Katie Bugyis, an assistant professor in the 聽at the University of Notre Dame, has been awarded the American Society of Church History鈥檚 Frank聽S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize, which honors outstanding scholarship in the history of Christianity by a first-time author.
She received the prize for her work, 鈥�,鈥� which reconstructs the history of Benedictine nuns through examination of their own liturgical documents 鈥斅燼nd recovers evidence of their liturgical functions, including preaching, reading the gospel liturgically, hearing confessions聽and pronouncing absolution.
鈥淭his history challenges the prevailing narratives about these women鈥檚 liturgical practices, which confine them exclusively to the care of priests,鈥� Bugyis said. 鈥淯sing the books these nuns produced and used, my book shows instead that these women acted as ministers in their own right, caring for their own spiritual needs, as well as those of the laity who visited them.
鈥淭o receive the Brewer Prize is not just a vote of welcome acclamation of my research from peers in my field. It is an affirmation of scholarship that seeks to tell a new history of women from the past on their own terms, in their own words.鈥�
In announcing the prize at the society鈥檚 annual meeting, the committee stated that the book 鈥渁dds complexity to the history of female religious life in England鈥� and 鈥渙pens new insights into the diverse contributions of women鈥檚 religious houses during the central Middle Ages.鈥�
鈥淏ugyis鈥櫬犫�楾he Care of Nuns鈥� is a model of sophistication in its interpretation and explication of sources as well as a testament to the enormous amount of archival work completed by its author, who offers new insights into the medieval monastic tradition,鈥� they wrote. 鈥淚t also encourages readers to broaden and enrich their understanding of pastoral work in the history of the Christian tradition.鈥�
A concurrent assistant professor in the and faculty fellow of the , Bugyis is currently working on English translations of and interpretive essays on a dossier of texts composed by the itinerant Flemish monk Goscelin of Saint-Bertin for the community of Benedictine nuns at Barking Abbey in Essex. The dossier is considered the most significant and extensive collection of original Latin saints鈥� lives, liturgical texts聽and chronicled events assembled for a community of religious women in England during the Middle Ages.
She is also looking forward to resuming work on her book project, 鈥淭he Matter of Liturgy in Benedictine Women鈥檚 Communities in Medieval England,鈥� which has been delayed due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For that project, Bugyis is examining how the nuns created, acquired聽and treasured certain objects for liturgical use, and how these objects in turn transfigured nuns鈥� appearances, refashioned their identities聽and reinvested them with spiritual authority and agency.听
Bugyis received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in history from Notre Dame, a master of arts in religion from Yale Divinity 91视频, a certificate from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music聽and a doctorate in medieval studies from Notre Dame. She completed fellowships at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval 91视频 at the University of Toronto and Harvard University鈥檚 Radcliffe Institute before .
Much of the research for 鈥淭he Care of Nuns鈥� was undertaken while Bugyis was a graduate student in the Medieval Institute, she said 鈥斅燼nd could not have been done without the generous support she received.听
Bugyis completed several in-depth research trips to libraries in the United Kingdom, with funding from the , the Graduate 91视频鈥檚 聽and the .听
鈥淚 also feel very lucky that Notre Dame had and still has a number of faculty who are stalwart champions of my research, especially Margot Fassler, Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Peter Jeffery, John Van Engen, and Mary Catherine Hilkert,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am very fortunate to be back at Notre Dame. There is no better place to do research on the Middle Ages.鈥�
Originally published by at on March 31.