{"product_id":"spiritual-exercises-volume-49-paperback","title":"Spiritual Exercises: Volume 49 - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The remarkable monastery of Helfta was a 'place where learning and art, courtesy and holiness flowered in a dark season' of interregnal warfare.* The nuns drew their inspiration from the twin roots of Citeaux: the Rule of Saint Benedict and the constitutions of Citeaux; their spirituality, liturgy, customs, and habits were modelled on those of the White Monks, even though juridically they were not part of the Cistercian Order. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Under the guidance of the thirteenth-century abbess Gertrud of Hackeborn, the nuns of Helfta steadfastly pursued learning and holiness. Among them were three outstanding women whose works have come down through the centuries: Mechtilde of Hackeborn, Mechtilde of Magdeburg, and the scholarly Gertrud the Great. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Having entered monastic life at the age of five, Gertrud combined a deep knowledge of the Church Fathers and earlier medieval writers, an intimate familiarity with Scripture, and innate common sense. Her \u003ci\u003eSpiritual Exercises\u003c\/i\u003e--prayers, litanies, meditations, and hymns--articulate a spirituality that is both traditionally monastic and authentically, but unself-consciously, feminine. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hers is a mysticism of light and love, of humility and commitment, of freedom and discipline and--most of all--of joy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e*M. Jeremy Finnegan OP, 'The Women of Helfta', Peace Weavers, Medieval Religious Women, 2:212.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67969713438943,"sku":"9780879074494","price":34.51,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/HryjgufPSX9780879074494.webp?v=1791780743","url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/products\/spiritual-exercises-volume-49-paperback","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}