The Writings of Clare of Assisi: Letters, Form of Life, Testament and Blessing - Studies in Early Franciscan Sources - Softcover

Michael Blastic, OFM Conv., a native of the Chicago area, is a member of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus of the Order of Friars Minor, with headquarters in New York City. He has ministered in parishes, religious formation, and been a faculty member of the Washington Theological Union 1988-1996, and of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University from 1996-2010. In summer 2010, he returned to the Washington Theological Union as the Director of the Franciscan Center. His major area of research, teaching and publication includes early Franciscan texts, the early Franciscan Theological tradition, and the the writings of Franciscan women between the 13th and 16th century.
Jay M. Hammond, PhD, is an Assistant Professor/Director of Graduate Studies at St. Louis University. He previously taught at the University of San Francisco (1998-2000) and Quincy University (1998-2002), where he received the Teacher of the Year, Excellence in Teaching Award in 2001. He has been working at SLU since 2003. He received his Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University. Dr. Hammond is co-editor of the series, Studies in the Early Franciscan Documents, and is an associate editor of the Bonaventure Texts in Translation Series. He contributed to Divine and Created Order in Bonaventure s Theology.
J. A. Wayne Hellmann, OFM Conv., received his Doctorate of Theology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Munich) in 1974; an S.T.L. from the Pontifical Faculty of St. Bonaventure in Rome in 1968; and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Dayton (Ohio) in 1964. Since 2005, he has served as Chair of the Department of Graduate Theology at St. Louis University where he has been a faculty member since 1974. His long-time interest has been Franciscan texts. Among the various positions and responsibilities he has held, Wayne has been a member of the Board of the BTTS project (Bonaventure Texts in Translation Series), since 2003; a senior editor for the scholarly journal, Franciscan Studies, since 2004; and a member of the editorial board for Greyfriar s Review, since 2003. Most recently he has served as the coeditor of FA:ED (1999-2003); editor and translator (with Joshua Benson) of a multivolume Theological Reader, drawn from Bonaventure s Commentary on the Sentences (BTTS), and co-editor of the projected seven-volume series, Studies in the Early Franciscan Documents (to be published by Franciscan Institute Publications, 2011).

The publication of the volumes of the Early Documents concerning Saint Francis and Clare have been justly praised as a rich resource for understanding Francis and Clare. We are now doubly blessed with these contributions on the Early Franciscan Sources which stand as a complement to the earlier volumes. Rooted in meticulous scholarship, they will be an inestimable companion not only for the worldwide Franciscan family but for all those who desire a more intimate knowledge of the saints who are wellsprings of one of the richest and most enduring streams of Christian spirituality. --Lawrence S. Cunningham, John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology, The University of Notre Dame

For several decades now, Franciscan studies has been marked by two trends: serious scholarship of an increasingly international nature has been incredibly fruitful, challenging all preconceived notions so as to present new solutions to countless enigmas of the Franciscan Question ; and the availability of the Franciscan sources to a wider public has been made possible through numerous projects of translation into modern languages. It is now time to take stock of what has been achieved and it comes to us from the United States in the form of an exciting new collection called Studies in Early Franciscan Sources. The first three volumes are focused on the Writings of Francis and Clare of Assisi. They prove to us that research is not a vapid game of scholars talking to themselves but allows the broadest audience to taste the reawakened authenticity of these two great figures of Christianity and, through that, to rediscover their constant relevance. --Jacques Dalarun, Senior Researcher, Institut de recherches et d histori des textes