This volume explores the lives of monks, nuns and hermits, and the remarkable cultural accomplishments of the cloisters.

What is a monastery? A monastery is a place set apart—a place to learn the blessings of powerlessness, and that time is not ours but God’s. Our home and our

An illustrated look at life in abbeys and priories, and within the monastic orders, in the middle ages. Monasteries are among the most intriguing and enduring s

A guided tour through the fascinating history of Catholic religious orders From their monastic prehistory in the Egyptian desert through their political heyday

Among the most beautiful, spiritual and evocative structures in stone ever built are the medieval monasteries of Europe. The importance of the monastic world, i