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Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Pray Daily for The Pope

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May the Lord preserve our Holy Father Pope Francis, give him life, and make him blessed upon earth, and deliver him not to the will of his enemies. 

 LET US PRAY:
O God, the Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, in Thy mercy look down upon Thy servant, Francis, whom Thou hast appointed to preside over Thy Church, and grant we beseech Thee that both by word and example he may edify those who are under his charge; so that, with the flock entrusted to him, he may attain life everlasting. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Note from Notre Dame

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St. Francis de Sales on His Predominant Faults-Two

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After being greatly insulted by a Knight of Malta for not giving a benefice to one of his 
servants, “the bishop‟s brother …asked him how it was he had not lost his temper, and the Saint 
confessed that „at the time and many other times he was seething with anger like water in a pot 
boiling over the fire but that by the grace of God, even if the violent efforts to resist such passion 
endangered his life…he would not let himself go.‟”12

 On one occasion, he says he was “seething with anger” inside 
and on several other occasions he was afraid of losing in fifteen minutes what it took him years 
to acquire. He admitted to Camus that the two passions that gave him the greatest difficulty were 
love and anger. “With regard to the passion of anger to which he was inclined, he fought it head 
on and with such strength and courage, or, to state it better, with such effort and constancy that 
this appeared visibly at his death. When they opened up his body, some stones were found in his 
gall bladder.”17
 The doctors, Camus tells us, explained the presence of these little stones as 
resulting from the very vehement efforts he made to control this passion. Then Camus makes 
this fanciful comment, becoming almost rhapsodic: “O stones from David‟s bread bag, how 
many giants, that is, impetuous assaults of anger, have you felled? O stones from which run 
water, oil and honey, and which demonstrate the great power of grace over nature, the grace that 
sometimes changes stones into honey and sometimes also honey into stone.”18


 This rather baroque comparison with its allusions to two noteworthy incidents of the OT 
–David felling Goliath, water and honey coming from the rock as the Israelites wandered in the 
desert–is instructive for our purposes. Miel or honey signified for both the saint and Camus 
gentleness or sweetness. This calls to mind the very well-known saying attributed to the saint but 
found only in Camus: “"Always be as indulgent as you can, never forgetting that one can catch 
more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar.”19
 Now in Camus‟ 
mind, not only can hard and difficult situations and events signified by the stones be softened by 
gentleness, but gentleness itself through grace can also become as hard or as stern as stone. This 
is an interesting take on the way one of the Francis‟ closest friends, who greatly admired the 
saint‟s extraordinary gentleness, saw occasions where sternness or firmness might be called for 
by God‟s grace. As we will see below, Camus personally experienced the turning of “honey into 
stone.” 
 .....
 So Francis was apparently hot-blooded by nature and throughout his lifetime. As late as 
1619, “he admitted to a friend: „I very nearly let go of my anger, and intentionally I was obliged 
to grip my anger by the scruff of the neck‟ and that he had to take the reins in both hands to hold 
it back.‟…. „However, much I have been in the right,‟ he confessed, I have never shown anger 
without discovering afterwards that I would have done better by not showing it‟ So he had shown 
anger!”20

 One must use a virtue to combat a vice. Use the opposite virtue to combat a vice. So, if you are angry, emphasize meekness, gentleness. 

 It is true that nothing has angered me for a longtime like the report 
that I received from you regarding the indignity committed 
between this dishonest young man and this poor girl. I owe special 
honor and respect to those dear to you and to Madame, our 
Président, for many reasons. So, if it were possible, I would 
exchange this misfortune for a painful wound in my body to 
relieve this dear sister of the excessive sorrow, which I now see in 
her soul. If this vicious young man had desired to mitigate this 
misfortune by marriage, which I did not fail to urge him to do as 
my duty required, I would have detained him longer, despite my 
repugnance, to be of some help. But when I heard the offensive 
words with which he defended himself, and the invectives he used 
to express his shameful feelings for this young woman, I threw him 
out, even though I saw that he was without any resources, without 
drive and without judgment. It would be impossible to get a dowry 
or anything else from him. Otherwise I would have forced myself 
to overcome my feelings, and kept on talking to him until we had 
come to a conclusion, although it would have been disagreeable for 
me.28


More here.

 Much more... 



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Predominant Fault Series Continued

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Those regular readers know that I have done in the past a series on the predominant fault. Just follow the tags and labels. Some posts are linked below.

Remember when I wrote of the possibility of us having more than one? Well, apparently, St. Francis de Sales wrote that he had two predominant faults, as noted by St. Alphonsus Ligouri in his book, The Twelve Steps to Holiness and Salvation.

 St. Francis de Sales admitted to having anger and love as his two predominant faults. Today, I want to examine what both saints wrote of these two predominant faults.

Firstly, St. Alphonsus reveals that anyone who gets upset with sin in one's own life is not humble, but proud, and may be exhibiting the predominant fault of anger. Anger is not merely focused on other or events, but one can look at one's self in anger.

St Alphonsus corrects one's perception by noting that the humble person quietly and resignedly accepts sin as part of life (until the Unitive State), and that one must pray to God, as did St. Catherine of Genoa, to see the good in one, the fruit of repentance, not merely the horror of sin.

"Lord, see, here is the fruit from my own garden! But, pardon me, I beg Thee!" A quick and sincere prayer reveals a humble heart.

And, St. Francis de Sales warns against all types of anger, even towards one's self.

That St. Francis admitted his own predominant faults encourages us to face and overcome our own, with grace. He wrote that it took his twelve years to overcome anger, working on that sin for that length of time.

Some women have shared with me that vainglory is a predominant fault-that is, wanting to be noticed, wanting to be attractive.

St. Francis shared that one of his predominant faults was love. How can love be a fault, one might ask?

Love many be inordinate or focused too much on people rather than God Himself. God is a Jealous God when it comes to our hearts. When St. Francis changed the emphasis of his love to God, he finally overcame that predominant fault of misplaced love.

More later...an here are some links

Friday, 6 December 2013

More on The Predominant Fault AND Many Links

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For those interested in most of the postings on the predominant fault, I have tried to find most of the links on this subject, which is a Catholic idea, btw, and not a protestant one.

As one who is being dragged into looking at my predominant faults, I can assure you the journey is painful, but worth it.

As Garrigou-Lagrange notes, without a struggle, we shall not be made perfect, as we are called to be. 

Mortification plays a huge part in the destruction of the predominant fault. 

Let God lead into those murky waters of sin in order to deal with the predominant fault. Here is a selection from the great Dominican.

The truth is that without this persevering and efficacious struggle we cannot sincerely aspire to Christian perfection, toward which the supreme precept makes it a duty for all of us to tend. This precept is, in fact, without limit: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself." (11)
Without this struggle, there is no interior joy or peace, for the tranquility of order or peace comes from the spirit of sacrifice. It alone establishes us interiorly in order by putting to death all that is inordinate in US.(12)
Lastly, charity, the love of God and of souls in God, finally prevails completely over the predominant fault; it then truly occupies the first place in our soul and reigns there effectively. Mortification, which makes our principal fault disappear, delivers us and assures the predominance in our soul of our true natural qualities and of our special attraction of grace. Thus little by little, we grow to be ourselves, in the broad sense of the word, that is, to be supernaturally ourselves minus our defects. We do not have to copy in a more or less servile manner another's qualities, or enter a uniform mold that is the same for all. There is a great variety in human personalities, just as no two leaves or flowers are perfectly similar. But a person's temperament must not be crushed; it must be transformed while keeping whatever is good in it. In our temperament, our character must be the imprint of the acquired and infused virtues, especially of the theological virtues. Then, instead of instinctively referring everything to self, as is the case when the predominant fault reigns, we will turn everything back to God, think almost continually of Him, and live for Him alone; at the same time we will lead to Him those with whom we come into contact.









































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Problem

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Spirituality behind Benedictine Education-Repost on Perfection

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The great gift of St. Anselm to the Church is not only his philosophical writings, but his renewal of the seminaries in the Catholic Church. 

 He introduced the Trivium and Quadrivium into the seminaries. I love St. Anselm.

 Before I begin, I want to state that the Doctors of Church are a gift to the Church and to us individually.

The Glory of Benedict



 We cannot afford to ignore these gifts to the Church.
For Anselm, (1033-1109) I am not going to get into the argument about God as "maximal perfection". although that might help some people follow his thinking about God. 
I have actually taught the Proslogion and Monologion in the past and do not want to deal with those texts on this blog.

 What is important in his works are those sermons and devotions which will help us in our journey towards perfection.

 This section uses much of the same language of John of the Cross and Bonaventure, regarding the Bridegroom, Who is Christ.

VI from The Devotions of St. Anselm

That we are one in Christ, and one Christ with Christ Himself.
CONSIDER also more yet more deeply in how close an union thou art joined with Him. Hear what the Lord Himself prayeth to the Father for them that are His: I will, saith He, that as Thou and I are one, so they also may be one in Us. I am (that is) Thy Son by nature; I pray that they may be Thy sons and My brethren by grace. How great a dignity is it for a Christian man, so to grow in Christ that he himself may be called in a sense Christ.

Anselm has an interesting take on this imagery, making Christ both the Bride and the Bridegroom, that is , that the Body of Christ, the Church is the Bride. This is a combination of other mystical and Biblical images

This also that faithful steward of God’s house hold the Church perceived when he said: All we that are Christians in Christ are one Christ. Nor should we wonder thereat, when we consider that He is the head and we His body; He the bridegroom and He also the bride; in Himself the bridegroom, but the bride in the holy souls whom He hath bound to Himself in the bonds of an everlasting love. As upon a bridegroom, saith He, hath He set a crown upon Me, and as a bride hath He adorned me with ornaments. 
Here, then, O my soul, here do thou consider His benefits towards thee, be thou inflamed with the love of Him, let the fire that is in thee break out into longing after the blessedness of beholding Him. 
And here, Anselm reflects the poetry of Bernard of Clairvaux.
Cry out boldly in the words of the faithful bride, Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth. Let all delight which is not in Him depart from my mind, let no pleasure, no consolation of this present life comfort me, while His blessed presence is denied to me. Let Him embrace me with the arms of His love, let Him kiss me with the heavenly sweetness of His mouth, let Him speak to me with that ineffable eloquence wherewith He revealeth His secrets to the Angels. 

May the Bridegroom and the Bride enjoy such mutual interchange of discourse, that I may open my whole heart to Him and He reveal to me the secrets of His sweetness. Thus, O my soul, refreshed by these and such like meditations and full of the passion of a holy longing, do thou strive to follow Thy Bridegroom and say unto Him, Draw me after Thee; we will run after the odour of Thine ointments.

The person must run after Christ is this pursuit of holiness.
Speak to Him and speak as a loyal spouse not with the sound of words that passeth away but with a longing of heart that fainteth not; so speak that thou mayest be heard, so desire to be drawn by Him that thou mayest follow. Say therefore to thy Redeemer and Saviour, Draw me after Thee. Let not the sweetness of this world but let thy sweetness of Thy most blessed love draw me.
I know this is hard for some people, but the pursuit of God is like a love relationship-one approaches the lover and he approaches the beloved in a back and forth giving and receiving until there is completion. This relationship becomes more and more intimate in the Unitive State.


Draw me, for Thou hast drawn me heretofore; hold me fast, for Thou hast laid hold upon me.Thou hast drawn me to Thee by redeeming me; draw me by saving me. Thou hast drawn me by pitying me; draw me by blessing me. Thou hast laid hold on me by appearing among men, made man for us; hold me fast as Thou sittest on Thy throne in heaven, exalted above the Angels.

How wonderful is it that it is the King of the Universe that is the Bridegroom.
God is also King as well as Love, in the language of the Song of Songs. Anselm is right in the mystical tradition of the great Bernard of Clairvaux. This overlapping of language is not merely a cultural style, but the reality of the heart's seeking after God.

That is Thy word, that is Thy promise. Thou hast promised, saying: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. Draw therefore now in Thy mighty exaltation him whom Thou didst draw to Thee in Thy merciful humiliation. Thou hast gone up on high; let me believe it: Thou reignest over all things; let me acknowledge it. Do I not acknowledge that Thou reignest? Surely I acknowledge it, and give Thee thanks. But do Thou grant that I may acknowledge with the acknowledgement of a perfect love that which I acknowledge by a devout faith concerning Thee. Bind the desires of my heart to Thee with the indissoluble bonds of love, since the first-fruits of my spirit are already with Thee. Vouchsafe that we, whom Thy love in redeeming us did knit to Thee, may have fellowship with Thee in the unity of the same love. For Thou hast loved me, Thou didst give Thyself for me; may therefore my heart and mind be with Thee continually in heaven, and Thy protection with me continually on earth. 
Help him when he burneth with longing after Thy love, to whom Thou didst show love when he despised it. Give to him when he asketh to whom Thou givest Thyself when he knew Thee not. Receive him when he returneth to Thee, O Thou who didst call him back to Thee when he fled from Thee. I will love Thee that I may be loved of Thee; nay rather, because I am loved of Thee, I will love Thee more and more that I may be loved the more. May my thoughts be knit to Thee, may my heart be wholly made one with Thee, where our nature, which Thou hast in mercy taken upon Thyself, reigneth with Thee in bliss.  
Again, these passages reveal the loving, warm, and holy heart and mind of Anselm. I hope some of  you are surprised at the depth of this holy man's love for Christ.
Grant that I may cleave to Thee without parting, worship Thee without wearying, serve Thee without failing, faithfully seek Thee, happily find Thee, for ever possess Thee.
Addressing God in these words, O my soul, do thou kindle thyself, do thou burn, do thou break forth into flames, and strive to become wholly on fire with longing after Him.

To be continued..............
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Repost of the Benedictine Tradition in Education

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Sunday, 7 April 2013


Again, on the Liberal Arts and the Trivium and Quadrivium: Perfection and the Doctors of the Church-Isidore of Seville: Part 102

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For many years of my life, I was involved in helping schools and one college set up Trivium and Quadrivium studies. I have taught the famous book on this subject, by Martianus Minneus Felix Capella, De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii sometimes called the  On the Seven Disciplines  or the seven liberal arts.

But, if I had to choose one book dealing with classical education to take to a desert island, it would be the Doctor of the Church St. Isidore of Seville's Etymologie. 


This work is a compilation of knowledge and definitions from the classical world, which is being lost to ennui and the lack of structure in our educational systems. For centuries, children and adolescents learned the liberal arts in order to learn how to think.

This ideal was destroyed on purpose in the 19th century by Bismarck and by Dewey, among others. 

If a Catholic has not had the benefit of a classical education, the culture of the West will die, as well as creating an impoverishment in the Church.

Tradition and Revelation formed part of this great Western tradition we called civilization. Thankfully, the Benedictine monks kept copying Isidore for the future students who would use him. Learning and the Love of God formed the basis of the Benedictine way.
Consanguinity Chart from a Medieval Etymologie


Those who cannot see the value cannot see how the discipline of the monasteries and seminaries in ancient times created men and women who not only could become holy, but think. The use of the intellect and the pursuit of holiness go together.

This entire way of life is disappearing so fast, I cannot imagine a stemming of the tide of anarchy, which is the result of a lack of thinking. Here is one small section of Isidore's work, which I shall highlight in the next few days in the perfection series.

The great problem of the 21st century is the emphais on emotion rather than thought and the notion that religion is not connected to thinking.

How wrong this is.... first take a look at this reminder of the liberal arts.


ii. The seven liberal disciplines (De septem liberalibus
disciplinis) 1. There are seven disciplines of the liberal
arts. The first is grammar, that is, skill in speaking. 
The second is rhetoric, which, on account of the brilliance
and fluency of its eloquence, is considered most necessary in public proceedings. 
The third is dialectic, otherwise known as logic, which separates the true from the
false by very subtle argumentation.
2. The fourth is arithmetic, which contains the principles and classifications
of numbers. The fifth is music, which consists of poems
and songs.3. The sixth is geometry, which encompasses
the measures and dimensions of the earth. The seventh
is astronomy, which covers the law of the stars.

For many of my readers, this list looks like a foreign curriculum. However, I have helped set up such in some schools in the States and in Canada, and my home school was based on this and the Montessori Method.


What does all this have to do with perfection?

God has given us brains to use to discover Who He Is.

Revelation and the study of Scripture is part of this journey to knowledge. But, there is more.

As Father, as Creator, as Son of God, the Incarnate One and as the Holy Spirit, God dwells in us through grace.

Our intellects are to be renewed in that grace. The Benedictines understood this by creating the oldest institution in Christian Europe, the classical educating school system.

This was created out of the ruins of Rome, and God Himself, becoming Incarnate at a particular time in history, shows us the way to be human and divine.

We cannot ignore the human in our search for perfection. The honing of the mind allows us to come to know God Himself.

One reason for the lack of holiness in the world is the destruction of thinking skills. People have fallen into New Age and Pentecostal religious experience because they have not learned that the mind is part of the way to God. We ignore learning at our own peril.

Isidore knew this. He is one of the most important Doctors of the Church for our time.

Here is another section: Isidore wrote all the knowledge he could at the time of the failing of the Roman empire. We should be doing the same-passing down knowledge for the sake of the souls of our children, and grandchildren before it is too late. All this is found here. I shall highlight more sections later pertaining to the road to unity with God. Without Isidore, we would not have had the space race to the moon, or penicillin, or Shakespeare, or Tolkien.  Without Isidore, we would not have the later Doctors of the Church, such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose superb sermons used so much on this blog, are based on Cicero and other classical orators.

Out of Isidore's massive twenty volume encyclopedia  the only thing missing is musical notation, which he felt could not be written down. The Benedictines took up that challenge nicely.

The first printed map EVER in Europe was that of Isidore of Seville's, printed in 1472.


Does this mean that a simple person cannot become holy? Of course not, but the duty of the vast majority of the laity is to find God through learning. This is part of the heritage of Catholicism. To be continued...


d
Diagram of the phases of the moon from an old copy of Isidore



i. The Old and New Testament (De Veteri et Novo Testamento) 1. The Old Testament is so called because it
ceased when the New came. The apostle Paul reminds
us of this, saying (II Corinthians5:17): “Old things have
passed away, and behold, new things have come about.”





2. One testament is called New (Novus) because it innovates (innovare). Indeed, the only ones who come to
know it are those who are renewed (renovatus) from the
old by grace and who belong now to the New Testament,
which is the kingdom of heaven.
3. The Hebrews take the Old Testament, with Ezra
as its redactor, as consisting of twenty-two books, corresponding to the number of letters in their alphabet. They
divide these books into three classes: Law, Prophets, and
Sacred Writings. 4. The first class, Law (Lex), is taken as
being five books: of these the first is Bresith,1
which is
Genesis; second Veelle Semoth, which is Exodus; third
Vaiicra, which is Leviticus; fourth Vaiedabber, which is
Numbers; fifth Elleaddebarim, which is Deuteronomy.
5. These are the five books of Moses, which the Hebrews
call Torah (Thora), and Latin speakers call the Law. That
which was given through Moses is properly called the
Law.
6. The second class is of Prophets (Propheta), in which
are contained eight books, of which the first is Josua
Benun, called Iesu Navein Latin (i.e. the book of Joshua
‘ben Nun,’ the son of Nun). The second is Sophtim,
which is Judges; third Samuel, which is First Kings;
fourth Malachim, which is Second Kings; fifth Isaiah;
sixth Jeremiah; seventh Ezekiel; eighth Thereazar, which
is called the Twelve Prophets, whose books are taken as
one because they have been joined together since they
are short.
7. The third class is of Sacred Writings (Hagiographa),
that is, of ‘those writing about holy things’ (sacra
scribens; ....

9. We also have a fourth class: those books of the Old
Testament that are not in the Hebrew canon. Of these the
first is the Book of Wisdom, the second Ecclesiasticus;
the third Tobit; the fourth Judith; the fifth and sixth,
the books of Maccabees. The Jews hold these separate
among the apocrypha (apocrypha), but the Church of
Christ honors and proclaims them among the divine
books.

10. In the New Testament there are two classes: first
the Gospel (evangelicus) class, which contains Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and second the Apostolic (apostolicus) class which contains Paul in fourteen epistles, Peter in two, John in three, James and Jude in single
epistles, the Acts of the Apostles and the Apocalypse
(i.e. Revelation) of John. 11. The entire content of both
Testaments is characterized in one of three ways, that
is, as narrative (historia), moral instruction (mores), or
allegorical meaning (allegoria). These three are further
divided in many ways: that is, what is done or said by
God, by angels, or by humans; what is proclaimed by the
prophets about Christ and his body [that is, the Church],
about the devil and his members, about the old and the
new people, about the present age and the future kingdom and judgment.
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Perfection Series II:lxv

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Encouraging those during Lent who are trying to endure either the Dark Night of the Soul, or the beginnings of aridity, here is a section from Uniformity With God's Will, by St. Alphonsus Ligouri. One can find the entire book online here.


As my readers know, I especially like Rodriguez, and if anyone feels they can find his books for me, let me know. I read some of these in the convent two years ago. There are three volumes. I have tried several times to download the PDF and cannot do it.




Lastly, we should unite ourselves to the will of God as regards our
degree of grace and glory.  True, we should esteem the things that
make for the glory of God, but we should show the greatest esteem for
those that concern the will of God. We should desire to love God more
than the seraphs, but not to a degree higher than God has destined
for us. St. John of Avila says: "I believe every saint has had the
desire to be higher in grace than he actually was. However, despite
this, their serenity of soul always remained unruffled. Their desire
for a greater degree of grace sprang not from a consideration of
their own good, but of God's. They were content with the degree of
grace God had meted out for them, though actually God had given them
less. They considered it a greater sign of true love of God to be
content with what God had given them, than to desire to have received
more."
      



This means, as Rodriguez explains it, we should be diligent in
striving to become perfect, so that tepidity and laziness may not
serve as excuses for some to say: "God must help me; I can do only so
much for myself." Nevertheless, when we do fall into some fault, we
should not lose our peace of soul and union with the will of God,
which permits our fall; nor should we lose our courage. 









































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Repost on Benedictine Education






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Saturday, 19 January 2013











Benedictine Education-desiring God through learning





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St. Benedictine and the Benedictines created the education system of the West. We owe the revival of classical education to the Benedictines. They preserved the texts of the Greeks and Romans and used these to re-create the Trivium and the Quadrivium in the context of Catholicism.



The entire idea of work and prayer, labore et orare is also part of the day for education of the monks as well as their lay students.



The beauty of the Benedictine Rule, which covers the practice of the virtues, and the pursuit of perfection, under obedience and through humility, provides a great format for the home schooling.



A parent can divide up the day between work, manual labor and study, as well as prayer.



Children then learn necessary maintenance skills, as well as cooking, cleaning and so on as part of the spirituality of work and prayer and study.



A typical day can look like this:



Rise, dress, short morning prayer

Mass

Breakfast



Study of the home schooling curriculum based on the Trivium and Quadrivium, depending on age

Prayer



Lunch



Outside or inside work



Prayer



Tea or snack break



Study, including Scripture study



Play



Dinner



Play



Prayer



Sleep



Rarely does a homeschooler need to study all day and the Benedictine methodology fits into teaching the whole person, based on order and scheduling.



It works.



Art and Beauty are part of the Benedictine heritage. So that and music should always be part of the curriculum.









I highly suggest reading The Love of Learning and the Desire for God by Jean Leclercq, which I read years and years before I was married, but it prepared me for my Benedictine day of work, prayer, and study, and led me to use the Benedictine model for home schooling.







































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Repost on Ursuline Education






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Sunday, 20 January 2013











Notes from an Ursuline Document on Education.





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From the Ursuline vision of education:



I like the way in which the author, listed at bottom, uses the words formation and formative in her presentation.



She gets to the meat of the Ursuline vision quickly and succinctly. This vision is for the education of girls.



Here is a snippet:





Education is a formative process in which both the educator and the pupil

participate.


The work to be accomplished is nothing less than cooperation with

Almighty God in the unfolding of His creative and sanctifying action.


God is the principal educator and it takes deep faith and maturity in the educator to accept it:

Although an apostolate must be the gift of one’s self, it is primarily the gift of God.

Education....consists in forming them to an integral Catholic life, that is, to the

knowledge, love, and service of God, through the harmonious development of the

natural and supernatural faculties.”


First, the educator must sanctify herself, to improve and be a good example to educate

others


The purpose of education is to produce women of faith and of reason, to prepare for the

Church and for society complete Catholic women










1. Personal formation:

− intellectual formation: wise human beings, educated and who think independently,

− the formation of the will: an improvement of self, of one’s character, the choice of values

and an upright life,

− the formation of the heart: that is, formation for love - a shaping for generosity, for a spirit

of sacrifice, sensitivity, self-giving,

− religious education: personal prayer, participation in the sacraments, religious knowledge.


2. Family formation:

The family atmosphere in Ursuline schools was a typical feature of Ursuline education.

− on one hand, it showed itself in personal and friendly contacts with students, their guidance,

participation in their daily lives and in contacts kept with former students.

− on the other hand, the model of family education took the form of collective education:

children were educated in groups and educators collaborated closely with parents.






3. Social and apostolic formation: 

respect for others, honesty, commitment to life in society, apostolic activity at different levels

- acts of charity, parish life, prayer groups etc.


Such was the vision of Ursuline education presented by Mother Marie de Saint-Jean Martin.





































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