San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-12-29

Member of the lliustrious Bourbon
FamiIy-They Rise at = in the Morning
and Go to Bed at at Night.
There is, perhaps, no life which the av-
erage person is so utterly unable TO com
prehend rs that of the TrappiSt monks,
which is passed in well nigh perpetual 81
lence amid the most rigorous physical and
mental austerities. \ profession Of public
humility can he understood, but the priest
or layman who puts on the robe and cowl
of the Trappist brotherhood effaceS him
self and all knowledge of himself. He
may pass half a century in stall next to
a brother whose name he does not know
(beyond that which is written up above
the entrance into the narrow and bare
vault in which lie sleeps, whose national
ity even he never suspects. What his his
tory may he, what connections he may
have outside the walls nobody but the
abbot may know, unless. piece by piece,
during long years Ofimmurement, hints or
suggestions may be obtained and linked
together.
The vow of silence is not so rigorous as
is commonly supposed. A Trappist monk
may not speak to another or anybody, save
the abbot, without permission. He may
speak to the abbot upon any matter con-
corning his daily work or religious duty,
but not needlessly. A needless word sub
jects him to penances, to remorse and
mental disquiet. The VOW, of course. is
voluntary and there is nothing but the
conscience and earnestness of the monk 20
enforce its redemption. So well Is il kept,
however, in its best meaning that there
are not three members at Gethsemane, in
Nelson county, who know the name of the
president of the United States or the gov
ernor of Kentucky. The severity of the
rule is so great that few American born
monks are to be found in the establish
ments
A MONKS CURIOSITY.
In GethsemGne a large majority of the
monks are French, German and Irish.
They eat but one meal day, consisting of
soup, made of vegetables and bread boiled
in water, and little rice. In summer
this meal is served at ll:30 a. m, at other
seasons at 2:30 p. IN. In Lent it is taken at
4:30 p. m, and consists of bread and water
alone. The monks take from thirteen to
twenty ounces of food per day each, yet
they do manual labor in the fields and
workshops, and it is noticeable that all of
them walk with light and springy step,
and even those well along in years are
more vigorous and active than men of
their years in ordinary condition. One
can best realize the severity of the food
regimen when it is remembered that. win
ter and summer, the monks rise at 2 o'clock
in the morning and retire at : and O'Clock
in the evening.
Father Edward, abbot of Gethsemane,
himself "a upnt larnaD of rarn a6unatipn
courtly polish and much kindness of heart,
says that only those unborne by the deep
est religious devotion, with the one idea of
prayer to relieve the world Of its burden of
sin, can ever endure the life. Gentlemen
who have suffered disappointments and
are seeking seclusiOn-a living burial
have tried it in vain. The heroisn of the
life is never seen, it cannot be made
spectacle as humility sometimes is, and,
therefore, only the mind that lives upon
the true religious eXaltation can endureit.
The stories that sift through to the out
side world, with more or less romantic de-
tail, concerning the individual monks of
La Trappe are many. There is one told of
brother at Gethsemane, which is old. but
full of dramatic suggestion. He was a
soldier of Napoleon, so it was said. and
the cowl of the Brown Brothers" and ul-
timately came to Gethsemane Forty years
he lived in silence, hearing nothing of the
worlds history, but with one item Of curl
osity left unquenched When he came TO
die and was lifted from his hard couch and
laid upon the harder floor strewed with
straw, where all followers of the order
must meet extremes, the abbot, as is Gus
NY fflh hn at II l.
any question he desired.
what became of the emperor the old
man asked promptly, and then, for the
first time learned Napoleon's fate, long
years after that restless clay had become
dust.
AN ARIsTOCRATIC FATHER.
Father Peter, the kind and gentle old
guest master at Gethsemane, smiled at the
story and did not deny 1t. He said there
was a soldier of Napoleon who had died
there, who, at some engagement, to pre-
vent the landing of sea forces, had swan
out with knife in his teeth and cut the
rcab1es of the boats, which were carried out
by the tide and the landing prevented. So,
perhaps the whole story is true.
In the outside world there is an unre-
strained desire to know who the monks
were in the world. The present abbot,
Father Edward, was Count Edward de
Bourbon, of the illustrious French family.
1t is said he is a cousin of the i'll starred
Louis XVI, or it may be of Louis XVIII.
Certainly his elegant and courtly bearing,
the grace and beauty e tis manners the
noble cast of his counynnine, aud the indie
Unable charm of him of thee indicate that
loftiness Of eourags intea rPose which are