In this conversation with Rachel Fulton Brown, we begin with Mary, the Seat of Wisdom, as a medieval symbol of liberal learning at the University of Paris, and all that she can teach those who desire to become wise.  From there we consider how a Marian thread unites things as disparate as iambic pentameter, rose windows, and the highest—albeit unexpected—gifts of contemplative grace. Along the way the works of St. Augustine, John of Garland, Richard of Saint-Laurent, Tolkien, and Josef Pieper illuminate our path.

Links of Potential Interest

Brown's U. Chicago Website

Rachel Fulton Brown, From Judgment to Passion: Devotion to Christ and the Virgin Mary, 800-1200

Rachel Fulton Brown, History in the Comic Mode: Medieval Communities and the Matter of Person

Rachel Fulton Brown, Mary and the Art of Prayer: The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval Christian Life and Thought

Rachel Fulton Brown at First Things

Fencing Bear at Prayer and here

"The Forge of Tolkein" (Lectures)

St. Augustine, De musica

Tolkien, Mythopoeia

Ecclesiasticus 24 (Mary as Wisdom)

John of Garland, Epithalamium beatae Mariae Virginis

Josef Pieper, Happiness and Contemplation