This timely volume marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Basil Hume (1923-1999), Benedictine monk of Ampleforth, Archbishop of Westminster. The author, herself belonging to the same Benedictine tradition, aims to keep the memory of Basil Hume alive. Through the use of personal interviews, archival sources, published and unpublished works, the authentic voice of Basil Hume sounds loud and clear. Hume’s Benedictine spirituality and his personal dedication to prayer gave him the ability to relate to other pilgrims who seek the living and true God. Hume, the monk, pastor, and preacher, still speaks to contemporary Benedictines, the wider Church, and the world. Even though, as Hume stated, ‘In our public life we move further and further away from God and the things of God,’ he added, ‘in the hearts of men and women I believe that the yearning for God is becoming more and more intense.’ That yearning, as the author demonstrates, was at the core of Basil Hume’s search for God—for Hume, the way of a pilgrim: ‘Life in our monastic setting is a search for God—with and in Christ—for the Father. It is a pilgrim way.’
Sr Gertrude Feick, a Benedictine Sister of Mount Angel, Oregon, has now entered the Cistercian Monastery of Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey, Whitethorn, California. Sr Gertrude holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome.
