A Benedictine Reader (II) 1530–1930 ed. by Hugh Feiss, O.S.B., and Maureen M. O’Brien (review)

Reviewed by: A Benedictine Reader (II) 1530–1930 ed. by Hugh Feiss, O. S. B. , and Maureen M. O'Brien Brian D. Boosel O. S. B. A Benedictine Reader (II) 1530–1930, Hugh Feiss, O. S. B. , and Maureen M. O'Brien, eds. (Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications/Liturgical Press, 2023. Pp. 500. Paperback, 49. 95. ISBN 978-0-8790-7169-1). When explaining the experience of Benedictines in nineteenth century America, Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B. , wrote, "We belong to the whole world. " Wimmer's saying might appear grandiose to the reader at first. Though after carefully reading A Benedictine Reader: 1530–1930, I posit that Wimmer may have been on to something. Likewise, Maureen M. O'Brien, in her preface to this work, issues a challenge to the readership: "As you read the selections before you. . . ask yourself this question: what is Benedictine here? What makes Benedictines Benedictines when circumstances beyond their control force them to change? How pliable is Benedictinism? " (xii). What then do a compendium of Benedictine early modern and modern sources, a short-list of reading questions proposed by a twenty-first century academic, and an answer offered by a nineteenth-century Benedictine abbot, have in common? They come together to demonstrate the integral contribution of Benedictines within history, and the ways in which these Benedictine women and men studied, lived, felt joy, survived difficulties, prayed, sang, mourned, thrived, and found answers to the questions being asked by people of their End Page 107 times and places. In many cases, Benedictines are so deeply woven into the fabric of historical events that it takes a collection like this, along with some distance of time, to begin to discern the warp from the weft. The editors, Hugh Feiss, O. S. B. , and Maureen M. O'Brien, do just that as curators of this important compilation of Benedictine writings that express the diversity of Benedictine experiences in a variety of locales over four centuries. A Benedictine Reader (BR from here) serves as a portable library of essential Benedictine thought presented in modern English, with thorough scholarly introductions to each individual piece of literature in the collection. BR opens with an important introduction by Hugh Feiss that offers the reader an opportunity to be quickly educated about the historical epochs of the past half-millennium, and gives a teaser of the forthcoming third volume of BR. The present volume is then divided into four historical periods, namely the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the eighteenth century, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century. Together, the four divisions contain a total of twenty-three texts. Each text is introduced by a scholar suited to the task of presenting the history and substance of the text. The text introductions provide the reader with precise historical background for the text at hand, as well as familiarize the reader with historical and linguistic nuance, and utilize scholarship both to frame the significance of each text in its time and to show how it might connect to modernity. The editors have chosen texts that would not necessarily be widely read outside of academia. That is one reason why this collection is so important. It brings texts out of manuscript folios and library books and gives them new life. Here is a taste of the vivid accounts readers will experience: Benedictine Fray Pedro and sign language in sixteenth century Spain; Dame Gertrude and the life of a nun living in the diaspora several generations after Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries; entry into the mind of a French reformer, Abbess Francoise through the writings of her diary; as well delving into the constitutions of a new congregation as composed by Mother Mechtilde de Bar; the pivotal experiences of the communities envisioned by Maurus Wolter at Beuron and Prosper Gueranger at Solesmes; and the bringing of monasticism to the Americas by Benedicta Riepp and Boniface Wimmer. The editors incorporate texts from non-western Benedictine experiences with the monastic foundation in Western Australia and missions to the Aboriginal Peoples begun by Rosando Salvado. The experiences of the introduction of Benedictinism into End Page 108 Africa are explored through the travel journals of Norbert Weber of the Ottilien. . .