Charter, Customs, and Constitutions of the Cistercians: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition 7 (Volume 41) (Monastic Wisdom Series) - Softcover

Merton OCSO, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879070412 ISBN 13: 9780879070410

Publisher: Liturgical Press, 2015

Synopsis

As master of novices for ten years (1955–1965) at the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, Thomas Merton was responsible for the spiritual formation of young men preparing for monastic profession. In this volume, three related sets of Merton’s conferences on ancient and contemporary documents governing the lives of the monks are published for the first time:

· on the Carta Caritatis, or Charter of Charity, the foundational document of the Order of Cīteaux
· on the Consuetudines, the twelfth-century collection of customs and regulations of the Order
· on the twentieth-century Constitutions of the Order, the basic rules by which Merton and his students actually lived at the time

These conferences form an essential part of the overall picture of Cistercian monastic life that Merton provided as part of his project of “initiation into the monastic tradition” that is evident in the broad variety of courses that he put together and taught over the period of his mastership.

As Abbot John Eudes Bamberger, ocso, himself a former student of Merton, notes in his preface to this volume, “The texts presented in this present book eventually gave rise to the Cistercian way of spiritual living that continues to contribute to the Church’s witness in this new millennium. This publication is a witness to the process of transformation that ensures the continuity of the Catholic monastic tradition that witnesses to the God who, as Saint Augustine observed is ‘ever old and ever new.’”

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Catholic convert, Cistercian monk and hermit, poet, contemplative, social critic, and pioneer of interreligious dialogue, was a seminal figure of twentieth-century American Christianity.

Patrick F. O’Connell is professor of English and theology at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. A founding member and former president of the International Thomas Merton Society, he edits The Merton Seasonal and is coauthor of The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia. He has edited eight previous volumes of Thomas Merton’s monastic conferences for the Monastic Wisdom Series, most recently The Cistercian Fathers and Their Monastic Theology (2016), and he is also editor of Merton’s Selected Essays (2013) and Early Essays: 1947–1952 (2015).

John Eudes Bamberger entered Gethsemani Abbey in 1950, having earned an MD from the University of Cincinnati the previous year and done his internship at Georgetown University Hospital. A student of Thomas Merton from 1952-1955, he worked with Merton, after his ordination in 1956, in screening applicants to the abbey. He served as abbot of the Abbey of the Genesee, in New York state, from 1971 until 2001. Since returning from a term as superior in the Philippines, he lives in a hermitage at Genesee.

Review

"Exceptionally well written, organized, and presented, Charter, Customs, and Constitutions of the Cistercians will prove to be of immense interest to those with an interest in the life and thought of Thomas Merton, as well as philosophy and practice of the Cistercian monastic life. Very highly recommended for church, community, and academic library collections."The Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Liturgical Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0879070412
• ISBN 13: 9780879070410
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 326
• Editor: O'Connell Patrick F.