By the Sweat of Their Brow
Summit, New Jersey: Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary, 1966. Oblong (5 3/8 by 7 7/8 inches), stitched in original pale green wrappers, original blank folding card wrappers, 22 pages. Fine. Item #1731
"INGRESSUM INSTRUAS / PROGRESSUM CUSTODIAS / EGRESSUM CUSTODIAS" (ST. THOMAS AQUINAS)
By the Sweat of Their Brow—a meditation on the monastic garden—entirely calligraphed with an illustration of a nun tilling the soil and beautifully printed by the Dominican nuns of Summit, New Jersey. A bright fresh copy, complete with the original folding card wrappers.
Derived from the monastic principles of "Ora et Labora," the fruit of Work and Prayer nourishes both the body and the soul. The author extols the contemplative virtues of gardening: "To ponder the mystery of green and growing things—root, vine, and branch, flower and fruit—is to turn spontaneously to the Divine Husbandman, in other words, to contemplate." The title is derived from Pope Pius XII's apostolic constitution: "Nuns are bound in conscience to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow" (Sponsa Christi). At its founding, the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary encompassed "five broad acres with fruit trees, rose bushes, grape arbor, and hen house thrown in. Enchantment was dissipated immediately, however, as the asceticism of hard labor began." Over the years, it seems, gardening work at the monastery waxed and waned but efforts were renewed for the diamond jubilee of the foundress, Mother Mary Imelda, in the Spring of 1963. The text is preceded by a Latin epigraph from Aquinas, translated as "Look after the preparations / Observe the progress / Harvest the fruits." Approbations.
Price: $100.00