Word: orders
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...holy and frugal St. Francis believed that his order of monks ought to survive by begging. In a way, this pious tradition is preserved by a show that is now on view at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Treasury of Saint Francis of Assisi" comprises some 70 works of art--paintings, sculpture, textiles, manuscripts and metalwork--drawn in part from the 13th century tesoro, or museum, of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, Italy. Its main purpose is to draw attention to the disaster that struck the great pilgrimage center in September 1997, when...
From the time it was founded in 1228, right after the canonization of St. Francis, the great basilica was showered with gifts of liturgical art. One may well ask how an order dedicated to holy poverty managed to raise the money to construct the basilica, fill it with frescoes and altarpieces by the most esteemed and expensive artists of the 13th century, and acquire the rich collection of chalices, reliquaries and the like that plumped out its treasure house--in sum, to turn the place into the biggest pilgrimage center in the late medieval world, after Jerusalem, Rome and Compostela...
...things also went out. From the 14th to the 19th centuries, the tesoro was regularly pillaged--in riots, civil wars, revolutions and invasions. During the decline of the Franciscan order, the monks themselves were not above alleviating their holy poverty by doing a little de-accessioning. They were apparently following their founder's injunction by selling what they had and giving the proceeds to the poor (themselves). All in all, what remains of the basilican treasury is only a fragment of its earlier glories. So one should not, perhaps, expect too much from this show. In any case, it bears...
...past 10 years the number of people willing to consider transracial adoptions has surged. In 1972 the National Association of Black Social Workers made waves when it declared itself vehemently opposed to transracial placements. Representatives of the association argued that minority children need parents like them in order to form a strong sense of identity. While that view is shared by many officials in the foster-care system, there are now laws in place forbidding officials to use race as a routine consideration. And proponents of transracial placement have research behind them. "The bottom line is that these children grow...
...affirming his current family ties. Unlike biological families, in which a child can see resemblances and grasp a genealogical connection, families formed by adoption have to take special steps to make a child feel secure. This can range from reaching out to religious leaders and extended family in order to help reaffirm the adopted child's inclusion, to keeping a watchful eye out for unhelpful, if well-intended, teasing ("My little Mexican one"). Lyn and Arthur Dobrin of Westbury, N.Y., adopted an African-American child, Kori, as a sibling to their biological son Eric. They devised a game they called...