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Coming Home to Pleshey: A Memoir

by Kathy Staudt

Evelyn Underhill recalls how her first experience of a conducted retreat at Pleshey retreat house in 1922 transformed her attitude toward church and vocation, and began the process of clarifying her own calling. She writes to Baron von Hugel of the satisfactions of the daily regime of communion and four services a day, and reflects that “the whole house seemed soaked in love and prayer.” With that description in my memory, I made a two-day retreat to Pleshey last April.

And so I found myself, late on a Saturday afternoon, at the railway station in the distinctly unromantic London suburb of Chelmsford, being met by a tall, soft-spoken man in a worn tweed jacket! He introduced himself as Bruce Hollamsby, the assistant warden, and welcomed me heartily, saying, “You cannot imagine how delighted we are to have … Read more

1995 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

November 1995

 

Coming Home to Pleshey A Memoir

by Kathleen Staudt

Evelyn Underhill recalls how her first experience of a conducted retreat at Pleshey retreat house in 1922 transformed her attitude toward church and vocation, and began the process of clarifying her own calling. She writes to Baron von Hugel of the satisfactions of the daily regime of communion and four services a day, and reflects that “the whole house seemed soaked in love and prayer.” With that description in my memory, I made a two-day retreat to Pleshey last April.

And so I found myself, late on a Saturday afternoon, at the railway station in the distinctly unromantic London suburb of Chelmsford, being met by a tall, soft-spoken man in a worn tweed jacket! He introduced himself as Bruce Hollamsby, the … Read more

1994 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

November 1994

 

DAY OF REFLECTION

The EUA held its annual Day of Reflection at the Washington National Cathedral in the beautiful College of Preachers. The theme was “Evelyn Underhill and Spiritual Direction.” Leadership for the day was provided by Milo Coerper, Dana Greene, Lin Ludy, and Kathleen Staudt. Presentations, prayer, quiet, Eucharist and sharing gave form to this Day dedicated to the memory of Evelyn Underhill. The 1995 Day of Reflection will be held Saturday, June 17. Contact the Cathedral for further details.

IN MEMORIAM

Dr. John Casteel, a devoted reader of Evelyn Underhill, died in October 1993. He was ninety years old. Underhill was one of his principal spiritual guides over his long life and fruitful vocation as minister, teacher, author and spiritual friend of many. He will be greatly missed.… Read more

Evelyn Underhill: Middle-Way Within the Media?

by Todd E. Johnson

“‘Souls who live an heroic spiritual life within great religious traditions and institutions, attain a rare volume and vividness of religious insight, conviction and reality’—far more seldom achieved by the religious individualist.”  Evelyn Underhill applied this quote of Baron von Hugel to the Oxford Tractarians and their spiritual revitalization of the Church of England. As Underhill describes the work of the Tractarians—those heroic souls whose vision of a church filled with mystery and awe created a renaissance within Anglicanism—one is struck by the similarity to her own life almost a century later. Underhill describes the Tractarians as restoring a sense of the Catholic tradition to the church, of reviving liturgical and sacramental worship, advocating a disciplined life, and emphasizing Christian sanctity. The examples of Underhill’s writings which square nicely with each of these four areas are … Read more

The Note of Failure in the Symphony of Grace: Reading Evelyn Underhill’s Theophanies

by Kathleen Henderson Staudt

A modern reader coming to Theophanies is bound to be put off by the Edwardian conventionality of rhythm and music and by the tendentiousness of those poems on explicitly spiritual—especially neo-platonic—themes. But buried among these unsatisfactory efforts are flashes of genuine and original insights, where we see Underhill testing and using her gift for imaging, in homely terms, what she perceived as the presence and pull of God’s love in the world.

For example, the poem entitled “In the Train” constrasts the ardor and excitement of her own vision with the blindness of those around her. Beginning “O Train full of blind eyes, rushing through the world,” it goes on to sketch out in vivid, positively sensual imagery the poet’s imaginative communion with the meadow outside—”it and I, close locked in passionate embrace”

And the moist … Read more

1993 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

November 1993

 

THE NOTE OF FAILURE IN THE SYMPHONY OF GRACE: READING EVELYN UNDERHILL’S THEOPHANIES

Kathleen Henderson Staudt*

A modern reader coming to Theophanies is bound to be put off by the Edwardian conventionality of rhythm and music and by the tendentiousness of those poems on explicitly spiritual—especially neo-platonic—themes. But buried among these unsatisfactory efforts are flashes of genuine and original insights, where we see Underhill testing and using her gift for imaging, in homely terms, what she perceived as the presence and pull of God’s love in the world.

For example, the poem entitled “In the Train” constrasts the ardor and excitement of her own vision with the blindness of those around her. Beginning “O Train full of blind eyes, rushing through the world,” it goes on to sketch out in … Read more

Evelyn Underhill and Vatican II: A Comparison of the Influence of the Catholic Church of Her Time and Ours

by Grace Adolphsen Brame

When people study history there are always several questions which seem important to be considered. How do the times affect individuals, and how do individuals affect their times? Secondly, what are the birth pangs of outstanding events in history, and how does that pain actually contribute to the positive or negative results? Lastly, are the events unifying or divisive? All these questions may be asked about individuals, or of groups, or of a society.

Evelyn Underhill, born in 1875 during the reign of Pius IX, is a fascinating bridge between the Protestant and Catholic approaches to worship and theology in that she was essentially a Vatican II person, a breath of fresh air, in her own time. Raised by parents who were Anglican in name, but thoroughly disinterested in the church, her birth followed five years … Read more

1992 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

EVELYN UNDERHILL AND VATICAN II: A COMPARISON OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF HER TIME AND OURS

Grace Adolphsen Brame

When people study history there are always several questions which seem important to be considered. How do the times affect individuals, and how do individuals affect their times? Secondly, what are the birth pangs of outstanding events in history, and how does that pain actually contribute to the positive or negative results? Lastly, are the events unifying or divisive? All these questions may be asked about individuals, or of groups, or of a society.

Evelyn Underhill, born in 1875 during the reign of Pius IX, is a fascinating bridge between the Protestant and Catholic approaches to worship and theology in that she was essentially a Vatican II person, a breath of … Read more

1991 The Evelyn Underhill Association Newsletter

Download the PDF version of this newsletter.

JANUARY 1991

In this, the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Evelyn Underhill, we urge you to celebrate her life and work in whatever way your circumstances allow.

The celebration has already begun: In March 1990 several hundred person gathered for  a four day symposium on Underhill sponsored by the Washington National Cathedral and organized by Carole Crumley. Events included lectures by Dana Greene, Annice Callahan and A. M. Allchin; a panel discussion by Milo Coerper, Grace Brame, Dolores Leckey, Leonid Kishkovsky, and William Spofford; Compline addresses by Lin Ludy, Rev. David Trickett, Mary Xavier Kirby; a day of retreat with A. M. Allchin; Evensong; a short course of directed study on the works of Underhill; a tour of the Cathedral given by Richard Feller and an English Tea in its Tower.

Upcoming … Read more