The establishment of a new concept of intercessory prayer, from an activity sought of the individual holy man to an occupation characterizing an entire monastic community, has recently received much attention; historians have shown that the function of intercession had become, by the Carolingian period, the pre-eminent feature of early medieval monasticism. The role of early medieval monasteries as powerhouses of prayer has encouraged scholarly attention along two particular areas of interest: intercession within the system of medieval patronage and gift exchange, and monastic ritual elaboration. Missing in the main historiographical approaches is discussion concerning the place of intercessory prayer within the monastic ideal. This study therefore asks the central question, ‘What was the relationship between the intercessory function of monasticism and the ascetic concern for moral conversion in the time of the reforms of Benedict of Aniane, c. 750-820?’ The writings of Carolingian monastic reformers demonstrate that the chief concern of the monk was to seek and find perfection in God; it is the argument of this study that the elaborate liturgical intercession which characterized early medieval monasticism was coherent with this goal. The Introduction sets out to establish the continuity of the ascetic pursuit in the Carolingian monastic ideal with earlier monasticism. We then order our investigation by: i) proposing that monastic liturgical organization was meant to address the fundamental problem of human sin which impedes fruitful prayer, and that the additions of intercessory liturgy made by Benedict of Aniane should be seen as part of his pastoral concern for the holiness of monks (Chapter 1); ii) situating the specific intercessory performances of monastic communities – namely, the intercessory Mass and the Divine Office – within Carolingian monastic theology (Chapters 2 and 3); iii) examining how the prayer directed toward two groups of beneficiaries of intercession – fellow monks and rulers – was grounded on the the ascetic goals of moral conversion and pilgrimage toward the celestial kingdom (Chapters 4 and 5); and iv) addressing the question of what role Carolingian monastics meant for their intercessory prayers to play in society at large, and the extent to which general social concern was a priority in monastic intercession (Chapter 6). This study provides a detailed description of the ascetic ideal required for understanding the formalized ritual and patronized prayer of monasteries within its proper sphere of monastic spirituality. I conclude in particular that the increasing importance of monastic intercession was related to a heightened emphasis in Carolingian spiritual thought on the teleological theme of transformation both individual and cosmic. The intercessory function of early medieval monasticism suggests an incorporation of the spiritual pilgrimage of the wider world into the monk’s own individual discipline, and tied the monk’s ascesis to the larger story of the conversion of the world to God.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes abstract. Appendix: A ritual of group grieving -- Kairos: a ritual honoring common ground -- Rite for completion of reconciliation of groups -- Rite of reconciliation: a day of atonement -- Reconciliation rite for impasse -- Rituals of transition: a week of farewell for parish closure -- Rite of leavetaking of a church -- Rites for inauguration of a newly consolidated parish -- Rites of reception and memorial of the closed parish with a blessing of the foundation stone ... Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-337).

Sports fandoms can form a key site of identity formation, particularly as they gather and merge numerous threads of identity, including gender, socio-economic status, and civic affiliation. The connections formed between members of the fandom, the fandom and the team, and the fandom and the place in which it is grounded can be a strong force for social cohesion. This cohesion becomes particularly relevant during times of crisis, when some turn to sports as a unifier. However, these relationships can also be fraught with tensions, within the group and without. Forces such as nostalgia and the ‘othering’ of those outside the group become import methods in creating and sustaining these Andersonian “imaginary communities” of fans, mitigating difference. In examining this process of identity creation, two cities were chosen for their intense team attachments: Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Qualitative analysis of discourses surrounding the teams in these cities reveals the complex ways in which nostalgic fantasies about the team and its relationship to the city are created and maintained, hierarchies of space and time are formed, and the identity of the community is shaped by its relationship to team and city. Analysis of the sporting landscape, created through a complex network of material culture, media, and the repetition of certain fantasy themes, reveals how geography is complexly implicated in the production of sporting fandom. / text

Thesis (S.T.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes abstract. Appendix: A ritual of group grieving -- Kairos: a ritual honoring common ground -- Rite for completion of reconciliation of groups -- Rite of reconciliation: a day of atonement -- Reconciliation rite for impasse -- Rituals of transition: a week of farewell for parish closure -- Rite of leavetaking of a church -- Rites for inauguration of a newly consolidated parish -- Rites of reception and memorial of the closed parish with a blessing of the foundation stone ... Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-337).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2002. / Vita. Includes abstract. Appendix: A ritual of group grieving -- Kairos: a ritual honoring common ground -- Rite for completion of reconciliation of groups -- Rite of reconciliation: a day of atonement -- Reconciliation rite for impasse -- Rituals of transition: a week of farewell for parish closure -- Rite of leavetaking of a church -- Rites for inauguration of a newly consolidated parish -- Rites of reception and memorial of the closed parish with a blessing of the foundation stone ... Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-337).

Thesis (S.T.L.)--Catholic University of America, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96).

Summary: The thesis focuses on a piece of work in the form of a monastic rule which considerably influenced the whole Christian world, significantly contributed to the formation of spirituality of monastic communities, shaped the European culture and has much to say even today. The rule derives its name from its author, St. Benedict of Nursia. Given the considerable impact of his work on shaping the subsequent history of monasticism, St. Benedict is rightly called the Father of Western Monasticism. The first part introduces the Rule of Saint Benedict (Regula Benedicti). It refers to the period of its creation when certain common foundations of monastic life existed but lacked any solid anchoring. Despite the existence of other monastic rules, the Rule of Saint Benedict became the leading one thanks to its clarity and brevity. The second part deals with the Rule of the Master (Regula Magistri), an anonymous collection of monastic precepts which played a significant role as a source material for the Rule of Saint Benedict. St. Benedict took a large number of rules from it while he edited some of the original rules and intentionally omitted others. He moderated the strict text of the Rule of the Master since he was aware of human weakness. He infused the precepts with love. The third part, the longest in its...

The target of this thesis was to identify mass graves in the cemetery around the former St. Benedict Church in Prague dated after 1635 and to determine, by means of dental epigenetic traits, if there is a biological relation among selected groups of mass graves and if they belong to one population. The analysis of the archaeology-anthropologic documentation was the essential part of this thesis. By this analysis it was possible to identify mass graves and to combine them to higher groups according to the following criteria: a location of the mass grave at the cemetery, a position of individual burials in the mass graves, the burial way and artefacts found. The previous research made by the French-Czech team, namely radiocarbon dating of several graves, was also supportive. The actual investigation of the biological relation (similarity) of individuals from mass graves was carried out by means of dental epigenetic traits. These traits were evaluated according to verbal description and plaster casts of teeth (Turner at al. 1991). The following statistical methods were used for the evaluation: a measure of divergence and the mean measure of divergence stating the unlikeness of probability occurrence of corresponding features. The relation of individuals, from mass graves, and French and Austro-Hungarian...

Cette thèse répond au défi lancé par Benoît XVI (2009), qui avait appelé toutes les personnes de bonne volonté à réfléchir sur le rôle de la gratuité dans l’économie et la société. Nous avons tâché de relever ce défi sur le plan scientifique, avec les outils et les démarches de l’analyse économique. Sur la base d’une revue systématique de la littérature économique portant sur la gratuité, nous avons essayé de rassembler des éléments pour donner un contenu à une « théorie des biens économiques gratuits ». Cette démarche nous a permis de définir ces biens gratuits, leurs formes et manifestations, et de comprendre leurs principales causes et conséquences. Une attention particulière a été accordée à l’étude de la « gratuité non intentionnelle », omniprésente dans la vie économique. Cette forme de gratuité émane, d’un côté, spontanément du processus de production et, d’un autre côté, des activités des entrepreneurs et des génies créatifs. Une implication forte de ce résultat est que la recherche de profit, stimulus de l’entrepreneur, n’est pas en soi opposée à la production de biens économiques gratuits ; bien au contraire, elle en est une cause. Peu d’économistes apprécient la gratuité non intentionnelle à sa juste valeur. En exagérant la portée réelle de conceptions théoriques telle la maximisation du profit et la concurrence atomistique, la plupart des économistes en appellent à l’État pour limiter les activités marchandes et pour assurer la production de biens économiques gratuits. Il est donc vrai, mais dans un sens assez paradoxal, que l’économie de marché pourrait s’ouvrir davantage à la gratuité si les économistes eux-mêmes travaillaient moins à la réduire dans ce champ. / Benedict XVI (2009) has called upon all persons of goodwill to reflect upon the role of gratuitousness in economy and society. The present thesis responds to that challenge on the level of scientific inquiry, with the tools and the methods of economic analysis. Starting from a systematic review of the economic literature dealing with gratuitousness, we have tried to assemble conceptual elements to build a “theory of gratuitous economic goods”. Thus we have defined the nature of such gratuitous goods, their forms and manifestations, and analysed their principal causes and consequences. We have bestowed particular attention to the study of “unintentional gratuitousness” – an omnipresent phenomenon in economic life. This form of gratuitousness emanates, on the one hand, spontaneously from the market process and, on the other hand, from the activities of entrepreneurs and creative geniuses. A strong implication of this finding is that the profit motive, the stimulus of entrepreneurial action, is not per se in opposition to the production of gratuitous economic goods; quite to the contrary, it is one of their causes. Few economists have understood the nature and role of unintentional gratuitousness. Most of them, by exaggerating the scope of theoretical concepts such as the maximization of profits and atomistic competition, call for the government to limit the scope of for-profit activities and to promote the production of gratuitous economic goods. Thus it is true, though in a quite paradoxical sense, that the market economy could allow for much more gratuitousness if only the economists themselves did less to prevent this from happening.