The aim of this thesis is to describe the life and work of St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia. In the first part, there is a description of biographies of both saints, their vocation in life, charity and foundation work, their life-works. The second part compares the differences between St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia and vice versa, it mentions their commonalities, further it describes motivation and source of strength St. Zdislava and St. Agnes of Bohemia for their foundation and charity activities. The conclusion is devoted to the reference and relevance of the topic of marriage and religious life today.

Consecrated life or religious life as it is sometimes called within the Catholic Church is almost as old as Christianity. All baptised persons are consecrated persons by virtue of their baptism, but the consecrated life to which some people feel called, is a special and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in baptism and confirmation.. This dissertation explores Christian spirituality as it is manifested in consecrated life with relation to inculturation and religious life. The scope has been limited to a study of one congregation, the Companions of St Angela as a case study. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Christian Spirituality)

This work is focused on the role of translators and interpreters in the first contact of the Spanish conquerors and the indigenous people of Latin America, and their influence in the conquest. Although they are often unheeded, translators and interpreters played a fundamental role while conquering the newly discovered continent. Meeting new cultures with completely different languages and ways of thinking was a great challenge for the conquerors, that's why we cannot forget about the translators' role during this era. This work is focused on the Inca culture in Peru and their first contact with the Spanish conquerors lead by Francisco Pizarro. Apart from that, other parts of the conquest are discussed, such as Columbus' very first contact with the indigenous peoples or Hernan Cortes' conquest of Mexico.

L'acte d'achat de produits monastiques est un moment de rencontre entre deux mondes que tout semble opposer : le monde monastique, silencieux et détaché des biens matériels, et le monde sécularisé de la consommation, bruyant et matérialiste. Notre recherche très contextualisée se place dans la perspective culturelle de la consommation. La problématique est centrée sur la compréhension de l'influence des contextes sur le contenu de l'expérience vécue par l'acheteur de produits monastiques alimentaires et cosmétiques. Notre recherche empirique, fondée sur une approche qualitative de nature ethnographique, est pratiquée en immersion dans le monde de l'économie monastique française. Nous interrogeons les acheteurs sur le sens qu'ils donnent à leur expérience d'achat de produits monastiques dans des magasins physiques d'abbayes, sur une galerie marchande virtuelle d'abbayes, et dans une enseigne physique laïque. Un premier palier de résultats apporte une compréhension contextualisée de l'écosystème monastique, et du contenu de l'expérience d'achat dans trois types de points de vente. Ils mettent notamment en lumière les liens étroits entre achat, don, plaisir et partage, ainsi que la dimension patrimoniale des produits. Un second palier de résultats moins contextualisés défend la thèse que le point de vente physique est un instrument de transfert de sens des contextes extérieurs vers le cœur de l'expérience. Nous mettons ainsi en lumière les limites du e-commerce pour les produits ancrés dans l'histoire et le territoire, et proposons aux décideurs des pistes d'adaptation pour les sites marchands. / The act of purchasing a monastic product is a situation when two apparently contradictory worlds come together: the monastic world, silent and detached from material goods, and the secular world of consumption, noisy and materialistic. Our research is highly contextualised and looks at consumption from a cultural perspective. The aim of this research is to understand in which way contexts influence the content of the experience when buying monastic food products and cosmetics. Our empirical research is qualitative, ethnographic in nature, and is carried out inside the world of the French monastic economy. We ask purchasers about the meaning they give to their experience of buying monastic products from abbey shops, from an abbeys' virtual marketplace, and from a secular branded outlet. The first-level results bring a contextualised understanding of the monastic ecosystem, and of the dimensions of the buying experience at the three types of shops. They particularly highlight the close links between purchasing, giving, enjoyment and sharing, and also the patrimonial aspect of these products. The second-level results are less contextualised and support the theory according to which the physical point of sale is the instrument through which the meaning of the external contexts is transferred into the heart of the experience. We are thus able to highlight the limitations of e-commerce for products that are deeply anchored in history and territory, and we advise decision-makers on how best to adapt their strategies for online channels.

La ville de Rouen est, du 10e au 15e siècle, un centre religieux puissant. Siège de l’archevêché, cet espace accueille près d’une quinzaine de communautés religieuses et comprend trente-six églises paroissiales à la fin du Moyen Âge. Ces communautés religieuses, qui suivent une règle, doivent, au 10e siècle, s’insérer dans un espace urbain déjà formé par les multiples interactions entre la société et son environnement. L’intégration d’un complexe monastique ou conventuel doit composer avec les autres éléments constituants de la ville tels la voirie, l’habitat ou les pôles de pouvoir. La prise en compte des différentes composantes de l’espace urbain n’est pas le seul élément déterminant de l’implantation des communautés : le lieu choisi résulte également de l’observance de la communauté et du soutien de bienfaiteurs influents. La construction d’un complexe monastique ou conventuel au sein de la trame urbaine est un processus plus ou moins long impliquant l’acquisition de divers terrains et leur aménagement. Par la suite, ce complexe religieux modifie son environnement dans la longue durée que ce soit par des agrandissements successifs ou par la modification de ses abords. Cet enclos gèle une portion de l’espace urbain et s’inscrit durablement dans le parcellaire de la ville. Enfin, les communautés agissent – ou interagissent – sur tout l’espace urbain : d’une part, par leur rôle dans la formation du maillage paroissial, d’autre part par la création de secteurs urbains spécifiques ou par leurs possessions foncières. Ces différentes facettes de l’impact des communautés religieuses dans la ville de Rouen ont été étudiées à l’aide d’une base de données textuelles et d’un système d’information géographique qui permet de travailler à différentes échelles d’espace et de temps. / From the 10th to the 15th century, the city of Rouen is a powerful religious center. Seat of the archbishopric, it is home to nearly fifteen religious communities and includes thirty-six parish churches in the late Middle Ages. During the 10th century, these religious communities, who follow a rule, need to integrate an urban space already shaped by the numerous interactions between society and its environment. The integration of a monastic or conventual complex needs to reckon with the other components of the city, such as road networks, residential areas or power centers. Taking the different building blocks of the urban space into account is not the only factor determining the settlement of communities: the chosen area also depends on the observance of the community and the support of influential benefactors. The building of a monastic or conventual complex at the heart of the urban fabric is a relatively long process that requires acquiring and transforming several plots of land. Subsequently, the religious community shapes its environment in the long term whether by successive enlargements or by modifying its surroundings. This enclosure blocks part of the urban space and establishes itself firmly in the city’s parcel plan. Lastly, the communities act – or interact – all over the urban space: on the one hand through their role in the formation of the parish network and on the other hand through the creation of specific urban sectors or their land holdings. These different aspects of the impact of religious communities in the city of Rouen have been studied thanks to a textual database and a geographical information system allowing work at different scales of time and space.

The diploma thesis is devoted to the abbess focusing on her spiritual and secular duties, on the powers in the administration of the convent and in the care of the nunnery property at the turn of the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. For describing the ideal conception of the post of the abbess the study uses legislative regulations of various levels: the statutes and rules of women's contemplative and mendicant religious orders as welll as the decrees of the Council of Trent. On the example of three selected women's monasteries of three different orders - the Benedictine convent of St. George at Prague Castle, the Cistercian nunnery in Pohled, the monastery of the Poor Clares in Panenský Týnec - illustrates how the real influence of the Mother Superior differs from the ideal one. The text is based on an exploration of the written archival materials of the monasteries, from which were selected individual cases, that illustrate what the abbess had to deal with. According to the regulations, the authority for solution disputes inside the convent should be the Prague Archbishop, the King of Bohemia and his officers on property matters, but the archival sources show that secular and ecclesiastical law was very often intertwined. The most frequent sources for the diploma thesis were letters written...

This thesis is focused on the life stories of four nuns of St. Vincent de Paul during the period of communist administration in Czechoslovakia. Between the years 1948 and 1989 the communist government persecuted all orders, whether male or female, confining their members in internment camps where they often were not provided even the most basic needs. The communist regime also prevented the orders from their activities and forbade them to accept new members. The most important part of this paper consists of the four life-stories of nuns - stories which tell us why they decided to join the order during this particular period which was so very unfavorable for the orders, then they depict how the regime was treating them and how they were actually able to survive these difficult times. To be of aid to others is among the highest priorities for nuns, and thus, they were able to endure this period without a single hateful word against their occupiers. They accepted it as their destiny, knowing that they had to work in terrible working conditions and were forced to do strenuous physical labor. This thesis uses the method of oral history - interviews with the nuns of St. Vincent. The opening chapters serve as a supplement to this information and were compiled on the basis of available literature. Last but...

Hazing is a universal practice. The process is multi-dimensional and includes both positive and negative aspects. Hazing broadly refers to the negative aspects of what newcomers experience as they integrate into a group. This study focuses on hazing during orientation programmes for Grade 8 boys in monastic secondary schools in South Africa. The problem was investigated by a literature study and a survey using a self-designed questionnaire. It was completed by a non-probability sample of 296 Grade 12 boys from three selected schools in Gauteng Province. Data measured the biographical attributes of respondents and determined their opinions of activities engaged in during the orientation programmes. Findings indicated that respondents were positive about the orientation programme which acts as an introduction into secondary school and is a means whereby traditions are transmitted. Respondents were very opposed to any injurious activity. The objectives of orientation programmes are well-grounded but when they deteriorate into hazing, they are very negatively perceived. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Comparative Education)

The present thesis examines the way in which two twelfth century authors, the Cistercian monks, Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) and William of St. Thierry (c. 1080-1148), used Augustine (354-430) in the articulation of their mystical thought. The approach to this subject takes into account the fact that in the works of all these medieval authors the “mystical” element is inescapably entangled with their theological discourse and that an accurate understanding of their views on the soul’s direct encounter with God cannot be achieved without a discussion of their theology. This thesis posits that the cohesion of Bernard’s and William’s mystical thought lies in their appropriation of the guiding principle of Augustine’s mystical theology: “You made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (conf. 1.1.1), reflected in the subtle interplay of three main themes, namely (1) the creation of humanity in the image and likeness of God, which provides the grounds for the understanding of the soul’s search for direct contact with God; (2) love as a longing innate in every human being, which explores the means to attain immediacy with God; and (3) the soul’s direct encounter with God, which discusses the nature of the soul’s immediate experience of the divine presence that can only be achieved in lasting fullness at the end of time. This examination of Bernard’s and William’s use of Augustine is structured on the basis of these three core themes which form the scaffolding of their mystical thought. Investigating the specific methods of their reception of Augustine will highlight the originality and uniqueness of each of the two Cistercian authors, who while drawing on the same patristic source use it nevertheless in various ways, by focussing on different aspects of Augustine’s immense oeuvre and by arriving at distinct mystical programmes.

The diploma thesis describes the development of St. Anne and St. Lawrence Dominican convents in The Old Town of Prague during early modern period (mainly in the 17th and the 18th centuries). Both the indoor life and contacts with outside world are included in the description. Only three topics of the above-mentioned specialization could be seamlessly elaborated due to fragmentary sources. The introduction and first three chapters constitute a summary of sources and literature. Furthermore, they chronologically depict the history of the Dominican order and the particular convents. The fourth chapter deals with the relationship between the nuns and their dependants in the municipality of Radlice. The system of servile taxes withdrawals and visitations of the monastic farms are emphasized. The chapter finally records a concrete discord between the convent and Barbora Wlaška in the 16th century. The fifth chapter focuses on baroque sermon that were held during ceremonies of admission aspirants among the other nuns. The preachments were analyzed in light of their contents and spiritual thoughts. The last chapter studies the performance of the archiepiscopal authority to the convents in the 18th century and the relationships between the Dominican nuns and aristocratic families or bourgeoisie in the...