The Gateway to the Middle Ages: Monasticism

by Eleanor Shipley Duckett

Book Overview

In an era when the sounds of monasticism's interior life speak to a new generation, Eleanor Shipley Duckett offers an illuminated description of its development under such figures as Columban, "the saint afire with Irish enthusiam"; St. Benedict, greatest of the monks, who established a pattern of the religious life still vibrant to this day; and St. Gregory, Benedict's pupil and greatest of the popes, who more than any other prepared the See of Rome...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0472060511
• ISBN13: 9780472060511
• Release Date: December 1988
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Monasticism AD 600

Eleanor Shipley Duckett is one of a handful of medieval scholars whose works are always both amusing and informative. This one is no exception. After introductory chapters on early trends in Roman and Celtic monasticism, she launches into two jewel-like portraits -- of St Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order, and St Gregory the Great, a monk turned pope. Duckett's Dark Ages are illuminated with the warmth of her monk-saints who strove to protect their fledgeling communities in the face of turmoil and rapine. At the same time, they sought to burnish their souls so that they would be pleasing to the all-merciful God who cast so much adversity their way. Yet these spiritual heroes just tightened their belts and leaned ever harder into the wind. The simple things that we have lost!