Sr. Maria M. Kiely, O.S.B. is a Benedictine of the Congregation of Solesmes. She specializes in Christian thought and Scriptural exegesis in the early Church and in the rise and development of monasticism. She has studied in depth the life and writings of Ambrose of Milan and his use and adaptation of Origen and Plotinus. Her current research focuses on the development of the tradition of hymnody in the early Church through the Middle Ages. She is currently participating in a major commentary on the hymns of the Liturgy of the Hours. In addition to her work at Catholic University, she teaches Greek and Latin at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Dominican House of Studies. She is also on the Editorial Committee for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).