Showing posts with label Monks & Nuns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monks & Nuns. Show all posts

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Bridget of Sweden


We just learned about the Carmelite Nuns.

Another famous religious nun is Bridget of Sweden.

She was born in the 1300s in Sweden, and spent her life taking care of orphans and sick people.


(from: wikipedia - bridget of sweden)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Samson

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Carmelite Nuns


We just learned about Rose of Lima and the Dominican Order.

Another group of nuns are the Carmelite Nuns, that started in the about a thousand years ago.
They focus on three things: prayer, community, and service


(from: wikipedia - carmelites)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gideon

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Rose of Lima


We just learned about the nun Clare of Assisi.

Another famous nun was Rose of Lima, who was born in the country of Peru, and spent her whole life helping to take care of sick and poor people.

She was a member of what is called the Dominican Order, which was a group started by a Spanish priest named Dominic around 1200 AD.


(from: wikipedia - rose of lima)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Joshua

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Clare of Assisi


We just learned about the nun Hildegard of Bingen who studied and wrote many letters and books.

Another well known nun is Clare of Assisi, who lived in the 1200s AD.
Her brother Francis was very well known in the church, so when she wanted to give her life to worship God, he helped her out.

She started up a group called the "Order of Poor Ladies" and wrote up some rules for how women could live as Nuns and worship God.

There are still women who follow these rules, and call themselves the "Poor Clares".


(from: wikipedia - clare of assisi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aaron

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Hildegard of Bingen


We just learned about Scholastica the Nun and sister of Benedict.

Another famous Nun was Hildegard of Bingen.

At a very young age, Hildegard was sent to live with Nuns, learn about God and worship.
She was very smart, and studied medicine, plants and animals in nature, music and writings about God.
There is even a special language she created by herself with it's own alphabet and words, that only she knew how to read and write.

She wrote hundreds of letters to people like popes, monks or other nuns, and she was one of the first people to study and write about medicine and biology.
People say that she also had visions from God that gave her instructions to write down the things she learned to help other people.


(from: wikipedia - hildegard of bingen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moses

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Scholastica


We just learned about the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent in France.

One of the oldest known Nuns was Scholastica, who was the twin sister of the monk Benedict of Nursia that we learned about before.

She lived the eremitic or "hermit" life, living by herself but in an area where there were other women also living alone so sometimes they could meet up and talk about God.

Sometimes she would meet up with her brother Benedict and they would share the wisdom that each of them had learned.

She is said to be the first woman to set up a Benedictine convent, where other Nuns could meet up for worship.


(from: wikipedia - scholastica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Joseph

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul


We just learned about the Desert Mothers who lived in the deserts and wrote wise sayings.

Another group of women living as nuns is the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.

In the 1600s in France there were a lot of poor people needing help, but there was not a very good way to organize taking care of them.
The Daughters of Charity set up soup kitchens, hospitals, schools and homes for orphans.


(from: wikipedia - daughters of charity of saint vincent de paul)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Leah

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Desert Mothers


We just learned a little about Nuns.

We learned a while back about the Desert Fathers.

There were also Desert Mothers who were women living in the desert either as hermits or in small groups with other women.


(from: wikipedia - desert mothers)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rachel

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Nuns


We've learned a lot about monks now, from famous monks to how and where they lived for hudnreds of years.

Monks through history were only men, but when women lived the same kind of life, they were called Nuns.
Many people believe the name Nun came from the word for grandmother "Nonna".

Just like Monks, Nuns usually live away from other people, only living with other Nuns.


(from: wikipedia - nun)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jacob

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Mount Athos


We just learned about the Bruno of Cologne and the Chartreuse Monastery.

Another place where monks live is Mount Athos in Greece, known as the Holy Mountain.

For hundreds of years monks have lived in monasteries on this mountain, through all the wars and changes in the world, and today there are still 20 different monasteries there.


(from: wikipedia - stavronikita)



(from: wikipedia - osiou gregoriou monastery)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Esau

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Bruno of Cologne


We just learned about Benedict of Nursia who wrote The Rule of Saint Benedict.

Another famous monk is Bruno of Cologne.

Bruno started off as a leader in the church, but then decided that he wanted to live like a hermit, or a heremitic monk.


(from: wikipedia - bruno of cologne)

He started a monastery in the Chartreuse mountains in France with a couple of other monks living separately in log cabins.


(from: wikipedia - grande chartreuse)

His monastery became very famous and lasted a long time, and the monks there started a group called the Carthusian Order, with rules for how everyone should live, and a motto "The Cross is steady while the world is turning"


(from: wikipedia - carthusians)

Hundreds of years later, the Chartreuse monastery made a special type of drink called Chartreuse, that is green and yellow.
This drink was so well known for its green-yellow color, that the word chartreuse is now the name for a green-yellow color.

(from: wikipedia - chartreuse (liqueur))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rebekah

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Benedict of Nursia


We just learned about the Mar Saba, the monastery in Bethlehem.

Another monk from history is Benedict of Nursia.

Saint Benedict helped set up 12 different monasteries throughout Italy.

He also wrote a very famous book called The Rule of Saint Benedict.

This was a long book that gave instructions for how monks should live together.
It has everything from what they should eat, how they should work, where they should sleep, and how they should act toward each other and the people in the community.

One of the most important rules for monks was to be humble, and they had 12 rules for how to be humble:

"(1) Fear God, (2) Subordinate one's will to the will of God; (3) Be obedient to one's superior; (4) Be patient amid hardships; (5) Confess one's sins; (6) Accept the meanest of tasks, and hold oneself as a "worthless workman"; (7) Consider oneself "inferior to all"; (8) Follow examples set by superiors; (9) Do not speak until spoken to; (10) Do not readily laugh; (11) Speak simply and modestly; and (12) Express one's inward humility through bodily posture."


(from: wikipedia - benedict of nursia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Isaac

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Mar Saba


We just learned about Mar Agwin, the Monk who helped spread Christianity to the east.

A famous monastery in Bethlehem is called Mar Saba, built in the year 483.

This monastery brought many of the monks of the Judean Desert together, and was known as the mother of all monasteries of the Eastern churches.



(from: wikipedia - mar saba)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sarah

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Mar Agwin


We just learned about the Theodore the Studite and his iconoclasm.

Another famous monk was Mar Awgin.

He was one of the first monks to make a monastery in the east, and spread the way of the monks into Asia, even as far as India and China.

His most famous monastery is in Mt. Izla.


(from: wikipedia - mar agwin)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abraham

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Theodore the Studite


We just learned about the Ladder of Divine Ascent with 30 steps to follow to be a good Christian.

Another famous Monks was Theodore the Studite.

He was a monk in the city of Constantinople, which was the city in charge of all of the churches at the time.
Theodore was the first monk to say that there should be no slavery.
He also fought against the church using paintings called "icons", that were of Jesus or the apostles or other famous followers.
Instead of these icons he said they should use symbols like the cross.
There was a big argument with other church people, and it had a big name called the iconoclasm.


(from: wikipedia - theodore the studite)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Noah

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Ladder of Divine Ascent


We just learned about the Lavra caves for monks.

Another part of the life of monks was a writing called the Ladder of Divine Ascent.

This was a book that gave people some rules and ideas about things they should do to be better servants of God.

There were 30 steps to the ladder, and they covered things like obeying God, asking for forgiveness, not doing bad things, not thinking you are better than other people, and inner peace.

Many monks read these words and tried to follow them to be better servants.


(from: wikipedia - ladder of divine ascent)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abel

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Lavra


We just learned about the Cenobitic Monks that lived in monastaries.

Another part of the monk's lives was a Lavra.

Some of the monks that were not exactly hermit or cenobitic monks would live in bunch of caves near each other, with a church in the middle of all the caves.

This bunch of caves was called a lavra.


(from: wikipedia - lavra)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cain

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Cenobitic Monks


We just learned about the Eremetic Monks.

The eremetic monks were hermits that mostly lived alone.
Another type of monks were the cenobitic monks who lived with other people.
The word cenobitic comes from the Greek words κοινός βίος (koinos bios), which means common life.
Cenobitic monks live in places like monasteries, and sometimes would even live in cities where they would help build churches and help out the community.
They just lived in the monastery where they prayed and worshiped with other monks.


(from: wikipedia - cenobitic monasticism)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eve

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Eremitic Monks


We just learned about the Basil of Cecarea.

Some of the monks we've learned about were people that mostly lived alone in the desert.
Paul of Thebes and Anthony the Great were some of the first well known monks who lived like this.

The Greek word ἐρημίτης (erēmitēs) means "of the desert", and that is where the word "hermit" came from.
Hermits, or eremetic monks, were some of the first people to live alone worshipping God every day, and became some of the first monks.


(from: wikipedia - hermit)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Adam

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Basil of Cecarea


We just learned about the Pachomius the Great.

Another famous Monk was Basil of Cecarea.

Basil was born into a rich family, but his father was killed for being a Christian.
He was raised by his mother and went to school, but when he got older he gave money to the poor, and made a place where he and others could study and worship God, like a monastery.
A lot of people liked him and asked him for wisdom, and he also worked very hard to try and talk to people who were having problems in life, and tell them that they should be good and believe in God.


(from: wikipedia - basil of caesarea)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lily Crucifix