised to see that I speak of
'works' and of 'activities' of the religious contemplative life.
Is this not to misuse the words? Certainly some aspects of prayer
and penance are 'activities,' but perhaps this is also true of
solitude and silence. These ultimate realities, are they not before
all else, states of being?
Here is how I answer these unspoken objections. Solitude and
silence do not depend solely on the disposition of places; they
have to be actively assumed. A good community wants these two
-59-
conditions of the life of prayer, and organizes everything in
function of it. It watches constantly in order to safeguard these
values, thereby making every opportune decision to this end. Is
it necessary to recall that material solitude is not sufficient
when a religious or a community is of mind and heart elsewhere?
There are so many ways to cross over the walls I In order to
desire the Lord it is necessary to have an available heart.
I have been visiting the monasteries of nuns for a long time.
Soon after my priestly ordination in August 1941, I became chap-
lain of a monastery. What has always caught my attention has
been the joy of the religious in the monasteries doing well.
This is not at all strange. Your existence responds to the most
profound aspirations of the human soul. We are made for God and
our heart is anxious when it does not rest in Him. Your life of
constant prayer, lived in contemplative solitude, guaranteed and
supported by the law of the cloister, sustains you unceasingly in
movement toward your search for God. Your happiness is the result
of your conviction of traveling the true road.
That constant prayer ought to be nourished continually by your
spiritual reading. Throughout your religious life, at every stage
you have need of nourishemnt from revealed truth. "Those who have
knowledge of the truth, love in fire." These words of Saint
Angela of Foligno remind us that love proceeds from knowledge.
You should desire more and more to know better the mystery of God
and of salvation, not for curiosity or out of vanity, but for the
restlessness of love. Your love of God leads you to recollect
how much He has wished to reveal Himself. Therefore, select your
readings with care, according to the indications of your Constitu-
tions, with a true ecclesial spirit.
The preparation of the liturgical celebrations will contribute
towards deepening this knowledge. The liturgy is at the same time
both a celebration and sign. On the one hand it carries out in us
the work of salvation and, on the other, it helps us to understand
the same mystery through its signs and words. To understand in
its simplicity and depth the Liturgy of the Mass, the Liturgy of
the Hours, and the other rites such as those of Holy Week, is a
wonderful initiation into the mystery which God reveals to us in
His Son, Jesus Christ.
This, well understood, supposes a certain religious culture
proportionate to the capacity of each one. You do not have to
transform monasteries into small universities, but rather allow
each religious to accede to a religious culture on the level of
her human culture, having in mind the proper end of the monastic
life. It is in this sense that the Holy Father, in an address
directed to the nuns of Avila in November 1982, has called you
"to continue cultivating your consecrated life through liturgical,
biblical and spiritual renewal following the directives of the
Council. All of this requires a permanent formation that enriches
our spiritual life, giving it a solid doctrinal, theological and
cultural foundation."
-60-
This religious life consecrated to constant prayer must be
better understood by all. In the sane address at Avila, the Pope
called attention to the Christian communities and their pastors
about the irreplaceable role the contemplative life holds in the
Church. All of us should deeply appreciate and esteem the gift
of contemplative souls.
Above all we must understand well that the special apostolate
of the monasteries wholly consecrated to the contemplative life
is, also, of contemplative character. It is not accomplished by
means of the external works of the active apostolate, but solely
by prayer and immolation. As we believe in the great and living
reality that constitutes the mystical body of Jesus, we shall have
no difficulty recognizing the reality and fruitfulness of this
apostolate .
All of this is admirably summarized by Saint Therese of the
Child Jesus: "Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I under-
stood that if the Church had a body composed of diverse members,
the most necessary and the most noble could not be lacking to her;
I understood that the Church had a heart and that that Heart was
burning with LOVE. I understood that LOVE alone moved the members
of the Church to act, that if LOVE were extinguished, the Apostles
would never more preach the Gospel, the Martyrs would refuse to
shed their blood..."
You belong to diverse monastic families: with different
founders, different spiritualities, and even the gifts you have
received from the Lord are different, but in, all of this you are
deeply united in your will to live an authentic contemplative life
in accord with the great spiritual tradition of the Church. In
your necessary plurality, this contemplative life is one and unique
I believe that you will have recognized the ideal I have laid out
before you in this brief address.
Finally, I repeat to each of you what John Paul II said to
you at Avila: You "are very necessary to the Church," you "are
the vanguard of the Church on its way to the kingdom."
Translated by Sister Ruth Ann Mary, O.P
Summi t
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FIRST GLIMPSE OF MOTHER TERESA MARIA
INTRODUCTION
We offer here an introduction to an outstanding Dominican contemplative
nun, Mother Teresa Maria of the Monastery of Olmedo in Spain. Notes sketching
her spiritual portrait have been compiled by her director, Don Baldomero
Jimenez-Duque, and presented in a book recently published in Spanish. Sr. Mary
of the Holy Cross has devoted much time and painstaking care to the translation
of the book, and it is with joy and appreciation that we present the Preface
and Chapter One, in the hopes that it may be possible to continue in future
issues.
The fact that so many of Mother Maria Teresa's contemporaries are still
living is both a help and a hindrance to the work of making her known abroad.
The help is obvious: we see her through the eyes of those who have lived with
her, known her voice, her look, the very texture of her life. Yet by the same
token, it has not been possible as yet to fill in all the details, and especially
the intricate setting of her life. These things must be filtered with the passing
of time. Meanwhile, this is a first glimpse. It whets the appetite for more.
Sister Mary Thomas, O.P.
Buffalo
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FIRST GLIMPSE OF MOTHER MARIA TERESA
PREFACE
The rolled stone glides slowly on, through places where authentic
witness has been given, and throuyh all times. Wherever it has passed, its
influence remains. This is the gift of great spirits: they 'roll on,'
enriched through a variety of encounters, never used up, never diminished.
They grow through their experiences. Like Jesus, they pass along doing
good. They take root in the minds of those they meet. The remembrance of
them yives courage. Their moral and intellectual greatness remains with
us. Though they have passed out of sight, their presence is a felt reality.
This is what has happened in the Monastery of the Mother of God in
Olmedo, in connection with Mother Teresa Maria. Her writings, her
teachings, her decisions ... her papers, letters, books ... the sound of
her voice on tapes, the atmosphere of calm and peace: all these are more
than mere recollections for the Community of the Monastery of the Mother of
God. There is a presence which lingers in the cloisters, the choir, the
cells of this simple monastery. This is a phenomenon experienced even by
strangers and guests visiting the Community . For the members of the
Community it is an onyoing witness.
This book attempts to express this reality. Don Baldomero tells us it
is not a biography of Mother Teresa Maria, but rather a collection of
notes. Facts are missing, certainly: situations in time, references to
historical and ecclesiastical circumstances. Missing are those'syntheses
which would delineate her character in its varying dimensions. Vatican
Council II is only implicitly alluded to by the liturgical renewal which
took place in the monastery, by the profound opening out of the missionary
spirit, and by the freedom and healthy humanism of the true Spirit. Notes
on Christian spirituality particularly emphasized by this Council are also
missing.
These notes do, however, contain elements for the writing of a
Diography, elements which are stimulating and which can communicate the
same enthusiasm which Mother Teresa Maria inspired by her presence. By
means of these notes the author lets us draw near to this great soul of our
own times, a soul whose vocation it was to be a rolling stone, and who
continues to roll.
"Among Teresa and her friends there had been talk of the vocation of a
rolling stone,' a soul of prayer, truly contemplative, ever moving towards
those in need; a soul without fixed abode, unable to put down roots, held
captive by no one and by nothing." (1) This recalls the freedom and
expendability of the Lord's disciples, sent forth to announce the Gospel of
peace. How much confidence this demands of those who entrust themselves to
Him!
Teresa Maria felt called to the hidden life. Yet, she passed through
many places -- Seville, Belmonte, Olmedo — and from the Monastery of the
Mother of Cod her spirit continues to roam the world, like the spirits of
the great Teresas of Avila ana Lisieux. From Olmedo too foundations have
sprung up in many continents.
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When the responsibilities of Prioress fell to her — and she was born
to be a spiritual leader in spite of her desire to remain hidden — she
wrote: "Lord, a new stage is beijinniny in my life now. My commitment to
holiness is no longer merely personal; it extends to my entire Community."
(2) She had a growing sense of urgency, ever more pressing. Was hers the
vocation of 'a rolling stone1 or was it that of 'a snowball'? It was both.
It was a vocation to sanctity. A rolling stone meant availability,
openness, flexibility, freedom of spirit. A snowball meant constant
growth, presence regardless of the cost, a burden growing ever heavier
through continual rolling. A snowball is the same within and without. In
this sense, although bulky, it is transparent. One sees only what it is,
and nothing more. This vocation is filled through and through with the
idea of holiness.
Teresa Maria wrote to a friend in Olmedo just before her transfer from
Seville: "I believe that what our Lord is offering to you and me is
sanctity. We dre so familiar with the idea of sanctity that in saying
this it seems I have said something banal, obvious. Actually, as I see it
now it is a novelty, and it is this that I long to communicate to you.
There are no saints, Carmina. Definitely, there are no saints. There are
too many things to think about, too many affairs which absorb us, too many
preoccupations, (I do not wish to say what is even more painful, too much
'I'.) The question of holiness is pushed aside because the twentieth
century mentality demands this, and claims for itself practically all the
soul's energy. I see holiness as something so exquisite, so subtle, so
illusive that it escapes our grasp." (3)
What is sanctity? "Something so exquisite, so subtle, so illusive."
That is it. It is life, flowing, rolling on but with a new impetus,
interior and profoundly sensitive to the movements of the Holy Spirit.
Those who allow themselves to be moved by Him are saints. There is no
human criterion for holiness, no human way of generating it in greater or
lesser degree. We cannot achieve our own sanctity by an increase of
fasting, of detachment, by less sleep or more charity to the poor, as if
all these things corresponded to different degrees of holiness. Basically,
holiness is grace, a gift of God, to be accepted positively.
There is passivity in receiving, activity in responding: passive and
active fidelity. It is obvious that sanctity comes forth from the depths
of the soul in confrontation with the unexpected, with what, at each
moment, takes one by surprise, rather than from a series of planned
activities. It is a matter of facing the surprise quality of life or its
monotony from one's depths, of accepting Love with a response of love and
trust: "something exquisite, subtle, of the here and now, illusive."
Vigilance is necessary, an ever fresh attitude of renewed love, so that the
unexpected may not find one unprepared, the monotonous may not plunge one
into routine, so that preoccupations and concerns may not distract one from
the goal .
"Those who are moved by the Spirit of God are the sons of God."
(Romans 8:14) "He who draws near to the Lord is made one spirit with him."
(I Cor. 6:17) This is docility, in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God.
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It is the state of the greatest connaturality with His movement. If to be
docile means to be teachable, who can be more docile than a little child?
A child is open and receptive because he is a child; also, he is weak and
powerless because he is a child. This condition calls for constant growth.
Everything has to be given to a child; he expects this and is not surprised
by it. He accepts his dependence happily and finds it quite natural. In
the supernatural order, the essential signs of this childlike attitude are
humility, or the recognition of one's own powerlessness and weakness; the
awareness of God's fatherhood, which gives rise to unlimited confidence in
His love; and finally a growing desire to be docile to His Spirit, to be
guided by Him, and to become more and more His child.
When we look at ourselves, we see our poverty. When we look at God,
we see Him as Father. The result is that we allow ourselves to be guided
with complete confidence, like a rolling stone. That is all.
Don Baldoinero Jimemez-Duque, great guide of souls and penetrating
judge of the history of spirituality and of the human heart, knew Mother
Teresa Maria intimately in some of the more difficult stages of her
'rolling.' He offers us a first-hand glimpse of her spirit in the present
work of Christian spirituality. May it produce all the fruit it promises
and deserves, for the glory of God.
Jose Delicado
Archbishop of Valladolid
AUTHOR'S NUTE: This is not a biography of Mother Teresa Maria, but
merely a collection of notes which might be of use to a future biographer.
They are written principally by her, as will be seen. The testimonies of
her nuns also form a major contribution. The rest is a bundle of sheaves
from my own gleanings. Perhaps I should have done better to have said
less. But I shall leave it as it is — my own personal tribute to this
admirable and much admired woman. — B.J.D.
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CHAPTER ONE
FIRST YEARS
Teresa was born in Puentecaldelas(Pontevedra) on Christmas day, 1917,
at nine in the evening. Her parents were Don Jose Maria Orteya Ijazo and
Dona Manuela Pardo Valdemar — Galician and Aragonese blood — a difficult
combination, but successfully blended. He was a native of Teruel but had
been appointed head of the telegraph service in Puentecaldelas where he met
and married Dona Manuela. He was a man of great intellectual, moral and
religious qualities. Dona Manuela was a deeply religious woman, a woman
with a keen sense of responsibility leading to heroism in the fulfillment
of her duties as wife and mother. Her temperament was Celtic — softened
by the fresh airs of the sea and the virgin forests of Galicia.
Teresa Angela Maria was baptized in the parish church of St. Eulalia
on January 9th, 1918. Two more children were to follow: Encarnita and
Gregorio. The parish register gives the year of her first holy communion
as 1925, the only record we have of the event. We know little of her early
childhood, only that she was greatly attached to her mother. When she was
five, her father wanted to take her with him to Teruel to visit his own
family, but the child would not consent to leave her mother. Years later,
when her mother died, Teresa felt the loss keenly, but rose above her
suffering with characteristic energy. She once remarked, "No one could
ever fill the void left by my mother's death." She had a deep love for her
father and aunts, but the memory of her mother remained fresh throughout
her life, wherever she might travel.
In 1926 Don Jose Maria was transferred back to Teruel and it was here
that Dona Manuela died on September 12th, 1927. The widower and his
orphans depended now on his sisters: Lola, wife of General Isidoro Ortega;
Maria, wife of Don Emilio Bonilla, ana Encarnacion who was unmarried and
who became a second mother to the three children.
Teresa, though very feminine, cared little as a child for playing
house or raising a family of dolls, pasttimes so intriguing to most of the
small girls she knew. Her preference lay with outdoor games such as
jumprope, quoits, various ball games and a favorite sport which involved
throwing the 'devil' up over the highest buildings and then catching him
with a halter. This game she invariably won. We are also told that she
was an expert juggler. Her audience would watch enthralled as she threw
her balls one after another into the air to form an elliptical curve and
deftly caught each one with never a miss.
At indoor gatherings Teresa was fond of reciting poetry, some of it
composed by herself. When company was expected, she would beg her Aunt
Encarna to call her. She would appear in a gay scarf and with much grace
recite the poetry of her choice. She once put into verse an entire novel
written by Father Colona, S.J.
Teresa's first teacher, particularly in mathematics, was her father.
Her aunts also arranged to have a professor come to the house to teach the
two girls, but he found it difficult to get much cooperation from them.
They simply hid in the attic to avoid his classes. Eventually the girls
were sent to a Franciscan academy as boarding students
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How should we describe Teresa's personality duriny these first years
of adolescence and youth? She was very graceful, sympathetic, happy, a
yood friend. Everyone liked her. She knew how to create a worm, friendly
atmosphere because of her affectionate and pleasiny nature. She had a fine
artistic sense, studyiny music with her Aunt Encarna and playiny the piano
with proficiency. Whatever she set her hand to succeeded, and she
invariably led in classes arid yames. She had a strony will and was very
independent, likiny to undertake new and difficult projects and carryiny
them throuyh with firmness. Enhanciny all these yifts was an irresistible
power of persuasion. This composite imaye of Teresa never dimmed; rather,
its lines were etched ever more deeply with the passiny of time.
The beyinninys of bad health beyan to appear at this period. Teresa
suffered pains in her stomach and frequent indiyestion. These symptoms
defied diaynosis and were to remain and increase throughout her life.
Since her mother's death Teresa had yrown somewhat reserved, and at the aye
of thirteen, with the natural crisis of adolescence, this reserve was
intensified. Her family surrounded her with kindness, but at the same time
with demands. Their cult of "rectitude and exactness" was typical of
Christian families of the period. Teresa adapted to this environment with
simplicity and yrace but lost nothing of her native viyor and independence.
At about this time a youny man became interested in her and she responded,
but manayed to hide everything from the family. This situation soon
created many difficulties for her at home, occasioning frequent reprimands.
The brief adventure came to an abrupt end, leaving no notable repercussions
in later life. It may have been the needed stimulus for her to launch out
definitively in a new direction.
Teresa was now fifteen years old. What to do? In Teruel, as in all
of Spain, these were years of the second republic; fermentation of ideas
and attitudes was widespread. The Christian faith was being shaken. It
was more demanding, more exacting. It was being purified. Alarmed by all
these events and by Teresa's personal crisis as well, her family, and
particularly her aunts, felt urged to give her a stronger formation in
religion and in the apostolate. Providentially, several persons assisted
them in this matter. Don Manuel Hinojosa, a very holy priest and close
friend of the family, became her spiritual director at this time. He died
a martyr in 1936; Teresa kept an indelible memory of him, and held him in
yreat veneration. Another influential person in her life was Dona Dolores
Albert, wife, mother and ardent apostle in the field of Catholic Action,
who initiated a yroup of youny people, Teresa amony them, in this work. Of
later siynificance was Teresa's meeting with Julieta Elipe, a young girl
deeply involved in the apostolate. Everyone and everything contributed to
what might be called Teresa's "conversion," or better, her "surrender" to
the challenge of a totally uncompromising Christian life, whatever the
consequences.
Let us take a look at Catholic Action in the years following the
second world war. This movement had deep significance, ana its
sociological influenced reached to all the Church and the whole environment
of life in Spain in those days. It was a movement which generated secular
groups of men and woman of all ages in an authentic Christian sense. The
spiritual life was deeply cultivated. In many, it gave rise to an
apostolic and social restlessness variously translated into action and
further engendering more specific movements to meet different circumstances
or needs which arose. It was a Catholic Action which matured during the
difficulties of the republic, then during the war years, and still later
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after the war. It drew propagandists of all kinds: organizational
leaders, catechists, judges, politicians, martyrs. But as often happens
with broad movements, its "gas energy" began to disappear little by little,
especially at the end of the fifties. Between the thirties and fifties,
however, its history was glorious, and it still awaits its historians. _
Such was the atmosphere Teresa breathed during those years. In Teruel
the Catholic Action groups were alive and vigorous. She received much; her
potential was on the increase.
Given her great qualities and aptitude, Teresa soon began to act as
propagandist of the group in her own town and further afield. She was
highly intelligent and articulate; her generosity was firm and growing.
Her life was rooted in solid spirituality and flowered in deep devotion to
the Eucharist and a total personal surrender. Even in those early years
she was often doubled up with pain when addressing groups. Her father
encouraged her to utter fidelity to her commitments whatever the cost. We
learn from her that she often rehearsed tier talks before her family,
usually on the terrace of their home in Oaroca where they vacationed.
The following incident illustcates Teresa's availability and her gift
for relating to her audience. Just before the tragedy of Teruel, towards
the beginning of the war, a military officer asked a priest to give a talk
to his soldiers. Unable to meet the request at the time, the priest wrote
and asked Teresa to give the talk in his place. The officer delivered the
letter to Teresa, under the impression that she was being asked to find
another priest. She read the letter, then astonished him by quietly saying
that she she would gladly address his soldiers. He acquiesced, but
prepared the soldiers in advance for the unexpected situation. When the
moment arrived there were, inevitably, murmurs, smiles between questions
and roguish remarks from the youthful group. Here was a young girl of
about twenty, graceful but frail looking, proposing to speak to them about
religion. It took Teresa a mere five minutes to turn the group into an
amazed, fascinated and absorbed audience. Had she been a priest they would
probably all have wanted to go to confession. Happenings like this were
frequent .
War broke out in 1936. In December of 1937 the great battle of
Teruel began and lasted until February, 1938. At the beginning of January
the last resources of the heroic city had fallen into the hands of the
Communists. They were retrieved however by the Nationals the following
month.
The tragedy that befell Teresa and her family during those terrible days is
not easy to describe. Since the city was under attack for twenty-four
days, they first took refuge in a cave, and later in a military post held
by the Nationals, amidst explosions and crumbling buildings, as well as
hunger, thirst and death on all sides. In some brief autobiographical
notes Teresa describes how she and another young girl ventured out to save
the BDsssed Sacrament in the church of San Juan, and how she later conceived
the idea of making hosts so that the priest could celebrate the Eucharist
and distribute Holy Communion. But we will let her tell us. She recounts
how they returned to the cave from San Juan Church, but soon had to abandon
it because of the danger of suffocating or of being blockaded:
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"We started out towards the military post held by the Nationals. We
could not reach the school, another point of defense. All the wire cables
were on the ground, we were walking over them. Total destruction
everywhere ... all the houses had fallen ... it was night, and we had not
so much as a flashlight with us ... all was thick darkness, and freezing
... twenty below zero ... without water, soiled and exiled, walking on
frozen ground, we were on a terrible pilgrimage without any fixed
destination or hope.
"But deep within was an invisible, mysterious source of strength
accompanying us in our exile ... it seemed impossible, yet He was with us!
It was my good fortune to be the one to carry Him ... how tremendous ...
what strength!
"We arrived at ihe post and found some priests there. 1 could no
longer keep the secret ;it would not be just. 1 spoke to a Franciscan
Father and he told me to give him the Blessed Sacrament. Afterwards, I
wept for having spoken. If I had kept silent no one would have known that
I carried the Hosts. But I knew I had to speak. With these Hosts, all
received Holy Communion. I asked Father for the corporals, and preserved
them them with the utmost care.
"The siege lasted twenty-four days. Our greatest anguish was not to
be able to receive Communion daily. If only we could do that! But there
were no more Hosts reserved, no forms or machines to make hosts ... I
looked for two flat hand irons and heated them. Then I hunted for some
flour and water ... water was so scarce that many died of thirst. With the
water and flour 1 made a light dough and put it between the irons. The
resulting forms were unshapely and there was much flour on them — but God
descended there — the Franciscan Father consecrated daily ... what
mystery!... 'I saw Him coming from the threshing floor...' We had
Communion every day from that time on."
Then came surrender and imprisonment for all. They were first taken
to Segorbe, then to Valencia. There followed a month of agony and torture
— and without the Eucharist! At the end of this period Teresa was set
free but her family remained in prison. She was taken in by a family which
had been evacuated from Teruel . Soon she encountered her Eucharistic Lord
again. Yet more: she was given charge of taking Holy Communion to others.
She made her rounds, carrying her Burden in a small box to designated homes
and even to prisons. She came to be called "the (Ciboriurn child."
On March 30th, 1939, Valencia was liberated and a new life opened up
for Teresa. Immediately and swiftly she resumed her studies and began her
work for a bachelor's degree. Then she started her studies in philosophy
and literature in the same University of Valencia in November of 1941 and
continued them through 1943 in Zaragoza where her family had moved. She
took her final examination in September, 1945, and received her licentiate
on May 13th of the following year.
Teresa's studies were brilliant. She drew many of her peers and even
her professors, exercising an irresistible spiritual influence upon them.
One who knew her well at this time testifies: "Her university career was
an aqueduct opening into the apostolate." Professors, university
students, institutes, colleges, all opened their doors to her and she
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penetrated deeply. She enjoyed a similar relationship with younger boys
and girls, children, the elderly. Her open friendliness, her penetrating
glance so fascinating and so charged with life, appeared to them as simply
an interesting experience. Then before they knew what was happening she
reached an intimacy with them. They found it easy to open their hearts to
this new friend, who seemed to be able to find solutions for all their
problems, and whose horizons were broad enough to include their loftiest
ambitions.
During her years as a university student Teresa workea out a
definitive plan of total surrender to the Lord. The Teresiun Institute,
where she had made her studies for her bachelor's degree in Teruel and
Valencia, and the Opus Dei which her brother and sister had joined,
attracted her attention. She was greatly interested in both, particularly
the former. But she decided to remain independent, working within the
framework of Catholic Action with complete dedication and with greater
freedom for her life of prayer, already very deep. It may have been the
life-style of some of the other young girls in her Catholic Action group
which influenced her and led her to her final decision. In any event, for
ten years, from 1945 to 1955, she was outstanding in the movement, totally
surrendered to her own personal sanctif ication and to the works of the lay
apostolate.
Teresa had worked as a promoter in Valencia; she became even more
active in Zaragoza. Her fields of action had been the universities,
institutes, colleges. In 1946 she was officially named Speaker for for
the Catholic Action groups in the Archdiocese of Zaragoza. It was here
that she would give her full measure ._
Her first preoccupation was to organize a school for propagandists.
Courses insured a structured, systematized and permanent formation. But
the immortal soul was for her the most important factor, and this she
brought out clearly in all her classes and talks. Her zeal fired countless
young girls; the influence perdured. Some of these girls became
particularly intimate with Teresa, sharing more deeply in her way of life,
her prayer, discussions held in her home, and in frequent trips.
To intensify propaganda and make it work, Teresa restructured the map
of the diocese according to parishes. She promoted the nomination of
parish propagandists, organizing cursillos, dialogues, retreats — whatever
type of meeting was required in order to reach everyone. She and her
promoters did the circuit of the whole diocese, parish by parish. They
organized weeks for young people, for mothers, and other more solemn
gatherings and celebrations. She became a well-known figure throughout the
diocese. Her human qualities, but still more the spirit which animated
her, were extraordinary. Because of this her activity as a propagandist
and a leader in formation had an enormous impact. Let us take a look at
some of the reasons for her success.
The solid foundation of Teresa's doctrine, and the clarity and
penetratinq force with which she communicated it, formed a generation of
totally responsible young girls: true Christians. They took their
formation, with all its practical consequences, very seriously. Thus in
their turn they could launch out into the apostolate in countless different
ways. Teresa was sometimes accusea of demanding too much. She answered,
"It is not I who make the demands. I simply confront them with demanding
situations." Christianity truly accepted and lived inevitably leads to
holiness. Of all these young girls some, Teresa herself first, entered
religious life. This is normal wherever the Christian life is intensely
cultivated. But there were many who became exemplary mothers of families.
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Teresa was also accused of fomenting enthusiasm for a life of
virginity and by the same token of depreciating marriage. This was not the
case. Actually, she spoke on marriage with such enthusiasm and unction
that those who heard her were convinced that she must be in love herself
and planning to marry soon. But whenever the occasion offered — and this
was frequent in the context of forming young girls — and Teresa spoke on
the religious life, vocation, surrender, consecrated virginity, her own
passion for these themes would be roused, ana she would move her hearers
deeply. If the small seed of such a vocation were present in the heart of
anyone listening to her, Teresa's words could activate it impetuously and
decisively. Illusion might play a part in all this, as so frequently
happens among overly eager and open young people. The following testimony
shows Teresa as a former of strong souls.
"I met her as a propagandist giving a cursillo to the young girls of a
Catholic Action group. She impressed me at first as a very simple person
who gave herself to everyone in turn. On the supernatural level, however,
she was unique. .Contact with her challenged me to aim at the heights.
Above all, her gaze radiated purity and depth. I can say in all txuth that
she changed my life. She guided me to God. In a word, she lifted my
Christian life to a higher level. Later, in moments of great trial when I
did not know how to respond to Cod's will with generosity, she, with a
charity which led her to sacrifice time, energy and whatever else was
needed, helped me to overcome all obstacles definitively. This was an
excellent preparation for confronting the difficulties which were to come
my way later. Her words, her life, were so convincing that you could not
help realizing it all came from God. Near her, I felt safe.
"Our friendship became more intimate with the passing of time, and 1
was admitted into her family circle. Once when we were at the home of her
Aunt Encarna, that dear and delightful collaborator of all her enterprises,
her aunt disagreed with her on some point which escapes me now. Teresa
responded somewhat brusquely. The next day she hesitated to go to
Communion without first going to Confession. She asked her aunt's
forgiveness with emotion and with great simplicity and sincerity. She said
to her, 'Aunt, do you know what the priest said? He warned me not to be
as pure as an angel and as proud as a devil.' There was an expression
of_pain on her face, and not content to tell her aunt only, she came to me
also."
There is no need to insist on the charism inspiring her work as a
promoter.
Everywhere she went she gave rise to waves of enthusiasm. She addressed
girls in formation, organized activities for all classes of people, —
young boys, girls, parents, children. Priests too consulted her on many
problems and questions. Such was the confidence her personality inspired.
But her activity was not limited to the diocese of Zaragoza. It soon
spread further abroad and she began receiving invitations from various
groups, from priests and even from bishops, to speak or direct courses and
weekly sessions and to intervene in more demanding and significant
activities. By 19i?0 her engagements multiplied to overflowing. This was
the Holy Year, and preparations for it increased her apostolic work. It
was during this year that she was able to get away fgr a few days on
pilgrimage to Rome. Of this we shall speak later.
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We cannot give here the itinerary of her various trips throughout
Spain. Perhaps it can never be reconstructed. The principle places she
visited were Teruel, Palencia, Valladolid, Soria, Avila, Salamanca,
Caceres, Valencia, Alicante. During a period of convalescence after her
first surgical operation in Zaragoza in 1950 she spent a few days in
Palencia with a friend of her family. This gave her an opportunity to
establish contacts for apostolic works and to prepare the ground for later
activities, especially for the Marian Year of 1954. A witness writes about
this period:
'Many young people came from different parts of the diocese of
Palencia. Young girls would gather around Teresa after each talk. To hear
her speak changed one's life. It was at this time that she bound herself
to an intense Marian focus at the Shrine of Pesquera, where a piatform was
improvised under a tree to take in the immensity of the great esplanade
filled with people coming from the surrounding districts. Here she
addressed the multitudes which were presided over by the bishop and a great
number of priests and civil authorities. Teresa did this frequently in
other places, always adapting herself to the special character of the
locality."
further notable activities were pursued in Penafiel, Aranda de Duero,
Burgos de Osma. The year 1955 was extraordinarily full. This was the
period immediately preceding Teresa's entrance into the cloister, and it
seems that before the flash of fire turned inward it had to reach its
maximum of vibration and expansion outwardly. Alcoy, Onteniente, Algemisi,
Carcagente saw the flame pass by. It was in Onteniente that she met Don
Basilio Sancho, a priest who would be of great assistance to her monastery
in Olmedo. Here also she visited a hospital for tubercular patients and
without fear of contagion spoke to them directly and simply. Then came
Aranda de Duero and the Eucharist ic Congress in Fuentes de San Esteban;
next, Viliamiel, Fuenteguinaldo, Ciudad Rodrigo. Still later there were
more weekly meetings for young people and mothers. During these meetings
Teresa organized nocturnal prayer vigils in spacious halls, usually the
theatres of the place. Men of all ages joined these after work and
listened to her talks, which usually developed into profound and gripping
dialogues and discussions on serious questions. One priest was heard to
say, "After these talks, I spend long hours in the confessional!"
We are now on the threshold of the Convent of Seville, where Teresa
wanted to "hide her weakness in the power of God."
Translated by Sister Mary of the Holy Cross 50P
Buffalo
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TKE FIRST CONSTITUTIONS OF THE DOMIKICAN SISTERS OF MONTARGIS (1250)
Raymond Creytens, O.P.
The monastery of St. Dominic of Montargis (in the Department of Loiret,
between Sens and Orleans) is well known in the history of the Dominican sis-
ters of the 13th century. It owes its importance to the role that it played
in the involvements which, in the course of the first half of the century,
troubled the good relations between the sisters and the brothers of the Order
of Preachers. The cause of this conflict is well known: namely, the ever-
growing number of monasteries, either affliated with or incorporated into
the Order, threatened to paralyze the ministry of the brethren; hence, the
efforts of these latter to get free from this charge, efforts which encounter-
ed the energetic resistance of the sisters. Let us briefly recall the princi-
pal phases of this struggle in which the monastery of Montargis played an
active role .
At the death of St. Dominic, three monasteries were under the jurisdic-
tion of the Order: Prouille, Madrid, and St. Sixtus of Rome. The two first
had been founded by the holy Patriarch; the last was reformed and reorganized,
by order of Honorius III, by St. Dominic with the help of the Dominican sisters
of Prouille. In the course of the ensuing years, this number increased and
soon formed a serious obstacle to the ministry of the brothers. A reaction
was not long in coming. The brothers insisted, and demanded, and finally suc-
ceeded, after many approaches towards their superiors in the Order and to the
papal court, in getting themselves freed from the direction and the administra-
tion of the monasteries of sisters. This was October 25, 1239- The decree
of Gregory DC threw the sisters into desolation. Nevertheless, overcome but
not discouraged, they soon returned to the charge. The monastery of St. Sixtus,
thanks to the papal favor that it enjoyed by reason of its origins, wa6 the
first to succeed in having itself reintegrated into the bosom of the Order .
This was in 12UU .
The others followed quickly, with Montargis at the head. At the end of
12UU and/or in the beginning of I2U5, its foundress, Amicie de Montfort, addres-
sed herself to the Pope and obtained by a bull of April 8, 12U5, the official
incorporation of the monastery into the Order. The breach had been made; the
monasteries, one after the other, had recourse to the Holy See with full suc-
cess. On May 7 of that same year, St. Agnes of Strasbourg; on the Uth of
the following July, Saint Mark of Strasbourg; and they were soon followed by
a host of other monasteries which obtained the same concession. At the end
of 12U6, thirty or so monasteries were confided to the direction and to the
care of the brothers. The sisters sang a song of victory. The brothers, for
their part, tried first of all to attenuate the range of the bulls of incorpo-
ration by limiting the charges that they contained to the spiritual realm,
and they did succeed in this plea. On April U, 12U6, Innocent IV excused
them from the administration of the temporal affairs .
Did the brothers try to apply at Montargis the interpretive bull of
April U, 12U6V This is very probable, because on October 12 of the following
year, the 6isters had confirmed by the Pope the privilege of incorporation of
April 8, I2U5. This state of affairs remained until September 26, 1252, where
the sisters lost, in a single blow, everything they had won. In effect, a
bull of Innocent IV, dated on this day, completely exonerated the brothers from
the "cura roonialiura", the care of the nuns, with the exceptions of the raonas-
of Prouille and of St. Sixtus . This measure brought with it unfortunate
■73-
consequences for the discipline and the administration of the monasteries .
The sisters of Montargis complained bitterly about this to the Pope in a
supplication that they addressed to him in the end of 1256. No doubt the
sisters exaggerated, because it seems that they had not suffered from this
decree of separation. A letter that Humbert of Romans, provincial of France,
6ent them in December of 1253 shoved him occupied with the government of
the monastery. Their procedure had rather as its goal the sanctioning by the
Pope of a de facto situation. One will soon understand their apprehension.
Soon after the decree of separation of 1252, the sisters began again
their entreaties with Pope Innocent IV. He, whose policies towards the sis-
ters was fluctuating, found himself in an impasse. He got out of this by
giving an order to the Dominican cardinal, Hugh of St. Cher, on February l8,
125h, to settle this delicate question. The cardinal was a friend of the
sisters. Hence the question was resolved in their favor. In a short time
most of the monasteries came back again under the jurisdiction of the Order,
at least provisionally until the cardinal was able to conclude a definitive
agreement with the Master General. Montargis was, no doubt, among the privi-
leged monasteries. But this provisory state did not satisfy the sisters of
Montargis. Were they afraid of disagreeable surprises on the part of the
Order, or had they run out of patience? In any case, they did not wait for
the definitive decision of the Order. While deliberations were still going
on, they went to the Pope and asked for the definitive incorporation into
the Order, which Alexander IV conceded to them on January 23, 1257. Thus
was ended, at least for Montargis, the struggle to belong to the Order. For
the other monasteries, too, the matter did not drag on. In 1259 all the
monasteries that had formerly been committed to the direction of the brothers
came back under the jurisdiction of the Order. Finally, Clement IV by his
bull of February 6, 1267, put an end to the long quarrel and regulated, once
and for all, the juridical status of the Dominican sisters.
One would like to know the origins and the internal organization of the
monastery of Montargis, which in the course of this struggle had shown itself
to be so deeply attached to the Order. This ardent love was owed by the sis-
ters in the first place to their foundress, the Countess of Joigny, Amicie
de Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort and of Alix de Montmorency. The
profound friendship which linked St. Dominic to the Count of Montfort is well
kno^n. Amicie inherited this affection to the point, we are told by the
anonymous author of the little Chronicle of the Order which was written towards
1260, that she encouraged her son to enter the Order: "Amicie de Joigny, a
woman of a great name and a holy woman, many tii^es wished that her only son,
who was of excellent demeanor, would enter the Order if the brothers should
wish. And when he came to his last moments, he, while in the army of the
king of the French on Cyprus, did take our habit and became a brother." The
chronicler adds: "She also, as she herself said, because she was not a man
had not been able to be a brother, but in order that she might be at least a
sister, created the house of the sisters of Montargis and endowed it well,
in which a number of fifty sisters was established who flourished with a
special prerogative of holiness and religion in France, and it is among them
that she rests buried. She was of such fervor and of such heart in the promo-
ting of the aforesaid house that when, because of the opposition of many of
the brothers, she had not been able to have the permission to construct it
m any way from the Order, in her own person she went many times to the papal
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court and obtained the most efficacious letters to bring about her desire.
lb is is all that is Known on the origin and the first times of the
monastery of Montargis . Outside this little Chronicle of the Order, we know
of no ancient or contemporary source which adds the slightest detail as to
the foundation, or as to the first internal organization of the monastery.
In the 18th century, there still existed at Montargis a chronicle of
the monastery which included a history of its first origins. The authors of
the work "Gallia Christiana" knew of this and used it in their note on the
monastery of Montargis. This chronicle appears today to be lost. Some ex-
tracts of it are kept in the collection A of the general archives of the
Order in Rome, in which we have the following passages which refer to the
origins of the monastery:
"Aroicie, this pious lady, finding herself free after the loss she under-
went of the Count of Joigny, her husband, and since the place of her chapel
where St. Dominic had preached belonged to her, she gathered together there
a number of young ladies of the best houses to live there devoutly. She gave
funds for their subsistence and had made for them small lodgings each one
separate from the other, which consisted of a little house between a court
and a garden which was very suitable. Sne caused to be built a beautiful
church and she had made a large enclosure surrounded with walls, and still
not being satisfied with what she had done, which consisted of a group of,
so to speak, "canonesses" with proof of nobility, she wished subsequently to
place them in the Order of St. Dominic."
It is not easy to distinguish in this narration the part played by legend
and the part of truth. The elements to decide this are lacking and history
says nothing on the author of the Chronicles, nor on the date of its drawing
up. But legendary elements are certainly not lacking in it. We read in fact,
in this same narration, that the foundation of the monastery goes back to the
years 1207 or thereabouts. This date is, no doubt, connected with the legend
according to which St. Dominic, at the time of his first trip to France,
preached in a chapel of the region vhich one believes to be situated at the
outskirts of Montargis, at the gates of Montargis, in the parish of Amilly.
One would no doubt be much closer to the truth if one were to place the founda-
tion at about 12^+5, soon before the incorporation of the monastery into the
Order . A woman as influential as Amicie certainly did not wait a long time
before bearing the cause of incorporation before the Pope once the superiors
of the Order had refused her .
On the other hand, one can also suppose that Amicie, given her relations
with the Order, soon made a demand, a petition, to the brothers soon after,
if not during the very foundation of the monastery. The author of this little
Chronicle says that she founded the monastery to create for herself a spiritual
retreat where she could lead a Dominican life. According to the author of
this Chronfcle, we would even have to admit that she founded the monastery at
the time that she was taking steps with the papal court to obtain its incorpora-
tion into the Order, but perhaps the chronicler mixes together, or confuses,
the events. It follows from the bull of Innocent IV of April 8, 121+5, that
at the time of this petition, the monastery wa6 already regularly constituted.
This is what we know about the origins of the monastery. Historians add
that the foundress, Amicie of Montfort, fixed at fifty the number of aiigious .
This is an error of interpretation of the text of the little Chronicle of the
Order . One knows from the letter of Humbert of Romans that in December of 1253
the monastery numbered only forty-five religious, and it was only at this time
that the provincial fixed at fifty the maximum number of religious.
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THE CONSTITUTIONS OF THE SISTERS OF MQNTaRGIS
The author of the little Chronicle of the Order has a beautiful eulogy
of the religious life of the monastery of Montargis about which he says that:
"The sisters shone in France with the special prerogative of sanctity and
religion." The time is about 1260, soon after the crisis of the sisters and
a few years after their incorporation into the Order. Montargis became then,
in short order, a place of sanctity and intense religious life. Aroicie, that
"woman of a great name and that holy woman", contributed, no doubt, to this
in a great part, but one must look for the principal reason for this to the
excellency of the constitutions, which have been preserved for us and which
are the object of the present study.
The catalogue of the manuscripts of the royal Library of The Hague
indicates to us under the heading TO H 66 the following works : l) Consuetudi-
nes sororum ordinis Praedicatorum, 1253 and 1256, pp. l-19v; 2) The Rule of
St. Augustine with the commentary of Hugh of St. Victor, pp. 20-?6. The manu-
script, according to the description given of it, was written in France around
1300, on parchment, and comprises seventy-six pages. It belonged formerly to
N.J. Foucault (161+3-1721), and was bought by the Library in 1828. The collection
is composed of two distinct parts bound together at a date which is not given.
In another place in the catalogue, the author comes back to the first
part of the manuscript with the words: "Statuta sororum ordinis Praedicatorum
(of the monastery of the Dominican sisters of Montargis, 125 J and 1256), pp. 1-
19; on parchment; around 1256; written in France probably at Montargis; with
decorated initials; and belonging formerly to De (?) Beaussefaict and Laroche-
Souville .
Let us complete this description bj several other more precise notes. The
constitutions of the sisters occupy in the manuscript pp. lr to l8r . Here is
the beginning: "Quoniam ex precepto regule iubentur sorores nostre habere cor
unum et animara unam Expl. sicut et fratres ordinis studeatis eas diligenter
et fideliter observare ad laudem et gloriam Jesu Christi qui est benedictus
in secula seculorum, amen. Commemoratio fratrum, sororum, familiariura bene-
factorum defunctorum ordinis nostri." To the constitutions there is joined a
letter of which these are the beginning and ending words : "Devotis ancillis
Christi, priorisse et sororibus beati dominici de monte argi, frater humbertus
fratrum predicatorum in francia prior indignus celestium plenitudinem gratia-
rum. Notum vobis fieri volumus...ne locus alicui antequam vaccet aliquatenus
concedatur . Actum anno domini millesimo ducentesimo quinquagesimo tercio,
mense decerabri." In this letter, unpublished so far as I know, Humbert of
Romans fixes the monastery of Montargis, which is subject to him as provincial
of France, the maximum number of religious: fifty, and determines the revenues
which the sisters shall dispose .of . He subsequently forbids under pain of
nullity that any postulant be admitted who does not fulfill the conditions
prescribed in his letter. Finally, he commands that his ordinations be placed
at the head of the constitutions, in order that no one be aole to invoke in
his defense ignorance of the law.
The letter permits us to identify these constitutions with the statutes
of Montargis. Otherwise, how are we to explain the presence of the letter of
Humbert at the end of these constitutions'; It is certain, moreover, that
these statutes were composed for sisters of the province of France. In the
prologue, as at the end of the constitutions, it is expressly stated that the
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Bisters belong to the jurisdiction of the provincial of France. But in 1253,
Montargis was the only monastery in France incorporated into the Order. Die re
is thus no possible doubt on the origin of the statutes which the manuscript
of the Hague preserves for us.
THE PLACE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF MONTARGIS IN THE HISTORY
OF DOMINICAN LEGISLATION
The constitutions of the sisters of Montargis occupy in the history of
the legislation of the sisters a quite special place. Up until now historians
connected the official constitutions of Humbert of 1259 vith the statutes of
Prouille and of St. Sixtu6 without suspecting the existence of an intermediary
form. The truth is quite otherwise, as we hope to prove in what follows.
First of all, let us try to determine the age of our constitutions. The
following ordinance which one finds in them will supply us with the means.
"Statuimus insuper ut si contingat de cetero aliquas consuetudines que
monialibus competunt in predicto ordine (i.e. Praedicatorum) confirmari,
magister ordinis vel prior provincialis Francie qui pro tempore fuerint, eas
vobis non differant exhiberi, quas vos etiam cum humilitate ct devotione sus-
cipientes sicut et fratres ordinis studeatis eas diligenter et fideliter ob-
servare" (We ordained, moreover, that if it sbould come about that any consti-
tutions which apply to nuns should be confirmed in the aforesaid Order (i.e.,
of Preachers), the Master of the Order, or the prior provincial of France of
the time, will not delay to show them to you. And receiving them with humility
and devotion, may you strive to follow them and observe them diligently and
faithfully, just as the brothers of the Order do).
The constitutions of the sisters follow then closely those of the
brothers . The ordinances which have become constitutions by the approbation
of three consecutive General Chapters have the force of law for the sisters in
proportion, it goes without 6aying, as they are applicable to their state and
their condition. This will be the case generally of those constitutions
which regulate the internal organization of the convent or the monastery, or
of those concerned with liturgy and monastic observances . Taking into account
this prescription, it will not be hard to date the statutes preserved in the
Hague manuscript. The statutes contain the constitutions promulgated in the
General Chapters of 1249, 1248, and the preceding years . But none, on the
contrary, from the years 1250 and following. In their actual form, the
statutes of Montargis represent then the legislation in vigor in the monastery
around 1250 or, more exactly, from 1249 to 1251. We do not place them between
1249 and 1250, because in this la6t year the General Chapter of London made
no law which was applicable to the sisters. The "terminus before which",
1251, on the contrary, 16 certain since several "constitutions" of this year
were also concerned with the sisters, and yet they have not been inserted in
their constitutions.
We have then fixed the place of the statutes of Montargis in the history
of the legislation of the sisters. Chronologically, they are situated between
the constitutions of St. Sixtus and those of Humbert of Romans promulgated
officially at the General Chapter of Valenciennes in 1259. It remains for us
to determine their place in the development of the legislation of the sisters.
The history of this legilaticn be6i^s with the constitutions of the
monastery of Prouille. These were drawn up by St. Dominic with elements bor-
rowed, it is commonly said, from the statutes of Pre'montre'. No copy has been
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preserved for us. One can only be sorry about this, because they no doubt
Slowed many resemblances with the first statutes of the brothers composed by
St. Dominic in 1216. With the help of these constitutions of the sisters,
one would have been able to reconstitute to a great extent the first legisla-
tion of St. Dominic for the brothers, because this last also is no longer in
existence, at least in its original form. But the historians of the Order did
not think, that the loss of the statutes of Prouille to be as serious as we
imagine. According to them, these statutes were integrally preserved in the
rule of St. Sixtus of Rome, which fundamentally is only an extrinsic name for
the constitutions of Prouille. The sisters of the latter monastery, called
to Rome by St. Dominic in order to reform there under his direction the
monastery of St. Sixtus where the religious of St. Mary's in Tempulo and of
St. Bibianna had withdrawn under order of Honorius III, brought their rule
and introduced it irio the monastery and gave it the name of the place: Rule
of St. Sixtus.
This traditional thesis calls for many reservations. One can easily
believe that the sisters of Prouille, in reforming the monastery, introduced
there their manner of life and organized the monastery according to their
monastic observances. But did they impose their rule without any adaptation?
This is not very probable. A reform is a delicate matter, and one does not
overturn with no adieu the manner of living of a monastery which is in con-
formity, at least in part, with the religious spirit. Why should one change
or supress laudable customs when these are not contrary to the spirit of the
new rule? It seems to us to be more in keeping with good sense and prudence
to admit that the sisters of Prouille absorbed into the rule of St. Sixtus
everything which in the old rule of the sisters of St. Mary in Tempulo was
compatible with their monastic ideal. There are, moreover, in the rule of
St . Sixtus enough indications which are in favor of this opinion . One is
referred back to the rule of St. Benedict: "prout regula Sancti Benedicti
permittit" (as the rule of St. Benedict permits); to the Usages of Citeaux:
'prout in cisterciensi ordine fieri consuevit " (as is customarily carried
out in the Cistercian Order). These observations certainly do not come from
the constitutions of Pre'montre'. Elsewhere there are literal borrowings from
the statutes of the Order of the Gilbertines of Sempringhara, whom Honorius III
had previously asked to care for the church of St. Sixtus. It seems, conse-
quently, difficult to maintain the traditional thesis: namely, that the rule
of St. Sixtus is equated with the rule of Prouille. Rather, we are confronted
with a new rule where the constitutions of Prouille occupy, perhaps, an
important place, but not exclusively so; several elements of the old rule
of the sisters of Rome have been mingled with it as integral parts. It will,
therefore, not be easy to start out and discern in the rule of St. Sixtus
the primitive basis which derives from Prouille. And this, of course, would
be always supposing that the rule of St. Sixtus that we know today is indeed
the rule in its original form. It is not impossible that the text of the rule
may have undergone in the course of the first years, at least until its ap-
probation by Gregory IX before 1232, some modifications which would bring us
even farther from the primitive form of the rule of Prouille.
The rule of St. Sixtus constitutes, then, for practical purposes, the
point of departure in this history of the legislation of Dominican sisters.
It is soon going to lose its specifically Dominican character. When one
studies the founding of the greater number of the monasteries of the 13th
century, one notices that the Popes in approving foundations often imposed
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upon them the rule of "the Order" of the nuns of St. Sixtus of Rome, "ordinis
monialium Sancti Sixti de Urbe". No allusion is made to the Order of Friars
Preachers, nor to their constitutions. The rule of St. Sixtus, no doubt
Dominican in its origins, becomes a form of religious life officially recog-
nized by the Church, a rule-type for nuns, side by side with that of the
Cistercians and that of Gregory IX (drawn up for the nuns of Italy when the
Pope was still a cardinal) . It is a universal rule without direct connections
with any particular religious order, which creates among the canonesses of St.
Augustine a special order: the Order of the Nuns of St. Sixtus of Rome. In
this "order" there will be the possibility of distinguishing several congrega-
tions which, outside of the fact of the rule of St. Sixtus, have no connection
with one another. Let us give a concrete example, using the rule of St.
Augustine. All. the religious orders, which have taken the rule of St. August-
ine as the basis of their legislation, belong by this very fact to the "Order
of St. Augustine". But this does not prevent them from being distinct institu-
tes. The rule of St. Augustine, being fund-mentally only a general form of
life, it was necessary to complete it by special constitutions which cor-
responded to the aim and to the special type of apostolate that the different
religious orders had set out for themselves . In this way one finds in the
family of the Order of St. Augustine several religious orders, which outside
of the rule had little or nothing in common. The same is true of the rule
of St. Sixtus. All the monasteries* which adopted it as a legal basis of their
institute, belong by that very fact to the "Order of St. Sixtus of Rome".
Comparable to the religious of the "Order of St. Augustine", the sisters of
the "Order of St. Sixtus" completed, subsequently, the common rule with statutes
or constitutions which were special, and distinqui&hed them from one another.
The statutes of the sisters were not as varied as those introduced into the
different orders of men religious. The nuns remain still nuns, that is,
separated from the world, and they did not have the vast field of apostolate
which necessitated the multiplicity and the variety that came about in the
orders of men religious . But as to the internal organization of the monastery,
it was possible to have quite a good deal of differences in the statutes
brought about by local conditions or social conditions in the different
monasteries. Thus, the sisters of the Order of Penitents of St. Mary Magdalene
in Germany, while following the rule of St. Sixtus, adopted, over and above,
special constitutions appropriate for their special vocation.
But one should not err about these "additional statutes". It has been
thought (by Father M.H. Vicaire, O.P., for example) that these additions or
changes -were introduced into the rule of St. Sixtus just in the same way that
new ordinations were inserted into the constitutions of religious orders. But
things did not take place in this way; the rule of St. Sixtus was something
invariable, just as the rule of St. Augustine. Although conceived in its be-
tx&nnings as a book of constitutions, it became, by the will of Gregory IX, a
canonized text to which it was no longer permitted to add the slightest change,
anymore than to the rule of St. Augustine. When, then, the sisters adopted
the rule of St. Sixtus, there was not a question of making any changes in it,
because such a point of the rule was ill-fitted for their monastic idea or
was contrary to the customs or social conditions of the place. But there was
necessary, on the other hand, to have a rule of conduct that would oe precise
and clearly delineated. This is what one hoped to obtain, thanks to a new
body of statutes which would be the legislative complement of the rule.
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What was the monastery vhich first created such a code? Was it St.
Sixtus of Rome? Perhaps. In 1232, Gregory IX imposes upon the Penitents of
St. Mary Magdalene the rule of St. Sixtus, and everything leads one to believe
that these statutes or constitutions that they adopted at this time come from
the Roman monastery. This code has been preserved for us. It is clearly
Dominican in origin, nearly all its prescriptions having been borrowed literal-
ly from the constitutions of the Friars Preachers in the form that these had
before 1236. But since it is certain that the Penitents were not under the
jurisdiction of the Order, it is not probable that these statutes "were drawn
up for them. The Penitents have borrowed them, no douot (while bringing in
certain modifications of their own), from a Dominican monastery, perhaps St.
Sixtus of Rome whose rule they had adopted. These statutes are, in any case,
very old, certainly from before I236, and in their original state perhaps from
1230 or thereabouts. They can be considered, consequently, as a typical example
of constitutions complementing the rule of St. Sixtus.
But it was not only to supply for the insufficiencies of the rule that
the monasteries introduced this body of new statutes. The very clearly
Dominican character of these latter reveals the profound reason. The sisters
wished to conform themselves to the life of the Friars Preachers, to make
themselves Dominicans. The rule of St. Sixtus was not enough. It was neces-
sary, by adding certain complements proper to this end (namely, to give the
rule Dominican character), to make of it a norm of life according to the
spirit of St. Dominic without at the same time sacrificing the legal basis
of the institution. The monastery had been approved as living according to
the rule of the "Order of St. Sixtus", and as long as it was not officially
incorporated into a religious order, it was obligated to hold to it. Hence,
one kept the rule of St. Sixtus, but one added to it a new regulation,
complementary statutes. As far as possible, one even kept certain parts of
the rule of St. Sixtus. Hence, one keeps in the statutes of the Penitents
references back to certain chapters of the rule of St . Sixtus which one thought
opportune to preserve . But the center of gravity has passed from the rule
to the new body of constitutions . From day to day, the former gradually loses
its practical importance to become soon completely eclipsed. The final stroke
comes with the incorporation of the monasteries into the Order. The rule
loses its reason for being, the sisters belonging now no longer to the "Order
of the Nuns of St. Sixtus of Rome", but to the Order of Friars Preachers"-.
Henceforth, the sisters will be ruled by the constitutions of the Friers
Preache s adapted to the needs of the sisters. In the bulls of incorporation,
which came out from 12^5 on, Innocent IV no longer speaks of the rule of St.
Sixtus j he imposes upon the superiors of the Order that they should furnish
the Dominican monasteries with a rule modeled on their own constitutions.
This juridical innovation did not carry with it any great practical
changes in the legislation of the sisters . Well before the incorporation,
the sisters were already living according to the constitutions of the Friars
Preachers, because their complementary statutes were a pure and simple adapta-
tion of the legislation of the brothers in vigor under Jordan of Saxony.
Hence, it sufficed to eliminate the rule of St. Sixtus, and to substitute
for it the statutes which, by this fact, became the legal base of the institutue
At least this is the way that several monasteries, among others those of
Germany, interpreted the bulls which incorporated them into the Order. They
continued to live according to their former legislation. This state of
-80-
affairs lasted until 1259. On this date Humbert of Romans abolished all the
existing constitutions and replaced them by others which he icposed upon
all the monasteries subject to the jurisdiction of the Order. We shall soon
come back to this point.
Things took place in quite another way in France. Montargis, incorporated
into the Order in 12^5, Immediately had itself given constitutions that were
conformable to the new state of the legislation of the brothers . In 12Ul,
the old constitutions, which had served as a model for the statutes of the
sisters of Germany, had been replaced by a new body of statutes, the work of
Raymond of Penafort. Hence, it is natural that the sisters of Montargis took
the modern constitutions as the base for their legislation. One understands
that the monasteries of Germany should have kept, even after their incorpora-
tion, their previous legislation because it pre-eXisted to the drawing-up of
Raymond of Penafort. But Montargis, according to all appearances, never had
any other legislation. It seems, indeed, that its foundation goes back to
the thereabouts of 12^5, that is, to the time of the incorporation which gave
it a right to the constitutions of the brothers.
The text of the constitutions of Montargis, which the Hague manuscript
preserves for us, probably does not represent the original form of the legis-
lation of the monastery. It dates, as we saw, from the years 1250, and con-
tains the ordinances of the General Chapters from 12^5 to 1250. Humbert of
Romans is probably its author. In 12^5, he was the provincial of France and,
as such, it was up to him to organize and direct the monastery. We Know that
he was much interested in the legislation of the brothers, as well as that of
the sisters. In 1256, he promulgated the statutes of the brothers; and in
1259; "the official constitutions of the sisters. The fact that the constitu-
tions of Montargis served as a basis for these latter renders his paternity,
thereof, even more probable.
Important though they may be, these constitutions did not have a broad
diffusion. It is indeed stated in the text that the Master General has
approved them, but there is no sign that John the Teutonic, Master from 12Ul
to 1252, considered them as obligatory for all the monasteries of the Order,
as was the case with those of Humbert in 1259. They were limited to the ter-
ritory of the province of France. In the other provinces, for example in
that of Germany, one continued to follow the old statutes without ueing con-
cerned about the innovations of Montargis. We have the proof of this in the
"Admonitions" of the provincial of Germany addressed to the sisters of his
province. It is stated there: "Indeed, since in the new constitutions there
is not made any mention of the mode of life of these (namely, the lay brothers),
let there be kept what was ordained in the old constitutions under the first
Master John." The "first Master John" is John the Teutonic - by opposition
to John of Vercelli (126U-128U) - and the new constitutions are those of
Humbert of Romans of 1259- By "old constitutions" one certainly means neither
the constitutions of St. Sixtus nor those of Montargis, whose drawing up falls
under the government of the Master General (l2Ul-125l) . Nowhere in these
statutes, nor indeed in those of Humbert, does one speak of lay brothers affli-
ated with the monasteries, as is the question in the "Admonitions" mentioned
above. It does not seem, either, that these were constitutions composed by
John the Teutonic in person, because there is no documentary evidence that the
Master General had produced such a worK. The old statutes in vigor under
John the Teutonic are, no doubt, the old constitutions which the sisters pro-
fessed vhen they were still under the rule of St. Sixtus, but which, subsequent
-81-
to the incorporation, had become a unique and official rule . Perhaps the
authentic form, thereof, is preserved in the statutes of the Penitents of St.
Mary Magdalene. There, in any case, one finds a special chapter on the lay
brothers, which contains concrete prescriptions on their duties and their
obligations in the monastery. If there were differneces between the old
rule of Germany and the statutes of the Penitents, they would bare, no doubt,
only on secondary points. The monasteries of Germany, affliated or incorporated
into the Order, certainly followed a Dominican rule, identical in substance
with the statutes of the Penitents, since there is no resemblance to the consti-
tutions of Montargis. Outside these two typical legislations modeled on the
constitutions of the brothers from 1228 to 1236 and 12Ul, there was no
Dominican rule .
One can ask, nevertheless, if the rule of Germany, about which the
"Admonitions" speak, was uniform for all the monasteries of the province. The
problem is not easy to resolve, since all these constitutions have perished.
Certain indications cause one to lean rather towards the negative. At St.
Mark of Strasbourg, one had proper constitutions called "constitutions of St.
Mark", no doubt because they differed from those in vigor in other monasteries.
This cannot be the "old rule", neither more nor less, which we were speaking
about above. In such a case, one would not have made a distinction between
the monasteries which followed the rule of St. Mark and those which did not.
A second indication is the following: Humbert of Romans, having become Master
General of the Order in I2.^k, speaks of a multiplicity and a variety of con-
stitutions; would he have in mind only the two legislative codes preserved, one
of them in the statutes of the Penitents, the other in those of Montargis?
One would be closer to the truth, we think, if one were to admit that several
monasteries, or groups of monasteries, had acquired for themselves, through
their provincials, constitutions which were proper in this sense that one
added certain particular ordinances to the common legal base whose substantive
form is retained in the statutes of the Penitents .
Whatever may be the truth as to this last point, Humbert deemed the state
of affairs sufficiently annoying and harmful to the good government of the
sisters to consider necessary the unification of their constitutions. And •
here begins the third and final phase in the evolution of the legislation of
the sisters. On August 27, 1257, Humbert caused himself to be given by the
Pope the order to elaborate n^w constitutions that would be obligatory for all
the monasteries subject to the jurisdiction of the Order. The task was not a
difficult one. Humbert took as his basis the constitutions of Montargis and
changed certain things there which were necessitated by the universal character
of the new rule, and the following year this was ready. His promulgation of
the sole and official law took place at the General Chapter of Valenciennes
in 1259.
The legislation of the sisters thus was definitively fixed. Under pain
of being excluded from the Order, the Dominican monasteries were to abandon
henceforth their old rules or constitutions and conform their life to the
new statutes . The ideal was a beautiful one, but its realization ran into
practical difficulties. One soon saw that the new rule, precisely because of
its universal character, was too general on certain points and too imprecise
on others r or did not take sufficiently into account the social conditions of
the different monasteries . This point could not escape Master Humbert who,
being wise and prudent, allowed the provincials to introduce into the monasteries
-82-
subject to their jurisdiction a series of ordinations, the "Admonitiones ",
vhich would regulate down to the details the life of the religious. These
"Admonitiones" were not properly speaking new constitutions, mymore than
the "Declarationes " in the legislation of the brothers of which they were the
counterpart; and, indeed, hence one carefully avoided calling them such. But
they were, nonetheless, a supplementary law and the equivalent to the statutes
such as one had invented long before to make explicit, or complete, the old
rule of St . Sixtus .
However, they differ from these latter, since the "Admonitions" never
took shape as a juridical corpus capable of one day replacing the official
rule of Humbert. They were too particularized for that, limited as they were
to a determined province and, consequently, without a universal range. Such
an eventuality was, in any case, excluded by the fact that the rule of Humoert
fully satisfied the desire the sisters had to conform themselves in everything
to the life of the brothers, a desire and a tendency which were at the root of
the first complementary statutes made to the rule of St. Sixtus.
Hence was completed the evolution of the legislation of the sisters. The
following schema will allow us to indicate the important place that the consti-
tutions cf Montargis hold therein (the schema of the author , revised and with
added comments, will be found on p. 87)
THE CONSTITUTIONS OF MONTARGIS AND THE OFFICIAL RULE OF 1259
We have stated above that the constitutions of Montargis are at the basis
of the legislation which was imposed in 1259 by Master Humbert upon all the
monasteries subject to the jurisdetion of the Order. In order to convince
oneself of this it suffices to place the two legislations side by side: that
of 1259 is manifestly drawn up on the model of Montargis, and as a proof one
has the identity of structure and, above all, the literal identity of the
greater part of the chapters which are common to the two codes. H. Grundmann
was the first to connect the official rule of the sisters with the constitutions
of the Friars Preachers of 1256-1259> "thus breaking with the tradition according
to which the latter came directly from the rule of St. Sixtus. He remarked
very correctly that there is a discontinuity oetween the rule of St. Sixtus
and the new rule, whereas this latter shows a striking resemblance to the
legislation of the brothers . But Mr . Grundmann did not know about the statutes
of Montargis; otherwise he would have noticed that the passages of the official
rule of 1259> which are concerned exclusively with sisters, came from the
statutes of Montargis. The parts vhich are common to the official rule of the
sisters and that of the brothers are likewise found in the rule of Montargis;
and this is not astonishing because the rule of the brothers and that of
Montargis derive from the same source: the constitutions of Raymond of Penafort.
This point having been ci-^red up, let us examine the divergences between
the constitutions of Montargis and those of 1259. Ln effect, there is no
point in pausing at the common points that would bring us, in view of their
more or less complete identity, to a systematic exposition of the very legis-
lation of the sisters which would overflow the linits of this study. What is
important for us is to know what sense the legislation has evolved since 12^5
and to discern the part of Humbert of Romans in the latter drawing up.
Among the differences, one must note first of all the five new chapters
which Humoert introduces in the official constitutions. They are the chapters:
1) On things in common; 2) On the middle fault; 3) On apostates; h) On build-
ings; 5) On the granting of houses. These additions may be easily explained.
-83-
t
Since 12U5 the monasteries had rapidly developed, and new other needs had be-
come manifest, which a legislation such as that of Montargis, which was made
for a monastery at its beginnings, could not foresee. Hence, the new pre-
scriptions on the material organization of the monastery, and on the adminis-
tration of the temporal, on the construction of buildings with everything
having to do with this, such as the form of the parlors, of the grilles, etc.
Hie tension which had come about in the latter years between the sisters and
the brothers also called for measures of precaution in what had to do with
the founding of new houses. One will not be surprised that Humbert has intro-
duced into his rule a special chapter on apostates. His long experience must
have taught him much on this point. The only surprising innovation is the
change in the penal code. Why has he introduced the middle fault, distinct
from the "light fault"? This distinction, proper to the statutes of Premontre',
had never been admitted by the legislators of the Order. Neither had Montargis
adopted it in its statutes . This novelty is due probably to the influence of
the old rule of the sisters; this latter distinguishes, in effect, the middle
fault from the light fault, a rule distinction which one also finds in the
rule of St. Sixtus .
There is also a second differgence. The official rule no longer has
a separate chapter on the lay sisters. One does not perceive the reason which
has brought Humbert to eliminate this chapter from the rule of Montargis .
This legislation was very old because it is found in the first constitutions
of the brothers. Humbert has preferred to spread the prescriptions through
different chapters, at least in part, because several have entirely disappeared
from the new rule.
Other articles, with respect to the rule of Montargis, have undergone a
radical transformation. Thus the article "On the manner of entering" has been
completely worked over; in those which concerned the penal code, the order of
faults is entirely changed. The differences are such that it is impossible
to indicate even in a summary way the points of divergence. Other chapters,
however, present only slight modifications, such as the omission or addition
of a sentence; but from an historical point of view, they are worth being
noted. First of all, the new rule no longer prescribes private prayers at
the hour of rising; Montargis had introduced these in place of the Little
Office of the Blessed Virgin that the brothers recited in the morning, but
which the sisters were henceforth to recite in church. These prayers, never-
theless , are not definitively abolished, because one can still give oneself
to her private devotions after Matins and Compline. In the chapter "On
inclinations", the rule of 1259 prescribes a new genuflection: "at the
beginning of the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin, which is said after Compline".
One will note that the constitutions of the brothers of 1256 do not yet mention
it. Let us also note the changes that Humbert brings to the chapters "On
tonsure and the washing of the head". Instead of four times a year (as found
in Montargis), the sisters will henceforth be able to have their hair cut
seven times a year: on the days that the superior will determine. Although he
is broader on this point, Humbert is, on the contrary, more severe on others:
instead of fifteen times, the sisters will not be able to wash their heads
except seven tli.es .
Let us also note certain examples of this change of spirit in the new
rule. At Montargis, postulants were accepted from the age of seven years on,
and one could make profession at twelve. In the constitutions of 1259, one
does not indicate a precise age for the postulants - it is enough that they be
-84-
not excessively young - and for profession one requires thirteen years of
age. It is 3lso interesting to note that Humbert sets aside the usage vhich
existed at Montargis of having the sisters blessed by the bishop after their
profession. This usage must be abolished, he states, because it is harmful
to good understanding.
There remains a word to be said about the changes brought about in the
chapters on faults. In the new rule the enumeration and the description of
the faults is more precise and more logical. One notes also certain new
faults in the chapters on light, medium, or grave faults. At first sight,
one -would thinK that to be fairly numerous, but that is not the case. Several
of these new faults are already in the statutes of Montargis, but under other
headings, for example, in the chapter "On clothing". Humbert has placed them
in the chapters on faults, where they are in their proper place.
These are, more or less, the important innovations that Humbert of
Romans introduced in the legislation of 1259- They are not very numerous when
one compares the common basis of the two legislations, but one will still
consider them with interest, because they show in what spirit the legislation
of the Dominican sisters evolved.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF MONTARGIS IN RECONSTITUTING THE FIRST
TEXT OF THE LEGISLATION OF RAYMOND OF PENAFORT
The constitutions of Raymond of Penafort, published by Father H. Denifle,
do not represent the original text of the official legislation of 12Ul. Father
Denifle disengaged them from the constitutions of Humbert of Romans by elimina-
ting all additions subsequent to 1241, but all he obtained in this way was
the substantial basis of the constitutions of Raymond of Penafort. The weak,
point of this roetnod was that one does not arrive in this way at fixing the
first reading of the old ordinanaces which had just been replaced by those
which were defined in the General Chapters of 1242 to 1256. The acts of
the Chapter do not suffice, either, to fill in this void, because in them
one often indicates only the two or three first words of the old legislative
text. One could have recourse to the constitutions in vigor of Jordan of
Saxony, to which the texts of St. Raymond showed a great deal of resemblance.
But this method, although legitimate on the whole, was not applicable to
details . Thanks to the constitutions of Montargis one will henceforth be
abli to affirm with certitude that such and such a particular crdination of the
old rule has been carefully preserved in the rule of Raymond of Penafort from
which the legislation of the sisters of Montargis derives in direct line. If,
then, a legislative text of the old rule is found in the statutes of Montargis,
it is because it was also in the constitutions of St. Raymond. Hence, in the
chapter of light faults, the constitutions of the brothers of 1256 state:
"clamatis vel proclamantibus se de supradictis, detur penitentia secundum quod
prelato videbitur expedire " (To those who are proclaimed, or who proclaim
themselves, concerning the aforesaid, a penance is given as will seem fit to
the prelate). This constitution, which dates from 1251, is subsequent to
the drawing-up of the statutes of Montargis. What did one say in place of it
in those of St. Raymond'.' The old statutes, antecedent to the year 12Ul, say:
'clamatis de supradictis et veniam petentibus iniungitur unus psalmus vel duo
yel cum psalmo disciplina vel amplius secundum quod prelato videbitur expedire"
(For those proclaimed concerning the aforesaid and seeking forgiveness, there
is imposed one or two psalms, or with the psalm, the discipline or more,
-85-
t
according as it will seem fit to the prelate). The statutes of Montargis
guarantee for us that this reading was kept in the rule of Raymond of Pena-
fort where one reads at the end of the chapter on light faults : "clamatis de
supradictis et veniam petentibus iniungitur unus psalmus vel duo vel cum
psalrno disciplina vel amplius secundum quod illi que preest videbitur expe-
dire". Hence one has, duly attested, an authentic reading of the constitutions
of Raymond of Penafort.
The statutes of Montargis are called to render still other services. We
know that Raymond of Penafort has not always retained everywhere the text of
the old constitutions . He has modified it in certain points and, above all,
he has changed its disposition. Hence, one will not always obtain the primi-
tive form of the rule of 1241 by substituting the text of the old rule to that
one which was introduced later into the constitutions of the brothers of
Humbert of Romans. For example, the constitutions of Humbert states with
reference to sins of the flesh: "si quis autem, quod deus avertat, in peccatum
carnis lapsus fuerit, ipsum non solum supradicta pena sed gravius puniendum
censemus " (if anyone should fall, which God forbid, into a sin of the flesh,
we consider that he should not only be punished with the aforesaid punishment,
but more severely). This prescription comes at the end of the third paragraph
on the graver fault and was introduced in its present form in the General
Chapter of 1251.
But here is what one reads in the constitutions of before 1240, after the
description of the penance due to "graver faults", and which is identical with
that in the constitutions of Humbert: "eodem modo penitere debet qui rem sibi
collatam receperit de his que prohibentur recipi; si collatam celaverit quod
beatus Augustinus furti judicio dicit esse conderanandum; vel si in peccatum
carnis quis lapsus fuerit quod gravius ceteris puniri censemus" (in the same
way, one should repent who receives something given to him of those things which
it is forbidden to receive, and if he hides what he has received, which blessed
Augustine says is to be condemned as theft; or, if anyone should have fallen
into a sin of the flesh, which we consider to have to be more gravely punished
than others). The transition "eodem modo penitere debet" (he should repent in
the same way) is lacking, as one sees, with Humbert. On the other hand, when
one examines the context, one sees that the two first faults enumerated in the
old rule have been taken out of that place in the rule of 1256 and are found in
the beginning of the chapter "On graver faults". What, then, was the text and
the order in the constitutions of St. Raymond? Montargis, which is inspired
from it, orders after the description of the grave fault: "eodem modo penitere
debet si qua, quod absit, in peccatum carnis lapsa fuerit quod gravius ceteris
puniri censemus et plus quam omni abominamur " (in the same way, one should do
penance if she, which may it not happen, should have fallen into a sin of the
flesh which we consider to merit a punishment more gravely than other sins
and which we abominate more than all sins). As the statutes of Montargis
derive from the constitutions of St. Raymond, their text represents approximate-
ly the authentic form of the rule of 1240. Hence one is practically certain
that one read in the constitution of St. Raymond: "Non vocetur ad aliquod
officium in ecclesia. . .Eodem modo penitere debet etc. "(Let him not be called for
any office in the church... in the same way, one should do penance, etc.).
To appreciate at its full value the strength of this argument, one must
necessarily study it in the context of the legislation on grave faults in the
three books of the constitutions. One will see by comparing the texts that
-86-
the statutes of Montargis reflect the original form of the constitutions of
St. Raymond. Assuredly, one must apply this method of rcconstitution with
prudence and circumspection. The statutes of Montargis are an adaptation,
not a pure and simple copy of the constitutions of Raymond of Penafort. But
the danger of going astray is not as great as on.j might think. With few
exceptions, the rule of Montargis faithfully follows the text of the legisla-
tion of 12Ul; one can then use it without fear to reconstitute in particular
cases the original text of the constitutions of Raymond of Penafort.
Translated by Pierre Conway, O.P.
*************
-87-
SCHEMA of Development of the Constitutions of the Nuns
The Schema. Ke^eAXed to on p. %1 uau levtbed, and explanatory comment* vocne
added, by UothDi MaAxe RoiaAla o& Summit [novo oh Cainta, Philippine*} , who &i?a>t
brought tiiii> paper to oua attention. The revised Schema fallow*:
Rule of Prouille
absorbed into
Rule of St. Sixtus
completed by
Corpus of Statutes or Constitutions
(type : statutes of Penitents)
continued as official
Rule in monasteries
of Germany until
1259
Montargis (12U5) $.
model of
official Const.
(1259); Completed
by Admonitions
Rule of St. Dominic
Rule of Const, of Friars
Preachers (1228 - I236)
i
recast
Const, of Raymond of
Penafort (l2Ul)
Const, of Humbert of Romans
(1256-1259)
•4/
Declarations
Const, revised with com-
mentary; Fr. Potton,OP (1864)
for France
v
Constitutions
Fr. Jandel, OP (l868)
(essentially Fr . Potton's)
v
Constitutions
Fr. Gillet, O.P. (1930)
Experimental Constitutions
with ordinations
Fr. Fernandez (1971)
1. The constitutions of Montargis and Humbert of the Romans differ
considerably from the rule of San Sisto -which absorbed the rule
of Prouille drawn up by St. Dominic. It would seem that Raymond
of Penafort, a canonist, was responsible for the changes. It has
a more legalistic tone than the constitutions of San Sisto
2. The Gillet constitutions of 1930 represent another major change
when these constitutions were revised according to the Code of
Canon Law.
3. The experimental constitutions issued by Father Aniceto
Fernandez more faithfully reflect the spirit of St. Dominic
It is less legalistic than the Humbert or the Gillet constitutions
3n a aenBB
iilary ub filntljer
became tl)E ftrjat "ritjartplE" nf Ijet 5nn,
ilje ftrjat in uiljnm 1}E jammed tn flag:
"Jnllnui nu>",
euen befnrE \\v addrEjBJBEtl tljxje call
tn i\\2 Apojatl^ja
nr tn amjnne eIjbe.
REfl£fflPE<DK3S fflAaO,#2fl
-89-
BOOK REVIEW
THE SWEET CALL OF THE TURTLEDOVE (II soave richiamo della tortora) by
Sister M. Giuseppina, OP, (Naples: Editrice Domenicana Italiana, 1987),
215 pages, h 15,000.
The author is a nun at Holy Rosary Monastery in Marino, Italy. She was a
contributor to Contemplative Domenicane which was reviewed in the Feb. 1987
Conference Communications. Sister is on the editorial board for a bi-monthly
newsletter for all the Italian Dominican Sisters (active and contemplative)
and writes a "regular column" therein.
This book is a collection of 35 reflections on various aspects of our
vocation. They were originally published separately in periodicals so there
is some repetition. Sister, however, chose to leave them as originally written
because the constant repetition of basic ideas is so much a part of the contem-
plative experience.
She candidly admits that Dominicans seem to be the least known of all
cloistered nuns. Hence, the primary motive for the book is to present our
cloistered contemplative life in the midst of the Church and the entire
Dominican Family. She writes beautifully of the profound spiritual signifi-
cance of silence, enclosure, prayer, etc. One chapter, entitled "In the Noon
Time of Life", is a reflection upon her solemn profession. Another chapter
off°rs spiritual insights for living enclosure in the midst of a hospital
ward. Mary is often presented as a model for the contemplative life. Sister's
deep love for the Dominican Family permeates every page.
The book is excellent for spiritual reading, meditation and reflection.
The chapters could also be used as stimulating vocational material for those
seeking a deeper understanding of our life.
I have two very minor suggestions or critisisms. First, given the
author's background in the classics and philosophy I was surprised that she
did not offer any insights on study. Our Constitutions place a special
emphasis upon this basic element of the Dominican charism. Perhaps she is
saving this topic for her next bookl Second, the sentence structure is
difficult to follow at times, causing difficulties for the translator.
This most welcome contribution to current literature on the Dominican
cloistered life was published through the fraternal support of the Provinces
of St. Mark and Sardinia, and Naples. It contains several color plates of
frescoes at San Marco by Blessed Angelico and Ghirlandaio which add a visual
warmth to our Sister's lovely work. May others be encouraged to join her in
sharing the fruits of Dominican contemplation through writing. "These are
pages that every nun could write because I believe each one does write them
by her own life" (p. 10).
Sr. Mary Jeremiah, OP
Lufkin, Texas
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CONFERENCE COUNCIL (1984-1988)
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