The Anchoress
The Benedictine Nuns of Holy Trinity Monastery in East Hendred in the UK are very sharp ladies. They continue the Benedictine tradition that once upon a time took place in the scriptorium by adapting it to the modern age and through their sophisticated website which offers an Online Retreat Service, a blog, digibooks, podcasts and more.
Their offerings are uniformly excellent, but my favorite thing is the DigitalNun Daily, a virtual daily newspaper in which they cull together online articles on a broad range of topics — typical Benedictines, they have curious minds and that means they serve up pieces on religion, art, internet design and coding, history politics, even typesetting!
The sisters are interesting in their opinions, too. Here one of them, I think Sr. Catherine, links to a first-glimpse of the illustrations that will accompany the new English missal. Noting that they are perfectly beautiful but from a different age, she writes:
I believe that our own generation is capable of producing art that is both faith-filled and beautiful, and part of me is sorry that the missal editors have not sought out some contemporary artist to illustrate its pages. I don’t subscribe to the view that all contemporary art is ugly and brutal. I do subscribe to the view that our churches and everything in them should be the best we are capable of. A beautiful medieval psalter is a safe choice but is it the best choice? What do you think?
Personally, I’m happy whenever I don’t have to look at minimalist woodblock stamping, but I don’t disagree that some modern illustrators could have done magnificent things with the opportunity to illustrate the new missal.
Other headlines from their paper:
Pope picks Augustinian nun to write Good Friday meditations
Catholic/Atheist meetings end with Pope Benedict appeal to Youth
True Colors Infographic; the breakdown of color preferences by gender
Information Missing from Survey Claiming Catholic Support for Gay Marriage
Brooklyn Couple Race Against Time; Both diagnosed with Cancer in Space of a Week
Madness in the Realm; Narratives of Mental Illness in Late Medieval France
That’s just a few headlines. Do yourself a favor; subscribe to the Digitalnun Daily. You’ll like it!
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