The Wisdom of the Beguines: Author Talk with Sister Laura Swan

Sister Laura Swan will discuss her most recent book “The Wisdom of the Beguines: the Forgotten Story of a Medieval Women’s Movement.” The beguines formed in Europe over eight hundred years ago. Beguines were laywomen, not nuns, and they did not live in monasteries. They practiced a remarkable way of living independently, and they were never a religious order or a formalized movement. These medieval women shared commonalities including their visionary spirituality, their unusual business acumen, and their courageous commitment to the poor and sick.

Laura Swan is an author, an adjunct professor of religious studies at Saint Martin’s University, and a member of the Benedictine women’s community St. Placid Priory in Lacey, Washington.