The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-12-25
LIFE IN A MONASTERY.
A Monotonous Esxsstence-The Daily IL.
tine.


tine.
A monks day begins at 4:30 q. m,
and as breakfast is q very light and
hasty matter. taken without formality
somewhere between 8 and 8, no one
will be surprised to hear that English
stomachs are ready for their principal
meal at 1890. Let us go through a
day: At 4 :55 precisely-for punctual-
ity is great matter-the big bell
begins tolling for matimus. This is
the modern equivalent of what used
to be called the midnight office. In
the thirteenth century the time was
q. m, now it is D; in some inconsistencies
on the continent it is A. But in those
days they went to bed at shutdown or
soon after 6, while we moderns think 8
o'clock early. When the tower clock
has ceased striking all rise at a signal
given by the superior, from the places
where they have been kneeling and
waiting in the chancel and the matin
service begins. On ordinary days it
lasts an hour and quarter, and has
not much about it of ceremony or ritual
that could catch the eye of an onlooker.
But on festivals it is an almost gay
scene, and must begin earlier on &C
count of its great protraction. On
such occasions large number are
arrayed in cope and alb; the organ &C
companies the chant, and sometimes
the voices of boys mingle with the
heavier tones Of the monks. These
little choristers are selected from the
abbey school. Prime" is chanted
at 80; the conventical mass-that is,
the public mass of the days sung at
o o'clock, and at this mass the whole
school assists. On festivals this is the
great celebration of the day, and is
more or less solemn in proportion to
the greatness of the feast; sermon
often accompanies it. The next time
that the community are called to the
church is for the Office of "none," and
after this, at A, 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 most stringently bound
to be present. The Office of @com-
pline, 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 monastic life. The 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 abbey church and
who might think 8 o'clock rather early
The remainder of the day is filled up
in divers ways, in the discharge of the
various occupations which each has as.
signed to him. From the end of COM
pline till the end of prime OF the fol
lowing morning is time of the strict
est silence and reflection; not word
must be spoken for anything short OF
the gravest necessity, and no work or
business is done. 1t is the time for the
nightly rest, and for meditation and
private prayer. But when prime is fin
ished, the active work of the day be-
gins. Foremost among this is the work
of teaching; for the monks of these
days still maintain their ancient tradi-
ton of education, and the school is an
almost integral part of monastic es-
tablishment.