CALL FOR PAPERS (Deadline Sept. 15, 2025)

Benedictine Sessions

2026 International Congress on Medieval Studies

University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI

May 14–16, 2026

Monastic Epistolae

Description

The letters of medieval Benedictine and Cistercian monks and nuns revolved around a wide variety of topics ranging from spiritual guidance to business and legal issues. This panel invites papers on topics across this epistolary genre: biographical or exegetical treatments of a particular monastic writer and/or recipient; single themes that appear in multiple authors' letters; the use or treatment of different literary styles within letters; questions around, or approaches to, authenticity; or other aspects of monastic medieval epistolae.

Co-sponsored by American Benedictine Review

Submit a Proposal: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=7161

Death and Dying in Medieval Benedictine Theology and Practice

Description

Death is a theme in the two, brief foundational documents of Benedictine monasticism. The Rule of Benedict tells the monk “keep death daily before his eyes” (4.77) and bury the dead (4.17). The Life of St. Benedict in the second book of the Dialogues of Gregory the Great climaxes with the death, apotheosis and burial of Benedict (37) and his sister Scholastica (34). Papers in this session will explore vitae, writings, liturgies, customaries, and burials of medieval monks and nuns to learn how Benedictines received and enlarged these foundational documents’ views of dying, death, and burial.

Co-sponsored by American Benedictine Forum

Submit a Proposal: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=7369

 For more information contact: Sr. Colleen Maura McGrane, OSB.: abenedictinereview@gmail.com