Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-06-24
GLOBE REPUBLIC THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE "a 1880
HOW TRAPpISTS LIVE.
ABeE MARQUAND GIVES AN ACCOUNT
OF MONASTIC LIFE.

The Monastery at Gethsemane. Ky.-Med-
itation and Occupation The Only
Words spoken A Long Lived Class In
the Cells Rule, Recruits.
In the first place, the Trappist takes
VOWS Of poverty, hastily, anu obedience
for lie, as do all priests of the Catholic
church Then ho agrees 10 bury himself in
monastery and work at any occupation
hOwevery msnlal, 10 which his superiors
may assign him The applicant for u Trap
plst's cell is thoroughly tested before he
takes these VOWS He must for several years
go through the hardships which the able
reCounted to your correspondent a. follows
We rise at l. midnight As We always
wear our cassocks, there is no delay about
dressing, and we are in the chapel by lis.
Then We sing ths mathis and hymns till :
O'Clock, after which there is a high mass
lasting till !. Private meditations and pious
reading follow till daylight when all
the monks disperse to their occupations At
our monastery in Kentucky every brother
is mechanic or does work OF some kind 50
that, with our 2OU acres of land, We manage
10 support ourselves without any outside
assistance, and can even help the poor
'OlAt VI Us itilbtIs, sOLlc bldCh-
smiths, some do the necessary tailoring, and
Il few arr employed as cooks and house
keepers When you understand that We
raise our own crops, grind our grain,
cook our food, make our clothes and
keep our little colony in operation unaldei,
you will confess that We are not what some
people call lazy monks
Work is kept up from daylight till p
and InTluy al al,s,lnfa lii
must be preserved. The only words spoken
are the 'Memento Morieris' ,'Remember
thou wilt die which Is the morning greet
ing. Meals take up little Of our time be-
fore going 10 WORK we get slice of bran
bread and cup of water. At noon We
dine OIL vegetables and milk At o'clock
another collation. Of bread and water is
served Ies, We are strict vesetarians,
not for purpose Of health, but to deny the
animal appetite | might mention, though,
that the rules of the order allow the use Of
meat once in seven years-when Christmas
falls on Friday-but few of Us take advant-
age of this Tela Xation- What is the effect
OF the diet Well you may have heard that
recent statistics in France show that a a
class the Trapplsts are the longest lived men
IN that country. We generally die Of old
age, except in cases where chronic diseases
were contracted before entering the monas
terry, and even then the lives OF the suffer
ers are greatly prolonged by the mode OF
living. All the necessary doctoring is done
10y broth who was once a drug CLERK
and who binds fractures and plaStsrS cuts 10
our satisfaction. have not seen
doctor for more than ten years
AFTER TIE DAYS WORK.
After our days work is done and the col
latiOn of bread and water is taken We re-
tire to our rooms, or rather cells for rest
These cells are ten feet by four, have stone
walls and a stone foor and are furnished
with a wooden bed, a chair, and a wash
stand ! have read stories about our sleep
ing in cotiins Thsse are not exactly true
Our bed is a big plank like Il collin in out
line, but without the rising sides and ends
We use mattresses or ticks and covering
only in cold weather. Our cassoCks are
never taken OIL except when cl, anliIess re-
quir,s a change Of clothes As hard board
is not comfortable bed, you may imag ine
that we are not loath TO rise when the bell
rings at midnight for mathis
With regard TO our apparel, we con-
stantly wear rough hair shirts, which are
very painful, especially IN warm weather.
Our cassocks are heavy wou!cn in summer
and alpaca in winter. Clean linen collars
are donned every morning. Since we have
not facilities for making shoes and boots
We must content ourselves with sandals,
which are, after all, quite as comfortable
and serviceable
"S[ome Of our rules, outside the daily rou-
THE, may also seem unnecessarily severe to
people in the world. but satisfied with
them When a relative, however close, Of
any monk dies all are called into the chapel
the announcement is made that one of tine
brothers has lost father, mother, or other
relative, and ali pray for the soul of the
deceased The object of concealing the
name is to prevent grief aud tue recalling
Of worldly things from interfering with
the tenor of each mans lIfe When =
monk himself dies he is buried with lomp-
Gus religious services and, after prayers
and masses, the big record book is taken
down from behind the altar and red cross
placed opposite the name OF the departed
Are many Americans applying for ad-
mission 10 the order. Not many, | must
say Most of our recruit, come from France
and other Catholic countries Of Europe -
w. l. K in Chicago Tribune