Gregory Martin (1540–1582) was an Oxford scholar of Hebrew and Greek, one of the original dons of St. John’s College. He helped bring his fellow don St. Edmund Campion into the Church and later was tutor to St. Philip Howard. Fleeing from Queen Elizabeth I’s persecution in 1570, he entered William Cardinal Allen’s College at Douay and was ordained at Brussels in 1575. He then served the cardinal in various capacities, including as translator of the Latin Vulgate Bible into English. Although assisted by Allen himself and some fellow Oxonian exiles, he was crushed by the work and died of consumption as his New Testament was coming off the press at Rheims. The Old Testament printing at Douay could not be financed until 1609–1610, a year before the King James Version appeared. The present revision of his Psalms and Gospel Canticles strives to conserve his solemn and poetic English, as well as his fidelity to the literal sense. The Psalter is the fundamental liturgical prayer book for both Jews and Christians. Monastic tradition, as expressed in St. Benedict’s Rule, recommends the communal chanting of all 150 Psalms weekly. Since the Church today calls for Bible translations from the original languages, years of effort, using a multitude of resources, have gone into adjusting to the Hebrew and Greek. St. Ives affirmed the salvation of souls to be a supreme law. Therefore, to paraphrase St. Paul (Galatians 2:5 and 2 Thessalonians 3:13), we did not yield for a moment to weariness in well-doing, so that the truth of the gospel, as embedded in the Psalms (Luke 24:44) and Canticles, might abide for your sake.

Not everyone can, or should, live as a hermit. Yet all Christians need an inner hermitage, a place apart where we come face-to-face with our true selves, and listen to the still small voice of God. It is a place of silence, of fear and fascination, of anguish and grace. The writer of this profound yet simple volume encourages us to find our own inner hermitage—a place of calm and contemplation, apart from the demands of the modern world, a place so silent that we can hear God. The desert, the mountain, and the temple provide the focus of the anonymous author's reflections. He meditates on the wilderness experiences of such biblical persons as Jesus, John the Baptist, and Mary Magdalen. He considers the place held in the Christian story by Mount Sinai, the Mount of Olives, and Calvary. He ponders the idea of temples, using such images as our inner temple and Christ the temple, the foundation of the Church.

Monastic life in the world today is perhaps as never before, a testimony of trust in the providence of God. In what way can we understand the act of consecrating life to prayer and work in a world that is continually desacralized. The brightness of the fleeting glares with vehemence; Infiltrated in the technological revolution has come the exacerbation of consumption and the alienation that results from it. In big bands of the population the sense of the sacred is lost. Communicated more than at any time in history, we exchanged mere fatuities; Today that particular verse, which says Vanity of vanities, is all vanity! (Ecclesiastes 1,2). That is why, whoever becomes a monk or a nun today, gives special testimony of faith in the living presence of Jesus Christ. He claims to have seen something that is not in sight. That person in the midst of the multiple mirages has noticed something that escapes the majority. In the history of spirituality it has been called "Experience of the Presence". Those who in the second decade of the 21st century embrace the religious life, particularly the monastic, have heard the peculiar voice of the inner desert. It is a deep silence that draws them to the deep heart. They have been fascinated by God through various contingencies. Some were first seduced by prayer and quiet steps resounding in the cloister, others fraternal life in communion of works, to those from beyond them perhaps invited, the lectio, personal communion with the sacred writing. As a beloved niece said before her first profession: "... I was so refreshed by the joy of the nuns!" No mistake. Many still impress the joy without purpose of a life recovered in the essential. Be the writings that follow here for you, as an act thrown into becoming, a gesture of hope and recognition to the Spirit of God that encourages you as a soft breeze where w

This book contains fourteen numbers of the renowned Wheel Publication series, dealing with various aspects of the Buddha’s teaching. 98: The Noble Quest—I. B. Horner; 199: Human Progress: Reality or Illusion?—Philip M. Eden; 200–201: Buddhism and the Race Question—G. P. Malalasekera; 202–204: The Three Basic Facts of Existence–Collected Essays; 205: The City of the Mind—Nyanaponika Thera; 206–2017: Lay Buddhist Practice—Bhikkhu Khantipalo; 208–211: Anguttara Nikaya—Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi; 212–214: Dimensions of Buddhist Thought—Francis Story; 215: Birth, Life and Death of the Ego—Carlo Gragnani.

Brother Hermitage is at it again - this time with druids. Is it a murder mystery? Is it a thriller? Is it just something gone horribly wrong? When his nemesis, the Norman conqueror Le Pedvin orders him to Wales, Brother Hermitage knows it is going to go wrong. He's had a prophecy it's going to go wrong. And from his first steps on the road it strides firmly in that direction. Brother Hermitage, Wat, weaver of pornographic tapestry and Cwen, weaver in her own right and the fiercest of the lot, are commanded to find one dead Norman in the whole of Wales - as usual under pain of death. Add to that some treasure and a druid curse or two, and we have the recipe for a laugh out loud historical tale like no other. (Apart from the other Chronicles of Brother Hermitage) It's all complicated enough, but when what seems like the whole of the country wants to join in, things get very messy. And then there are the druids, and stone circles, and sacrifices.... "he who has laughter on his side has no need of proof" Theodore Adorno

INTRODUCTION: Lanfranco's Camerino degli Eremiti; 1. Architecture, Decoration and Typology of the Palazzetto Farnese: Camerino and Palazzetto: a reconstruction; Decoration of the Palazzetto; The giardino segreto as 'theatre of nature'; The tradition of studioli; Pliny's diaeta and its Cinquecento imitations; Studiolo, garden, and the genre of landscape-painting; The typology of the Palazzetto Farnese; Camerino and Palazzetto - decorative or functional relations?; 2. THE CARDINAL'S RETREAT: Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola; The Stanza della Solitudine; The Stanza della Penitenza; Rome: the Casa Professa-apartment; Iconography of the Cappellina Farnese; Ignatius' exemplarity; Jesuit devotional retreats; Caprarola: the Palazzina Farnese; Grottaferrata: the Palazzo Abbaziale; Camaldoli; 3. PATRONAGE, PROTECTORATE AND REGULAR REFORMS: Orazione e Morte; The Arciconfraternita and its cardinal protectors; The Quarant'Ore and the Camerino; Sixteenth-century concepts of protectorate; Impending abolition and renewal of the protectorate in 1606; Between regular reform and curial changes; Odoardo Farnese's protectorates; Discalced Carmelites and the mission; The Camerino's Eucharistic message; Saints, protectorates and paintings; 4. GARDENS FOR THE SOUL: Cardinals retreating: Sfondrato, Borromeo and Bellarmino; Bellarmino's urban retreat; Funeral monuments as models of devotion; Bellarmino's 'Ladder of Nature'; The garden of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale; Spiritual Paintings of the Universe; Scenes of martyrdom in San Vitale; Functions of the Sant'Andrea complex; Christian Doctrine and the argument of nature; Pilgrimage and the real world; Missionary theory and natural philosophy; Allegorical gardens in Seicento Rome; The Palazzetto as metaphorical Scala; 6. THE IMAGINARY, THE REAL AND THE EXEMPLARY HERMITAGE: Images of hermits; Cinquecento realities of solitary life; The case of Fra Pelagio; De-historicising the hermit; Itinerant hermits in and around Rome; Sant'Onofrio: the monk redressing as hermit; Ephemeral landscapes and theatrical hermits; Giacinto da Casale in Piacenza; Casale's grotto and the Camerino degli Eremiti.

By providing an annotated translation of, and applying the methods of literary criticism to, a first-century account of the life of the saint Purna, this study introduces the reader to the richness and complexity of an essential Buddhist genre.