Overview

The love of learning and the cultivation of a literary culture are central to the charism of Benedictine monasticism, and the Order of St. Benedict has produced countless illustrious authors over its fifteen centuries of existence. Indeed, throughout the Middle Ages, Benedictine monasteries functioned as the primary repositories of knowledge and the leading centers of learning for all Western Europe. In his Illustrious Authors of the Order of St. Benedict, the great early Renaissance abbot and polymath Johannes Trithemius compiled a catalogue of the outstanding writers of the order, from its inception in the early sixth century until the end of the fifteenth century. This magisterial and much-respected work of reference, which has not hitherto been available in English, provides not only encyclopedic biographical and bibliographic data on each Benedictine author, but is punctuated by many striking and illuminating anecdotes and observations. Moreover, it provides profound reflections on monastic life, values, and culture, and an insight into Trithemius's own remarkable personality and vision for his order.

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9781666770834

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"""John Trithemius (d. 1516) was a Benedictine abbot, scholar, and lover and collector of books. In this excerpt from his larger work, On the Illustrious Members of the Benedictine Order, he provides brief biographical-bibliographical information on 143 Benedictine writers who lived during the first thousand years of the order. Anyone who loves reading, monk or otherwise, will be moved by his closing exhortation urging study of holy writings, made widely available by the then recent invention of the printing press."" --Hugh Feiss, OSB, Monastery the Ascension ""In his 1492 work, Illustrious Writers of the Order of St. Benedict, Iohannes Trithemius documented the 'love of learning' that Jean Leclercq noted as characteristic of Benedictine monasticism. His purpose was to rekindle in the order a greater zeal for the studious life. This very readable translation makes this valuable survey accessible and complements it with a concise introduction and useful and informative footnotes."" --Michael Casey OCSO, author of The Road to Eternal Life: Reflections on the Prologue of Saint Benedict's Rule"

Author Information

Robert Nixon is a Roman Catholic priest, and a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity, New Norcia, Australia, where he serves as director of the New Norcia Institute for Benedictine Studies. He has contributed articles to the Revue bénédictine, the American Benedictine Review, and Ecce Mater Tua. Fr. Nixon's translation of Meditations on Death, attributed to Thomas à Kempis, was named ""Book of the Year"" for 2023 by TAN Books.

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