Journal articles on the topic 'Saint Mary (Benedictine Abbey)'

The Museum of Applied Arts (Iparművészeti Múzeum) at Budapest houses an embroidered Gothic antependium which belonged to the church of St Chrysogonus, which was the seat of the Benedictine Abbey at Zadar. At an unspecified time, the antependium became part of the collection of Zsigmund Bubics, an art historian, collector and the bishop of Košice in present-day Slovakia from 1887 to 1906, and was donated to the Museum of Applied Arts in 1909. It measures 94 by 190 cm. The majority of the antependium’s surface is filled with the figures of saints set beneath three pointed, Gothic arches. The central field is occupied by the enthroned Virgin with the Christ Child, in the left field is St Chrysogonus and in the right St Benedict. In the upper section of the antependium one can see the busts of two saints who might be identified as St Gregory the Pope and St Donatus. Along the lateral edges of this triptych-like antependium are vertical borders, at the centres of which are niches with two small standing female saints who wear crowns (St Scholastica and St Anastasia). To the left of the Virgin’s throne is the figure of a donor depicted kneeling with his hands clasped in prayer, which has unfortunately not been provided with an inscription. It is clear, however, that he is wearing the Benedictine habit with a somewhat over-emphasized hood falling down his back. The Benedictine donor might be identified as one of the abbots of the monastery of St Chrysogonus. It is suggested in the article that this may have been John de Ontiaco (Joannes de Onciache) from the bishopric of Lyon, who was the abbot of the monastery of St Chrysogonus from 1345 to 1377. The author argues that the antependium was produced in a weaving workshop in Venice during the late 1360s or early 1370s, on the basis of comparisons with similar contemporary painted and embroidered artworks. Based on the iconographic programme which was depicted on the antependium, but also on the information found in archival records, the author proposes that the antependium was made for the altar of St Chrysogonus which stood in the north apse of the abbey church. Although it has not been established when the antependium left Zadar, based on the similarities between the crimson satin fabric, which replaced the original surface on which the embroidery was applied, on the antependium from the Church of St Mary at Zadar, and the antependium from the Church of St Chrysogonus, it is stated that both interventions were made in the Benedictine Convent of St Mary at Zadar during a short period of time in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. This is also understood as evidence that at that time the antependium from the Church of St Chrysogonus was still being carefully kept at Zadar.

Liturgical prayer constitutes space, time and community in Benedictine monasteries. Recent field-explorations indicate that visitors to abbey churches appreciate liturgical tradition and ascribe sacred meaning to their experiences. Furthermore, monks and nuns describe the shape of the Divine office, their personal attitude and their spiritual experience as constitutive for their spiritual practice. Until now, Monastic sources and their re-invention are not included in these liturgical studies. But what is the liturgical-spiritual motivation of liturgical prayer according to the Rule of Saint Benedict and its historical re-inventions? In this article, we explore this question, by using interpretative keys for selected liturgical spiritual texts from Benedictine tradition. First, we describe the Liturgical Movement in the 19th century as an example, especially the Abbey of Solesmes, using key texts of its founder Prosper Guéranger. After that, we read and interpret passages from the Rule and the Vita of St Benedict on space, time and community in liturgical prayer. Finally, we summarize our analysis by presenting reflective questions that offer an instrument for liturgical-spiritual reflection that can be helpful for liturgical studies and liturgical practice, inside and outside monasteries.

Dom Arnoldus Smits (1914-2005). Historian of the break up of the Low Countries and biographer of Modest Van AsscheArnold Smits, who had a Dutch Pan-Netherlandic background, became a Flemish nationalist Benedictine monk at the abbey of Saint Peter of Steenbrugge near Bruges. He was also a historian, renowned for his four-part study 1830 and the break up of the Low Countries and for his biography of the Flemish nationalist abbot Dom Modestus Van Assche.Romain Vanlandschoot describes the chequered life and career of Smits and also takes this opportunity to depict the abbey: it was not only scientifically renowned for editing Corpus Christianorum, the study of the authentic texts by early Christian authors, but it was also a location where during a significant part of the 20th century the different tendencies within Flemish nationalism confronted each other.

English monasticism survived the Reformation only in exile. In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many monks came to England as pastors to the Catholic community (indeed all members of the English Benedictine Congregation, revived at the beginning of the seventeenth century, took an oath promising to work in England after ordination), but they lived alone or in small groups and except during the early Stuart period there were no organised religious communities in England which could properly be called monastic. This state of affairs was to change dramatically in the years of the French Revolution when the English communities on the continent were repatriated and a number of French religious made their way to England as émigrés. The English communities (including those now represented by the abbeys of Ampleforth in Yorkshire and Downside in Somerset, formerly at Dieulouard in Lorraine and Douai in Flanders respectively) managed to settle in England without too much opposition. These monks had been trained for circumspect behaviour on the mission and were not noticeably ‘monastic’ in either appearance or behaviour; the complete Benedictine habit was not used at Downside, for example, until the late 1840s and working in parishes away from their monasteries remained the normal expectation of most English Benedictine monks until well into the present century. The same could not be said of the community of Saint Susan at Lulworth in Dorset which provided between the years 1794 and 1817 the setting for the first experiment in fully observant monastic life in England for two hundred and fifty years.

Late in the year 1028, Adémar de Chabannes embarked on an ambitious and audacious project to create a new liturgy for the Feast of Saint Martial that would venerate its honoree as an apostle. It is difficult to exaggerate the monstrous nature of the venture and the claim it supported. The historical Martial was well known from the works of Gregory of Tours, the sixth-century historian, as a third-century Roman missionary to Aquitaine and first bishop of Limoges. There his burial place became an important pilgrimage destination and the eventual site of a Benedictine monastery founded in Martial's memory. Adémar, with the full support of the abbot, Odolric, and monks of the abbey of Saint-Martial, and Bishop Jordan of Limoges, sought to transform the historical Martial into a first-century Jew, younger cousin of Simon Peter, an intimate of Jesus himself, whom he served at the Last Supper, Saint Peter's personal delegate to Gaul, and a saint of apostolic rank.

The article draws attention to a number of research initiatives in the area of liturgical plainchant, which have brought together scholars of different countries and disciplines. The number of primary sources is so great that cooperation is essential. In the first phase of modern scientific research, monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes played a crucial role, their combined efforts being rivalled by very few individual scholars. In the last quarter of a century, databases and computerized projects have been developed to which scholars from different countries can contribute and from which they can draw information, and these have to some extent replaced earlier communal efforts. When the seemingly uniform facade of plainchant is inspected closely it resolves itself into a multitude of overlapping traditions and styles: how many and how widespread they are can only be determined through international cooperation. Later stylistic phases, especially from the eleventh century onward, are influenced by a preoccupation with music as an aural reflection of the harmony of the universe.

Between 1233 and 1258, Franciscan friars attempted to establish themselves in the town of Bury St Edmunds, which was jealously guarded by the Benedictine monks of St Edmunds abbey. In the ensuing conflict (which sometimes spilled over into acts of violence), the monks invoked St Edmund as the protector of the abbey. Although the monks eventually managed to eject the friars from the town in 1263, they were forced to grant the friars a friary site just outside Bury. This article examines how the monks deployed the figure of St Edmund in their battle with the friars, while also exploring the friars’ less well-documented responses. By calling on the saints, both sides elevated the clash between new and old religious orders to the heavenly plane, but the popularity of the new saint, Francis, complicated the monks’ efforts and produced a nuanced response from the Benedictines that eventually accommodated the friars.

Liturgical chant bibliography 12 maintains the traditional division into: (1) Editions and facsimile editions, (2) Books and reprints, (3) Congress reports, (4) Chant journals, (5) Collections of essays and dictionaries, (6) Articles in periodicals and Festschriften. Additions to previous bibliographies, consisting mainly of reviews, follow the present introduction. A significant publication in 2002 was without doubt the colour facsimile of the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds lat. 776 (12002), an eleventh-century gradual from the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Gaillac near Albi. Although no staff lines are present, the music is notated carefully in diastematic notation. The availability of a facsimile of this famous manuscript will certainly be of value for the study of semiology and the transmission history of tropes, proses and prosulae. It also contains traces of the Gallican and Mozarabic chant repertories.

The nineteenth century liturgical movement was the work of the Benedictines. It was beginning from the monastery of Solesmes, where lived and worked the first abbot Prosper Guéranger (1805-1875). Monks of the Order of Saint Benedict rediscovered the significance of the mass liturgy as a source of renewal of the life and teaching of the Church. Guéranger was determined to create a new Christian institution for the time. On 11 July 1833 he started living the Benedictine life with six other monks. The papal letter of 1837 clearly stated that Solesmes was “to revive pure traditions of worship”. So Guéranger initiated liturgical renewal. He determined that the role of Solesmes would not be direct intervention in parishes but perfection of the rites and intellectual formation of the monks. They did it for all history of the abbey to give to the Christian people an example by perfect liturgical celebration, theological reflection, historical research and publications (the most famous Guéranger’s publications were Institutions liturgiques and Liturgical Year). Special place in this work was discussion over restoration of Gregorian chant.

In the year 2019 were celebrated the thousand years of the foundation of the Zalavár Benedictine Monastery under the Patrocinium of Saint Hadrian the Martyr on the western shore of the Lake Balaton in Hungary, and this is an occasion to contemplate the significance of this place and of this heritage. Though the Abbey is not existent after 1950, its beginnings are more important in the Carolingian Empire, after the Avar Period, as the Salzburg Benedictine missionaries christianized the territory and as the Slavic Prince Pribina came under Carolingian rule. It was this time to found the first church of Saint Hadrian, a Martyr in Nicomedia in the times of Diocletian’s persecution and which relics were translated to Rome in the 5th or 6th Century. The cult became important in this Church, which building was identical with the Roman Curia, i. e. the Senate, and the consecration of this church on September 8th became the feast of the Saint in the Occident. This became a titular church and was the titular church of the Transylvanian Cardinal András Báthory, in the 16th century. Turning to Pribina, he gathered Saints Cyril and Methodius and their pupils in this church and against the opposition of the Archbishops of Salzburg, gained Pontifical permission of Pope Hadrian II to celebrate Christian liturgy in Slavic language in his Province and the nomination of Methodius to Metropolite of Pannonia. This early beginnings were important for the Hungarian christianization and explain why Saint Stephen the first King of Hungary received so easily the Roman blessings, i. e. the Holy Crown and the erection of the Metropoly of Esztergom in his kingdom. In medieval Hungary the name of the kingdom was alternating “Hungary” and “Pannonia”, in Christian inter- pretation “Pannonia Sacra”. This aspect could help to concile Slavic (e. g. Slovakian) and Hungarian interpretation of their common history. This history is living today in the use of the word “Church”, which originates of the Latin word “Castellum” (etymon of the city name “Keszthely” at the Lake Balaton), which is in the Western Slavic languages: “Kosciól” (Polish), “Kostel” (Czech and Slovak). In Polish means both as building and as gathering of people, in Czech and Slovak only as building. In Hungarian the use of the Latin word “templum” is rooted, as building. Common heritage of the ancient Roman word “Castellum”.

Senior representatives of the Venetian Republic inspired distinguished noblemen and rich citizens in Venice, as well as in Terraferma and Stato da Mar, to perpetuate their memory through lavish commemorative monuments that were erected in churches and convents. Their endeavour for self-promotion and their wish to monopolise glory could be detected in the choice of material for the busts that adorned almost every monument: marble. The most elaborate monument of this kind belongs to the Brutti family, erected in 1695 in Koper Cathedral. In 1688 the Town of Labin ordered a marble bust of local hero Antonio Bollani and placed it on the facade of the parish church. Fine examples of family glorification could be found in the capital of Venetian Dalmatia – Zadar. In the Church of Saint Chrysogonus, there is a monument to the provveditore Marino Zorzi, adorned with a marble portrait bust. Rather similar is the monument to condottiere Simeone Fanfogna in Zadar’s Benedictine Church of Saint Mary and the monument to the military engineer Francesco Rossini in Saint Simeon. All these monuments embellished with portrait busts have a common purpose: to ensure the everlasting memory of important individuals. This paper analyses comparative examples, models, artists, as well as the desires of clients or authorities that were able to invest money in self or family promotion, thus creating the identity of success.

Medieval pilgrims making the dangerous journey from the Norman-Breton coast to the island monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel would have passed a tall stone cross rising out of the sands about halfway between the mainland and the north shore of the Mont. In the unlikely event that the visitors had not already heard the story of this monument, the so-called “croix des grèves,” they were sure to hear it—and perhaps even see it reenacted—once they arrived at their destination, since the miracle it commemorated was one of the most famous in the shrine's vast store of legend. Popularly known as the “Peril,” the miracle told of a pregnant woman who had come on pilgrimage to the shrine in the time of Abbot Hildebert I(1009–17). As she was making her way across the sands toward the abbey at low tide, a sudden storm blew in from the sea, carrying the tide in its wake. In her frantic efforts to reach the shore before the pilgrims' path was submerged, the woman went into labor and was unable to escape the quickly rising waters. According to the version of this story recounted to generations of pilgrims to Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey's patron Saint Michael took pity on the unfortunate woman and made a dry space for her to wait out the storm in the midst of the sea, preserving her from harm while she was safely delivered of a healthy son. The boy was christened “Peril” in commemoration of his dangerous birth, and in gratitude to the archangel his mother designated him for the priesthood.

In research concerning the spread of eleventh-century ecclesiastical reform ideas, papal protection bulls have been somewhat overlooked as scholarship has privileged more obvious instruments of papal politics, such as legates, councils, canon law, papal letters, and friendship networks. This is not surprising considering the fact that the only documents preserved are very often the bulls themselves, making it virtually impossible to reconstruct the impact that they had on the local churches. Therefore, the availability of several narrative sources discussing the reception of the bulls Gregory VII issued in favor of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Hubert in the diocese of Liège in 1074 and of the priory of regular canons in Watten in the diocese of Thérouanne in 1077 is truly unique. While these accounts are heavily biased, they permit us to catch a rare glimpse of how bulls were received at the grassroots level. As becomes clear from their stormy reception, the charters prompted discussion in the episcopal entourage about questions of ecclesiastical hierarchy, procedure, papal obedience, and episcopal authority. They cleverly rooted the papal reform program in the midst of far-off but politically important dioceses and forced bishop and clergy to take a stance in the reform debate.

This Chronicle opens in 1702, the first year of the long rule of Abbess Mary of the Holy Cross, elected the previous December by 42 votes out of 64. She proved an outstanding superior whose works (printed and MS.) gain her a niche in Gillow's Bibliographical Dictionary, whose life drew a written tribute from Bishop Bonaventure Giffard and whose teachings inspired a book by Alban Butler. After the dissensions of the previous decade she restored spiritual health and harmony to the community and placed it on a more flourishing footing than for many years, receiving to profession thirty-four religious in 25 years (1707–32). Abbess Howard—if that was indeed her surname— entered into association with other religious houses by mutual agreement to participate in good works, prayers and merits: with the Benedictine Abbey of St. Amand at Rouen, whose Abbess was a great friend; with that of Val de Grace in Paris where she herself had lived and been converted; in 1711 with the Carmelites and in 1714 (a renewal of a former association) with the Capuchins. In addition the community's friend and benefactor M. de Tot had in 1703 founded a confraternity in honour of Our Lady and St. Joseph which some of the English nobility joined, including Lady Middleton and Lady Strickland.

AbstractThe triptych which has hung above the main altar of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at Maria-ter-Heide (Brasschaat, near Antwerp) since the nineteenth century unfolds a highly unusual iconographical programme. The representation on the central panel is a 'Holy Kinship' with Saint Anne; the left and right shutters show a 'Tree of Jesse', and the 'Kinship of Effra and Ismeria' respectively. This unusual combination of themes, and the coat of arms of the abbey at Tongerlo on the staff of the kneeling donor on the left shutter, enable us to identify the triptych from an old description, predating 1615, of the art treasures in the abbey at Tongerlo. As early as 1888 canon Van Spilbeek was able to demonstrate on the basis of two entries in the abbey's ledgers that the retable was made around 1513-1515. It was commissioned by the then abbot of Tongerlo, Antonius Tsgrooten. The painter's name appears on both bills of payment of 1513-1515. He was called Johannes, and he was married to Marie Hoesacker. His apparent lack of a surname might intimate that he was a foundling. Hitherto, the triptych in Maria-ter-Heide was the only known work by 'Johannes'. The author suggests that he also painted the monumental triptych with scenes from the lives of Christ and Mary which has been on loan to the museum at Àvila since 1971 from the Provincial Council. In 1968 Karel G. Boon attributed this work to an anonymous North-Netherlandish painter. According to Boon the same artist painted two wings with John the Baptist and Saint Agnes (Paris, private collection) and a 'Baptism of Christ' (Madrid, private collection). 'Johannes' could be the maker of these three works. What is more, the painter of the triptych in Maria-ter-Heide could be credited with two retable wings which have been in the Museo de Santa Cruz in Toledo since the 19608. Their subjects are 'Saint Andrew with Saint Francis' and 'Saint James with Saint Antony of Padua'; on the back of these panels is a 'Visitation'. Judging by the numerous figures he borrowed from Rogier van der Weyden, 'Johannes' seems to have been fascinated by the great Brussels master. His interest in Van der Weyden's art and the fact that he worked for the abbot of Tongerlo suggest that he was active in Brabant. The Dutch elements which Boon claimed to recognise on the Àvila triptych are quite inconspicuous, proving how dangerous it is to determine an artist's provenance solely on the basis of aesthetic impressions. The iconographic programme on the triptychs in Maria-ter-Heide and Avila and the retable wings in Toledo is highly unusual. This indicates that they were not made for the open market on the painter's own initiative, but were ordered specially. Perhaps 'Johannes' ability to convert such iconographic programmes into pictures was one of the reasons for his success a success which, in view of the presence of two of his works in Castile, assumes an international dimension.

AbstractAmong the extensive collection of pen sketches by Johannes Stradanus (Bruges 1523-Florence 1605) in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (Notes 1,2) are thirteen hitherto unknown compositions which prove to be preliminary studies for eleven detailed drawings and two engravings. Inscriptions identify them as scenes from the life of St. Giovanni Gualberto and they belong to a set which must originally have consisted of al least fifteen illustrations. St. Giovanni Gualberto of Florence (Note 4), who died in 1073, is mainly known as a powerful reformer of the church, who set himsef above all to root out corruption and simony, and as the founder of the Benedictine Order of Vallombrosa. His cult enjoyed a revival during the Counter-Reformation, witness the decoration in 1580 of the chapel at Passignano, where he was buried, with frescos and altarpieces by A. Allori and his pupils and the installation there of a new tomb designed by G. B. Caccini, in which his remains were deposited (Note 5). In 1586 his lower jaw was removed to a new reliquary by G. B. Puccini in S. Trinita, the most important Vallombrosan Church in Florence, and in 1594 this was ceremonially installed in the new chapel designed for it by Caccini (Note 6). The saint also occupied an important place in the decoration of tha façade of the Cathedral for the entry of Christina of Lorraine in 1589 (Note 7), while in 1595 came the official recognition of his feast day on 12 July. In 1583 a new life of the saint, commissioned by Don Salvadore, Abbot General of the Order of Vallombrosa, was published in Florence by the Vallombrosan monk and historian Eudosio Loccatelli (Notes 8, 9). From this it is possible to identify all but one of the subjects illustrated by Stradanus, which follow the text so closely that he would seem to have used it as his literary source (Note 10). The subjects illustrated are as follows, in the chronological order given by Loccatelli: The Miracle of the Crucifix (Fig. I, Note I I), St. Giovanni Gualberto Publicly Accusing the Bishop of Florence and the Abbot of S. Miniato of Simony (Figs. 2, 3, Notes 12, 13), The Alms Returned Threefold (Figs.4, 5, Notes 15, 16), A Miraculous Provision of Bread at Vallombrosa (Figs. 6, bottom right, 7, Notes 17, 18), A Miraculous Provision of Food at Vallombrosa (Fig.8, left, Note 19), The Destruction of the Monastery at Moscheta (Figs. 9, top left, 10, Notes 20, 21), A Miraculous Distribution of Grain at Vallombrosa (Figs.9, top right, 11, Notes 22, 23), The Miraculous Catch of Pike at Passignano (Fig. 12, Notes 24, 25), The Miraculous Storm at Moscheta (Figs.9, bottom left, 13, Notes 26, 27), The Massacre and the Miraculous Healing of the Monks of S. Salvi (Figs. 6, top left, 14, Notes 28, 29), The Trial by Fire of Pietro Aldobrandini at Settimo (Figs. 6, bottom left, 15, Notes 30,31), St. Giovanni Gualberto Visiting a Sick Woman (Figs. 9, bottom right, 16, Notes 34, 35), An Angel Assisting St. Giovanni Gualberto on his Death bed (Figs.6 top right, 17, Notes 36, 37) and The Miraculous Healing of Adalassia (Fig. 8, right, Note 38). Insofar as sketches and finished drawings can be compared with each other, Stradanus proves in general to have taken over his first composition without appreciable change, albeit the scene of the accusing of the Bishop of Florence and Abbot of S. Miniato has been done in reverse to the sketch for topographical reasons. In those cases where more radical changes have been made, these all serve to heighten the expressiveness of the scene or to focus attention on the divine aspect of the event or the saint himself. The difference in character between the spontaneous pen sketches and the final drawings is striking. The latter are done in pen and brown ink and brown wash, carefully heightened with white, over traces of black chalk. They are highly finished drawings with a notable plasticity and monumentality for their modest size. The technique is close to that of Stradanus' numerous studies for engravings and the lefthandedness of the figures and the margins reserved for inscriptions at the bottom show that these drawings were also meant as models for a set of engravings. This set was evidently never executed, but there are separate, prints of two of the compositions, made at a later date, in the library of the abbey at Vallombrosa. One of these (Fig.18, Note 41) shows the Massacre scene in reverse and is dated to between 1625 and 1629 by its dedication to Don Averardo Niccolini, Abbot General of the Order during those years (Note 42). The other (Fig. 19, Note 43) shows The Miraculous Healing of Adalassia in reverse and enriched with some decorative details. Of the two coats of arms on the sarcophagus, one is presumably that of the Order of Vallombrosa (Note 44), the other that of the Visdomini family of Florence (Note 45), to which St. Giovanni Gualberto is traditionally said to belong. The arms of the Del Sera family of Florence (Note 47) below are clearly an addition to Stradanus' composition. Both prints are anonymous and of mediocre quality. They will presumably have, been made in or around Florence. The only clue to the dating of the drawings is their style which is close to that of the work of the last period of Stradanus' long career. In these years his style evolved from Mannerism to an early Baroque idiom, with an increasing concentration on lucidly structured compositions with quite large, plastic figures in a clearly defined space. Other striking elements are the genre-like conception of predominantly Biblical or literary themes, the narrative manner and the far-reaching detailing. The drawings discussed here can be dated c.1595 on the basis of their closeness to such sets of that period as Nova Reperta, Vcrmis Sericus and The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Note 48). Nothing can be said, however, about the reasons behind the set. An appendix is devoted to a discussion of Stradanus and the so-called Crucifix of St. Giovanni Gualberto. The miracle of the crucifix, first related by Bishop Atto of Pistoia (d. 1153) in his lift of the saint, later came to be localized in S. Miniato, where a Medieval crucifix painted on panel was identified as the legendary one that bowed its head to the saint (Note 49). This crucifix is first mentioned in the 14th century in the crypt (Note 50), but in the 15th century it was set in front of the nave of the upper church in a ciborium made for it by Michelozzo to the commission of Piero de' Medici. In 1671 it was moved to S. Trinita where in 1897 it was installed in its present position in the chapel to the right of the high altar. The crucifix (Fig.20) has been cut down on all sides and so overpainted that it is no longer possible to discover its precise date (Note 51). That the Virgin and St. John were originally to be seen on the side panels emerges from the description by F. Tacca (Note 52), while some idea of them can be gained from an engraving by Th. Verkruys after Fr. Soderini (Fig. 21, Note 54). They were probably painted over after 1856 (Note 53). A small study by Stradanus (Fig. 22, Note 55) can be linked with this crucifix, while the correction of the halo and the hatching to the right of Christ's head give the impression that the head is bent forward away from the cross, so that the study can be seen as a rendering of the moment when the head bowed to St. Giovanni Gualberto in gratitude. Although it is fairly close in type to the crucifix which Stradanus could have seen in S. Miniato, it is in all probability not a reliable rendering of it (Note 57). It will have been done in connection with his sketch The Miracle of the Crucifix (Fig.I) and shows that at a certain stage he thought of depicting the crucifix frontally. In the sketch however he has switched to a sculptured crucifix, perhaps because of the difficulty of rendering the bowing of a head on a painted panel seen from the side.

In the mid-1960's a group of Benedictine monks at Saint John's Abbey and University in central Minnesota faced a challenge. They were wondering what could be done to preserve the precious hand-written religious books located in European monasteries and libraries. The devastation of World War II was a recent memory, and the potential loss of cultural material in the event of the Cold War suddenly turning “hot” was difficult to imagine. The monks had two goals: the preservation of the manuscript's contents and the creation of a means for scholars to easily access them. The task was daunting – thousands of manuscripts existed in dozens of Western European locations.

Over time, many groups have sought to offer alternatives to the dominant culture of the day; for example, the civil-rights movements, antiwar protests, and environmental activism of the 1960s and 1970s. Not all groupings however can be considered countercultural. Roberts makes a distinction between group culture where cultural patterns only influence part of one’s life, or for a limited period of time; and countercultures that are more wholistic, affecting all of life. An essential element in defining a counterculture is that it has a value-conflict with the dominant society (Yinger), and that it demonstrates viability over time: long enough to pass on the values to the next generation (Roberts). Each society has images of what it means to be a good citizen. These images are driven by ideology and communicated through media channels, educational values and government legislation. Ideologies are not neutral and compete for the “common sense” of citizens; seeking to shape desires and allegiance to a particular way of life. A way of life is expressed in the everyday practices, or routines and choices that make up an ordinary day, the sum of which express the values of individuals and communities. A number of groups or movements have sought to counter the values and practices of dominant cultures only to find themselves absorbed into it. For example, the surfing magazine Tracks was an Australian countercultural text that chronicled the authentic surfing lifestyle of the 1970s. As surfing became big business, the same magazine was transformed into a glossy lifestyle publication. The surfing lifestyle had become part of the expanding field of consumption and Tracks had become one more tool to promote it (Henderson). As the “counter” is absorbed into the dominant consumer culture, new ways to engage the hegemonic culture emerge that offer fresh possibilities of living and engaging in contemporary society. Positioning I hold to a critical postmodern perspective of consumption. That is, while I acknowledge some of the pleasures of consumption, I see a dominant posture of detachment as a result of consumer cultures increased distance from production, producers and the products we buy (Cavanaugh; Sandlin, Kahn, Darts and Tavin). The market is a powerful educator of individuals (Kincheloe; Steinberg), but it is not the only educator. Families, schools, churches and other interest groups also seek to educate, or shape, individuals. These competing influences do not however hold equal power. In many instances the families, schools, churches and interest groups have uncritically adopted the dominant ideology of the market and so reinforce the values of consumerism; such is its hegemonic power. I hold that individuals, and more importantly communities, have some agency to consume in alternative ways that give rise to the formation of different identities. I see critical practices as important in the awareness raising, or awakeness, and shaping of an individual and a community (Freire; Rautins and Ibrahim). Contemporary Cultures Consumption has become the organizing principle of many contemporary cultures (Hoechsmann). The message that to be a good citizen is to be a good consumer is pervasive and promoted as key to economic growth and the remedy to lift countries out of recession. This message of consumption falls on fertile ground with the development of consumerism, or consumer culture. Smart (5) sees this expressed as a way of life that is “perpetually preoccupied with the pursuit, possession, rapid displacement, and replacement of a seemingly inexhaustible supply of things.” These “things” have increasingly become luxury goods and services as opposed to the satisfaction of basic needs and wants (de Geus). Contemporary Alternatives There are examples of contemporary alternatives that open spaces for people to imagine that “another world is possible.” Sandlin, Kahn, Darts and Tavin (102, 103) call upon educators to “critically analyze what it might mean to resist a consumer society predicated on the normalization of overconsumption” and to “celebrate the creative and critical agency of all those who resist and interrogate the hegemony of multinational companies/industries.” A number of examples are worth celebrating and critically analysing to offer input in the engagement with the dominant culture of consumption. The examples of the Adbusters Media Foundation, Bill Talen’s work as a political-theatre activist, and the voluntary simplicity movement will be briefly examined before exploring the contribution of monasticism. The Adbusters Media Foundation produces a glossy bimonthly publication and website that seeks to unmask the destructive power of global corporations. Through the use of cultural resistance techniques such as “culture jamming,” Adbusters remix advertisements to catch the reader by surprise, to make the taken for granted problematic, and to open them to the possibility of an alternative view of reality. These “subvertisements” offer the opportunity for detournement; a turning around or a change in perspective (Darts; Sandlin and Callahan). As people get involved in “culture jamming” they become producers of artifacts and not just consumers of them. The work of Adbusters uses the tools of the media saturated consumer culture to critique that very culture (Rumbo). Advertising performs an ideological function within a consumer culture that addresses people as individual private consumers rather than citizens concerned for the public good (Scatamburlo-D’Annibale). Given the ubiquity of advertising, individuals become ambivalent to its messages but still soak in the dominant narrative. The very form of resistance reinforces the culture of the individualistic citizen as consumer. While it might be seen that the “culture jamming” artifacts of the Adbusters type might not have substantial effect on the broader public, it does provide an accessible means of resistive action for the individual (Haiven). Bill Talen is a political-theatre activist who plays the Southern evangelical preacher Reverend Billy as leader of the Church of Stop Shopping. The Reverend stages “retail interventions” or performances in public spaces and retail stores as an act of “culture jamming”. Reverend Billy uses humour, music, art and theatre in his “services” to create strangeness, discomfort or ambiguity in the lives of the public. In doing so he calls people into transitional spaces where what was normal is disrupted and they are free to imagine differently. This disruption that causes a movement into the unknown is a central pedagogical strategy that seeks to encourage people to question their taken for granted understandings of life (Littler; Sandlin, Learning). Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping offer a fuller bodied experience of “culture jamming” that engages both the body and the emotions. The act of creating culture together is what fosters a sense of community amongst culture jammers (Sandlin, Popular culture). And yet Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping appear not to be focused for their own good in that they have formed a number of coalitions with other organisations to work on campaigns that oppose global corporations and the influence of consumerism’s ideology on everyday life. Reverend Billy not only creates disruption in people’s relationship with consumption, he also provides an alternative place to belong. The voluntary simplicity movement involves a growing number of people who choose to limit their incomes and consumption because of new priorities in life. Those involved call into question the dominant cultures view of the “good life” in favour of a less materialistic lifestyle that is more “personally fulfilling, spiritually enlightening, socially beneficial, and environmentally sustainable” (Johnson 527). Grigsby’s research (qtd. in Johnson) found that participants were involved in forming their own identities through their lifestyle choices. The voluntary simplicity movement, it appears, is a niche for those who understand consumption from a postmodern perspective and participate in alternative lifestyle practices. Sandlin (Complicated) sees the formation of collective identity as crucial to a movement’s ability to effectively engage in external education. A shared vision, or telos, is central to that forming of collective identity. However, the voluntary simplicity movement is focused primarily on individual lifestyle changes, thus making it ineffectual as a collective to challenge dominant ideologies or to engage in external education to that end. Each of the examples above provides some insight into a considered engagement with the dominant culture: the creation of Adbuster like “culture jamming” artifacts provides an accessible means of engagement for the individual; Bill Talen’s interventions show an appreciation of the importance of community in supporting countercultural choices; and the voluntary simplicity movement promotes a “whole of life” approach to countercultural engagement. However, when comparing the above examples with Roberts’s definition of a counterculture they appear to be lacking. Roberts (121) holds that “the term counter-culture might best be reserved for groups which are not just a reaction formation to the dominant society, but which have a supporting ideology that allows them to have a relatively self-sufficient system of action.” The remainder of this article examines monasticism as an example of a counter-culture that offers an alternative model of “the good-life” based on a clear ideology and a fifteen hundred year history. Considering Monasticism As seen above, the work of countering the dominant ideology is not without its difficulties. bell hooks found that offering an education that enhances students’ journey to wholeness went against the anti-intellectualism of the current education system. What enabled her to stand within and resist the oppressive dominant culture, and offer alternatives, was the sustaining power of spirituality in her life, the basis of her hope. Tolliver and Tisdell appreciate that spirituality can be an elusive term, but that amongst the definitions offered there are commonalities. These are that: spirituality is about a connection to what is referred to by various names, such as the Life Force, God, a higher power or purpose, Great Spirit, or Buddha Nature. It is about meaning making and a sense of wholeness, healing and the interconnectedness of all things. […] As many have noted, those who value spirituality generally believe that it is possible for learners to come to a greater understanding of their core essence through transformative learning experiences that help them reclaim their authenticity. (Tolliver and Tisdell 38) There is a growing interest in the age-old traditions of Christian monasticism as a means of addressing the challenges of contemporary life (Adams; Jamison). When the BBC broadcast the television series The Monastery in 2005, millions of viewers tuned in to follow the way five ordinary men were affected by the experience of living in a monastery for forty days and nights. Similarly in Australia in 2007, the ABC broadcast the television series The Abbey that followed the experiences of five ordinary women enclosed for 33 days and nights in the space and routines of the Benedictine nuns at Jamberoo Abbey. It was when watching these television series that I was led to consider monasticism as an example of cultural resistance, and to ponder the contribution it might make to the conversation around counter-cultures. As an observer, I find something compelling about monasticism, however I am aware of the possibility of romanticising it as a way of life. The tensions, difficulties and struggles represented in the television series help to temper that. Benedictine spirituality is the foundation for life at the Worth Abbey (The Monastery) and the Jamberoo Abbey (The Abbey). The essential dynamic that underlies this spirituality is a shaping of life according to the Bible and the guidelines set out in the sixth century Rule of Benedict. Monastic life in a Benedictine abbey is marked by certain routines, or rhythms, that are designed to help the community better love God, self and one another (Benedict, chapter 4). “Listen” is the first word in the Rule of Benedict and is closely linked to silence (Benedict, chapter 6). As a key part of monastic life, silence gives the monastics the freedom and space to listen to God, themselves, one another, and the world around them. As Adams (18) points out, “the journey to knowing God must include the discipline of coming to know yourself, and that risky journey invariably starts in silence.” The rhythm of monastic life therefore includes times in the day for silence and solitude to facilitate listening and self-reflection. For Benedict, distractions in the head are actually noises inside the heart: the result of human desires and preoccupations. Silence, and the reflection that occurs within it, allows the monastic to listen for, and see their own relationship to, competing ideologies. This everyday practice of listening might be explained as paying attention to what is noticed, reflecting on it and the internal response to it. In this way listening is an active engagement with the words read (Irvine), the stories heard, the conversations had, and the objects used. Hoffman (200) observes that this practice of attentive listening is evident in decision making within the monastery. Seen in this way, silence acts as a critical practice counter to the educative agenda of consumerism. Physical work is a basic part of monastic life. All members of the community are expected to share the load so that there is no elitism, no avoiding work. This work is not to be seen as a burden but an outlet for creativity (Benedict, chapter 57). By being involved in the production of goods or the growing of crops for the community and others, monastics embody practices that resist the individual consumer identity that consumerism seeks to create. Monastics also come to appreciate the work involved in the products they create and so become more appreciative of, and place greater value on them. Material things are not privately owned but are to be seen as on loan so that they are treated with a level of gratitude and care (Benedict, chapter 32). This attitude of not taking things for granted actually increases the enjoyment and appreciation of them (De Waal). De Waal likens this attitude to the respect shown towards people and things at the Japanese tea ceremony. She says that “here in the most simple and yet profound ceremony there is time to gaze at things, to enjoy them, and to allow them to reveal themselves as they truly are” (87). Such a listening to what products truly are in the dominant consumer culture might reveal chairs made from the denuded forests that destroy habitats, or shoes made with child labour in unsafe conditions. The monastic involvement in work and their resulting handling of material things is a critical practice counter to the ideology of consumerism and the attitude towards products flooding markets today. Community is central to monastic life (Veilleux). Through vows, the monastic commits to life in a particular place with particular people. The commitment to stability means that when conflict arises or disagreements occur they need to be worked out because there is no running away. Because a commitment to working things out requires attention to what is real, monastic community acts as a counter of all that is not real. The creation of false need, the promise of fulfilment, and the creation of identity around consumption can be viewed through the same commitment to reality. This external stability is a reflection of inner stability marked by a unity and coherence of purpose and life (De Waal). A monastic community is formed around a shared telos that gives it a collective identity. While people are welcomed as guests into the community with Benedictine hospitality, the journey to becoming a member is intentionally difficult (Benedict, chapter 58). The importance of committing to community and the sharing of the collective telos is not a rushed decision. The stability and permanence of monastic commitment to community is a counter to the perpetual chasing and replacing of other goods and experiences that is a part of consumerism. The deliberate attention to practices that form a rhythm of life involving the whole person shows that monastic communities are intentional in their own formation. Prayer and spiritual reading are key parts of monastic life that demonstrate that spirituality is central in the formation of individuals and communities (Benedict, prologue). The formation is aligned to a particular ideology that values humanity as being made in the image of God and therefore the need to focus on the connection with God. A holistic humanity addresses issues and development of the mind, body and spirit. Examining Ideology The television series The Monastery and The Abbey demonstrate that when guests enter a monastic community they are able to experience an alternative model of “the good life”. If, as Roberts suggests, a counter-culture looks to reform society by providing an alternative model, then change is based upon seeing the alternative. The guests in the monastic community are involved in discussions that make explicit the monastic ideology and how it shapes the countercultural values and practices. In doing so, the guests are invited to listen to, or examine the consumerist ideology that permeates their society and shapes their everyday experiences. In evaluating the conflicting ideologies, the guests are free to choose an alternative view, which, as the television series showed are not necessarily that of the monastic community, and may in fact remain that of consumerism. Conclusion While ideologies are not neutral, they are often invisible. The dominant ideology of consumerism reduces citizens to individualistic consumers and naturalises the need for never ending consumption. A number of groups or movements attempt to expose the logic of consumerism and offer alternative ways of consuming. 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This paper analyses finds of Spanish (Gothic-Mudéjar) pottery found at the following sites: the Benedictine Monastery of Saint Mary of the Castellum, and the Upper Corner Tower, both of which are in the historical centre of Dubrovnik. These are rather rare pottery finds that were transported via trade routes from workshops in Valencia and its surroundings. The finds have been dated to the end of the 14th century and also to the 15th century, and are classified as majolica which, in addition to a nontransparent glaze on which decoration was applied, was also glazed with an expensive lustre overing. The pottery testifies to the prosperity and fine taste of certain citizens of Dubrovnik, which was one of the largest maritime, trade and cultural centres on the eastern Adriatic coast in this period.