Author Talk: Laura Swan

Local author Laura Swan will read from her new book “The Wisdom of the Beguines: The Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women’s Movement.”

The Christian movement known as the Beguines began to form in various parts of Europe around the year 1200. Beguines were laywomen, not nuns, and thus did not take solemn vows and did not live in monasteries. The Beguines were a phenomenal movement that swept across Europe, yet they were never a religious ordernor a formalized movement. But there were common elements that rendered these women distinctive and familiar, including their common way of life, their unusual business acumen, and their commitment to the poor and marginalized.

Laura Swan O.S.B. teaches part-time in the Religious Studies department. Educated by Franciscans and Jesuits, she earned an M.A. in church ministry, a master of theological studies, and a post-masters in spiritual direction. A member of Saint Placid Priory, she served as prioress for eight years. Her other books include ‘The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women’, ‘Engaging Benedict: What the Rule Can Teach Us Today’, and ‘The Benedictine Tradition’.