The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-06
Life in a Modern Monastery.


Nv NlhCtCSnlnA III
A monks day begins at 400 A. NJ, and that
breakfast is a very light and hasty matter, taken
without formality somewhere between 8 and g..
no one will be surprised to learn that English
stomachs are ready for their principal meal at
1890. Let us go through a day. At 400 pre-
elsely-for punetuality is a great matter the
big bell begins tolling for mathis. This is the
modern equivalent of what used to be called the
midnight Office. In the thirteenth century the
hour was 2 A. M.,now 1t is .; in some monasteries
on the contenent it is T. But in those days they
went to bed at shutdown or soon after6, while we
moderns think 8 o'clock early. When the tower
clock has ceased striking 5 all rise, at a signal
given by the superior, from the
and waiting in the chancel, and the
matin service begins. On ordinary days it lasts
an hour and a quarter, and has not much about
it of ceremony or ritual that could catch the eye
of an on-looker. But on festivals it is an almost
gay scene, and must begin earlier on account of
its greater protraction. On such occasions q
large number are arrayed in alb and cope; the
organ accompanies the chant, and sometimes the
voices of boys mingle with the heavier tones of
the monks. These little ehoristers are selected
from the abbey school. Prime" is chanted at
7:30; the conventional mass-that is, the public
mass of the days sung at 8 o'clock, and at this
the whole school assists. On festivals this is
the great celebration of the day, and is more
ness of the feast; a sermon often &C
companies i. The next time that the
com munity are called to the church is for
the office of none" and after this, at 4:3o,
comes the evening office, or vespers. This, like
the mass, is sung with organ accompaniment,
and these two, with mathis, make up the more
solemn of the daily services, at which all are
more stringently bound to be present. The of
fee of "compline," the closing prayer of the
day, recited at $50, makes the sixth and last
time that the monks assemble in the church.
They spend at least three hours and = half every
day in this choral duty-on festivals much more;
it is one of the principal employments of mo-
nastic life. This order of the day never varies,
with the single exception that on Sundays and
very great festivals the high mass takes place at
10 o'clock, for the convenience of
those outsiders" who frequent the alb
hey church, and who might think 8
o'clock rather early. The remainder of the day
is filed up in divers ways in the discharge of
the varions occupations which each has assigned
to him. From the end of compline till the end
of prime of the following morning is a time of
~strictest silence and recollection; not a word
must be spoken for anything short of the great
est necessity, and no work or business is done.
1t is the time for the nightly rest, and for medi-
tation and private prayer. But when prime is
finished the active work of the day begins.
Foremost among this is the work of teaching;
for the monks of these days still maintain their
ancient tradition of education, and the school
is an almost integral part of the monastic estab-
lishment