Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Both Contemplative and Intellectual


Count Claydus

Recommended Posts

Count Claydus

Does anyone know of a religious order which is both contemplative of God and the Divine Mysteries and intellectual, studying the scriptures, fathers, and Saints? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Count Claydus said:

Does anyone know of a religious order which is both contemplative of God and the Divine Mysteries and intellectual, studying the scriptures, fathers, and Saints? 

A lot of communities/orders/congregations fit that descrption. Including Dominicans, Benedictines, Jesuits, Carmelites ... the Franciscans are not known for study but  there's St Anthony who is a doctor of the church. It's always going to be a question of emphasis.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dominicans do indeed spring to mind - I know a few who were permitted, and encouraged, to bring their personal libraries of books into the novitiate. They revel in contemplation of God through study.

On the other hand, a contemplative life almost always goes hand in hand with study of Sacred Scripture, the fathers, and such. Lillabettt is also right about this being common to many communities.

What's an example of emphasis? Take a Benedictine. (Please excuse me, any Benedictine lurkers, if I do not describe this well.) The lifeblood of the monk is the Divine Office and Mass, in community, suffusing each day. Daily lectio divina gives the mind opportunity to digest the psalms he sings and other texts, and to contemplate God through them. And then, according to his task in the monastery he may have study or some other labor as his particular work assigned by the abbot. But one does not go to the monastery in order to become an intellectual, one goes in order to prefer nothing to Christ by imitating him in obedience - which may or may not, according to the abbot's assessment of the community's needs and your needs, involve contemplative study in the end! It will vary from place to place, province to province.

Edited by chrysostom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT.  The sing the Gregorian Chant in Latin. Many members with advanced degrees.  I  strongly suspect  that college is a requirement.

Benedictines and Dominicans in particular appear to support the life of the mind. The Benedictines still support a number of colleges and universities and would be happy to receive people who would like to teach there.  Their tendency to remain in place tends to support llarge institutions which in the past meant large libraries. They also support the arts and artists among their members.  This is not to say that other orders or charisms are not intellectual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ReasonableFaith
On 8/17/2019 at 8:31 PM, Lilllabettt said:

A lot of communities/orders/congregations fit that descrption. Including Dominicans, Benedictines, Jesuits, Carmelites ... the Franciscans are not known for study but  there's St Anthony who is a doctor of the church. It's always going to be a question of emphasis.  

In regards to Franciscans in the USA, St Bonaventure and Franciscan University of Steubenville come to mind immediately. You can also reference the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities. There are Franciscans of all stripes teaching at the primary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate level. All of these endeavors require a commitment to study. 
 

A tremendous amount of Franciscan women are and have been involved in the distribution of health care, including nursing and hospital administration. These positions are not gained without a tremendous commitment to study. 
 

While some communities may be better know for their intellectual emphasis, study is far from absent in the Franciscan communities at large. 
 

Every community asses the community’s needs and the talents of individual members in decisions regarding continuing and advanced education programs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/15/2021 at 12:51 PM, ReasonableFaith said:

In regards to Franciscans in the USA, St Bonaventure and Franciscan University of Steubenville come to mind immediately. You can also reference the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities. There are Franciscans of all stripes teaching at the primary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate level. All of these endeavors require a commitment to study. 
 

A tremendous amount of Franciscan women are and have been involved in the distribution of health care, including nursing and hospital administration. These positions are not gained without a tremendous commitment to study. 
 

While some communities may be better know for their intellectual emphasis, study is far from absent in the Franciscan communities at large. 
 

Every community asses the community’s needs and the talents of individual members in decisions regarding continuing and advanced education programs. 

Point is, the Franciscan charism is not known for an emphasis on study. I'm not referring to the apostolate, here. The Franciscan charism emphasizes spiritual and material poverty and a kind of simplicity vis a vis the Gospel.  There are Franciscan bishops with a lot of power, there are highly educated Franciscans engaged in erudite apostolates, but this is in certain ways in tension with *not contradictory to, but in tension with* the Franciscan charism. 

Dominicans on the other hand see learning the truth as a primary means of achieving sanctity. Study is at the chore of their charism. 

The Carmelites heavily emphasize the interior life. There are Carmelite nuns who teach however the emphasis and priority is pursuit of holiness through union with God in contemplative prayer.  

For Benedictines it's "Ora et labora"; by Ora they mean liturgical prayer and by labora the work of the monastic family especially hospitality. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...