Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Part I John Moorman and His Franciscan Studies
- Part II The Order of Friars Minor in England
- Part III The Friars and the Schools
- Appendix: The Moorman Letters in the Archive of the Collegio San Bonaventura (Quaracchi/Grottaferrata/Rome)
- Index
1 - John Moorman, a Franciscan Historian
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Part I John Moorman and His Franciscan Studies
- Part II The Order of Friars Minor in England
- Part III The Friars and the Schools
- Appendix: The Moorman Letters in the Archive of the Collegio San Bonaventura (Quaracchi/Grottaferrata/Rome)
- Index
Summary
Abstract
Some of Moorman's articles and books supply important biographical information and offer an insight into the composition of a particular text. For example, his article ‘Contemporary Collectors XLVII Bibliotheca Franciscana’ narrated his ever-expanding collection of Franciscan books, incunabula, and artefacts. This study charts the genesis of his profound and perennial admiration of St Francis, whom he venerated increasingly, from his first publication, ‘The permanent element in the life and teaching of St. Francis’ in the 1929 number of the journal Theology. This life-long history, spanning five decades, started as a schoolboy in Leeds during the second decade of the twentieth century and evolved during his days as an undergraduate at Cambridge University. In addition to his contribution to the history of the Church in England, Moorman published monographs on the debates about the Franciscan question, the Greyfriars of Cambridge, the history of the order, and a volume on followers of St Francis in England from the 1220s to the early 1970s.
Keywords: Bishop Michael Manktelow, Dr G.G. Coulton, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, Chichester, Fr Michael Bihl, Frances Beatrice Moorman, Frederick Moorman, Gresham's School, Leeds, Fallowfield, Paul Sabatier, Second Vatican Council, Ripon
Saint Francis of Assisi exercised a lifelong fascination on John Moorman and influenced his outlook for more than seven decades. Moorman became one of the finest ecclesiastical historians of his generation. His Church Life in England in the Thirteenth Century was published by Cambridge University Press in 1945 and earned him many plaudits. The book is still cited by medieval historians, such as Professor Cecilia Panti at the beginning of her contribution to this volume. Among Moorman's monographs concerning the Church in England and Anglicanism are A History of the Church in England (1953), Vatican Observed: an Anglican impression of Vatican II (1967) and The Anglican Spiritual Tradition (1983). Despite these varied contributions, Moorman is primarily remembered for his sterling contribution to the life and hagiographical tradition surrounding Saint Francis, whom he depicted as ‘a very exciting, imaginative and courageous person’, and his disciples, who planted the seed of his teaching on the fertile soil of thirteenth-century England.
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- The Franciscan Order in the Medieval English , pp. 15 - 24Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018