ACRE
St. Jean d’Acre, or Ptolemais, before it became an important, strategic city held by the crusader armies around 1100 C.E. They built a great fortress there, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about fourteen miles north of Haifa. Visitors to Akko, as Acre is known today, may visit the “underground city” of old Acre; when the city finally fell to the Muslims in 1191 it was almost leveled to the ground.
ARNOLD OF BRESCIA
A fascinating Italian monk who was active as a reformer before Francis’s birth (d. 1155). Told to confine himself to a monastery, he refused and spoke out against abuses in the Church of his day. He preached about the sanctity of poverty and even challenged the exclusive right of priests to administer the sacraments and hear confessions. Eventually, Arnold was hanged by the Roman authorities, with the blessing of the Church, and his ashes were scattered over the Tiber River so that his followers would not venerate his bones.
ATHOS
The famous Greek peninsula/mountain/monastic republic, often referred to as the “Holy Mountain,” home to many communities, or sketes, of Orthodox Christian monks and hermits.
BULL
Official documents from the Holy See in Rome. The name comes from a Latin word which means “to boil.” Both papal and royal documents were sealed distinctively with lead; a bull literally refers to the leaden seal on an official document.
CATHARS
Heretical movement that flourished in late medieval Europe, characterized by a distrust of the material world and a denial of Christ’s humanity and bodily resurrection.
CHAPTER-GENERAL
A meeting of all members of an Order at which governing decisions are made.
A monastic Order begun as a reform movement in 1098 in France. Its founders were intent on living more faithfully Benedict of Nursia’s foundational Rule for monasteries. In the seventeenth century, two versions, or observances, became distinct within the Cistercians: common and strict (also called “Trappists,” named for an abbey in France). Bernard of Clairvaux was an important early Cistercian. The popular spiritual writer Thomas Merton, of the 1940s to 1960s in America, was a Trappist.
CURIA
Leaders and other ministers who assist the pope in governing the Catholic Church.
ELIZABETH OF SCHÖNAU
Benedictine superioress at the monastery of Schönau, and friend of Hildegard of Bingen. Her book, Liber viarum Dei, similar to Hildegard’s better known Scivias, uses a prophet’s fervor to remind readers to be faithful to Christ, to ward off worldliness (pointing out priests and monks for special admonition), and—foretelling the message of Francis—to put on the poverty and self-denial taught by Christ.
HILDEGARD
Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179), was a nun, mystic, and founder of convents, including one in Bingen on the Rhine River in Germany. She was the confidante of popes, kings, and theologians, including Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius, who granted an imprimatur for her first, and most influential, visionary work, Scivias (“Know the Ways of the Lord”).
HUMILIATI
This odd group was an association of lay people who dressed plainly and practiced asceticism of various kinds, devoting themselves to charity. The Humiliati originated in Lombardy in the eleventh or early twelfth century. First approved by Innocent III in 1201, the Order witnessed the suppression of its male branch in 1571 by a papal bull after one of its leaders attempted to murder an emissary of Pope Pius V who was charged with reforming it.
MICHAELMAS
From a Middle English term literally meaning “Michael’s Mass,” September 29, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel.
A book containing all of the texts that are read or sung during the mass throughout the year.
MENDICANT ORDERS
Mendicant literally means “a beggar.” Three mendicant orders were founded as reform movements in the thirteenth century—Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carmelites—emphasizing a vow to personal poverty and begging alms.
POVERELLO
A name for Francis, meaning “little poor man.”
SECULAR CLERGY
Those who are ordained but do not follow a religious rule (as monks do). They are similar to what today we most often refer to as parish priests, as opposed to members of religious orders.
SIMONY
To sell or buy spiritual things that should only be gained spiritually. The name derives from a character in the New Testament Book of Acts, Simon Magus, who was scolded by Peter for attempting to purchase the right to become an apostle (8:9–24).
WALDENSIANS
A reform movement from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries founded by Peter Waldo from the city of Lyons. The Waldensians, also called “the poor of Lyons,” claimed to represent a true remnant who, from within, had been resisting the Catholic Church and attempting to reform it since the days of Constantine in the fourth century.
WHITSUNDAY
The feast of Pentecost, celebrating the “birthday” of the Church, when, according to the New Testament Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit first descended on the followers of Jesus after his Ascension into heaven.