Basil Pennington
M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. (1931–2005) was an American Trappist priest and leading spiritual writer, speaker, teacher, and director. He became known internationally as one of the major proponents of the centering prayer movement begun at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts, during the 1970s.
Life
Pennington entered the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance at St. Joseph's Abbey in June 1951. He received the licentiate in Theology in 1959 from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum. He also earned a licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.{{Cite book |last=Flynn |first=Matthew |title=As we knew him: Reflections on M. Basil Pennington |date=2008 |publisher=Paraclete Press |location=Brewster, Massachusetts |pages=8 |chapter=The beginning and the end (1951–2005)}} At St. Joseph's Abbey, he was appointed professor of theology in 1959, professor of canon law and professor of spirituality in 1963, and vocations director in 1978. In 2000, he was appointed superior at Assumption Abbey in Ava, Missouri, and later that same year he was elected abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. He returned to St. Joseph's Abbey after retiring in 2002. He died on June 3, 2005, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, from injuries sustained from a car accident.
Bernard McGinn wrote that Pennington "not only wrote effectively about centering prayer, but he also traveled across the United States and the world spreading the practice through lectures and workshops. The renewal of contemplative prayer in the last decades of the twentieth century owes much to these efforts."{{cite journal
|author=Bernard McGinn
|author-link=Bernard McGinn (theologian)
|year=2006
|title=Let us now praise... M. Basil Pennington, OCSO (1931-2005)
|journal=Theology Today
|volume=63
|issue=1
|pages=96–99
|doi= 10.1177/004057360606300111
|s2cid=170376377
|issn=0040-5736
|oclc=1587753}}{{rp|98}}
Bibliography
Pennington's book Centering Prayer was first published in 1980, and had sold more than a million copies by 2002.{{cite journal
|author=Lynn Garrett & Jeff Zaleski
|year=2002
|title=Writings of spiritual leaders.
|journal=Publishers Weekly
|publisher=Reed Business Information / Reviews
|volume=249
|issue=43
|pages=68
|issn= 0000-0019}}{{cite journal
|author=Jana Reiss & Jeff Zaleski
|year=2002
|title=Religion notes
|journal=Publishers Weekly
|publisher=Reed Business Information / Reviews
|volume=249
|issue=45
|pages=61
|issn=0000-0019}}{{cite book |url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip066/2005037743.html |title=The experience of meditation: Experts introduce the major traditions |publisher=Paragon House |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-55778-857-3 |editor=Jonathan Shear |editor-link=Jonathan Shear |location=St. Paul, MN}}. On page 275: "Father Pennington helped formulate Centering Prayer... and his book Centering Prayer has sold over 1 million copies throughout the world." Translations have been published in Spanish,{{cite book
|title=La oración centrante: renovación de una antigua manera de orar
|first=M. Basil
|last=Pennington
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=1986
|publisher=Narcea
|isbn=978-84-277-0713-9
|language=es
|others=(Carmen Fernández Aguinaco, trans.)
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LYpAQAACAAJ
}} (235 pages) French,{{cite book
|title=La prière de silence: Renouveler une forme traditionnelle de prière chrétienne
|first=M. Basil
|last=Pennington
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=2006
|publisher=Novalis
|others=(Bernard Dionne, trans.)
|language=fr
|isbn=978-2-89507-684-1
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRXcPQAACAAJ
}} (261 pages) Polish,{{cite book
|title=Modlitwa prowadząca do środka: Powrót do starochrześcijańskiej metody modlitwy
|first=M. Basil
|last=Pennington
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=2003
|publisher=Homini
|language=pl
|isbn=978-83-87933-91-3
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRDdAQAACAAJ
}} (280 pages) Portuguese,{{cite book
|title=Oração Centrante
|first=M. Basil
|last=Pennington
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=2002
|publisher=Palas Athena
|language=pt
|isbn=978-85-7242-041-9
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6bbQgAACAAJ
}} (296 pages) and Italian.{{cite book
|title=Preghiera centrica
|first=M. Basil
|last=Pennington
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=2007
|publisher=Gribaudi
|language=it
|isbn=978-88-7152-903-5
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jcSYPAAACAAJ
}} Pennington published a total of more than 60 books, including:
- {{cite book
|title=Centering Prayer: Renewing an Ancient Christian Prayer Form
|last=Pennington
|first=M. Basil
|author-link=Basil Pennington
|year=1980
|publisher=Doubleday
|location=Garden City, NY
|isbn=0-385-14562-4
}} (222 pages).
:*1982 English edition by Image (Garden City, NY): {{ISBN|978-0-385-18179-2}} (254 pages).
:*1989 English edition by St. Paul Publications: {{ISBN|978-971-504-344-1}} (222 pages).
:*1998 English edition by St. Pauls: {{ISBN|978-81-7109-357-1}} (219 pages).
:*2001 English edition by Doubleday (New York, NY): {{ISBN|0-385-18179-5}} (260 pages).
- Monastic Journey to India (1982, 1999).
- Monastery: Prayer, Work, Community (1983).
- Called: New Thinking on Christian Vocation (1983).
- Daily We Follow Him: Learning Discipleship from Peter (1987).
- Mary Today (1987).
- Living Our Priesthood Today (1987).
- Prayertimes (1987).
- Through the Year with the Saints (1988).
- Monastic Life (1989).
- The Monastic Way (1990).
- The Fifteen Mysteries: In Image and Word (1993).
- Praying by Hand: Rediscovering the Rosary As a Way of Prayer (1995).
- Awake in the Spirit (1995).
- Daily We Touch Him (1997).
- A Place Apart: Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone (1998).
- Lectio Divina (1998).
- Centering Prayer in Daily Life and Ministry (1998).
- Centered Living: The Way of Centering Prayer (1999).
- Living in the Question: Meditations in the Style of Lectio Divina (1999).
- True Self/False Self: Unmasking the Spirit Within (2000).
- Eucharist: Wine of Faith, Bread of Life (2000).
- Listening: God's Word for Today (2000).
- The Bread of God: Nurturing a Eucharistic Imagination (2001).
- A School of Love: The Cistercian Way to Holiness (2001).
- The Abbey Prayer Book (2002).
- 20 Mysteries of the Rosary: A Scriptural Journey (2003).
- Call to the Center, Revised: Gospel's Invitation to Deeper Prayer (2003).
- Who Do You Say I Am?: Meditations on Jesus' Questions in the Gospels (2005).
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= United States}}
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Category:American Roman Catholic writers
Category:Catholic spirituality