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Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life Paperback – September 7, 1993

by Patricia Hampl (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
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"A religious cliff-hanger--intimate, compelling, hard to put down."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Eager to shake off the indelible brand of a Catholic upbringing, Patricia Hample seeks the "old world" of Catholicism. On her pilgrimage she meets others seekers--crotchety English agnostics, American Franciscan friars and nuns, and the seekers that fill every charter flight. Inevitably, too, she finds the "old world" right at home, in the very past she had tried to escape. But what she is looking for confronts her, finally, on a rereat at a monastery near the Lost Coast of northern California in the still, virgin moments of silent prayer....
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    September 7, 1993
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.64 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0345384245
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0345384249
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"A religious cliff-hanger--intimate, compelling, hard to put down."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Eager to shake off the indelible brand of a Catholic upbringing, Patricia Hample seeks the "old world" of Catholicism. On her pilgrimage she meets others seekers--crotchety English agnostics, American Franciscan friars and nuns, and the seekers that fill every charter flight. Inevitably, too, she finds the "old world" right at home, in the very past she had tried to escape. But what she is looking for confronts her, finally, on a rereat at a monastery near the Lost Coast of northern California in the still, virgin moments of silent prayer....

From the Back Cover

Virgin Time is a book that goes to the heart of one of the most profound yet least discussed issues of contemporary American life: the individual's search for faith. It is "a passionate inquiry", as Patricia Hampl puts it, "into the sources of wonder that cause a person to say, 'I believe.'" Hampl's book begins as a grudging quest - not to find something, but to shake the indelible brand of a Catholic upbringing. In her search, she travels to the "old world" of Catholicism, in Italy and France, and inevitably her pilgrimage is peopled with other pilgrims - crotchety English agnostics, American Franciscan friars and nuns, the surging crowds of Lourdes with their candles and incurable illnesses, and the eccentric seekers that fill every charter flight. Inevitably, too, she finds the "old world" right at home, in the very past she had tried to escape. Finally, on a visit to a monastery near the Lost Coast of Northern California, she is able to settle into the real goal of her search: the silence of prayer. Virgin Time meets head-on the challenges to spirituality raised by contemporary life and responds to them searchingly, honestly, and movingly. Patricia Hampl's new book has unforgettable resonating power.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Publishing Group; Reprint edition (September 7, 1993)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345384245
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345384249
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.64 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

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Patricia Hampl

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3.9 out of 5 stars
20 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Gary A. Grelli
    5.0 out of 5 stars Contemplating a contemplative life
    Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    If you are looking for an excellent writer, who explores development of spirituality, I do not think you will be disappointed by Patricia Hampl. Those of us who went through Catholic schooling during the fifties, who came from immigrant families, and struggled with Vatican II will all find topics of interest in Ms. Hampl's books. Anyone from the St. Paul area or of Czech, Bohemian or Moravian ancestry will find much to enjoy.
    The latter topics of her ancestry is explored more in her book, A Romantic Education.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Thomas J. Bieter
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for pre-Vatican II cradle Catholics
    Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I, a cradle Catholic, really enjoyed this book. The author writes well.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Darlene
    3.0 out of 5 stars Book
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Kind of slow... hard to finish... It is definately not a book to read the second time.
    I am still trying to finish it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Hannah
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Great book for anyone exploring spirituality, especially for those of us raised Catholic. Engaging, human, and honest.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • M. Mazzaferro
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Hampl's engaging style draws you in. Another well-written memoir.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Edwin Eckel
    4.0 out of 5 stars Riches in the Silences
    Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2010
    Patricia Hampl, a poet, writer and teacher, is in the midst of a spiritual journey for what she has seen in the eyes of some fellow Catholics, the sustaining love of all emanating from a higher degree of unification between God and person. A pre-Vatican II Catholic education is the ground from which the journey proceeds. We tour with her at Assisi and Lourdes, and go on retreat in California, partaking in the conversations and quiet experiences Hampl collects. An exceptional observer and wordsmith, we are treated to a wonderful book on the level of construction and expression in which Patricia Hampl reveals how powerful prayer exists in the silences, much as a poem reveals itself in the white space between the lines of text.Virgin Time: In Search of the Contemplative Life
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Constant Reader
    5.0 out of 5 stars a book for the spiritual seeker
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2007
    From the other reviews, this is clearly a book you either love or hate; as someone who loved it, I also found it (as the other fans of it did) a very moving and coherent tale. Hampl takes us with her as she seeks for a way to understand what it means to seek; she (like many of us) yearns for some sort of spirituality, but rests in a deeply uneasy relationship with her childhood Catholicism. The book follows her on a series of trips-- to Italy with jaded English tourists, then with Franciscan pilgrims, to Lourdes, back into her childhood memories, and finally to a retreat in California. I think readers who find the travelogue parts and the retreat section disconnected are not seeing this as a spiritual journey (in fact, most of them admit they aren't interested in it!-- then why read this book?) but it is-- and one that moves Hampl, not into certainty, but into peace and acceptance with her own doubt. The book charts her finding her way to accept and forgive those who travel with her, and especially to forgive herself for the dance she does between wanting this contemplative life and not wanting to give up the world-- adoring her sweets and coffee, her human companionship, her writing, her shyness, all the weaknesses that make her human and that she finally realizes do not have to be left behind, but instead embraced with compassion. The lessons she lives out are not solely Catholic or Christian but remind me of Pema Chodron's teachings on living with uncertainty. I found it honest, moving, and, in the end, deeply joyful.
    23 people found this helpful
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  • Jeff Duntemann
    3.0 out of 5 stars Travel, memoir, contemplation: Two out of three ain't bad...
    Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 1998
    As memoir and (especially) travelog, VIRGIN TIME works reasonably well. The author has a quietly introspective prose style well suited to the topic. The reminiscences are well-drawn, and her observations of "sacred travel" are astute and entertaining.
    But I bought the book to learn something of the contemplative life, and come away feeling like I know nothing more than when I began. This may be due to a sharp divide between two parts of the book: The first, an intertwined memoir/travelog, and the second, a crimped and uninforming description of a retreat at a dismal-sounding kind-of-a-sort-of-a-monastery in xenophobic Northern California.
    I almost got the impression that the second piece had been grafted onto the first to complete the book or bring it up to a publishable size. This is a shame; the lesson I get from the California retreat is that retreats are about as pleasant and meaningful as giving up gumdrops for Lent.
    And about contemplation itself we learn almost nothing.
    I suppose I could just be dense; it's a fersure that I'm not a New Age type and look *very* askance at asceticism. (Most ascetics I've met are prideful people who look down their noses at those of us who try to live balanced and uniformly modest lives.)
    Anyway. The book is worth reading until the author starts heading up to Northern California. Once you get to that point, put it down. There's nothing further up the road.
    19 people found this helpful
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