July 29

Beatrice of Nazareth and the destruction of the Temple

Author

David Barnhart
July 29, 2025

Bolivia, 2007. Own photo.

Today in 587 BCE, Babylonian forces destroyed the First Temple in Jerusalem and sent many of the city’s inhabitants into exile. This marked a powerful shift in the ancient Israelite religion toward a focus on story and ethics, rather than temple worship, in maintaining Jewish identity. Much of the Hebrew Bible was written and compiled from various sources during this time of exile.

Today is the feast day of St. Beatrice of Nazareth, who died on this day in 1268. She was educated at home by her mother in a time when girls were rarely taught to read and write. She took the vows of a Cistercian nun as a young teenager and began having mystical visions, which she documented secretly in her journals. These works were later compiled into a variety of spiritual books, making her one of the first women writers to be published in the Medieval era. She is best known for the document “Seven Ways of Divine Love.”

Reflection:

Beatrice of Nazareth wrote: 

“For this is truly love’s work, to desire what is supremely best, and to pursue that state in which it can love the most. Therefore the soul always wills to follow Love, to know Love, and to have fruition of Love – something which cannot happen to it in exile. Therefore the soul wants to proceed to the fatherland where it has built its home and directed its whole desire, and where it rests in love, for it well knows that there every impediment will be removed from it and that it will be received with love by its beloved.”

Prayer: God whose very nature is Love, teach our hearts to love what you love. Amen.