Sword and shield., 1885-09-26
TRAPPISTs IN CANADA.
The Severity of Their Discipline Makes
Them ShOrt-LiVed-The Cross of
Ashes.

letter to the New York Sun. The
TrappiSts are Catholic religious order
little known to the rest of the world,
though one of the oldest orders of the
church. They are chiefly remarkable
for the extreme rigor and privations Of
their rules and discipline. There is no
other order of Christians that can at all
approach them in this respect Their
mission. rs one of them Stoically said,
is the ''glory of God and the good of
sinners. The first glimpse of these
people and their devotion and prac-
ticeS is quite sufficient to show that there
is at least one heartily sincere religious
organization in the world.
The mon: Stcry is a two-story wooden
building, about 100 by 80 feet large,
looking toward the river. Clustered
here ut present are seven Trappist
priests, including the father superior
and ten brothers and noyices. AS one
of the rules of the order is perpetual
silence, both among themselves and to
strangers, some delay occurs in obtain
ing communication with them after a
visitor reaches the monastery. Each
person approached raises his hand to
his mouth and shakes his head, show
ing that he either was not allowed to
speak or could not. This difficulty be-
ing finally overcome, ole of the priests
is detailed to entertain the caller.
The sleeping apartments are made of
thin wooden panels to height of about
six feet, and just big enough to admit
single bedstead with q couple of feet
space in front to move about in. The
father Superior's bed has about four feet
space in front of it, and this is the
only difference between his comforts
and those of his brethren. The bed
steads are all made Of rough pine and
hemlock slabs with the sharp edges
trimmed off little. Each contains a
rude straw mattress and straw pillow,
with common gray blankets for cover
ing. Over the foot of each bed is a
crucifix containing small holy-water
font from which is suspended "disci-
pline." The discipline is ''cat" of
five tails, made of coarse hemp fiSh-line
with three knots on each tail. At
every Friday morning. on the signal of
the father superior, the Trappists, in
Guiding the superior himself, strip to
the waist and punish themselves on
the bare skin for few minutes with
the whip.
The little apartments are placed two
abreast along the main hall partition,
leaving IN open promenade between
them and the outer wall and windows.
They occupy about half of one side of
the second story, the main hall being
lengthwise in the building. Opposite
to these are the noyices' study and the
library. The latter contains all the
theological textbooks necessary for the
education of priests, including the
works of St. Thomas.
The catering and bill Of fare are, per-
haps, the most remarkable of anything
about the monastery. During the sea-
son between Easter and the 14th of Sep
tember the TrappiSts eat two meals a
day-one at 11:30 a. M, and the other
at $50 d. m. On Mondays during this
period the meals consist of soup, boiled
cabbage, potatoes, and bread; Wednes-
days, soup, beans, potatoes, and bread;
Fridays, soup, salad, potatoes, and
bread; Tuesdays, Thursdays. Satur-
days, and Sundays, soup, cabbage,
bread, and boiled rice and milk, but no
potatoes. With this they are allowed
cheese, salt, pepper, and some oils, but
neither tea, coffee, sugar, meat, fish,
fowl, eggs, nor butter is allowed, ex-
cept in case of sickness, when any art
icle of diet or medicine ordered by the
attending physician Is allowed. The
soup, which constitutes daily dish, Is
simply tho water in which the cabbage
has been boiled. 1t is poured over some
bread in the large plates and tin dishes
in which the soup is served. In this
country they are allowed the use of
milk as beverage during the day, but
the luxury is not generally used. In
Europe, instead of milk, they use wine,
beer, and cider.
From Sept. IA to Easter is their Len
ten season. During this period they
have but one meal per day, and both
milk and cheese are excluded. Con-
sidering the quality of the meal, and
the fact that the season depriVes the
vegetables used of their freshness and
much of their nourishment, this Is ter
rible privation; but it is part of the VOW
of the order, and it can not be relaxed
for any cause except during actual con-
tinement from the illness Of which this
diet itself is the most frequent cause.
The TrappiSts arc clean Shayen, and
keep the hair cropped short. Next to
the skin they wear common gray han-
mel. Their drawers and long stockings
are made of twilled white flannel. Over
this comes white gown made of the
same kind of material as the drawers
and stockings, and reaching down to
the heels. Over this again comes the
scapular and o large leather belt
buckled around the middle over all gar
ments for a girdle. The scapular worn
by those of the order who are priests IS
a strip of black merino about sixteen or
seventeen inches wide, and made to go
over the shoulders and long enough to
reach down to the ankles, both front
and back. The scapular of the novlces
is the same except that it is made OF
brown material. The long white gown
has a mitered hood on it, which Is the
only headwear of the Trappists either
in or out of doors. On some occasions
an additional outer garment, called the
cOwl, is worn. This is a short white
gown and hood made of the same ma
terial as the longer gown. When this
garment is worn the girdle is, OF course
removed and readjusted over 1t. 1he
hood of both gowns is lined with black
scapular. When working in the fields,
which is part of their duty, they We4r
long boots and tuck up the lower part
Al