Colette of Corbie: Learning and Holiness

Glossary

aPPendiCes 561 GLOSSARY Ancelle: from the Latin ancilla (Domini), servant (of the Lord), it evokes the response of the Virgin Mary at the moment of the Annunciation. Apophetic: a figure of speech by which one announces to another an event that one knows is past. For example: in the Tragedies of Aubigné (1616), the assassination de Henri IV (1610) is “announced” by the poet as a punishment . Ars moriendi: the art of dying. In the fifteenth century, this theme was the subject of many writings and preachings. Baudes: In the fifteenth century, the name given to the Franciscan friars in the region of Metz. Béguinage: literally “house.” A community of religious women of Belgium and the Low Countries who lived a conventual life. Capitule: a passage of Holy Scripture read during the Divine Office. Cardinal Protector: a cardinal designated by the pope to correct the brothers and watch over the Order with solicitude . Saint Francis had insistently asked this of the pope. (Later Rule 12: 3; Testament 33). Chapter, conventual (monastic life): an assembly of professed religious who elect the abbot and his council or the abbess and her council and who participate in decisionmaking . Cilice: A shirt or cincture made of animal hair or of rough material, worn for penance or mortification. Confession, extraordinary: Women religious, outside of their regular times of confession (once or twice a month), confessed two or three times a year to a confessor other than their regular one. LEARNING AND HOLINESS 562 Comtemptus mundi (latin): contempt for the world. A classic theme of religious life. Reminiscent of the Gospel of Saint John (the discourse after the Last Supper). Conventual (Order of Friars Minor): a friar who lived community life in a convent as distinct from one who lived in a hermitage. After the end of the thirteenth century , the term designated the friars who lived a mitigated rule as opposed to the Spirituals, later known as Observants . Counselor or “discrete”: elected by the conventual chapter , a sister who formed, together with the vicaress, the council of the abbess, charged with helping her in the government of the community. Damianite: the name given to the nuns at the Monastery of Saint Damien. Devotio Moderna: a school of spirituality at the end of the fourteenth century that, turning away from the speculative mysticism of the scholastic period, sought God by way of adherence of the heart to God’s will and by the renunciation of self. (The Imitation of Christ, which appeared around 1400, expresses well the spirit of this school.) Discalced: religious of the regular observance who, for the sake of penance and in the spirit of poverty, went without shoes. Discipline: a kind of whip, made of cords or little chains, used to flagellate oneself as a form of mortification. Familiar: a layperson attached to a monastery who rendered material services to the community. Forma vitae (form of life): an expression given by Saints Francis and Clare to their proposed way of life. Guardian: in the Order of Friars Minor, the name given to the superior of a community. Lay Brothers or “conversi”: non-ordained brothers, members of a religious community. Saint Clare, in her Rule, asked for two lay brothers to assist the sisters who did the work and begged for alms. aPPendiCes 563 Millenarianism: a doctrine of the millennium; some Christians expected the Messiah to reign on the earth for a thousand years before the day of the last judgment. Minister General: the friar elected by the provincial ministers to be responsible for the whole Order of Friars Minor . Minister Provincial: a friar responsible for a province, elected by the friars. Obedience: obedience to an ecclesiastical superior. During the Great Schism, recognition by the States of the pope at Rome or of the pope at Avignon. Observance (regular): “religious of the regular observance” designated the monk, the nun, or the religious who practiced the rule in all its integrity, without dispensation. The term also designates the reformed branch of a religious order. Officer: a religious charged with a specific office. Order, First: the male branch of the Franciscan Order founded by Saint Francis. Also known as the Order of Friars Minor. Order, Third: covers laypersons who live the Franciscan spirituality. There is also the Third Order Regular made up of religious who take vows and live in community. In the fifteenth century, the extern sisters might have belonged to...