Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz is a timeless story about apocalyptic cycles, conflicts and similarities between religion and science, religious ethics and secular ethics, sin and redemption, myth and preternatural innocence. Canticle is a very religious story about a monastery dedicated to preserving scientific knowledge from the time before nuclear war which devastated the world and reduced humanity to a pre-technological civilization. The Catholic Church and this monastery are portrayed as a bastion of civilization amidst barbarians and a light of faith amidst atheism. Unfortunately, humanity destroys the Earth once again, but Miller ends with two beacons of hope: a starship headed for the unknown to help humanity begin again and the preternaturally innocent Rachel who portends a future for similarly innocent human beings repopulating the Earth. Thus, faith ultimately triumphs over atheism even in the midst of almost total catastrophe.

科学研究費補助金 研究種目:基盤研究(C) 課題番号:15520038 研究代表者:神塚 淑子 研究期間:2003-2005年度

The thesis examines the legend of Saint Procopius. At the beginning there is the description of the life of Saint Procopius and introduces genre legends. The introductory chapters will contain chapter of Sázava's monastýry founded by Saint Procopius and the last chapter of the theoretical part will be devoted to visual processing Prokop´s legend in Liber depictus. This is followed by a comparison and analysis of Prokop legends from the Middle Age to the present. The starting point is the five basic texts, which are Vita minor, Legenda Aurea by the Italian Dominican Jacobus de Voragine, which is written around 1260, traditional Czech verse processing of Prokop legends from the reign of Charles IV., Prokop legend by Jaroslav Vrchlický from 19th century and the final text is compared About Saint Prokop with legend published by M. Drahovzal, which is a part of folk culture. This comparison is supplemented with a chapter called Saint in the Baroque period. Each processing precedes the introductory part, which is either introduced the time in which the legend was created, or contains a brief description of the author, who wrote the legend.

This dissertation examines the intersection of spiritual values and material life at Syon Abbey, a wealthy Brigittine double monastery in late medieval England. As an institution it was, paradoxically, directed primarily toward an evangelical goal, while being focused on contemplative women who were strictly enclosed. In this dissertation, I assert that this apparent contradiction was resolved through a high degree of collaboration between the abbey’s religious women and men. I argue that Brigittine monasticism, and that of Syon in particular, was uniquely attuned to metaphors and meanings of materiality, which enabled the abbey to transform the women’s mundane material life of food, clothing, architecture, work, finance, and even bureaucracy, into spiritual fruits to be shared with the Syon brethren through dialogue within confessional relationships, and subsequently, with the laity through the media of sermons, sacraments, books, and conversation. I use the abbey’s extensive household financial accounts in conjunction with Brigittine writings and monastic legislative documents to examine the intersection of ideal material life and its spiritual meaning on the one hand, and the abbey’s lived materiality as reflected in its internal economic and administrative actions, on the other. The central question is the degree to which Syon’s material life was one of luxury in keeping with what the Order’s founder, Saint Birgitta, would have seen as worldly excess, or one of moderate asceticism, in keeping with the Brigittine Rule. Major findings are that in most respects (financial management, gender power, officer appointments, clothing, and some aspects of food), Syon’s materiality was lived in accordance with the Rule and the Brigittine mission, but that in some respects, it erred on the side of elite display and consumption (the majority of food items and the architecture and decoration of the abbey church), and in others, the source material is too incomplete to enable conclusions (the decoration of monastic buildings and the distribution of alms). In addition, by analysing the income from boarding of visitors and offerings from pilgrims, I examine the degree of Syon’s impact on the laity and how it changed with the approaching Dissolution, concluding that the abbey had a significant impact that declined only when legal restrictions were applied.

The present thesis focuses at analysing the development of the Cistercian monastery in Plasy during the Baroque period, as well the monastery festivities, which belonged among important events of the monastery's everyday life, being an inseparable part of routine within the renewed monastery structure and new sacral foundations. The thesis is structured into five chapters, each analysing a particular part of the present topic. The first chapter maps the spiritual and social development of the Cistercian Order and its activities in the Czech Lands, and describes the specifics of the Order liturgy. The adoration of Our Lady has been an inseparable part of the Cistercian devotion and, as such, has become the topic of one of the chapters of the present thesis. Plasy monastery's abbots, the elected superiors of the order, were closely tied to the renewal of the monastery, applying their artistic ambitions to the reconstruction. The major focus of the whole thesis is set on the linkage of primary sources to the individual aspects of life of the Order, such as the Order liturgy, the issue of the foundation stones, or the apotheosis of the newly built structures by Giovanni Battista Santini-Aichel. The concluding chapter summarizes and evaluates the outcomes of the thesis. The present theses could not have...

The main task in this thesis is to prescribe the development of residential properties in the locality of Brno - Královo Pole. My diploma thesis is focusing on history of this quarter of the city until present. In the thesis is desribed in detail survey of the significant residentional buildings, construction of residentional complexes. Work us step by step through the development of these buildings from the beginning of construction on the territory to the possible future development in the area. In my thesis, there will be map drawings of the given area, old photographs of streets, residential and important civic buildings included. I would like to try to discover changes that have been made during recent years on the local building as well. In the end, I will also consider future building development opportunities in the built-up urban area.

This thesis deals with the history of the Cistercian monastery of Žďár nad Sázavou in the second half of the 17th century, specifically from 1676 till 1705. In 1676, after almost four decades since the Cistercian Order had regained control of the seigniory in Žďár and the convent had been re-established, the monks were allowed to elect their own Abbot. Benedikt Zaunmüller, the prior of the monastery of Vyšší Brod, was elected and remained Abbot of Žďár till 1691 when he was forced to resign on health grounds. He was succeeded by Edmund Bagner, the first of the Abbots of the re-established monastery who was elected from the members of the Žďár convent and remained in office till his death in 1705. The scope of this thesis corresponds with the terms of office of these two Abbots who significantly contributed to the improvement in the economic situation of the monastery and the expansion of the personnel of the convent in Žďár and who are indisputably among the significant personalities of the Žďár Abbey. The outset of the thesis provides an overview of the available archival sources and existing literature on the topic. The first chapter outlines the history of the Žďár monastery from its establishment in the middle of the 13th century. The second chapter captures the transformation of the...

Diplomová práce Abstract: Operation "VK" and its process in Želiv Monastery from the perspective of Náboženská matice. Master's thesis presents the fate of Želiv Monastery in 1950s caused by operation code named "VK" (monasteries deportation). Operation's purpose was to terminally prevent formation of economical and above all, cultural influence of Roman Catholic Church in recently founded Socialist country. According to unmapped documents from Náboženská matice's archive which is currently placed in National Archive in Prague, I would like to present means in which the communist regime handled monastery property, belongings and people which were interned as prisoners in the monastery. The goal of this thesis is to present profound consequences of monastery abolition using Church archive with roots of legal personality going back to reign of Joseph II. Keywords: Operation "VK", Želiv Monastery, Náboženská matice, Communism, Roman Catholic Church, Internment, Property seizure, "Church Six" Communist Party Central Committee

The topic of the diploma thesis is the activity of the Cistercian monastic order in the area of Tuscany. During the main wave of founding the Cistercian monasteries in Italy, the area of Tuscany, whose medieval boundaries roughly correspond to its current ones, was under major political influence of Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca. Most monasteries in the region were founded in the vicinity of these cities. This work aims to contribute to the discoveries about the influence of these cities and their elites on the establishing of foundation of the white monks in Tuscany. The goal of this work is an analysis of circumstances and causes of the arrival of the Cistercians in the Tuscany region, where they arrived relatively late, compared to other Italian regions. The work focuses on the specificities of the Cistercian movement of the foundation of monasteries. The fist Cistercian foundation in Tuscany was the monastery San Galgano. Most of the Cistercian abbeys in the region predominantly from the 13th century was affiliated with San Galgano. The diploma thesis aims to describe the development of the Cistercian order and its monasteries in the area by exploring specific Cistercian foundations in Tuscany. Possibly the most important monastery in the region was San Galgano, which served as the maternal monastery...

The main topic of this thesis is reconstruction of the monastery like a nursing house for elderly people. The main reasons for this solution is very advantageous position of the monastery in the historic center, the possibility of using the existing building and possibility to use gardens of monastery like an area for relaxation. In gardens of monastery is designed new house for elderly people. This new building is designed with the greatest emphasis on tolerance to the surrounding environment and the historical importance of this area. The footprint of the house follows the trace of the original fortification, which led to the toe of Vlčí věž. It´s floor plan arrangement recalls the letter U. in the center of the house, there is an inner courtyard, which corresponds with the inner courtyard of the monastery. The design of new object is trying to find the best position to fit into the context of the town of Znojmo. At the same time, this arrangement allows the solution to the inner garden, resting place of relaxation, which refers us back to the monastery garden, which occurred in these places since the time of establishment of the monastery.