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Writings
About Evelyn Underhill
The Spiritual Entente
Dana Greene
A little known aspect of Evelyn Underhill's
spiritual formation was that which occurred through her relationship
with Sorella Maria, an Italian Franciscan. Although greatly influenced
by French spirituality and the English mystics, Underhill's writing
also illustrates her profound love of Italy and the influence of the
spirituality of Francis. It was in the art and architecture of Italy
that she came to know the life of the spirit in the 1890s. The Italian
Sorella Maria was also an important influence on her during the very
difficult period immediately after World War I.
We know very little of the relationship between Underhill and Sorella
Maria except that the former experienced profound consolation from
his nun. Apparently it was through an English woman, a Miss Turton,
that Underhill first became acquainted with what was called the Confraternity
of the Spiritual Entente, a small band of women who were seekers after
the presence of God. The Confraternity was founded by this Sorella
Maria, who at some point, after a private audience with the pope,
was permitted to leave her convent to start this ecumenical group
dedicated to prayer for Church unity.
The six women members lived the Primitive Franciscan Rule, and each
remained completely loyal to her own church, living in such a way
as to convince others that Christ could be known within that church.
In 1919, at the urging of Underhill, Lucy Menzies, Underhill's spiritual
advisee, met with the Spiritual Entente while traveling in Italy.
Although there are no extant letters between Underhill and Sorella
Maria, Margaret Cropper, Underhill's first biographer, claims that
Underhill confided much of her pain of darkness to the nun prior to
the period when she sought out Baron von Hugel as her spiritual guide.
It was during this same time, that Underhill began her work on Jacapone
da Todi, a second generation follower of Francis who also held to
the Primitive Rule. She published Jacapone da Todi: Poet and Mystic,
1228-1306, in 1920. Writing this book was a crucial part of her
development in a period of crisis in her own life.
During the next decade, she published several reviews and articles
on Franciscan topics. Underhill visited Sorella Maria and the Confraternity
of the Spiritual Entente in the Fall of 1924 at their Rifugio outside
of Assisi. Later she wrote about that encounter: "The head of
the household and foundress, who is known as the Least sister, came
down the lane to welcome me...Those who recognize her type will discover
without surprise that her delicate courtesy, her serene and wide-spreading
love conceal a Teresian inflexibility of purpose: a profound sense
of the pain and need of the world, and a passionate desire to help
it. As we sat in the woods, I asked her to tell me something of her
conception of the spiritual life. She replied, in words startingly
at variance with her peaceful surroundings, "In tormento e travaglia
i fratelli.""
Sorella Maria and Evelyn Underhill were both part of an unorganized
Confraternity which worked in hiddeness and had no propaganda, no
public reunions, no rule but that of common loyalty and intention
and a mutual reverence and love. Their intention was union of the
Church, by showing union of all professing Christians in harmony and
peace. Although we know little of the ongoing relationship between
Underhill and Sorella Maria, we do know that the latter appeared briefly
in Underhill's life at a time when she decided to recommit herself
again to the church. It seems likely that Sorella Maria made some
contribution to that decision. As well, Sorella Maria's dedication
to the Franciscan themes of church unity and peace became major ones
in Underhill's later life and work.
Dana Greene is Dean and CEO of Oxford College of Emory University
and Professor of History. |
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