The Memorial Of The Abundance Of The Divine Sweetness

Gertrud the Great (1256–1302) entered the monastery of Helfta in eastern Germany as a child oblate. At the age of twenty-five she underwent a conversion that led to a series of visionary experiences, some of which she recorded in Latin “with her own hand,” in what became Book Two of The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness, the standard version of her revelations. The other four books were written down by a close confidant of the saint, now often known as "Sister N." Recently a different version of Gertrud's revelations has been discovered, in an early fourteenth-century manuscript held at the University of Leipzig, Germany, much older than the known manuscripts of The Herald. The Memorial of the Abundance of the Divine Sweetness is shorter than The Herald, and while the two versions have some text in common (notably most of The Herald's Book Two), the new manuscript also contains some completely new material, which sometimes modifies and sometimes complements what readers already know of the saint.

Gertrud the Great (1256–1302) entered the monastery of Helfta in eastern Germany as a child oblate. At the age of twenty-five she underwent a conversion that led to a series of visionary experiences, some of which she recorded in Latin “with her own hand,” in what became Book Two of The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness, the standard version of her revelations. The other four books were written down by a close confidant of the saint, now often known as "Sister N." Recently a different version of Gertrud's revelations has been discovered, in an early fourteenth-century manuscript held at the University of Leipzig, Germany, much older than the known manuscripts of The Herald. The Memorial of the Abundance of the Divine Sweetness is shorter than The Herald, and while the two versions have some text in common (notably most of The Herald's Book Two), the new manuscript also contains some completely new material, which sometimes modifies and sometimes complements what readers already know of the saint.

The volume explores the hitherto uncharted late medieval religious landscape of Northern Germany, from 13th-century Helfta to the 15th-century Lüneburg convents. The mystical and devotional writing of Northern Germany is contextualised through chapters on the Netherlands, Scandinavia and East Prussia. The seminal influence of the liturgy on these texts and their transmission is revealed in the creative interplay of Latin and Low German. Through the individual chapters and their appendices, which also contain translations into English, the reader can access a wealth of texts produced by communities of religious and lay women who write learnedly in Latin and fervently in Low German. Together, the chapters and appendices reveal a fascinating regional "mystical culture" which also reverberated across Northern Europe. Contributors include: Jürgen Bärsch, Anne Bollmann, Veerle Fraeters, Ulrike Hascher-Burger, Ernst Hellgardt, Tanja Mattern, Balazs Nemes, Sara S. Poor, Eva Schlotheuber, Almut Suerbaum, and Geert Warnar.

Placed in the monastery of Helfa, in Upper Saxony, at the age of five, Gertrud began having Visions and writing at twenty-five. Book 1, written by a nun of Helfta, reveals the personality and virtues of Gertrud. Avoiding hagiographical commonplaces, the writer reveals both the strengths and the shortcomings of her very human and very committed heroine. Book 2, contains Gertrud's own account of her spiritual experiences.

As anyone will discover who casually dips into this beautiful collection, the women mystics of Christian tradition offer a lucid alternative to today's more rationalistic approaches to God. They offer a way to peace, laughter, love, and connection with each other, and they show us a picture of a tender, nurturing, forgiving God who is as intimate as our own breath. There are indeed "women's ways of knowing" and they are revealed in these insightful daily readings. Incandescence offers fresh translations from the writings of famous and not-so-famous mystics---Julian of Norwich, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Catherine of Siena, Hildegard of Bingen, Gertrude of Helfta, Margery Kempe, and others. Each reading includes a meditation, prayer, poem, or song, providing an oasis in a hectic day. The topics in this luminous volume include: *God's divine, mothering love *The guidance of God's light *The sensuality of faith *A helpful and friendly Trinity

Rituals are closely linked with culture. This book is a consideration of Christian ritual in our culture. It was originally written particularly with an eye to the ritual developments in The Netherlands, which can be considered as representative for our Western European culture. It has been revised and expanded for the English edition. As in other European countries, in the 1960s Dutch society witnessed a serious crisis in ritual. The situation was paradoxical. While, under the influence of the Second Vatican Council and the Liturgical Movement, in the Catholic churches there was a great creativity with regard to ritual, ritual was gradually disappearing from the society at large, and participation in Christian ritual was rapidly draining away. A religious void arose. However, since then the situation has changed fundamentally. Rituals were rediscovered in the 1990s, indeed to such an extent that one can now speak of 'rituals in abundance'. In this book the author sketches out the directions and sets out signposts for where ritual is going in contemporary culture. He traces the peculiar characteristics of ritual, indicates what shifts have taken place, and tries to further define the identity of various rituals. In doing this, he concentrates on the question of the place of Christian ritual in our culture. How is Christian ritual connected with the many rites in our culture? What new shape is it taking on in our culture? In the midst of the other rites, what is the peculiar identity of Christian ritual? In this book the accent is on the anthropological approach to Christian ritual: it works from the bottom up. The book seeks answers to the questions being asked in the discipline of ritual studies, which particularly since the second half of the 1980s has arisen as an important realm or stage on which different disciplines studying ritual come together.