“I once heard a legend…about a monk who could not believe that God loved all us wretched, sinful souls. An angel came and touched his sight so that he saw a stone at the bottom of the sea, and under the stone lived a blind, white, naked creature. And the monk stared at the creature until he began to love it because it was so small and pitiful. When I saw you sitting there, so tiny and pitiful inside that huge stone building, then I thought it was reasonable that God should love someone like you. You were lovely and pure, and yet you needed protection and help. I thought I saw the whole church, with you inside it, lying in the hand of God.”

Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to join Collegium Institute for this online summer reading group on Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter, Vol. 1: The Wreath. Written by 20th century Danish-born Norwegian novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sigrid Undset, in the years leading up to her conversion to Catholicism, the trilogy follows the life of Kristin Lavransdatter in her trials of love and violence in a medieval Scandinavian village. In our reading of The Wreath, we will explore Undset’s depictions of sin, grace, and providence in Kristin’s early life.

We will meet on the following four Thursday evenings in May and June at 7pm on Zoom:

• May 30

• June 6

• June 13

• June 20

Participants who register by Tuesday, May 21 will receive a free copy of the novel. Click the button below to register.