“Reform & Renewal in Challenging Times: A Global Conversation on Jacob Panhausen”

Tuesday, Apr. 27, 2021 • 9 a.m. CDT
Virtual Event
St. Norbert College
View recording 

Join the author, William Hyland, Ph.D., lecturer in church history in the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews, along with three other Norbertine Scholars in a discussion about his most recent book, Jacob Panhausen: Two Sixteenth Century Treatises on Religious Life.

Other panel members include:
Rev. Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem., S.T.L., Ph.D., Daylesford Abbey
Rev. Ambrose Criste, O. Praem., S.T.L., St. Michael's Abbey
Carol Neel, Ph.D., Colorado College

The Center for Norbertine Studies is delighted to host this book discussion for the SNC Community, the Norbertine communities and abbeys worldwide, as well as anyone else who is interested in knowing more about Jacob Panhausen, the Norbertine Order and its current and ongoing projects during this 900th anniversary of the Order.

This panel-based global book discussion is free and open to the public, but it does require advanced registration in order to provide the Zoom link to virtual attendees. It is not necessary to have read the book to participate. Much information will be shared through listening to the four panelists discuss the book, historical references, and what is happening with the Norbertine Order today!

The book being discussed is available for purchase through the St. Norbert College Bookstore. If you prefer to order the book online please click here.

About the Panel

Rev. Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem.
Rev. Ciferni is a Norbertine priest from Daylesford Abbey in Paoli, Pa, where he serves many roles: Canonry Liturgist, Director of Formation, Master of Professed, Vocation Director, Spirituality Center Programs, and Jubilarian He has a Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and received an honorary doctorate from St. Norbert College in October 2002 when he was the Heidgen Chair lecturer. Rev. Ciferni is currently the chair of Board of Trustees of St. Norbert College. Prior to this role, he served the college as director of the Center for Norbertine Studies and was an adjunct member of theology and religious studies faculty. Previously, he was an assistant professor of homiletics and liturgy at the Catholic University of America (1987-91) and professor of liturgy at the Washington Theological Union (1991-97), where he was also the academic dean (1995-97). He also served as an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Liturgy and is a member of the editorial board for the book series Premonstratensian Texts and Studies.

Rev. Ambrose Criste, O. Praem.
Rev. Ambrose Criste is a Norbertine priest from St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, California. He currently serves as the Novice Master and Director of Formation for the abbey. He graduated from Colorado College with a degree in Classics, History, and Politics. Fr. Ambrose was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and began graduate studies at Oxford University prior to joining the priesthood. He completed his priestly studies in Rome with pontifical degrees from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Fr. Ambrose is active in Premonstratensian scholarship, serving on the editorial board of Premonstratensian Texts and Studies books series. He is also the co-author, along with Dr. Carol Neel, of a translation and commentary on the work of the twelfth-century Premonstratensian theologian Anselm of Havelberg entitled Anticimenon: On the Unity of the Faith and the Controversies with the Greeks.

William Hyland, Ph.D. 
Dr. William Hyland is a lecturer in church history in the School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrews. He specializes in Medieval Church history and theology, with a particular focus on monasticism, spirituality, and Mariology. He has previously taught at several American universities, including Cornell University, Benedictine College, and St. Norbert College, where he was the first Director of the Center for Norbertine Studies. Presently, Dr Hyland is President of the editorial board of the Premonstratensian Texts and Studies book series through Cistercian Publications. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Hyland has published several articles and book chapters on Premonstratensian topics including: “Silence, Leadership and Service : a Medieval Premonstratensian Contribution to Interreligious Dialogue”; “The stained Glass Biblia Pauperum Windows of Steinfeld Abbey: Monastic Spirituality, Salvation History and the Theological Imagination”; and “Premonstratensian Voices of Reform at the Fifteenth Century Councils.” He is the author and translator of the new book, the focus of this event: Jacob Panhausen: Two Sixteenth Century Treatises on Religious Life.

Carol Neel, Ph.D.
Dr. Carol Neel is a professor in the History Department at Colorado College, specializing in the European Middle Ages, historiography, and classical and medieval Latin literature. She received a B.A. in Classics from Bryn Mawr College, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Cornell University. Her central scholarly interest is in the spirituality of religious orders of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, particularly the Premonstratensians. Along with the other members of this panel, Dr. Neel serves on the editorial board of Premonstratensian Texts and Studies books series. Dr. Neel is also the author of numerous published books articles, including the aforementioned book on Anselm of Havelberg, and most recently, a very fine article in Brill’s A Companion to Medieval Rules and Customaries.” entitled “the Premonstratensian Project.”

About the Moderator

Michael Holstead, Ph.D.
Dr Michael Holstead is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Classics and Norbertine Studies and the Interim Director of the Center for Norbertine Studies at St. Norbert College. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Indiana University, and has been an instructor of Latin and Ancient Greek at St. Norbert College since 2013. Over the years, Dr. Holstead has been working with Center for Norbertine Studies in providing translations of Norbertine documents from Latin into English, as well as engaging and mentoring students in Norbertine scholarship. He has served as a faculty advisor on a number of student projects, including translations and commentaries of "The Charter of Bartholomew, Bishop of Laon, establishing Prémontré;" "The Bull of Pope Honorius Confirming the Order of Prémontré;" and passages from Jean Le Paige’s Bibliotheca Praemonstratensis Ordinis (1633).

About the Book

Jacob Panhausen stands as a major but little-studied figure in the renewal of the Premonstratensian Order during the crucial decades of the sixteenth century when the very survival of religious life hung in the balance. His career (1540–1582) as abbot of Steinfeld in Germany spanned the whole era of the Council of Trent and its aftermath, and he died the same year that Saint Norbert was officially canonized.

This volume presents the first English translation of two Latin texts by Jacob Panhausen, A Loving Exhortation to Prelates and Those in Their Charge and Treatise on Monastic Life and Religious Vows. The introduction offers a biographical and analytical overview of this outstanding Norbertine reformer, illuminating a crucial time in the renewal of the Premonstratensian Order during and after the Council of Trent. Intended as they were for his confreres at Steinfeld and other abbeys, they show his zeal for reform, his dedication to the monastic tradition, and his humanistic and exegetical concerns.