
Contents
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Sarah O’Neill: Bringing European Monasticism into the American City Sarah O’Neill: Bringing European Monasticism into the American City
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Nina Polcyn: “Merchant Priestess and Trafficker in Crucifixes” Nina Polcyn: “Merchant Priestess and Trafficker in Crucifixes”
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“Living Art”: A Personalist Response to Mass Production “Living Art”: A Personalist Response to Mass Production
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Seeing Christ in the Everyday Suffering of Chicago’s Poor Seeing Christ in the Everyday Suffering of Chicago’s Poor
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Envisioning the Works of Mercy: Postcards and Women’s Worship Envisioning the Works of Mercy: Postcards and Women’s Worship
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Vatican II and the Shuttering of St. Benet’s Vatican II and the Shuttering of St. Benet’s
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Recentering Catholic Bookstores as Third Spaces Recentering Catholic Bookstores as Third Spaces
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Notes Notes
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Nina Polcyn: Living Art and Women’s Leadership at St. Benet’s Bookstore
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Published:June 2024
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Abstract
Located in the heart of downtown Chicago, St. Benet’s Bookstore (1931–1973) was a vibrant site for the liturgical arts, a magnet for adult education and socialization, and home to many of the diocese’s Catholic Action initiatives — and it was operated exclusively by women. This chapter argues that midcentury stores like St. Benet’s functioned as “third spaces” where laywomen could engender alternative visions of Catholic authority in the decades preceding Vatican II. Sarah O’Neill founded St. Benet’s as a space for liturgical celebrations and intellectual debates. The store’s second owner, Nina Polcyn, increased St. Benet’s popularity by emphasizing handcrafted liturgical goods designed for daily devotional use, which she called “living art.” The history of St. Benet’s offers a glimpse into the friendships and faith of educated middle-class laywomen during the 1920s through the 1960s.
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