Joan Greatrex – författare

The English Benedictine Cathedral Priories offers a detailed study of nine monastic communities. Joan Greatrex follows the lives of the young men, only some of whom are known by name, from the day of their arrival at the monastery to the moment of their death or departure. The individual chapters provide the details that fill in many of the gaps in the monastic biographies to be found in her earlier work. The result is the first comparative study of the implementation of the Benedictine Rule, and the daily routine, observances, and customs practised by the nine priories, as well as of the monks' progress through the successive stages of their monastic life. The author exploits to the full the archiepiscopal and episcopal registers, which record their official acts, in addition to the monastic accounts of the monk office holders who were responsible for the various departments within the monastery.

The eighteen studies included here reflect three particular aspects of Leonard Boyle's remarkable impact on teaching and scholarship. His abiding interest in the early history and architecture of the basilica of San Clemente in Rome forms the focus of Part I; his profound contribution to the theory and practice of palaeography is reflected in Part II; and his creative work on clerical education, pastoral care, and the Dominican Order, inspires Part III. In all these areas, Fr Boyle combined remarkable attention to detail with the humane ability to bring clarity to complex issues. This book commemorates his inspiration, but also reflects his favourite maxim, derived from the twelfth-century teacher-theologian, Hugh of St-Victor, to 'Learn everything', for 'afterwards you will find that nothing is superfluous.' The fourth section is devoted to Fr Leonard as friend, scholar, and Prefect of the Vatican Library, and it ends, fittingly, with what may be regarded as his own scholarly valediction, 'St Thomas Aquinas and the Third Millennium'.