MEN WHO NEVER SPEAK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22711, 25 October 1935, Page 12

MEN WHO NEVER SPEAK

MONKS’ RULE OF SILENCE AUSTERE LIFE OF POVERTY HOME IN THE MIDLANDS. To-day, in the heart of England, there is a community of men who live the same lives and carry out the same customs as their forefathers did in the Middle Ages. They are the Cistercian Monks of the Monastery of Mount St. Bernard, which nestles among the rocks in the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. The monastery is of the silent order, and the monks are now preparing for the centenary of the abbey, which is shortly to be celebrated, says the Evening Standard. The Cistercian Or'der was founded nearly 900 years ago. Mount St. Bernard’s was established 300 years after the destruction of the neighbouring Cistercian House of Garendon by Henry VIII. One hundred years ago six monks took possession of a tiny, half-ruined cottage; in the Charnwood Forest. They were exposed to all the inclemency of the weatner, and at times snow fell upon them as they lay on their straw mattresses. Yet they rose at midnight to sing Matins and Lauds. All around was desolate, barren lands. The monks struggled hard for existence. By incessant labour they colonised the waste heathland and spread agriculture over the bleak hills and heather tracts. The monastery now possesses one of the finest farms in the Midlands, beautiful gardens and stately buildings, including a church designed by Pugin. To celebrate the centenary the monks are enlarging the church in accordance with the original plans, and are carrying out the work themselves, under the direction of an expert. FORMER MEN OF THE WORLD. . Every day, with the exception of Sunday, these white-robed monks can be seen carting stone, laying bricks, sawing wood, mixing mortar, and the hundred and one jobs which go toward the erection of a building. They work in silence, any order or inquiries being made by signs. There are more than 70 men in this Trappist Monastery. They wear the same style of dress —a long woollen habit with cowl, heavy nailed boots and a stout leather girdle—and carry out the same customs as the monks of mediseval times. They rise at 2 a.m. and retire at 7 p.m., visiting their church seven times a day, in addition to doing all the work necessary in the large house and on the farm. Many of them have spent the greater part of their lives at the monastery. Quite a number of the monks before they took the vows, were men of the world, while others, especially the younger ones, went straight from good Christian homes, where they lived in almost as sheltered surroundings as in the abbey. Working aide by side in the fields, and sitting next to "each other in the refectory are men who, a few years ago, were leaders in business, and othejg who never travelled further than the little farms on which they are employed in Ireland. One of the brethren, who is still under 30, gave up a fIOOO-a-year post. Another, formerly an eminent musician, is now the tailor and organist. NEVER ENTERED BY A WOMAN. The monastery is self-supporting. No outside labour is necessary. The_ monks make their own beds, wash their own clothes and carry out all the domestic duties. Assistance from women is unheard of. In fact, with the sole exception of a princess of royal blood, no women is allowed within the interior of the monastery, which is probably the only building in England which, for 100 years, has never been entered by a woman. The whole of the abbey buildings are in the greatest severity of the Lancet style with massive walls and buttresses, long narrow windows and deeply arched doorways. Solemnity and simplicity are the characteristics of the monastery. Every bit of the architecture and fittings corresponds with the severity of the order. The house is ruled by an abbot, Dom. Malachi Brasil, who is still young, despite the fact that he spent 28 years within the strict enclosure of the Trappist Monastery of Mount St. Joseph’s Rescrea, Ireland. ' PLEDGED TO POVERTY. The monks lead isolated lives, pledged to voluntary poverty, chastity, and obedience. They never see a newspaper. Men live for five years at the monastery before taking their final vows, after which they never leave, and are eventually buried, without coffin, in the monastery grounds. When not at prayer they are engaged in hard manual labour, either in the fields or in the workshops, where they make all the wood and metal articles they require. Despite their austere life, the monks never eat meat, fish or eggs, but are allowed butter and oil. The ordinary food consists of milk, rice, pastes, vegetables and roots. To the stranger to the monastery, however, the hardest part of the life of the monk is the eternal silence, talking being absolutely prohibited. By means of an expressive code of signals the monks are able to make themselves understood and carry on their work. Recreation at the monastery consists mainly of walking in the cloisters, meditation and reading.