DOWNLOAD Sister Laura's talking points
More than 400 participants signed up to learn about the Beguines in a webinar offered by Sister Laura Swan, OSB, of St. Placid Priory. The webinar was part of the Benedictine Peacemakers program curriculum. Read more here.
Sister Laura has studied and written about the history of women's spirituality and the monastic life for many years. She engages us with voices from the past that call to us with their message — one we desperately need in our lives today. We see this as a nudging of the Holy Spirit, a call to listen because we are in time of reformation and impasse and in need of guidance.
This video with Sister Laura explores what the message of the Beguines might be for us today. In her book, The Wisdom of the Beguines, Sister Laura explains: "The beguines began to form in various parts of Europe over eight hundred years ago. Beguines were lay women, not nuns, and they did not live in monasteries. They practiced a remarkable way of living independently, and they were never a religious order or a formalized movement. But there were common elements that these medieval women shared across Europe, including their visionary spirituality, their unusual business acumen, and their courageous commitment to the poor and sick....The beguines, across the centuries, have left us a great legacy. They invite us to listen to their voices, to seek out their wisdom, to discover them anew."
DOWNLOAD Sister Laura's talking points
Sister Laura Swan is a member of St. Placid Priory, located in the Pacific Northwest. She is a voracious reader of diverse material, who does not apologize for the stacks of books in her bedroom and office. She is passionate about recovering the stories of women long ignored, women who made significant contributions to culture and spirituality, and making their contributions known to a broader reading audience. She is a published author and her community's archivist (where the work is never done!). Her books include The Wisdom of the Beguines, The Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women's Movement and The Forgotten Desert Mothers, sayings, lives, and stories of early christian women.
