MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN THE ...

esearch: John Cavadini, Cyril O’Regan, Fr. Paulinus Odozor, C.S.Sp., Lawrence
Cunningham, Thomas Prügl, Nathan Mitchell, Michael Driscoll and, above all, the late
Michael Signer, who first inspired and nurtured my love of twelfth-century theology and
exegesis. I must also add a word of thanks to Cheron Price for her kind friendship and
administrative help throughout my time at Notre Dame.
Third, I would like to thank my friends and family for their invaluable support -
spiritual, academic, and personal - throughout my time spent in research and writing. In a
special way, I would like to thank Abbot Thomas Frerking, O.S.B. and the monks of St.
Louis Abbey who taught me, more by example than by words, the true meaning of the
monastic vocation, which is the very heart of monastic theology past and present. In
particular, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Fr. Lawrence Kriegshauser, O.S.B., my first
teacher and continuing guide in the field of monastic studies. I would also like to thank
my colleagues and friends at the University of Notre Dame for their kindness to me and
their devotion to the study of theology as faith seeking understanding. In particular, I
would like to thank Jordan and Kathryn Wales for their generous hospitality and love
over many years. Finally, my deepest thanks are reserved for my dearest friend and
companion, Monika, for my mother, Suzanne DeFrancis, and Phillip Wakelyn, and for
my brothers, Mark and Will, who have each in their own ways unfailingly and lovingly
supported me in my pursuit of the academic vocation.
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