Visiting Scholars Program

Studium

Three realities are intertwined in the monastic life, both in its essence and in its outreach for the sake of the world:

the love of learning,
the desire for God, and
the commitment to beauty.

Studium is grounded in all three of these realities, with special emphasis on the love of learning. Studium honors scholarship as a sacred ministry.

Studium was founded in 1992 as a creative response to Sisters’ desire to use their gifts and professional training while living at the monastery and to provide a setting where retired Sisters might continue to share their wisdom and expertise. Studium provides office space and—even more important—the mutual support that is so crucial for sustained, productive work.

Participants in the program are called Studium Scholars. The term “scholar” might seem restrictive, suggesting that only professors are eligible. But scholarship is much broader than academics (and not all academics are scholars). A scholar is someone who keeps on learning, for whom thinking and finding things out and imagining and communicating are fundamental to the meaning of life.

Studium Scholars

Studium has two sorts of members.

Monastery Scholars

Sisters of Saint Benedict’s Monastery working on individual projects, who constitute the core of Studium.

Here is what one of them says:

I thought I’d better delay retirement and stay at my college teaching job as long as possible because I saw nothing very energizing or inspiring on the horizon. Then Studium opened—a place and a support system in which I could realize dreams that a busy teaching schedule had forestalled. During meetings of the International Congress on Medieval Studies I had imagined a book about medieval women monastics. At Studium I initiated such a project with S. Miriam Schmitt, OSB, of Annunciation Monastery in Bismarck, North Dakota (a community founded by Sisters from Saint Benedict’s in 1878). The members of Studium were a wonderful sounding board for this idea, and a fountain of helpful suggestions. On this project and many others, Studium Scholars have consistently provided both intellectual and spiritual stimulation.

Linda Kulzer, OSB

Monastery Scholars have produced an astonishing array of scholarly work—books, hymns, retreats, parish histories and more. For a list of Monastery Scholars' projects completed while at Studium, click here.

Within a year of Studium’s founding the Monastery Scholars realized that both their ministry and their work would be enhanced by hospitality to persons from outside the monastery.

Visiting Scholars (both Resident and Day)

Women and men who are in broad agreement with Benedictine cultural and social commitments—awareness of God; community; prayer and work; listening; hospitality; stewardship; peace—and for whom the interdisciplinary, intergenerational, interfaith and intercultural setting of Studium offers an appealing venue for their own scholarly work.

The projects pursued at Studium by Visiting Scholars cover a wide range of subjects and disciplines, such as—to name just a few—biblical perspectives on contemporary living, a novel set in medieval times, Dag Hammarskjöld’s integrating ethics and spirituality into his work as Secretary General of the United Nations, grief and the psychological aspects of ritual, composition of an orchestral work, Jung and Plato, and articles for the Dictionary of Women in American Religious History.

Here is what one of the Visiting Scholars says:

My Studium experience has been a happy one. I had anticipated a month of concentrated academic work, and my expectations have been fulfilled—-I have accomplished a lot. I had not anticipated how rich I would find the opportunity to participate in the liturgical life of the monastery. Nor had I anticipated enjoying the life of the Saint Benedict’s community so much.

Alan Kreider, Professor of Church History and Mission, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana

For a blog on Studium hospitality by visiting scholar Susan Stabile, click here. For another by Roxane Salonen, click here.

For a list of publications completed by Visiting Scholars during their Studium stay, click here.

Studium encourages applications to the Visiting Scholars Program. For more information, click here.

Studium provides for all its Scholars both time alone (a lot) and time together (enough, but not too much) that are essential for original work. Besides casual encounters that happen in the hallway or the dining room, Studium gathers once a month for a formal meeting, at which a presentation on work in progress is made by one or more members, and discussion helps add depth and clarity.

The Rule of Saint Benedict affirms the wisdom and unique gifts of each person. Studium is a formal, institutional expression by Saint Benedict’s Monastery of trust in this wisdom and these gifts. Studium Scholars motivate, support, and empower one another in creative endeavor. In this way they share in the transforming work of God’s Spirit.

For more information about the Visiting Scholars Program, contact

S. Ann Marie Biermaier, OSB
Director of Studium
(320) 363-7172
fax: (320) 363-7173
abiermaier@csbsju.edu